Sip some joe, break a leg Sip some joe, break a leg (January 06, 2006)

Performers get their 15 minutes at Global Blends' open-mic night

By Saqib Rahim

On Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m., Global Blends opens its doors for open-mic night -- and keeps them open.

That's because the three-month-old event can draw as many as 30 people in an evening, performers and spectators alike, and there isn't enough room in the Mountain View cafe's small seating area.

On a typical Tuesday, the adjacent hallway is littered with guitar cases. It's littered with musicians and other performers, too, as they tune their instruments and practice their lines before taking the stage. The atmosphere is part garage band, part jam session, and part slam poetry.

The rules are simple: Each performer gets 15 minutes. If it's a musician, then he or she gets to play three songs.

But these aren't your run-of-the-mill acts. One man and his mate devote their set to Russian folk music, with a small guitar and an accordion. Another gentleman, playing a conventional acoustic guitar, croons "Life is like a blowfish making funny faces."

One quartet makes its statement with a saxophone, an electric guitar, a barrel drum, and a didgeridoo -- a hollow wooden Aboriginal wind instrument.

That's to say nothing of the heaping pile of percussion instruments -- from drums and maracas to shakers and tambourines -- sitting on the cafe's tables. Global Blends' open mic is known for its unique invitation to play along. It's not uncommon for spectators to spontaneously pick up an instrument and join the music.

It's not always the stuff of best-selling records, admits Joey Chang, a.k.a. Cello Joe, a regular who is credited with starting the event. But that's not really the point, he said. Instead, Chang focuses on getting people to play music together.

"I like being able to pick up the drum and play along with somebody else," he said. "This is a good way to get all these people to play these drums together."

Chang had been playing at some local spots -- including the Palo Alto Farmers' Market on Gilman Street and the Red Rock Coffee Company in Mountain View -- when he heard about Global Blends at a Mountain View bar. On a lark, he dropped in to ask if he could play cello there in the morning, hoping to make some money on tips from those getting their pick-me-up coffee.

The idea intrigued Kelly Price, a Global Blends barista. "At the time, we were looking for ways to get people into the shop," he said. With Starbucks less than a block away, he said, the shop needed a shot in the arm.

So Chang brought his cello to the morning shift. He soon realized, though, that he wasn't enough of a morning person to play at that hour, and he switched to Tuesday nights.

A few weeks later, Chang was bringing an old pal, guitarist Dave Gearhart, to his evening sets. Not long after, current regulars such as Ian and David Saxton, who specialize in Latin music, made their first appearance.

Now there's a base of regulars that is steadily growing, Chang said: "It's been pretty poppin'."

The Global Blends event has captured a lot of what good open mics in the Bay Area do best. Jeff Ring, a folk guitarist who has played other open mics in Half Moon Bay and San Francisco, said it's an easy way to get other perspectives on his music in an "understanding environment."

Dakota "Bees" Brown, a rapper and beat-boxer, said he appreciates that Global Blends provides a place where his art won't bother the neighbors. "Everyone's a messenger, and my message is to sing," he said.

Is the open mic the first step toward a hip-hop career? Not at all, Brown said. "I'm just in love with the process [of making music]."

Some performers at Global Blends are serious musicians who find peers and end up playing late into the night. But there's also a range of talent levels, and regulars say no one is uptight about the music.

Not everything you play is going to be Grammy-winning material, Chang said. "That's the truth of open mics. But you've got to wait for that moment when it clicks, and it's all really good."
This story originally appeared in the Palo Alto Weekly, the Voice's sister paper.
INFORMATION: What: Weekly open-mic nights at Global Blends cafe Where: 650 Castro St., Mountain View When: Tuesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. Cost: Free Info: Call (650) 254-1110

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