A Little Elbow Room

Last night Justine(literally my only friend in this town) and I went to an Open Mic at a bar downtown, called "The Elbow Room". I'd seen it online months ago but had never had the courage to go. To be honest, I'd heard myths of blacks not being "welcome" in certain bars in the south, and was afraid. However, Justine had decided I was going. She picked me up and drove us downtown.

We walked in and I shyly said "hey! I heard you guys have an open mic here?"

The bartender Melissa replied " yep we sure do and you're in luck, its tonight! we love having new people. It starts at nine."

We were waaay too early! It was only 7 something.

"Its run by Alex" she said gesturing into the other room. "y'all are welcome to hang out here and eat til then or sign up with Alex and come back later.

We opted for the latter. I awkwardly walked into the other room and approached a young man, with an epic mustache, fiddling with audio equipment. He showed me where to sign up. Then Justine and I left and went across the street to another bar... I think it was called Zachary's.

We had over an hour to kill, so we had some drinks. A couple minutes later I looked up and Mustache Dude was behind the bar! I was so confused. Apparently he works there too? Dang this town is small.

Justine and I hung out there a bit longer, shot the breeze with and older gentleman, then went back across the street.

We sat and listened to the others, waiting for my turn to go on. While waiting, we met a really sweet young lady named Mary. She was so friendly! Honestly, I dont remember most of the conversation because my nerves started getting to me. Everybody's music sounded so much different than mine. "What if the don't like me?"

A few more people went up then, finally it was my turn! I walked up sat on the stool and struggled to set up... Mustache Dude gave me a weird look. "whelp I guess now he knows I'm a fraud" I thought to myself. He helped me plug in, had me do a mic check, then gave me the go ahead to... go.

"hey my name is Joshua Purnell. I'm gonna start with a cover. This is Sunday morning by maroon 5"

I sang...

AND THEY LIKED ME!!

so I did another song... this time an original

More cheers erupted after I finished and Justine was in the audience beaming with pride.

I was about to get down but mustache dude said to do one more...

I thought for a second then finally decided on "Down"

I adjusted my capo and sang once more.

They were so supportive! haha I dont know what I was so afraid of. The owner,Barbara even came up and asked me if I would be interested in doing a gig there later on. This is crazy! what a night....

There is another open mic tomorrow at a coffee shop. Maybe I'll go to that one too.

thanks for reading,

Joshua Purnell