A Review of Open Mic night at Rockssin
By Jermaine Demetrius Lloyd
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Rockssin is the hangout for local westerners and Koreans living in Gyeonggi-do province. The bar is located in Anyang, not far from the subway station, amongst the many shops and bars in Anyang's promenade-like district. It hosts its Open Mic night every other Friday. The place starts to fill up around midnight and doesn't ebb sometimes until after four o'clock a.m.

This small, mostly rock joint has some flavor. There is a definite crowd of regulars, those who seemingly love soccer and imbibing booze. Good people, though. There are always different crowds of people of various, sometimes very interesting ideological stripes: In one corner there's a deep socio-political discussion brewing. A group of soccer fans more than enjoying their choice of booze sits in their usual place, just in front of the stage or the screen, depending on what time of night it is. People are making plans here and there to meet secretly. Graffiti is scrawled on some of the walls, giving the place some character. The pillars are home to invaluable memories of yesterday, some candid, others scripted, ossified in pictures. The bar is continuously overflowing with inebriants. And at any given moment on Friday night the booths next to the walls which serve as an ode to Jim Morrison are filled with folks popular around the scene and those anonymous. Eric, "The Big Labowski" is lounging, as usual, giving unwanted bear hugs and sipping his trademark White Russian. The notorious, man-eating, Single White Females Association sits back, plotting. Everyone's having a good time socializing, or "chewing the fat," as Kyran, my ex-roommate from New Zealand calls it.

For foreigners, Rockssin is an excellent place for networking. Although it's a bar and I don't drink, that hasn't hindered me in the least from making lasting friendships. I was brought here during my first week in Korea, not knowing anyone, save my colleagues-one month later, I was literally walking the Great Wall of China with a group of teachers I'd met my first night there.

Before we came, I sat in my colleague's home. Big Mike and I waited as Emmet and Patrick prepared to do a rendition of "Knocking on Heaven's Door." I'm an African American from Los Angeles, but it was still cool (not saying that we are not open-minded).

What caught my attention was the open-mindedness of others, or perhaps my own naivete. Let me explain: after the first few acts I thought I knew what was going on there, a bunch of people getting up doing their respective things. So I tuned the acts out and partook in perfunctory conversations with strangers.

Then I heard something distinctly familiar; something that brought me back to the best years of my life hitherto, my teens. It couldn't be. But it was. Somebody was standing on stage singing a song by A Tribe Called Quest. I was eased.

I remember standing by the bar with a coy look on my face. My demeanor was non-chalant. I was the new kid in town, so I played it cool. But inwardly I was grinning from ear to ear. Soothing, it was, to hear music that was the soundtrack to my life thousands of miles away, in some strange bar, in a strange country, amongst strangers, coming from a stranger.

When Arik stepped off stage, we became friends. He then introduced me to Shawn, Patty, Amy, Cindy, Tanya, Christina and Rich. I had the pleasure of accompanying them on a trip to China (as I've mentioned earlier).

This is what I think of Rockssin. In short: it's a very good place to network. I would have never met these guys. And though we don't hang everyday, we still see each other there now and then, Arik still performs Tribe songs on Open Mic night-and I still don't drink.

For more information on Rockssin visit http://cafe.daum.net/rockssin