The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, September 09, 1998, Image 5

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Page 5 • Wednesday, September 9, 1998
On the path to harmony
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Local residents take the stage once a week to make music
Mike fuentes/Thi: Battalion
Kusting, a College Station resident, plays stand-up bass during
Songwriter night at Crooked Path Ale House Wednesday.
BY TRAVIS HOPPER
The Battalion
"usic in this day and age has become a
by-product of the technology we so long
do improve. Rare is the radio star or MTV
mainstay who chooses not to have a synthesiz
er, a drum loop, distortion or the now infamous,
Puff-Daddy-inspired, “sample.”
Even modern country has jumped on the
bandwagon. But take all the technology away
and what remains is the song and the performer.
Every Wednesday night, from 8 until mid
night, the Crooked Path Ale House on Universi
ty Drive hosts KORA’s Singer-Songwriter Open-
Mic Night. It is a chance for aspiring musicians
to get their feet wet in the local music scene, for
seasoned veterans to test out new material and
for many residents of Bryan-College Station to
have a relaxing and entertaining night out on the
town.
Roy Munse, co-host of the KORA morning
show, said he approached Willie Bennett, local
talent booker, three years ago with an innovative
idea.
“I had lived in Nashville and in Austin, and
in both cities, I had attended and played at open-
mic nights,” Munse said. “For me, they were a
great opportunity to rehearse the music that I
was writing, because at the time I was writing
faster than I could record. It was a cheaper and
more efficient way to stay polished and get feed
back.”
Upon relocating to College Station, Munse
said he noticed there were no established open-
mic forums for himself and others to hone their
craft outside the spotlight. So, he did what any
entrepreneurial-minded person would do — he
created one.
Munse approached Bennett, then working for
3rd Floor Cantina, and asked him if a night not
regularly booked could be converted into an
open-mic night.
Bennett agreed to let Munse do his show
there Wednesday nights from 8 until closing
time, and so Singer-Songwriter Night was born.
Munse said initially it was not the successful
and varied scene that it has become today.
“That first night, we had about three per
formers and three audience members,” Munse
said. “Each performer got to play for as long as
they wanted, and then some.”
Bennett and Munse both knew the type of
program they were hoping to achieve would take
some time to get off the ground and become well
known, and so for about six months the
Singer/Songwriter Night was a low-key affair.
Munse said things gradually started to pick
up, however, as word began to circulate around
Bryan-College Station and Texas A&M.
“The first time I really noticed that we had
something going, something that really had
some staying power, was this one time where
A&M had an off week, school was not in session
and we still had a full house,” Munse said. “That
was really the night when 1 realized that this
whole Singer/Songwriter Night might actually
work out.”
For about two and a half years, Singer/Song
writer Night was a Wednesday night fixture at
the 3rd Floor Cantina. When the club closed its
doors for good a couple of months ago, Munse
said he moved his show over to its current resi
dence at the Crooked Path Ale House.
“Donny Anz, who owns the Crooked Path,
had told me if I ever needed to move my show,
he would like to have us,” Munse said. “So,
when the 3rd Floor closed, I took him up on it.”
Moving from one location to another has not
caused Singer/Songwriter Night to slow down
at all.
Chris Taylor, the general manager at Crooked
Path, said they have had to hustle just to keep
up with the new business it brings.
“Before Roy Munse and the Singer/Song
writer Night moved here, we didn’t even open
the upstairs Wednesdays,” Taylor said. “But now
with us being right across from campus and all,
we are getting more people here on Wednesdays
than we were before. It has really been a nice ad
dition for us.”
Currently, each performer signs up for a 15
minute time slot between 8 p.m. and midnight.
They are allowed to play for 15-minutes or three
songs, whichever comes first.
Munse said at the end of the night, provided
everyone has already played once, those that
stick around are allowed to play a few more
songs.
“We used to do this all the time in the early
days,” Munse said. “But lately we’ve had so
many performers that we’ve been working hard
just to get them all in.”
While entire bands are discouraged and drum
sets and prerecorded material are not allowed,
every type of music is welcome.
“We get a lot of folk and country singers ob
viously, but we also get everything from blues to
alternative to rock ‘n’ roll,” Munse said. “We
even had a guy a while back who brought in
some cooking pots and played a little percussion
with pots and spoons. We’ve seen just about
everything. ”
Munse said there are many talented per
formers who have played the Singer/Songwriter
Night over the years, but do not look for any on
MTV or VH-1 just yet.
“We haven’t had anyone hit it really big, but
we really haven’t been doing it for a long enough
time yet,” Munse said. “The music business
takes a while to get started in. I can say, though;
that I am sure it will happen to someone. With
so many talented people having played here, like
members of Reclamation, Spirit Tree and Roger
Creagger, I’m sure that at least one of them will
hit it big. ”
Taylor said there has been a warm and en
thusiastic response from those who have aC
tended Singer/Songwriter.
“It has really been a bunch of fun,” Taylor
said. “The performers have been really goodj
and the audience has been really good to them*
Everyone claps and seems to have a really goocj
time while they’re there.”
Munse said people who are curious about
playing in front of some new audiences, discov
ering new musical talent or just hanging out and
catching some original new music should come
out to Singer/Songwriter Open Mic Night
Wednesdays at the Crooked Path.
“It is a great way to start playing, and you will
never have an easier audience,” Munse said.
“There’s no risk, nobody boos you, and it’s just
an all around good time. ”
fire up for the
999 Aggiela
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Student Organizations
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Student Government
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Texas A&M Student Organizations can
now pick up contracts for coverage
1999 Aggieland yearbook. Contract
are available in the basement of
Reed McDonald Building in Room
Please call 845-2681
for more information.
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