People working on a makeshift stage, waiters rushing to deliver drinks to early arrivals, and quirky individuals retiring to the corners appearing to practice some sort of presentation -- we’re at an open mic. The general assumption is that at open mics, drunk temps and shy housewives get on stage to live out some persona they desperately resolved to keep hidden -- choosing stability over a starry-eyed ideal of a life on the stage. This is not really the case.