Thursday night was sweaty. After three days of high temps and jam packed days, I felt like I’d probably lost a few pounds just from sitting in my sweltering apartment all day with its struggling window AC units. Thursday was the apex of it all. After days of chart writing, rehearsing, scheduling, re-scheduling, Facebooking, tweeting, last minute late-night practices and a little bit of sleeping, my show at Amplyfi on Melrose finally began at 7:35 pm. This night had been my orchestration from day one, and even with some minor snafus, the show was going smoothly (besides being drenched…yuck). The soulful KellyAnne Rodgers stepped in last minute to fill the first time slot, followed by my set with John, Kristen, and Whitney (in the video below) and our musical review. DnK closed it out with a pretty kickin' show. Most exciting was that everybody had a crowd, which brought good vibes and energy to the whole night.
I love Amplyfi…it’s easy to pack with people, and has a house show vibe as you walk down the stone steps into the decorated venue. Without sounding too hippyish, I like the energy of the place most: it’s a home-grown operation. The folks running the venue were super easy to work with, and you can tell that Kota Wade (owner) has put time and effort to make this venue a reality for the same reason we come and play shows there: bringing people together for music.
Booking independently is my nightmare. Maybe I’ve just had one too many rough experiences booking a show for my band or me, but I get anxious just thinking about it. As I recounted above, it’s a lot of dang work, especially now with social media. I imagine in the old days, the band would just run around town with a stack of flyers, stick them to every telephone pole in town, and call it a day. You can still do that, but now you’ve got to have digital “posters”--status updates, photos, promo videos. And at the end of it, you just hope people want to leave their house and show up. God forbid a band drops out, or JT’s show down the street is the same night.
But… if you keep your head down and play all the cards right, there you are, standing on stage, looking out at all those faces who decided to turn it up and go see your show. I definitely don’t want to be a concert promoter when I grow up, but the joy of seeing all those people in one place (most of whom you don’t know), gathered together to rock out and enjoy a night of music because of your efforts…it’s pretty satisfying. If I had just given up after the first problem arose (there’s always something), all these people would never have been here sharing this experience, making some memories, and being entertained. The evening had grown into a life of its own, and now I was just along for the ride.
As teeth-grinding as it can be, getting people together is so important, especially when we are so “connected” these days through the Internet. Whether it’s church, concerts, theater, ball games, parties, yoga…being right alongside other people who share our interests gives us self-worth and much needed community that we can’t get from a computer screen. That’s why live music will never go away, even in the face of the digital music revolution (but that’s another issue for another blog). So…throw a party! Gather your peeps. It’s worth the hassle.
And please enjoy this video from the show on the 15th! The last couple minutes are totally spur of the moment skrelting from some of my favorite singers that you don't want to miss, so check it out.
I love Amplyfi…it’s easy to pack with people, and has a house show vibe as you walk down the stone steps into the decorated venue. Without sounding too hippyish, I like the energy of the place most: it’s a home-grown operation. The folks running the venue were super easy to work with, and you can tell that Kota Wade (owner) has put time and effort to make this venue a reality for the same reason we come and play shows there: bringing people together for music.
Booking independently is my nightmare. Maybe I’ve just had one too many rough experiences booking a show for my band or me, but I get anxious just thinking about it. As I recounted above, it’s a lot of dang work, especially now with social media. I imagine in the old days, the band would just run around town with a stack of flyers, stick them to every telephone pole in town, and call it a day. You can still do that, but now you’ve got to have digital “posters”--status updates, photos, promo videos. And at the end of it, you just hope people want to leave their house and show up. God forbid a band drops out, or JT’s show down the street is the same night.
But… if you keep your head down and play all the cards right, there you are, standing on stage, looking out at all those faces who decided to turn it up and go see your show. I definitely don’t want to be a concert promoter when I grow up, but the joy of seeing all those people in one place (most of whom you don’t know), gathered together to rock out and enjoy a night of music because of your efforts…it’s pretty satisfying. If I had just given up after the first problem arose (there’s always something), all these people would never have been here sharing this experience, making some memories, and being entertained. The evening had grown into a life of its own, and now I was just along for the ride.
As teeth-grinding as it can be, getting people together is so important, especially when we are so “connected” these days through the Internet. Whether it’s church, concerts, theater, ball games, parties, yoga…being right alongside other people who share our interests gives us self-worth and much needed community that we can’t get from a computer screen. That’s why live music will never go away, even in the face of the digital music revolution (but that’s another issue for another blog). So…throw a party! Gather your peeps. It’s worth the hassle.
And please enjoy this video from the show on the 15th! The last couple minutes are totally spur of the moment skrelting from some of my favorite singers that you don't want to miss, so check it out.