Open Mic at Tillie’s: Finding Talent on the Block
Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by Michelle Herrera Mulligan in Arts on The Hill
A Japanese opera singer? A 12-piece Hawaiian ukulele ensemble? Artists such as these may have provided Tillie’s Open Mic Night’s most exotic performances over the years, but they haven’t been the ones to bring the crowds. Since co-owner Patricia Mulcahy helped to start the program in 1998, it’s belonged to the regulars, the local Fort Greene/Clinton Hill artists who view it as their own place to share their work with like-minded folks in the neighborhood.
Mulcahy envisions Open Mic Night as a “ fun way to bring in new energy to the shop and to allow customers and others to live out what may have been just a notion or a fantasy.”
photo by Christopher Franko
With a changing stream of hosts and performers over the years, the night, currently every Thursday at 7:30 p.m., has been just that. There have been DJ-booth equipped hip-hop hosts and artists, legions of singer/songwriters, and even avant-garde stand up comedians. Most important, though, says current host and program director Alex Maxwell, is a warm and inviting crowd to appreciate it all. In fact, Maxwell, a 23-year-old singer/songwriter who lives on DeKalb and Classon, loved Open Mic Night so much he decided to up performances to weekly, for consistency’s sake. “We want it to be a regular, safe spot where people can feel free to try stuff out, and know they’ll have a supportive audience…even if they didn’t come in planning to perform.”
On a few nights in November, a two-year-old boy seemed to wrestle with the idea of performing himself. He sat in the front, playing with his small, turquoise guitar, while his mother and others encouraged him to sit in the big chair in front and sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The boy frowned. He rubbed his eyes and tucked his head in toward his mother. It didn’t seem likely. But the way he would occasionally reach for his guitar showed he wasn’t ruling it out. As he mulled over the idea, a comedian came on, trying out some of his more recent material.
The jokes, a riff on “freaky girls” versus ‘”conservative chicks,” drew mixed results, but devoted regulars clapped and laughed. Afterward, Maxwell asked the little boy if he would reconsider, but the boy shook his head no. He still preferred to watch.
Alex Maxwell sings from his repertoire. Photo by Christopher Franko.
A poet took the stage. Eugene Carrington, 60, who self publishes The Fort Greene Poetry Review, read moving poems set in places like a restaurant on Nostrand, or stoops that could have been found around the corner. “I’m a late bloomer, I only started writing poetry about 5 years ago,” said Carrington. “ It’s good to be able to come here. Not a lot of cafes around here have open mic nights.” When Carrington finished, the two-year-old finally made the call. After one last prompt from his mother, he stood up and declared, “I’m too tired, I don’t want to sing.” Then he climbed down from his seat and went toward the back, to look at another performer’s guitar, revealing another one of the Open Mic Night’s most important purposes.
“We really see Tillie’s as a neighborhood hub where people can meet each other,” said Maxwell. “After all, I met my own girlfriend here.”
Tillie’s, 248 DeKalb Avenue, between Vanderbilt and Clermont, begins signup for open-mic night at 7 p.m. on Thursday nights. For more info, go to tilliesofbrooklyn.com
