Jackson Avenue Coffee on the Charleston square hosts open mic night every Thursday from 7-9 p.m.

Music Acts at Jackson Avenue range widely from beat boxing and slam poetry to spoken word.

Traveling musician Andrew Whitacre was in town finding out that Charleston is an “excellent town.”

“There’s a lot of brilliant people, you know,” he said. “I could tell that. (There is) definitely . a lot of more artistic-type people. And I hate to categorize people, but at least artistic’s a nice way to put it.”

Traveling performers are not the only acts at Jackson Avenue open mic nights.

Joe Garrison, sociology major, is a new act this year.

“I’m a freshman here at Eastern, so I’ve been doing it basically ever since I got here about every Thursday, pretty consistently,” he said. “I’ve only missed one or two.”

Garrison is also a musician that writes his own songs, and performs covers as well.

“I’ve done poetry sometimes and I play the harmonica too (as well as) mandolin,” he said

Garrison picked Jackson Avenue mainly because of its proximity, and more specifically, its open mic night rather than the University Board one at the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

“The school has one, but it’s a competition and I’m not really a competitive guy,” he said. “And this one’s every Thursday, so I get to look forward to it.”

From the crowd’s perspective, Jackson Avenue Coffee is a good place to hang out and relax out of the typical partying atmosphere and into the more relaxed environment.

“It started in the summer just like, as an extra music venue for people around town for something to do, that couldn’t get into the bar,” said Anne Townsend, a Jackson Avenue employee.

Each week Jackson Avenue hosts a plethora of acts.

“I like mostly the poetry and the guitar acts,” said Michael Thoele, 15, a Charleston high school student. “I like it cause it’s a down to earth coffee shop. It’s not like a Starbucks or anything.”