By Daniel Montaño, Staff Reporter | Photo By Daniel Montaño
After one writes a song, practices singing and plucking their guitar, that person has to take a crucial and often terrifying step before making it as a paid musician and Daniel Snow, former Fine arts major said, actually all anyone needs to do is just get on stage.
For most people that step is a tricky one, and Snow said he is looking to make that transition easier for aspiring musicians with his monthly showcase of local musical talent, Live in the Living Room, which takes place on the second Friday of every month at the Satellite Coffee at 8405 Montgomery Blvd. NE.
“It helps you become a lot more comfortable with being on the stage, because the hardest part—or at least it was for me—is moving from the bedroom to a real performance. People can get scared and need a place in between, and that’s usually when they’re relaxed in their living room in front of their family and friends,” Snow said.
Live in the Living Room gives musicians a stage, where they can hone their talents and get used to a performance setting, as well as the relaxed atmosphere of being at home, which can help them to overcome stage fright, Snow said.
Musicians interested in performing at Live in the Living Room can reach Snow via email at litlrmusic@gmail.com.
Snow said that he is happy to welcome any students, whether they want to become professionals or just feel like sharing a few songs, all people need is to have enough material to cover the hour long set.
“That’s the hardest part for me, finding people. I am really open to a lot of different styles, not just singer/songwriter. If someone has an experimental-electronic thing going on, as long as it’s a good performance and it’s an hour long, I would love to hear from them,” Snow said.
Paul Hunton who is a local musician and actor has played at Live in the Living Room twice, once with his former band and most recently as a solo act, who said that the atmosphere at Satellite Coffee, makes performing a pleasant experience, as opposed to the noise and chaos of a restaurant or bar.
“At some of the bars you need to be loud and rowdy to hold people’s attention. This is a good spot for a solo acoustic kind of person. Literal living rooms are my favorite place to play. With just a couple of people it’s a lot more intimate, and this is just a broader version of that,” Hunton said.
Live in the Living Room started in April of 2012 after months of meetings with Satellite Coffee’s management, marketing and advertising teams, but Snow said that it first existed in his mind long before the first act ever sat next to the coffee shop’s fireplace.
Now, almost a year and a half later, the showcase has become a community centered event where musicians can show off their talents and the audience gets exposed to new local artists, Snow said.
“I can’t say that it’s mine anymore. It started as my idea, but it’s not just my idea anymore. It’s very community driven. Everyone who is a part of it really wants to be a part of it,” Snow said.
Live in the Living Room is so community centered in fact, that when Snow thought about shutting the show down he found that acts would call on their own to get booked and things would naturally fall into place without much help from him, he said.
“Between this, being a bean-slinging-barista and working on my musical projects—I’m working on my third album right now and a collaborative album with a local rapper—I just got kind of burnt out, but it had somehow developed a momentum of its own. Even without me feeding it, things would just seem to continue,” he said.
Michelle Roth, Political Science major, has been to five events and said she likes Live in the Living Room because being up close and personal with the artist exposes her to local music she would otherwise have never heard in a bar or club.
“I think they should do more of this stuff around town actually. I like how artists are doing things that aren’t completely club tracks anymore. I’m tired of electronic stuff at Imbibe, which I hate places like that. So this is really cool,” Roth said.
Hunton said that he thinks people who are even mildly interested in sharing their music, should be open to the idea of playing on a stage.
“It’s really important to just believe in your songs. When you can do that you’re half way there. If you have a gift I think you have an obligation to share it. That sort of overcomes the insecurities and the stage fright. You just realize that you’re doing a service,” Hunton said.
For more information email Daniel Snow at litlrmusic@gmail.com, or to hear previous shows check out the website: litlrmusic.virb.com.
