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New spin refreshes open mic nights at Longbranch

Curt Wilson stood on the Back Room stage at Longbranch Coffee House, and asked for three volunteers who could keep a beat.

Patrick Mustain, a freshman from Urbana, was the first volunteer. After a few minutes, two more audience members were out of their seats and up on the stage. The song began with a steady pulse from the volunteers.

Soon Wilson, a network security officer for Information Technology, joined them with his own complex beat on the bongo drum, adding words to his former band's song, "The Forest Beat." The piece became a wild, jungle rhythm and the thrumming increased in intensity and volume as Wilson's volunteers experimented with more complex patterns.

Switching to guitar, Wilson slowed the song and decreased volume in a tune reminiscent of a tranquil forest day. The improvisation ended with his return to the bongo drum and the fierce, tribal beat.

Wilson's performance was one of many at the Evolution Artist's Salon Oct. 20. Wilson, who facilitates the sessions, took the opportunity to share his work. In addition to drum and song, he also shared a number of guitar pieces with the audience.

Although Longbranch has been holding open mic sessions on Fridays for some years, Evolution, and its counterpart Revolution, has been around less than two months. In fact, Revolution just held its second session.

While Evolution controls the first and third Wednesdays of every month, Revolution dominates the other Wednesdays. Scheduling conflicts with the room gave birth to the idea of a new night and format, Wilson said. He and Melinda Yeomans, a teaching assistant for the English Department, began Evolution to give artists a chance to share original compositions with their peers.

"We're trying to sort of nurture the artists' spirit and see what they have to offer," Wilson said.

A musician most of his life, Wilson is familiar with sharing his work with others. He began participating in open mic sessions shortly before moving to Carbondale in 1990, where Longbranch provided a new outlet for his creativity. Wilson said it was only natural to continue his involvement with open mics when the previous Friday sessions did not work out.

Most of the night's entertainment featured guitars. In addition to helping out with the drumming, Mustain shared some of his own writing. His first song was a newly written piece with Spanish and English versions of the words.

Although the lyrics sounded like a love song in Spanish, the English translation quickly disabused the misconception. The song was about a man's misery and talked about eating shoes, garbage and fire.

Mustain, an exercise science major from Urbana, said he began writing his own music about two years ago when he realized he could sing and play at the same time. Since then, he has participated in several open mic nights, although this was his first Evolution performance.

"I'm just trying to get used to playing in front of people," Mustain, who has been playing for about seven years, said. "I found out I could sing, and that's really the main thing I'm trying to get better at."

Several other performances followed Mustain's, including a political speaker for the Take Back the Night rally, another guitarist and an electronic performance with a bass and repetition system.

James Throgmorton, a Carbondale resident and host of Revolution, said electronic performances normally occurred at his open mic session. He said while he was planning on using a microphone, he really liked the acoustic idea.

"It's really nice to be acoustic," Throgmorton said. "A lot of these guys are used to playing electric and being plugged into a P.A. system. We want to get some of these bands unplugged and show them just doing their skills."

Throgmorton said he wants the session to include all types of media. One of his ideas was to include pictures of paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, etc., in the show. The images are put into a presentation that plays in beat with the music on the wall behind the artists.

While Evolution allows artists to share their work, Revolution is designed as a network for individuals who want to start a band. Throgmorton said he believed the most important function of his open mic sessions was getting people together to form bands as a creative outlet for their work.

"I think the open mic scene is where people should come if they have just a bass sitting around, and they know how to play it," Throgmorton said. "That's where they're going to meet people that are in the music scene that are unattached. I think that's going to be our real draw."

For questions concerning Evolution, contact Curt Wilson at 529-4483 or by email at evolutionscene@yahoo.com

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