ABSTRACT
When I first started playing out around 23, I was playing out in the streets, like I played in Washington Square Park and then after that probably when I was 24, I started playing at open mics. So, that was like 1983. There were open mics then. Monday night there was songwriter's coalition at the Cornelia Street Café and that would go from 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm. After that you could go over for the 8 pm sign-up at the Sun Mountain Café. And at the speakeasy that no longer exists on MacDougal Street and there was one other place on Bleecker. People would shuttle back and forth between the three venues and they would play all night, you know. Those were the good days for the open mics, man. They were wild.
