A few hundred people have agreed!
Click the map to make it interactive…

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Due to the easier specs for doing a DinnerAndSong or DessertAndSong (shorter concert, fewer people) we believe this is an even better tool for inspiring new people to host, especially in areas where homes are smaller than what we may be used to.

So we’re now making a page available at ConcertsInYourHome to educate and inspire any CouchSurfing members to get involved. Share and enjoy!

http://www.concertsinyourhome.com/couchsurfinghcguide.html

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Uncle! After a year of feedback it is clear that most of our community LOVES the concept of DNS (DinnerAndSong and DessertAndSong) but have very little affection for the details as we’ve presented them. So we’re changing the format.

The biggest objection? Time. Most of you have told us that 35 minutes just isn’t enough time for the performance, and an uncomfortable cut-off for even the simplest of dinners.

In order to reduce the chance of misunderstandings, it’s important that we redefine the program in such a way that more people adopt it as described. Otherwise, our videos and templates won’t be useful for you, and we’ll certainly see disappointed artists, hosts, and guests when they don’t get what they were expecting.

Here is how we’ll describe DNS events from now on.

• DinnerAndSong - host provides simple dinner for guests and artist, followed by a 40-45 minute performance. 8-10 guests on a weeknight is ideal.
• DessertAndSong - host provides desserts for guests, followed by a 40-45 minute performance. 10-20 guests on a weeknight is ideal.

YOU decide how long to allow for dinner or dessert, but the total event time should be less than 90 minutes for guests, and 2 hours for the host. We still want this to be quick and easy when compared with a regular house concert.

If the artist does more than one set… you are doing a house concert, regardless of whether you provide food or not. All DNS events feature one set of music.

The money - we believe that the suggested donation of $10-15 should hold, because the guests are not asked to bring anything, and are getting a more personal experience that includes dinner with the artist - that’s better than a backstage pass.

Looking forward to your comments.

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Who should Apply:

Michigan residents only, both individuals and groups — Visual artists, teaching artists, gallery and museum exhibitors, storytellers
and historical re-enactors, authors and poets, tradition bearers and folk artists

Deadline for applications: December 1, 2011

Learn more or apply online: www.michiganhumanities.org

Questions: 517-372-7770 or email them at contact@mihumanities.org

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Hey Fran, Things are great - we have 2 new DinnerAndSong events planned - Robyn Landis sometime this month and Carrie Clark on Nov 10. This new adventure is truly a “life changer”! ~~J. Borger, CIYH host

“Just hosted third house concert last evening — now I’m hooked. Totally.” L. Lee, CIYH host.

Message from Fran:
Happy Birthday DinnerAndSong!

One year ago, we launched the DinnerAndSong.com website to encourage hosts and artists to put on smaller events during the week. Our main goal was to create more opportunities for artists, and to give more people a chance to embrace the idea of music in their home. You don’t need a big crowd or a big house to do something beautiful, memorable, and productive.

What we didn’t know was that we’d soon see DessertAndSong and BreakfastAndSong. We didn’t know that already successful and busy hosts would use DinnerAndSong to put on even more events, since DNS requires much less prep and time.

But most of all, we’ve now discovered that DinnerAndSong is the best way to develop new hosts, allowing them to grow their audience gradually, and to have the fun luxury of actually turning away guests beginning with their very first event. That’s a much better problem than having to panic and beg people to come.

Happy first birthday, DinnerAndSong. It’s been a great year.

—-

Recommendations - Now Both Ways!

Many of our hosts have indicated that they would like to get candid, constructive feedback from artists who play in their homes.

We’ve now set up a system to encourage artists to give that feedback - but only if that show appears on our calendars. So (hosts) please list your upcoming shows! (30 seconds is all it takes) Check out the great artist recommendations we’ve been receiving!

Hosts and artists can now see prompts for recommendations in the upper portion of their “edit profile” page after login. Please visit this page for more information about recommendations - how they are used, who can see them, etc.

“Let me just tell you how much CIYH has opened up opportunities for my career… House concerts have been the saving grace - allowing me to get my music to open and attentive ears. Just thought I’d let you know that it is working and that your site literally made it all happen. So THANK YOU!” - Mason Douglas

New CIYH Hosts: (artist members can search “member since 2011-09″ using the advanced search.)

30 new CIYH hosts
We welcome
Sarah and Leslie and Martin from AB, Paul from AK, John from AZ, Meghan from BC, John and Erik and Karen and Jacky and Donna from CA, Andy/Diane and Casey from MD, Nash and Mike from MI, Linda from MN, Michelle from NB, Paul from ME, Janet and Randy from NC, Rob from NJ, Kim from OR, Pam and Mary and Bev and Dawn and Bill and Joe from TX, Andi and Dave from VA

CIYH hosts can elect to do DinnerAndSong events instead of, or in addition to house concerts.

As hosts, we are hopeful all of our DNS events are as successful as the last one. We encourage others reading this to join the DNS family, as it is so rewarding.”
–J. Borger, CIYH Host

New CIYH Artists:

(Welcome Aboard!)

Brian Bergeron, Craig Monday, Eric Jennings of Geisha Hit Squad, Jacob Johnson, Jessica Lynne, Tony Barker

Our Audio 6-Packs (free downloads) are back! This month, download 2 tracks from each of our featured artists. Lovely music!

Look for these new artists here!

Renewed Artists:

(Signed on for another great year!) Annie and Rod Capps, Bill & Kate Isles, Boho Chapeau, Cady Finlayson & Vita Tanga, Cali Rose, Dan Krikorian, David Leask, Jesse Terry, Kira Small, Muriel Anderson, Rob Drabkin, The Twangtown Paramours, Vicki Genfan

Referring artist of the month:

Sarah Peacock
has become one of the leading promoters of our community and has recently referred 4 of her most talented friends to join ConcertsInYourHome. We want to say “Thanks Sarah” and encourage you to check out her great music.

Schwag of the Month:

As our temperatures drop outside, it’s time to sleeve up so we can shout the great house concert philosophies from the highest mountaintop, or perhaps the nearest fireplace. Our latest Dinner And Song apparel does just that - a long sleeve “Let’s Have It” shirt boldly states our message.

Of course we also have a classic long sleeve “Your Living Room Was Made For Live Music” shirt to meet those needs. Keep yourself warm to warmly spread the great news of your house concerts!

Host Reward Winners!

Congratulations to Tara Feuerborn and David Holiday. Each host wins a $50 gear voucher from D’Addario and Planet Waves. We’ll look at the CIYH calendars each month and randomly pick two winners from our active hosts. Login and post your events! (It takes about 90 seconds.)

Tips for Artists and Hosts:

• 5 Most Common CIYH Artist Mistakes
• The Most Effective (free) Tools for Artists to Book House Concerts
• Sponsor an Artist to Join ConcertsInYourHome
• Agent Memberships at ConcertsInYourHome

Our new blog, for hosts only.

• DinnerAndSong (DNS) - a year later
• When artists ask you to write a recommendation
• How well do you know your Host Resources page?
• Announce your bathroom breaks before the show
• Post-concert reachouts to guests
• Filling the room
• An award-winning artist’s view of DNS

Artists and Hosts log in here

Please share this newsletter with people you like. — fran

Thanks to D’Addario and Planet Waves for their kind support of this community.

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We’ve had a pretty great experience with ConcertsInYourHome this past
year! House concerts are fast becoming our favorite way to perform! We’ve booked a bunch of shows, made a lot of great new friends, and it’s been an excellent overall experience! We just played the Jammin’ Jules House Concert on Sunday and had a FANTASTIC time!! We’re looking
forward to another year! ~~ Alfred James Band

Message from Fran : Click for video from Paris!

I’m in France for the month of September, and the first few days in Paris have been rejuvenating. There’s nothing like the shock of a new location and language (I speak French, but not nearly enough) to get your mind out of the same rut your body was in. Yes, I’m having fun, but I’m constantly attacking this keyboard with new ideas to continue to expand and improve what we do with ListeningRoomNetwork and ConcertsInYourHome. We want artists to thrive, and fans to be inspired to provide or participate in the experience we all love - a moving performance in a listening room.

If you have any friends in France (I’ll be visiting lots of places) who might be interested in helping us form a circuit of house concerts… I’d love to meet them.

Recommendations:

Oh my, how we’ve tortured ourselves about the best way to provide an easy and helpful recommendations system for ConcertsInYourHome. For years, hosts have told us how valuable it is to get recommendations from other hosts about artists they are considering. And it’s also a great feeling when an artist gets a heartfelt testimonial from a recent show.

So it’s here. For hosts. If you’ve listed some shows in our calendars at CIYH, you’ll now see a list of “pending reviews” next time you login. You can provide positive comments for the artist’s profile (a recommendation) as well as private notes for me and Jeff if you encountered some problems that should be addressed. These notes and recommendations are the best way to build trust within our community.

Soon, we’ll provide the same opportunity for artists to give us feedback about hosts. Let’s support, and look out for each other.

Check out the great recommendations we’ve been receiving!

House Concerts Panel at SXSW - Wanna help make it happen?

We see a lot of people giving advice about house concerts these days, and many of them don’t understand the traditions, the community, and the potential risks when these events are done without care. We’d like to offer some inspiration as well as sanity.

One of our hosts, Paul Schreiber, has invited me to do a house concert panel with him at the SouthbySouthwest Conference in March. If you’d like to see that happen, we could use your help with a vote. (It’s not necessary to opt-in for their newsletter when you create a login to vote.)

Thanks so much for helping with this:
panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas

You need a sxsw.com account to comment/vote:
panelpicker.sxsw.com/users/register

New CIYH Hosts: (artist members can search “member since 2011-08″ using the advanced search.)

19 New Hosts!
We welcome
Bill and Tatiana and Shannon all from CA
Nan from CO
Carolyn from FL
Selina from HI
Francesca from Italy
Cheryl from MI
Rob and Miriam both from NJ
David and Lynda both from NY
Linda from OH
Debra/Paul from PA
Mary from OK
Erin from TN
Melissa and Sarah both from TX
Chris from the UK

CIYH hosts can elect to do DinnerAndSong events instead of, or in addition to house concerts.

As hosts, we are hopeful all of our DNS events are as successful as the last one. We encourage others reading this to join the DNS family, as it is so rewarding.” (J. Borger)

New CIYH Artists:

(Welcome Aboard!)

Abby Mae, Brooke Annibale, Jim Savarino, Joe Marson, Mitchell and Harris, Paul Tabachneck, Ryan Tennis, Scott and Michelle Dalziel

Our Audio 6-Packs (free downloads) are back! This month, download 2 tracks from each of our featured artists. Lovely music!

Look for these new artists here!

Renewed Artists:

(Signed on for another great year!) Alfred James, David Nigel Lloyd, Jan Krist & Jim Bizer, Lipbone Redding, Lorri Solomon, Marc Black, Michael Reno Harrell, Patti Casey and Tom MacKenzie, T. Edwin Doss, Troubaduo

Schwag of the Month:

The DinnerAndSong designs for t-shirts just keep coming! This one is a direct plea to entice everyone around us to discover the goodness of DinnerAndSong events simply for the asking. So feast your eyes on this new ask me about my next DinnerAndSong shirt.
Of course we have a bumpersticker to match. Sure, it may be cheesy to wear matching things, but don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone that you have a crush on your bumper!

Host Reward Winners!

Congratulations to Shanie Holman and Rebecca Richards. Each host wins a $50 gear voucher from D’Addario and Planet Waves. We’ll look at the CIYH calendars each month and randomly pick two winners from our active hosts. Login and post your events! (It takes about 90 seconds.)

Tips for Artists and Hosts:

• The Most Effective (free) Tools for Artists to Book House Concerts
• Sponsor an Artist to Join ConcertsInYourHome
• Agent Memberships at ConcertsInYourHome

Our new blog, for hosts only.

• Seat reservation cards
• Another 30 years?
• How artists promote your show on their website is important
• Your profile’s Booking Info – looked at it lately?
• Make yourself known at other local listening rooms

Artists and Hosts log in here

Please share this newsletter with people you like. – fran

Thanks to D’Addario and Planet Waves for their kind support of this community.

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Several hosts have recently asked if they can sponsor an artist’s membership fee to help them join ConcertsInYourHome. The result is such a win/win/win that I’d like to share it with you.

Benefits

• A talented artist gets needed help to advance their career/income.
• A host deepens their relationship with an artist they admire, and gets the warm feeling from supporting our vibrant arts community.
• We get new talent referrals from our most important source - our hosts.

Here’s how it works.
The contributing host approaches me to discuss the artist’s readiness to join. We look at their skill level, touring goals, and promotional tools (live video, website, testimonials, etc.), and we determine if now is the best time for them to join. If so, here’s what we do.

• With the host’s recommendation, we offer the artist our “returning member discount” of $168. (Current rate is $200 for new members.)
• The host offers to pay half of the fee, or $84, so that the artist still has a vested interest in using the site.
• The artist joins up, makes their payment, and we send an invoice to the host for the other half.

With a host sponsor, even a modest DinnerAndSong event would easily recoup the artist’s investment. Artist membership fees are the primary source of income for CIYH, which allows us the budget to keep inspiring, coaching, and supporting house concert hosts.

Sweetener - 5 CIYH shirts for you to give away.
I’m inspired by the generosity of this community, so I’m offering 5 free CIYH shirts to the first five hosts who’d like to do this. One host asked to do this anonymously, which we can do.

Your fan,

Fran Snyder

contact fran@
ConcertsInYourHome.com

P.S. - If you are a host going through a rough financial time, please know that your generosity of putting on these events is quite enough. We are grateful.

P.P.S. - to see if an artist is a current member of CIYH, search here.

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We did away with agent memberships and incentives a few years ago, for several reasons.

1. Most agents aren’t willing to change “the way they do things” in favor of the personal approach that is necessary to connect with house concert presenters
a. riders/contracts tend to be a problem (unfit for house concerts)
b. guarantees are unusual (and agents typically ask for them)
c. hosts usually want access to the artist before the gig
d. emails should be personal, and not a broadcast to a bunch of collected host addresses.

2. We raise our talent standards each year, and each artist has to measure up on their own, and not through affiliation with an agency.

3. We want artists who are committed to the concept, and who want to inspire their fans to host shows. Artists who have agents are rarely pro-active about engaging their fans with our videos, guides, etc.

So if you have a specific artist in mind that would like to join, and participate in the community, we’d be happy to take a look. Video is important. It’s not necessarily bad that an agent would work the site on their behalf, but the artists must be engaged and enthusiastic about we offer, and the agent must be willing to work the site and not harvest information.

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I did a DinnerAndSong back in April on a Sunday night. We had about 8 people, sold 7 CD’s and everyone had a great time. This person had us at the Riverhawk Festival so it was a pretty easy sell.
I have booked 6 house concerts through CIYH so far. It is really one of the best ideas anyone has come up with and followed through with for the traveling musician!
~~Joan, for Michael Reno Harrell

Message from Fran: Facebook me.

It’s not something I’ve shared enough, but we raise the level of talent at ConcertsInYourHome every year. We do this for several reasons. First, we want our hosts to be consistently impressed by the talent that reaches out through our site. Second, we want our artists to have the best chance at success when they invest in a membership to our site.

It’s also important that we keep a balance between the number of hosts and artists on the site. This allows artists to get more shows, and hosts to avoid being overwhelmed by requests. Of course, if a host has their own website, they’ll get a lot more inquiries that way.

Although we (gently, constructively) turn away a lot of new artists, it’s very gratifying to see the high percentage of new members coming in as referrals from our community. Thank you for sharing the best of what we do.

I’ll be spending all of September in France, realizing a life-long dream to live and work there for a while. I don’t have any shows scheduled, but I am looking to connect with a lot of people while I’m there, and will do my very best to inspire some new hosts! If you have any contacts I should meet - let me know! — Fran Snyder

Site Updates

ConcertsInYourHome - we’re almost ready to launch the Robust Recommendations System (RRS) to allow hosts to more easily provide us feedback about the artists who’ve spent time with them. Once this is working smoothly, we’ll (finally!) create a way for artists to provide feedback about hosts. (Of course, you can always do that with a simple email to Jeff or Fran.)

DinnerAndSong.com - still eager to get nice pictures that show the concept as we designed it. We certainly allow you the freedom to stretch the concept to your needs, but we want the pictures on the site to show 1. small groups of (6-10) people, 2. unplugged (no microphone) performances, and 3. simple dinners. Please email Fran to share any nice quality pics that can help us inspire new hosts to give it a shot.

PeachGigs.com - This site stalled a little bit this spring… and I decided to hold off on promoting it until we have a more friendly interface for “busy venues” who want to list a lot of shows at once. PeachGigs is our way to promote public listening venues - but only the ones that are strict about maintaining a “listening room atmosphere.” Give us a few more weeks on this, thanks!

ListeningRoomNetwork.com - this is our “umbrella” site and will eventually be a way to bring new fans into our community in a fun way.

PrivateRecitals.com - this site is set to promote house concerts which feature classical music. We’re looking for design help to make this site look a bit different before launch.

Hi Fran,
Things are going great. I just came back from a five day mini-tour to New Jersey, Pa and Ohio. Of the five shows, two were obtained through Concerts In Your Home. I’m a believer.
– Bob Marshall

Here’s the updated U.S. and Canada Map of
our growing network of DinnerAndSong (DNS) hosts!

New CIYH Hosts: (artist members can search “member since 2011-07″ using the advanced search.)

21 New Hosts!
We welcome
Maureen from Alberta
Melody, Don and Micah, all from CA
Dean from CO
Carolyn from FL
Kristina/Tim from IN
Dennis from KS
Stacy from MN
Sam from MO
Hope from NE
Bob from NJ
Kathyrn from NY
Maureen from Ontario
Katie from PA
Lisa from UK
Jim & Robin, and Larry from VA
John/Marlene from WA
Scott and John, both from WI

CIYH hosts can elect to do DinnerAndSong events instead of, or in addition to house concerts.

New CIYH Artists:

(Welcome Aboard!)

2-Bit Palomino, Aireene Espiritu, Andy Wahlberg, Jen Hajj, Phil Henry, Rob Larkin, Sara Beck, Sarah Blacker, The John Byrne Band, The Sudden Lovelys, Tom Neilson, Up the Chain

Our Audio 6-Packs (free downloads) are back! This month, download 2 tracks from each of our featured artists. Lovely music!

Look for these new artists here!

Renewed Artists:

(Signed on for another great year!) Jason Myles Goss, Julie and John Pennell, Mark Wayne Glasmire, Natalie Gelman, Nathen Aswell, Randall Bramblett

Schwag of the Month:

Finally some new DinnerAndSong designs for shirts and a bumpersticker! Until there are more DinnerAndSong events than regular nightly dinners we must keep spreading the word. Insist that people tell you what they are waiting for with this new “You’re waiting for what?” shirt.
And put your bumper where your mouth is with a DinnerAndSong bumpersticker that gets right to the point - “Let’s have it”!

Host Reward Winners!

Congratulations to Linda Oliver and Jeanna Stavas. Each host wins a $50 gear voucher from D’Addario and Planet Waves. We’ll look at the CIYH calendars each month and randomly pick two winners from our active hosts. Login and post your events! (It takes about 90 seconds.)

Our new blog, for hosts only.

• Not on our DNS host map yet?
• Your profile’s Booking Info – looked at it lately?
• Make yourself known at other local listening rooms
• “The best that life has to offer….”
• Willing to simply offer artists a place to crash?
• Minimum courtesies from hosts to artists and neighbors
• Loving your CIYH profile
• How artists promote your show on their website is important

Artists and Hosts log in here

Please share this newsletter with people you like. — fran

Thanks to D’Addario and Planet Waves for their kind support of this community.

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“I gave up on concerts until I was turned on to Concerts In Your Home …….this is an excellent way to enjoy good company and hear new & wonderful music.” -
Greg Brooke

Message from Fran:

Happy Independents Day

There is much to celebrate this month, for patriots of all stripes. This great community continues to show commitment and excitement about creating the types of shows we love - gigs where people listen.

We’ve seen quite an uptick in activity on our Facebook Page as well as our Facebook (host) Group. It’s a lot of fun from where I sit to see you introduce yourselves and support each other with your amazing hobby (hosting) or career (performing.)

Lots of great and unfinished projects here, and I expect to make a lot of progress on that this month. So sun-over your studio tan, and kick out the jams. You’re here, and you’re awesome. — Fran

Thanks, and I’m really loving the community of folks on your site. I’m booking tons of stuff through it. For me it almost seems that I can book an entire mini tour on hosts from here. It’s ridiculous how many irons I’ve got in the fire right now. I’m super excited. I really think that this year is going to be huge. So, I just want to thank you for being the one to start such a cool thing. I should have been doing it sooner. That’s the only bad thing about it. LOL! - Sarah Peacock

Here’s the updated U.S. and Canada
MAPS of DNS hosts!

New CIYH Hosts: (artist members can search “member since 2011-06″ using the advanced search.)

15 New Hosts! We welcome
Jenine and Summer Joy both from BC
Beth from CO
Bethany from FL
Mary from GA
Michael from IL
Bill from MD
Kirk from MI
Jo and Katt both from NY
Rae from OR
Jimmy from TN
Bob and Dennis both from TX
Malik from UT

CIYH hosts can elect to do DinnerAndSong events instead of, or in addition to house concerts.

New CIYH Artists:

(Welcome Aboard!)

Alec Gross, Benita Hill, Callaghan, Chris Jacome Flamenco Guitarist, Daniel Whittington, djphillips, Emily Baker, Gordon Bok, Jim Dorie, Kyle Carey, Stephanie Rogers, The Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo, Tish Hinojosa

Our Audio 6-Packs (free downloads) are back! This month, download 2 tracks from each of our featured artists. Lovely music!

Look for these new artists here!

Hey guys! Just booked my first Dinner and Song! I didn’t think i’d be into it but i’m really excited! We had a HC booked for the end of june and an artist i really wanted to host became available in early july…too close for us to stage 2 events so we’re doing a DNS in july!! - Brian M. - host

Renewed Artists:

(Signed on for another great year!)Abi Tapia, Anna Dagmar, Barbara Lamb, Ben Bedford, Carolyn Cruso, Craig Bickhardt, Ken O’Malley, Lisa Lynne, Melissa Greener, Morgan Bracy, Orrin Star, Suzahn Fiering, Terry Holder, Vanessa Peters

“We recently wrapped up great mini-tours for two of our 2010 CIYH Video Contest winners, Suzie Vinnick (midwest) and Big Wide Grin (southwest). And Jeff is excited to now work up bookings for Barnaby Bright, our third contest winner. The target is the northeast between October 16 and November 19. Let Jeff know right away if you’re available! jeff@ListeningRoomNetwork.com

Schwag of the Month:

We know it was a busy Spring, and getting one of our DinnerAndSong t-shirts may have slipped your mind. It’s ok - and still not too late to get in on this cool shirt before everyone has one.
Let your car in on the new trend as well with a DinnerAndSong bumpersticker - get those folks behind you wondering what you’re up to. Maybe a singer/songwriter will jump in your car at the drive-thru and croon you a tune or two!

Host Reward Winners!

Congratulations to Gloria Arjona and Jim Emerson. Each host wins a $50 gear voucher from D’Addario and Planet Waves. We’ll look at the CIYH calendars each month and randomly pick two winners from our active hosts. Login and post your events! (It takes about 90 seconds.)

Tips for Artists and Hosts:

• Seven Artists from CIYH Finalists for Falcon Ridge
• Top Ten Reasons Why DinnerAndSong is Better than House Concerts
• DinnerAndSong.com - Mini House Concerts are a Major Development
• Has this email created $100,000 in artist income?
• Pizzazz in the House Concert
• Better than House Concerts… DinnerAndSong

Our new blog, for hosts only.

• Not on our DNS host map yet?
• A reminder about the essence of house concerts
• Why DNS is such an amazing option for you
• DNS groups (updated)
• How to quickly review artist inquiries for booking
• House concert attendance – get proactive and tame the angst (part 1)
• House concert attendance – get proactive and tame the angst (part 2)
• When someone cares enough
• Loving your CIYH profile

Artists and Hosts log in here

Please share this newsletter with people you like. — fran
Thanks to D’Addario and Planet Waves for their kind support of this community.

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