Last night's show with Fife & Drom (Abby Ahmad and Mark Marshall) was our 40th! I am always the one doing the talking, so I asked Ken how he felt about the milestone:
“The excitement hasn’t stopped. The connections between people—our artists and audience--never cease to amaze me. Last night Michael [who’s now attended two Cozy Cabin shows] was telling me that his 22-year old son hates going to bars because he can’t hear the music. He told him about us and he was interested. The musicians all know one another, or at least have heard of one another. Little things like seeing Emily Elbert at the Living Room, and her suggestion that we come early to hear Silvina Moreno, and then Silvina performed at Cozy Cabin. We went to see Avi (Wisnia) play with Denise (Reis) at Rockwood, and then she played in our living room. We really have become a music family. It’s a great way to grow old, and I hope we have at least 40 more.”
I shared the story last evening of how my childhood neighbor Michael, now a Cozy Cabin regular, lives in north Jersey, a good 45 minutes from here…he’s run into friends from his area twice at Cozy Cabin. At our August 2014 Vinx show, two first-time guests who were next door neighbors 30 years ago were shocked to run into one another. People who’ve met here have become friends, a wonderful bonus. We’ve had people travel from Long Island, New York City, the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and from all points of New Jersey to attend our shows, just as music lovers do for other house concert venues throughout the state, from Bergen to Monmouth counties, New York City/Long Island and the Philadelphia area.
I always say while we may be meeting for the first time (and so far this year every show has had a least one first-timer), we all have music in common. Argentinean Silvina Moreno's songs were primarily in Spanish during her 2014 Cozy Cabin performance, and no one cared because the songs were beautiful in any language. When Denise Reis performed here in March, most of her songs were in her native Portuguese, but no one minded; music is a universal language. Our Cozy Cabin alum Jesse Terry just completed his first tour of Italy; while his lack of Italian was an obstacle at times, he connected with his audiences through the universal language of music.
I’m often asked if we find artists, or if artists find us. My answer has been “both,” but lately it’s been artists finding us. Artists love performing house concerts, period. They love the energy and interaction from an intimate audience; they can perform in ways that just aren’t possible when they’re doing a timed set in a club. Rupert Wates, who returns to the Cozy Cabin for the third time on December 27, says, “The prime consideration for any real musician is that in most clubs you can't hear yourself think, let alone play; whereas at any house concert the audience will give you their full attention for the duration of your performance."
Vinx, who performed at Cozy Cabin in August 2014, called Cozy Cabin music lovers a “gourmet audience.” Last night, Mark Marshall used the phrase “artisinal audience.” I’ve said many times, without you, our audience of live music lovers, there’s no us. Here’s to the next 40 shows.
“The excitement hasn’t stopped. The connections between people—our artists and audience--never cease to amaze me. Last night Michael [who’s now attended two Cozy Cabin shows] was telling me that his 22-year old son hates going to bars because he can’t hear the music. He told him about us and he was interested. The musicians all know one another, or at least have heard of one another. Little things like seeing Emily Elbert at the Living Room, and her suggestion that we come early to hear Silvina Moreno, and then Silvina performed at Cozy Cabin. We went to see Avi (Wisnia) play with Denise (Reis) at Rockwood, and then she played in our living room. We really have become a music family. It’s a great way to grow old, and I hope we have at least 40 more.”
I shared the story last evening of how my childhood neighbor Michael, now a Cozy Cabin regular, lives in north Jersey, a good 45 minutes from here…he’s run into friends from his area twice at Cozy Cabin. At our August 2014 Vinx show, two first-time guests who were next door neighbors 30 years ago were shocked to run into one another. People who’ve met here have become friends, a wonderful bonus. We’ve had people travel from Long Island, New York City, the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and from all points of New Jersey to attend our shows, just as music lovers do for other house concert venues throughout the state, from Bergen to Monmouth counties, New York City/Long Island and the Philadelphia area.
I always say while we may be meeting for the first time (and so far this year every show has had a least one first-timer), we all have music in common. Argentinean Silvina Moreno's songs were primarily in Spanish during her 2014 Cozy Cabin performance, and no one cared because the songs were beautiful in any language. When Denise Reis performed here in March, most of her songs were in her native Portuguese, but no one minded; music is a universal language. Our Cozy Cabin alum Jesse Terry just completed his first tour of Italy; while his lack of Italian was an obstacle at times, he connected with his audiences through the universal language of music.
I’m often asked if we find artists, or if artists find us. My answer has been “both,” but lately it’s been artists finding us. Artists love performing house concerts, period. They love the energy and interaction from an intimate audience; they can perform in ways that just aren’t possible when they’re doing a timed set in a club. Rupert Wates, who returns to the Cozy Cabin for the third time on December 27, says, “The prime consideration for any real musician is that in most clubs you can't hear yourself think, let alone play; whereas at any house concert the audience will give you their full attention for the duration of your performance."
Vinx, who performed at Cozy Cabin in August 2014, called Cozy Cabin music lovers a “gourmet audience.” Last night, Mark Marshall used the phrase “artisinal audience.” I’ve said many times, without you, our audience of live music lovers, there’s no us. Here’s to the next 40 shows.