The Shit Hits the Mic

Enough with the Arcade Fire adoration and concert reviews. It is about time I posted on something local and different.

So, with that in mind, I was present at an open mic night this past weekend that featured poetry, acoustic performances, and other bohemian-like shenanigans.

Last Saturday was the first SPITSHIT night at Canvas Cafe, located on Bermuda and Silverado Ranch in Las Vegas (disclosure: I work there). The turnout was decent for the first live event at the cafe, which opened just a month ago.

I’ve been to a few of these type of things before, and all they usually consist of are angry youngsters railing against the world and ‘the man’. While there was a bit of that here, when it was present, they kept it interesting.

There were a few mic problems during the first performance, and one of the poets opted to do his pieces (which had the rhythm and sound of freestyle rapping morethan, say, Walt Whitman) without the mic, which I think worked better. It made it seem more like he was having a conversation with the audience.

The biggest name performer there was &ampersand, who had performed the previous night on the main stage at downtown Vegas’s First Friday event. You can take a listen of them on their myspace page here.

They had the most ‘together’ performance of the night, with no noticeable technical problems and a set that didn’t sound like the dull repetition that acoustic performances can become in coffee-houses.

One of the later acts was Adam Yarbro. He sounds better live than some of the songs he has on his myspace page.

All in all, the event got me interested in covering a few more local acts. Seeing a no-frills performance was a big change from all the big concerts I’ve gone to this year, and there’s something to be said about watching musicians and artists interact with each other in a climate like an open mic night.

The next SPITSHIT event is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 17. I’m planning on getting more multimedia of the next event.