[Dixielandjazz] Playing in People's Homes.

[Stephen G Barbone]

As some Dixieland bands know, in home parties work just as well for us  
as they do for the Rocker in the story below. Birthdays,  
Anniversaries, etc., are a very viable event for us. Take a look at  
the website of "Concerts in Your Home" mentioned below if you are not  
booking yourself.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.barbonestreet.com
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

June 8, 2008 - NY TIMES  by Kristina Shevory
When the Mosh Pit Is Your Sofa

IT had come to this. On a recent Saturday afternoon, Pat DiNizio, the  
lead singer of the Smithereens, was singing his greatest hits in front  
of a living-room fireplace in Short Hills, N.J. Hired to celebrate a  
fan’s 40th birthday, Mr. DiNizio, 53, thought he would be performing  
for devotees who knew his ’80s hits like “A Girl Like You.” Instead,  
he got Romper Room.

 From the microphone, he told wild stories from his heyday, but kept  
stopping to censor himself because there were so many children sitting  
on the floor or in their parents’ laps. At one point, Mr. DiNizio  
asked, “Are you O.K. with my weirdo stories?”

“That’s why we’re here,” someone yelled from the kitchen.

There were hot dogs, balloons, cotton candy, a clown and even an  
inflatable castle in the backyard. Later, he wondered aloud if he had  
been upstaged.

“I can’t compete with hot dogs,” Mr. DiNizio said.

For the audience, home concerts are a way to bring a tiny bit of  
showbiz glitz into their living rooms. For performers, they are a way  
to connect with their fans, and make a living at a time of tapering  
music sales and diminishing options.

“Living-room concerts have enabled me to keep my head above water in  
an era when rock and roll seems to be dying,” said Mr. DiNizio, who  
started his second annual home-concert tour last month.

As artists like Mr. DiNizio struggle to establish themselves or to  
resurrect former success, they’re booking themselves into private  
homes, and inviting (or charging) fans to see them perform in these ad- 
hoc settings. Pollstar, a concert trade publication, does not keep  
track of these shows, but at least 6,000 are estimated to take place  
every year, according to Fran Snyder, the founder  
ofconcertsinyourhome.com, a Web site that connects artists and hosts.

While record companies continue to struggle financially — album sales  
plummeted 15 percent to $500.5 million last year, according to Nielsen  
SoundScan — musicians are now making more money from tours than from  
their albums. Concert ticket sales climbed 8 percent last year to $3.9  
billion, according to Pollstar.

Marquee artists like Madonna and Jay-Z may be able to dump their old  
record companies and sign hundred-million-dollar deals with concert  
promoters. But musicians with less name recognition and drawing power  
face greater pressure to market themselves in unique ways.

It was a long way away from Mr. DiNizio’s previous success in the late  
’80s, when the Smithereens hit it big with songs like “A Girl Like  
You,” which broke into the Top 40 on the Billboard chart. But their  
album sales tapered off as grunge became popular in the early 1990s.  
Over the years, Mr. DiNizio ran for a seat in the New Jersey Senate  
and worked as a music programmer for XM Satellite Radio. He has also  
recorded a few solo albums.

The Smithereens’ best-selling album, “Blown to Smithereens,” has sold  
188,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan; Mr. DiNizio’s best- 
selling solo album, “Songs and Sounds,” has sold 6,000 copies.

Mr. DiNizio learned about the living-room circuit from another  
musician eight years ago. He sent e-mail messages to Smithereens fans  
to see if they would be interested in having home concerts. Within two  
weeks, he was booked into 90 living rooms across the country for  
around $2,000 a show. He rented an S.U.V. and for the next five months  
crisscrossed the country without a map or a roadie.

Now he performs solo in around 50 living rooms a year. If a show is  
close to his home in Scotch Plains, N.J., his only expense is gas. For  
performances farther away, the hosts must pay his air fare, hotel and  
ground transportation. Sometimes, he spends the night at the home.  
While Mr. DiNizio said his fee depends on the client and location, he  
generally charges a few thousand dollars for a concert.

“I don’t just show up and say, ‘Hi, I’m Pat,’ ” Mr. DiNizio said. “I  
arrive hours beforehand and get to know everyone. Before I can do the  
show successfully, I have to sell the show to everyone so they are  
thoroughly comfortable with me as a human being.”

Ralph Zisa of Cedar Grove, N.J., hired Mr. DiNizio to play at his home  
last month to see one of his favorite musicians up close.

“We had a few bucks lying around and thought this would be a great way  
to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary,” said Mr. Zisa, 50, a field  
service engineer for CAT scan machines and a longtime Smithereens fan.  
“Who knows, maybe a year from now, I’ll be able to say, ‘Hey, he was  
at my house.’ ”

Ruth Gerson, a folk-rock singer from New York City, started doing home  
concerts to avoid the long hours and low pay at clubs. “As a single  
female performer, I didn’t have the nerve to stand up to a booking  
agent,” said Ms. Gerson, who has been performing home concerts since  
2000.“I had to find a business model to operate outside of the box.”

Ms. Gerson said she performs in about 80 homes every year. With a  
minimum of 40 people at a house concert, and a suggested donation of  
$15 a person, she says she often makes more than she would at a club.

“People always ask how I do these,” she said. “But I do them because I  
love them. The host is really helping me. They pick me up, I eat, I  
take a shower, I have a good time and I make money.”

Most home concerts are decidedly home-grown affairs, with potluck  
meals, folding chairs, donations collected in baskets and musicians’  
fees that generally run in the hundreds or low thousands of dollars.  
About two-thirds of the shows are unadvertised, Mr. Snyder said,  
though some concert hosts use fliers and Web sites to spread the word.

Concertgoers say they get to see some of their favorite artists  
without the hassle of crowds, smoky barrooms and two-drink minimums.  
“I don’t want to see someone at Madison Square Garden and sit in the  
nosebleed section,” said Jason Grebin, the general counsel for a real- 
estate company, who played host to Pat DiNizio at his Short Hills,  
N.J., home. “I like to sit up close.”

Phil Roy, a Philadelphia singer and songwriter who has written for  
Aaron Neville, Wyclef Jean and Ray Charles, offers home concerts  
where, for $100 a person, he also cooks a buffet dinner.

Before a recent show in Grand Rapids, Mich., he assembled crostinis,  
seared chicken breasts with root vegetables and leeks, sautéed  
mushrooms and roasted fingerling potatoes. “Most musicians have to  
deal with set lists,” Mr. Roy said. “I have to go through grocery  
lists.”

When Mr. DiNizio performed at the Grebins’ home last month, his setup  
was decidedly more modest than at the large concert halls where he and  
the Smithereens still occasionally play.

Before the show, he walked around with a beer in hand, shooting jokes  
with some of the 100 investment bankers, lawyers and housewives who  
came to celebrate Mr. Grebin’s belated 40th birthday (he is now 41),  
and the completion of renovations on the home he shares with his wife,  
Lorie Kombert-Grebin. (After nine months, they had transformed their  
modest ranch house into a McMansion.)

“Someone told me this morning that the Smithereens were playing at  
Jason’s house,” said Howard Margolis, 42, the managing director of a  
private equity firm. “But I didn’t believe them. This isn’t Vegas.”

During intermission, a throng of people surrounded Mr. DiNizio in the  
living room to talk. He fielded their questions about old concerts and  
song lyrics, while some listeners filed out to grab a hot dog from the  
grill.

Mr. Grebin, who had spent the first half of the concert singing along  
with Mr. DiNizio, was still singing during intermission. Mr. DiNizio  
walked over to his host and asked how he liked the show.

“Dude, you’re a rock star and you’re in my living room,” Mr. Grebin  
said. “How awesome is that?”