Coffeehouse Open Mic Night Attracts a Range of Performers

Two teens introduced as “the incandescent Finn and Maeve” nervously climbed onto an open mic stage, equipped with an electric and an acoustic guitar. They awkwardly adjusted their mic stands, plugged in their guitars and looked at each other for assurance. They greeted the audience and announced the song they would play: “War is a God” by Jesse Welles.

The audience cheered in support when they started, happy to see kids playing live music. But they leaned in as the music began, captivated by the graphic anti-war song. Finn Stemper and Maeve Bradway weaved in their vocals, harmonies and solos, not without mistakes yet dramatic and impressive. After their first song the crowd reacted with booming claps, standing to holler and whistle from the back.

It was only Stemper’s second time on stage there and Bradway’s first. “I’ve been performing since I was six, so I’m pretty used to it,” Stemper said, “and I wanted Maeve to come play with me because they’re awesome.”

Stemper and Bradway were playing at Anodyne Coffee’s third monthly open mic in Walker’s Point on April 28. It is a new event, started by Anodyne employee Jackson Eckendorf, to open a space for local artists to play for an audience.

“So many times, people are looking for a stage to get their big break on, to be able to make those new connections within the scene,” said Eckendorf, “and I think that just makes for a stronger, more vibrant music scene.”

An hour before the show started, there were already about a dozen people waiting. They were scattered across five rustic, handmade wooden tables. Some chatted, others anxiously tuned their guitars and practiced. The sun was setting, but the room was bright from string lights hung across the ceiling bouncing light off the exposed brick walls. Behind the bar, Eckendorf and a coworker brewed coffee and poured beer for the growing crowd.

At 7 p.m. the lights dimmed, the crowd quieted down and guest emcee Cora Bequeath introduced the first performer: Phil Wittliff. Wittliff has always been a musician, but stopped playing as a young man to pursue his career. He recently started playing again.

“I’m doing a huge kind of push to start playing and trying to promote the music,” said Wittliff, “so, I’ve been just doing a lot of open mics to warm up.”

He played an impressive song he wrote on acoustic guitar first, then a cover of “Every Breath You Take.” As the crowd cheered, he thanked them and advertised his show later that week, just across the street.

The second performers were Dee and Smoke, an older man on acoustic guitar in a fedora and Fender shirt and a woman with a mandolin. They began with a haunting folk ballad that silenced the audience. After, they promised their second song would be more fun, and it was; they played an upbeat love song, dancing with each other on stage.  

Another performer, Charlie, went up for his first time ever on stage. He told the crowd he was performing to get over his stage fright. He played a song he wrote over 10 years ago and one he wrote two years ago. When he made a mistake, the crowd encouraged him with cheers, and someone hollered, “you got this.”

Eventually, guest emcee Cora Bequeath went on stage with an all-metal resonator. She is in a Milwaukee band called Rat Bath. As a solo act, she said she gets to play fun folk songs as opposed to the spooky punk rock of Rat Bath. She ended her four-song set with the labor union anthem “Solidarity Forever.” She explained to the crowd that Anodyne employees had recently organized and sang this in celebration. The audience sang and clapped along as she jumped offstage to dance with the crowd for the final chorus.

The performances continued: there was another duo with a foot operated drum, harmonica and ukuleles, Stemper and Bradway, and then Dave Sroka. Sroka was a reserved older man who softly sang sweet love songs.

“Playing at home to the walls is a tough bit, and it makes me ask the question, ‘if that’s all I’m doing, why am I doing this?’” said Sroka. “I feel the need to share my talents with others.”

One of the next performances was an experimental electronic artist named Illene. They brought several musical gadgets up on a table and put the microphone against their speaker. They introduced their set as soothing Christian rock but shocked the crowd with industrial electronic loops. Illene would violently adjust their instruments to change the loop then would turn around or dance.

A few sets later, the only non-musical act of the night was called to stage: Gouri Bollepalli. She read a poem she wrote after the death of a friend, contrasting the guilt of losing a loved one with the hope of saving lives as a medical student.

“I think there was a lot of healing that happened in writing this poem,” Bollepalli said. “First, getting it published in a student journal. And then for me to stick it out on stage is really important. I think it’s just full circle, you know?”

About three hours after the open mic show started, came the 16^th and final performance. Matea walked on stage: a woman dressed in a hot pink suit, hot pink shoes and hot pink hair and eyebrows. She brought a ukulele and belted out two songs, showing off her vocal range.

It was only the third open mic at Anodyne, but a community seemed to be forming.

“It takes a while to build that community, but you start to recognize people and then talk to them afterward,” said Steve Girman. “Next thing you know, you’re jamming with them at another venue and then they tell you about another thing that you should check out.”

Girman played the ukulele that night. He started playing to help teach kindergarten years ago.

Cora Bequeath moved from Los Angeles to Milwaukee with her bandmate in 2018 and said the Milwaukee music scene is flourishing.

“We decided that we were just going to move to the city where we had the most fun on tour, and that was Milwaukee. Hands down,” said Bequeath. “We’ve seen a lot of really cool new spaces emerge.”

Milwaukee was a hotbed for live music in the 1980s. There are not nearly as many upscale venues as there were then, but there is a growing movement for independent open mics like Anodyne’s, according to Sroka.