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25 Mar 03 - 04:53 AM (#917714) Subject: Danish American House Concerts From: GUEST,Ron c/o Danish American House Concerts presents Chuck Brodsky Friday, April 11, 2003 at 8:00 PM Donation: 70 Kroner Chuck Brodsky has toured the US, Canada, and Ireland extensively for 11 years and is now beginning to build an audience in Europe. He appeared at the Tønder Festival in 2002 and has also played the Edmonton, Winnipeg, Kerrville, Philadelphia, and Strawberry festivals, among others. A few of the people he's appeared in concert with: Arlo Guthrie, Janis Ian, Pete Seeger, Tim O'Brien, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, John Hartford, Greg Brown, and Gillian Welch. Kathy Mattea, Sara Hickman, David Wilcox, and scores of other artists have recorded his songs. Chuck's down to earth storytelling style makes the spoken introductions to his songs every bit as spellbinding as his colorful lyrics. His strumming and his finger picking on the guitar draw on influences from Appalachian music and bluegrass from the mountains of North Carolina where he lives, and from good old traditional folksong stuff. He pokes fun at political corruption, road rage, the mischief he made as a kid, or dumping garbage in the river, and he sings story-songs about unsung heroes and forgotten but incredible people...odd characters who played the game of baseball, migrant fruit pickers, the Goat Man, a clown, or a man with Down's Syndrome and the love showered on him for 38 years at a high school in South Carolina. This is Chuck's first appearance in Copenhagen since his days as a street musician on Strøget in the mid 1980's. "He is an extraordinary talent in my opinion. I would place him in the Dylan-Guthrie-Prine league without question. His lyrics are drawn from the lives of everyday people and his acoustic guitar playing is quite amazing." ---BBC Belfast (Northern Ireland) (Tony McAuley) "One of the finest singer-songwriters in America. There are a lot of good ones, but when it comes to the really great ones it boils down to a select few- he's one of them" ---Larry Gross - Mountain Stage (National Public Radio) "Black humor and great serious folk songs." ---San Jose Mercury News www.chuckbrodsky.com About the Series Who are we? Kirsten Thomsen, a Dane, is married to Ron Sandidge who is from California. We have just started Danish American House Concerts with our first show in April of 2003. We're music fans who began doing this because we love to be able to share great music with others. In our everyday lives, Kirsten is a Registered Nurse and Ron is a teacher, and we are parents of two school age children. We can be seen about town cycling our kids from activity to activity. Where are we? Located in Gentofte, DENMARK, the Danish American House Concert Series is created in an effort to help support folk music and light jazz. Gentofte is a suburb of Copenhagen, 15 minutes northwest of the downtown area. A donation for most concerts is 70 DKK per person. Reservations and payment are required in advance to avoid seating/attendance problems the night of the concert. Seating is limited, and usually goes fast, so be sure to get your reservations in early. Danish American House Concerts is a non-smoking venue. Directions Advance reservations are always required. Directions to the venue are provided via email or phone once your tickets have been reserved. Frequently Asked Questions Q. What is a house concert? A. A house concert is a chance to experience live music in a warm and intimate environment. It's when someone opens up their home and invites you into their living room to share in a performance by one of their favorite musicians. It's a chance to meet the performers and get them to sign their CD. A house concert is also a great social evening with friends and neighbors. Some house concert series throughout the world are held in backyards as well. We like to keep ours in the living room for the added sense of warmth and intimacy that it lends to the evenings. We also host concerts all year long -- about ten or eleven each year. Some house concert series are seasonal. Q. Why would anyone do this? A. We open up our home to our friends and neighbors because we want to share great music with them. In the area where we live -- like most of the world today -- there are few venues where people can go to experience great music in a close and friendly environment. Great music makes us happy and we want to share that with others around us. These events allow us to give exposure to some incredible musicians whose talents we truly believe in and wish to help promote. A front-page article about house concerts in the New York Times in late 1999 estimated that about 500 people across the United States were hosting house concerts on some kind of regular basis. We think the number has probably increased significantly since that time as the trend has really taken off! We may be among the first to do this in Denmark. Q. What do you get out of this? A. We find it strange that some people can't believe we get little economic benefit for doing this. We do it simply for the love of the music. We enjoy sharing great music with those around us. 60% of the "cover charge" goes to the performers; 20% goes to charity; the other 20% covers expenses for promotion and refreshments. For us, this is a hobby and we don't mind spending a little to keep our hobby going. Since we started hosting house concerts in early 2003, we've met some wonderful music fans and some extremely talented musicians... many of whom will be lifelong friends. The charity we support is Save the Children Denmark - or in Danish: Red Barnet – which is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance. The national and international programs are implemented from the headquarters in Copenhagen and from the four country offices. http://www.redbarnet.dk/DKPages/GBSite/index.html Q. Doesn't it cost you time and money? A. Yes, it costs us money to host these concerts. We spend money for coffee, soft drinks, paper plates, paper cups, desserts, flyers, postage and more. We also spend a great deal of time for the planning and set up of each show. Of course, there is also the "wear and tear" on the house... Q. How much does this cost me? A. We have a "recommended donation" of 70 DKK per person. The reason we call it a "recommended donation" is that we are not a business. This is our home. We can't really call it an "admission fee". Turning this into a business would create all sorts of extra work and expense on our part. We are simply having a party!! However, the "recommended donation" is still as close to being mandatory as we can make it. Without the money, we could not get the caliber of musicians who will grace our living room. We collect the money, on behalf of the performer and the charity, in advance or at the door. We work on the honor system and need everyone's participation to keep our series going. Remember 80% of the donations go to the performers and to charity. Q. How many people can you fit in your home? A. We average between 20 and 30 people for most of our house concerts, but the number fluctuates a bit. There is no legal limit to the number of people that we can put in our home... so long as our neighbors don't complain and we don't break any laws. We find that 20 people fit quite nicely. Thirty is really the maximum before it starts feeling too crowded. We set up about 20 chairs for these evenings. Some people sit on pillows or the sofa. When it gets crowded, some stand along the sides or in the back and others make themselves comfortable on the floor. If you want a seat, you need to get here early. Shows usually start at 8 o'clock and doors open at 7:30 PM. It's a casual atmosphere and most people who attend aren't really that concerned with seating. It's a fairly small room without a bad seat in the house. We will save seats for people with special circumstances. If you are handicapped, pregnant or in need of special seating for a physical reason, please let us know in advance so that we can reserve a space for you. We have two cats; so if you're allergic to felines, let's talk. The concerts are held in our living room / dining room combination which has high ceilings and very good acoustics. We love kids, but most children cannot sit quietly through an entire performance. It is best you make other arrangements for them. Of course some children CAN sit and enjoy an entire set of music - we find that the parents know who they are and aren't. Q. How do you pick your performers? A. We pick our performers with a combination of the following four methods: 1. We sometimes contact musicians that we would like to host a show for. There is something special about hosting a show for one of our favorite artists. 2. We get unsolicited CDs and press kits from musicians around the world. Some weeks we get three or four contacts from artists as far away as Australia and Ireland. We do listen to every CD that comes our way. There are an amazing number of talented people out there, and there is no way we can accommodate them all... 3. We get lots of referrals. Referrals from other performers accounts for a good percentage of the artists we host. We give them extra consideration. We also get referrals from people who attend our shows. If there is someone you would like to see us host a house concert for, or know an artist that you think would enjoy the opportunity, feel free to let us know. 4. We soon hope to have a group of performers that have an interest in coming back. That should be enough to fill our schedule for the next several years! Between these four categories, we will have more than 100 musicians and bands on our list of people that we'd like to host a house concert for in the near future. Q. When are your upcoming shows? A. We plan to host one concert each month. We will send out monthly announcements of upcoming performances via our e-mail list of addresses. Q. Who are you having perform at your home? A. We're beginning to host Danish American House Concerts regularly now. We enjoy doing it. Our list of performers will include those residing in Denmark as well as artists on tour in Europe. Q. How did you get started? A. John Sandidge and Pat Sandidge started Snazzy Productions in Santa Cruz, California in 1983. This production company has held performances in a dozen venues in the Monterey Bay area. Ron has worked along side them over the years. It has been a great way to hear live music and meet the musicians whose artistry we like so much. Coming to Denmark in 2000 has been an adjustment and at last we have decided to join the number of people that hosts house concerts. The whole concept of someone performing in a home instead of a concert hall is totally new and exciting in Denmark. We thought it would work well in our living room and invited Chuck Brodsky to give the initial show in our home in front of our family, friends and neighbors. Q. What do your neighbors think? A. We encourage our neighbors to attend and many (if not most) of our neighbors will attend our house concerts over the years. Some of our neighbors will be among our most regular guests at these evenings. As a courtesy to our neighbors, our shows are on Friday or Saturday nights and end at a reasonable hour. We also limit ourselves to no more than one show per month. Our house concerts generally begin at 8:00 PM and end by 10:30 PM Q. How many people on are on your mailing list? A. We are building on our e-mail list. We usually send out one e-mail each month. It is an "invitation" to our next show with an "update" telling about our most recent show, our upcoming show and about what some of our past and upcoming performers are doing these days. If you no longer wish to be on our mailing list, please let us know. We won't be offended. Also, if you change your address or email, please let us know. We lose a few people from our list every month because they don't let us know that they have moved or changed email. Q. How can I attend? A. Just send us an e-mail reservation to DanishAmerican@hotmail.com and tell us that would like to reserve for a show. Please be sure to specify which show and how many people will be joining you. If you have never been here before, you'll need directions, so be sure to tell us where you are coming from! We will send you a confirmation e-mail telling you that we've added you to the VIP list. You should get that return email within 24 hours of sending in your reservation request. If you don't... it means we didn't get your email, so please try again. Only people who get a confirmation e-mail from us will be on the VIP list. Q. What if I reserve and then can't make it? A. PLEASE be sure to let us know. Many of our house concerts sell out weeks in advance. So there is a good chance that we will have a waiting list for the show. If you are on the VIP list for a particular concert but will not be able to attend, please be sure to let us know as soon as possible so that we'll have the opportunity to include someone from the waiting list. This is a courtesy not only to the people on the waiting list, but also to the performer who would love to see a full house! Q. What if I want to add more people to my reservation? Do you take large parties? A. E-mail us to find out if there is still room on the VIP list for the show you want. If there is, we will be happy to increase the size of your party. For most of our shows, we will accept groups of people. For some of our more popular artists, we may limit that number due to the high demand among our "regulars". Usually there isn't room for more than one or two large groups and many of our shows are selling out weeks in advance, so please be sure to reserve early... particularly if you are going to be more than a three or four people. Q. Why do you need a reserve list? A. Again, these shows are in our living room and we have a limited amount of space. Many of our shows sell out. We use the reserve list to be sure that we can fit everyone in. Being on the VIP list does NOT guarantee a seat. We only have about 20 chairs and can sometimes get up to 30 people in the room. If you want a seat, be sure to get here early. Doors open at 7:30 P.M. for our 8:00 P.M. shows. Q. What kind of environment is the evening? A. Casual. We go for the warm and cozy feel. Dress is "Casual". Our home is a smoke free environment. We ask everyone to honor this and please keep all cigars, pipes and cigarettes outside. We also insist NO DRUGS OF ANY KIND... chocolate not withstanding!! Q. You have a dessert buffet? A. Yes, we do. At each of our concerts we have a dessert buffet. Each month we contribute tea, coffee, soft drinks and desserts that includes all types of cookies, cakes, and pies, so there is always something to enjoy. Friends may choose to bring something along to add to the table as well. How big the buffet is depends upon how many people contribute that month. We do NOT provide any alcohol. However, if people wish to bring wine or beer, we are fine with that so long as people use their own discretion; anyone who appears intoxicated in our home will be asked to leave and not to return. Q. Are you a musician looking for a venue to perform at? A. Happily, we are looking for talent for booking through all of 2003. We only host about 10 to 12 shows per year and we want to have over 100 artists on our list of people that we hope to host a house concert for sometime soon. If you are interested in performing at Danish American House Concerts please contact us at: DanishAmerican@hotmail.com We will make arrangements for you to send us a press kit and CD. Listening to all submissions allows us to make booking decisions. We may be booked 6-12 months ahead. Please be patient. |