ADVENTURES OF AN OPEN-MIKER: Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore

Milkboy Coffee has built itself into much more than a coffee shop with a stage: in addition to regular shows, it's now got a recording studio with a wealth of engineers, and even its own record label.

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ADVENTURES OF AN OPEN-MIKER: Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore

POSTED: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 1:00 PM

Filed Under: Music | Adventures of an Open-Miker

(Matt Cantor)

Every Thursday, open-miker Matt Cantor gives you the skinny on a local open-mic night so you'll know which stages to call home. This week, he plays Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore.

Milkboy Coffee has built itself into much more than a coffee shop with a stage: in addition to regular shows, it’s now got a recording studio with a wealth of engineers, and even its own record label. A few weeks ago, I headed to Milkboy’s smaller, purely acoustic stage in Bryn Mawr; this week I checked out the company’s main location in Ardmore. It’s a big café with a roomy stage and plenty of seating, most of which was filled this Tuesday as performers sang through a very crisp sound system. The place has made itself into a brand of sorts, selling Milkboy merchandise and CDs — but with only two locations, it retains a strong local flavor. The same might be said of its tasty hot cocoa. Unfortunately, in the evening, the kitchen is closed at Milkboy — but there are a huge variety of drinks on offer.

Sign-ups were promptly at 6 p.m., and by the time I got there, perhaps 10 minutes later, the list of 20 performers was already almost full. The show began an hour later, and with each player allotted two songs, it moved quickly

Performers were mostly singer-songwriters with acoustic guitars; there was also poetry, a few keyboard acts and a violinist. Since Milkboy is a coffee shop rather than a bar, a wide range of ages were represented, from teenage to middle age. There were amusing poems from Lori, who told the story of her crippling addiction before revealing that the vice in question was peanut butter. The appropriately-named Steven Singer got the crowd singing along with an upbeat solo version of “Under Pressure”; at the song’s wailing climax, one young audience member permeated the room with a pitch-perfect echo of Freddie Mercury. With a powerful high voice, Sam Vile packed a gritty punch into his songs, radiating a dark intensity mixed with moments of humor. And Elliot Levy had a chatty audience completely rapt and silent for a pair of spoken-word pieces. One inspiring poem sought to remind listeners how lucky they were: given human reproductive biology, we’ve got about a one in 21 trillion chance of being born, so let’s make the most of it.

The nitty-gritty for performers: Tuesdays, sign-ups at 6 p.m., show at 7 p .m. Milkboy Coffee, 200 E. Lancaster Ave., Ardmore. Free entry, two songs each.

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