|
2) It was standing room only at the latest Community
Coffeehouse open mic night at Woody's Restaurant,
Thursday, Dec . 30, 2004
Argus Champion, January 5, 2005
Since the monthly performances started in July, word of mouth
and a com fortable atmosphere have attracted audiences and
performers of all ages and have kept them coming back.
"One of the things that sets the coffeehouse apart from
the bar room scene is it's a family affair," said
organizer Randy Richards. Instead of a noisy club, Richards
said he wanted to present shows in a more intimate setting,
free of smoke and other distractions, where the emphasis would
really be on the music. And the shows are certainly
all-inclusive events. Members of the audience ranged in age
from elementa ry and middle school stu dents to senior
citizens. And musicians, too, were of all different ages, from
high school students on up. For many in the community, the
open mic nights are a chance to showcase their talents and
hone their skills in front of an audience that's attentive and
appreciative.
Wes Whitaker, a senior at Sunapee High School and one of the
regulars, said the: coffeehouse is an ideal setting.
"This one is good because they let everybody play,"
he said. Often, he said, it's harder for younger musicians to
play out, since so many venues are 18- plus. .
Whitaker and his friend Josh Bushueff, another Sunapee senior,
often play at Woody's as a guitar duo, performing creative
covers of tunes like the Beatles' "Rocky Raccoon:' as
well as songs they've written themselves. "I guess you
could call it jazzy - jam - blues-rock." Bushueff said of
his and Whitaker's style of playing. Whitaker recounted how
his and Bushueff's musical partnership began: "Josh and I
got our guitars on the same day - Christmas when we were in
seventh grade. We've been just jamming ever since." For
Whitaker, Bushueff and other performers, the open mics are
often a door way to bigger gigs. After playing a few I5-minute
sets, the two were able to land a couple of their own
hour-long performances at Woody's. "We got to vary up our
set and have our own concert," Whitaker said excitedly.
Another of the performers Thursday, George Perry, said he's
been coming to the coffeehouse shows for a while and has also
per formed at a few. He's now preparing to move to Grafton to
take over as minister there, but he isn't leaving without
first singing a few gospel songs and doing some magic tricks.
Just before Christmas and again last week, Perry and the Rev.
Jim Hill of Newport appeared as the group Gospel Train. Even
though theirs were the only religious songs performed, they
added to the varied styles of music played through- out the
evening. As Hill joked at the beginning of his and Perry's
set, "We'll try not to make it church, but we'll sing
about Jesus - and if you don't like "it then in about 15
minutes we'll be gone."
Joel Dulude described him self as one of the
"instigators" of the coffeehouse performances. Owner
of Travel Network in Sunapee, Dulude puts together the roster
at every open mic night and sometimes plays his harmonica and
acts as master of ceremonies too.
"I live here in the winter and I like to see more
activity in the harbor," he said. "Usually the
streets roll up after Columbus Day." But now the shows at
Woody's seem to be a welcome diversion. "Obviously the
people want it," Dulude said, looking around the packed
restaurant last Thursday. "Another full house."
Needless to say, the Community Coffeehouse per formances don't
come together all by themselves. They rely on
the efforts of volunteers to keep things running smoothly and
to get the word out by hanging, fliers and encouraging others
to attend. In' fact, just before last Thursday's show, the
steering committee for the coffeehouse held its first meeting
and appointed its officers. Matt Driscoll, a junior at Sunapee
High School, was elected vice president. Himself a
multi-instrumentalist and open mic regular, Driscoll said
music is mainly a hobby, but that he would someday like to run
his own recording studio. The idea behind the steering
committee is to help the coffee house performances grow by
attracting more community involvement.
"Sunapee has a lot of talent that's not really discovered
yet," Driscoll said. . The Community Coffeehouse finances
itself through donations made by audience members at every
performance. According to Richards, none of the groups charge
for admittance, but the master of ceremonies always passes
around an old top hat twice a night for the performers, and
audience members are welcome to contribute as much or as
little as they want.
Sunapee's Community Coffeehouse is actually the second
Richards helped start. The first he formed in 1993 while
living .in Leavenworth, Washington at the time, Richards said,
he had been playing piano professionally for years but singing
and playing gui tar front of an audience were new to him.
Rather than take his act to a noisy, smoky bar, Richards and
others in Washington found their own space and set their own
rules.
Members of the audience were encouraged to listen respectfully
to performers, and to get up and sing themselves if they felt
the urge. Friends baked cookies and other goodies, which they
sold to keep the performances going week after week.
These days Richards stays mostly behind the scenes, helping
musicians adjust the microphone stands and keeping watch over
the PA system. But in a pinch, he said, he'll get up on stage
to play keyboard or flute. "If there's nobody else that's
signing up, then I'm a backup," he said. As the Community
Coffee house continues to grow, Richards said he hopes to see
people from outside Sunapee get involved as well, for example
Colby-Sawyer students.
"One of the key things about this is we want to have
students involved," he said. Richards said he hopes the
Sunapee Community Coffeehouse will be as successful and
enduring as the one he started years ago on the other side of
the country In Washington, he said, the coffeehouse attracted
bigger audiences and different per formers as time went on,
becoming a real community event. Now more than a decade later,
it's still going on strong .
The Sunapee Community Coffeehouse, he said, “will probably be
sustainable. The one in Washington just keeps going.” “I hope
to get a gig on the schedule in Washington sometime”.
In addition to the open mic nights, the Sunapee Community
Coffeehouse also hosts bands every week. After the new year,
the weekly performances, including the monthly open mic
nights, will move to Fridays at 7 p.m
Please forward this to anyone who might be interested in
knowing about the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse.
|
