First GOL Open Mike Night - just unbelievable !

As Laurent said "this is probably one of the best idea that came out of GOL since long" ! And when you know how many great things are getting out of GOL, this does mean something.

Honestly, I really didn't know what to expect, as "open mike nights" aren't that common around here. At first, I thought Rick was only trying to put a small band together to take part to an already organised open mike evening. I understood later on that the guy was actually organizing all of that. Laurent, who provided all the technical gear and know who, and Rick, how's to be sanctified for having this idea and finding a great place, did a great job setting up a very descent sound system. And given the 4 other GOL activities running in parallel the same night, there was quite a big audience in the place.

Ok, there's a place, there's a sound system, there's an audiance… do we miss something ? Performers for sure. Ok, here comes the truly unbelievable stuff. Whoever has attended once a school play knows what an amateur performance can be. "Friends" aficionados know the, how to say, genuine "smelly cat" quality standard of Central Perk. Just forget about that crap. We had nothing but fine musicians on stage. No kidding. And if I'm not a musician myself, I am very picky on music and very demanding on quality. All performers did a great job, really. Starting with Johnny Cash, we travelled in time and crossed the ocean several times from The Beatles, to REM, Oasis to Cake, country to blues, with a nice move south with bossa nova.

I miss the words in English to tell you how it felt. Quality is one thing, presence is another. Some people who played were "stage virgins", but just did as good as more experienced ones. The atmosphere was so great you wouldn't believe. How can I tell… it was like being with a bunch of good old friends singing popular tunes around a fire on the beach. Some people even played their own original compositions. I was stunned. How could we have ever expected to have so many great musician amongst us ? I guess everybody was positively surprised. Some probably just come along at the caf? to be "supportive" and meet friends. But the audience turned in no time into a fan club. The "girl at the bar" popped on stage and turned to be June Carter younger sister. One guy came in the bar with his guitar on the back, and found himself playing ten minutes later. I was forced to come on stage and playback on No woman no cry (ok, now's the time to confess that one performer really sucked ! ;-)). Everybody clapped there hands. Tambourines and Egg shaker moved along the audience, as tables and glasses turned into improvised percussion instruments. Mistakes, out of tune guitars, larsen, forgotten words, songs with no name and even "what the hell with this bloody song ? Sorry I'll leave this one" weren't annoying or stressful. Everybody there was so thankful to the guys bringing us even pieces of songs we loved, we just wouldn't care. We didn't want it to end.

For all that, Rick promised (ok, let's be fair, said he would do his best) to organise a second night in about a month, and, eventually, every month. As you may guess, I'll be there cheering up during the next one. If I've got the guts – or more likely, if I find a partner to hide behind – I might even give it a try in some months with my "I started playing the guitar 4 months ago level" Hotel California ;-) But it won't be next time, so I can safely recommend you all to join the next session ! Stay tuned !

A big thumb up and thank you again to Rick, Laurent, and every person present yesterday night, being on stage on the groupie side !


Hobbes

PS to Rick: if you need any help to get the next one organised or some more advertisement, don't hesitate to ask !
HobbesApr 21, 2006 @ 13:40