ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OFF THE CLOCK
SOURCE: CHRIS HENSON
During the day, there might be a row of tomatoes there, or crates of peaches or even nothing at all, depending on the season.
But on Wednesday nights, the concrete market tables in front of the Full Moon Cafe in downtown Roanoke are littered with guitar cases, some open with instruments missing, others shut and latched tightly. A dozen or so people mill around, tuning those guitars. They practice a few of the harder chords, or smoke a last cigarette under the yellow awning and autumnal sky above.
It's sort of a makeshift backstage for the Open Mike Showdown inside. The event is a joint effort between the Full Moon and the members of the Roanoke band Radar Rose. And anyone who wants to can step inside, stand on the small stage and sing for their 15 minutes of fame and humiliation.
In a way, it's like being backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville or the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. It's standing room only inside. You can't even swing your guitar around without hitting someone in the back of the head.
"I do punk acoustic love songs," says Misty Thompson on a recent Wednesday night. Her stage name is Beaver. Barefoot, she stands near the door clutching an acoustic guitar, waiting her turn. "I've played maybe five times this year. The first time was the best. I was real nervous, and the crowd was real responsive."
When her name is called, she steps inside and does her thing. She sings a few original songs. She does well, but not as well as she hoped. "It wasn't that great" she says. ``Because, umm ... I suck. No, I just felt like the audience wasn't really responsive. I guess I'm just kind of quiet. Like, I'm not really a bar musician. I'm supposed to be a studio musician."
That's her goal. Grand prize for winning the amateur is six hours of free recording time at Southwest Recording Studios in Roanoke. Also at stake: five hours of management consulting from Roanoke Full Circle Management, $100 worth of instrument rental from the Fret Mill, a $100 certificate from Alex's New Tattoo, and a handmade drum from the Tie Dye Guy.
The showdown will run eight Wednesdays, with the final contenders set to shoot it out Nov. 20. Each week is sponsored by a different area business, like New Mountain Mercantile and the Roanoke Co-op. Three representatives of the sponsoring businesses act as judges and pick the best performance for the week. Then the sponsors supply the prize for that week.
"The competition is stiff!" says Jane Gabrielle, one of the event's organizers and lead singer for Radar Rose. "We've got some killer musicians here. I mean, I'm amazed! There's talent in these mountains that people don't even know about."
On this particular evening, the sponsor is Chico and Billy's Prestigious Pizza Palace. Both Billy Tresky and David "Chico" Estrada sit around a small table directly in front of the artists and scrawl their adjudications. When a band gives a less than perfect performance Chico jumps to his feet whistling and clapping. Should he, a judge and all, be applauding the contestants? What about objectivity? "Uh ... I'm not applauding," he says. "I'm making these guys feel better."
Roanoke College student Phil Norman hits the stage in a Texas Tavern T-shirt. He beats up on his guitar and sings an emotional set. The packed house is especially quiet, then the applause erupts.
"I'm an English student right now," he says. "But I want to be a professional musician someday." He likes coming here because, even with the competition, open mike night is laid back.
There is a communal respect among all the contestants, whether they are seasoned performers or first-timers bitten by the "I-can-do-that-uhh-I-think" bug. "I've never done this before," says Tom Meloche as he tunes his axe. He's an electrical contractor. "I've come down here three or four times to watch the acts. I like what I see. It's comfortable and everybody's mellow, you know."
Meloche is going to do some '70s rock stuff.
"You got to give these people credit and respect. They're brave people.''
Competition or not, the open mike nights are a great way to get yourself in front of an audience. "Essentially, we come down here and practice on Wednesday nights," says Donna Wood of her band BeachWood Aged. "This way we have an audience, and we don't disturb our neighbors." She and partner Cliff Beach used to play together in college in the '70s.
"One night recently, at a friend's insistence, I walked in here for open mike," she says. "Cliff was playing, so he called me up to the stage and we did a song we remembered." Now they're gigging again, playing their Country Rock Alternative Western Love songs. "We call it CRAWL music," she says.
When all is sung and strummed, Phil Norman is selected the winner for the evening. There were a lot of good musicians, but everyone seems to agree he was the best. He'll be back for the finals in November.
The Open Mike Showdown is going to skip a few weeks to give everyone some practice time. The next night of competition is Oct. 9. So start tuning.
And while studio time, or a free tattoo, are good incentives, Jane Gabrielle knows the real perspective, the higher purpose of it all. "This is just a thing to make everybody think bigger," she says. "Think better."
She takes a moment to point to the row of guitar cases, where the tomatoes and peaches aren't. "These people are practicing, man. They come out each week with a bigger sound. More original songs. Better, man. It's just betterness.
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