One of the best (and most fortunate) consequences of taking this little show on the road is that so many of you have offered to host concerts for myself solo or with 'the group' either in your home or at a local venue. This sort of arrangement goes by the common parlance 'house concert'.

House concerts are not only a fantastic way to experience a performance, they are also easy as pie to set up. So, if you want to hear this music live and show your support, but do not happen to live in one of the big cities I normally tend to book (or even if you do, but would like a more intimate venue) I encourage you to give it a go! Here's all ya need to do...

...The Obvious Choice

What could be more natural? You love hearing music in a live setting. I make my living playing music. Next time I come through your town, why don't we do a house concert? If you've ever hosted a New Year's Eve party for friends, organized a garage sale or thrown together a neighborhood potluck, you have all the necessary skills required. This little booklet is designed to cover all the bases and outline the details step-by-step to take you from: "Where do I begin?!" to "Let's do it again!!"

It's not rocket science. You can do this. Trust me.

As Easy As...

1.2.3... er.... '4'.. Sort of like the Jackson-5 used to say. Everything you'll need to do can be laid out in these easy steps.

1. Find a place for the concert
2. Spread the word
3. Set up the room
4. Host the show

1. FINDING A PLACE

Well, it doesn't get much simpler than this - we'll do the show in your living room. That's why they're called house concerts, right? Attendance usually runs between 25 and 50 at most shows, so if you have a good sized living room, say 12'x15' or larger (about 650 sq. ft.), we're in business. Move the furniture around and you can get a lot of bodies in a space that size. It might be snug, but one of the charms of house concerts are their inherent coziness.

Still, what if your place is just too small? Not to worry. There are all sorts of non-house possibilities. I've done these 'un-plugged' shows in bookstores, music shops, in public-library rooms, art galleries, school rooms, community halls, grange halls, church basements, barns, back patios - the informal character of house concerts make them adaptable to any number of environments.

Also, make sure there is there adequate parking in your neighborhood to accommodate the extra cars. A secondary benefit of inviting your neighbors is that they usually won't take issue with the parking situation if they feel like they've been included in the loop. Just make sure your guests don't block driveways or fire hydrants, or otherwise complicate life for themselves or others.

For our purposes, though, let's assume you do have a room of sufficient size. I'm coming through on tour in a few months and we've set a date for the show.
Now what?

2. SPREADING THE WORD

Start talking it up. House concerts are still fairly rare in many areas of the country, so the idea of turning your home into a temporary concert hall will be a novel concept to a lot of people. But once people experience a concert in a home setting they usually become enthusiastic converts.

Once you begin letting people know about the concert you'll discover why house concerts are so well suited for smaller, more closely connected communities - most of your promotion will simply be word of mouth.

Our audience - and typically upwards of 50% of it - will be people you know or friends of theirs. Let them know someone's going to come perform a concert right in your living room. Much of the time, the host/impresario (that would be you) will set up some sort of food and or drinks, but there's no need to go hog wild. Some hosts have gone so far as do potluck suppers beforehand. Others, have kept it strictly business and offered snacks and cocktails--but made sure to include these costs in the ticket price. Makes sense to me.

If the concert is being held in a more neutral setting you can do this broader job of advertising, but you probably won't need to concern yourself with these last suggestions - the flyers around town and in your car's windows - if the concert is going to take place in your home. If you're like most people, you're probably hesitant to throw open your home to just anyone. In an alternative space you can comfortably go for a larger, more diverse audience. The promotional timeline typically goes like this:

• Two weeks out: We'll do a postcard mailing if that seems to be necessary. We may also ask you to put up flyers if that's appropriate. If you want to get really ambitious, especially if house concerts aren't the norm in your community, maybe we can get in touch with the local newspaper
  
• The week of the show: Make a last round of phone calls to remind everyone to come out. We'll do one more e-mail reminder.
  NOTE:Keep a running account of whatever expenses you accrue, plus receipts: you'll reimburse yourself after the concert and the performer may want the receipts for business expense tax purposes.
  
• The day before the show: We make our last round of e-mail reminders. Just like your dentist.
  

3. SETTING UP THE ROOM

You might set up the room for the concert this way:

• Stage: Create a "stage" area for the performer in your concert room - in front of the fireplace or french doors, in an open corner of the room - and arranging the seating facing the stage. Place a floor lamp or small table with a reading light near where the performer will sit or stand. This will usually suffice, but to do an even better job of lighting, lay hands on one or two utility clamp lights, available for $6-$8 each from almost any hardware store. Fit them with, say, 60 watt bulbs, and devise a way to mount these, maybe on a camera tripod or the ceiling light fixture or clamped to convenient curtain rods, and direct them toward the
• Seating: Do you have enough chairs of your own? If not, consider places you might obtain loaners: school, church, the library etc. You can even tell people to bring their own. Of course, you can always rent folding chairs as a last resort, but the idea is to keep production costs to a minimum.
• Volunteers: It's a usual perk to grant free admission to the people who help out the night of the show, such as your refreshment coordinator and a person to collect money at the door and handle CD sales. 
• Break Refreshments: Have a couple of coffeemakers in service to keep up with demand, plus the usual condiments on hand: cream, sugar, honey, etc. And plenty of cups. Do you have enough cups? If you want to eliminate a lot of dishwashing, lay in a supply of paper cups, napkins, plates - recyclable...you might as well set a good example while you're at it. Also, set out a basket with a sign that reads: "Donations For Treats" to help defray some of your expenses.

4. HOSTING THE SHOW

My shows will typically consist of two sets of music of about 40-45 minutes each with a short break between - about 20 minutes - so that people can stretch their legs, chat, have refreshments, visit the facilities, purchase

After people have assembled and settled in, you'll welcome everyone and introduce the performer with something simple like: 'Good evening, everyone. Thanks for coming out. Tonight we're fortunate to have with us a wonderful musician and a heckuva a guy, so let's get started. Please welcome...

At the break you might want to have light refreshments on hand, things like coffee, tea, sodas, chips and dip, etc. You can also ask a few friends to bring home-baked goodies as well. In fact, it's a good idea to enlist a volunteer to oversee some or all this chore (remember - you don't have to do it all.)

After the break, make a short reintroduction of the artist, then sit back and enjoy the rest of the show.

TA DA!

Guess what? We're done. That's all there is to it. Now that you've seen how easy it is, spread the word: House concerts are great! I'm convinced they're going to become more and more popular as time goes by. We live in an increasingly isolated culture and people are hungry for an authentic experience of community. They want to be part of something real, and house concerts - however humble a gesture they may be - can be a little part of that reality. They illustrate that people can make things happen, right there where they are, without the necessity of a lot of hype or expense, and that music, art, and some kind of magic are still afoot in the world.

Hope to see you at a concert in your neighborhood. Soon!

A Word About The Whole Money Thing!'

We need $500 to make this happen...and that doesn't include my travel (airfare.) So, while you can choose to charge what you like, bear this in mind. I typically will charge $25 per ticket--which is similar to the cover charge at many clubs nowadays.

My fee will need to be covered before the date of the concert. If you're willing to cover that, great. If you'd like nothing to do with the idea of finance, you can point your friends to this web site and they can use the secure payment shopping cart that we'll use to market to other fans.

In any event, at the end of the evening you'll have taken in X amount. In most instances you'll extract your expenses and and send me on my way with the remainder.

Performer Accommodation

The performer will need a place to stay while in town, whether with you or by arrangement with someone else. Think of the performer as a distant relative or old college acquaintance. Make up a place in a spare room or on the couch in the den. Show the performer where the coffee is in the morning.

And Yet A Few More Considerations

Here's a few other things to consider during the course of getting ready for the show:

• What Time Do We Start? For Friday or Saturday shows, things get under way about 8 or 8:30. If we do a weeknight or Sunday show, start things a half-hour to an hour earlier.
  
• Thank You For Smoking! Elsewhere that is. All my shows are non-smoking.
  
• The Kid Situation! Hey I understand kids. I got kids. I still act fairly childish. But since the shows happen in such close quarters, children can cause considerable disturbance if they don't have the capacity to sit attentively for a couple of hours. As a general rule it's a good idea to encourage people to arrange for sitters for children below the age of about twelve.