The Wood ‘n’ Lips Open Mic Newsletter

Hi all,

When I left the house to come to the open mic, the thermometer was bubbling at 100 degrees— while my plumber was replacing the air conditioner that chose this week to meet the great re-cycler in the sky.  THANK GOD for the ’ efficient climate control!  It’s the place to be on a hot afternoon or evening.

A couple of days ago I received a call from a young lady asking about our open mic; she is writing an article about the San Diego music scene, and her opening comment stuck with me. She said that during her inquiries about local open mics, ours kept coming up, and the usual comment was that it was different from the rest and had a special quality. 

I’m proud to say that I agree; the pervasive atmosphere you detect when you enter the Friendly Grounds Coffee House on Thursday evenings is one of love and camaraderie. Walking blindly into the room, you might think you’ve stumbled upon a family gathering or a class reunion with lots of hugging and “Good to see ya’s.” The nice thing is you won’t feel like an outsider; our people are quick to welcome anyone who enters, whether they are a performer or an audience member.  I love that about us—For the Love of Mic, indeed.  Thank you all for that.

This week a few performers from our upcoming came by to work on their sets.

6:30 Tim Woods:  I debuted a new tune, Tanya Tucker’s “Delta Dawn” (recorded when she was 13 years old); Jimmie Rodgers’ “In the Jailhouse Now”; I’m My Own Grandpa”, written by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe, popularized by Ray Stevens; The Royal Guardsmen’s “Snoopy & The Red Baron”; Neal and Leandra’s “Old Love”.

6:45 B Sapp (Blake Sappington):  Was performing solo tonight; he started with City and Color’s “Sleeping Sickness”; then did an original, “I Want You Here”; Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”; and Augustana’s “Fire”.  While it’s obvious that Blake plays well with others, he holds up well as a solo performer too.

7:00 The Bob & Bob Bluegrass Band, (Bob Arsenault, Bob Cool, Tom Barbarie, Greg Gross, & John Movius): Scored a half-hour set, in preparation for their music festival appearance. Their set was: “Smoky Mountain Breakdown”; Ken Orik’s “November Rain”’; “Bluegrass Stomp”; “That Old Log Cabin with the Gray Tile on the Floor and the Little White Washed Chimney” (that’s probably not the title, I neglected to clarify that); “Blue Ridge Mountain Home”; Bob Cool’s “San Diego Breakdown”; “Ten Long Years”; and Robert Johnson’s “Up Jumped the Devil”. If you wonder why I don’t credit most Bluegrass tunes, it’s because most of them are so darn old they aren’t attributed.

7:15 Ray Poe, Les Armstrong & Tom Barbarie:  It was a bit of an impromptu lineup of players—a good one too.  They did Ray Price’s “My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You”; Garth Brooks’ “Burning Bridges”; Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”; Hank Snow’s “I Love You Because”; and Merle Haggard’s “Ramblin’ Fever”.

7:45 Les Armstrong (with Ray Poe and Tom Barbarie): The threesome continued on into Les’s set with George Strait’s “Fort Worth” and “Fireman”; Ronnie Milsap’s “Legend in My Time”;  and John Anderson’s “Swinging”.  I usually don’t encourage two groups of the same people playing back-to-back, because people like to hear variety, but sometimes the logistics of it makes it easier.

8:00 Greg Gross:  My co-host was up next; he brought the audience to their feet  with “The Star Spangled Banner”; followed by John McCutcheon’s “The Old Brown’s Head Light”; Hank Williams’s “Jambalaya”; then, with cues from his computer, he did the Limelighters’ “Until We Get it Right”.

8:15 Peter & Marquita: The duo, spawned by our open mic, was also prepping for the Friends ofOpen Mic Festival. They treated us to an original, Marquita’s, “Candle Light Dance” (written for Pete’s Granddaughter Haley and Nancy, his wife); The Sandpipers’ “Come Saturday Morning”; Vern Williams’ “The Touch of God’s  Hand”; and Loggins and Messina’s “Listen to a Country Song”.

8:30 Tom Smerk: Tom has been doing workshops on performing, spreading his knowledge to other aspiring performers.  Tonight he got to demonstrate with;  Harry McClintock’s “Big Rock Candy Mountain”; Sarah Petite’s “Little House”; T. Graham Brown’s “Wine Into Water”; finishing with America’s “The Sandman”.   That’s a pretty varied set.

8:45 Mary McGerald: Led off with Merle Travis’ “Sixteen Tons”; then turned the rest of her set to her Grandson Layne McGerald.  He finished with Elvis Presley’s “Mean Woman Blues”, “Heart Break Hotel”; then an original “Crotch Rocket Biker”.  It’s clear that he admires a certain era of rock music—he even has the hair to prove it.

9:00 Bob Setzer: Gave us a great Johnny Cash song about stealing a Cadillac one piece at a time while working at the factory, called appropriately “One Piece at a Time”; and his own originals, “Leave a Message after the Beep”; and the more polished “Shut the Whole World Out”.

9:15 Rose Scibelli with Mary McGerald:  I think we’ve got Rose hooked on the open mic, this week she enlisted Mary to join her; they did Flatt & Scruggs’  “Rough and Rocky”; Norman Blake’s “Last Train from Poor Valley”; Nita Homan joined them for “The House of the Rising Sun” (most notably done by The Animals); the ladies finished with Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Stewball”.

Another pleasant evening of entertainment to add to our annals.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the July 16^th, For  at the Trolley Square Shopping Center’s Amphitheater in Santee.  Celebrating ten years of the Wood ‘n’ Lips Open Mic, it will be from 10:00 in the morning until 6:00 pm with some of our best performers.

God Bless and have a good week.

Tim Woods, Greg Gross, and the Wood ‘n’ Lips open mic crew