Host a Hobbit House Concert!

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

–Thorin Oakenshield

Hobbit House Concert

"I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging…" –Gandalf the Grey

A couple years ago I started a songwriting adventure. I would write one song for every chapter in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I am excited to say that I have completed the journey and am now looking for some folks to share in the adventure.

What is a Hobbit House Concert? It’s quite simple. It is folks gathering together in someone’s home for Food, Cheer, and Song. I’ll provide the songs, work with the host regarding food, and all of us can bring the cheer. That’s it!

Fellow Conspirators

“We are met together in the house of our friend and fellow conspirator…” –Thorin Oakenshield

I am looking for a few friends and fellow conspirators to help me put on these house concerts; Hosts willing to open their homes, turning their living rooms, basements, or backyards into an intimate concert venue.

As much as needed, I’ll personally work with the Host throughout the planning process. We’ll hammer out the details together, such as:

*Date and Time of the event

*Number of Guests 

*Food & Drink 

*Tickets, etc

*and anything else that should be talked about

If you would like to join my adventure and host a concert as a fellow conspirator in 2015, please contact me at deepermagicmusic@gmail.com or through my Facebook page!

If you are looking for more information or if you are still on the fence, take a gander through the FAQs below.

FAQs

What will it look like?

In general it looks pretty simple. Food, Cheer, and Song is our purpose. Me and my guitar, you and your friends; I’ll play all of my Hobbit songs in two sets while we eat and drink and be merry in your house. That’s the foundation, but we can build upon it any way you’d like. We could do a giveaway, hold contests, have a pot-luck, or even a five-course meal. Anything really. As long as food, cheer, and song are valued above hoarded gold, we’re good.

Who provides the food & drink?

It depends, but as the host you will coordinate it. Maybe it’s a potluck and the cover charge is a covered dish? Maybe you want to plan a formal feast all on your own? A backyard BBQ? Finger foods? Pizza delivery? A fresh batch of cookies? Do something small or something big. It’s up to you. I recommend having a plan of what to do beforehand so that your guests will have an idea of what to expect. I can help with ideas, I can even bring a covered dish, but the decision regarding food and drink is ultimately up to you.

How much are you charging to play?

If you are local (in the KC area), I won’t be charging you anything. I will only take money that I make on selling CDs and/or whatever comes in on a donation basis, either through ticket pricing or a donation/tip box.

If you are outside of the Kansas City area we would need to discuss a few things so shoot me an email.

Tickets/Prices/Donated Funds

This is completely up to you, the Host. You could make this event entirely free for your guests, or if you want to offset the cost from any food/drink you provide then you might want to plan pricing accordingly. Any excess funds would be donated to the artist (that would be me…) or might be needed to replace any blunted knives or cracked plates (that’s what Bilbo Baggins hates). After all, the goal is to value food, cheer, and song above hoarded gold. If the concert is free or if funds aren’t specifically set aside to pay the artist (me), then I will bring along a “tip” jar or donation box. If you have further questions about this, send along an email (deepermagicmusic@gmail.com).

Who promotes the event and sends out the invites?

You, or both of us. It’s your house so the guest list is ultimately up to you. Is it a friends-only event? Open to your local community? Open to the general public? I will invite and promote according to your guest list expectations.

How many people should I invite?

That really depends on how many people you’d like in your house. Take a look at the space you have, whether you’d need to rearrange any furniture, think about 20 people in that space and add or subtract as you see fit. You can ask people to bring chairs or blankets or provide seating yourself. Don’t forget about parking…

*RSVP! My recommendation is to have your guests RSVP. This helps you with both space and for planning food. It also helps if privacy is a concern. This way you can give your address to only those who RSVP. I would recommend you first determine how many you can seat, invite more people than you can seat, and begin to fill spots in on a first response, first serve basis. Limited seating not only helps your planning, but it also gives your guests a little bit more of an incentive to fulfill their commitment to come. If your seating fills up and you have more people wishing to attend, you can put them on a waiting list. If the waiting list starts to fill, maybe we could host another show together! But all of that said, it’s your house, your rules.

Do I need to provide a sound system?

Nope. In an intimate setting like a living room there is no need for sound equipment. Just me and my guitar. If you want to provide a sound system, go for it. But it is not necessary.

Does it have to be in a house?

A Hobbit House Concert can be anywhere! Your backyard or front porch would work just fine. Even other venues such as a churches, meeting halls, coffee houses, bookstores, basically anywhere folk can gather! Even in a barn. I lived in a barn once...true story.

As you can see there is a lot of flexibility! I simply wanted to provide a way for me to share these songs with you and your friends in a warm, friendly environment and in a relatively easy way. The goal is to value food, cheer, and song above horded gold. If we can do that together then the Hobbit House Concert will be a success. Will you share in my adventure and join me as a fellow conspirator?

Again, if you would like to host as a fellow conspirator, or if you have any other questions please contact me at deepermagicmusic@gmail.com or through my Facebook page. 

Songwriting Complete!

I have spent nearly two years songwriting through The Hobbit and have recently completed the last song.

For me it is quite exciting. I started this journey as an exercise to keep my creative juices flowing and to dabble in something fun and, as things do, it wound up taking on a life of its own. I work full time and have a busy home life (we just had baby number 5!) so often songwriting has had to happen in the gaps. 19 songs is a tall order when one's plate is already full. I think back and am grateful that for the burst of inspiration right at the beginning. That set me up for the long haul. I knocked out about five songs rather effortlessly and figured I'd better see it through. None of the others came quite as quick, and frankly I had some knock-down, drag-outs with a few, but now I stand victorious. At least in my own little world.

The other thing that propelled me was a sense of obligation. I let the bird out of the cage prematurely. After I finished about half of the book I started to share the songs online and performed them live locally and some folks, to my wonder and great delight, liked what they heard. Since then an online news site called Middle-earth News interviewed me and has highlighted some songs and I've heard from numerous folks who have listened to my home recordings and live shows that they'd like to hear more. This gave me greater motivation to press on and now I can say that my obligation is on the cusp of being fulfilled.

Now that I've finished songwriting I can focus more attention to sharing these songs with you. I have a couple of ideas brewing that I think will (at least) be pretty fun and hopefully will help as a springboard to get these songs into even more ears.

I don't want to be specific just yet, but I did want to let you all know that there is work going on beneath the surface. And also I wanted to give you a heads up. Keep an eye out around here and on my Facebook page for some upcoming details about how you can become a fellow conspirator and help me set out on this journey.

Thanks for all of your support!

Update!

Hi folks! Here's a bit of what's been going on.

Interview
A couple months ago I was interviewed by website called Middle-Earth News. They had linked one of their articles about Tolkien inspired music on Twitter and as a response I pointed them to my SoundCloud page. They then sent me an email asking to do an interview!

Read the the interview here!

Not that I minded answering them, but I thought the questions regarding the music in the movies were kind of weird just stuck in the middle there. They had originally asked another movie question but they removed it upon publication. The question went something like this: "What are you looking forward to the most in the last Hobbit movie?" I answered, "When Tauriel dies". I'm guessing they didn't think it was as funny as I did.

It was a bit of unexpected promotion which led to a smidgen of hits on some of my sites. Hopefully there are some folks who read it and stuck it in the back of their mind so when I finally get around to releasing some kind of record online they'll be all, "Oh yeah, I remember reading something about that weirdo who sings like a troll."

Shows
Last week I played at a bookstore in downtown Blue Springs called Inklings' Books & Coffee Shoppe. They had a fantasy author signing books and I did a bit of bookstore busking on the sidewalk. I love used bookstores. It might be the closest thing to treasure hunting there is. I highly recommend you swing by for a glance at the many treasures Inklings' has to offer. In fact a little bird told me you can even find some Hobbit inspired music in CD format there...

Songwriting/Recording
I'm nearing the end of songwriting through the Hobbit. I have five more chapters to go. Two of which are in the process right now. I have eleven songs recorded, most of which are on my soundcloud page. That leaves 8 more to record. Unfortunately my Mac is in need of some repair. I think the video card went out. At some point I'll have to get it checked out, but I need to have our air conditioner fixed first! Priorities!

In the interview I hit on this when had the opportunity to talk about why I admire Tolkien. I said,

I can identify, to a degree, with his struggle between the drudgery of his vocational life and his creative life. In Tolkien, we see one who created a masterpiece in the midst of the ordinary and the mundane. Not only did he have an extremely demanding job, but he also had a large family to take care of. The most admirable thing I find is that he didn’t throw away his career and sacrifice his wife and children to pursue his amazing world of stories. It took extra effort and no doubt took him longer to finish, but that only added to the quality of his creation. I find great encouragement in his steady plodding with job, wife, and kids, than if he had been a financially stable single man with no responsibility and plenty of free time.

So the A/C comes before the resources needed to record more music. And I'm okay with that because music made at the expense of my family is bad art. If I want to create, I need to create even in the midst of the mundane.

Actually last night was kind of highlighted this in a special way. We high-tailed it out of our sauna we call home and crashed my folks' place for a few hours. During our down time I grabbed a guitar and started working on one of my songs. Normally I do my song-smithing in isolation; on break or on the road or when the kids are in bed. But I had a little time so I set to work with the family all around. I only wrote two words but it was two more than I had before. During the process I caught my daughter singing the first (and so far, only) verse along with me. You can see it below in the picture my wife took. She also asked me questions about the verse. What it was about and she dug a bit deeper into the words I was crafting. If my A/C doesn't go out, then I don't get to have the privilege of experiencing my daughter share in my creative process. She may forget this tomorrow, or she may remember this for the rest of her life. Either way, I've already been moved by it, and that motivates me to not only love my family all the more but to press on writing and creating.