Broad Street Cafe launches open mic series for kids 18 and under

The Durham cafe, which already offers a great family music series, will launch a new open mic program for kids led by two veteran sings, songwriters and artists.

Posted 7:26 p.m. Oct 25, 2012 — Updated 7:40 p.m. Oct 25, 2012

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

The Broad Street Cafe in Durham, which already offers a great family music series a couple of Sundays each month in the fall and winter, will launch a new open mic program for kids 18 and under on Sunday.

The Relative Pitch was created by Rissi Palmer and Kim Arrington, both recording artists and teachers. It's described as a performance workshop disguised as an open mic for kids 18 and under in the Triangle. The once a month, two-hour show is "designed to give up and coming musicians and singers a place where they can hone their skills in front of a welcoming audience of their peers and families and fill a void for places for young people to perform that aren't intimidating or adult oriented," according to the website.

“When Rissi called, I had just finished teaching at a Rock Band camp in Carrboro for 11 to 15-years-olds. The kids told me they had nowhere to perform locally, and adult open mics were too scary. We want to teach the kids through The Relative Pitch, that indie artists create their own solutions, for themselves and their communities,” said Arrington in a press release.

Palmer and Arrington bring a lot of experience to the program.

Palmer, a singer-songwriter and country music artist, released her self-titled CD in 2007 and received all kinds of accolades. She has performed at the Grand Ole Opry many times. Her singles include "Country Girl," "Hold On To Me" and "No Air."

When she isn't recording or touring, Palmer, who is a mom, teaches young singers at The Grace Note, a music studio in Raleigh, and is writing and recording an album for children. There's a snippet of a song on The Relative Pitch's website that is really sweet.

Arrington sings soul, jazz and rock with The Kim Arrington Band. She is working on her second CD, has taught thousands of students in North Carolina in poetry, playwriting and songwriting and is a former faculty member at Duke's Young Writers Camp.

The first session is Sunday at the Broad Street Cafe in Durham. Doors open at 4 p.m. Performances start at 4:30 p.m.

For details, check The Relative Pitch's website and Facebook page.

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