Amy Lu's View

As the summer was winding down, I noticed a lot of coverage in the media about the “Songs of Summer.” Not surprisingly, I wasn’t familiar with the songs that kept getting mentioned. I can say that I’ve heard of Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish, but that’s about the extent of my current pop music knowledge. 

So I was thinking that the idea of a Summer Soundtrack wasn’t really for me, until I expanded my definition of it. I may not know what’s at the top of music charts, but I’ve heard, and performed, a lot of music this summer at open mics. (Top songs for me to play: Mad World, Here’s Where the Story Ends, Jolene, Suddenly Last Summer, and In Your Eyes).

Last year I did Waterfall Summer, and this year, I embarked on Open Mic summer. I did my first-ever open mic on June 6 at 56 Brewing, and by the end of September, I had performed at fifteen (or more) open mics at various breweries. This fall I’ve settled into a groove of mostly weekly Sunday afternoon open mics at Heavy Rotation in Brooklyn Park (big shout-out to Brenda B. and her husband, Jeff, who run this one, and for making it so welcoming and fun).

My open mic experiences have been terrifying, exhilarating, silly, and fun. Many of my performances have been…well, let’s say, not so great. But some have been kinda okay. I count it as a win that my overall quality trajectory through the summer has been up. I don’t get nearly as nervous performing as I used to, which is a big victory. Performing at an open mic makes me feel brave.

Why do I do this thing that I’m not super skilled at, that scares the bejesus out of me? Well, that’s probably something for me and my therapist to dig into, but if you know me at all, you know I love to perform. So with that underlying motivation, the simple answer is I do open mics BECAUSE THEY LET ME. I don’t have to audition or coordinate with anyone else’s schedule or do anything else that requires qualifications or luck or successfully arranging logistics. 

I started doing open mics this summer as a personal challenge–I’d been wanting to perform at one for quite a while, but the idea terrified me, so I thought I should probably give it a try. I actually had a bit of a goal to do one sometime in 2024, taking inspiration from other friends who I knew had done them. So by the time June rolled around, I thought, I got to finally take the plunge and just do this (apologies to Nike). 

For my very first open mic, I arrived and signed up early, and was the first person to perform. There were only about three people in the audience–perfect!–and I only did one song (now I usually do three songs, and there are usually at least fifteen people in attendance). 

I’ve learned so much from my adventures in the open mic space: how to set up my keyboard relatively quickly (and to never refuse help in carrying my keyboard), that it’s a really bad idea to use paper music at an outdoors venue (wind, duh), how to appreciate beer more (yes, open mics all seem to be at breweries) and that I should try to pretend to be relatively confident and calm, as being overly apologetic for my lack of talent only draws attention to it and is just annoying. 

I’ve learned to be better with rolling with unpredictably, as mini-disasters and mini-triumphs constantly pop up. One of the most memorable, and unbelievable, and wonderfully unexpected things that happened this summer was when the server whom I ordered my beer from said, “Are you performing tonight? You play keyboard, right? I heard last week that you were fantastic.” Of course I did a whole, “Really? ME?! You can’t mean me” bit, but there just aren’t a lot of keyboard players out there doing open mic, and I was the only one that night. And there was a young woman who did come up to me after I played the previous week who was extremely complimentary (Chad witnessed this and can even verify it). She actually seemed inspired to get more into playing music herself. I am still totally mystified by her reaction, but I love it. 

Most importantly, I’ve learned there’s an awesome community of open mic performers and listeners. I’ve met so many talented, friendly, and supportive people who regularly gather to share their love of making and hearing music, and I’m grateful for the chance to be part of their tribe. Of course, I’ve experienced (and I’m sure caused) some awkward social moments, but that keeps life interesting. And open mics have given me a greater appreciation of being in the audience and the importance of cheering others on. (I recently got the feedback that I’m a really loud clapper–not necessarily a good thing, but perhaps a power I can carefully wield for good).