What happens when someone wants to share their favorite artist with their favorite group of people?

Sometimes they buy a block of tickets to a show. Sometimes they send out links or CDs to share the artist’s music .  And sometimes … they actually call up the artist and ask about a private concert.  

Those are phone calls I really enjoy.  I’ve flown out-of-state with my harp to play birthday concerts in Florida, Michigan, California. I’ve performed musical ‘keynotes” for businesses,  a Blues workshop about team-building that teaches leadership and collaboration.  I’ve even played once for a couple’s intimate anniversary dinner – just the two of them at a table and me serenading with my harp — and then there’s the birthday party I played for one of the members of Aerosmith, where Steven Tyler and I played harp duets with him drumming on the soundboard of my harp while I played.

These were all private affaires and I love them. Each is personal and unique and I know I’m having a huge impact on the power of the event.

Last week I had the pleasure of playing a private concert for a special ‘customer appreciation’ event at an unassuming country club not far from where I live near Boston.  I wanted to share a little bit about it and how we turned it into a night I know people won’t forget.

For one thing – I admit, I was nervous. The concert started just about the same time the World Series began less than 25 miles away. The room was full of avid Red Sox fans and I knew at least half the folks in the room wanted desperately to know how the game was going.

So after I took the stage for the first song, I said a big hello to the whole room and asked for a volunteer to keep us all up-to-date on the score in between each song. Then I led the audience in a rousing sing-a-long of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” – not part of my regular repertoire – but perfect for this crowd. They were even changing the words to “Root-root-root for the RED SOX!”

By the end of the 50-minute concert I knew I had a roomful of new fans

So, how does this happen?

Well, someone calls, they’ve seen me perform and they want to share that experience with their friends, their colleagues, their top customers in a private concert. Or an event planner calls.  They know what I do, they know how different it is and it’s exactly what their customer would want – though their customer would never know to say “Get me a passionate, humorous, virtuosic singing electric harp player who’s a dynamic entertainer and plays Blues and Flamenco.”

The customer just says, “I want something that’s going to blow my guest’s minds – something that’ll inspire them, be totally out of the box, and give them an experience they’ll never forget.”

And that’s when an email pops into my inbox … or my phone rings.

So how does it work?

Well, first of all, I love doing it.  I love the experience of transformation when people experience something they simply didn’t expect.  I love working with great sound and lighting people to create the experience of an intimate cabaret or concert hall — regardless of what kind of space we start with.

And when the show starts I love the rapt attention, the focus, the engagement, the transformation from a place of many conversations into a magical space of focus where new experience is happening, people are being moved and touched — their minds are blowing open to new possibility, to creative adventure – to the possibility that something they thought they knew – is nothing like they thought.

I know that changes people’s lives, and opens a window of possibility.

And there’s something very special about that happening among friends, or colleagues in a private space, where you know you’ll be able to talk about it later with the people you know, and where you get to be up close and personal with the performer afterwards.

So whose mind do you want to expand? Where do you want to share the possibility of a new experience.  Drop me an email, and let’s talk about how to make that happen.