THE BUZZ...

“The willingness of ROM to offer musical events specifically to assist this church in the raising of much-needed funds is a surprising step of generosity that is deeply appreciated” –Rev. Branwen L. Cook, Roslindale Congregational Church

"ROM is 'mighty'" --David Roth

"Thank you folks so much for all your contributions to the music community through the ROM. I really enjoyed featuring, and think you folks have done a wonderful job living up to "Ana's" example of hosting a warm and welcoming open mike.  I know I speak for all the performers when I say "thank you so much" for providing a space to perform and hear others - you folks are doing great work, and I am grateful that I got a chance to be a part of it." --Chris Thompson

"The Roslindale Open Mic is one of the most well known and well attended open mics in the Boston area. It was our honor to be invited to perform as the feature act for their third anniversary bash on January 10th. We had a great time and tried some new music. The evening was filled with talented musicians and amazing performances. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSLINDALE OPEN MIC!" -- Guys and Dahl 

"What a fantastic feeling of community - something we need in these times, and always. You have something very wonderful happening"--Ellen Schmidt, open mike host, performance producer, and singer-songwriter

"The best open mic in all of Boston."--Rob Norberg

"It's an ideal venue...spacious, comfortable, and without competition to be heard from ice cream blenders or other small appliances"--Jim Taff

"The atmosphere created in that lovely church hall is very special"
--Ana Eder-Mulhane, host of the Java Jo's open mike

"You do a great job. Keep up the good work"
--Bill Sabat

NOTE: Unfortunately the adjacent F. J. Higgins Funeral Home has closed so at some point we will no longer be able to use the parking lot.

The next Roslindale Open Mike is Monday, 5/27/13 and our feature will be:

Suzanne Mrozak
and
Brian Cartwright

Suzanne fell in love with traditional music when she was introduced to it as part of her elementary school education on Ontario, Canada and it continues to be one of the great joys in her life. She has been active in the folk community for many years – the last 30 of them with the Folk Song Society of Greater Boston (www.fssgb.org). Before coming to Boston in 1979, she had the great fortune to live just two blocks from the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago and to be a member of the Sweet Betsy from Pike Memorial Autoharp Band, a group of eight autoharp players who delighted in singing and playing mostly traditional songs and tunes.

Brian picked up the guitar and harmonica at the age of 15 to join an amplified group of friends emulating the Lovin’ Spoonful and Stones, found classical music as a music major in college, and was preparing for Jimi Hendrix’s discovery of 12-tone techniques when Jimi exited. He dealt with the great disillusionment of the disco era by discovering contradance music while living in New Hampshire in the 80s. He is a carpenter in his spare time.

Suzanne and Brian met through a mutual friend in 2006 and have been making sweet music together ever since. They live in Roslindale and are very grateful to the ROM community for providing such a welcoming venue so close to home!

--
Thank yous go out to the Roslindale Congregational Church, the F. J. Higgins Funeral Home, Sam of the GreaterBostonHomeTeam.com, Primavera Restaurant Roslindale, Panera Bread West Roxbury, Cecelia Dahl, George Cronin, Chip Canty, Sue Burgess, Gerry Ryan, Charlie Ortolani, Melissa Fleming, Junko Ogawa, Tom Irving, King Yee, David Jackson, Branson Bofat, Steve Rapson, Tom Smith, Ed Banatt, Darwin MacDonald, Ken Porter, Cheryl Perreault, Jimmy Dorr, Peter Neuendorffer, Chief Noda, Chris Lee, Kathryn Howell, Roberto Mighty,, Jim Palana, and Barry Spiro for their time and generous donations to the church and ROM.

THE REGULAR DETAILS:

The Roslindale Open Mike (ROM) is held on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Roslindale Congregational Church, 25 Cummins Highway, Roslindale, MA 02131. This is diagonally across from the Post Office near Roslindale Square.

NOTE: Unfortunately the adjacent F. J. Higgins Funeral Home has closed so it is unlikely that we will be able to use the parking lot much longer.

All are Welcome!! No Cover!!

THE RULES: Roslindale Open Mike (ROM) uses a random draw of names to set the order of performers. Our goal is to be fair, equitable, and consistent. The names are randomly drawn from the basket of names at 6:40 PM. As a courtesy to people coming from work or from a distance, early signups are accepted by Neal via email only at neal@roslindaleopenmike.org up until noon of the ROM Monday. Anyone arriving after the names are being drawn are added to the end of the list in the order of arrival. People with special needs (as defined by ROM) or who have indicated that they will be arriving late will be accommodated if possible. After the performance order has been drawn, any swaps for an earlier or later slot may be arranged between the people requesting the swap, but only Neal, or his designee, will change the performance order on the board.  Anyone who misses their slot due to late arrival will be accommodated at some point after they arrive.

If there are 25 or fewer performers when the list is drawn, then the first 15 get 2 songs (up to 10 minutes) and the remainder of the list get 1 song (up to 5 minutes). If there are more than 25 performers it is a one-song night (up to 5 minutes each). This should allow everyone to perform before it gets too late, with an ending time goal of 10:30 PM

Everyone is requested to be tuned up and ready to go when it is their turn and to keep song introductions brief. Everyone is requested to maintain a listening room atmosphere and is encouraged to be courteous and respectful of all performers.

Doors open at 6 PM and the open mike performances start at 7 PM, with our evening feature act at 8:30 PM. We pass the "NOT-HAT" (because it's not a hat, it's a bowl) for the feature.

Mike usually has his "practice session" at 6 PM. So, show up early, stay ‘til late, or drop by when you can.

All refreshments are at NO COST but there is a donation basket, all of which is given to the church to thank them for offering this great venue.

This is an all-volunteer effort, so we would love for you to help out making this open mike a success. Would you like to help us set up, host, mix sound, clean up, etc?

Please consider bringing some food or beverages to share. (And of course this open mike is family friendly: non-alcoholic, drug-free, non-smoking and no inappropriate language. Please don't smoke on the church grounds--we don't want to lose this venue due to cigarette butts.)

When he's available, Steve Friedman of Melville Park (www.melvillepark.com) will be there to record your performance for your upcoming live CD.

You can email Neal (neal@roslindaleopenmike.ORG) or Mike (mike@mikedelaney.org) with suggestions on how to make the nights better and better.  

Neal Braverman
neal@RoslindaleOpenMike.org
www.RoslindaleOpenMike.org
www.ReverbNation.com/RoslindaleOpenMike  

Mike Delaney
mike@mikedelaney.org
www.mikedelaney.org
www.facebook.com/folkmikedelaney
www.reverbnation.com/MikeDelaney
www.myspace.com/folkmikedelaney
Twitter: FolkMikeDelaney

Revised: MFD 5/4/13 5:00 pm