Jackson Hole News&Guide, April 6, 2011
We showed up at Cafe Boheme at 8 p.m. and already the music was in full swing.My friend and I grabbed a corner table and settled into the relaxed, unpretentious milieu. An ad hoc three-person band played a country western tune to several tables of wine- and mocha-sipping locals.
Wait, did I say locals? Sure enough, but it’s the face of the new Jackson, where men in cowboy hats mix with hippies, and covers of Carole King or Waylon Jennings songs are followed by a bit of punk or ska.
Jackson Hole has a burgeoning open mic scene, with Cafe Boheme as the latest and most popular addition.
At the table next to us, four people conversed in French. A mixed-race family with two school-age girls sipped lemonade at another table, while a crowd of Gaper Day-goers, still in their costumes, gathered in front of the musicians. Meanwhile, a hipster-looking Mexican man served drinks.
For a dreamy moment, I imagined I had been transported to an easygoing liberal outpost like Portland, Ore. Diversity and harmony reigned—musically and in the crowd.
And what a crowd it was. I’ve attended Boheme’s event twice, and both times the audience grew from 20 to 40 to standing room only within the course of an hour.
“It’s so nice to give the community an option besides a bar,” Julie Deardorff, co-founder of the cafe’s open mic, said. “And it’s great to have an 18-year-old followed by a 90-year-old.”
And with a starting time of 7:30 p.m., a teenage rock band can play a few songs and still get home in time to do homework. (Right, guys?)
Deardorff teamed up with two friends, Jenny Landgraf and Sally McCullough (who host the evenings), and Cafe Boheme owner Cathy Beloeil to start the open mic in February. It was an immediate hit. Beloeil, who is French, remembers a night in March when the scene was vibrantly international.
“We had two Peruvian singers and one Brazilian. It was amazing,” she said. “The open mic night helps me move forward toward my vision of Cafe Boheme becoming a true space for artists to express themselves.”
The acoustics at Boheme leave a lot to be desired, but nobody is complaining. Singer Robin Moore praised the supportive feel of the local scene.
“The important thing about this open mic is the wide representation of age and genre, amateurs as well as professionals,” she said before dashing up to the stage to sing a Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash tune:
We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout.Open forum music nights foster community, give us a break from our over-mediated world and provide local musicians much-needed venues to share new work. Once in a while, open mics even launch new talent onto the national stage.
We’ve been talkin’ ’bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out.
I’m goin’ to Jackson, I’m gonna mess around....
Conversely, hosting open mics enables established musicians to encourage other artists and keep the local scene alive.
As if he wasn’t busy enough with Screen Door Porch, Global Review and his quartet The Docks, award-winning songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Aaron Davis hosts two semiannual open stage events in the off-season. The first one, coming up 7:30-11:00 p.m. Saturday at the Silver Dollar Bar in The Wort Hotel, welcomes all comers.
When Davis moved to Jackson in 2001, his favorite open mic was held at the Shady Lady.
“Being new to town, it was a really cool way to meet other people,” he said.
He went on to host his own open mics at 43 North and South Side Pub.
“At first, I hosted open mics because a lot of my friends wanted to come out and play,” Davis said. “Over the years, it became a social thing. Plus, it keeps me on my toes.”
Musicians often ask one another to sit in and help out with a tune, which means picking it up right away, sans practice.
If musicians benefit from the impetus to learn and play new songs each week, audiences benefit from hearing an old favorite or discovering a new voice. At Jackson’s Hole Bar & Grill (formerly Eleanor’s Cuvee), open mic host Zach Byars said, “Musicians want that venue and outlet. Songwriters get a chance to put new stuff out there and have an audience.”
A genial 20-something whose day job is ski instruction at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Byars emcees the bar’s weekly Thursday night open mic from 8 p.m. to close.
The scene is pure small Rocky Mountain town, with a lot of twangy western singing, tall barstools, whiffs of bourbon and French fries permeating the air. The audience is surprisingly mixed, age-wise, with no one generation dominating.
Byars’ songs have a rambling Texan feel to them. Other musicians play straight-up rock. One Thursday in February, an unassuming guy with an incredible voice named Pat Chadwick sang Simon and Garfunkle’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” and blew at least one reporter away.
The mama pajama rolled out of bedWhen Cracker played Teton Valley, Idaho’s Music on Main last year, the alternative rock band did a surprise gig at the Knotty Pine Supper Club’s open mic. Hosted by Shawn Doyle of Kole Moulton and Lonely Road, the Knotty’s open mic draws all kinds of musical talent every Thursday at 9 p.m.
And she ran to the police station.
When the papa found out he began to shout,
And he started the investigation.
“We get full bands, acoustic, funk, punk,” Doyle said. “It’s so random.”
Doyle says open mics are great for fledgling bands that want a chance to play on a stage.
“It’s a foot in the door for them,” he said.
Like Davis, singer Dahvi Wilson gravitated to her local open mic—the Knotty—when she was new to town. She met other musicians there with whom she formed the female-fronted band Lunkur, which made its mark with several original songs as well as inspired covers of classics like “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Not Fade Away” and “Son of a Preacher Man.” The group was together for three years and played at Teton Village, 43 North, the Stagecoach, and Music on Main.
The only one who could ever reach me
Was the son of a preacher man.
For many longtime Jackson-area residents, open mic is synonymous with the Jackson Hole Hootenanny at Dornan’s. But Hootenanny co-founder Dick Barker is quick to correct that misconception.
“We have always tried hard to avoid the term ’open mic,’ ” he said.
He and co-founder Bill Briggs had a long-standing predilection for traditional acoustic folk music, which they turned into a sort of style guide for the Hoot. All musicians are welcome to play, as long as they stick to this acoustical, traditional spirit. Except for featured or special guests, musicians sign up on the night of the event and get to play two songs each. No skits, no poetry, thank you very much.
Talking is firmly discouraged during the performances at Dornan’s; however, singing along is OK. No need to dress up. This is a good, old-fashioned Jackson Hole crowd, with plenty of plaid shirts, jeans and salt-and-pepper hair. A proud bighorn sheep head looms over the stage, as it has since the event’s founding in 1993.
Unlike at many open mics, each singer or band gets a formal introduction from Barker or Briggs. On the Hoot’s 800th night this past March, Briggs gave a warm welcome to nationally acclaimed folk musicians Anne and Pete Sibley, who got their start at the Hoot and have performed there more than 100 times.
“We like to think we’re somewhat responsible for their success,” Briggs said.
Anne Sibley said Briggs was right on. Performing at the Hoot challenged the duo to come up with new material and to hone their skills.
“It’s a great, disciplined way to learn new music,” Anne said, cradling her new baby, Sam, backstage after singing the duo’s new single, “Long, Long Love.”
Other open mics in the valley include a couple hosted by Peter “Chanman” Chandler at Lotus Cafe and out at the village. His gigs are taking a hiatus for the off-season, but look for them again when summer kicks off. The Hoot, too, will take a break during April.
But the other open mics continue through the season.
Don’t be surprised if you see your kid’s teacher or a your local painting contractor up on stage.
As Dahvi Wilson said, “Open mics are a great way to get involved in your community.”
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