Well hello there! Remember me? It's been awhile but one could say I've been busy with making my dreams come true.
Yes. It's finally happened. I've found my calling.
What makes this whole process even more fantastic is the simple fact that this calling is shared with my best friend and most favorite person in the whole wide world; my husband Andrew.
We were just driving along on one of our many road trips one day when it suddenly came to us. What if we asked one of our favorite husband and wife musical teams to come perform a house concert in our home? We had tried on several occasions to see a show and something always came up. One of them happened to be a house concert that was canceled and we were so bummed.
We have this room in our home we've been trying to figure out how to use. It's been a library and a place for us to play our own music, but mostly, it's just been an empty space craving some love and attention. One thing I did know from the get go was that I didn't want a TV in there. Its such a beautiful space, it would be insulting to add such a trivial distraction.
So we already knew that the acoustics are grand and that the area is big enough to hold 35-40 people somewhat comfortably. (Thank you annual Christmas party for proving this fact.) Thus the idea was formed to simply ask said musicians (who happen to be Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart...if you were wondering) if they would be interested. We figured, it never hurts to ask and the worst they could say was 'no'. At least we would have tried, failed and moved on knowing that this was all we could do.
So I wrote them.
And they wrote me back Five. Minutes. Later.
AND, they said they were interested.
What?
Is this really happening? Am I being punk'd?
OK. So needless to say, we were both thrilled upon learning that such an event could occur in our own home. This got us thinking. If they said yes, who else might be interested?
Then I did what any logical person would do (of course after jumping up and down for an exclusive amount of time, feeling like a silly teenage girl....), I made a Facebook page so that we could actually send something concrete to any given musician and/or their agent. We then began making a list (have I mentioned my love for lists?) of all of our favorite musicians, big and small. My love for research was rekindled as I began to search the contact tabs on each of their personal websites and also on Facebook to see who we needed to get in touch with to make this happen. The mass of emails building up in my inbox brought us so much joy as we read one after another, learning that the majority of these musicians love performing house concerts.
What the what?
Thus the booking began and here we are, 5 months later. We've hosted 3 concerts so far and have several more to go before the end of the year. AND we've already booked 3 weekends in January and 2 in February of 2014.
I can't even begin to describe to you the excitement we feel with the whole process of booking these house concerts. From start to finish, it's a huge thrill ride and we love and enjoy every single moment. These shows bring something different and purely magical to the community. How many people can truly say that they've sat down and had a real conversation with one of their favorite musical artists? Via hosting these events, we're making this happen for our friends, old and new. There's something to be said about having a small gathering of people together in one room, enjoying a beer or a glass of wine, sitting in front of a talented artist. I personally feel like I'm getting my own private concert during these shows and looking around the room while they're happening, I get the sense that everyone else feels the same way. Then I glance over at my husband, we share a loving smile,and we have a moment when we're briefly reminded that we made this happen.
When we first moved here from Raleigh to Asheville, I think we were surprised and a bit intimidated by all this town has to offer. I grew up here, but I personally was reminded of a time when I needed to get out, partially to get away from a hard time in my life, but slightly because I felt like I wasn't good enough to be part of such a creative, artistic, amazing place. Revisiting these memories gave me anxiety and for one, brief moment, I was concerned that I would once again feel trapped into feeling unworthy. There was something different about this time around and it's simply that I'm no longer alone. Andrew gets me. We get each other. And together, I've found that if we truly want to make something happen, whether it's to learn a new hobby or host house concerts, we will indeed, make it happen. His love inspires me everyday to step outside my comfort zone just a little bit more.
One can be scared of failure, but until you try, how will you know if you will fail or succeed?
All it took was one email and this phenomenal dream was born. I can't wait to see where this journey takes us next.
So let's dim down the lights and listen to the music.
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
-Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (Or you might remember this quote from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:)
Here is the link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SummerglenHouseConcerts
Hope to see you at one of our shows!
Yes. It's finally happened. I've found my calling.
What makes this whole process even more fantastic is the simple fact that this calling is shared with my best friend and most favorite person in the whole wide world; my husband Andrew.
We were just driving along on one of our many road trips one day when it suddenly came to us. What if we asked one of our favorite husband and wife musical teams to come perform a house concert in our home? We had tried on several occasions to see a show and something always came up. One of them happened to be a house concert that was canceled and we were so bummed.
We have this room in our home we've been trying to figure out how to use. It's been a library and a place for us to play our own music, but mostly, it's just been an empty space craving some love and attention. One thing I did know from the get go was that I didn't want a TV in there. Its such a beautiful space, it would be insulting to add such a trivial distraction.
So we already knew that the acoustics are grand and that the area is big enough to hold 35-40 people somewhat comfortably. (Thank you annual Christmas party for proving this fact.) Thus the idea was formed to simply ask said musicians (who happen to be Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart...if you were wondering) if they would be interested. We figured, it never hurts to ask and the worst they could say was 'no'. At least we would have tried, failed and moved on knowing that this was all we could do.
So I wrote them.
And they wrote me back Five. Minutes. Later.
AND, they said they were interested.
What?
Is this really happening? Am I being punk'd?
OK. So needless to say, we were both thrilled upon learning that such an event could occur in our own home. This got us thinking. If they said yes, who else might be interested?
Then I did what any logical person would do (of course after jumping up and down for an exclusive amount of time, feeling like a silly teenage girl....), I made a Facebook page so that we could actually send something concrete to any given musician and/or their agent. We then began making a list (have I mentioned my love for lists?) of all of our favorite musicians, big and small. My love for research was rekindled as I began to search the contact tabs on each of their personal websites and also on Facebook to see who we needed to get in touch with to make this happen. The mass of emails building up in my inbox brought us so much joy as we read one after another, learning that the majority of these musicians love performing house concerts.
What the what?
Thus the booking began and here we are, 5 months later. We've hosted 3 concerts so far and have several more to go before the end of the year. AND we've already booked 3 weekends in January and 2 in February of 2014.
I can't even begin to describe to you the excitement we feel with the whole process of booking these house concerts. From start to finish, it's a huge thrill ride and we love and enjoy every single moment. These shows bring something different and purely magical to the community. How many people can truly say that they've sat down and had a real conversation with one of their favorite musical artists? Via hosting these events, we're making this happen for our friends, old and new. There's something to be said about having a small gathering of people together in one room, enjoying a beer or a glass of wine, sitting in front of a talented artist. I personally feel like I'm getting my own private concert during these shows and looking around the room while they're happening, I get the sense that everyone else feels the same way. Then I glance over at my husband, we share a loving smile,and we have a moment when we're briefly reminded that we made this happen.
When we first moved here from Raleigh to Asheville, I think we were surprised and a bit intimidated by all this town has to offer. I grew up here, but I personally was reminded of a time when I needed to get out, partially to get away from a hard time in my life, but slightly because I felt like I wasn't good enough to be part of such a creative, artistic, amazing place. Revisiting these memories gave me anxiety and for one, brief moment, I was concerned that I would once again feel trapped into feeling unworthy. There was something different about this time around and it's simply that I'm no longer alone. Andrew gets me. We get each other. And together, I've found that if we truly want to make something happen, whether it's to learn a new hobby or host house concerts, we will indeed, make it happen. His love inspires me everyday to step outside my comfort zone just a little bit more.
One can be scared of failure, but until you try, how will you know if you will fail or succeed?
All it took was one email and this phenomenal dream was born. I can't wait to see where this journey takes us next.
So let's dim down the lights and listen to the music.
“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
-Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy (Or you might remember this quote from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory:)
Here is the link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SummerglenHouseConcerts
Hope to see you at one of our shows!
