That’s a giant gold mic. We’ve decided to take the open mic challenge and it’s gonna be our trophy upon our inevitable victory. Nobody’s ever defeated the open mic challenge before. Why? Because it’s a completely made up, yet audacious and daring, challenge. Without further adieu:
We swear to play every open mic
in the DC metro area
We had this idea after playing our first show at Ireland’s Four Courts. As we were basking in the triumph of that night, we began to plan our next adventure. But we didn’t know where we should play next, which is a symptom of a larger problem. We don’t know the local music scene. DC – how should we go about getting to know you, and getting to know all about you? Well, we could read blogs about local goings-on and such like Bandwidth DC and District Sound Scene. We could also listen to podcasts like The Circus Life and HomeTown Sounds DC … and maybe work with local music organizations such as Indie Adams Morgan. Or we could just play at every damn place that will have us. And that’s what we’re going to do. And we’re going to document our travels so all those interested in DC open mics in the area can benefit.
To get this done we’ll need to create an exhaustive and up-to-date list of every single open mic in the DC metro area. To the best of our knowledge, this is like a narhwal – it doesn’t exist. We’ve checked twice. So we’ll do the research and make one. There have been reports on the best open mics in DC: DC Music Download, CBS DC, and Washington City Paper. When googling, you’re bound to come across Open Mic DC, which you might consider the holy grail for our endeavor, but alas it doesn’t do a great job. About 50% of the time they serve a nasty ad on top of their site trying to get a visitor’s personal info. Also the veracity of their information is questionable at best. We’ve been bitten twice already by this as anyone looking at our shows page may have seen last minute updates with new times and/or locations. (To be fair we could use a workshop on planning.)
So we’re going to do the research and complete the challenge, all the while reporting back on this blog. Check back for updated info on every venue we hit and your biweekly dose of hilarity. Our completely unreliable guess is that this will encompass ~30 open mics in total, but who knows? Just to be fancy we’re using Google Maps to show you the location of all the open mics as well. We’re really looking forward to it and we hope to see you out there!
EDIT: Ok so we lied – we’ve had to set some ground rules. While we initially thought open mics within the beltway were a good idea, we’ve expanded a little because there are a lot of good open mics just outside that precious slow-moving circle. Here are our rules:
- The open mic must be open and operational while the challenge is active. If we ever see that we’ve played all the open mics in the DC area – then the challenge is complete.
- The open mic has gotta be fairly near the beltway. 45 minute drive or less from the White House.
- The open mic must be “open” to anyone playing any style of music.
- The open mic must be music focused – that doesn’t mean that poets, storytellers, and comics can’t be there, it just means that music must be a principle component. It’s awkward to be the only person playing music when everyone else is doing poetry or performing comedy. Trust us.
Our Schedule & Trophy Wall
Here’s an up to date list of the open mics and DC alongside those we’ve played. Click the completion date for our review! If there’s an asterisk next to the date, the open mic occurs at irregular intervals (like every third Sunday.)
Venue | Day | Time | Address | Review |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bohemian Caverns | Wed | 8:00 PM | 2001 11th St. NW, Washington, DC 20002 | Aug 26, 14 |
The Vinyl Lounge | Tue | 7:00 PM | 3401 K St, Washington, DC 20007 | Jul 7, 14 |
Branded 72 | Mon | 8:30 PM | 387 East Gude Dr. Rockville, MD 20850 | Jun 9, 15 |
Board and Brew | Tue | 7:30 PM | 8150 Baltimore Ave., College Park, MD 20740 | Apr 14, 15 |
Rosies & Rockers | Sat | 7:00 PM | 2001 13th St NW Washington, DC 20009 | Mar 28, 15 |
Republic Takoma | Sun | 9:00 PM | 6939 Laurel Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912 | Mar 22, 15 |
Sauf Haus | Tue | 8:00 PM | 1216 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20036 | Mar 17, 15 |
The Outta The Way Cafe | Thu | 7:00 PM | 17503 Redland Road, Rockville, MD 20855 | Feb 19, 15 |
Brittany’s | Mon | 8:00 PM | 12449 Dillingham Square, Woodbridge, VA 22192 | Dec 15, 14 |
Soho Tea and Coffee | Sat* | 8:00 PM | 2150 P Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037 | Dec 6, 14 |
Kentlands Mansion / Arts Barn | Fri* | 8:00 PM | 320 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 | Nov 7, 14 |
St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub | Wed* | 7:30 PM | 2300 Mount Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA 22301 | Sep 24, 14 |
Busboys & Poets | Wed | 9:00 PM | 1025 5th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001 | Sep 10, 14 |
Northside Social | N/A | N/A | 3211 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201 | Aug 31, 14 |
Iota Club | Wed | 8:00 PM | 2832 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201 | Aug 27, 14 |
Tami’s Table | Thu/Fri | 7:00 PM | 12944 Travilah Road Potomac, MD. 20854 | Aug 1, 14 |
Modern Times | Fri | 8:00 PM | 5015 NW Connecticut Ave, Washington, DC 20008 | Jul 23, 14 |
Madam’s Organ | Wed | 8:00 PM | 2461 18th St NW Washington, DC 20009 | Jul 16, 14 |
Hell’s Bottom | Tue | 7:00 PM | 6420 Orchard Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912 | TBD |
JVs Restaurant | Wed | 8:00 PM | 6666 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, Va. 22042 | TBD |
Epicure Cafe | Thur | 8:00 PM | 11104 Lee Highway Fairfax, VA 22030 | TBD |
Electric Maid | Thur* | 8:00 PM | 268 Carroll St NW, Washington, DC 20012 | TBD |
Bloombars | ? | ? | 3222 11th St NW, Washington, DC 20010 | TBD |
O’Shaughnessy’s | Mon | 8 PM | 1324 King St, Alexandria, VA 22314 | TBD |
Irelands Four Courts | Tue | 8:00 PM | 2051 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201 | TBD |
Open Mic Closings: Northside Social, Phase 1, Fast Eddie’s, Trade Roots, Tammi’s Table, and the Pinch have either suspended or stopped their open mics.
Rule Violations:
- Busyboys & Poets was removed from the challenge because it is not musically focused, instead focusing on poetry.
- Zoo Bar was removed from the challenge because it only allows blues. They are serious about it.
Open Mic Map
Here’s where we’ve been playing at!