house concerts and 21st century touring

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Message from Fran:
Thanks to the first newsletter and the newly added YouTube video channels we saw a big jump in visitor traffic last month. Video will be an increasingly important part of this site in the future. I’d like to thank the hosts and artists who’ve shopped our new store, and purchased some of our nice house concert shirts and hats. Tis the season after all.

CIYH stats and developments:
At the end of the month we had 282 hosts and 420 artists. The site had 17,000 visitors in 30 days. We added 25 new hosts and 32 new artists. We also removed 8 hosts due to inactivity. Please give a “shout-out” to Bryan for creating some nice new banners for your websites and myspace pages.

New CIYH Hosts: (active artist members receive these by email)
Our Kind of Folk, Echo Park, Andy and Chrissy, Wilder Lodge, Las Alturas, Cooter Brown, Crazy Cow, Magic Room, Lockwood Lounge, Millions for Music, BobCat, Spencer, Bandon, Vardagsrummet (Finland!), Sunday Jammers, Small Stage, Wild Stage, Michelle’s Mineral Mountain Music, Casa de Linda, The Front Room, Rosie’s Cafe, Lake Floyd, Rendezvous Farm, Hill Country, Top o’ the Hill,

New CIYH Artists: (A big thank you for your support.)

Alex Kash, Buddy Wakefield, Casey Desmond, Chad and Jeremy, Dana Agnellini, David Glaser, David Payton, Elliott Ranney, French toast, Genevieve, Janet Bates, Jeff Holmes of The Floating Men, jill knight, Joe Gee, Kris Searle, Kristin Markiton, LynnMarie & The Boxhounds, Mark Cool, Mended Vessels, Michael Brandmeier, MJ Bishop, New Territory, Robert A Johnson, Ryan Price, Siobhan Quinn & Michael Bowers, Sky Nelson, The Comforters, The Stereofidelics, Tim Bays, Tom Glynn, Tracy Newman and the Reinforcements, Yvonne Blasy

Renewed Artists: (A HUGE thank you for your continued support!)

Robby Hecht, Michael Mucklow, Ronny Elliott, Chance Haven, Jon Roniger, Bill Toms, Eric Roberts, Tim Miller, James Casto, John Williams, Lisa Torres, Sonia Lee, David Theroff, Stryngs

Schwag of the Month:
Ladies-cut long-sleeve shirt featuring our new slogan, “Your living room was made for live music.” - We think it’s a great way to spread the word and show the curves. 8^)

Artist of the Month: Mojácar Flamenco is a dynamic group of flamenco artists led by guitarist Stephen Dick and dancer Katerina Tomás. Together, they offer a virtuosic tour-de-force in which music and dance weave together in tight interplay.

Mojácar offers flamenco concerts, workshops and lecture-demonstrations, bringing the power and passion of flamenco to all audiences. Mojácar was formed in 1997 when Stephen and Katerina returned from an extended visit to an artists’ retreat in the village of Mojácar on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. While there, Stephen wrote much of the music that became Mojácar’s core repertoire - a blend of traditional Flamenco with Contemporary Latin Jazz.

“Fierce Dance and Spanish Guitar.” L.A. Weekly
“A Kind of Visual Poetry” San Diego Union

Since then, the group has toured the U.S. and Canada, performed in Spain, collaborated with artists from all over the world, and released a CD featured on NPRs Morning Edition.

If you’d like to have a house concert that people will talk about for years, this group (duo or band) provides a wonderful opportunity. Stephen is also available for solo instrumental performances.

See Mojacar Flamenco in the third video player here:

Host of the Month: Selia Qynn - Habitat House Concerts

One of the fun aspects of being in touch with so many different house concert presenters is finding house concert series’ that are held in unique settings. One such setting is “Habitat House Concerts” in Houston, TX. Created by singer-songwriter Selia Qynn in 2004, the series is held in her backyard, which, despite the urban setting, was certified by the National Wildlife Federation.

Artists perform under a wisteria-covered gazebo, with pillowed benches that seat 65-70. White doves from the aviary “coo-along” with the music, along-side the more silent bunnies, finches, and button quail. The traveling accommodations are also first-class, with the next door property (which shares the backyard habitat) being retrofitted as 3 very quaint apartments.

Selia is a captivating performer as well, and often performs “in-the-round” with the acts she books for the series. The series was inspired by her frustration with performing in bars, and her desire to share the beautiful habitat she created with her community. If you find yourself traveling near Houston, Habitat House is well worth the visit, even if it’s just to see the birds.

Tip for Artists: Easy Promotion

How many emails do you send out a week? What if every email you send could plant a house concert seed? This could happen automatically if you update your email signature. Here’s mine - you can do the same.

Fran Snyder
http://fransnyder.com - terrible music unfit for human ears
http://concertsinyourhome.com - your living room was made for live music

Another tip? Add one of the new banners - to your website!

Click here for more easy promotion tips.

Tip for Hosts: Send us your schedules.

Not only might it get a few extra visitors inquiring about your next show, but we are keeping track of artists who appear in our state calendars, and how many times each artist appears. We’ll do a top-10 artist list at the end of the year, so promoting your shows is a great way to promote the artists you love. And golly, it’s free. http://concertsinyourhome.com/hostdates.html (bookmark it!)

Live Review: Hans York

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Hans York perform live at several Folk Alliance conferences. After Hans starts playing, it takes less than 3 seconds to know that you are in for something unique.

He simply can’t sit still when he’s playing. His nimble hands create rhythmic grooves on the guitar, and his legs seem as captivated by the sound as the vibrating strings. Then, the subtle melodies always seem to prepare you for the coming vocal.

Hans has a soothing voice that is a perfect match for the sometimes-spiritual, always-enriching songs he performs. His recordings are diverse, but favor a balance between new-age, progressive, and folk.

York’s character, stories, and great songs are ideally suited for house concerts - which is why we often see him on our calendars. His latest CD, “Young Amelia” will be available in just a few weeks. Visit his website for details.

Hosts! Send us your Rave Reviews of any CIYH performers - if we print yours, you’ll win a free shirt.

Trivia Question:
Name 2 of the 3 pages (URLs) at CIYH where we play artist videos. (Hint: one was mentioned above.) Send your answers here…

One winner will be chosen at random from the first 10 correct responses. The prize? A free shirt. Last month’s winner…Matt Kramer! Here he is… patiently waiting ——–>

This website is sponsored by: Artists!