“Songwriters Open Mic” (SOM) is a monthly show held at Oz’s Music Environment in Ann Arbor (www.ozmusic.com ). Half-hour videotapes of the live show are broadcast every week in Ann Arbor (www. a2ctn.org) and in Grand Rapids (www.grcmc.org/tv/) I host the open mic and edit the tv show. More about that some other time.
2008 was another wonderful, fun year for Songwriters Open Mic. Here in no particular order – or perhaps in some subconscious order you can fathom – are Jim Novak’s Favorite Performances of 2008. These are my favorites – not really “best of,” except in a subjective sense. After all, when I edit these performances I get to watch and listen over and over and over again. So, after what I guess you could call repeated exposure, here are my fav’s, limited to one per songwriter. This is how I remember SOM2008.
Dan Cooper, The Real Thing
(Dan is a Broadway pro and is starring as Che in “Evita” at The Encore Theater in Dexter, Michigan, in February, 2009; (www.theencoretheatre.org/)
Laurel Federbush, Opportunity Knocks
(Laurel on harp and vocal, lyrics by Robert Ponte)
Paul Epstein, Ain’t No Love in This World No More
(Paul passionately pounding the piano)
The Hummingbirds, Washtenaw (www.thehummingbirds.com )
(S.G. and Rachel Lynn came in to talk up their songwriters’ workshop in the U.P.)
The Kronic Vibes, You Turn Me to Stone (www.myspace.com/thekronicvibes)
(Great bunch of guys—they booked Oz’s for a rehearsal during my open mic, but we worked it out)
Dave Morse, My Eyes Don’t Lie
(He took a phrase of his daughter’s and added great chords and rhythm)
Hunter Wade, Baseball Song (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=71734679 )
(A gay guy with a certain attraction to The Game)
Chad Williams, December
(A song just like Melville’s “damp drizzly November in my soul”)
David Alles, Alchemy
(David was in law school here, then moved back East)
Kurt Ringquist, Did We Go Where
(Kurt’s in the media biz, also has moved back East)
Taya Lee, Grasshopper
(Taya used to live down the street from me, in the big old house where they had drum parties on the Summer Solstice etc)
Cristian Cirosca, Sincere Stranger
(Recent immigrant to Ann Arbor, from Rumania)
“T”, Tattoo Psychosis
(Immigrant from Beatnik-land and Lord Buckley)
Gary Taylor, Good Trouble
(Also wrote a whole suite of broken-hearted country songs)
Ruth Salles, Big Poppa
(That voice and that song go so well together)
Jack Richards, Southern Country Traveling
(Jack got a new guitar this year!)
“Brooke”, Letters from 1881
(She did a couple funny songs, and then this one based on love letters written over 100 years ago)
That’s it—Jim Novak’s SOM Favorites of 2008.
Later this year, I’ll add some photo’s of these SOM performers to this site.
If you were at the shows, or watched the performances on TV, let me know if you like my favorites or if your favorites are different from mine.
Next Songwriters Open Mic live show: the first Tuesday of every month at 7:30pm. Songwriters can do 3 songs or 15 minutes.
Next tv show: every Tuesday at 8pm and Thursday at 4 pm, Channel 17, Ann Arbor (Comcast Cable).