THE BUZZ...

"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

The next Roslindale Open Mike is Monday, 2/13/12.
Our feature will be...

Chris Gerstner (www.christianagerstner.com).

Born and raised in Michigan, where she began writing songs at the family piano at the age of five, Chris Gerstner spent her youth singing harmony in the back seat with her sisters and listening to great songwriters of the 70's. She also soaked up an eclectic mix of musical genres that none of her friends listened to, like the Great American Songbook, British folk, bluegrass, and musical theater.


Chris moved to the Boston area and found new musical influences, such as Iris Dement, Hank Williams, Eva Cassidy, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, and many more. For years she wrote songs which she sang with great passion to her living room walls when no one was home. She gradually began performing her songs publicly and became active in the Boston singer/songwriter community.  After participating in the Summer Acoustic Music Week sponsored by folk radio station WUMB in 2006, Chris made connections with other Boston-area musicians and was part of the acoustic trio Muddy Limo for four years, with Brad Meyer and Charlie Koch. 

These days, Chris performs solo mostly, accompanying herself on piano or guitar. But she loves to sing harmony and often backs up other singers, and also loves to invite some of her talented musical friends to join her on stage.

Chris also runs the Fireside Coffeehouse in Norwood, a Sunday afternoon open mike every other month that features musical duos and trios. 

Thank yous go out to the Roslindale Congregational Church, the F. J. Higgins Funeral Home, Sam of the GreaterBostonHomeTeam.com, Cecelia Dahl, George Cronin, Chip Canty, Sue Burgess, Gerry Ryan, Charlie Ortolani, Junko Ogawa, Tom Irving, King Yee, David Jackson, Branson Bofat, Steve Rapson, Tom Smith, Ed Banatt, Darwin MacDonald, Ken Porter, and Barry Spiro for their time and generous donations to the church and ROM.

THE REGULAR DETAILS:

The Roslindale Open Mike 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.

You can park in the adjacent F. J. Higgins Funeral Home parking lot, unless they are having a very large wake.

All are Welcome!! No Cover!!

The Open Mike sign up will begin at 6 PM. The Open Mike sign up will begin at 6 PM with a random draw for performance order a little before 7 pm. We will draw names written on pieces of paper to determine the order of the open mike performers. Feel free to trade for an earlier or later slot.

The open mike starts 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. The first fifteen performers will get two songs (or 10 minutes) and after that it will be a one song night. The one-song performers will be put on a list to make sure they get two songs at the next open mike.

Mike is planning to have the sound set up for his "practice session" at 6 PM. So, show up early, stay ‘til late, or drop by when you can.

All refreshments will be at NO COST but there will be a donation basket, all of which will be redirected 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, mix sound, clean up, etc?

Please consider bringing some food or beverages to share. (And off 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.sonicbids.com/MikeDelaney
www.myspace.com/folkmikedelaney