Planning Meeting, 12/13/06

Hey guys,

This is for those who missed out on last night's planning meeting. In attendance were Mik, Phil, Amy and myself, and we met at the MudHouse.

The only topic that really required discussion was the upcoming Open Mic Church. There were some questions about whether to use the word church, and after explaining my thoughts about that, we all pretty much agreed. This is how I explained it: If you just have an open-mic night in a gallery, that's normal. A few people will come, and they may really enjoy it, but there's nothing impactful about it. However, this is the way I expect people to react mentally to the phrase "Open Mic Church." Following is a list of probable sequential thoughts:

1) Oh, it's a church having an open mic night
2) But it's at a gallery
3) And it's associated with Randy Bacon, so it might be cool
4) And "The Core" is not a church I've ever heard of, and it sounds kind of different
5) But how on earth do you have an "open mic church?"
6) I've always thought of church as a place where they tell me what to think
7) But if it's "open mic" that means they want to know what I think
8) Then how can it still be considered "church"?
9) Maybe I should go and find out.
10) I'll sign up to sing that song with a few cusswords in it, and see if they still care about what I have to say.

And that brings me to the second point. We had some vigorous discussion about what to do with people who want to get up and do something offensive. It went without saying that we needed to be more permissive than a typical church. But it also went without saying that we couldn't tolerate a MichaelRichardsesque racist rant, or the like. We settled on the idea of, when people sign their name on a sheet when they arrive, saying that they'd like to perform, that they agree to keep it "respectful." That's it. If there are children present, we may also want to call that to their attention.

[which begs the question... maybe we should advertise that small children are not recommended at this event, especially considering that we have no way to sequester them, and the floor is solid concrete... not very safe. Unless I hear otherwise from you, I will put on the flyer that bringing children under 13 is not recommended.]

Where was I? Oh yeah... I think we can just use the word "respectful" and leave it at that. If they ask for a definition, we can ask them to avoid hatefulness, and deliberately attempts to offend people. If they do it anyway, we can just cut the mic, then ask them if they have something more respectful they can share. If the violation is extreme, we can just cut the mic and ask them to have a seat. But I believe that we should only remove the offender from the premises if we feel that he or she is making threats or putting people in danger.

Another thing we talked about was Mik's idea of having three platforms... a pulpit, a soap box, and a drama stage, to emphasize that we are open to all different types of expressions. I'd like more feedback on this idea, please.

Lastly, we decided that there will be leaflets for each of us to hand out to those we encounter, and several posters to put up around downtown in January.

That's it! Give me your thoughts.

Open Mouth, Insert Mic

Hey guys... here's my first idea for a promotional flyer for our Saturday Night deal.

Like I said, it's just a first idea... so tell me what you think. As you can see, according to this the name of the recurring event would be "Open Mic Church" and the name if this occurence would be "Open Mouth, Insert Mic."