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Summary

This week presented a rather difficult field of entrants for me to evaluate. Not at all because of the Holiday occurring herein, but rather because the competition amongst this week’s artists was incredibly stiff. It took me forever-and-ever to narrow down my long list of 30 to a short list of my Top-5, and then again to my 5 honorable mention, runners-up.

GENERAL NOTE: The 1st Official Open-Mic SONGWRITERS Challenge sponsored by @meno has commenced! I encourage all “Songwriter” entrants to also enter their "Songwriter" submissions into the general Open-Mic contest, which begins every Sunday. Entering and gaining good rankings under both venues will only increase ones prospects of winning, gaining more overall recognition, and of course, earning more rewards.

You can check out all the current “Songwriter Challenge” entries HERE. Do take the time to read through the rules carefully, and to read through the comment thread beneath the first official post for additional information and insights into the nature of this brand new and rather exciting challenge. Thus far, all of the entries are rather amazing!

Steemit Open Mic Week 60

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My Process

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As one of the esteemed Open Mic judges, it is my job to come up with a short-list of my top 5 entrants each week. With all of the great talent here, that is by no means an easy task. Sure, tossing in another 5 honorable mentions helps, but not when my weekly list starts out with 30 or more of my favorite entries... You guy's rock - I'm tellin' ya!

Yes, I’m a Libra – so I have an inherent drive deep within me to be fair and balanced – good qualities for a “judge” if you ask me. That being said, I’m still human – filled with emotion and subjective feelings – just like you. So, in order to mitigate my subjective tendencies to the best extent possible, I’ve come up with a method by which to narrow down my selections in a more objective vs. arbitrary manner.

Here’s how I go about my personal judging process: I first start out with a list of 30 or more of my most favorite entries for the week, and score them (yes, subjectively) in six distinct categories via a spread sheet. The categories I’ve selected for scoring are in general harmony with those explained by @luczypher in his post titled How We Pick The Top 3 Entries, referencing such.

To get a more in depth perspective as to how I personally go about selecting my artists, please refer to What I go through as an Open-Mic Judge.

Even though it’s still a “subjective” process – diligently going through each scoring category to come up with a “total” score for each entrant helps to minimize any overzealous subjectivity that I may harbor with respect to any specific entrants.

Quite often, this exercise doesn’t give me the exact results I would personally prefer to see – but that only means that my system of judging is working as intended and designed. With all of that said, here are...

My Top-5 Picks in Order

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FIRST PLACE: @tonypapa - “Memorial Day” - (Original Song)

In my opinion, Tony took it home to papa here! He dropped quite the lyrical, melodic, production, and performance package on us, - all rolled up into one! The fact that parts of his performance sound rather Dylan-esk to my ear, simply added to the excitement and passion he solidly delivered. For all this and much more, Mr. Tony Papa got my top spot!
https://steemit.com/openmic/@tonypapa/steemit-open-mic-week-60-original-song-memorial-day

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SECOND PLACE: @ceparl – “Patience” - (Cover)

Okay, so to begin with, I simply love this song. Second and most importantly, there's just something about these guys playing their hearts out. This to my mind embodies everything that Open-Mic is all about. I loved the dual guitars despite some minor bumps towards the very end, and I just flipped over the vocal performance! Those are just some of the reasons why these three guys got my second spot.
https://steemit.com/openmic/@ceparl/steemit-open-mic-week-60-patience-cover-by-isofonia

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THIRD PLACE: @onetruebrother – “Fair-Lily” – (Original Song)

Alright, so I’ll admit it – I got a real big soft spot in my heart for dogs of every stripe. However, despite such personal inclinations - one simply cannot deny the extraordinary talent, passion, love, and dedication to his craft that our esteemed @onetruebrother possesses. His guitar playing is nearly flawless, and his opening verses have that John Denver kind-of-a-feel that just gets you right in the heart! His vocals were spot on, and yeah, he had me crying like a baby!
https://steemit.com/openmic/@onetruebrother/steemit-openmic-week-60-original-song-fair-lily

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FOURTH PLACE: @afrao0 – “Love Is My Religion” - (Cover)

Do not be fooled by the slow ramping start to this rather solid entry. Before you know it, my brother, @afrao0 quickly finds his way under your skin – then directly to your heart. About 2/3rds of the way through, he opens up dynamically in dramatic fashion, and main-lines us with a plentiful dose of his gifted passion. You simply must “keep listening” and do as he requests… Sing along with him, in your own way – and feel it! Do that - and you’ll most certainly understand why it was impossible for me to keep him out of my top-5!
https://steemit.com/openmic/@afrao0/steemit-openmic-week-60-love-is-my-religion-cover

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FIFTH PLACE: @lisamalletart – “Nouveaux Visages” - (Original)

Lisa is a very popular and familiar artist here on the Open-Mic venue. She usually does incredibly entertaining duets, and is generally quite pleasing to watch and listen to along with her rather artistic and talented partner. This week however, she opted to grace us with a solo entry that simply moved me! The original melodies she’s created here, along with her skillful guitar playing and angelic voice gave her a near-automatic and well-deserved pass directly into my top-5.
https://steemit.com/openmic/@lisamalletart/open-mic-week-60-or-nouveaux-visages-or-original-song

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My Top-5 Honorable Mentions in Order:

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First: @pechichemena – “Lejos” - (Original Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@pechichemena/steemit-open-mic-week-60-original-song-lejos

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Second: @ nadabrahmasounds - "Hernán Suárez - Echoes" - (Original Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@nadabrahmasounds/steemit-open-mic-week-60-hernan-suarez-echoes-original-song-pantam-composition

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Third: @yusaymon – “Space Oddity” - (Cover)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@yusaymon/steemit-open-mic-week-60-david-bowie-space-oddity

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Fourth: @nirtsfaty – “Noria–Mother” - (Original Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@nirtsfaty/steemit-open-mic-week-60-original-noria-mother

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Fifth: @wavyid – “Vodka & Lemon” - (Original Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@wavyid/steemit-open-mic-week-60-vodka-and-lemon-wavy-id-original-music

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Thank you all so much for taking some of your precious time to review my take on all of the magnificent artists here at the Open-Mic venue this week. Thanks so much as well for up-voting and re-steeming this post in order to spread the word that Open-Mic is clearly taking Steemit by storm – and that it shall remain a collective people-oriented force of love and artistry to be reckoned with on every level of measure.

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Peace, Love, and Justice for All

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A very special shout-out to: The following artists who were very much on my radar, each within a splitting hair of making it into my overall top-10, and whose performances I loved, cherish, and respect most assuredly.

They are - in no particular order:

@greensky, @steembirds, @sallyswitchblade, @the-vile-maxim, @owner99, @mogatiexperiment, @steemmatt, @granaddiction, @claratymusic, @drewley, @kodieamos, @puggle, @coruscate, @kjablonski, @guitarlots, @the21plus, @soykatonline, @oliverwaterman, @zhusatriani, @passionate-star, @tarotbyfergus

Much love and thanks to each and every one of you who have touched a part of my heart and soul - not only this week, but forever!