End of An Era

If you go to open mic at Penny Lane, well don't. Cause it's over.

Per Jeff, the man who ran it, it's done.


Hello to all,

I hope every one had a happy new year. Every new year brings new changes. With a good bit of sadness, I'm sending this email out to announce that one of those changes means that there will be no open mic at Penny Lane going forward. It was time for it to end.

Attendance had been down for a while, and I didn't feel that the food and drink sales resulting from the open mic justified its existence anymore, so I asked Terence if I could pull the plug and he reluctantly agreed. Penny Lane was an awesome place to work, and I really will miss everyone down there. I really appreciate the opportunity they gave me to keep things going after the demise of Matt's Village Pub. I encourage everyone to go by there often and pop in for a pint. I know I will. Please help me out by forwarding this email to any other open mic'ers out there you can think of... I know I missed many.


Though I am looking forward to the break, and not having to go to work sleep deprived on Thursday mornings, please know that I really will miss doing the open mic night every week. As I look back, I realize how many good things came to me from running open mic... Most of my best friends I met at open mic..... I'm now in a band that I'm intensely proud of because I met Dickie and Jamie at open mic, Jim and Betsy met at open mic... , I got to practice my mandolin chops with a lot of different folks,... and I got to watch a thousand brilliant moments on stage. I've definitely shared a ton of laughs, more than a few beers, and great times with many people I never would have met otherwise.

Please support the other open mic nights. It's the people that come and play that make an open mic night a special thing. For me, you guys often made it magical.

Thanks again for everything and I hope to see you guys soon!

Jeff (Former Open Mic Night Host)



I didn't start playing til I played at Jeff's open mic night. That was at Matt's Pub, 7 maybe 8 years ago. Saw a lot of good performers come through his stage. There was a long stretch where I would concentrate all week on what 4 songs I would play when I got up onstage. Those nights taught me a lot. Not just how to perform but how to write. Every week I could judge my stuff on how people reacted. That's something you can't always do playing sporadic club dates. Certainly not sitting in your bed playing music to just yourself. And not a week goes by I don't wish I still had the open mic at Matt's go to. All things end of course and it had a good run. It moved to Penny Lane when Matt's closed. I was a little busy with a family at that point so I didn't go as much there. Still it was good to know I could go there when I wanted.

Jeff always had the best sound. He cared more about how things sounded in the room than any other sound guy I know. Even if you and him were the only people in the room. And he encouraged the right atmosphere too. A lot of open mics can fall into a clique, where only the friends of the guy who runs it are heard. Anyone could walk into Jeff's open mic and play. They may have had to wait their turn a good while but it was always fair. I remember a night when a studio musician from Nashville stopped in. He was followed buy a girl playing her own songs, performing in front of a crowd for what probably was her first time. Both were made to feel just as at home, just as appreciated, just as welcome. That's a rare feat to pull off. Yet Jeff always did just that.