Open mic(rophone) shows are based on the fact that many people have a little bit of Broadway inside them They just need a stage and an audience to let it show. Recognizing that the joy of performing and of watching and listening are not age limited, the folks at the Champlain Senior Center in Burlington host a monthly Open Mic - every second Saturday night of the month, 7 – 11 pm. The $5 cover charge includes a "Beggars Banquet" from the center's soup and salad bar
The organizer of the show and sound arranger is Jeff Miller, 60, a veteran of seventeen years in the open stage or open mic scene in Burlington. It's a very simple format, he says. People sign up when they come in - first come, first served. Performers are allocated twelve minutes on stage. All kinds of performances are welcome – instrumentals, singing, poetry reading, short plays, dancing, juggling, card tricks. Miller has seen and welcomes them all.
Starting with the Burlington Coffee House, where folksinger Rachel Bissex got her start, Miller has been involved in arranging open mic sessions and booking touring artists in City Hall auditorium, Flynn Space, City Market on College Street, Stone Soup, the Three Needs, and the Rhombus Gallery. He enjoys looking back over the years at his sign-up sheets and seeing how many of the artists he booked went on to bigger careers. Miller plays the guitar, but after learning the management end of performing, including publicity and sound production, he decided that he liked being backstage. "I prefer being a supporter," he says.
At Open Mic at the Champlain Senior Center, both performers and audience range in age from 20-something to 70 plus. "I want to inspire people to stand up and try something," Miller says. "Performers do not have to be young. If you find your muse, age has nothing to do with it. It's about desire. Look at the Rolling Stones. There's no excuse for not trying."
Maura McReynolds, playing the Irish flute and banjo, is a regular at Open Mic. She studied classical music in college, but now she plays traditional folk and Irish music – writing many of her own pieces. "I like to add my own spin to the traditional ballads," she says. She enjoys Open Mic because of the "respectful people," good sound effects, and "delicious food." "People should know that it's there," she says.
Bill Crosby, another regular, is a classical guitarist with a graduate degree in Musicology. "There are not many places where you can go into a room and just share your music with an appreciative audience – much less with a good sound system," he says. "Performing is a state of mind. It's completely different from practicing alone. Open Mic allows me to keep my mind and technique sharp. It's a great thing to do for the community."
Open Mic is just one of the new programs responding to the changing face of aging at the Champlain Senior Center. These programs are the result of several years of staff discussion and surveys of seniors and baby boomers. Although many of today's seniors and tomorrow's (baby boomers) are healthier, more active, and better off financially than older cohorts, they still encounter obstacles to full community participation, says senior center director, Kathy Maieli. If senior centers are to survive, they must respond to this new demography, she says. But they must also continue to serve more traditional senior needs.
"A senior center gives people a place to go that caters to their age range," says Maieli. It's a place to socialize that's not a bar, not a gym where everyone else is in Spandex. It gives people a way to branch out safely and conveniently. You don't need a partner to have fun at senior center dances.
Many people from 60 to 90 told us that they "were not ready for a 'senior center," says Maieli. But they also described activities that they would like and were not available at a convenient time and place and at a reasonable cost. Driving and parking were cited as barriers to getting out. The center has responded with a varied list of offerings, many in coordination with city resources like the Burlington Parks and Recreation Department and the Firehouse Gallery.
Maieli and her staff are open to all suggestions. When people said that they wanted to shop at Wal-Mart, but were not able to drive there, staff created special shopping-lunch days, which combine a restaurant lunch at the Ponderosa, for example, and a ride in a Parks and Recreation department van. An evening at a concert or the theater can be a problem for people hesitant to look for parking in downtown Burlington at night. Instead, they can come to the senior center, have dinner there, go the Firehouse Gallery or the Open Stage in the van, and return to the senior center after the show.
Both Marcia Mason, 75, and baby boomer Alice Charbonneau enjoy different programs at the Champlain Senior Center, but their reasons for attending are the same: good programs, convenience, and low cost. Looking for exercise programs, Mason found one at the center that specialized in arthritis. She has also enjoyed Sadie Hawkins Day at the St. John's Club and the Mystery Ride, which took participants to Gardeners' supply, lunch at Miguel's, and a finale at the Fleming Museum. "The programs are interesting, inexpensive, and the people are nice," she says.
Alice Charbonneau appreciates Jazzercise, swing dancing, trips out-of-town, and "the good food." "Many of the senior center programs are cheaper, more convenient, and not available anywhere else," she says.
"Age is not about a number, how old you are. It's about how you perceive yourself," says Maieli. "Age is a state of mind."
Champlain Senior Center, 658-3585, champlainseniorcenter.org
Open Mic, Saturday, July 14, 7-11pm. 241 No. Winooski Avenue, Burlington. Cover charge: $5 includes soup and salad bar.
Barbara Leitenberg writes on senior issues for the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging. This article originally appeared in the Burlington Free Press.
