I caught the debut open mic event at New Helvetia brewery on Broadway last Friday. One of the bar staff, Branko, organized and hosted this event. They even promoted it along with a $1 drink special for performers!

I’ve met Branko before at other open mics and also pick-up soccer games in the area. I hadn’t seen him since about 2020, so when we happened to meet at the New Helvetia tap room, we took a moment and caught up. I knew that the place had hosted music before, including performances and acoustic jams, and when the subject came up he replied that they were planning an open mic night! I made sure to note it so that I could come out to support.

I showed up promptly at the 6pm sign up time and was greeted by Branko and Jen, the other bar staff for that evening. The sign-up sheet was empty, so I took the first slot and got my $1 drink to wait for the 630 music start time.

A small PA was set up in the corner of the room, with a view of Broadway and the bar. The tap room is a small one, so it lends itself to smaller, more personal performances. Two mics, and a couple of instrument inputs were available for amplification, yet a loud acoustic instrument could fill the room without it.

I had my parlor nylon string guitar with me. Its sound is too soft to play without amplifying in that room so I plugged my saddle mounted piezo pickup into my EQ pedal, and that into the PA. That boosted the guitar volume enough to get over the street and bar noise, and allowed me to EQ the sound to my liking. I wasn’t going to get full music venue volume here. Even if the PA was larger, the narrow room and hard flat surfaces make loud sounds unpleasant, but I could still get above the normal noise floor.

The crowd was small, and the people who stayed within view of the setup were generally attentive. People who want to carry on conversation have plenty of room around the corner or out on the back patio, and it seems like they respected the space as there were a number of people out there, enjoying the weather and the HAPA pizza that was cooking for the night (great pizza btw). I expected that the first open mic event here wouldn’t draw a large crowd, but now that the word is out who knows what can happen.

The second performance was by my friends the Jenres and they sounded great! They’ve been getting out to play music at open mics, bringing their fun mixed-genre style with them. I did take some initiative to tweak the balance on their PA levels, as Branko was tending bar for customers. I wanted to be sure that not only do the Jenres sound their best, but also that the open mic event sounded inviting for unsuspecting visitors. Below is some video of the song after I made my adjustments.

New Helvetia is a favorite taproom of mine and it’s nice to see that they are hosting music events again. I think it suits small acts well. So after trying out the space with the open mic, this bandit may try to book a night and do a whole show there!