The Golden Thyme Coffee Café and the Saint Paul Almanac are pleased to announce the “Soul Sounds Open Mic,” hosted by Tish Jones! The “Soul Sounds Open Mic” series is held every Thursday, with a special pre-performance writing workshop on the first Thursday of each month.
April 11th Featured Performer – Mic 101
MIC101, also known as MICONE represents the Golden Era of Hip-Hop. Growing up in the heart of Chicago during the 1980s, he was immersed in all of the elements of the then emerging and awakening hip-hop Culture. MIC101 toured with DJ Kool Herc and Wise Intelligent of Poor Righteous Teachers. MICONE expanded his experience through academics, pursuing a BA in History and Statistics from the University of Minnesota—Morris. MICONE embodies the spirit of the hip-hop culture’s diversity as he tells his unique “from the streets to college” story through music and other forms of art.
After college, MICONE officially made the Twin Cities his home base, using his book skills and hip-hop knowledge to partner with one of Minnesota’s original hip-hop heads, Andre Jenkins, to create Loc Starz. Currently MICONE partners with Tzadik at Nature’s Roots to incorporate mentorship, photography, music, awareness, nutrition and expression as “Nekst Level”, the movement. MIC101 is in the final phases of development of several projects, including Eye of the Beholder, his debut album, and Consciousness of Mind (.c0M)—a collection the of past centuries’ greatest words, from speeches to poetry strategically mastered over all genres of instrumentals; instrumentals ranging from hip-hop to classical.
The event takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Golden Thyme Coffee Café at 921 Selby Avenue (corner of North Milton Street) in Saint Paul, MN 55104. All ages are welcome, and there is no cover charge. Every first Thursday, a writing workshop will be held an hour before the open mic begins, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
About Host Tish Jones
Tish Jones, Community Engagement Director for the Saint Paul Almanac, is a spoken word artist, writer, educator, organizer, and activist in the Twin Cities. She has worked as a teaching artist with Pillsbury House Theater, Intermedia Arts, Plymouth Christian Youth Center, MacPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis Public Schools (Arts for Academic Achievement), Kulture Klub, and many other arts organizations. She received the 2009 Artist of the Year Award from City Pages and was Female Spoken Word Artist of the Year at the Minnesota Spoken Word Association’s Urban Griots Awards in 2009.
About the Soul Sounds Open Mic
The Soul Sounds Open Mic is a platform for encouraging literacy within the Saint Paul community through leadership, mentoring, and relationship building. Unlike actors and many musicians, writers typically work in isolation, so building and supporting a literary community can be a challenge.
The “open mic” format, together with a featured performer, is designed to foster leadership; encourage connecting opportunities between established, emerging, and amateur writers; and help build, strengthen, and leverage other opportunities for the Saint Paul literary community.
Featured performers are recognized as leaders in the literary arts community and are offered an opportunity to build their own audiences. The “Soul Sounds Open Mic” also provides a space to connect writers who are spoken-word based and writers who are written-word based, within the context of being artists sharing a common literary heritage and practicing their craft in Saint Paul.
The First Thursday workshops before performances will explore specific poetic devices such as alliteration, assonance, metaphor, or specific forms of poetry to investigate when developing a piece. Workshop attendees will be encouraged to share the work created in the workshop at the open mic that follows.
Event Location
The event takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Golden Thyme Coffee Café at 921 Selby Avenue (corner of North Milton Street) in Saint Paul. All ages are welcome, and there is no cover charge. The First Thursday writing workshop is held an hour before the open mic begins, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.