CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio - On April 16, Lyrical Rhythms -- the Tuesday night mélange of live music, open mic, local talent and relaxed, communal late-night hang -- will celebrate its 20th Anniversary at Grog Shop’s B-Side Liquor Lounge in Cleveland Heights. It’s an evening that will bring the long-running live musical open mic night’s past and present harmoniously together. For the big milestone celebration, Lyrical Rhythms will take over both the Grog Shop and The B-Side.
Upstairs at the Grog, at 7 p.m., will be 2 Drinks & a Joke Comedy Special hosted by comedian Ant Morrow, the weekly comedy open mic preamble to Lyrical Rhythms. Then, at 8 p.m., there will be a throwback to Lyrical Rhythms origins with “A Night at the Kamikaze,” a reference to the Kamikaze Cafe, where the event began, featuring a performance by Doe and poet and spoken word artist Liberty.
Meanwhile, down at The B-Side from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. will be a Shop & Sip experience highlighting local businesses along with drink specials. Beginning at 9 p.m., there will be the Inside the Vibe DJ set featuring several DJs and at 10 p.m., local singer T. Marie (also of Cleveland’s The Unit Band) will perform with AJ Tyus and the Lyrical Rhythms House Band.
The evening will be hosted by founders Quentin “Q-Nice” Finley, DJ Tom Noy and One Truth along with several other past hosts and the Lyrical Rhythms current steward, Jonathan “Mr. Songchild” Nall.
Tickets for the big anniversary event are $20 for all-night access to both venues or $10 for just the open mic and chill afterparty at the B-Side and are available at lrvibez.com.
Though Lyrical Rhythms has filled the basem*nt B-Side bar with local musicians and aspiring local talent for two decades, the history of the night and the collective of focused people who have kept it thriving goes back to the turn of the century when a group of poets and musicians led by award-winning poet, actor, DJ, producer and fashion designer Q-Nice and a group of wordsmiths started a poetry and open mic night at the Kamikaze Cafe.
The night grew quickly, and after shuffling through a few venues and consistently needing more space, Finley, along with poet One Truth and DJ Tom Noy, found a new permanent home for the night, dubbed Lyrical Rhythms at The B-Side Lounge, the basem*nt venue underneath the Grog Shop.
Finley eventually took his talents out West to Los Angeles but passed the Lyrical Rhythms baton to Nall and the current crew. The night has remained a mainstay and weekly showcase for singers, comedians, rappers, poets, spoken-word artists and other aspiring performers to hone their craft. It’s also a weekly event for folks who are just looking for an inviting place with a friendly, chill, communal vibe and good live music to come and hang out at during the week.
Fewer than 10 people a night were coming to the Kamikaze. That soon jump to 50 a night at the B-Side, then 150 a few months later, said Nall.
Nall, 50, initially joined the collective in 2008 as a member of the event’s street team. “We hit the streets,” he said. “We passed out flyers at hair salons, restaurants, coffee shops, storefront properties, any place where we knew foot traffic would go through to get people to see what was going on and let them know where to come.”
“And word of mouth is always a powerful thing,” he said.
The Music Man
From the beginning at Kamikaze Cafe, the live band has been an important element of the Lyrical Rhythms event, helping set the all-important vibe. Guitarist A.J. Tyus is the current band leader and keyboardist Larry Owens are the mainstays. The group (currently Tyus, Owens, drummer Deion Williams and bassist Rob Burrow) occasionally shifts primary personel as members get other gigs. But they are always welcome back and area musicians often just show up to sit in with the band and jam between open mic-ers.
Tyus, who spent a few years as the guitarist in his former Shaker Heights High School classmate Machine Gun Kelly’s band, also joined Lyrical Rhythms around 2008 and eventually had that particular baton handed to him by former band leader and award-winning documentarian Dame Drummer when he moved to the Bay Area.
Related reading: Cleveland native Dame Drummer brings his award-winnning documentary, ‘Black Daddy,’ home for a special screening and concert
The House Band (which starts each Lyrical Rhythms with a jam before the open mic begins) doesn’t rehearse, and not just because the players are that darn skilled. “I like that because it forces different things to happen, spontaneous things to happen, and that’s the space for it, I believe,” Tyus said. “We definitely could make time to rehearse every week. But its also like, how do we push that needle and keep everything fresh and make sure everybody stays on their toes and make sure that there’s not ownership. So it’s not taking it for granted or getting so hunkered down into it and making it feel like an obligation,” Tyus said.
The producer/DJ
Michael T. Dantzler, who produces, promotes, chronicles and takes care of any necessary paperwork for the night, has been with the collective for much of its run at the B-Side. Dantzler was initially intrigued after riding by the event on his way home with some his basketball buddies and seeing, “all these gorgeous Black women on Coventry.
“I said I ain’t never seen that over here,” says Danzler. “We said `Oh my goodness, we just walked into a scene out of Love Jones.’”
But once Dantzler got past the magnetic appeal of attractive women hanging out near his home, he joined up as a go-to DJ. He then discovered a group of like-minded people willing to put in the work and not just looking to further their own ambitions. It was a pool of local artists looking to hone their skills and share their talents and their experiences through their art.
It made Dantzler feel good to share stories about Cleveland, and to hear others tell stories, too, to be an event “where people feel proud to be from Cleveland when they take a look around and see the spirit and energy in the room.”
“A lot of people come in and if you don’t have family you’ve got one now. It’s a place to come in fellowship be yourself and let your hair down. Sometimes you need to be inspired, sometimes you need to cry,” he said.
Nall gained some insight on Lyrical Rhythms’ staying power with the public from a past band leader who asked him why he thought people came back each week.
“My thing was, maybe they come to see the band or vibe. He said, ‘No, they ain’t coming to see us, they ain’t coming to see you. They ain’t coming to see none of these artists. They come here to kick it. They come in here for the vibe.’ It’s a place they can come kick it and cut loose, we just need to make sure the vibe stays as it is and that made perfect sense to me,” Nall said.
“For the people who are artists, it’s place for them to come and showcase their gifts, because you never know who may be watching, because you may have someone in the audience who may be inspired to open a club or has a club going who are just looking for talent,” Nall said.
Tyus also credits the nature of the L.R. collective for keeping the night and everyone involved honest.
“One reason is the ownership of the night is more of a communal thing rather than, `Oh this is my night and I’m going to do this.’ So, its not like one person is controlling this thing, there’s a bunch of people at play. Everybody gets heard,” Tyus said.
“Another reason I believe is that it’s the quality and you get something that is rare to find in many places. It’s very different and (people) want to know what’s going on. It’s a curiosity thing,” he said.
Over the years that curiousity has stretched beyond Clevelanders with established artists and actors showing up, including R&B singers Bilal, Dwele and a young and then unknown Ari Lennox. Actor LaKeith Stanfield showed up during the filming of “Judas and the Black Messiah” and dug the vibe so much he was inspired to write a poem on his phone and recite it during his visit.
Dantzler recalls a young Machine Gun Kelly passing out mixtapes in front of the building in a sweater vest and a tie. Songwriter-producer-bassist Adam Blackstone -- who has worked with Jay-Z, Eminem, Maroon 5, the Jonas Brothers and many more -- has dropped by. Emcees have stopped by too, including a pre-fame Kid Cudi, Wale, and a talented young emcee named K. Dot who caught the vibe before going back home to Compton and deciding to go by his birth name, Kendrick Lamar.
Even wayward D-list actor and known troublemaker Andy Dick showed up once and hung out peaceably before “things went left,” as Dantzler put it, and he needed to be removed from the premises before messing up the all-important chill vibe and atmosphere.
With two decades at the B-Side behind them, the future of Lyrical Rhythm looks steady. The collective remains a strong, steady and focused hand, the talent in the Greater Cleveland area is never lacking and all are welcome.
Across the years, in addition to the expected poets, rappers and singers, mariachi bands, folk dancers, and a variety of instrumentalists have all graced the L.R. stage. Young artists looking to learn how to stage an album release or how to promote themselves are welcome to contact the L.R. crew to work with them to further their own goals.
“None of us are in it for the money, obviously. Whatever comes in, goes back into that night to give other people opportunities. Whatever resources the artists need, we’re here to provide.” Dantzler said.
“For me, I would pay to go to a space like (Lyrical Rhythms), so it’s great to be a part of helping create it. It’s not quite ‘Cheers,’ everybody isn’t going to know your name. But somebody is going to say, `What’s up? what’s going on?’ We leave our bad days on that little step, and we come down here to fellowship and kick it because we know there aren’t too many spots where we can do that. It’s just having safe spaces for people to come and talk and figure things out and not even feel pressured to do one thing or the other, just be in your own vibe.”
What: Lyrical Rhythms Open Mic, Poetry and Jam Session w/2 Drinks & a Joke
When: 8 p.m. comedy, 10 p.m. open mic, Tuesdays.
Where: The B-Side Liquor Lounge, 2785 Euclid Heights Blvd, Cleveland
Tickets: $5 advance until 9 p.m., $10 at the door
Information: bsideliquorlounge.com, lrvibez.com
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
