Riverview Cafe...

We had the chance to play an open mic last night at the Riverview Cafe in Minneapolis. We were a duo, Ross and I, and because we were new we had the chance to jump up in the list and get on stage for our three songs before the event closed.

An open mic often draws singer/songwriter types who wish to try out material with an audience and this night was no exception. The problem is, though, that so many of the songs are, in effect, the emesis of some personal tragedy or larger global concern. If rock and roll can be critiqued for being too trite folk music could also be critiqued for taking itself to seriously. I wish I had a nickel for every time someone stood up on stage at an open mic and said "I wrote this song in a very hard time for me...", or "I'm so concerned about the environment that I just had to write this song..." which unfortunately sounds like all the other protest songs on the topic. Maybe that's what is meant by reduce, reuse, recycle.

Ross and I, though, we keep our emotional baggage to ourselves and we save cans without singing about it. Our set was swingy, light, Cajun, and made people feel like dancing. Not a shred of heartbreak, not a single emotional crisis, and it was like air was let into the room for the first time. Come to think of it maybe that was our message.

Anyway, we'll be back and next time I want to see some people dance.