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Berkeley is home to many aspiring musicians and provides opportunity for the amateur performer to get onstage nearly every night of the week. Here’s what the Daily Planet found in a typical week of talent-spotting. 

The open mic week begins Sunday at The Starry Plough Pub, 3101 Shattuck Ave., where expat Irishman Shay Black has hosted a seisun (the Gaelic word from which “session” is derived) for the past six years. A more traditional Irish session might feature only instrumental music, mainly fiddle tunes, but Black extends his evening to include a bit of singing.  

When the man from Kelly’s Corner, Dublin shouts ciunas (“order” in Gaelic), the bar hushes, and singers step to the center of a semicircle of chairs and belt out a tune. 

“I emphasize that it’s an Irish session and that they should sing something from that tradition, or that they’ve learned from someone,” says Black. Though the selection sometimes strays into sea chanteys and Scottish tunes, Shay generally sets the tone with a good sing-along number like “Molly Malone,” “Whiskey in the Jar” or the rebel standard “The British Army.” There’s even a brief Irish step-dancing interlude.  

The Starry Plough has a mixture of veterans and beginners, and everyone eventually learns their place in the circle of players in a process Black calls “musical socialization.” He says that it’s always best to observe a session before showing up with instrument in tow, but “I’ve tried to make it open to everyone.”  

Monday eveneing blues lovers can take guitars, harmonicas and the like to Blake’s on Telegraph Avenue for a blues jam hosted by Mz. Dee and featuring Steve Gannon’ house band. Performers are called upon starting at 10:30 p.m. You can go up with a group, or individually. Sometimes ad-hoc bands are assembled from various individuals who’ve shown up. Gannon’s house band alternates sets with jammers until 1:30 a.m.  

Tuesdays at the Freight & Salvage Coffee House the 30-year-old folk club hosts a stage of local talent. The Shay Black session is totally not amplified but the Freight has a state-of-the-art sound system and will even record your performance if you supply a cassette.  

The Freight alternates bi-weekly open mics at its Addison Street facility with the Northern California Songwriters Association. Joining NCSA requires some additional commitment, as membership costs $75. For the fee, however, songwriting contests are judged by music biz professionals, and winners are awarded with free studio time.  

The most recent NCSA event in Berkeley featured previous winners from the East Bay and Sacramento region open mics, and was a semifinal for the song-of-the-year competition. Many performers were hawking their own CDs and phrases bandying phrases like: “I’ve got a quarter-inch jack you can borrow.” All performers seem very polished, and stage and technology savvy.  

Ian Crombie has been running the NCSA events for the past 15 years. They’ve been held at the Freight for the last 20. He estimates that half the NCSA members may be on a career path (some have returned from tours to perform tonight) but that many just join for its community spirit. 

The Starry Plough walks a bit more on the wild side. Performers show up at 7:30 p.m. to sign up for a two-song set, and the most recent event had 25 performers. As hostess Joan Pez tells the audience, “If you’re after number 20 you’re having breakfast with us.” Memorable performances from last week included a fiddler playing “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” through a wah-wah pedal, and local legend Girl George (who hosts her own open mic Sunday at Oakland’s Stork Club) careening around the dance floor, encouraging audience participation in her originals, “Everybody’s Crazy (But Me)” and “Johnny Got Herpes.”  

The sound system is quality and Joan and her crew say that everybody sounds good (or, the best they can). Pez, who’s hosted for the past two years, released a “Best of Berkeley” CD in 2001 which featured 16 cuts from open mic performers. “We’re trying to foster a community where it’s as fun for the people who watch as the musicians,” says Pez. “I’m trying to do for young musicians what I wish had been done for me a long time ago.”  

Remember, early arrival ensures that you will be singing before midnight. For those into the spoken word, the Plough hosts an open mic Poetry Slam on Wednesdays.  

Wednesday ou can take your guitar, or just your own bravado, down to Beckett’s at 2271 Shattuck Ave., where Nicole McCrory, aka “The Human Jukebox” hosts an unforgettable evening. She begins with a set of her own, accompanied by saxophonist Bruce Martin, with whom she first performed on the steps of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream on Haight Street. A turn of fortune got Nicole into the clubs, and she decided last September to pay back her audience by inviting them to sing along with her.  

And “human jukebox” is no misnomer—she has a spiral notebook with hundreds of songs, and if you pick it, she’ll play it for you. Nicole is adored by her audience, as much for her talent as her barrage of witty banter. Fusillades of sexual innuendo, political humor and other witticisms stream from the informal stage in front of the fireplace. Nicole has been liberated from the conservative realms of Vail, Colo., for two years now, and it shows in her joyous performances. 

“This area has so many people with the ability and desire, and they need some place to go and get it out,” she says. “It’s a healing thing.” She continues, “People that come are so beautiful in the courageousness. It takes great love to get up and perform.” 

The crowd at Becketts may listen, or they may not. And if you’re not concerned with the audience hanging on your every note, this might be a good place to start.  

Becketts also hosts its own session on Thursday evenings, led by multi-instrumentalist Brian Theriault, who co-founded the Starry Plough night with Shay Black, six years ago. This evening, like the Plough’s, features plenty of fiddling and a bit of dancing, as well as interesting bluesy harmonica and some singing.