A performer’s path to success, fame or personal fulfillment has to start somewhere—and for many, the first experience with an in-person performance comes at an open mic.
One local open mic that has helped many creatives begin their journey, myself included, is the open mic at The Hood Bar and Pizza in Palm Desert. Pre-pandemic, the bar’s open-mic nights attracted a variety of local talent; the performers could test material in front of a decent crowd, and leave the bar with a few connections and potential gigs. While the open mic did return in recent years, it quietly went away—but The Hood is bringing back its open mic, and is planning to have it every Wednesday night, starting at 7 p.m., Wednesday, June 5, with the return of former host Michael Anthony.
During a recent phone interview, Michael Anthony explained the status of The Hood’s open mic in recent years.
“There was a patch of bad rep for it at one point,” Anthony said. “From my knowledge about that, whoever the host was wasn’t being consistent as far as hosting. … I hosted open mic back in the day, and it was never like that, and I had a really good share of musicians and comedy stars. I had to let it go, and … it got taken over by mostly comedy, and there weren’t any musicians coming out. … Just recently, I talked to Brad (Guth, owner of The Hood), and we had to narrow down and talk about the negatives that came from the last open mic, and what can we do about turning those negatives back into positives and such.”
Anthony hosted The Hood’s open mic in 2019, and created a welcoming environment. Desert greats would do surprise pop-ins; seasoned regulars would impress week after week; and new, young rockers would debut.
“All kinds of different people would come,” Anthony said. “Once in a while, I’d get a poet slammer, or hip-hop artists, and stuff like that, which I loved. I loved the diversity of how many people were coming.”
Anthony left the desert for a while, but recently returned.
“As I came back to the desert, like a lot of us do every once in a while, you wander around and try to find what your calling is around here,” he said. “I put my guitar down for a little too long, and put the microphone down for a little too long. … It’s time to blow the dust off.”
Anthony hopes that his return to The Hood will revitalize the welcoming atmosphere that thrived in 2019.
“(Open mics are) important to me, and it’s important to, I think, almost everyone who lives locally around here, if they’re old talent, or new talent,” Anthony said. “Maybe it’s a couple of weeks where old talent is just playing for a while—people who’ve been here for a while—and it brings out the newer talent. … We all know that in this desert, there’s a big music scene out here, and we just somewhat stopped the heartbeat for a little bit, so now we’re trying to just electric-charge it.”
Pre-pandemic, The Hood was a hotspot for live music, featuring local bands almost every weekend in front of a packed house. While metal nights and the occasional show take The Hood’s stage now, it’s not the same. As the bar’s open-mic night returns, there is hope that The Hood will return to its old ways.
“One of the things about The Hood is that new faces come consistently over there,” Anthony said. “Somehow, that bar … it just pops up.”
“Don’t be afraid to come up here, because someone’s grandma just got up a second ago, and if you think you can’t out-class that lady, go try it out.”
Michael Anthony
Anthony, a musician himself, values the importance of open mics to musicians of any caliber.
“You could be big, small, young or old, any kind of color or whatever—and anybody can get on that stage for five minutes,” he said. “The deeper look into that is: Don’t be afraid to come up here, because someone’s grandma just got up a second ago, and if you think you can’t out-class that lady, go try it out. I want people to learn not to be afraid of a microphone. I hope it teaches them to be inspired and get things moving back again in the desert. Hopefully I can start a little blazing trail of other open mics popping up nearby, and stuff like more musical events, and more things for people to start on their own, too.”
Anthony said he welcomes all kinds of performers.
“It’s anything you want—covers, poetic stuff, comedy or whichever,” Anthony said. “I’d like to have more musicians come out for sure, because I know that was a little bit of (what was missing), and that’s what the main goal is—to bring out more musicians, for sure.”
Open Mic Night will take place every Wednesday at The Hood Bar and Pizza, 74360 Highway 111, in Palm Desert. Signups start at 7 p.m., and performances start at 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/mike.s.payan.
