What used to be Sax on down near the end of 6th Avenue has gone through a change and is now Dirty Oscars’ Anex (2309 6th Ave, Tacoma). Inside, D.O.A. (as they call themselves) is an old school u-shaped bar with a decent liquor cabinet and a space off to the side where they push away some tables for the musicians and their friends. I talked with Kim Whalen, who alongside Evy Cox, took the remains of the Northern Pacific Coffee Company open mic crowd out in Parkland after it closed and have tried to transplant it into the heart (or maybe just outside the heart) of the 6th Ave drinking district. This is the 3rd week DOA has hosted the open mic and Kim and Evy are hopeful they can keep bringing in the crowds to keep it going.
After Doug Mackey and I left the near empty confines of the New Frontier Lounge's Tuesday night open mic, we finished up the night here. The small crowd is young and enthusiastic and while it was clear they all knew each other, they were very friendly and made you feel welcome. The open mic is hosted by Steven Perez.
I ran into Kim Archer but try as I might, I couldn’t get her to play. To her defense, she had four straight nights of performing in front of her and she was trying to get over the crud that’s been going around. Doug got up and played a few of his songs and I also heard some very good original songs from songwriter Michael Gee.
How would I rate it?
Tucked to the side of the room between the bar and the kitchen, this open mic feels a little temporary right now. While the PA system is decent a few small items would help things immensely such as a boom stand for the mic so it doesn't keep hitting the guitar and perhaps a second mic for musicians without pickups in their instruments, as would a few lights to highlight the performers would make a big difference.
The open mic’s that I’ve played at usually fall into two categories, in one, the crowd is there for the music and will give you their attentions, in the other, the crowd is there to socialize with their friends and the musician is part of the atmosphere. This open mic brought in a third element. As I got up to play, this young never-knew-a-world-where-the-Soviet-Union-existed aged crowd were all looking into their phones—a room of people focused on their own little screens was a new and somewhat surreal performing experience for me.
Details: The open mic is on Tuesday nights and starts at 9 and goes till closing. When I left at 11:30 things were still going strong. They had a sign-up sheet but the list wasn’t very long on the night I was there.
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