house concerts and 21st century touring

Here’s the link if you have trouble with the embedded video.

There is more opportunity than ever to connect with audiences, you just have to unleash a little creativity with the new tools at your disposal. Joe Crookston is going to do A LOT of house concerts this year, and this is one way he found some new opportunities. You have his permission to adapt it to your needs. — fran

– this is an email he sent to his friends and mailing list fans [9 hcs booked for March as of 12/19]

Nov 2008

Today I had a crazy idea, and I wondered if you’d like to be involved.

While doing my music work at home, I was gazing out my window overlooking the hills of Ithaca… the view stretches for many miles. The rooftops were all covered with snow; and I imagined all the warm people inside.

I started thinking…I would REALLY love for these people to know my music. There are millions of good people in New York State, and I’m sure they would enjoy my music if they actually heard it. I know it’s true. I got all fired up…

I had this idea of setting up a “House Concert Tour”, exclusively in New York State. The idea was that I would perform 15 house concerts in New York State during the month of March, 2009. Call it “The Ides of March Tour”. Friends and music fans like yourself would host a concert in your home…a simple concert. Each host would invite 15, 20, 35 friends/family to their home, and I would come over and play. The event wouldn’t need to be fancy, just a comfortable place for people to relax, and a space for me to stand and sing my heart out, and introduce my music to new people. We might have a little food, we’d gather in your coziest room, and I’d create some musical magic, with you and your friends. I’d set out a basket for a suggested donation: ($10-15 you choose), and I’d sell a few CD’s. People would leave glad they came, having a great experience.

What do you think? Would you be interested in hosting one of these concerts? Sometime during March 2009. Pick at date, we’ll see if it works. Concerts could be on Monday- Sunday (early evening or afternoons, whatever works best for you). I know house concerts happen all the time. It’s not that unusual. I LOVE doing them. But the idea of setting aside a full month, and playing locally 3-4 nights a week sounds like a dream, and would be a great way for me to grow my audience, meet new people, hear interesting stories, build community, and bring music into your home.

People say all the time, “it’s hard to get audiences to go out for live music”. I say, let me bring the music to you! Why travel to Colorado, Seattle, or Maryland, to perform when millions of people right here in NY still haven’t heard my music?

So, would you like to be a host? If so, I’ll help with any details or questions. If you’ve never hosted a house concert, please visit: http://concertsinyourhome.com/beahostintro.html

It’s a short video introduction to hosting house concerts. I’ll help in any way I can. We’ll make it a great night!

If you’re interested/willing please hit reply, let me know, and we’ll work out the details.

Thanks so much!

Joe Crookston
www.joecrookston.com
Ithaca, NY

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