After a very successful first Open Mic in Tel Aviv, with about 30 attendees, the creative energy continued this past Sunday at Coffee Print.  While the venue is normally a cafe and print shop, every other Sunday evening it becomes a cozy place for poets to perform and observers to get their poetry fix while enjoying a full menu.  Attendees can look forward to a specials menu that will be developed just for the open mic in the near future.  The manager so far is thinking along the lines of tapas, nachos, and drink specials.  In the meantime, everyone should feel free to enjoy the full bar.

At the first open mic I recognized a few members of Tel Aviv's existant community or writers.  Our most recent event drew a more diverse crowd with many new faces.  Of those were Dan "Mobius" Sieradski who co-coordinates many events in Jerusalem through his group Corner Prophets.  Dan brought a whole Jerusalem crew with him, including hip-hop artist and lead vocalist of the Jerusalem-based group Coolooloosh, Joel aka Rebel Sun who blessed the mic with a freestyle dedicated to an audience member.  Among other performers were Mia Amir, a dynamic spoken word artist who led an interactive song that received full audience participation, and performed a piece that was her own prayer for Israel.

Other performers included some new faces from Tel Aviv University, such as Avshalom Guissin and David-Yona Ayzer, as well as other members of the writing community like David Jones.

Performers from the first open mic included Mark L. Levinson, Zvi Bar, Moshe Davis who came again by way of Arad, Asher Gelman with his comical and honest blend of poetry, as well as David Wolff who played an eclectic musical piece that included poetry, as well as some tunes on his guitar.

The open mic had a full-house Sunday night, requiring people to bring in chairs from outside.  Most of the estimated 40-member audience stayed until the end of the open mic which lasted until 11:30 PM.  Everyone left that evening pleased and excited for the next event, which has already created a nice buzz for itself.  The next open mic will take place on Sunday, March 25th at Coffee Print (31 Bograshov) at 9 PM.

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