The toughest crowds are other comedians, so it's significant that after Carlin died the conversations at open mikes and A-list clubs weren't about the 130 appearances on "The Tonight Show," the 25 albums, three best-selling books or four Grammy awards.
They went out to the garage studio, which was full of wonderful toys — racks of guitars, various mikes, and an array of vintage synthesizers.
On Nov. 16 at Babalu in Minneapolis, it will hold a night of open mikes and "cyphers" (a cypher is a literal and metaphorical circle where the freestyle rappers take turns).
His younger brother, David, as soundman, had a sensitive directional mike and a Nagra recorder.
But she sure knows how to wield a mike and a catchphrase.
The last thing he saw before heading to the mike and a blast of stage lights was a sign taped to the top step that read "Barcelona".
In the world of auto-tuned everything, explosions, 754 dancers, two jumbotrons and a smoke machine just for one dance single it was refreshing to be reminded that true talent, true artistry just needs a stage, a mike and a way to make music.
While the names being bandied about in recent rumors might belong to familiar faces from TV news, there's not a Playboy spread, reality show or stool-and-a-mike setup among them.
In true beat fashion, Kafe Kerouac plays host to poetry readings and open mikes and draws a college crowd.
Except for set-piece speeches, he ignores the podiums set up for him, works with a hand mike and employs a conversational tone, sometimes dropping his voice at the end of a sentence instead of raising it, all of which lends intimacy to his words.
