Back when Fertile Ground was just a basement band hoof’n from spot to spot lookin for places to perform, the band was asked to come up to an Open Mic in philly called Black Lily.  This was before Jill Scott, Kindred, and Jasmine Sullivan.  The Jazzy Fat Nasties and Flo Brown performing over a few cats from the Roots band were the main attraction.  That said, I went up to Philly, had the chance to have a brief but influential conversation with now legendary producer/drummer ?uestlove (The Roots.) It was during that conversation that I decided to bring a dope open-mic experience to the Baltimore Area. I called my partner-in -rhyme Olu Butterfly and sold the idea to her and the movement began. We were committed to making the Open-Mic a Jam Session with a live! band and we wanted all artist to feel welcome. In walks, Raheem Devaughn, Che Ray, Jsoul, Courtney Dowe, Cirrius B, Maimouna Youssef, Carolyn Malachi, Julie Dexter, Jessica Care More, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Kindred, Bassey Ipki, and countless other artist who have performed around the world.  Fast forward, 9 Years later, more than 450 Tuesdays, 375 features, hundreds of artist and thousands of people; We are still here.  And better yet, it still only costs $5 to hit the stage. God willing we will be here for many more years to come!!

What is an Open Mic?

Well for those of you who don’t know. An Open Mic (and more importantly our Open Mic) is a place where you get 5-10 min to express yourself on stage. Poetry, Song, Dance, Performance, Comedy, Theater, you name it we have seen it on stage. At Organic Soul just come and sign up on the open mic list and wait for the host to call your name. If you are a singer/rapper, have an idea of how to communicate your beat tot the drummer, and maybe the baseline. After that, it’s all improvisational. No the band is not going to perform your song like it is on your track. But they will give you their interpretation of your music. The OST house band is comprised of musicians who think really well on their feet. Led by keyboard/guitar virtuoso Joel Mills, the members of Ost band has backed some of the biggest artist in the industry.

Etiquette

When you get on stage, walk over to one of the musicians and communicate your music. It’s probably best to do this off the mic. Remember our band is not YOUR band. So be polite. Appreciate that we work really hard to convince these nationally acclaimed musicians to work in our house band. They do it for the Love.

One Piece – Organic Soul has a one piece limit. So you don’t get to perform 5 minutes of your piece, decide you don’t like it and start again. Do your best and come back next week if you feel you can do better.

Don’t cuff the mic. I don’t why people feel like wrapping their fist around the bulb of the mic will enhance their performance. It doesn’t. Instead it makes the vocals muffled and generally causes feedback.

Have Fun

At the end of the day, Open-Mics should feel good. Our audience loves you so love them back and enjoy yourself. It may be your first time on stage or it may be the smallest stage you’ve ever performed on. Have Fun. We have booking agents, promoters and club owners who are regulars to our event. We book many of our stronger performers as featured artist at festivals, concerts, and other great events. So again have fun. We will take you as serious as you take yourself.