Are you interested in hosting a Michael Clem concert in your home?
Well then, you’ve just become Michael Clem’s best friend, and he will begin stitching you a BFF decorative end pillow immediately.
Allow me to slip out of the Third Person to say that I absolutely LOVE the House Concert. When it’s done right, it can be one of the most artistically fulfilling opportunities, and audiences seem to have a heightened enjoyment as well.
Here’s how a House Concert is done right: Transforming a living room, downstairs den, or back deck into a mini theater with folding chairs (may involve moving a sofa around, bumping a coffee table to another room, borrowing the chairs if you don’t have them) in order to create a listening room environment. If you know of 20 to 50 friends (the only limit is your own space & tolerance for groups beyond a certain size) who would enjoy an intimate 90min to 2hr set by yours truly, and who wouldn’t mind contributing a donation of 20 bucks a head in the bucket for your humble artist, then just invite them the same way you would if hosting a party. Many hosts encourage potluck, while others put out a spread themselves. BYOB is an option, too. Food & mingling can take place for an hour or so, and music will start promptly at a reasonable hour, like 7pm or 8:30, but usually no later. Shows can be private (your contacts only) or public (and I would promote, as well)- this is your call.
There’s not a firm and fast rule that these must happen on a weekend, but Friday & Saturday eves or Sunday afternoons tend to be the most convenient times for all parties involved. I’m certainly open to the idea of weeknights for occasions when it makes more sense.
Once everyone is seated, it’s best to make the necessary housekeeping announcements – restroom locale with the jiggle the handle instructions, no talking during the show, cell phone and noise makers silenced, directions to where the CDs & merchandise are located, reminder of the contribution bucket for the artist, ecstatic applause required after every number…etc.
The end result is that among those 20-50 folks, you will now be their Favorite Friend, and Michael Clem will thank you from the Grammy podium should he ever get the Lifetime Achievement Award. You will have delivered an incredibly intimate experience for your circle of peeps in your own living quarters, and you will have helped to keep an aging singer-songwriter’s dream alive just that much longer.
These shows are seriously fun. I bring my own PA, recorded music to play before, a guitar, a harmonica or two, a funky retro microphone, and a whole bunch of tunes and stories that were made for such gatherings.
If you’re interested, reach out to me at michaelrclem66@gmail.com, and we can get a dialogue going on how to put on your very own House Concert!
See what some have said about their experience at House Concert Reviews.