Since our opening in July event planning has been based on being able to work with local businesses and to showcase and discover talent from Tacoma and surrounding areas. It has also been our mission to find events that require some form of consistency in order to gain notoriety. Open mic, in-store tournaments and holiday parties breed that type of culture - there is some sort of expectation for a sequel or series to take place on a monthly or annual schedule. Friday Feb 27th was our first time opening up this platform to the public and hosting an open mic where local acts can come and display their skill set. Our hopes were set on getting a good variety of acts to perform, and although hip hop acts were the majority we got to hear and see some poetry and a live ukulele along the way.

Finding talent is the most exciting part of putting together these events. New faces mean new energy and from a business standpoint that means heightened visibility. But there were also some faces that we anticipated seeing in the flesh for performance purposes.

The night started slow - but around the 8:20 mark we had made the announcement that we would be starting in 5 and all acts that hadn't checked in needed to hit the cashwrap counter to do so. There were two or three acts that didn't make it to the counter and in turn didn't make the set list. BE ON TIME. That should be ANY open mic night performers first priority. And our first performer Sage was the first person to show and a first timer looking to get some thoughts off his chest. Our sound system wasn't the best (you live and you learn) so his beat was lower and more muffled than it should have been. Sage also made it clear it was going to be his first time performing and that the feeling was "....fucking intense". Then he proceeded to BAR UP - but only look towards the floor thee ENTIRE time. Somehow I was still enthralled with the lyrical prowess and want to give him a shout out for going first and it being his first time.

SAGE in the midst of his first performance...

The rest of the evening ran pretty smoothly, a typical open mic night - there were some sound issues involving volume and some great acts next to some OK acts. Highlights of the night were K.O.'s (SVNDLAAT member) performance, Crystal (a pretty female rap artist with serious skill and delivery), Gabe (romantic and prolific spoken word), Ian Wheelock (played the ukulele and sang a song he wrote in Hawaii), seeing Taj7 sing live finally and Jaymes Bond performing 100 for the people for the first time. Everyone did an amazing job and we appreciate the courage it takes to perform with out a proper sound check and rehearsal.

WEST VILLAGE RECORDS PERFORMING THEIR SONG "INHALE"... — WEST VILLAGE RECORDS PERFORMING THEIR SONG "INHALE"...

SVNDLAAT'S K.O. PERFORMING HIS NEW SINGLE.... — SVNDLAAT'S K.O. PERFORMING HIS NEW SINGLE....

Finally!! Now that we have officially let the game ball touch the court we are ready to put up as many buckets as possible. Open mic will be the last Friday of every month. We are welcoming return guests and very much looking forward to new guests. The culture is building and being the middle and meeting ground is exciting for us in the eTcTacoma back office.

Special shout out to GLENN (aka GLENNLOVESPIZZA aka GLENNTHEDAD) who was our host and did a great job at keeping the show rolling in between sips for a tall can and yelling at acts that he wasn't the sound guy. He also ended the show in very much IFY and GLENN fashion by delivering a simple " OK bye - we're done now".

GRAYSON CLOSING OUT THE SHOW WITH A KANYE WEST "ONLY ONE" COVER....

EVENT: OPEN MIC at eTcTacoma Club907

— ETCETERA —