Sportstime's Sunday Night Open Mic - April 24th

Greetings Cats and Dogs!!

The music keeps getting better, and the crowd was the best we have had yet.  With yesterday being Easter, I figured we would have a sparse crowd and less artists turning out, but my concerns were unfounded.  A number of our Sportstime regulars wanted to hear more Jazz, and we were without Kenny Cal our lead singer for the night, so they got what they wanted to start.  Bubba then lead the entire bar in an Easter tribute of "When the Saints" that had almost everyone on their feet and the night just grooved from there. 

Kevin Sikes was there to photograph the event and I will put pictures in as soon as I am able of all performers.  You will see links to his material in case you have need of an amazing professional photographer who is easy to work with.  He captured most of our highlights, many of which I want to mention.

Chris Hill put on our first completely solo act then jammed with some other musicians for a great set, he has a good sound and is an easy going guy.  John Minnfield sang a couple great songs.  Bryan the Cucumber did a unqiue and excellent accoustic solo.  But the biggest moments came down to either Multiple Dimensions (joined by Gigi Green) bringing down the house, or Bryan the Cucumber juggling fireballs after the show.  To Quote Jett Black, "That was the whitest thing I have ever seen!"  Of course several of the patrons remarked that Multiple Dimensions lead singer Angel Voiced D. Nicole, did a better job on Killing Me Softly than the Fujis.

I have mentioned several times how I think Rappers should perform with live musicians only, no backtracks.  Last night I let Nick Fury's folks (J-Euro and Lucky) try and work with a backtrack, and while they are two great performers, the sound of the backtrack detracted from hearing what they were doing.  I honestly am not a fan of backtracking, and having to delay the music almost 10 minutes trying to set up the backtrack was not a good use of time.  The performers on the other hand, when I could hear them over the backtrack, have obviously worked together and had great rapport.  Next time, live musicians only though.

I'd like to give special thanks to Gigi Green, one of Sportstime's own and a great singer.  Great to have you, and hope to see more of you on Sunday Nights.  To Ashley Thomas who wasn't confident enought to step on stage, but sang a solid backup for Gigi to close out the music for the night.  Great job ladies!!!

Performance Time		Band Name	Musicians					Comments
Start	Finish		Singers	Guitar	Drum	Bass	Keys
8:00	8:45	FA-Q Alliance		SergioQuesada	J.Alan	BrentMiller BryanBell	Bubba	Funky Academic – Quixotic Alliance.  R&B fusion with originals
8:45	9:15	Jam Session		SergioQuesada	Napoli	ChrisEdwards	Bubba	Blues and Jazz with Funk beat
9:15	9:30	Jam Session		SergioQuesada BryanBell	Napoli	ChrisEdwards		Reggae, Blues
9:30	9:45	Easter Jam	Bubba	SergioQuesada	J.Alan	BrentMiller	Bubba	Let the Saints jazzed up, bubba lead singing and jamming
9:45	10:00	Jam Session		SergioQuesada ChrisEdwards	Bubba	BryanBell
10:00	10:30	Accoustic Jam	BryanBell	ChrisEdwards	Napoli	BryanBell		Gorrillaz sang and some other jazzy numbers
10:30	11:50	ChrisHill	ChrisHill John Minnfield	Chris Hill	Napoli	Chris Edwards		Good Solo Original at start and then a good jam.  John was very soulful.  Bryan jamming on the acoustic guitar alone
11:00	11:25	Multiple Dimensions	Angel D.Nicole		JB	Bubba	Rob Phenom	Amazing all around R&B band
11:25	11:35	Rap	Nick Fury’s guy and gal		JB	Bubba	Phenom	Track
11:40	Close	Gigi	Gigi

We haven't had a lot of full bands come by that have set up Reverb Nation or similar sites for me to link into.  We welcome any bands that come out and try to book a gig with the house, also any artists that just want to be a part of the fun we have.  Other than trying to set up the backtrack, we are nonstop music from 8pm until we close the house. 

I haven't heard yet, but I hope Anna was able to get closed in a decent time.  We had a great crowd last night, and thanks to all who read this that joined us in our fun.

Performer	Band/Performer	Performance Skills	Links and Upcoming Events
Brent L. Miller, Rabbi Pimp Shoes, Mr. Brand New	Performer, Host	Pocket Bass, Lead Singing
Preacher Bubba	Peformer	Keyboards, Lead Singing, Bass, Mixing and Production
Bryan Bell, the Cucumber	Performer	Lead Bass, Lead Guitar, Lead Singing
Josh Alan	Performer	Drums
Tony Larsh	Performer	DJ, Sound Master, Production
FA-Q Alliance	Band	Fusion R&B and Alternative Rock Band	Covers and Originals
Mike Nii, Mikey Sticks	Performer	Drums, Production
Chris Edwards	Performer	Lead Bass, Production, Song Writer
Sergio Quesada	Performer	Lead Guitar
Christopher Hill	Performer	Lead Singer, Lead Guitar
Napoli	Performer	Drums, Rapper
John Minnfield	Performer	Lead Sing, Rapper, Produce, Mix and Master	Reverb Nation;  John Minnfield
JB Williams	Performer	Drums, Band Manager
Angel Voice D. Nicole	Performer	Lead Singer
Rob the Phenom	Performer	Bass
Gigi Green	Performer	Lead Singer
Multiple Dimensions	Band	R&B	Facebook:  Multiple Dimensions band
New Jeru Entertainment	J-Euro Lucky	Rappers, Production	Myspace:  thenickfury

I want to thank everyone who participated, be it as an artist or simply someone who enjoys good music and cold beverages.  Hope to see you all back next week, so until then  FA-Q all!!

April 21 - Musician's Club and Auditions at Spivey's

Greetings Cats and Dogs!!

This is my first blog of an Open Mic that wasn't at Sportstime Bar and Grill.  For some background, I turned 42 at midnight last night, so this was also my initial Birthday celebration.  Before we hit the Open Mic at Musician's Club we (the FA-Q Alliance) met up with kind of our parent band Multiple Dimensions (run by Jett Black formerly of Arrested Development) as everyone auditioned to be in Spivey's house band for his upcoming plans.  These are true Eastside (Decatur) warehouse clubs, and if you like music you cannot consider yourself a real fan of the Atlanta scene unless you attend one of these performances.

Not every music fan has taken the opportunity to visit one of these warehouse clubs, and most of those who claims to frequent one, thinks Apache is it.  Can't knock the king, but if you want that down to earth blues and funk where the entire crowd suddenly breaks into dancing together, hit Al and Joe's Musician's Club or Spivey's.  These places are all BYOB, but you go for the music.  It's all about the music.  When guys who have played with James Brown jam with your band (Thanks Joe!!), or a horn player like Randy joins you for Low Rider, well it just kind of made my birthday to be honest.

These are NOT free open mic nights, even the bands need to pay by the head if they arrive after 10pm but if you love music you need to check them out.  Never forget the BYOB aspect of the night, seriously.

The FA-Q Alliance, the band for which I am actively a member, met up with Preacher Bubba to experience Open Mic Eastside style.  What they weren't told was that before the Open Mic at Musician's Club, we attended auditions at Spiveys (who will be auditioning musicians for the next month from 7pm - 10pm next door to Musician's Club) for the house band.  Bryan Bell, Ryan Taylor, and Sergio Quesada all stepped up and auditioned.  Sergio never gets to relax before playing, he walked in the door and was immediately put on stage by Spivey.  We did that to him on Sunday too, this is how we treat Lead Guitars in the Alliance, don't like it, well FA-Q!

Multiple Dimensions went on while Angel Voiced D. Nicole and Diva sang like angels and did their own audition.  I wanna see a two Bass jam with Chris Edwards and Rob the Phenom from Multiple Dimensions.  We might have that on Sunday.  JB is a sick man on drums, and we all know what I think of Preacher Bubba on keys (he is the man).

We tried to con our way past the cover charge at Musician's Club, but were not successful.  Once in we informed the rest of the band we were actually opening for Multiple Dimensions, and we sat back and listened to the house band kick it Hotlanta style.  Because of the auditions, I was too late to the Open Mic to get with Al and Joe about documenting all the musicians, but here is the chart of the music.

Performance Time		Band Name	Musicians						Comments
Start	Finish		Singers	Guitar	Drum	Bass	Keys	Other
10:30	11:15	Musician’s Club	Multiple	Joe	1 drummer	1 bass	1keys	Randy on trumpet	Fusion, but under a Jazz format
11:15	11:25	Miss Big Star	Miss Big Star	Joe	1 drummer	1 bass	1keys	Randy	Lead the house band, very strong personality on stage, very bluesy
11:25	11:35	First Lady	First Lady	Joe	1 drummer	1 bass	1keys	Randy	Funky singer, got people dancing
11:35	12:00	Musician’s Club	FA-Q Alliance	Sergio Quesada	JBWilliams	ByranBell	Bubba	Randy	Funky covers – lead in act for the Multiple Dimensions Band
12:00	12:30	Multiple Dimensions Band	Angela Williams Diva Sawanya	Joe	JBWilliams	RobBell	Bubba	Randy	Can play any form of music known to man, Cover of Killing me softly almost caused a natural disaster
12:30	1:00	Open Jam	Multiple singers	Joe	JBWilliams	RobBell	Bubba	Randy	Current covers, scary good singing,
1:00	Close	Open Jam	Multiple rappers	Joe	JBWilliams	RobBell	Bubba		As I always say, rapping is best done with live musicians

I spoke with Joe and Al regarding coming back and putting more details regarding the band on another night, and might be adding a Friday Open Mic review of Scooby's in the coming weeks as they were also really receptive to the blog.  Until then, my list of performers is not as detailed as others.  For the artist profiles, I am just going to cover the artists I knew who auditioned at Spivey's and did Musician's Club.

Performer	Band/Performer	Performance Skills	Links and Upcoming Events
JB Williams	Band Leader	Band Leader, Manager, Drums, Percussion
Angel Voiced D. Nicole	Peformer	Lead Singer
Preacher Bubba	Peformer	Keys, Drums, Percussion
Rob Bell	Performer	Bass
Diva Sawanya	Performer	Lead Singer
Multiple Dimensions	Band	Soul, R&B, Gospel, Blues	Covers and Originals
FA-Q Alliance	Band	Fusion R&B and Alternative Rock Band	Covers and Originals
Bryan Bell	Performer	Bass, Guitar, Lead Singer	The Cucumber started by tapping out on his six string bass then hit a Jazzy number
Sergio Quesada	Performer	Guitar	With all of 20 seconds to prepare, he jazzed it up himself.
Ryan Taylor	Performer	Bass	Went out there with a four string bass and funked it up.

We did a lot of networking as both clubs are all about this practice (another reason Atlanta musicians of all genre's should check this place out).  Here at the end of this blog, I need to make a confession:

Everything I do on my own Open Mic hosts at Sportstime or elsewhere, is entirely based on what Joe and Al do at the Musician's Club.  From Rappers performing with live musicians to playing almost nonstop music without a note of house sound to fill the void, I copied all this from them.  Hopefully some of these amazing performers will make Northside this Sunday and join us at our house next.  I think we (FA-Q Alliance and Multiple Dimensions) will be returning to Decatur next Thursday.

Until next time, FA-Q all and good happy Birthday to me!!