Club Cafe gives local musicians a chance to perform

Raymond Cho is a psychologist at Pitt, a medical director and a father — but on this Monday night in November, he’s also a singer-songwriter performing for the first time, stepping up to the stage at Club Cafe.

Club Cafe is a 21-and-older music venue in the South Side known for its excellent food, posh ambience and intimate performances by critically-acclaimed musicians. But on Monday nights, at their increasingly popular Open Stage event, anyone can perform. Instruments, backing band and talent are all optional. The only thing mandatory is the courage to get in front of a crowd and perform.

Cho, 44, has played keyboard for six years. His original compositions, at their best moments, were reminiscent of the exhilarating piano style of classical pianist Jon Schmidt, interspersed with Cho’s still-developing vocal style.

“It went okay, a little rough in patches,” Cho said after his performance. He said that he set the bar low for himself. As long as he didn’t walk off the stage in shame, he was happy.

For college students, open mic is perhaps associated with off-key singers, turgid poets and cringe-worthy comedians, and sure, those are all possible at Club Cafe. But in addition to being a chance for newcomers such as Cho to get over their jitters and play on a real stage with a professional sound system, this weekly event also brings in some of the best performers in Pittsburgh, where they collaborate, jam and try out new songs.

“It’s so nice to come to a venue like this where you play a song you wrote and people aren’t just tuning you out,” said singer-songwriter Jessica Saenz to the crowd, before belting out two sultry, jazzy originals. Saenz, 21, is a self-described broke bar musician who began playing piano at 12 and who plays by ear. A former contestant on “The X Factor” who made it to the second round of auditions, she exuded style and confidence on stage, and the cheering crowd made it clear that they weren’t clapping just to be polite.

Joel Lindsey, a professional musician from East London, England, said that the blunt honesty of Pittsburghers is one of the things he loves about Club Cafe’s Open Stage night.

“Nobody will shush the crowd here,” Lindsey said. “Controlling the crowd is the musician’s responsibility. Inexperienced musicians learn their lesson here.”

Lindsey, 32, settled in Pittsburgh after marrying a fellow musician who is from the city, and he is now the frontman for the band Boulevard of the Allies. On this particular night, he hosted the event, introduced the performers and opened the night with a stunning original song, backed by his thumb-slap and finger-style acoustic guitar work.

According to Lindsey, Club Cafe is not only the best open mic venue in Pittsburgh, it’s also one of the best in the country. He contrasted Pittsburgh’s eclectic music scene with Nashville’s scene, which is a country scene by default, or to New York City, where performers are competing to be the ultimate hipster, using weird vocal effects and avoiding straightforward songwriting.

“Pittsburgh has no musical identity,” said Lindsey, “and that is a good thing.”

For local musician David Dickinson, Club Cafe has not only been a place to connect with the Pittsburgh music scene, but it is also a good place to get back into playing guitar after cutting off a finger with a table saw.

“It completely changed my playing style,” said Dickinson, 34, a contractor by trade and a father of three. Since the accident two and a half years ago, Dickinson also picked up the bass to play for Jeremy Caywood, another artist he met at Club Cafe.

“Open mic nights are good for two things,” said Dickinson, “getting better and networking with other musicians.”

Although the crowd mostly consisted of musicians and their friends and families, some people were there just to enjoy an evening out in South Side. Mohini Dasari and Joyce Kim are Pitt medical school students who celebrated at Club Cafe after taking a big test.

“There’s a lot of hidden gems here,” said Kim, who said it was her first time at Club Cafe.

Jessie and Kiki Young, the core members of Rising Regina, didn’t meet at Club Cafe: They’re sisters.

“We’ve been singing together since we could talk,” said Jessie, 29, and this showed in their performance. While strumming rhythms on guitar, Jessie laced her laser-precise harmonies over her sister Kiki’s blues-tinged lead vocals. Their performance also got a guest appearance from Dickinson, whose lead guitar lines popped and twisted over Jessie’s rhythms.

“This is the best of the best here,” Kiki, 28, said after their performance. “If you’re a musician in Pittsburgh, you have to come to Club Cafe.”