Crib Notes

Last week, Josh Rifkind, man-about-town and manager of the Whigs, asked me to be a judge at his signature event, Open Mic Madness. A six-day bonanza that’s currently in its sixth year at Smith’s Olde Bar, Open Mic Madness is a talent competition where more than 100 bands square off against each another. There are roughly 120 slots, and each act is paired into twos; both acts play a song to determine which one in the bracket advances. (This year there were fewer slots because not enough people signed up.) By Thursday, the one-song elimination cuts the talent in half, much like the NCAA tournament; there are about 32 acts left on Friday; and Saturday is the finals, with about eight acts angling for the title.

Past winners of Open Mic Madness include the Whigs, who are now signed to ATO Records (Dave Matthews’ label); and popular local acts such as Sovus Radio, Bain Mattox and last year’s champion, Dead Confederate. Because of the sheer volume of artists who participate, Open Mic Madness has earned a reputation as the most important rock contest in Atlanta.

This year, I was fortunate enough to judge on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Smartly, Rifkind rotates his judges, and has them work four at a time in two-hour shifts, or 16 bands apiece. So I sat on an early shift of four judges on Tuesday and Friday. On Saturday, I sat on a six-judge panel; Rifkind expanded it for the final round. This was a step up for me from last year, when I was asked only to judge early shifts on Tuesday and Friday. It is a great experience, and I usually have a good time networking with the other judges, all of whom are music industry veterans.

One would expect Open Mic Madness to be easily conquered by acts that gig regularly around town. But that’s not necessarily the case. Some of the artists who entered include Entropy, Dave Daniels, Club Awesome, Breakroom, Groovestain, Leaf Newman, Tx/Rx, Crop Circle, Morningside and Deke Spears. Some, I’m sure, fell victim to fickle judges who simply didn’t like what they heard. Others may have had an off night. For example, when I saw Entropy play Friday, the band members took way too long to set up their equipment, pissing off some judges. Then they played a rote and mechanical tune. One of the judges mentioned afterward that Entropy played more impressively earlier in the competition. (For obvious reasons, I’m not identifying any of the judges’ comments.)

Nevertheless, there were a few problems this year. One of the most common complaints I heard is that the standard of competition is not what it was in years past. I don’t know if that’s true, but I will say that most of the music reminded me that Open Mic Madness is a talent contest. A few of the acts had stage presence and looked like they were in it to win it, but most seemed happy just to be playing in front of a crowd.

I also noticed that far fewer people attended this year. I don’t have any official numbers, but I remember that on Friday it wasn’t until close to 10 p.m. — two hours after the night had started — that Smith’s Olde Bar was full of people. Last year on the same night, it was packed by 8. Meanwhile, the room never filled to capacity on Saturday, the final round of Open Mic Madness.

For me, however, the biggest issue was an overabundance of singer/songwriter acts. Just when a pair of bands would play their songs and get the crowd excited, a pair of solo artists strumming a guitar or tickling a keyboard piano would take the stage, killing the momentum. Controversially, Rifkind paired the solo acts in brackets so they only compete against each other. Conversely, bands only play against each another. The result is that a weak field of solo musicians — and many of the judges I spoke with agreed that this year’s field of singer/songwriters was notably lackluster — can still advance further than a strong crop of bands. In the final round, the best band competes against the best solo artist for the title.

The most heartbreaking example of this took place Saturday night. The quarterfinals consisted of four bands (Sealions, Friendly Strangers, the Brock Scott Quartet and the Spencer Durham Group) and four solo acts (Meghan Coffee, Tracy Hill, Sommer Melody and Erica Ambrose).

The Sealions faced off against Friendly Strangers first. I hearkened the Sealions to a figure skater moving through a routine: It was great at times, but each little mistake lessened the overall performance. But I liked the Sealions’ fresh indie-rock sound. Friendly Strangers, in contrast, played a bluesy song that was unremarkable.

Next came Tracy Hill, who gave a unique a cappella vocal, and Meghan Coffee, who had a nice, husky delivery that sometimes swayed off-key.

Then came Brock Scott Quartet versus Spencer Durham Group. The quartet impressed everyone by playing a loopy jazz-pop number. The drummer played percussion, and the bassist strummed a cello. Its performance was entertaining and mischievously light. In contrast, Spencer Durham Group powered through an over-the-top rock number. Its guitarist wailed with a solo that left the crowd clapping rapturously; one of the judges called the group’s performance “retarded.” The entire six-judge panel fretted about having to choose between the quartet and the group.

Finally came Sommer Melody, who was accompanied by a guitarist, versus Erica Ambrose, who sang while accompanying herself on piano. Melody had a great, soulful voice, but her guitarist was annoyingly capable of playing only a few repetitive notes. As for Ambrose, I had seen her the night before, and she blew me away with a heartfelt, emotional performance. But she had problems this time around. First, she stopped her song in the middle of the first verse, apparently having made a mistake. She seemed to know that the song wasn’t working, so she overcompensated with too much vocal melisma. Ambrose didn’t do well on Saturday, but she’s a promising artist, and I’m curious to see how she develops in her career.

After the eight acts played, Rifkind went on stage to announce the results. The winners were Sealions, Tracy Hill, Sommer Melody and … in a huge upset, Brock Scott Quartet. Many in the crowd were stunned that the Spencer Durham Group hadn’t won, because they gave such an amazing performance. I asked one of the judges for an opinion, and the person noted that while the Spencer Durham Group played the best, the quartet had the better overall song. I couldn’t disagree, but still felt it was too close to call.

It seemed unfair that the quartet had to face off against the group in the quarterfinals since both bands were vastly superior to the rest of the talent that night. The crowd sensed it, too. By the middle of the next round, many of them lost interest and left, leaving the room about half-full.

I think Rifkind needs to make some changes next year and, instead of allowing the solo acts to only play against other solo acts, make every act compete head-to-head. To make a comparison: If you see Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and Plain White T’s in concert, you don’t judge the two acts separately based on the technicality that Carrabba is a solo artist. You judge them both on their merits. So why segregate singer/songwriters and bands into two divisions?

If in some years, the singer/songwriters who enter Open Mic Madness aren’t as good as the bands, then bands should be allowed to dominate the competition. Other years, the opposite could happen. But keeping bands and singer/songwriters separate doesn’t make sense. It leads to an unfair advantage when, as was the case this year, the singer/songwriters are clearly inferior to the bands. Here’s hoping that Rifkind changes the format.

In the semifinal round, Tracy Hill beat out Sommer Melody despite another a cappella song that was loopy and weird. (One judge argued that at least Hill had passion, and that Melody’s song was tired and emotionless in comparison.) Then the quartet triumphed over Sealions despite reverting to a standard pop-rock four-piece, which was much less interesting than its folk-jazz incarnation during the climatic Spencer Durham Group battle. In the finale, the quartet sewed it all up.

So congratulations to the Brock Scott Quartet, winners of Open Mic Madness 2007. You can judge the group for yourself when it plays at the Earl on Tues., Sept. 11.

Bookmark to:

Posted in Music news | Add a comment

Tags: Open-Mic-Madness.