McMenamin’s White Eagle Saloon on N Russell St (off N Interstate Ave under the I-5/I-405 interchange bridges) is having an open mic and songwriter showcase on February 10th at 7:30pm. Tired of whiny pop wanna-bes on American Idol? See live ones! And actual singers too, by the way. If you’re one of those, I have some ideas to make the most of this free-admission showcase.

We’ve seen plenty of talent come from Portland and surrounding areas (i.e. the kickboxer siren from Bend, OR, in this year’s American Idol try-outs). Sure, there are plenty of people looking to be a paid artist, but sometimes you need exposure. How do you make the most of a non-paid gig like this?

First, make sure you have “swag”. No, not swagger like a whino or Al Pachino. Swag is the free giveaway you pass out to the audience to remember you. That could be a t-shirt, a CD, a sticker, a signed photo, a mug, or anything else. People love free stuff, even if they don’t need it. Look at your coworkers’ desks and you will find plenty of crap with which they will do absolutely nothing except stare at it all day. Why get a troll doll when you can have signed guitar picks or a bumper sticker that says, “I supported local Portland musicians like (enter your name here)!,” obviously more desirable stuff? Got swag, got exposure.

Get some photos taken and post them on a photo blog. This is especially good to do on MySpace, the photo-consumption capital of the Internet. Better yet, get a live recording of audio or video and open up a MySpace Music profile.

Live sets are great material for promo packs. Promo packs are your portfolio as a musician. Try to get several open mic gigs at the same place and get pics or audience reviews each time. The more material you gather the better you look in your promo pack. That’s what you send to venues that pay, so make it look pretty and full of compliments about you. A paid venue wants to make sure you’ll draw a crowd.

One last idea: make sure you network with other musicians performing that night. If they’re serious (or if they aren’t but they’re reallygood), get their contact info and make sure to give them yours. Many famous bands are created by one musician watching another one play (i.e. Smashing Pumpkins, Soul Coughing, Metallica, etc). You never know when a stray phone number to a good didgeridoo player will save a music project.

For more info on the event, check out OregonLive’s event calendar for McMenamin’s White Eagle Saloon: http://www.oregonlive.com/events/index.ssf?/cgi-bin/mae.cgi/olive/events/venue_results.ata?domain=event&vid=50100