Stissing Center’s first open mic night at The Grace Note felt less like a test run than the beginning of a local tradition. The casual downstairs venue opened in February and has since played host to a variety of musical acts from near and far.
Held last Friday, April 24, the open mic began shortly after 7:30 p.m. and stretched until nearly 11, with 20 individual performers and groups taking the stage before a packed house of about 80 people. For a $10 ticket, the audience heard original songs, folk standards, bluegrass fiddle, poetry, stand-up, show tunes, and even a clown-led audience participation routine.
The evening recalled the warmth and loose expectancy of a 1960s Greenwich Village coffeehouse: intimate, informal, and receptive, with the sense that almost anyone in the room might be carrying a song, a poem, or a story worth hearing.
Fifteen performers had signed up in advance, each allotted seven minutes or two songs. Five waitlisted acts also got a chance to perform. Participants came from Pine Plains, Milan, Beacon, Falls Village, Conn., and as far away as Long Island.
Much of the evening belonged to singers and guitarists, including several songwriters. Pine Plains resident Jim Petrie performed two original songs, “Company Time” and “My Hometown.” Linda Wisdo, also well known in Pine Plains, noted the mostly gray hair in the audience before introducing a Peter, Paul and Mary song and inviting the room to sing along. For her second song, she was joined by her son, David Bisson, for a harmonious duet.
John Nowak sang “Aiden’s Lullaby” for his grandson and invited performers and audience members to visit the open mic at Twelve Moons Coffee House in Falls Village, Conn.
The musical roster also included Barbara Kidney and Andrew Dalton, with songs based on Tolkien; White Beard, also known as Tony Sedgman; Rick Antonoff and Ross Garnick; C.B. Smith and Bill Strohm; Larry Scanlon; Russell Frehling; Philip Miller; Scott Kellerhouse; Artie Brand; and Charlie Starr.
The program moved easily between music and spoken word. Four poets read, including Pine Plains residents Mary Grace Gannon, who offered the line “that which we make makes us,” and Robert Lyons, who read from his play-in-progress, “Bad Money.” Poets Karen Kahn and Dave Capellaro also performed.
The evening’s variety acts widened the frame. Renee Smercy, of Milan, performed a combination stand-up and show tune routine, while Jackie Reynolds, also known as Bee Bee the clown, led an audience participation routine.
The final scheduled act, an instrumental duet by sisters Julianna and Meredith Sundberg of Beacon, brought the house down with bluegrass fiddle playing on “Catharsis.”
Roger Cohn and Lennie Sutton, who perform as Roger and Lennie, hosted the evening and opened the program with a Paul Simon duet. Dennis Fink managed the sound.
Patrick Trettenero, executive director of Stissing Center, said the next open mic is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 21, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. but, he noted, “it will be shorter than three hours.”
The length did not seem to dampen the energy in the room. A substantial portion of the audience stayed until the end.
With its intimate setting, receptive crowd, and steady stream of performers, the night suggested that a new local tradition is taking shape at Stissing Center, offering a welcoming stage for the poets, musicians, and artists who call Pine Plains and its neighboring communities home.