As part of the latest Steven C publicity push, it was agreed that I should play a concert to coincide with all the press. “Sounds like a great idea”, I said. Then a few pleasant and “not so good” memories of past live performances ran through my head.
The truth is, I don’t play public concerts often. Most of the time you will find me comfortably behind the piano in my monkey suit at a private club. It’s really safe, it’s background music and everybody is happy. But, “oh boy”, I’m now on t.v. and radio and giving out flyers in front of my house, hey it’s Showtime!

A lot of critical decisions like where, when, who, what and where will the puppy go are things that need answers. Perhaps I should learn from the past. Hmm, almost sold out the Guthrie theater in 1998. Great, but that was with the support of a real record label, American Gramaphone. How about we go back to the Fitzgerald theater like I did in 2001 with the Saint Paul Chamber strings. No so good… lost a lot of money for a Sunday afternoon! “How about the Mall of America,” someone thought…..Not the right vibe for my music, and the tween demographic is a bit off. How about renting a small hall like Sundin at Hamline or the new Stepping Stone Theater. Great ideas, but wait……! Is anyone really ready to buy a ticket to hear my latest piano music? Probably so, but I have a better idea.

Because I was not sure, I took Dorothy’s advise and thought “there’s no place like home.” Ah… lets make this easy; I have a great piano, a big house, free parking, a great view and let’s remember everyone is busy… let’s give the people multiple choices of when they want to “C” me.

“Just add people”

Now with the shows selling very well, I need to figure out just how many people I can comfortably seat and ooops! I need to borrow more folding chairs. Next question, what am I going to play apart from my original songs, or should I just play my stuff? You have to come over to find out. I have recuited my 9-year old daughter, Nadya, to work the CD retail table. To cute for words !

Tell a friend and I hope to see you here!

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 9:32 am and is filed under Gigs, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.