House-concert hosts open their doors for concerts that are literally in your face –'The interaction between audience and artist is really personal'By Chris Nixon
For the San Diego Union-Tribune
March 16, 2006
Back before the House of Blues and Ticketmaster were even twinkles in a corporate executive's eye, home entertainment consisted of friends and family sitting around playing music together. The household was the home of music. From families gathering around the piano to sing hymns to scraggly hippies hosting impromptu jam sessions, live music has always thrived in the homes of music fans. Since the advent of the modern music venue, live music moved from homes to clubs. But despite the obvious bonuses of large sound systems and big-name acts, the concert-going club experience does have its downsides.
Performers have to split proceeds with clubs. Bands often run off the stage and jump into tour vans, leaving only a cloud of dust in their wake without any personal interaction with the audience.
Noisy crowds, impersonal settings and high ticket prices are driving audiences out of traditional music spaces and back into homes. In San Diego County, a handful of homeowners host concerts, harking back to a less-corporate music world.
“House concerts used to happen back in the days of the Kingston Trio; even Bob Dylan played a lot of house concerts,” said Jeff Berkley, a local musician who has helped start more than 25 house-concert venues in California. “A lot of that '60s folk music was spawned by these events. 'Come on over and pick a spell.' You know what I mean? That's where house concerts' roots are.”
After touring the country, San Diego folk duo Berkley Hart noticed the nationwide trend of people hosting concerts in their homes. The duo played a few house concerts and the experience stuck with them. After realizing the potential in terms of gaining new fans, the duo started organizing house concerts in San Diego and the rest of California.
“The interaction between audience and artist is really personal,” said Berkley. “The people that experience us at house concerts are always returning fans, and they're fans for life. They never stop coming to your shows after that because they've been turned on in such a personal way.”
Not only do artists gain devout fans, they also make more money with less stress than regular music venues.
“From the artist's perspective, there is no soundcheck or sound system at most of them,” said Berkley. “So, we just walk into the room with our instruments and everything is all set up for us. Then, at the end of the night – and this is not meant in a selfish way – they hand us all the cash that (the homeowner host) collected at the door.”
Lizzie Wann, a local live music promoter and poet, helps Berkley Hart set up new house-concert venues. If someone expresses an interest in hosting a show, Wann can assist in the process. Said Berkley: “Lizzie Wann – the house-concerts guru – trains our house-concert hosts on ways to make it really inexpensive for them.”
“We've developed a guideline sheet – six or seven pages of what our expectations are of the show and giving the potential host an idea of what they need to do to prepare,” said Wann about the learning curve of hosting shows.
Jimmy Duke has been hosting shows at his home in El Cajon since 1998. His Dark Thirty Productions – named for the starting time of all shows, a half an hour after dark – has brought traditional string music and folk artists like Hot Club of Cowtown, Chris Smither and Louise Taylor into his home. But his musical tastes are not limited to folk music.
“Our performances also include jazz, country, classical, opera, pop, bluegrass, Western and world music. Each style of music and its performers bring different groups of supporters to my house. But the mainstay is the large number who have become friends through this project and the local musicians who believe in what we are trying to do.”
For Duke and the other house-concert hosts, this is a labor of love.
“Hosting house concerts is a lot of work and expense,” said Duke, who has built a stage in his living room complete with light and a sound system. “It entails more than setting up a few chairs and making a pot of coffee. Of course, not all house-concert hosts get as carried away as I have been. But the enjoyment of making contact with old friends and meeting new people who love music is spiritually rewarding enough to make the effort worthwhile.”
Chris Clarke – a musician who hosts shows at his home in San Diego's Kensington neighborhood – understands the trials and tribulations of the modern musician trying to make a living.
“I'm also a musician,” said Clarke, who plays guitar, mandolin and upright bass with his old-time string band trio, Monroe Avenue String Band. “I understand very well the financial aspect of the profession and how difficult it is to get audiences engaged, especially out at bars.
“House concerts provide musicians a decent paying night as well as an audience that's engaged. An added bonus is every now and then I get to sit in with musicians in my living room. It's certainly not why I (host concerts), but it is a lot of fun.”
When you boil it down to its essence, the key ingredient to house concerts' success is developing the emotional interaction between musician and audience.
“People come to the shows and they feel like they know the artists, and in some ways they do,” said Wann, who also hosts shows at her own home. “They end up chatting afterward or during the break. So, it's just a much more real connection to the music and the artists.”
Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.
FIND AN ACT AND PLUNK YOUR MONEY DOWN
There are basically two kinds of house concerts: the private parties hosted just for friends and the house concerts open to the public. Here are some of the house-concert venues in San Diego County:
Dark Thirty Productions; run by Jimmy Duke; ww.darkthirty.com; (619) 443-9622; e-mail, jimmyduke@cox.net:
The Buccaneers – 7:30 tonight; $15
Venice (the Lennon Boys) – March 25; $20
Whit Smith's Hot Jazz Caravan – May 7, $20
Chris Calloway – May 21; $20
Jeff Berkley: “Jimmy does a great job. Jimmy's is very intimate, very professional. He's got a stage and lights.”
Chris Clarke: “Within a few months of moving to San Diego, I went out to Jimmy Duke's house. My tendency is to immediately try and figure out how things are run, how it's done and it works. It seemed like Jimmy put a lot into making it a performance as opposed to a party at someone's house. It was very much all about listening, the music, the performance, the artistry and the songwriting. That was the focus.”
Canyonfolk House Concerts; run by Bill and Shirlee McAndrews; www.canyonfolkhouseconcerts.com; (619) 659-5753; e-mail, canyonfolk@cox.net:
Berkley Hart – May 13; $15
Peggy Watson – July 29; $15
Steve Poltz – Sept. 30; $15
Tim Flannery – Nov. 11; $15
Joel Rafael – January, 2007; $15
Berkley: “We were their first act. Their house burned down in the Harbison Canyon fires. They just rebuilt it, and they actually put in the plans a design to set it up for house concerts. It's a blast. It's always our core group of fans. Those people love music, with all of their heart and soul.”
Clarke House Concerts; run by Chris Clarke; clarkehouseconcerts.com; (619) 291-4954; e-mail, stringmusic@gmail.com:
Chris Clarke doesn't have concerts booked for the next few months, but has plans to add more shows to this year's schedule. Check his Web site for updates.
Berkley: “That's also a Berkley Hart House Concert Revolution (venue). The Clarkes, they are lovers of music. Chris has gotten a lot more involved in bluegrass since starting it, because that's their real love. They like folk music, but their love and passion is all about bluegrass. He's brought in some pretty heavy bluegrass cats. But he also has Gregory Page and us at it too. They've got a really cool old house. They're a young couple, so the audience is very young.”
Meeting Grace; run by Lizzie Wann; meetinggrace.com; (619) 787-8242;e-mail, lizzie@meetinggrace.com:
The Dreamsicles – 8 tonight; $15
Dana Cooper – April 20; $15
Berkley Hart – May 14; $15
Calman Hart: “Lizzie's a poet, so she tends to draw a lot of people who are very artsy. So they're way into the words. It's interesting. You get a different crowd depending on what part of the town or what part of the county you're in. The crowd you're going to get out at Canyonfolk is different from the crowd that shows up at Meeting Grace (urban).”
Berkley: “It's urban. There's a bar across the street. And you can really hear the sounds of the city outside as the show is happening. It's an old San Diego Craftsman home, so it's all hardwood floors. The thing was built in 1918.”
– CHRIS NIXON
HOW THE INTERNET MAKES IT ALL POSSIBLE
Over the 12 years since the Internet has been changing the way we communicate, the information superhighway has played a key role in bringing the hootenanny into the 21st century.
Online booking and ticket sales through e-mail allow house-concert hosts to reach out to new artists and audiences. Hosts also can post schedules and other information on homemade Web sites, spreading the word through technology.
“I would say this would be impossible to do without the Internet,” said local musician Jeff Berkley. “When Berkley Hart started, we had a snail-mail mailing list, and it was so expensive. When (technology) turned the corner and everyone got e-mail, it leveled the playing field.
“And it's the same thing with house concerts. People can literally buy tickets and make reservations online. The address can be sent out only to people who have tickets.”
The Internet has made keeping music fans informed and booking artists easier than ever, according to local house-concert host Chris Clarke.
“As far as interacting with the audience, it's all via the Web and e-mail,” said Clarke, who hosts shows at his Kensington home. “That's how the majority of the people who attend are informed. I do have a phone list for folks who do not have Internet access, and I will give them courtesy calls from time to time. For booking artists, it's really essential.”
– CHRIS NIXON
