To the Editor:
I am writing regarding Ground Zero’s Open Mic Night. Poly reporter Adam Plesniak did a feature story on this topic in last week’s issue.
Every other Friday night Ground Zero hosts Open Mic Night in the basement of Nugent Hall which is open to the general public. You need not be a member to perform or to enjoy any of the acts.
I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of Ground Zero. Over the past two years, however, I have attended many Open Mic Nights. I have never left unsatisfied, and I feel that Mr. Plesniak depicted the event and the organization unfairly. At Open Mic Night, I enjoy Ground Zero’s laid back atmosphere, their open-minded views on personal art, their acceptance of their peers whether they believe them to be talented or not, and most of all—the free coffee, which is excellent.
As a reader of The Poly, I believed Mr. Plesniak’s story to be somewhat unprofessional. If he wanted to attack an individual’s performance, he should have done so on the editorial page—not in a feature article addressing an event’s weaknesses. Also, to say that a performer should be urged to not perform due to a “lack of talent” would seem to undermine the concept of an “open” mic night. Sometimes individual acts run a little long, but if a performer signs up to play and misses his chance one week, he is the usually the first on stage the following Open Mic.
Even though I don’t necessarily love every act, I appreciate the creativity and effort each performer puts into his work. I think Open Mic Night is a wonderful chance to see what RPI has to offer artistically. It is a breath of fresh air after five days of force-fed rigid technological curriculum.
Robert Thomas
MECL ’05
