Jami Jackson's Music Player


Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Singer/Songwriter Showcase and MTA Subway

On July 29th, I participated in the MRK Productions Singer/Songwriter showcase and competition. The prize of the showcase was to become an opening act for the next show and other fun perks. It was at the club, Don't Tell Mama, it was great! However, I didn't end up winning it :(. I got a lot of good feedback from the audience, but it was the kind of show that you have to bring a crowd to in order to win. I didn't bring enough people there to vote for me. I did have a few good friends come out and support, which was nice. It was good for me nonetheless because I have never played at that club before. Johnny Kira played 2 songs on the guitar with me, "Sista Girl" and "Let Love Live". I also met a lot of really cool people. I even added a couple of girls who were from out of the country to my mailing list!



The next night, I had a show at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, so as you can imagine, I was tired! However, I still had enough energy to perform. I sang a few songs from my album and saw some other really good acts. Two of the people who performed their poetry was this one guy named Definition and another guy named Abraham. They were great! The host of the event, Tongo, also performed some of his poetry. He had some riveting lyrics as well.



The show for the MTA Music Under New York program on August 3rd turned out to be really worthwhile. Although it was very hot underground, I made sure to bring enough water to hydrate me. I also got a good amount of cash from donations! There was a lot of love from the crowd in general. A lot of people just walked by, but there were a good number of people who stopped and listened, or who smiled at me as they walked by, or who went through the trouble to stop, pull out their wallets, take a dollar out, and drop it in the guitar case that I was using to hold donations. It can be hard to perform in the subway because a lot of people just walk by trying to get where they need to get to and pay the artist no mind, as I have done numerous times myself, but all I need is 1 or 2 people who really seem to care. Plus, I'm there to make the subway experience more pleasant and I can only be glad with whatever extra I get out of it. I'll keep you posted on the future shows in the subway! I expect to see a lot of "interesting" people!