House Concerts

My wife and I became converts and complete fans of a relatively new phenomena started just a few years ago called "House Concerts". I wanted to take the time to introduce all of you to this new very cool musical venue. This is a new venue idea that the musicians and the audience both love because of the intimacy and realness of seeing great acts on such an up close and personal level. Instead of watching your favorite acts with binoculars from hundreds of feet away, you're now just 10-20 feet away.

What is a House Concert?

It’s an invitation-only concert in someone’s home, presented by a host who does not profit from the event.

Also, house concerts are usually…

Held indoors and on weekends.
Attended by 20-100 people.
Paid for by a $10-20 donation per guests, the entire amount goes to the performer (s).
Known to include light snacks, beverages or in some cases, a pot-luck dinner.
Attended by the host’s friends, neighbors, co-workers, and maybe a few fans of the artist.
Attended by a 25-60 age group.
Performed by solo, duos and small groups.
Performed with little to no amplification.
Very intimate - the audiences sit close and are attentive.
Performed in 2, 40-minute sets with a 15-20 minute break.
Almost always has the artist Cd's for sale. Plus the wonderful chance to personally talk to them.
Then there's the chance to socially network with others of like interests.
The host often are known to house and feed the artist for the night.
They usually are scheduled about once a month, sometimes more often.

We are always completely blown away with the quality, perfectionism, intimacy and great story telling abilities of these traveling minstrels. My wife and I are complete Jazz nut cases and I never thought we would enjoy these Singer/Songwriter types. What I found is all artists of this caliber and talent are far and away in the same creativity realm, no matter the type of music they play. In fact, I personally made a choice that we would go back until we were disappointed with a concert, then just stop going.

Well, it's never happened and we've been attending one in our area for over a year now. We've seen some of the best guitar players, best incredibly unique singers, best creatively written songs imaginable in that year. We leave every concert with a smile on our face that lasts for days and our souls more than amply fed.

With the house concert series we attend, we were invited to be put on the concert e-mail list. Then the incredibly talented and giving host (Thank you Kevin from the bottom of our hearts for inviting us) e-mails you a notice with who's coming and when and you simple RSVP them back that your coming. They are almost always sold out performances, so you need to respond back immediately. We enjoy ourselves so much that we asked to be put on the list of always coming, so we don't miss out on any of the sold out performances.

I read a piece in the newspaper the other day that these House Concerts are the rage now across the United States and beyond. I'll bet if you do a net search for your area, you will very likely find one or several to pick from. In our area, there are at least two that I know of and maybe more. I've heard that there are several up in Grass Valley. Most of them are Folk type singer/songwriter types but heard that one of them in Grass Valley is a Classical venue. Also in San Francisco, I know of one which presents Jazz.

Personaly, I would love to have a Jazz House Concert to attend also. Hell, maybe I'll just take that on myself in the future........who knows........




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Come on.......DO IT!