Singer-Songwriter Andrew Zuker joined up with an eclectic group of musicians at Cypress Music Venue in Midtown recently to showcase the unpredictable beauty and community of an Open Mic Night:
There are few places in life where professionals and amateurs commingle joyously, where competition is absent, and where artists from all backgrounds and origins can revel in their craft and enjoy the work of others without pressure to hustle and climb, network and promote.
Hosted by prolific Reno musician Greg Gilmore, Cypress music venue opens their stage to anyone each Wednesday evening from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Musicians put their name in a bucket and must be ready to perform at any point in the evening when their name is drawn.
“Three songs or 15 minutes, whichever comes first,” Gilmore gently reminds each group or solo artist once they are plugged in, tuned up, and ready to go.
Music and entertainment are notoriously competitive industries and American culture at large often assumes that everyone should be trying to “make it,” or in other words, become a big star. For some, Open Mic is the first place where they get to step in front of a crowd and give it their best shot.
For others with a rich resume of music jobs, bands, and gigs, Open Mic is a place to leave career goals behind and just share their love of music and performing.
Ellie Bartels performing an original work, “Song for Ed,” playing her Fender Stratocaster without a pick, plucking and strumming intricate harmonies under her voice and clever, engaging lyrics.
A Place Where We All Belong
“We’re all equal here,” quips Ellie Bartels, a singer-songwriter and close friend I originally met at an Open Mic a few years back. “The community is great. It’s a funny thing, because I never even noticed until I moved to Reno 5 years ago. The people here are so supportive of each other.”
Ellie stands tall and slender, with long hair tumbling from her winter hat. Her original songs meander and create a sequence of moods, with lots of motion and dynamic, her thought-provoking lyrics sung earnestly.
Ellie was born in the Deep South but has lived all over the U.S., most recently in Oakland, CA before moving to Reno in 2019. She is currently a student of Psychology and Music at Truckee Meadows Community College.
With many original songs and a few albums to her name, Ellie has made music both professionally and as a hobby. She considers Open Mics a crucial forum for beginners to gain confidence and performing experience.
“So that’s why, even if someone sounds kinda crappy to me, I won’t over-praise them, but I will always be supportive,” she said, explaining that it takes a lot of courage to sing and play in front of a crowd.
Ellie acknowledges that we all start out as beginners and that encouragement from other musicians can be an amazing confidence-builder. “Most people will never become famous or anything, but you hope they will keep creating music that you enjoy.”
That night at Cypress, we got the chance to see and support one such beginner.
Poet and rapper Th3 R3alist R3ason took the stage and announced that this would be his first public performance of music and first time rapping in front of anyone. I would never have guessed it was his first rap performance from his passionate delivery of thought-provoking rhymes and cutting refrains.
Also known as the “Dictionary Hero,” R3ason ended his set by cutting off the mic and performing a dazzling poem of the same name, sans amplification, running through the alphabet forwards and back again with a passionate litany of social commentary.
Poet and rapper Th3 R3alist R3ason relaxes at the bar after performing music in public for the first time in his life. Inspired by his Aunt, he began writing and performing poetry as a teenager.
Where the Crowd Wants You to Win
“It helped feed my performance,” he said. “I’ve never done the rapping in front of anybody and to perform that in front of people was a little nerve wracking but it definitely helped calm the nerves seeing that the crowd was responsive. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
The 34-year-old R3ason lives in Reno with his three children but says he is “from everywhere.” He says became interested in poetry as a child, inspired by his Aunt who was a poet and an influential figure in his life. It was her who pushed him to first share his poems at poetry open mic nights.
Though this was his first public musical performance, Th3 R3alist R3ason drew from his experience reading poetry and exchanging energy with the crowd.
British-born chanteuse known simply as Sue riles up the crowd with a rocking rendition of the Rolling Stones’ hit Paint It Black.
Where You Feel At Home
By contrast, the singer who goes by Sue, originally from Kent, England, is an entertainment and music veteran.
Petite and in pigtails, playing a small-sized acoustic guitar with a peace sign guitar strap, the cheerful and unassuming songstress has an enormous and energetic sound with soaring, powerful rock vocals. Sue has worked in entertainment professionally for decades, starting in the film industry as a runner and eventually working her way up to visual effects producer. Back in the UK, Sue regularly hosted an Open Mic and also toured professionally with bands and as a solo act.
Having recently relocated to Reno with her husband, Sue is loving the mountains and beauty of nature in Northern Nevada while finding kinship among the local musicians.
“I had lived here for about 4 months,” Sue says, explaining how she discovered the Open Mic at Cypress, “I walked in here because I had to have live music, because my soul was craving it, and I just thought ‘I’ve come home.’”
That feeling of belonging and home was mentioned by all the performers I spoke to, especially Argyle, a cheerful and colorful singer-songwriter with smart lyrics and a lovely, honest voice. Argyle plays a rare and interesting vintage instrument called an Omnichord, which could best be described as the lovechild of an autoharp and a synthesizer, played by holding chord buttons and strumming over a sensor instead of strings.
Reno-based singer-songwriter and all around creative force Argyle hypnotizes the audience with a stark and soothing original song. Originally from Las Vegas, they came to Reno 11 years ago for school and never left.
A Place to Grow As a Person and a Performer
“I grew up Mormon and I was trained from a young age to go and sing with a bunch of people once a week and this kind of is a good continuation of that,” Argyle said with a laugh and wry smile.
“But really what I started doing it for is: I sang a lot as a kid and I really miss that, but I developed stage fright and so I was like ‘If I keep going maybe I’ll stop having stage fright…’ and I think it worked!”
For Leon Neilsen, the multi-talented multi-instrumentalist lead singer of local band Enigmana, the connections created and fostered in the music community are what it’s all about. Neilson, along with bandmates Jonathan Louis, Darion Jordan, Tyler Smelich, and Salvador Garcia, wants to foster the type of supportive environment that encourages new performers to join in and experience being on stage.
“I want to turn Reno into a music town,” Nielsen says, explaining that community is a large part of what drives him to perform.
“It’s this channeling tool where I get to take this energy that I have, and then I get to crank it to 12 because I’m really good at being an entertainer, so I can make other people feel happy and that’s a rare feeling actually nowadays.”
Another musical performance in the books for Leon Neilsen.
Where We Can Be Happy
For me, as a full-time journalism student, father of two, husband, and former pro-musician, Open Mic is a welcome respite from daily life where I can enjoy live music, talk shop with the other players, and share my songs or favorite covers without a lot of responsibility and competition. I don’t have to promote the show, book the other bands, host and MC the show, handle payment negotiations with the club manager, bring the equipment and run sound all the while trying to give a great performance. I just get to enjoy the moment.
When I first moved to Reno in 2019, I started attending Open Mics to meet other musicians and make some friends in town. What I found was an expansive but tight network of talented and creative people, bound together by a love of music, eager to laugh, cheer, sing, and be unabashedly happy to be together.