For decades, I have enjoyed a comfortable career as a working musician. Playing gigs as both a leader and a sideman, recording albums and teaching.
A few months ago, a fellow guitarist and friend, Ruth Parry and I decided to play a series of gigs on Thursday afternoons just for fun. It was at a small local cafe a few blocks from Ruth’s house and near where I teach. Fun and convenient, why not!
The venue has wi-fi so on impulse, I showed-up to the first gig with my laptop and streamed the show to Ustream. I thought it was a neat idea and sure enough, the Ustream audience seemed very into what we were doing. We would play to the room and not really notice much what was gong-on with the laptop. I would read comments in the chat module later in the day when I finished teaching. Ruth and kept doing this weekly gig for a month or so before she secured a new teaching position that conflicted with our Thursday schedule.
When the next Thursday came, I decided to live-out a longtime joke/ fantasy of mine: I would play a gig from home. No loading gear into my car, setting-up, tearing-down… just play. Now the “room” was the Ustream audience. I could interact quite directly with them, and I know many of them from Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed.
This is turning into my favorite gig. I like to let the audience in on what it’s like being a working musician. Let the whole experience be inclusive and invite them into my world (which for me, is a fantastic dream). A pleasant and unexpected side-effect of this is a fairly dramatic spike in CD sales for my main Jazz group, The Atmos Trio.
So, as I’ve said during nearly every show, “Gigging from home–I’m DOIN’ it!” You’ll find me on Ustream every Thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm (PST).
LIVE on Ustream.tv
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Live Concert Videos
Here are the latest two Atmos Trio Albums. FREE (low res)/ PAY WHAT YOU LIKE (High Res).
