Every Thursday there's a featured act at the House of Hamez's open mic night, handpicked by the organizers to perform for 20 minutes or so before the rest of the poets and musicians get up to do their thing. Last night, to mark Pure Kona's 15th year of open mics, Alex Northrup and Genevieve Legacy were the features, bringing a blend of music and spoken word to the evening. Northrup and his friend Ben played a short set of well-crafted pop songs, and Legacy followed with her poetry. Her lilting voice perfectly punctuated the poems, some of which were more song than speech. When she read the words "refrigerator humming" as if she were indeed a refrigerator humming, it left me wanting more. Her last piece satisfied the itch; Legacy sped up and slowed down during a poem she bookended with the sing-songy phrase "they love, they love, they love, they love, they love, they love"; it's still stuck in my head a day later.
After the open mic, we headed over to The Black Pearl, where the DIY group CoMMoN had organized its first show. We missed most of the bands, but were just in time for Webster's Karrah Teague, who won the crowd over with her down-to-earth appearance, acoustic guitar strumming, and sweet songs. Her lyrics were honest and simple; one song spun a tale about Michigan, where she says everyone was going hunting, but she was too afraid. Another lyric we caught compared a boy to a home. Teague's voice was mostly soft, though sometimes rose in urgency, and the crowd responded well, with hand-clapping, swaying, and smiles. My companion and I couldn't help feeling we must look a little moody compared to the happy crowd, as, dressed in black, we sat to the side and sipped our PBRs.
After Teague's set, we took off for the Bug Jar, where the live music had just ended, and the ropes were up outside for the Thursday Night Shakedown. We were encouraged when we heard some Joy Division and White Stripes songs, but then the place settled into that strange club vibe that makes me remember why I usually avoid the Jar on Thursdays. But I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Next up: Jazz Fest; AV Music Fest at Rochester Contemporary