Seattle Weekend Scene: Open Mic Night

I love Seattle’s open mic scene. It’s hard to find one on a weekend, so if you have to wake up early for work, it can be tough to make it out to one of these. I was at the Blue Moon’s open mic last night to perform with my good friend KatiRose. I don’t know if you’d classify us as a “band” or not, but we call ourselves Chapsy, and having a name is one step towards bandship. It’s a nickname she assigned me when I used to ride a motorcycle everywhere, and was a chronic wearer of leather motorcycle chaps. At any rate, we like to play music at open mics, it’s a nice casual setting where there’s never any serious pressure to do a good job.

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Last night there was a lengthy spoken-word piece that was part Tibetan chant, part jazz-scat, and part lecture. In my opinion, that is what is so great about open mics: the eclectic variety. This spoken-word guy is a regular at the Blue Moon. Wednesdays at The Hopvine in Capitol Hill has another eclectic regular, a very tenacious old lady (probably in her 90’s) who sits and sips on PBR on the rocks out of a short glass while she waits her turn for the microphone. Then she reads her poetry, then makes her way through to every single table selling copies of her work.

Molly Maguire’s in Ballard has an open mic regular named Hans who is a Korean stand up comedian. He does the open mic there to test out material on the audience, and he’s pretty funny! Conor Byrne (also in Ballard) is a great open mic where you’re probably most likely to see actual recording musicians trying out new material.

So perhaps this coming week, try to get out to the open mic closest to you and see if you can spot the odd act. You might even come across Chapsy!

Also this weekend, after the Seahawks presumably beat the Falcons, head out to the home of The Rat City Roller Girls for their season opener. These bouts truly are highly entertaining; part spectacle, part sport competition. Choose your favorite team to root for (The Socket Wenches, Grave Danger, Throttle Rockets or the dreaded Derby Liberation Front) and scream your head off. It’s that easy! Saturday, opening ceremonies start at 5:30, $20 general admission, The Rats Nest: 19022 Aurora Ave. N.

I recommended The Seamonster in my last article, and I’m going to do it once more here. They have an excellent Sunday jazz brunch that is an absolute must. When I checked this out a few weeks ago there wasn’t a line out the door, it was nice and easy to find a table. The jazz is live and mellow, and the food is fantastic, nothing on the menu is above $10.

There you are: great music for those times when you’re not watching great football. Go Hawks!

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