Biddy Mulligan’s Wednesday night series ends after 11-year run

The evening’s lineup began shortly before 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 12, with vocalist Kathleen Soldati and guitarist Curt Bessette executing a lusty performance of a Nina Simone classic.

“Do I move you, are you willin’ / Do I groove you, is it thrillin,’” Soldati crooned.

The red-headed singer, who later offered renditions of The Beatles’ “When I’m 64” and Janis Joplin’s “Turtle Blues,” had never sung publicly until she stepped up to the mike at Biddy Mulligan’s two years ago, according to Bessette. Since then, she has become a regular fixture of the Wednesday night open mikes in Dover. Judging from the way she belted out the lyrics, it seems her confidence has grown.

On this particular Wednesday, the open mike sign-up sheet was totally booked. Following the opening tune, Bessette and bassist Alan Fraser collaborated on Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.” Other acts throughout the night would cover songs by Tim McGraw, The Allman Brothers Band, Doobie Brothers, Neil Young, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and others. But there was also plenty of original material. A four-piece punk band, which included a drummer and bassist with hot pink hair, tore through a pair of fast-paced rock songs. Others played softer acoustic tunes.

The eclectic acts were typical of the open mikes at Biddy’s, as was the lively crowd that filled the Irish pub. Bessette has hosted the event for more than a decade, providing guitar accompaniment where needed and orchestrating each two-song set. Over the years, the event has acquired a casual, family feel that reminds Bessette of the TV bar atmosphere on “Cheers.” Far removed from the world of commercial music, open mike night has upheld the tradition of uncorrupted Seacoast hoots.

“It’s like a town hall meeting. I love it,” Bessette said. “And there’s no glitz to it, it’s just good friends. It’s only partly about the music. It’s mostly about the family.”

March 26 will mark the event’s 11-year anniversary. It will also mark the end of an open mike era. Citing a need to pursue his own musical interests, Bessette has decided it’s time to put the long-running event to rest.

“It’s been great, but it’s 11 years, and I don’t want it to get stale, and I can see a couple signs that maybe it’s getting stale,” he said. “I thought, ‘Now’s the time to just walk away.’”

Bessette, who has been performing on the Seacoast for about 25 years, started playing in the room at 1 Washington St. while it was a country-western joint called Rose City Junction. When it became Biddy Mulligan’s in the mid-1990s, the new owners asked Bessette to host a weekly open mike night, offering a house drum set and bass amp. It was a bit slow to catch on, but the event steadily grew, eventually attracting patrons from around the region.

“It was amazing. We had people coming from like two hours away, three hours away, and they became regulars,” Bessette said. “I’ve met some wonderful people here, and I’ve heard notes that were never invented,” he added with a laugh.

The event has drawn both seasoned professionals and untrained novices. One of the most gratifying aspects for Bessette has been watching first-time musicians fine tune their raw sounds and develop into competent artists.

“Somebody comes in really raw, like a year later they’re more polished and two years later they’re getting gigs. They’re taking my gigs,” he laughed.

One of those artists is guitarist Karl Heller, who began participating in the open mikes in 1999. At the time, he confesses, his playing was rough around the edges. But during the mike night last Wednesday, he demonstrated solid rock chops and electric licks.

“I’ve seen a lot of bands that have been spawned after this open mike, including some of my own,” Heller said. “It’s been invaluable for not just myself, not just the people of Dover, but people of the whole Seacoast.”

Like many other open mike participants, Heller has played a variety of rock songs, blues tunes and acoustic sets over the years. It wasn’t always pretty, but he always enjoyed the experience.

“Sometimes it worked out great, but I always used to say you could crash and burn on this stage and there was no better place to crash and burn than right here,” he said.

“When he crashed and burned, it was spectacular. It was never subtle,” Bessette added with a chuckle.

Bessette struggled to single out individual highlights from over the years. He recalled a woman who did a Yoko Ono impersonation while playing keyboard. There was also an amateur comedian who completely bombed, forcing Bessette to fill the silence with awkward, phony laughter. 

“I’ve heard some crazy acts in here. I need to rest my brain a little bit,” he said. 

A singer-songwriter in his own right, Bessette is currently at work on his fifth CD. After devoting considerable chunks of the last 570 weeks to open mike nights, now he can spend some more time on his own music. The owners of Biddy Mulligan’s want to move to a lower key event on Wednesday nights, he said.

“It’s so bittersweet. Everybody’s yelling at me, ‘What are you doing?’” he said. “I don’t want it to get stale and I need to take care of my own stuff.”

The series will end with an amplified bang on Wednesday, March 26. Bessette has attempted to contact just about every artist who has performed during the last 11 years, offering them a chance to step up to the mike one more time, have a couple beers and say goodbye. As always, the music begins at 8 p.m. and is free of charge. 

For those still thirsting for opportunities to showcase their skills at the mike, a number of other open jams take place around the Seacoast. Larry Garland hosts a jazz jam on Tuesday nights at The Press Room in Portsmouth, Dustin Pearce hosts an open mike at Slim’s Tex Mex Saloon in Rochester on Monday nights, Lamprey River Tavern holds a monthly open mike on Sunday nights in Newmarket, and Molly Malone’s features weekly open session nights on Thursdays and Saturdays in Portsmouth. Also, the Barley Pub in Dover recently added a Thursday night bluegrass jam to its weekly schedule.

Bessette will have plenty of memories to keep his Biddy Mulligan’s experience close at heart. Heller is working on a film that documents the open mike series over the years, and he will shoot additional footage during the final celebration next week. And Bessette has made plenty of friends with whom to share his memories. 

“That’s probably what’s kept me going over all these years—these crazy people that have become my friends and allowed me to be crazy and silly and bomb onstage many nights,” he said. “They’re very supportive of me, and likewise for them.”
Bessette has no plans to take up residence somewhere else with another open mike, but he does not exclude the possibility of future open mike reunions at Biddy Mulligan’s, “just to get these crazy people back together again,” he said. “Now they’re gonna be loose on the street!”