{"id":6590,"date":"2012-01-13T09:48:36","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T14:48:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=6590"},"modified":"2012-01-13T09:48:36","modified_gmt":"2012-01-13T14:48:36","slug":"local-venue-cultivates-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=6590","title":{"rendered":"Local venue cultivates talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Chester\u2019s Cozy hookah and cigar bar offers Tuesday night open mic to musicians and performers of all strokes<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio<\/strong>, Staff Writer, UnionvilleTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Telly Pandel is at the mic at Cozy's in West Chester.<\/p><\/div>\n

WEST CHESTER \u2014 Is this thing on?<\/p>\n

When you first walk into Cozy, you\u2019re immediately transported to another world, something out of Casablanca perhaps. Adorned on the walls throughout the smoky den are bits of Egyptian d\u00e9cor and on the floor, Middle Eastern cushions. They line the way to the stage which, oddly enough, showcases players not only in front of an audience but also in the display window for passersby.<\/p>\n

Too much pressure for the armchair Dylan? Not at all. Cozy\u2019s open mic caters to all brave souls who want to take their shot at stardom.<\/p>\n

\u201cNewcomers and people who have been playing a while can both benefit from coming to open mic,\u201d said Cozy open mic emcee Telly Pandel.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a newcomer there\u2019s the experience of getting out and basically performing in front of a crowd. For a seasoned player it\u2019s good for testing new material. For both types of players there\u2019s a community: people you see week to week, people you get to know and end up collaborating with along the line. Overall, both experienced and new performers experience growth, and basically it\u2019s a good way to cultivate that growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The open mic welcomes a vast array of performers including bands, guitarists, singer\/songwriters, poets, spoken word performers, rappers, comedians, percussionists, and others.<\/p>\n

Cozy\u2019s open mic is a place where multi-genre performers can thrive as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the environment here,\u201d guitar player and teacher Bill Kucera said. \u201cI play a wide range from Dance to Heavy Metal to Country and everything in between. It\u2019s also a great way to network with other musicians in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a time when musicians are struggling more than ever to survive, the open mic circuit becomes more and more critical for musicians both aspiring and practiced.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor musicians there tends to be a lack of places to play; venues that aren\u2019t willing to have you out or will only book professionals,\u201d Pandel said. \u201cMaybe you want to get out there and get exposure or you want to start getting paid gigs but don\u2019t have enough experience, it\u2019s a great place for that too. For other people, they\u2019re searching out local, original music and open mics are a great way to find that. \u201c<\/p>\n

In the end, when the smoke clears, Cozy\u2019s open mic is a great way to perform, watch, or just unwind. It\u2019s \u201cno pressure\u201d environment serves to welcome musicians of all strokes and help others who are connected through music to meet and socialize.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always a mix of seasoned players and newcomers who just want to get out and experience live performing for the first time,\u201d Pandel said. \u201cYou get all types. If nothing else, it\u2019s always entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open mic is held on Tuesdays at 8 PM at Cozy Hookah and Cigar Bar, 122 E Gay St
\nWest Chester, PA 19380. For more details, call (610) 696-5300.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

West Chester\u2019s Cozy hookah and cigar bar offers Tuesday night open mic to musicians and performers of all strokes By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, Staff Writer, UnionvilleTimes.com WEST CHESTER \u2014 Is this thing on? When you first walk into Cozy, you\u2019re immediately transported to another world, something out of Casablanca perhaps. Adorned on the walls throughout the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[287,7],"tags":[794,795,231],"class_list":["post-6590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-featured","tag-local-music","tag-open-mic","tag-west-chester"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}