Cover-Free Zone

Mohsim Rizvi is at the mic. Take note. He’s got something to say, and it’s not canned or pre-sanitized for your safety. It’s raw, real, his own.

He is on stage in a dark blue hoodie and jeans, his left hand holding a notebook full of his poems. The right hand punctuates his staccato, slam delivery with jabs and swings through the air.

“When I was 15 my fiancée passed away,” Rizvi, 24, said. “This poem is for her, it’s called ‘Elia.’”

The crowd gathered at Indigo Room’s Wednesday night open mic sessions knows him well. Rizvi is a regular here. Where else could he share the poetry that he’s been writing since his fiancée’s death? Everyone is welcome, from poets and rappers to songwriters and performance artists. The crowd is open to anything and everything.

Wednesday nights Fort Myers’ original artists come out. Don’t even try to show up with your acoustic guitar and a stockpile of Jack Johnson and Sublime covers, you’ll get shouted down faster than you can sing “love is … what I got!”

The open mic coordinator, songwriter Terry Lynn, has just one rule – all original material. If someone tries to sneak a cover past her (and they do try) the sound gets cut off.

When Lynn first moved to Fort Myers from Los Angeles five years ago, she put her own songwriting aside and practiced covers so she could get local gigs.

“I used to write songs constantly, but I didn’t write at all for the first three years I was here,” Lynn said. “Eventually I got to the point where I said I can’t do [covers] anymore. So I started the open mic with the no covers rule.”

Now Lynn has found her voice again and, inspired by the slam poets who have come to the open mic, is writing poems as well as songs again. The first to go on stage tonight, Lynn opens a song by telling a story from her adolescence, conjuring images of Bruce Springsteen and the way he would grab an audience with a story from his own life before starting to sing. This is where she is comfortable, sharing her songs, her stories.

The open mic nights, dubbed “Be Heard,” began at Hideaway Hookah Bar in downtown Fort Myers about one year ago. The sessions grew quickly and the Hookah Bar couldn’t hold the crowd anymore, so they moved to the

Indigo Room.

“There’s a regular crowd that has developed, but every week we have one or two new people,” Lynn said.

“Be Heard” has become a haven for the area’s original artists, and has helped create a community of people looking to escape the same old thing.

“It’s healthy, we need it,” Rizvi said about the open mic.

Where else could he recite an ode to “Pussy,” and instead of getting blank stares from a disinterested crowd hoping for something they know, everyone listens intently to what he has to say?

Where else can you sing a song called “Blowjobs at Midnight,” as Joe Hill did, and everyone know what you are

talking about?

Hill, 23, is working on a CD and came to open mic night to test out some of his material on an audience. Like most of the people here, Hill made quick friends with other artists and picked up on the

open atmosphere.

“This was my first time here, but I think I’ll keep coming back. This is a great thing to have around,” he said.

To learn more about the “Be Heard” open mic nights at Indigo visit www.myspace.com/need2beheard

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