In order to increase the amount of nuttiness in our world, we are hosting a monthly open mic at our bookshop. If you were not at the last open mic, then you should be sad. Very sad. We are not moralists, but when you stand on the edge of the volcano filled with the molten muse of high and low culture that is the contemporary open mic, it is not something you survive without feeling like you have EXPERIENCED SOMETHING. Current retail trends are all about EXPERIENCES, so our capitalist betters keep telling us. Whoever argues that Jason’s bad poetry, stand-up comedy, pretty-good literary experiments, and singing, is not, taken altogether, an experience, has not truly opened hearts to the wider world.
Sure, we can all aspire to the greater good, the city on the hill, the dawning of tomorrow, or whatever tired cliche you’d prefer to describe people making the world a better place — and perhaps we DO make it a better place, day by day — but sometimes you just want to DIVEST yourself of that great duty to Excellence and try out what you secretly think IS BETTER, or ALMOST as better, or downright ridiculous, in front of people. Some might sneer. Some might say the threads of social order are coming apart. Some might say that all modern music is noise and that a band of merry art-makers, tongues firmly planted in their cheek, have nothing to offer the Ordered Way of Things. We feel differently. We feel embarrassed, and loved, and silly, and impressed. We applaud anyone who can rise above their dumb limitations and just let ‘er rip on a banjo.
So, if the Antler River paths are not calling out to you tomorrow night for a bike ride, or if your relationship isn’t quite doing it for you, or you’re suspicions are that your latest poem is awful (or good), then haul your ghost to the bookshop. The open mic, a place where nonjudgment and judgment co-exist, where the steely silence following your act is a stew of all things present and unpredictable, is waiting for you.
Tomorrow night starting at 7pm!
With love,
Jason and Vanessa
