MEET SOME OF THE LOCAL STARS WHO WILL BE SHINING AT BLUMENTHAL’S BEST OF OPEN MIC THIS FRIDAY
Aug 28, 2019 / Blog
This Friday, August 30 at 7:30pm, you can catch more than a dozen local acts for FREE at McGlohon Theater in Spirit Square. It’s the annual Best of Open Mic Night, presented by Blumenthal Performing Arts, featuring fan favorites from a full season of Open Mics. This family-friendly show highlights extraordinary local and regional talent from the Charlotte-area and features a wide variety of artists.
Here’s a closer look at a handful of these performers.
LANDON BRYSON: PIANO & VOCALS
Nine-year old Landon Bryson is a natural performer. The fourth-grader from Kershaw, SC plays piano and sings. He also has perfect pitch—meaning he can identify any tone simply by hearing it. This is an incredibly useful skill, as Landon learns to play all of his music by ear.
Blind since birth, he showed an early interest in anything that made sounds or played music, especially a toy keyboard which he used to recreate nursery rhymes he’d heard. At age five he started piano lessons and moved on from children’s songs to contemporary pop hits and Christian music. Landon’s mom, Ashlee Fairfax, credits his piano teacher with helping to elevate his music.
“He doesn’t sugar coat with Landon which is what he needs,” says Fairfax. “It’s a really good relationship they have.”
Fun Fact: Landon’s top of his class, fully integrated into his public school classroom, and a three-time winner of the annual Braille Challenge hosted by the South Carolina Commission for the Blind.
What you can expect: You’ll likely hear a rousing rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” ‘[Audiences will] see a kid who just has fun and loves to play,” says Fairfax. “He really does shine when he’s out there. He’s really in his element. For a lot of people they see it as amazing but for his family and friends, it’s just normal for him… it’s what he does. We’re just like, ‘this is Landon.’”
JAY ROGERS BLUESMAN: BLUES GUITAR AND VOCALS
Jay Rogers was around Landon’s age when he first started playing guitar and singing gospel at church. For years he performed and recorded gospel music. But in 2014, while visiting extended family in Louisiana, he met blue’s legend Buddy Guy and that changed everything. Guy invited him to come see a show in Chicago and Rogers decided to go for it. At the time he knew virtually nothing about the blues or the extent of Guy’s celebrity.
“I was so afraid of getting on the airplane,” says Rogers. “I didn’t know who he was until I got back home and looked him up on the computer. Then I got scared again… oh man, I couldn’t believe it.”
But when he heard Guy play, Rogers had only one thought: “[T]his is what’s inside of me. This is what I want to come out.”
After his Chicago show, Guy made suggestions of great blues recordings for Rogers to listen to and he got started transforming himself into a bluesman. He came back home and started practicing blues guitar for 6 - 8 hours every day .
“I’ve studied all the blue’s legends,” says Rogers. “When you hear me you’re going to say, ‘that guy’s been out there’ but I haven’t been out there!”
Now he’s ready to go. “You’ve got to give people 100% of what you got. That’s what I do… I’m just happy when I’m stage. That’s me. That’s my life. I can express a whole lot of what I feel inside and what I want to give but I can’t do that sitting inside [my house].”
Fun Fact:
Rogers is currently working on recording a 6-song CD with help from Guy’s producer.
What you can expect: “When I perform, I think about one thing. There’s someone out there who’s feeling sad. There’s someone out there who needs some uplifting… somebody who had a hard time like me. Somebody who needs a friend. That way everybody can have an uplifting…”
GABBI BENNETTI (AKA, ART-IN-MOTION): Hip-Hop
Twenty-year old Gabbi Bennetti, a dancer and visual artist, also made a move into another artform about four years ago. She had been studying Scottish Country Dancing when an acquaintance introduced her to popping and animation, a robot-like style of hip-hop that involves flexing and isolation of muscle movements.
“It started with a friend of a friend,” says Bennetti, [But] I didn’t totally get into it until I watched it on YouTube. I got so obsessed with this style and wanted to do it.”
Bennetti’s stage name, Art-in-Motion, was originally inspired by her creative work in computer animation. Then she had an epiphany: it was also the perfect name to describe the style of dance she’s been working so hard to develop.
“I loved performing because I had been performing with Scottish Country Dancing but I never got the opportunity to dance with hip-hop until Blumenthal Open Mic,” says Bennetti. “This gives people who aren't famous a chance to show off what they’re passionate about.”
This Friday’s show will be her third time performing at a Blumenthal Open Mic. “[I]t’s in a wonderful environment where people are supportive,” says Bennetti, “where no one is going to be mean or anything. That’s a special feeling: all the positive feedback you get.”
Fun Fact: Bennetti has enjoyed having the opportunity to take several in person workshops with dancers she had previously admired via the internet, including a master class with the leading ladies of Femme Fatale (from NBC’s “World of Dance”) during this spring’s Charlotte Shout! “Oh, that was an amazing experience,” she says. “What’s nice about it is when you’re teaching yourself on YouTube, you don’t know if you’re doing it right so it’s nice learning from masters about how to improve some things.”
What you can expect: Energetic, freestyle dancing. Bennetti will be performing to “Shatter Me,” a dubstep violin piece, by Lindsey Stirling
CONNOR GRAEBER: Classic Jazz Vocals
Twenty-two year old Connor Graeber, who grew up in Charlotte, has fallen in love with music from another era. “The first show I remember seeing with my parents was Natalie Cole at Ovens Auditorium,” says Graeber, who is now a senior at Wake Forest University. “That was a big eye opener for me because I had never heard that kind of music before—Great American Songbook and traditional pop.” But it took another show, a Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, to inspire Graeber to jump on stage himself. Now, he’s part of his university’s Concert Choir and a frequent performer at local retirement communities and open mics in the Winston-Salem area.
“I do it because I love the music and I think it doesn’t get heard enough by that many people these days,” says Graeber. “And I’m trying to bring a new perspective to it, I guess.”
This will be Graeber’s third time performing at Blumenthal’s Open Mic. One of the big draws for him is the opportunity to perform in McGlohon Theater. “It’s a good space, good acoustics, very intimate setting with the audience being close to the stage,” he says. “...The inside of it’s beautiful -- stained glass windows. So beautiful and intimate and people are so close together. Obviously, the audiences are great too… [It’s a] great combination—the setting and the audience.”
Fun Fact: Graeber is a huge fan of Frank Sinatra. He urges anyone who is unfamiliar with Sinatra’s body of work (1,400 recorded songs!) to give them a listen.
What you can expect: Graeber hopes to put a smile on your face or surprise you with something he does musically. “I think they can just expect somebody who's going to perform with a lot of heart, humility and passion,” Graeber says.
McGlohon Theater, 7:30pm
Doors Open at 7pm
FREE (No tickets needed but seating is first come, first seated)
