I wasn’t really a fan of open mics.
Sure, I’d done them before as a new singer-songwriter. Arriving early lugging my guitar case, standing in line to get a cup of coffee while hiding the shaking nerves that swept over me intermittently.
The whole cafe was always filled by songwriters of varying ages waiting patiently for their time slot, vaguely paying attention to whoever took the stage to enjoy ten minutes in the limelight. The crowd consisted almost exclusively of men— 80-90%, although I didn’t think anything of it at the time.
That’s just the way things were.
Back then (early 2000’s but not too different now), if you scanned the local rag on a Friday afternoon to plan the weekend, you could expect to see similar statistics reflected in the acts populating the “who’s playing tonight” calendar. A woman’s name or band in the lineup stood out in stark relief.
It never crossed my mind that something could be done about those figures except walk my own path as woman in the industry. I certainly never dreamed that a bandmate and I would start an open mic for women that would simply flip the script without asking anyone’s permission.
I was too busy feeling awkward and embarrassed about my emotionally vulnerable songs and lack of guitar shred-ability. Wondering if I was still desirable enough in my early 30’s to appeal to a happy hour crowd as I strummed and crooned out my three hour set.
Years later, (O.K., decades…) after nine months of running the Supernova Support Not So Open Mic for Women, the benefits of an open mic exclusively for women and femme performers shine as brightly as those track lights beamed down on the mini-stage in that old cafe’s corner.
Women are constantly, relentlessly judged by their appearance which makes sharing deeply personal, original songs that much harder to do.
Just knowing that the two hours of stage time will be filled by women-only performers takes the pressure off and provides “safety in numbers.” Women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and sexual preferences attend and perform, and the crowd lavishly loves and encourages every one of them.
Women’s stories and viewpoints are vastly underrepresented in popular music.
Watching the looks of comprehension, delight, and joyful camaraderie light up the faces of the audience (men too!) and performers as the well-crafted lyrics land has been a priceless gift. We feel less alone, more understood, and deeply encouraged to write and share our own perspectives knowing there’s a listening crowd that gets it.
We need a low-stakes venue to practice performing that actually pays attention.
The value of open mics as I’ve understood them is that if you screw up, “it’s just an open mic.” That’s helpful in the low-stakes department, but how do performers know what they’re specifically doing well if people aren’t really listening?
Our crowd wildly supports players on and off the mic because as hosts, Katie and I announce and set up a “container” of no criticism or advice-giving and offering positive, craft-focused feedback. Once the rules are clear, it’s easy. Katie and I madly scribble out our feedback for each performer on index cards, so everyone leaves with a least a few specific notes about powerful parts of their songs and delivery.
Next week, on Tuesday at 8:05pm, a few of our Not So Open Mic regulars will headline a popular weekly open mic here in Sebastopol at Hopmonk. Ceni, the enlightened host, is aware of the gender inequality and makes a conscious effort to address it when choosing headliners. After visiting one of our Sunday open mics and getting impressed with the quality of the performers, he invited Supernova Support to showcase the talent.
You’re invited to be a part of the experiment that will test what happens when two open mics meet.
See you Tuesday!
i’m going to have to get to san francisco for one of these!
Aw!!! I just saw this! Back when the love notes were on post its! Thanks for including my songs :)