Personal Adventures of Hosting a Failing Open Mic + "Hoxie (Acoustic Looping)" November 01 Live Performance [#originalmusic]
When do you give up? Do you give up?
I host a monthly open mic night at a little coffeehouse/ DIY space in Springfield and have been trying like hell to build an alternative-acoustic community there. It has been hard. I get a lot of half-commits, and we seldom have many people there. It has been discouraging to say the least. Getting started is hard. Harder than I imagined, honestly.
I've sent personal messages, gone out and spoken to/with people personally, advertised on social media and with print media, and I have amazing response from people who seem interested, but who just haven't found the time to make it out. My pride wants to keep it going. However, every month when that little place has fewer than 10 people there, my heart breaks a little. I want it to grow. I know this community exists in my town because I speak to them and play shows with them occasionally, however we are very disjointed so these indie/alternative acoustic artists end up on bills with artists they don't necessarily mesh with, and opening for bands who just want a mellow opener before their rager starts. I'm trying to find the community of the middle ground.
So, in an attempt to make something of the time there, I started live streaming my sets to Periscope, and was surprised to have as many as 1,000 people tune in to one of my shows. Very cool. I'm trying to make every move a move that goes somewhere and I've been utilizing it the best I can. However, playing for an empty room can feel sad to me.
Last night was especially rough. My "normal crowd" all seemed to have other plans for the night (totally understandable), and I got my usual round of messages that said, "I was totally going to be there, but [fill in the blank]," which I also ultimately understand. I will say there are a myriad of factors in the equation with a metric ton of history in regard to the venue and other surprisingly petty small-town drama elements, but I feel very fortunate to have connected with a gracious audience on Periscope and now on Steemit.
Adventures in Acoustic Looping:
For the better part of this year, I have been experimenting with the BOSS RC-30 Looper. I'm relatively obsessed with it, and my brain is all over the place, so I have been trying so many different things with it, that I've yet to master any of them.
I enjoy very much the experience of creating a performance of watching a song with multiple parts made completely from scratch live on stage before your eyes.
The technology is still new to me, so forgive the fact that it's a long track and it takes me bit to get into the groove, also I am still dealing with seasonal allergies and other various vocal factors, but I hope you enjoy it.
This is a song that has evolved quite a bit over the years since it was first written. If you like this track, you can read its backstory and even download the original album version from my EP, The Friendship Confidential, here.
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