1) I've always been what I call 'omni-directional' in my musical tastes. I liked my dad's classical music as far back as I can remember, and had training on the violin from age 8, but I always liked my mom's popular music as well, and was fascinated by strange, new sounds wherever I heard them. I fell for 60s rock, folk and psychedelia in a big way at age 12, which was 1967. The Doors were the first artists who really 'broke on through' for me, followed by other highly improvisational groups like Cream, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. I took up bass guitar to play rock music, playing in various bands including my own, from age 13. When I was 15, I began to electrify my violin, emulating the improvising style of rock guitarists and keyboardists, while still mostly playing bass guitar in bands.
At 16, two important things happened: I was exposed to Miles Davis and other modern jazz improvisers of the late 60s, and I discovered the viola. So from that point on I was playing bass guitar mostly with my own band, which mixed psychedelic rock with modern jazz, but at the same time was playing out, focusing more on being a jazz viola player. While my improvisational models on violin had been rock guitar and keyboard players, on viola they were jazz saxophonists, trumpeters and guitarists.
From my early 20s on (the late 1970s), I phased out playing bass guitar and was concentrating on viola and violin. But though my specialty was jazz improvisation on the viola, I was also still playing rock and folk as I had been before discovering jazz, and also branching out into country music and into
world musics of many kinds. In the 1980s and beyond, I began getting involved in gypsy music, latin styles, and many Asian types of music as well. I feel all of these are a natural expression of my eclectic tastes, and in turn have organically seeped into the way I sound. But I think one can still hear how my playing style or vocabulary is rooted in the freedom of those great 60s jazz and rock improvisers.
In the last 6 years, I began playing ukulele, and singing and playing traditional Hawaiian music, first
with the Kapalakiko Hawaiian Band. In that band, I learned how to make the viola (or 'slack key fiddle') be fully idiomatic to the traditional paniolo style. Since then I've been working more on my ukulele playing, and expanding my repertoire as a singer and solo performer, which in turn has led me back around to my roots in folk and 60s rock.
2) In the last year, I started playing out with Vanessa Van Spall at various Open Mics in the Bay Area, and around the same time began a partnership with Dave May, hosting a regular Open Mic in my hometown of Alameda. This led to hook-ups with Billy W. and others, and to my playing out at various Open Mics with them as well. I'm starting to become more of a regular at another Open Mic in Alameda, and as a result of all of these, I'm now accompanying (on viola) more and more different artists at various venues. I'm always pleased to be asked to accompany a singer or performer, since I like the challenge of improvising something complementary and new, on the spot.
Meanwhile, when I'm not already committed playing viola with others, I'm increasingly looking for opportunities to develop my solo act as singer/ukulele player.
3) There have been some venues where there's a lot of supportiveness and encouragement among the performers. This is really a great thing, and refreshing in a context which can too easily feel like more of a competition. Some artists actually meet together away from the Open Mics to give each other positive feedback and constructive criticism about songwriting and playing approaches.
On the other hand, at some Open Mics, performers will have their friends and supporters with them primarily to applaud them, and don't make themselves so available and receptive to the other performers. Consequently, they're a distraction to the other performers, since they're only preparing their own number (beforehand), doing their bit, and then departing (afterwards). This is doubly non-constructive, because the other acts suffer from the background commotion, and even more from the relative lack of perceived popularity or appreciation, if they haven't brought along a similar retinue of 'fans' to applaud themselves.
Some Open Mics are in unfortunately boozy settings, meaning that the peformances must be artificially
boisterous to maintain audience attention. An opposite extreme is certain Open Mics in which a very
local, family atmosphere prevails. This may make the the level of musical accomplishment or stylistic
compatibility of the different acts much more variable, but that's often more than compensated for by the supportiveness and serendipity of new friendships that can be made.
There's one venue which is strictly non-amplified, meaning no PA system or amplification is available or
allowed at all. This can be a special challenge for some seasoned stage performers, yet this serves as a
kind of 'equalizer' as well. Some artists who might languish in the rowdy bar-scene Open Mics, or whose
microphone techniques aren't as well integrated into a solid 'stage act', can really shine when 'au naturel.' This gives them an opportunity to make their voice and their guitar or piano playing, or their writing itself, be more fully heard, because of the intimacy of the setting.
I feel privileged to have gotten involved in the Open Mic scene at a time when more efforts are being made to document the scene. It's a vital milieu which not only serves as an incubator or training ground for newer artists, but also as a valuable forum for those with dissenting messages and/or less commercial aesthetic orientations to hone their art and craft.
ericgolub@yahoo.com
http://myspace.com/ericgolub
http://vanessavanspall.com
http://ericgolub.hi5.com
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