Getting Punked at Open Mic Night
Clint Vines hosted a night of music... and performance art?
Clint Vines regularly hosts Open Mic Night on Thursdays at the Iron Horse Pub, and it’s always a good time featuring some regular performers, and occasionally, a fresh face or two.
On this particular night, special guest Matt Austin of Matt Austin & the Accused started the show with a half-hour set of excellent acoustic country, and having never seen him before, we were very impressed. Matt said he and his band have a new album coming soon, and based on what we heard, it’s gonna be good.
When Matt’s set was over, we got treated to a number of mini-sets by local talented performers we’ve seen before, including Clint himself performing some of his best tracks, like Oil City Hell, plus performances from Anthony Taylor of HermAnthony, Greg Casillas of Better Strangers and Strange Lucy, Devin Davis, and others.
In addition to the cast of regulars, we got to see Caleb Williams for the first time. Caleb started out rough, with a futzy guitar giving him trouble, but once be borrowed Clint’s six-string, things got rolling and we came away impressed. Caleb’s guitar work was particularly solid, and we’ll look forward to seeing more from him in the future.
As the end of Open Mic Night approached, a performer named Mitchell took the stage. We had never seen him perform before, but when he began, things took a turn that left us scratching our heads.
Mitchell did not hit like the most musically talented performer of the night by any means — he played his left-handed acoustic with some hesitancy, and sang along in a soft tone that was musical enough, but it was when he launched into a story between songs that he caught my attention.
In a borderline self-indulgent tale littered with ums and uhs and sometimes nervous laughs, told in the manner of an inexperienced storyteller, Mitchell related losing his dog and later finding it — in his words — flattened on the highway. He then launched into a song he wrote, which he said was titled “Interstate Dog,” if I remember correctly.
Mitchell began to sing and there was a snicker from somewhere in the back of the crowd. Quickly, between lines, Mitchell softly said “It’s not funny,” which brought about a few more snickers, one of which might have come from me.
It was at this point in the performance I wondered — am I being punked right now? Is this guy for real?
With a completely straight face, Mitchell seemed to be doing comedy performance art from the school of Andy Kaufman or Demetri Martin. I honestly could not tell if he was genuine or putting us on. I have never seen anything quite like it.
Mitchell, if you are genuinely a bereaved pet owner, I apologize for making light of the situation. If what we saw was performance art, however, I’m here to say, there was something genius about it.
You never know what you’re gonna see at Open Mic Night. Don’t miss the next one.
Follow theFUSE on Facebook
Follow theFUSE on Instagram
TheFUSE supports our local performers. Would you consider supporting TheFUSE with a free or paid subscription? We cannot survive without your help. Thank you in advance for your support.