DINNER AND AN OPEN MIC

Ann and I went to dinner at Hill's Cafe and they have a stage on the patio where they provide live music.As it turns out,Tuesday night is an open mic for singer/songwriters.
It's based on that simple premise...You show up and sign up and play three songs.Covers or originals,doesn't matter.
The artists we saw tonight were true amateurs,diamonds in the rough as it were.My kind of open mic.The last one I/we were involved in was at a long gone place called Shaggy's.It was cool for awhile but quickly turned into a venue for more established players to dominate the venue,driving off the newbies and afford themselves a place to work on the sets they played at paying gigs.It turned into a suck fest,in other words.
Whether they knew it or not (and I suspect they did),management was complicit in this,Shaggy's was located in what has become a nauseatingly trendy stretch of congress avenue they call SoCo,filled with pretentious shops,clubs and eateries that cater to,oh,I don't know...what would you call them?Oh yeah,pretentious assholes.
Shaggy's is long gone,the space occupied by some cafe more stuck up than the last and will probably be history in a year or two.God willing.I am horrified to witness the destruction of old south austin by a bunch of people who have no fucking clue.
But I digress...Back to Hill's.
A bit farther south on congress,Hill's has been around forever and remains steeped in the old south austin cred.And they have a tuesday open mic,sans "celebrity"(so far...fingers are crossed).
I have three songs,easy.And after what I saw tonight,I would be a good fit.I could hold my own and have a good time doing it.
So I'm gonna work on that 3 song set between now and next tuesday and maybe step up to that open mic,while it's still open.