Last summer, some friends of mine got the opportunity to host a weekly open mic at my favorite Baltimore hang-out, Teavolve Cafe and Lounge. Due to a series of unanticipated cancelations and promotion difficulties, the open mic had a hard time getting and sustaining any attendance. Let me be perfectly clear – I am not blaming the venue, the hosts, the promotion process, or the customers for this open’s mic’s demise. I’m saying a bunch of unfortunate things happened that led to a slow fizzle of a really wonderful open mic at a really wonderful place.

Now, I love this place, and I want to hang out there. I want my friends to hang out there. I want hear my friends play music there. When I heard the open mic was being canceled for good, I approached the owner and opened the lines of communication to see if I might be able to take it over and move it to a different night, so as not to compete with a popular open mic hosted by my friends in the band ilyAIMY. A couple of months passed, and we ended up agreeing that we could make Monday nights happen every single week.

So: starting Monday, March 15, 2010, I will be hosting Teavolve’s new open mic. Sign up starts at 6:30, music will commence at 7:00, and we’ll finish out the night around 10:00. I know this blog entry will be stale in a couple of weeks, but the information here remains the same. Come play some music at Teavolve every Monday night – I would love to see you!

However! Baltimore – specifically Fells Point – is pretty darn convenient, in terms of location, and the Teavolve itself has lovely, high ceilings (hello, acoustics!) a cool, open floorplan, a delicious and affordable menu, and a staff that is never less than exceptionally wonderful. Now, I can’t possibly commit to making it every single week, but I have the best of intentions to make it whenever possible.

So! If you’re interested in seeing a nice variety of local artists, or are interested in performing at a new open mic, I highly recommend coming to Teavolve on Thursday nights. Sign-up is at 7:30ish, the music starts at 8, and it goes until midnight. I hope to see you there!

You can find the lyrics on my blog at myspace.com/acaciasearsmusic.