Thursday
Jan282010
I want to be a booking agent when I grow up
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 01:07PM
Somehow I have spent twelve years as a professional musician, playing hundreds and hundreds of gigs, without ever booking a single one. Why? Because, unlike most artistic and creative people, I'm not that great at organization.
I know. Shocker, eh?
So I've decided I'm going to make the most out of my unexpected free time in March and book some house (or other structure) shows, play some new songs, see the friends I've missed while spending a year at home and put some food on the table back home.
I got a great response to my initial foray into booking these shows via twitter and facebook, so I'll be following all those responses up with a link back here. Hopefully this will make sense.
I've mapped out four runs based on people who seemed excited to have me come play. This means I generally have somebody who's already inquired about most of these dates. I'll give those people first dibs if more than one person would like to host a show in the same area.
I thought doing house shows would be fun because A) I've never really done them and they seem very cool, intimate and loose, and B) it seems like a pretty non-threatening way to help people move from "I wish you played in my town!" to "I'm inviting you to come play in my town!" without having to worry about venues and sound systems and thick contracts and all that.
Following in the great footsteps of my friends Jon Troast and Andy Gullahorn I'll pack up my little Toyota with some guitars, some CDs, some lyric sheets (those of you who have seen me play before know why...) and a couple changes of clothes.
What I'd ask of you would be to invite your friends, provide me with a clean, quiet place to sleep (like a hotel or a guest room) and an evening to hang and enjoy some music and stories. I think an asking price of $500 a night makes sense, enough to pay my bills and justify leaving my wife and daughters, but lower than a usual venue show. If that seems impossible let me know and we'll figure something out. If you feel like paying more to help cover other shows, you would be more than welcome.
So here are the dates I'm thinking. If you see a date that looks like it would work for you, shoot me an email at andrew(at)andrewosenga.com and put something like "house show in Cleveland" in the subject.
March 3 - Huntsville, AL
March 4 - Birmingham, AL
March 5 - Atlanta, GA
March 6 - Greenville, SC
March 7 - Knoxville, TN
March 11 - Champaign, IL
March 12 - Chicago, IL
March 13 - Cincinnati, OH
March 14 - Indianapolis, IN
March 18 - Charlottesville, VA
March 19 - Teaneck, NJ
March 20 - Fairfield, CT
March 21 - Intercourse, PA
March 22 - Akron, OH
Weekend off
April 7 - Memphis, TN
April 8 - Arkansas
April 9 - Dallas area
April 10 - Austin/College Station
April 11 - Houston, TX
April 12 - Louisiana/Mississippi
So I think that's about it. Thanks for helping me put this together. Booking is usually a backstage shroud-of-mystery bargaining type of thing, and thus it's always seemed threatening to me. I hope putting it all out in the open like this makes it easy for all of us, and I hope to come play some songs for you soon!
(Quick note: I was just informed I was trying to book a show in Houston on Easter, so I moved the whole Texas run back a week. The dates should be better now.)
I know. Shocker, eh?
So I've decided I'm going to make the most out of my unexpected free time in March and book some house (or other structure) shows, play some new songs, see the friends I've missed while spending a year at home and put some food on the table back home.
I got a great response to my initial foray into booking these shows via twitter and facebook, so I'll be following all those responses up with a link back here. Hopefully this will make sense.
I've mapped out four runs based on people who seemed excited to have me come play. This means I generally have somebody who's already inquired about most of these dates. I'll give those people first dibs if more than one person would like to host a show in the same area.
I thought doing house shows would be fun because A) I've never really done them and they seem very cool, intimate and loose, and B) it seems like a pretty non-threatening way to help people move from "I wish you played in my town!" to "I'm inviting you to come play in my town!" without having to worry about venues and sound systems and thick contracts and all that.
Following in the great footsteps of my friends Jon Troast and Andy Gullahorn I'll pack up my little Toyota with some guitars, some CDs, some lyric sheets (those of you who have seen me play before know why...) and a couple changes of clothes.
What I'd ask of you would be to invite your friends, provide me with a clean, quiet place to sleep (like a hotel or a guest room) and an evening to hang and enjoy some music and stories. I think an asking price of $500 a night makes sense, enough to pay my bills and justify leaving my wife and daughters, but lower than a usual venue show. If that seems impossible let me know and we'll figure something out. If you feel like paying more to help cover other shows, you would be more than welcome.
So here are the dates I'm thinking. If you see a date that looks like it would work for you, shoot me an email at andrew(at)andrewosenga.com and put something like "house show in Cleveland" in the subject.
March 3 - Huntsville, AL
March 4 - Birmingham, AL
March 5 - Atlanta, GA
March 6 - Greenville, SC
March 7 - Knoxville, TN
March 11 - Champaign, IL
March 12 - Chicago, IL
March 13 - Cincinnati, OH
March 14 - Indianapolis, IN
March 18 - Charlottesville, VA
March 19 - Teaneck, NJ
March 20 - Fairfield, CT
March 21 - Intercourse, PA
March 22 - Akron, OH
Weekend off
April 7 - Memphis, TN
April 8 - Arkansas
April 9 - Dallas area
April 10 - Austin/College Station
April 11 - Houston, TX
April 12 - Louisiana/Mississippi
So I think that's about it. Thanks for helping me put this together. Booking is usually a backstage shroud-of-mystery bargaining type of thing, and thus it's always seemed threatening to me. I hope putting it all out in the open like this makes it easy for all of us, and I hope to come play some songs for you soon!
(Quick note: I was just informed I was trying to book a show in Houston on Easter, so I moved the whole Texas run back a week. The dates should be better now.)
Reader Comments (15)
I note that you started this in Huntsville. On behalf of the Rocket City, I thank you. I also know that you picked this because you want to stay at my house. But Willie Stroud's house is bound to be way cooler than mine ... [but I probably have better Internet.]
come to st. louis, play at our house man!
I notice that Florida is not on the list. Yet another reason why I want to move to Tennessee.
i hope that "arkansas" means "little rock."
Going to have to put my head together with a few others to see about taking that Houston show. Hmmm....
Looking forward to the Charlottesville show. :) I'm assuming that's via Eric @ Para Coffee, right? If Eric and Lora can't put you up, my wife and I could in our guest bedroom. :)
If you decide at a later date you want to take a swing out West, I'm more than happy to host you.
Heather, Nashville is overrated... Greenville is the place to be! Like the good 'ole days. haha
I too am sad Florida isn't getting any Andy O love.
I'm with Michael... if there's enough demand to get you out West, I'd love to try to to put something together.... I'm two hours out of Seattle.
Out West? Let's do it. Maybe later in April or early May? I'll try to put together a little list of places to go and figure out how to make it work. Thanks!
i can't imagine why you would want to go to intercourse, pa. ;)
Sure...when other people book shows you think to bring lyric sheets. :-P
glad you are blogging again
Let me know if you want to do a house show in Raleigh, NC. I think you already have a place to stay close by. :)