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Posts Tagged Alternative Soul

Review: Sherlock’s Books & Cafe Thursday night open mic

Aug 3

Posted by JerseyMic in Reviews of Open Mics | 1 Comment

3571131154 4237ee093f Review: Sherlocks Books & Cafe Thursday night open mic

Sherlock's Books and Cafe

This is Alternative Soul’s infant cousin, the only living relative of the open mic family from Pratt’s Hill of Beans.

Sherlock’s Book and Cafe is the home to a lot of arts and music in the Smithville/Galloway area. It’s also the home of “Unrestricted“, Ray Tyler’s adult open mic. Some of you may be wondering, “What happened to ‘Alternative soul’ at Pratt’s Hill of Beans?“. It’s here at Sherlock’s Books and Cafe in Smithville/Galloway.

Ray Tyler hosts this event, which starts at 8 and goes until 10pm. It’s a solid mix between singers and poets, and has some of the feel that “Alternative Soul” had at Pratt’s. There were gift card giveaways to newcomers and the talent was really good. Ray always starts off the night with some discussions and jokes, and some original poetry of his own.

The crowd varies in age but from what I saw, it was anywhere from late teens to late 30s, and everyone had about 10 minutes to perform. It was a good night, and a great job on Ray’s part by keeping Alternative Soul alive.

Details:

  • Sherlock’s Books & Cafe with host Ray Tyler
  • Thursday Nights starting at 8pm and continuing until 10pm
  • 45 South New York Road (Route 9) Galloway, NJ, 08205

You can also download a print-friendly list of our open mics by going to our “List of Open Mics” page!

Feel free to check out pictures of the new construction: New Addition at Sherlock’s Books and Cafe

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Alternative Soul at on July 2nd, 2009 in EHT, NJ (pics and video!)

Jul 3

Posted by JerseyMic in Open Mic Night Coverage | No Comments

shop31 300x136 Alternative Soul at on July 2nd, 2009 in EHT, NJ (pics and video!)

Pratt's Hill of Beans in EHT, NJ

Here are pictures and video from Alternative Soul at Pratt’s Hill of Beans on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009. If you need a refresher course on what “Alternative Soul” is all about, you can check the JerseyMic.com review:

Alternative Soul at Pratt’s Hill of Beans in Egg Harbor Township

Last night, Alex Siniari was the guest host for Alternative Soul:

3683871320 9c26da1cb9 Alternative Soul at on July 2nd, 2009 in EHT, NJ (pics and video!)

Alex Siniari was the guest host

(Usually the host is Ray Tyler)

Alternative Soul at on July 2nd, 2009 in EHT, NJ (pics and video!)

Ray Tyler is normally the host

Last night had a lot more poetry than it normally does. It was a great mix up and definitely enjoyable. It makes the sets more interesting by constantly changing your expectations. The order of the night went like this:

  1. Ray Tyler – original poems
  2. Sammy Stiles – original music
  3. Darren Palmer – original poems, including “What For, Darfur?”
  4. Barry Aishton - instrumental guitar
  5. Lolita - original poems
  6. Stan Schwertly – cover music
  7. Alex Siniari asked about “weekly gripes” and “things to be thankful for” in the same question!
  8. Ondrea Siniari - original poems
  9. Jeff Sharky – comedy
  10. Rebecca Numchick – cover songs by Melody Gardot
  11. Saii Nixon – original poems
  12. Alex Siniari – original songs
  13. Doug “Dirty Hands” – original rap. “Jesus”, “Oh No”, and “Yeah yeah”. VIDEO BELOW!
  14. Sarah Bucknam – “You are my sunshine“

Without further ado, the Flickr photostream:

And finally, a video of “Dirty Hands” rapping a new original, (assumingly) titled “Jesus”

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Alternative Soul (pictures and video) from June 25th, 2009

Jun 30

Posted by JerseyMic in Open Mic Night Coverage | 1 Comment

shop31 300x136 Alternative Soul (pictures and video) from June 25th, 2009

Pratt's Hill of Beans in EHT, NJ

Here are pictures from Alternative Soul on June 25th, 2009. (“Alternative Soul” is the name of the open mic hosted by Ray Tyler at Pratt’s Hill of Beans on Thursdays.) Click below to read the JerseyMic review:

Alternative Soul at Pratt’s Hill of Beans in Egg Harbor Township

The night started off with Mico Lucide’s birthday!

3672277304 70657d0873 Alternative Soul (pictures and video) from June 25th, 2009

Mico Ludide

Plenty of people showed up before the open mic to celebrate. There was a cake too!

3671470661 22fecdc0ee Alternative Soul (pictures and video) from June 25th, 2009

Happy Birthday Mico

Read the rest of this entry »

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Interview with singer-songwriter Alex Siniari

Jun 22

Posted by JerseyMic in Interviews with NJ Artists | 10 Comments

DSCN1868 1 Interview with singer songwriter Alex Siniari

Alex Siniari

This is the first in our newest category “Interviews with NJ Artists”. This is with local arist & singer-songwriter Alex Siniari, recently highlighted in the Philadelphia Inquirer with his Father.

So how long have you been playing guitar?

I’ve been in love with the guitar for a long time but our most recent affair has been the only time we’ve ever taken each other seriously. My Father played in a band back in his younger years and later on in life, he had a friend named Paul Leka, he and his band (Steam) wrote a song that became famous some time ago. Ever heard, “Nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye!”?  That guy. Anyway, he gave me a guitar when I was a boy but I didn’t have the sense to practice. I used to think strumming the strings open was a song. After a while, I lost interest completely and forgot about the guitar all together. I would tell people I could play because I wanted to so badly but I had no idea. I’d try to play here and there but had no clue.

How long have you been writing songs?

After flirting with the idea for a long time I finally bought my Ibanez and started trying to write songs. I never learned to read music and I still haven’t but at some point something clicked and music started to make sense to me. I still can’t sit down and write a song after a feeling or concept intentionally, it just has to come and I have little to no control. The song writes itself through me and I dig that, but often people don’t understand why I don’t write about myself or even get what I am singing about. I clearly remember telling my friend, JY that I could do this, I could write songs and play out. He is an incredible drummer so we’d jam here and there and I’d work up the nerve to play in front of people. I wrote one complete song with lyrics, that I have since completely forgotten, and a few instrumentals that either were lost to my poor memory or later developed into songs I play now, like “Free” and “Hand Over Mouth”. Free was the second song that I wrote, then came “So Far” so I’ve been writing somewhere around the two year mark.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Alternative Soul on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 (EHT Open Mic)

Jun 3

Posted by JerseyMic in Open Mic Night Coverage | No Comments

ehtjamz 050309 008 300x225 Alternative Soul on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 (EHT Open Mic)

Pratt's Outside

Here are some pictures from Alternative Soul, hosted by Ray Tyler at Pratt’s Hill of Beans in EHT, NJ. Held on Thursdays, this EHT open mic was one of the first reviewed by JerseyMic.

Alternative Soul Open Mic in EHT, NJ

Alternative Soul is getting larger and larger! And there’s no surprise: this Thursday was their first year anniversary of Alternative Soul. Congratulations to Pratt’s Hill of Beans and Ray Tyler for keeping such a wonderful night for everyone to enjoy!

We stopped by to support the open mic on its one year anniversary. (Not everyone that was there is pictured). So this time we’re going to use a Flickr slide show.

Alternative Soul on May 28th, 2009

Dan Ruiz sang one of his own originals, which you can watch below:

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Updates! Flickr, Maps of Open mics, and lots more!

May 29

Posted by JerseyMic in Articles and Updates | No Comments

JerseyMic.com is coming up on being live for 2 months and we are EXPLODING!

explosion 300x225 Updates! Flickr, Maps of Open mics, and lots more!

JerseyMic.com is EXPLODING!

Thanks to the readers of the blog, we have been expanding way past expectations. The newest additions are:

  1. The Flickr Account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38892591@N08/ If you want to catch the photos from the open mics in one convenient location, check out JerseyMic.com’s Flickr stream! We’re testing using it for most of our photos! It’s speeding up the site and people are loving it.

  2. The Google Map of Open Mics: You can now see where every open mic is located on our custom Google map of open mics! http://jerseymic.com/index.php/map-of-open-mics/ Each pinpoint location contains a link to the review for that open mic, and the list is only growing!

  3. The New Look! You’re looking at it now, and it’ll only get better. Contact me if you think you can do better, or if you have any comments on it!

  4. Increased YouTube videos! Check out our Youtube channel, we’re putting more content up with every open mic!

  5. Our new partnership with VistaPrint.com! With at least one hundred hours of work into JerseyMic.com, we’ve earned a whole $1.24 in ad-revenue. While JerseyMic IS a labor of love, it’s also labor. Ordering business cards, flyers, and more is cheapest at VistaPrint anyway (where JerseyMic gets its stuff) and you can get a considerable discount through this link (versus using a brick-and-mortar store) and their quality is top-notch!

  6. 25% to 75% OFF All Products at VistaPrint
    Updates! Flickr, Maps of Open mics, and lots more!(Let us know that you ordered through that link (or any banner on our site), and we’ll make sure to help give you a shoutout!)

  7. Interviews with local artists are in the works!

Keep checking out JerseyMic.com! We were at Gregorio’s on Wednesday, with pictures soon, as well as pictures from last night at Alternative Soul!

Also!

We’re going to be having a PARTY in the future to celebrate! Keep your eyes peeled for updates!

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