April 28th, 2024. The Music City Open Mic.

I’m a LITTLE embarrassed because when Gino the Bard rolled in (Gino Abellanosa) I got really gushy about their recent amazing successes in the world, touring the west coast with what SORT of seemed like a gender-fluid cover band of some sort (just Instagram posts, so not a LOT of information). Gino was dumbfounded as The Bard had been hunkered, working on a book! After a bit of Instagram scrolling I found that it was Gina Alibrio, not Gino Abellanosa, that has been touring the west coast. I am a foo.

A beautifully full night. As my open mics come back to what I think of as “full strength” (about 20 performers per night) I’m beginning to worry about being a victim of my own success. The nights running simply too long (for my own stamina, much less for what I’m being paid) not just for myself, but for an audience asked to stay out late on a school night.

However, I’d argue that these are STILL amazing shows – even if they’re long-winded, and I’m not sure that I’d change a thing. I’m fortunate enough to have BOTH of my open mics at locations where I’m not ACTUALLY crunched for time. The SPARK can literally go as late as I allow as long as we’re done for classes the next day, and Morsbergers doesn’t close till… sheesh … I actually have no IDEA when Morsbergers closes! Though we’d previously had to worry about the Pooligan time, as long as we’ve got a strong enough contingent there still watching the open mic, we’re welcome to keep the stage open and the tables closed.

20 is good though. I don’t want to aim for 25. We’d have to make changes at that point. But it’s a damned good ride!

We do this every Sunday night at Morsbergers at 713 Frederick Rd, Catonsville, MD, 21228. Signup at 6.30, music at 7pm. Enter through the back at the LARGER of the two doors! (the other entrances are straight to the bar side and Boba Fett won’t always point the way!) For information about the photos and videos and usage thereof, please visit https://www.ilyaimy.com/robsopenmics/#videosAndPhotos!

A special note to DRUMMERS : we’d Love for you to join us and have a house kit (please bring your own snare, cymbals and – of course – sticks / hotrods), however I need you to show up early to set it up (6pm) and we HOPE you’ll be comfortable sitting in with other performers if they ask you to! Time is generally pretty tight and we don’t have time to set up the kit, play two songs for one act, and get your kit back off stage again. It’s gotta be there the whole night! Though Morsbergers has a lot of metal bands on weekends, the open mic night tends to be more singer/songwriter – please be prepared to play accordingly (hot rods encouraged).