The Beatnik Lounge Open Mic carries the spirit of accessibility and variety this Saturday (7/25)
The Beatnik Lounge is holding their monthly open mic this Saturday, hosted by local folk chanteuse Frances Whetsaw. Reporter Gabriel Hart chatted with Whetsaw about what makes the open mic an accessible alternative to regular venue shows, and the transformative and sporadic elements that often occur at these intimate gatherings.
While a typical live music venue must focus on an artist’s ticket sales, social media presence, self-promotion, and tight musicianship to book acts, a town’s open mic night will offer a more accessible, often more adventurous alternative for artists to perform in front of a curious crowd. These free or donation-based gatherings harbor an intimacy and unpredictability you can’t find at a nightclub, and several community spaces in the Morongo Basin currently host open mics at The Palms in Wonder Valley, Frontier Café in Yucca Valley, Grnd Sqrl in 29 Palms, and the Beatnik Lounge in Joshua Tree—all proven hot spots for the under-radar artist.
Frances Whetsaw, who has been hosting the open mic at the Beatnik Lounge for over two years, says some of her favorite musical moments have happened there, on nights that can be transformational for both the performer and the attendees.
“You see people get up there, and you watch their body like they’re kind of like stiff and awkward and then they start playing…and then for the first time you get to see them feel the energy of an audience. A lot of people that come to the Beatnik Open Mic have never played in front of anyone other than their cat, you know? They see people smiling and then it’s just this whole thing unfolds, like this energy exchange, and then when they’re finished and there’s clapping, they’re like “oh!” It’s very sweet.”
Variety is the spice of the open mic, and beyond your usual guitar-playing singer-songwriters, Beatnik’s Open Mic in June featured a solo harmonica player, an accordionist, and woman named Candice who poured her heart into a piano lament about her cat who had just passed away.
An open mic isn’t limited to music; often poets and other writers will perform spoken word, or an occasional comedian will try to get a laugh out of the crowd. Many people assume open mics are for amateurs only, but local legends will often sign up to test new material, as well as accomplished experimentalists.
After everyone on the list has played, Whetsaw says the Beatnik does an after jam where players collaborate on old standards. She recalls a time where drumming legend Danny Frankel showed up with no drums and improvised on whatever was lying around.
“It kind of inspired people to pick up whatever, so we had like tambourines and what not, doing a Velvet Underground cover and then it turned into all of us at the Beatnik writing a song together. There’s no pretension at all. People will walk in like, “Oh what is this, an open mic? But I don’t have a guitar, and I’m like, ‘Well there’s only nine people on the list if you wanna be number ten and can someone lend him their guitar?”
The monthly last Saturday Beatnik Lounge Open Mic happens this Saturday, July 25, located at 61597 Twentynine Palms Highway in downtown Joshua Tree, right next to Royal Siam Thai restaurant. Sign up to play at 6:30, show begins at 7:00.
