For starting musicians, the hardest part is not writing songs or playing live; it's actually finding a place to play. Two local musicians understand this concept all too well.

Kelly Countermine (formerly of local acts the Stone Poets and Babblefish) and Art Armani (formerly of Bluesuedegroove) collaborated to create an open mic/jam session at 10:30 p.m. every Thursday at Beulah's BBQ and Bar Bleu, 114 S. Garner St.

The premise behind the open mic/jam session is to focus on original singer-songwriters in the area, Countermine said.

"That line we are trying to draw is that it is not just an open mic, but a place for local artists to feature their own music," Countermine said.

Each performance starts off with Countermine playing some of her solo material. The middle of the show features different artists every week, and the evening ends with an improvisational jam session with all of the artists joining in on covers or original material.

Armani and Countermine said they wanted to do something different than the commonplace open mic.

"The concept of it was cool," Countermine said.

"It's kind of a new idea. There wasn't anything like this in State College, and Bar Bleu just opened up," Countermine said.

Since its start on Feb. 6, Countermine said it has been going pretty well.

"It sounded good last week," Countermine said. "The first one went really well. It should only get better from there."

The relaxed environment at Bar Bleu allows for this sort of casual performance, Armani said.

"It's a quaint place," Armani said. "It's not meant for a rowdy bar crowd. It's more of a controlled atmosphere."

Past weeks at the open mic/jam session have featured local artists Molly Countermine, Dennis Fallon and Todd Kirsten.

The open-mic performances will be broadcast on the student radio station, 90.7 WKPS. Artists interested in playing can e-mail Armani at info@statecollegemusic.com.