Eric Walker
Equinox Staff
Every other Thursday, Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizzeria holds an open mic to showcase local talent. Andy Reid, the owner of Ramunto’s, said they started the open mics about five months ago and the number of performers as well as the number of audience members has been growing and growing. As many as 12 performers have played in one single night.
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He pointed out that in the recession not everyone can afford live music, and Ramunto’s offers an inexpensive night of entertainment. Reid said the group at Ramunto’s likes to be known for being a very community-based company, and they try to make sure they are constantly staying in the forefront of helping the public enjoy themselves for little money. He also mentioned that the open mic is for the whole community, not just for the school; even though the school is part of it, it’s definitely a wide open event.
On the night of Thursday, Feb. 9, Narrow Escape, a band featuring Keene State College’s own Joe McConaughy, Ben Brown, and Owen Davis, started off the open mic with a set of acoustic originals and covers. Davis and Brown both played acoustic guitars and sang, as McConaughy accompanied on the viola. Davis defined Narrow Escape as himself and McConaughy, plus whoever else wants to show up.
Davis referred to Keene’s music scene as a “hidden gem,” and said there’s a really big, healthy music scene for such a small town. He also said that open mics like these help out the local music scene and are a good chance to get some people outside of the college to hear the music. Davis said there’s a huge amount of talent here in Keene, and an awesome community of people in all the different bands. As well as fronting Narrow Escape, Davis plays bass in The Lake and the Lion, and keyboards in the Wendigos.
After Narrow Escape’s set, Dylan Belcourt performed some originals as well as some classic rock tunes on his acoustic guitar.
Felix Seidel, a Keene State College student, sang an a cappella set which included a David Bowie cover, a song entirely in German, and a Jewish folk piece. Connor Tyrell and Derek Peabody played last, with the most intense performance of the night.
The crowd started to grow to a couple dozen people around 10 p.m. when the duo started to play, and the audience joined in on vocals for a number of songs.
The two covered multiple Dispatch songs, The Kinks, Neil Young, Guns N’ Roses, Sublime, and more. The sedentary head-banging duo received requests from the crowd, a few of which they took. Peabody played impressively fast and clean acoustic guitar solos throughout their set, and at one point played slide guitar using his empty beer bottle. When their set, ended the audience was still requesting them to play more.
Ramunto’s offers a free large specialty pizza to every act that plays, as well as free garlic knots to everyone who comes to watch. Most of the performers play for about a half hour. When the open mic starts at 8 p.m. the musicians are playing to a few dining couples, and a handful of students, but after 10 p.m. the audience consists of about a couple dozen college age kids.
Davis, of Narrow Escape, said Ramunto’s has a really nice set up with a good amplification system for the performers to use. Pam Bump, a communications major at KSC, said the atmosphere is really artsy, like the whole Keene music scene is, and it’s a good place to relax and eat good food while listening to up and coming musicians. Ramuntos joins Brewbakers, Fritz Fries, and the Starving Artist as another place for local musicians to play in Keene. Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza is located at 176 Main St., Keene, N.H.
Eric Walker can be contacted at ewalker2@ksc.mailcruiser.com