Very late in the day, I'm almost embarrassed, but I had to run some errands this morning and I had no other way of making this happen. That being said, the other judges made up for my slacking!!! One of the many reasons I love them so.

Without any more delays, here we go:

First Place.-

@addiesworld - Skylit eyes(original)

I got floored, that's the best way to describe it. When the notes go high, and the stab at the hurt is blunt, I got floored. I absolutely adored this entry from @addiesworld, an original that deserves all the praise.

Second Place.-

@ingridkorneelia - for while now(original song)

Not the first time I've found myself loving @ingridkornelia's vocal talents. This time however, she showed up with a beautiful original tune, full of emotion and delivered brilliantly. This is the kind of songwriting that makes me love our community.

Third Place.-

@dianakyv - Hurt (cover)

This was not an easy song to cover, not at all, and Diana did fantastic. I clicked on this asking myself, is this the song I think it is? Not only did she pull it off, she showed up!! Absolutely brilliant, some of the best vocal performances I've witnesses since I started judging this contest.

Fourth Place.-

@triluma - Cabide

This is just a fun band, what can I say? The rhythm section could not be more polished, and the vocal harmonies are just spot on. I would not be surprised if they start touring any time soon. I've been listening to MPB for years and this is just up there.

Fifth Place.-

@lostgalaxy - Love song (cover)

Where did this come from? Wow... just beautiful voice, and the simplistic arrangement was just spot on. I love it when I click on a video and get taken completely by surprise, it just brightens up my day. I can wait to hear more from this new face in our community.

Honorable Mentions

In no particular order, these are some of the performances I loved this week.... I'm super grateful for being someone who gets to listen to this talent.

@mayneth - The burn I've learned to love

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@k0wsk1 - Fever Dream

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@mariajruizb - Quedate

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@jaredkhamanah - Vivo en un barrio

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@wilins - No preguntes por mi

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Don't forget to checkout the official Steemit OpenMic judges picks from @passion-ground @krystle @soundlegion and @verbal-d. Winners selected and announced every Monday on @luzcypher's blog page.

My deepest of Gratitudes

I would like to personally thank @ausbitbank, @curie and @aggroed for helping out our community. It's inspiring to see leadership taking the initiative to keep our beloved #openmic alive like this and its to me the biggest bullish indicator that we are on our way to a better, brighter tomorrow.

To our long time patron @pfunk once again, thank you for backing this project as you have for so long. I hope seeing the community rally behind the contest that we love so much made you proud. We have something very special here, and you've been key for it to be what it has become.

Long live the openmic!!!

And that is it for me and week #106, better late than never!

But hey friend, before you leave my post musical brother or musical sister, please know that despite the fact that we call this a competition, even though my post says first, second, third place, that is not what matters about the #openmic. In the end of the day the judges are just as human, as flawed and beautiful as everyone else on this planet. The ethos of this contest, of this community, is simply for us to have special place to share our passion for music, for us to laugh together, to cry together and explore emotions that everyday life seems to neglect in one way or another.

Every single one of you is valuable to me, so thank you for being part of my musical family...

Much love