JOSE F. MORENO/Courier-Post Haddon Heights resident Vince Zito perfoms during Open Mic Night at the Barrington Coffee House.

Strumming his acoustic guitar, Vince Zito performed "Tangled Up in Blue," a Bob Dylan song recorded long before the high school junior was born.

It's Open Mic Night at Barrington Coffee House and the mostly teenage crowd politely clap between numbers.

The audience requests a Pearl Jam song, and the 17-year-old Zito obliges.

Performers of all ages flex their artistic muscles on Thursday nights at the coffee house that opened in March. Teenagers mingle with grandparents in this casual, smoke-free environment.

"It's a nice place to sit and listen to music. A lot of our friends play here," said Alyse Corle, 15, of Haddon Heights, who walked to the coffee house with her pal Caroline Geverd, also 15.

The budding musicians are happy to have a stage and receptive audience.

Guitarist Chris Wilson, 18, sang three original numbers in his five-song set.

"It's great that there's something for the younger kids to do in Barrington. There's nothing on the main street but a lot of antique stores," said Wilson, who stops by his neighborhood coffee house every day.

Owner Vic Baiano is pleased that Open Mic Night has earned a following because music was always in mind when he and his wife, Angela, planned the coffee house.

"We always knew the stage would be by the front window. We thought about it when we were designing the room," Baiano said.

The community has embraced the new java joint and Baiano is thrilled when people tell him they live in the neighborhood or just down the street.

"This is our first venture and we want it to be a mom-and-pop operation," Baiano said. He's considering hosting a comedy night, too, later in the year.

The coffee house is set up like a living room with cushy couches and plush window seats. Decorated in burnt orange and gold tones, the room feels warm and inviting. When the performers play, the music isn't too loud, which allows patrons to hold a conversation. At the end of every song, the audience politely claps.

Musician Bob Nage, 27, of Barrington, organizes the sign-up lists and performers for the night. Musicians and poets sign up between 7 and 8 p.m. Most of the performers play popular songs or original material, and spoken word is rare, Nage said. One night a bagpiper came to play, he said.

Haddon Heights High School sophomore Mike Schonewolf, 16, comes to Open Mic Night every week because there's no where else in the neighborhood to hang out. He said the teenagers who go there act "sophisticated" because they respect the coffee house.

"It give you something to do," said Schonewolf, who occasionally reads "stuff I wrote" on the coffee house stage. "The music is good, well most of it."

On this night, bassist Matt Monou, 16, was just watching the show with his friends and said he liked going to the coffee house because the smoothies are good.

Musician Terry Rivel, 53, of Barrington, joked that he wanted to draw more people his age to balance the room.

"What's nice is that so many coffee houses have popped up and there's places to play. There's so much energy here," Rivel said.

Nage said the venue fosters creativity.

"It's a great outlet for the kids. It's a place for them to go and express their poetry or music or whatever their creative outlet may be," Nage said. "Everyone is welcome."

A deft guitarist, Vince Zito included in his set the Beatles' "Hide Your Love Away" and Pearl Jam's "I Got Id," tunes he described as simple to play.

"If it weren't for Bob Dylan and the Beatles, there would be no Pearl Jam," Zito said.