Atmos Trio still play our fair share of gigs in clubs and other venues, our favorite place to play music these days is in peoples homes. In their living rooms for an audience consisting of friends and neighbors. It’s a great way to hear great music in a very intimate comfortable setting, and we LOVE hanging out and talking and learning about our audience.
That invisible barrier between the listener and the performer on stage–GONE. Waiting in line–GONE. Dealing with attitude from an underpaid cocktail waitress…you get the idea.
House Concerts present you and your friends and neighbors an way to enjoy music in a way many find more enjoyable than the experience of the normal venue.
Russ & Julie host concerts in their home in the Los Angeles California area and have been kind enough to provide a FAQ for those considering hosting a concert. These are the guidelines that they use for their events, not a set of rules.
Maybe hosting a House Concert is for you? If you would like the Atmos Trio to perform in your home, give us a shout and we’ll be glad to discuss the details
WHAT is a House Concert? A house concert is a chance to experience music in a warm and intimate environment. It’s when someone opens up their home and invites you into their living room to share in a performance by one of their favorite musicians. It’s a chance to meet the performers and get them to sign their CD. A house concert is also a great social evening of friends and neighbors.
WHY would anyone do this? We open up our home to our friends and neighbors because we want to share great music with them. In the area where we live — like most of the world today — there are too few venues where people can go to experience great music in a close and friendly environment. Great music makes us happy and we want to share that with others around us. These events allow us to give exposure to some incredible musicians whose talents we truly believe in and wish to help promote.
What do you get out of this? We find it strange that some people can’t believe we get no economic benefit for doing this. We do it simply for the love of the music. Really. We enjoy sharing great music with those around us. 100% of the suggested donation goes directly to the performers. For us, this is a hobby and we don’t mind spending a little to keep our hobby going. It’s a hobby that has brought us great joy over the years. Since we started hosting house concerts in early 1997, we’ve met some wonderful music fans and some extremely talented musicians… many of whom will be lifelong friends.
Doesn’t it cost you time and money? Yes, it costs us money to host these concerts. We spend money for coffee, soft drinks, desserts, paper plates, paper cups, napkins, flyers, postage and more. We also spend a great deal of time for the planning and set up of each show. (NOTE: Many hosts borrow chairs from their neighbors, who are invited attendees anyway, and also have a ‘potluck’ dinner before the show. House Concerts can take the Economy out of the Social equation.)
What do your neighbors think? We encourage our neighbors to attend and many (if not most) of our neighbors have attended our house concerts over the years. Some of our neighbors are among our most regular guests at these evenings.
As a courtesy to our neighbors, our shows are nearly always on Saturday nights and end at a reasonable hour. We also limit ourselves to no more than one show per month. Our house concerts generally begin at 8:00 P.M. and end by 10:30 P.M… although sometimes they do go a bit later.
What kind of environment is the evening? Casual. We go for the warm and cozy feel. Dress is “California Casual”. Our home is a smoke free environment. We ask everyone to honor this and please keep all cigars, pipes and cigarettes outside. We also insist NO DRUGS OF ANY KIND… chocolate not withstanding!! We have a nice coffee and dessert buffet that includes all types of cookies, cakes, and pies along with coffee and soda. We do NOT provide any alcohol. However, if people wish to bring wine or beer, we are fine with that so long as people use their own discretion; anyone who appears intoxicated in our home will be asked to leave and not to return. We are happy to say that in our first decade of hosting house concerts, this has never been a problem.
For the past couple of decades I have been “Living the Dream” of an active professional musician and I enjoy a very successful private teaching practice in the San Francisco Bay area.
