Fabulous Peter Szog show + solid turnout for Parker Library's Live Local Music Series DESPITE crappy weather

This first vid from last night's Live Local Music Series installment, featuring classical guitarist Peter Szog, is just a short clip from my favorite song he did last night, Tchaikovsky's Arabian Dance.

The second vid, at the very bottom, is just to show my superiors what a solid turnout we had!

Thanks goes to Peter Szog for a strong performance and to the Parker Cultural Commission for giving us the downright snazzy + spacious auditorium at Parker Mainstreet Center as a venue while Parker Library proper, where the series usually holds court, finishes up a face-lift, and a shout-out to my BFF Rick Thompson for helping out with this show as well as to a comrade, Parker Library's resident techie and our myspace.com/colorado_music gal Linda Vincent, for turning out to the performance. Ms. Linda has come to three or four shows in the series, mostly because she likes the music we feature but also to show support for the library and what we're trying to do with local music.

I was pleased with the turnout last night considering the weather -- the library proper had been closed for the previous two days, and I considered pushing for us to cancel this performance as I was worried about extremely low turnout. One thing that we had working for us, however, was that folks had been stuck indoors for a couple of days and really wanted to get out, sucky roads or not.

While I'd like to see the library overrun with 300 fans of local music at any one event, this is designed to be an "intimate" series, and we realistically want to try and average 50 people or more -- we're averaging a bit less right now, so that's something we're looking at in terms of choice of genres and in terms of targeted marketing.

Last night's attendance was 51. Top turnout was for the old-school bluegrass band Kantankerous -- I stopped trying to count after 107 when they played at the library proper.

The worst turnout was for hip-hop, but we'd be willing to take a look at that genre again. Maybe FOE on a Friday or Saturday evening at a venue such as the Parker Mainstreet Center, where we had Szog? I'll have to sell that one -- and talk FOE into doing it -- but I think it would be FAB!

The second lowest was for a specific folk artist (she's actually fabulous, there were a number of things working against that show) -- I can't say folk because we've done OK with folk before -- and then lowest above that was death metal, if I remember correctly.

The second highest, if I remember correctly, is about a tie between Angie Stevens (local queen of Americana / alt-country scene) and the classical duo of Susan Townsend on flute and Don Hilsberg on harp. Jazz also does great. Classic rock cover bands such as Velocity Rocks -- a definite yes. Joe Fornothin' -- let's just say they are up there at the top in attendance for reasons much more than just the rock/alternative genre they serve up. There's raw talent and a big fan base to consider in that recipe.

Alternative as a genre on its own merit averages about 40 on average. Folk for some reason does so-so. (Maybe 20 or higher with the exception of the five that turned out for the one I mentioned above).

The next gig -- on Dec. 11 -- is with the two young ladies who make up Falling to Fly, who you are definitely going to want to catch on their way up, before their first Grammy.

For the next leg, January to May -- there is a possibility of one or more summer shows next year if we do especially well from January to May -- I am especially fond of the possibility we may be able to kidnap country act Jones & Raine from Highlands Ranch; they garner a lot of praise and radio play and would most definitely be up there with Kantankerous in terms of attendance if I get them to commit to our series. The bigger the act the more likely they might be on tour or whatnot. That's true of Jones & Raine and the indie solo act who I would give my left arm to have play for us but who also is very, very busy and next to impossible to schedule: Kyle Galanaugh!!

Stay tuned, cowgirls and cowboys!

(Here's the second video, which is just to show the good turnout despite the weather. It is a bit dark, so you can't really tell, but for the first time ever I ran out of feedback forms. I only printed 30 because I thought we would be lucky to have 10 people turn out!!)