For local performers and songwriters, the struggle to find a good performance venue can be tough. But after years in the scene, one man is using his experience and connections to coordinate the local open mic community.

Chris Frazer, a 51-year-old middle school choir teacher, has assembled the largest, most comprehensive database of venues in the Phoenix area.

His Web site, www.azopenmic.com, lists more than 40 locations — receiving upwards of 500,000 hits over the past six years.

“For a while if you looked up ‘open mic, Arizona’ on Google, it would be 10 pages deep in there,” he said. “Now it’s the first thing that pops up.”

Frazer always had a passion for music. The son of a professional jazz musician, he picked up the tenor guitar at 15 and began songwriting.

He didn’t write much during his 14-year marriage. But after his 2000 divorce, Frazer said he found the songwriting process healing. He wrote more in the six months after his divorce than in years before.

Then Frazer saw an open mic night advertisement in the newspaper and decided to give it a shot.

He became hooked.

“There were times I was obsessed with it — five nights a week. Or there was one night, I went to three of them,” he said. “After you start meeting the people and the people get to know the hosts, that makes a lot of difference.”

Through his experience in the scene, Frazer gained an understanding of what makes venues successful.

“You need to get a core group of regulars,” he said. “If you get five people who show up every week, you’re set.”

Frazer began hosting an open mic night in downtown Mesa at Coffee Talk. The friendships he developed there followed him to the Final Round in Tempe after Coffee Talk switched owners. Today, Frazer continues to host open mics every Thursday from 8 to 11 p.m.

“We get a lot of different kinds of acts there and a wide variety of skill levels,” he said. He said people range from first-timers to returning veterans and even eccentric experimenters looking to try out material on a live audience.

Frazer’s connections and understanding ultimately helped him organize the Phoenix open mic scene.

Whenever he searched for new venues, Frazer said found the lack of information and organization frustrating. He said existing directories like the Phoenix New Times provided some information, but their list “was, and still is, pretty inaccurate.”

Frazer took matters into his own hands. Through research and networking with local mic enthusiasts, azopenmic.com slowly took shape.

Frazer said the site has been a huge success. He receives lots of positive feedback from venue owners and musicians alike. To stay current, he contacts owners every three months.

In addition to a list of locations and performer profiles, Frazer also puts on an event called the songwriters’ challenge.

Every three months, Frazer posts a song title on his Web site and participants have one month to write a song using that title. The final contest takes place at Chino Bandido in Chandler.

Robert Galvan, a senior business management student at ASU, became involved in the open mic scene through Frazer’s songwriters challenge in March. It was the first song he ever performed for an audience and, despite being nervous, he felt welcomed.

“There are probably 30 to 35 people out there who have a song called ‘The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Done’ now. But they’re all very, very different,” he said.

Now Galvan performs regularly at open mics in Tempe, Gilbert and Chandler.

“Chris is pretty adamant that [the Phoenix area] is one of the better places for open mic,” he said. “It’s a very friendly community.”

Reach the reporter at channing.turner@asu.edu.