Nice night.
While I no longer believe in resolutions per se' (you will either do something or you won't) I had promised myself something and I did not do it. So for those who came out on time, I apologize. I said come hell or high water I would always start the night at 8:30. Well we did not start till 8:45. Had some last minute snafus (one speaker is possessed by gremlins and cuts out), and what at the time was a short open mic list. My fear of a short or sparse feeling night kicked in and I hesitated. I have got to give these wonderful people who come out each week more credit.
here is an emcee/host/business comment-thingy:
it is my opinion that a show should be tight, fun-(not necessarily funny mind you),and worth your price of admission. Plus the emcee should have his/her time minimized due to the restraints of serving the crowd. In other words, the more your emcee talks/laughs/screws around-the more space he/she is trying to fill in so you won't notice the lack of poets/entertainment or the small man behind the mirrors. Now this is not to be confused with covering the basics-announcements, plugs,introductions,jokes pertaining to an immediate situation-all those things are what make a good emcee invaluable if they know their crowd and their timing is on point. In fact, that is one element that will endear a crowd to a spot. But a wise audience will quickly know when you are "on fire" and when you are "shuckin-jivin-hoping to stall a bit".)
That said, the crowd quickly rose to nice numbers and after a couple of poets came up I went to grab the list and noticed it had been filled up and poets had started signing in on the back of it.
I will always admit when I slip up. This crowd is awesome. Damn the protocol, from now on the night starts right at 8:30 even if there is only one person in the house!
Moving right along, the night was great! I don't know if we broke 100 people again but we had to be very close since I had to send for more chairs to be brought down twice.
Over 20 people on the open mic list and it was great to see everyone come out for the first open mic night of the new year.
very glad I chose to not have a feature the first week. I figured with the grand slam and the concert closing out December, it would only be right to have the people back in the limelight for the first open mic night of 2006.
I look forward to seeing how the night goes as the weather changes.
There were so many things that happened I can't begin to list it all here...some good,some bad,some ugly...alot funny.
I fed everyone cheesecake for no charge...even went around and served it myself. The sugar rush for an entire room full of poets was something to see.
Got some really nice news and will tell more when it becomes official.
For those who like the blow by blow rundown-come out and see for yourself. If you really can't make it out then get at me personally and I will give you the scoop.
take care.
