Wow. Last night was a lot. In a good way. In a bad way. It’s the extremes of everything that make Life interesting though!
Martin Luther King Day is a big deal in Baltimore. And it should be. I wish people cared abotu it everywhere, but you know, Virginia was busy celebrating firearms, so people have different priorities in different places and it’s a free country – but here in Baltimore, Teavolve is usually pretty nuts after the MLK Parade. I’ve known this for years.
I remember last year, I was chatting with Sunni as I came in and Teavolve was SLAMMED – and she was acting sort of surprised and I was like “but it’s like this EVERY year!” and she kind of gave me a blank look – and I was like “you’re a premiere black-owned business and it’s Martin Luther King Day!” and she… was shocked that she hadn’t realized it before. In any case, this year there was extra staff and of course THIS year we had a vicious cold snap and people didn’t come over after the parade and I was shocked (SHOCKED I SAY!) to walk into an absolutely dead space! No-one was there. It was… weird. Extra staff had been sent home and we had My left and that was it and as of 6:30 very few signups and only one or two tables in.
Well. That changed.
A.W.E.D. Tess. Ray Forton.
I knew people would come out for my feature – Karter Jaymes is someone I’ve known for at least five years or so, but I’m pretty sure our Venn Diagrams o’ gigs have crossed paths before that. I’ve known him for a long time but he’s always a random presence. He pops in out of nowhere, blows minds, vanishes. Since he’s a rarity I was pretty sure parts of the Baltimore music community were going to come out and represent. So the open mic, though a little late in hitting it’s stride, had great turnout, a great list…
… and then the party of 30 showed up.
Sunni apologized later. She’s apparently gotten into the habit of turning away party bookings on Monday nights because it screws with the room so much, and our reputation’s important. So she’d told this party that Monday wasn’t an option. They came anyway, but because they hadn’t been booked, Sunni hadn’t said anything like “people are assholes, and even though I said they couldn’t hold their party at Teavolve, they might come anyway” and we were already staffed light because the day had been light and… shit, poor My was the only server for the whole room and said room was about at capacity. We were dragging in extra chairs and people were standing and the noise from the back was OUTRAGEOUS. When the party let out and they straggled out (round about 9?) I realized I’d been running about 30% louder than I normally roll and … well… if I was a prescient entity I’d have moved the list around a little bit to throw my poets into the quiet part of the night once they’d all gone the Hell home.
No matter. It was a great night. A couple of new artists, a couple of my favourite not-quite-regular-enough-to-be-regulars, and a good time had.
Karter Jaymes:
“Karter Jaymes’ writing styles range from soul,blues,folk,& alternative sounds. A blend of seasoned,soulful vocal tones take lyrical flight into the versatility of today. Karter Jaymes is now a Grammy nominated artist for the album,”Joy”, recorded by Teddy Pendergrass, which counted Gold & Platinum worldwide.His soulful history & influence is a wide stretch, as his songs have been recorded & sampled by the industry’s finest!”
Yeah – whatever. If I wrote Love songs like Karter did I’d have gotten married ten years earlier and it would’ve been a disaster. If I wrote with the social awareness of Karter Jaymes… if I wrote with the clarity of Karter Jaymes… if I … well, the world would be a different place. He’s got an incredible voice, and unlike MANY artists who have an incredible voice, he’s got the writing and intelligence to mean it’s not just surface. His songs effect heart and mind, his joy is contagious on and OFF the mic… and he wears awesome pants. I gave him an extra song because I damn well wanted to AND I’d thrown him up a little bit early, figuring I wanted to get the Karter Jaymes sound in before the party in the back got TOO inebriated (e.g. LOUD) and… well… I feel I made good choices.
Devon Cardell. Gino the Bard. Lacey Ukulele. READ. Robb Johnson. Silent Gnomes. Brian Red Bull. Q.
Featured artists are made possible through donations by our in-house audience and Focus Music – www.focusmusic.org.
Video at : https://youtu.be/72BmQGHJp7E
Gallery at : http://www.ilyaimy.com/wordpress/?p=16322
The Teavolve Café & Lounge open mic happens just about every Monday at Teavolve, signup at 6pm, performances from 7-10pm. 2 songs / 10 minutes whichever’s shorter, with a PG13 environment – and is hosted by rob Hinkal of the band ilyAIMY. Rob’s Open Mics were declared a National Open Mic by Shure Microphones, “Best of DC” from Dcmusicdownload.com and have received recognition from the Library of Congress. Search “rob’s open mics” for more info.
Tonight we were graced with:
- rob
- A.W.E.D.
- Tess
- Ray
- Dave Benham
- Karter Jaymes
- Devon Cardell
- Gino the Bard
- Lacey
- Henry
- READ
- Robb Johnson
- Silent Gnomes
- Brian Red Bull
- Q
- rob
1 thought on “January 20th, 2020. Martin Luther King, Karter Jaymes, and a party of 30.”
Holy shit! Your kick off of the night was spectacular, spectacular, spectacular!
Probably one of the best Superstitions EVER…I’m just saying…