Illustration by Chris Danger
Singer-songwriter Susan Greenbaum is a fixture on Richmond’s music scene, known for her uplifting songs and warm vocal tone. Like many who stand and sing for a living, she got her start at open mics.
So when she took her show on the road and moved here from Massachusetts 26 years ago, she hoped to encounter the supportive environments that the open mic nights back home had provided her burgeoning talent: safe spaces with polite applause for earnest efforts.
“Because I sucked. But I knew it, I knew I sucked. So that was OK,” she says of those early days.
When she arrived in Richmond, few clubs had open mic nights, so there was no easy path for a novice to test the waters. “I did not find anything,” says, “and I was really bummed out about that. So, I had to start just going to different places to ask if they would book me and, and I played for free a lot.”
Award-winning singer-songwriter Susan Greenbaum (Photo by David Masserik)
These days it’s hard to get from one venue to another without tripping over a microphone cord or stepping on crumpled paper with handwritten lyrics. Richmond is flush with open mic nights, events with spoken word, comedy, singing, jam sessions and rap battles. If you’ve got the nerve, the city has a stage for you somewhere, several nights a week.
For example, the 4 Cyber Cafe has Karaoke & Open Mic Wednesdays, “Poetry in Common” is held at Common House, and The Camel hosts Open Mic at The Camel. There are also open mic nights at Funktastic Meads, Poe’s Pub, Lakeside Tavern and many other restaurants and gathering spaces. If comedy’s your thing, there’s a weekly night at the Sandman Comedy Club, a monthly event at Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop and “Mic Check Mondays” at The Boutique-ery.
Musicians looking to jam with other players have options, too, including Orbital Music Park on West Cary Street and the recently rebooted Roots Jam at Black Iris.
“I have seen the city change so much since I moved here, in the arts world,” Greenbaum says. “There’s always been music here, but I feel like it's expanded dramatically. And I feel like it's a city where if you want to play, you can play, you know, if you want to form a group, you can definitely find folks to do what you do and/or maybe you do what they do. … I just think it has grown artistically dramatically.”
Singer Calvin Green performs at a recent Tuesday Verses. (Photo by Jay Paul)
One of the city’s longest-running open mics is Tuesday Verses, started by the late Lorna Pinckney in 2002. The event’s current home is Addis Ethiopian Restaurant in Shockoe Bottom, and has been hosted by Jess Snyder since 2017.
“It’s really a cultural hub for the community, allows people, whatever your talent is, singing, rapping, dancing, comedy, poetry, whatever it is, it offers a place where people can come and express themselves freely. In a place of love,” Snyder says.
If you’ve ever been to Verses, you’ll hear the word “love” mentioned quite a bit, along with “vibe” and “energy,” over R&B sounds provided by house band 2 Up 2 Down. There’s a communal atmosphere that extends beyond the stage.
“Verses is like a family,” says Snyder, who also works as a social media manager. “It’s definitely more than just ... getting up there and practicing your craft. There’s people that have met at Verses who got married.”
Open mics aren’t just for would-be artists and performers — these events have entertainment value, along with some off-key moments and the occasional cringeworthy attempt. But where else might you catch the next performer with a Richmond address to make it big — and for free, or relatively cheap?
“Oh, I think it's a great entertainment option. Because you're going to see a real variety of things,” Greenbaum says. “If you aren’t so crazy about this one ... you might really like the next one. I like that. I like having some unexpectedness in entertainment.”
Comedian and open mic performer Dakotah Coates (Photo courtesy Dakotah Coates)
Comedian and open mic performer Dakotah Coates was surprised to find out that he’d gone viral — right before his first stand-up gig. Someone recorded his spirited karaoke performance of rapper Cardi B’s “WAP” and uploaded it to TikTok. The video garnered millions of views before he told his first joke on a stage.
By day, Coates is one of the owners of DawnStar Video Games, a store in Scott’s Addition that resells games and has an arcade. He says that doing stand-up at open mics has helped him hone his comedy chops and assisted him in other areas as well.
“Stand-up comedy has kind of taught me [that] I can be more firm in setting up my boundaries,” he says, noting another, more obvious skill he’s developed: “I'm a little bit more quick on my feet reaction-wise in conversations.”
Greenbaum has opened for national talent, including Jim Messina, Janis Ian and Kenny Loggins. She’s also won several awards for her songwriting and musical efforts, including a Pollak Prize from this magazine in 2012. For her, open mics don’t serve the purpose they once did.
“There’s lots of benefits in it for me as an audience member, for sure. And it can also be very motivating and inspiring for me,” she says. “Because I have not been writing as much as I should be. [Talking about open mics has] kind of given me a really good nudge that I should go to some open mics, because I found that to be motivating.”
