First Southern Open Mic!

Editor's Note: This entry was originally written on Oct 2, 2009. Stay tuned for more of Roman's lost entries!

Ideally I would finish the hitchhiking story or go back and talk about Texas or Arkansas (oh man we have a while to go).

But just a few notes about tonight.

I performed at an open mic I’d heard about from a new friend in Little Rock. The place was only a few blocks form our hostel which is great since we don’t have a car and Memphis isn’t the safest city to get around in.  At its peak I would say there were about 25 people in there.

I don’t know how long my set was, doesn’t feel like more than 4-5 minutes, we’ll see… but there reached a point where the whole room was silent and people were looking at me. and I was like, whoa!  These people I don’t know are all fucking listening to me!  I better say something good!

And I was totally open about everything, which I guess I’d been planning on for a while.  And it was fine.  Maybe it took a while to sink in, but there I said it, that I transitioned (which I’m sure feels like old news) and that I don’t identify as one gender or the other.  And that was… ok. And people shook my hand afterward and thanked me.   I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t feel safe, but there was this tension beforehand and I wondered if some people might be hostile. But you can be yourself and honest even in a situation where you feel like you might not be accepted.

And I led in with my feelings about togetherness and open mics and I talked about survival and tried to make it as universal as possible, how I believe everyone has something to say and share with the world.

Open mics, man.  They are churches of sorts.  I ended up hanging out a bit after, met some cool guys, who smoked us up, had some good chats about how fucking ridiculous the world is and we feel like we don’t fit in.  It was like New York in that respect. 

I love open mics and I feel I can trust people who are drawn to this setting, because those who feel the need to perform---(whether it be poetry, or music, spoken word, comedy, etc etc) I feel like (and this is my opinion) that people do it because they want to be heard. With everything we are given to watch and see and read there is something else that WE need to say that we’re not hearing.  And if you go to an open mic (or do a show) you’re getting on stage and you’re telling your truth and seeking approval. Because usually it’d be too
frightening to do that in waking life.

And that’s pretty awesome.  Because anyone who can bear their soul and wants to say something NEW means they are thinking outside the box, they are creating new ideas. And anyone who has new ideas a) is ok in my book and b) is a friend of mine because they are also tired of this “fake” world we assume we have to adhere to/obey.