Practicing and Performing at Musical Open Mics and Scenes
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PROFILES IN COURAGE: PRACTICING AND PERFORMING AT MUSICAL OPEN MICS AND SCENES A Dissertation by MARCUS DAVID ALDREDGE Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2009 Major Subject: Sociology PROFILES IN COURAGE: PRACTICING AND PERFORMING AT MUSICAL OPEN MICS AND SCENES A Dissertation by MARCUS DAVID ALDREDGE Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Kathryn Henderson Committee Members, Harris M. Berger William “Alex” McIntosh Stjepan Mestrovic Head of Department, Mark Fossett August 2009 Major Subject: Sociology iii ABSTRACT Profiles in Courage: Practicing and Performing at Musical Open Mics and Scenes. (August 2009) Marcus David Aldredge, B.S., University of Houston; M.S., The City College of the City University of New York Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Kathryn Henderson This dissertation explores the social patterns and cultural layers of musical “open mics” in New York City. The study uses a qualitative approach which includes methods such as ethnography, in-depth interviewing, historical and discourse analyses focusing on open mics and the popular musicians who attend and perform them. Open mics, short for “open microphones,” are public events that allow musicians to perform songs without a pre-planned, formal booking with a club or venue. Owing a historical and discursive connection to the folk hootenannies and jazz jam sessions of the past, these events have proliferated and spread considerably across the United States since the 1990s since their development, by name, in the late 1970s. Open mics not only reflect a do-it-yourself and participatory cultural ethos manifested with other recent expressive cultural activities, but also demonstrate a growing interstitial “musical third place” residing between private practicing and public performance. Musical open mics as musical third places provide musicians and singer/songwriters to network with other musicians, practice new musical compositions and play when other performance opportunities are not readily available. It provides a means for musicians to “hone their craft” in terms of performance methods and also construct musical identities in the almost exclusive company of other working singer/songwriters. This “backstage region” is thus framed and keyed by the musicians onto a continuum between two theoretical poles: performance iv practicing and practicing performance. Performance practicing as defined in this study frames a more performance-oriented display for musicians in locations called “closed open mics” or COMs. These settings, also residing on a theoretical continuum are socially more exclusive in terms of performance types, the aesthetic careers of the performers, the genres represented and the sociological makeup of the setting participants in general. OOMs or “open open mics,” on the other hand, usually have a more fluid, diverse sociological composition of musical performers, performance types, and musical genres played and represented in these mainly weekly events. Closed open mics align into more homogeneous, isomorphic settings comprising “local open mic scenes” and open open mics remain more heterogeneous, socially inclusive, and unsettled as “pre-scenes.” v DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my wonderful and supportive parents, Mike and Pat Aldredge, and my amazingly patient and lovely wife, Betsy. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to extend my most sincere appreciation to my committee chair, Dr. Kathryn Henderson, and my committee members, Dr. William “Alex” McIntosh, Dr. Stjepan Mestrovic, and Dr. Harris Berger, for their steadfast guidance and support throughout the course of this research. Your willingness and patience to work with me in my absence from Texas A&M, among other issues, have been truly appreciated. I want to extend my deep appreciation to Jane Sell, who, although not officially on my committee, provided a surplus of advice and help and made the process tolerable during turbulent periods. To my very good friends, Keith, Garrick, Ryan, and Wesley, your encouragement and intellectual stimulation made graduate school not only worthwhile, but you also helped make it meet the academic ideal of placing progressive intellectual discourse among friends at the foundation of the experience. I want to also thank Natalie Friedman, all my department colleagues, and department faculty and staff for making my time at Texas A&M an intellectually stimulating and productive experience. These acknowledgements hold little importance and merit without extending my sincerest appreciation to all the musicians and non-musicians who participated in this project. For the participants who took time out of their very hectic days and nights to share their personal lives and experiences, I am wholeheartedly grateful. Without your participation, this project would not have been completed. Finally, I want to reiterate my appreciation to my parents and wife and partner, Betsy, whose unflinching support and counsel were essential to the completion of this project. vii NOMENCLATURE COM Closed Open Mics Cover(s) A previously recorded song; a cover song CITY Manhattan DIY Do-It-Yourself NYC New York City OOM Open Open Mics Open Mic Open Microphone Open Mike Open Microphone viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. vi NOMENCLATURE.............................................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 1 Methods……………………………………………………………………. 14 II THE OPEN MIC AND NEW YORK CITY………………………………... 20 Historical and Cultural Antecedents ............................................................... 20 Semantic Genesis and Development……………………………................... 27 New York City, the Creative Class, and Third Places.................................... 33 Serious Leisure and Participatory Culture...................................................... 43 III OPEN MICS IN NEW YORK CITY ............................................................. 50 Open and Closed Open Mics……………………………………… .............. 50 Social Roles of Participants............................................................................ 55 The Performers ............................................................................................... 65 Bartime ........................................................................................................... 77 Ruby’s……………………………………………………………………… 92 The Knot……………………………………………………………………. 100 Namu’s…………………………………………………………………..….. 110 The Other Open Mics……………………………………………………… 120 IV PRACTICING AND PERFORMING............................................................ 128 Performance Practicing and Practicing Performance ..................................... 129 Performance Theories..................................................................................... 137 Performances in the Open Mics...................................................................... 152 Performers as Audience.................................................................................. 176 ix CHAPTER Page V BIOGRAPHIES AND INTERSECTIONS AT THE OPEN MIC………… 185 Biographical Basics………………………………………………………... 187 Musical Beginnings and Open Mics…………………………..................... 193 Open Mics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ambivalent……………………... 205 Open Mics and the Music……………………………………….................. 212 Open Mics in NYC: Practicing, Performing, and Working……………….. 219 VI CONCLUSION: OPEN MIC PRE-SCENES AND SCENES…………….. 228 Closed Open Mics as Scenes……………………………………………… 232 Open Open Mics as Pre-Scenes…………………………………………… 244 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….... 249 Recommendations ………………………………………………………… 253 REFERENCES.................................................................................................................... 255 APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................................... 279 APPENDIX B........................................................................................................................ 280 APPENDIX C………………………………………………………………………….….. 281 APPENDIX D……………………………………………………………………………... 282 VITA………………………………………………………………………………………. 283 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The audience senses secret mysteries and powers behind the performance, and the performer senses that his chief secrets are petty ones. As countless folk tales and initiation rites show, often the real secret behind the mystery is that there really is no mystery; the real problem is to prevent the audience from learning this too. --Erving Goffman I think that the sociology of art has to take as its object not only the social conditions of production of the producers (i.e. the social determinants of the training or selection