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Howdy, Compadres -
Thanks a million - no, two million - to all of you who have come to catch my act at venues and festivals and house concerts this year. I really appreciate it, and I'm having a blast. For you folks new to my mailing list. this is what happens every month or so. I write you a letter that typically includes gig notices, news and outright lies. And in this one I'd like to thank specially all you newbie and veteran house concert hosts. It really is just a party with a concert in the middle, isn't it? And it's a new format that's as old as the hills. Until about 150 years ago, musical entertainment for us regular folk happened in people's homes. The concert hall was no place that the average citizen could afford at all, much less with any frequency. And even if you did get the scratch together, you had to bathe and put on your Sunady - go - to - meetin' clothes, all just just to hear some large Italian and German people howl at each other at high volume for many hours. Sure there have always been taverns to play in, but the vibe in these places is usually primarily about ingesting ethanol and shouting about sporting events and trying to ignite hormonal brushfires that are often best left unset. But the idea of hosting a traveling musician in one's home is different. For the party portion, the vibe is about eating and drinking (and Twister, if you're lucky) and at some point folks assemble in the biggest room to hear some music and have some lughs. The Irish have been doing it for centuries. They call it 'rolling up the rugs.' This DIY approach is a trend that all of the solo singer-songwriter pals I meet up with out there on the road heartily encourage. Why wait for your favorite singer to come to a local haunt? Life is short. Set it up yourself. "Carpe per diem," as they say.
Onward.
in 1978 I emerged from college armed with degrees in theology and theatre. I was therefore perfectly qualified to run away with the circus. And I did. I traveled the country for three years with a traveling troupe called The Royal Lichtenstein 1/4 Ring Sidewalk Circus. (The ringmaster very cleverly spelled it differently from the real country, so as not to run into the same problems that poor fellow Borat did with Kazakhstan, and of course, the show was not from Liechtenstein at all; that reference was intended simply to evoke the idea of "small." And the "royal" designation was strictly fanciful as well, since Liechtenstein is a principality and not a monarchy. And there was no rie-in with Pop Art artist Roy Lichtenstein, whose real name did happen to be 'Royal.' But I digress ... for you new pals, this happens occasionally.)
I tell you this because in just a couple of weeks I'm going to go run away with the circus again. I'll be doing a show in San Jose, CA with alumni from 20+ years of The RLC. I will not be reprising my near-tragic sword-swallwoing routine from the 1979 edition of the show, where I learned the very valuable show-business lesson that sometimes you've just got to resist the urge to take a bow when you first hear applause for your act. No, I will not be doing that. I will instead be playing guitar and singing. This will work out much better for all, believe me.
By the time I came on board, seven years into the show's run, it had grown from a one-man sidewalk act into a show featuring three human performers as well as several animal ones, all traveling 200 miles a day out of a Dodge Karyvan carpet delivery truck. The 1/4-scale yellow and red ring curb sat in front of a colorful drop which had a pass-through to a curtained-off "back yard," but the whole operation still fit in a 25' by 25' square. We played 200 dates on two cross-country trips a year, mostly at colleges and universities. The show was loud and fast and very verbal ... lots of topical references and left-leaning political satire, lots of interplay with the audience. But it was a real circus as well. Each season we'd take out different acts: juggling, unicycling, wirewalking, sword-swallowing, trapeze, fire-eating, magic, rola-bola. The cast included dogs, birds, a bear that one year, a monkey, and a horse, of course. It's hardly a circus without one. That's the whole reason for a circus ring, after all ... to describe the circumference at which centrifugal and centripetal forces are most evenly balanced for a rider sitting or standing on horseback. (Needless to say, we did neither with ours. We left that to our bareback-riding poodle mix Jungle Bells. An unforgettable sight. But I digress ... )
I even had a trained house cat act. Yes. House cats. I'm here to tell you it can be done. I spent a whole summer indoors working with this trio for hours and hours every day and by the time we hit the road in September they were crack performers. I was very proud of this routine and it worked wonderfully for about three weeks. But soon the big male started getting a bit aggressive, and I was worried about him so we all took him to a veterinarian in Montana to have him checked out. After examining Gunther (the cats were named Gunther, Gebel and Williams) the doc came out of the examination room and asked,
"He's been fixed, right?"
"You bet," I replied. "I took him in myself when he was just a little kitten."
"Well," he said, "he was packin' one on you."
"He was ... er ... what?" I blurted. I had never heard that particular turn of phrase before and I hoped against hope it wasn't Montanan for something dire.
"How can I put this delicately?" he mused. "Gunther here has got an undescended third one that your vet missed, and it's apparently just kicked in. That's why he's acting so studly."
We circus folk all looked at each other round-eyed and silent for a moment and then collapsed in laughter. But I gotta tell you, I was crying inside, too, though, not only because I knew we'd have to find a good home for Gunther and leave him behind, but that, of course, that my beautifully crafted act, the act I had spent all summer indoors training - in Santa frickin' Barbara, California, no less, when nearly every other lad my age was down at the beach, bird-doggin' bikini babes) would be changed irreparably. Bitter? Oh, a tad.
And jeez, wouldn't you know it, two weeks later little Gebel had to come off the road, too. Without her litter-mate and best pal Gunther she was just not having a good time any more. So she went to live a long and happy life with some pals of the show in South Dakota, and there I was with just one kitty in my act. And while Williams was one of the cutest and most affectionate kitty that ever was, she was not the most talented feline that ever prowled the steel arena. Not what you'd call a dynamic performer. "Built for style, not for speed, folks," I used to say. Augh! My beautiful synchronized house cat act (actually mentioned in The Guinness Book one year, we'd heard) had devolved into one hapless clown trying to get his sweet little kitty to do anything. I'd bring two pedestals out into the ring and try and get her to jump from one to the other. I'd move them closer and closer, begging, pleading, cajoling all the while, positively piling great chunks of raw liver on the target perch. And all she'd do would be to look up at me lovingly, arch her back and rub up against my chest. Sometimes she flop onto her back to get a tummy-rub. Argh! After 5 minutes of blather and banter and Williams doing nothing but being desperately cute, I would hold a flaming hoop between the two pedestals and slowly lean one over to touch the other and she'd take a single step through to great ovations from the audience. So when the left hand had already takeneth away, as it were (twice, I might add) the right hand did indeed give back. This new act was a huge hit.
Thank you, compadres, for indulging me in this bit of nostalgia. Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be. But needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to this reunion show, and I'm hoping you Bay Areans can come see. There will be much in the way of yop - notch variety entertainment. As I've mentioned, I will be playing guitar and singing. I will not be doing circus skills per se. Nor will I be wearing tights and a tunic. Sorry, ladies.
Here's hoping our paths cross sooner than later, and here's the gigs.
Fri, Jun 6, 8:00pm
CANYON ACOUSTIC SOCIETY
Watsonville, CA
A house-concert of growing repute. My pals Houston Jones played here a couple of weeks ago and had a fine fine time, I hear. Contact gracious hostess Marky Starks for all the particulars.
Sun, Jun 8, 10:30am
KPIG RADIO
Watsonville, CA
Sleepy John Sandidge's "Please Stand By" program. "You've got a face made for radio," my sainted vaudeville Granny used to say.
Sat, June 14, 8:00pm
THEATRE ON SAN PEDRO SQUARE
San Jose, CA
The Royal Lichtenstein Circus Reunion
From 1979 to 1981 I traveled as a performer / manager / rosutabout with the world's smallest circus. This will be a vaudeville - style show with variety entertainment of all kinds, featuring circus alumni from the RLC's 20+-year run. Yours truly will be singing and playing guitar. There was no time to train a trio of housecats again. dana@danasmith.com for tix.
Thu, Jun 19 - Mon, Jun 30
GREECE
Yes, that Greece. A festival concert and cultural exchange program sponsored by The Acoustic Vortex for the Arete Fund at the Elegaia Cultural Center in Argos, with Bruce Victor and Marian Hubler, The Sirens of San Francisco. Concerts in Nauplion and on Spetses as well. Poor me.
Sat, Jul 5 - Sat Jul 12
CALIFORNIA COAST MUSIC CAMP
Sonoma Cost, CA
I'll be teaching intermediate and advanced fingerstyle guitar and how middle-aged musicians can learn to survive staying up too late jamming for an entire week.
More anon. Love to all.
S
-Stevie Coyle
http://www.reverbnation.com/steviecoyle
| Upcoming Shows for Stevie Coyle | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 06/06/2008 08:00 PM | Watsonville, CA, US | Canyon Acoustic Society (house concert) | |
| 06/08/2008 10:30 PM | Watsonville, CA, US | KPIG Radio | |
| 06/15/2008 03:00 PM | Fairfax, CA, US | Fairfax Festival | |
| 06/23/2008 08:00 PM | Argos, GR | Arete Fund Benefit | |
| 07/05/2008 01:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 07/06/2008 08:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 07/07/2008 08:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 07/08/2008 01:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 07/09/2008 01:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 07/10/2008 01:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 07/11/2008 01:00 PM | Sonoma County, CA, US | California Coast Music Camp | |
| 08/02/2008 11:30 AM | Winterport, ME, US | Winterport Music Festival | Tickets |
| 08/02/2008 07:30 PM | Brooks, ME, US | Marsh River Theatre | Tickets |
| 09/12/2008 08:00 PM | Culver City, CA, US | Boulevard Music | |
| 09/13/2008 08:00 PM | Covina, CA, US | The Fret House | |
| 09/14/2008 07:00 PM | Altadena, CA, US | Coffee Gallery Backstage | |
| 10/17/2009 08:00 PM | Santa Rosa, CA, US | Private Show: Santa Rosa House Concert | |
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