We are closing another amazing week at the #openmic my friends. I love how more and more entrants are joining our family with original material. I know for many the state of cryptocurrencies is keeping them from staying motivated, but honestly, if you embrace the true artist inside your heart, all that FUD and negative becomes just background noise.

I say this, because I mean it.... The openmic community is Crash proof!

Without any more delays, here we go:

First Place.-

@daily-musings - Little Truthful One (original song)

What a beautiful little song. Honestly, this reminded me a bit of Andrew Bird's style, and that might not make any sense to anyone else but me. It's almost as if the goal is to make you lower your guard, then, once you think it's safe, it pushes you into that emotional vulnerability. I loved it...

Second Place.-

@pechichemena - Reflejos (original song)

Before anyone accuses me of favoritism or anything of the sort, please click play on this song, please. I feel at times that I have to ignore the talented Pechi just to avoid drama, however this week, I just could not do it. He even nailed the guitar solo to the T.

It's just a beautiful tune, absolutely super production and performance.... Click play.. Did you click play? Come on.. do it.

Third Place.-

@joseacabrerav - LLoro (Arbol Cover)

Am I surprised Jose is on my list again this week? No, not really, not in the slightest. I'm honestly convinced that Jose one day will be touring the world. Nobody can convince me otherwise, not only for his talent, of course, but for his personality and charisma.

If you disagree, that's because you've not seen him grow as an artist like we have here in the #openmic family. Before my eyes I saw a young man that could sing start to carve out his little legacy.

Fourth Place.-

@lillywilton - The wrong way(original song)

I'm convinced Lilly has a unique defense mechanism that would ensure her survival even post a Zombie apocalypse. She would just sing you a song, smite you, weaken you, and next thing you know, you become her servant. I swear, I just love listening to this tiny little angel sing. It must be the third or fourth time I hit play today...

Fifth Place.-

@silentscreamer - Show must go on (Queen Cover)

Woah... So I saw Silent tackling this one and thought to myself - "Well... if anyone can pull it off, is probably her" - and of course she did. I love how @silentscreamer is always trying to outdo herself, I think that is her biggest strength. I would not be surprised if one of these days she attempts Bohemian rhapsody, not in the slightest.

To Silent, My good friend I say... Don't ever stop being awesome.

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.

@abelfernandez - El mismo dolor (original)

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@melavie - Fever (cover)

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@shookriya - Spring Time Chains(original)

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@k0wsk1 - Summer Skin(cover)

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@katrina-ariel - Chocolate Kiss (original)

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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 #96, not too late in the day, not like last time... Ready to do this all over again!!!

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

_{• Open Mic Week 96 - Top 5 Selection and Honorable Mentions
• For the lonely ones...
• Waiting for superman to fix STEEM
• Yes, I just unfollowed you
• Why are you really here? - Rant Vlog}