Strung Out Episode 270: THE PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY-An Interview with Molly Lenz

Molly Lenz grew up in Rogers Park, Chicago and from early on, her ambition was to be involved in music.  That passion resulted in a career as a DJ for a station in New Jersey, where she met her husband, who had of all things, a record store.  Molly was able to curate her own tunes there at the station, bringing listeners unheard of musicians who were not mainstream.  The record store literally a gathering place of new artists and the occasional live performance. After her husband's passing, Molly channeled her grief by having a concert in her New Jersey home.  The community that developed, along with the amazing shows made her understand that it was presenting concerts that best represented her ability to promote bands she loved, while giving those bands an audience that trusted her musical tastes.  Lenz decided to return back to Illinois and brought along her house concert, Molly's House Concerts to Lincolnwood, a few miles down the road from her old Chicago stomping grounds.  There she refined her talent for finding independent audiences and matching them with an audience intent on listening and being part of the evening and not just observers.  That was key in the success of her concerts, which has led to an amazing 18 major shows a year.   It also highlights the importance to the independent music community of having a venue like Molly's---a place that was free of the control that bigger venues exert on musicians, and a place where an audience could pay for energetic music, given up close and with intention.  House Concerts, like Molly's are the "keystone" of the independent music scene.  No one is there to get rich, except in Joy and celebration of live, independent music.  It is no wonder that such venues are often in the crosshairs of the music industry, looking for ways to extract money from independent artists and independent audiences.  This is the first of a two part series in which the community can learn from Molly's experiences in running a house concert and how to create independent concert venues for the benefit of player and audience alike.  Her website is www.mollyshouseconcerts.com

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:14:44
Unknown
Welcome to Strung Out, the podcast that looks at life through the lens of an artist. Your host is the artist, writer and musician Martin Lawrence McCormack. Now here's Marty.

00:00:14:44 - 00:00:32:19
Unknown
Welcome to Strung Out. We have a very cool interview to introduce. When we're all said and done with this, and I have with me Molly Lenz. Before I tell you who she is, I want to tell you what she does.

00:00:33:19 - 00:01:03:04
Unknown
She is one of the important people for you independent musicians out there. She has, house concerts. And we're going to talk about how she got into it, why she's into music. The labor of love that's involved in running a house concert. House concerts have a great history. If you know Irish, you had houses, Hooley in the kitchen where you would hear people come on over.

00:01:03:36 - 00:01:29:42
Unknown
If American rent parties, you would have that, to eke out living to pay the rent. That sort of thing. Growing up in Woodstock, I had the mast House, which was, Don and Eunice Mast, who were folk singers that turned their house into a performance space, including a balcony. Pretty amazing place. And, friends of Pete Seeger.

00:01:29:42 - 00:01:55:16
Unknown
And in the 1960s and 70s kind of thing. So house concerts are really important, and we very rarely get to see somebody that actually puts on the house, counselor. And you are seeing one today. Molly Lyons, welcome to Strung Out. Thank you. And I want to, first of all, on behalf of every independent musician out there, thank you for what you're doing.

00:01:55:21 - 00:02:27:09
Unknown
Why why did you get into this? But you know, your local person, you grew up in Rogers Park, right? And, musical. Musical. Links in the family did was there was nothing. Nothing? Nothing. Okay. Well, tell us a little bit about, your background and what brought you up to music. Because I know you've done some stuff related to music, like deejaying and things like that with radio, and, so let's, let's start.

00:02:27:38 - 00:02:55:54
Unknown
You grew up here, right? And, tell us about that. Start from there. Well, I grew up down the street on Ashland, and, I guess, you know, like most teenagers, I got into music. My brother reminded me recently that in my bedroom, there was, light switch that had a plug attached to it, and I attached my radio to that so that when I walked in my room, I flipped the switch.

00:02:55:54 - 00:03:21:08
Unknown
The radio came up. Oh, how cool. Along with the light. And it was great. So that was the start. When I got to college. University of Illinois. I was a business major because my dad thought that that would be a good thing to do, and I hated it. I mean, I flunked pre-college algebra. I'm not good with math.

00:03:21:44 - 00:03:46:32
Unknown
I I'm not good at math either, but. So I went to see guidance counselor, and they said, if you could do anything in the world that you wanted to, what would you do? And I said, being a huge Springsteen fan at that point, I said, I still am. I'd be a singer songwriter, musician. And they said, well, why don't you do that?

00:03:46:40 - 00:04:13:42
Unknown
And I said, cause like, you've never heard me sing and I'm flat. I cannot carry a tune. Okay. And I don't play an instrument, and I've never written a song. Okay. And then in an inspired moment, the counselor said, well, have you thought about maybe being a DJ? And I thought about that. I thought, wow, that would be kind of fun.

00:04:13:47 - 00:04:47:29
Unknown
So I got into the deejaying thing. I changed my major to communications. I started working at the college radio station. I got internships at WMT in the loop. I got part time jobs at MLT. I finished college. I was waitressing for a living, and I interviewed at ZT, and I didn't get a job, and so I thought, well, this isn't really going very far here.

00:04:47:34 - 00:05:13:48
Unknown
And because I had been visiting friends on the East Coast, I thought, well, I think I'm going to move to New York and see what's going on there, because there's a lot of headquarters of media companies. It's a big jump. Yeah. And I interviewed at a handful of radio stations. Did not get very far. I ended up getting a job at Gray Advertising, which, I mean, they pay dirt.

00:05:13:52 - 00:05:53:05
Unknown
It was nothing. And, so I, I worked there for a while, and then I had a, had a, had a lull where I was working an overnight shift at a law firm doing proofreading. But then I got a job at CBS special Products, which is a part of their record label, one where they would rerelease things like, Tammy Wynette Greatest Hits and you find them at truck stops and on cassettes and, and a bunch of different things along those lines.

00:05:53:10 - 00:06:12:30
Unknown
And while I was working there, I lived in Brooklyn. I found a job at a radio station. I found a radio station on the dial. First off, I was doing it on the left side of the dial looking for college stations. But I found this station all the way to the right side of the dial, and it was in new Jersey.

00:06:12:30 - 00:06:42:28
Unknown
And it it played all kinds of new music stuff I had never heard. I mean, the starting point was were things like U2 and R.E.M., but then they were playing this band that my, a friend of mine had mentioned that The Smiths, oh yeah, great, The Cure and all these bands. I didn't know anything about. So, I got the job there, and, I was a DJ for a while.

00:06:42:29 - 00:07:12:12
Unknown
I met my late husband who owned a record store. I moved on to also sell advertising for the radio station. Then I left and worked for, a television production company. Just all these different things. But I have friends all over the world. Yeah. And after my my my husband passed away, I started going to more live music again.

00:07:12:14 - 00:07:41:22
Unknown
Right. Interesting. Yeah. And and that was great. I mean, if you're depressed, music lifts your soul. Oh, yeah. And it was. It was great. And I met a lot of people that way. Developed what I call music, friendships. You know, I would go to a bar or a club by myself, and I would know half a dozen people there, and it was its own community.

00:07:41:23 - 00:08:12:49
Unknown
Right. Right. And I started doing movie nights at home and music movie nights where I would show documentaries. There was one about Big Star. There was, 20ft from stardom. Oh, yeah. There was one about Johnny Thunders. I mean, who just almost famous. Did you show that one? I didn't. Okay. Yeah. But but Tender Mercies, there's a lot of which that's actually, it would be a great show.

00:08:12:51 - 00:08:51:29
Unknown
Maybe we. Yeah. In the future, we'll talk about things like that because that's, That's great. Because that's inspirational too. Yeah. So. Okay. Cool. So you're doing now movie nights, musical movie nights. All right. Which is great. And at that point I had friends and, that were in Edinburgh and Galway and, you know, like a lot of people, we communicated on Facebook and I saw that they were hosting living room concerts, and they had this guy named Mark Geary, who is, who is, from Ireland.

00:08:53:51 - 00:09:17:40
Unknown
And I thought that was pretty interesting. And how did they do that. Yeah. How does that work? At the same time, I had friends in new Jersey who would go to see, concerts in the studio, which is, a guy who works for, I mean, and this is the thing, people who do this come from all kinds of crazy backgrounds, right?

00:09:17:44 - 00:09:45:07
Unknown
The key is your your music lover. Right? But this guy worked for a waste management company, but he had a nice house with a separate two car garage, and he turned into a photography studio. Oh, and then he turned it into, a venue for for bands. And he would have a band come in. He would photograph them, and then they would have a concert later that day.

00:09:46:05 - 00:10:13:26
Unknown
BYOB potluck, everybody kind of hangs out, talks to each other. I really like that idea. Yeah. And, when Mark Geary came to Mercury Lounge in New York, I went to see him play. And after the show, when he was selling his CD, I went up to talk to him and I said, you know, you've played living room shows for friends of mine in Edinburgh and Galway.

00:10:13:31 - 00:10:45:10
Unknown
And he looked at me and he said, I one of my playing your house. And I had a feeling something like that might happen. And we started talking and he played later that year. So, so this, what kind of music does Martin Garry do? Singer songwriter. Okay. You know, it's not traditional Irish music. Okay. So, yeah, I know it just happened to know that, how cool that is.

00:10:45:12 - 00:11:09:23
Unknown
So, living room concerts, what they call them over there in Europe, and, and we call them house concerts. I guess here, though there, there is like, concerts in your living room. There's a lot of things that have cropped up and we'll we'll get to those, those kind of things because, go ahead and tell. Tell our audience how you then moved into it.

00:11:09:28 - 00:11:31:50
Unknown
Once he threw down the Gantlet, he challenged you to put on a concert? Sure. You didn't have a problem how to start a concert, or did you just kind of know from your deejaying and advertising? Yeah, I do have a background in marketing to. So. That's right. You and I are very similar because I was, marketing communications at Loyola.

00:11:32:03 - 00:11:59:12
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. And, because, you know, I didn't have a I had my music from Mundelein, but I went into, you know, I knew I was going to do something with music. Sure. But I wandered, like you in the Valley of Lost Musical souls for 40 years. Yeah. It felt like it to get there. So, tell us about your first concert with this guy or what happened.

00:11:59:17 - 00:12:28:17
Unknown
How did it. How did it? I mean, yeah, give us a background. Had some fun. So I, I guess I had about because he was coming from overseas, I had some lead time and I just started talking to everybody I knew, all my music friends that I would see at clubs. The people I used to deejay with, everybody I knew, I just invited everybody.

00:12:28:17 - 00:12:59:53
Unknown
And I had about 20 people maybe. I mean, it starts out small and this is the thing that a lot of people talk don't realize you need to have a bass for an audience before you start posting. Right. And, and you know, so this was in new Jersey when I moved back here and hosted my first house concert here and ended up being my boyfriend and I, three cousins and one of their spouses.

00:12:59:58 - 00:13:19:25
Unknown
That was it. Yeah. I mean, it was sad. Yeah. And we're. You living in new Jersey? I'm curious. I was living in Linden, which is right near Elizabeth. Okay. Relatively close to Newark Airport to. Okay. Newark. That area. Okay. Yeah. All right. We've played out in there like Perth Amboy. And, yes, I have friends in Red band.

00:13:19:25 - 00:13:43:22
Unknown
Boy, that those concerts. Cool. Yeah. Very good. So the first house concert you had there, in Jersey and, were you able to get 20 people, all together then? I think I did, yeah. How did you get, you know, where did you hear that? In the house. In my living room. So I had a large, long living room.

00:13:43:27 - 00:14:08:47
Unknown
And I just set up the band by the front, by the front window. And I kept the the couch, but I moved the tables out of the way and rearranged the other chairs and brought in kitchen chairs. And I think I had a handful of folding chairs. I can't remember exactly how I did it, but yeah.

00:14:08:52 - 00:14:33:05
Unknown
And was it I'm assuming at this point, the Facebook and that stuff was announced or was that happening or, or I didn't do a Facebook event or anything, but I mean yeah, I, I would tell friends on Facebook that I was having, you know, this was one year. Give me like a year that, it was, 2017, 2017.

00:14:33:19 - 00:14:56:30
Unknown
So you come on about ten years of doing, which is pretty cool. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah. Oh, I just hit my hundredth concert earlier this year. Okay. That's wonderful. I mean, that's that's a lot of work. I want to go back to this beginning concert because it's there's probably a lot to glean out of it. Food, libations.

00:14:57:04 - 00:15:15:04
Unknown
Did you go online to look up stuff? You talked to people at the bar. What? I mean, what advice did you get? Did anybody say to you, like, you know, Molly, don't don't do this. No. Nobody ever said don't do it. Yeah. And and what you don't know about me is that that wouldn't have made any sense to me anyway.

00:15:15:09 - 00:15:43:03
Unknown
That's what. That's great. Once I had my mind set on something and it happens. That's great. But, But, yeah, I guess just whatever I learned from going to other house concerts because I had gone to the one in freehold. I guess that's really the main one that I had gone to, because after that, other people I know would start doing it, and I started to become more aware of other house concerts.

00:15:43:04 - 00:16:11:18
Unknown
But I guess I ask my friends, maybe I, I don't even know if I provided any food or if we did any food initially. And did Martin Gary, did he, did he have sound or was it just acoustic? It was acoustic. I had no equipment. He was traveling, so I don't think he had any. Right. So it shows up with his guitar.

00:16:11:23 - 00:16:45:22
Unknown
And did he, did he say to you, Molly, where's where's where's my room, where I'm going to be staying? Actually, he was staying with somebody else, and that was kinda he was there. The thing I remember about that concert was I made the plans with him. But then when he came to the US, there was a woman here who I guess he was staying with, and she was helping him get to gigs and communicate and all.

00:16:45:22 - 00:17:12:09
Unknown
I know is that it was getting very close to the time where the concert was supposed to start, and he wasn't there yet. Oh, boy. And I'm thinking, oh man, what's going on now? Well, that's nerve wracking and. Yeah, yeah. So, he did show up. Obviously. You know, he was not staying over, but, I and I don't even know at that point, I wasn't even thinking about people staying over.

00:17:14:09 - 00:17:46:56
Unknown
I guess, I mean, I had the room, but I hadn't really given it much thought. And as I went on from that point, I basically was talking to musicians I knew from New York and New Jersey to play at my house. Right. And I had, Emily Duff play. She, she really only she's a great songwriter and musician, but she really she lives above this bar on Hudson Street called a bar and restaurant called cowgirl.

00:17:47:01 - 00:18:08:24
Unknown
And that's pretty much the only place she plays. Wow. Once a month. How interesting is that? Yeah, I want to follow that thread about, you know, what kind of musicians show up at these house concerts. But I want to go back to something very quickly, which you mentioned, earlier, and I think I might knock you out of it.

00:18:08:29 - 00:18:32:35
Unknown
You went down the radio dial, and you found this station in new Jersey, and it was. Did that become your gig with deejaying or. Yeah. Yeah. So I used to listen to the station. I lived in Brooklyn at the time. Okay. But I guess the sound carried over the water better than, I mean, because it really wasn't a very strong signal.

00:18:32:40 - 00:18:58:55
Unknown
But I listened to it and on the weekends, so I always like hearing music I'm not familiar with. Yeah. And new music. Yeah. And and because the thing I learned when I moved to New York is that the radio stations play the same old thing. There was any W, which was a classic rock station, right? There was W, CBS, which was 50s and 60s rock.

00:18:58:55 - 00:19:23:31
Unknown
And honestly, I listened to that station more than I listened to any W, because there were more songs from the 50s and 60s, I wasn't familiar. Sure. So that worked out well, but new music, I mean, I grew up listening to W, I'm sorry, T and I remember when they started playing New Wave and Stiff Artists and it was just really cool stuff.

00:19:23:40 - 00:19:52:21
Unknown
Xti for those of you that are not from Chicago, it's kind of still, it's more the kind of the flagship independent. And it's not independent, but it's it plays a lot of various artists. And, Chicago's a funny community for radio. Sure. Yeah. And, I'll have to at some point, you're going, maybe in the second interview.

00:19:52:21 - 00:20:25:24
Unknown
I want to talk about radio stations you recommend for artists that share everything. So we have college stations and and we have some a few independent stations. Sure. But but to get a gig, an excerpt would have been great. So what were the call letters of this Jersey station? WHTGWHTGSA1063 your rock alternative. Did you go by Molly Lenz or were you.

00:20:25:25 - 00:20:48:58
Unknown
Did you have a nom nom de plume? Well, first I used my maiden name, which is leaf for. And that is not an easy name to say on the radio because you kind of. It's Molly Leek. Molly. Molly leaf. So, when I got married, I stuck with Molly Lenz. It just. And it's got a Z. Yeah. And that's a good name.

00:20:49:05 - 00:21:11:42
Unknown
That's a good name. I mean, it's a and, Yeah. For especially ale. You got Molly Lenz here and we're going to play, you know. Yeah. I mean it was, it was a lot of fun. The thing that was really cool about the station is. In most stations you get a list of what you can play. Right. And then maybe you talk in between.

00:21:11:47 - 00:21:39:12
Unknown
You're given a certain period of time, you're allowed to speak before the next song starts. So, you know, you listen to a station like WFMU, which is, a Jersey city radio station, free form. I mean, the on air personalities can talk for 20 minutes, they can play 12 songs, and then instead of going from the last one back.

00:21:40:22 - 00:22:02:40
Unknown
That would be helpful for you to figure out what you heard. Right. They'll start from the first song they played and you don't know where you came in in the middle of those 12 songs you don't know what they played and then they can ramble on. So it was a commercial station, you know, you had to keep it quick and pertinent, relevant to what was going on.

00:22:02:40 - 00:22:34:23
Unknown
And then and then, you know, you played music, but it was it was great because you got to pick nice. So they had an old card catalog system. So the the hits, there were five hits. They were in category A, there was a card for each. In category B, there were songs that were coming up that were going to be, you know, getting more and more popular or they were sliding back down from being hit.

00:22:34:28 - 00:23:02:12
Unknown
Right. And category C is a bunch of recent songs and some older songs, and then D was the biggest category. It was like the really the songs who made up the reputation of the station. So now you're going back five, ten years for something from the first album or whatever, right? But it's what gave you the familiar things to the listeners.

00:23:04:21 - 00:23:29:14
Unknown
And it was it was a lot of fun because I got to play what I wanted to write. Did you, do that, enable you to explore them, music that you never heard of? And, and, you know, the, the fact that, who was it? Your husband had a record store. I mean, that's pretty cool.

00:23:29:18 - 00:23:58:39
Unknown
Now you're going into you're getting it from both ends, sort of. Right? Sure. Yeah. I mean, one of the interesting things with radio, especially commercial radio, is that we're in, an era where big business is leans, basically has taken over music as we know it. How interesting that you're doing house concerts and you're kind of like that, indie kind of human being.

00:23:58:39 - 00:24:31:20
Unknown
So were you coming across independent musicians at that time, like Martin, Gary, or, you know, like, I'm trying to think of some names like, but Waterson Carthy or some of those acts or, you know, from over, over in the UK, were you throwing in stuff like you were like, hey, nobody's ever going to hear this, you know, because this guy's or this woman's, you know, you've kind of had to stick with the, the format.

00:24:31:24 - 00:24:55:55
Unknown
But, for the radio station, I mean, I would, I would they had a huge record line, right? So if it was in a studio, if it was an off track, maybe I'd play that. I really didn't bring in my own stuff until over the years, different management. And they started pulling all those records out. Yeah, I would bring in my own.

00:24:56:10 - 00:25:19:35
Unknown
I was on from 6 to 10 a.m. on Saturdays. It was a great time because great slot. I mean, you know, the the people in the office at the radio station are there, everybody sleeping late? It really gave me some extra latitude. Yeah. You could make a good play with the format to some degree. Having, what was the name of the record store?

00:25:19:39 - 00:25:50:08
Unknown
ISS? ISS. Yeah. And that was in Jersey as well. Yeah, it was, it was in Linden. Yeah. And. Okay, how how this is great because, well, you're you're kind of from what you're describing, you're, you're a music lover that now has found you. You married a person that has a record store. You're now serving the muse by doing this radio station that is commercial.

00:25:50:08 - 00:26:26:10
Unknown
So you're kind of tied into the business. But they also have a fairly offbeat format considering a commercial station, you know, unfortunately, it's got a lot more regimented. And, so I'm kind of sensing a, a, a bit of a rebel in you, to some degree, maybe not like, you know, shaking the fist at the man, but but you're like, you're being drawn to kind of, musicians and sounds and correct me if I'm wrong, that are sort of off the beaten path a little bit.

00:26:26:10 - 00:26:52:21
Unknown
Yeah. Definite. Well, I guess just working at that radio station. Yeah. I mean, when I first heard the radio station, they it took a lot of fortitude to listen to it. Yeah. Honestly, because I mean, aside from the occasional U2 song or whatever, I was not familiar with the music that they were playing, and it took a while to get there.

00:26:54:22 - 00:27:16:22
Unknown
At ISS, did you guys have, with was it all sorts of genres? Obviously a must have been was it LPs, vinyl, that sort of place? Yeah. And, did you find yourself just kind of digging? No, I honestly, we left most of the record business to my husband because he was a guy who knew about it.

00:27:16:25 - 00:27:41:26
Unknown
He knew, okay, so another another person that appreciated music, right. You know, but interesting that you guys, while he was alive because didn't do a health concert. No. So that comes after the after the fact after a while. So he would do he had the record store which was open seven days a week. Yeah, he had he would do how, record shows.

00:27:41:30 - 00:28:09:47
Unknown
Oh, tell us about that. So we would go to, a Holiday Inn that had a ball where it wasn't very large, but had a ballroom, and we would, rent out the ballroom for one day and we would get vendors to come in and buy table space, in 6 or 8ft increments. And then they would sell whatever it was they were selling.

00:28:09:51 - 00:28:39:44
Unknown
They would sell LPs, they would focus on seventy-eighths or whatever. They their focus was, 40 fives and we would we built a, mailing list of people and we would send out postcards to them telling them what the next shows were, and the postcard got them a discount for the admission at the door, and then they could come in and shop and.

00:28:39:44 - 00:29:07:44
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. And, well, if I can ask, when did your husband passed the 2004, 2004? Sorry to hear about that. So that was the time then where are you? You you kind of reconnected with community through music and a music community. It took a little while. I had to cocoon first for a few years, and then slowly kind of came out of my shell again.

00:29:07:44 - 00:29:35:34
Unknown
And interesting that, you know, with the music and when you were in Jersey was the Martin Carey concert the only concert for Marley's concerts in new Jersey or, or did you, did you even call it that at this point? Was it Marley's House concert, or are we just like, everybody come on over and, you know. Yeah, I guess I did call it Marley's House concerts for, for lack of anything more imaginative.

00:29:35:47 - 00:30:09:09
Unknown
Well, but I, you know. Yeah. But I did write this down. Good. I had. Okay. My, my first year I had Mark. It's Mercury, not Mark. Mark. Oh. Okay. Mark Geary. Yeah. And, and then I had sad bastards of Brooklyn. Sad bastards. You know. What kind of music were they? This was really interesting because it's a husband or wife that were in a punk band called Spanking Charlene.

00:30:09:14 - 00:30:35:15
Unknown
Like Flogging Molly kind of. Yeah. Yes. And what happened was when they would come home from a gig, they were still a bit wired, so they would start playing covers of other people songs. And that's what Sad Bastards in Brooklyn is, them covering other people's songs. But they do a really great job of it, and it's different than what the original is.

00:30:35:15 - 00:31:00:25
Unknown
So. So how did you discover those guys or did they discover you? I, I want to delve in in going around and seeing live music. Okay. So one of the people that I guess I connected with early on is Eric Campbell. He was in the Den Lords. He owns his own recording studio. So, and, and works with a lot of different musicians.

00:31:00:25 - 00:31:24:20
Unknown
And he had worked with Spanking Charlene and Sad Bastard. So I guess it was probably through him that I heard about them. Okay. And I went to see them play. I mean, I will tell you this, the very first time I went out to a concert after my husband passed away, it was very. I didn't know who, you know.

00:31:24:20 - 00:31:57:59
Unknown
I wasn't sure I wanted to do it right. You know, because I'm going someplace by myself. I don't know anybody there. Right? Yeah. Some music and. Yeah. But I went and, it was, the the happiness of seeing live music that that kept bringing me back. And so I would start to, to head out to see shows in Manhattan and, you know, I realized it was not a dangerous thing emotionally or physically.

00:31:57:59 - 00:32:25:23
Unknown
And so it was fine. But but yeah. So the first year was Mercury and Sad Bastards of Brooklyn. The second year I had six bands, mostly local. Okay. And then it kept growing. The third year I had 11 bands. The fourth year, that was 2020. And we remember what happened in 2020, right? We hit the good old pandemic.

00:32:25:25 - 00:32:50:54
Unknown
Yeah. So, so what happened for you there? I had one concert, and before I could host my second concert, we hit lockdown. Yeah. And so it was March. There wasn't anything to do. But that summer, there's,

00:32:50:59 - 00:33:16:07
Unknown
There's a guy who who hosts, there's, there's a concert series in a town called McCutcheon. And south of of of Linden. It's kind of where route one and nine split from each other. And it was at a park, and he would book the bands on Wednesdays. This town has a lot of live music.

00:33:16:08 - 00:33:52:29
Unknown
Sounds great. Yeah. I mean, they have a 50s night, they've got a cover band night, they've got a country night. But there was there were two nights where they would do, that. Well, one night where they would let this guy pick whoever. And that was Wednesdays, and that was the shows I would go to. And during the pandemic, he moved from a park to the high school football field, using chalk, spray paint to to spray out six foot boxes where people could sit in pods.

00:33:52:32 - 00:34:15:26
Unknown
Oh that's great. And little walkways in between. And and people came out. You know, it's interesting that the pandemic did that. It for you know, people sing and see sea chanties and things like that. But it was a, it was it was almost like, the pandemic kind of created one big house concert kind of vibe, right?

00:34:15:28 - 00:34:47:17
Unknown
Yeah. And, so, you know, this guy did that well, initially during the pandemic, it was all a house consider was live stream for live streams. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, and, so that, you know, the that, that must have been inspirational to you as even though the pandemic was difficult to though, I mean, so I lived in a house and it had a long driveway back to a garage.

00:34:47:17 - 00:35:09:54
Unknown
And then if you went to the right, that's where my backyard was. So I started hosting. I had a like maybe 6 or 8 weekly concerts. The band would be back by the garage, so you could have rows of chairs, down all the way down the driveway and more people sitting off to the side in the backyard.

00:35:09:59 - 00:35:37:22
Unknown
And the band was kind of angled. So people in both spots could see them. And, so I had, I had a handful of, of house concerts, although I will say, so the one thing that most of the concert to my house don't have, that kind of started when I did the, the Pandemic Outdoor Series is percussion, right.

00:35:37:22 - 00:36:11:27
Unknown
And so this one band, they're loud, loud rock n roll, and I, I love it. Yeah. Except that once they started playing, somebody called the cops. Because the drums were sound carriers. I knew all of my concerts are in the evening. They're not late night things. They're usually over by nine, 930, but these would start at 6 or 7 and be done right pretty quickly.

00:36:13:56 - 00:36:44:37
Unknown
Somebody called the cops. The cops showed up. They said it's a zero tolerance policy about noise. During pandemic. Wow. He wrote me a summons. It was like a $100 fee. I didn't know how much it was at the time, but, Wow, that sounds. That sounds just harsh. Yeah, yeah. And it's I mean, everybody that was there offered to chip in and pay the summons, but I didn't know how much it was, so I didn't do anything about it.

00:36:44:37 - 00:37:09:59
Unknown
And, I had a friend who was a lawyer. He said, just your best bet is to just, you know, say, okay, I wasn't aware, but, yeah, I guess I'm guilty. And maybe they'll lower the sign. And, I mean, everything can continue. Dude, I was living back here by the time it was settled, and I ended up, I ended up paying 50 bucks.

00:37:10:13 - 00:37:41:33
Unknown
So you know what? Small price to pay. Small price to pay. But the aggravation. But this is this is a good, this is a good place to, kind of, to take a little break down because, I want to get this. You're transitioning over to Chicago, and I also, the thing that goes through my mind is there's always adversity when you're doing this sort of stuff, with house concerts.

00:37:41:34 - 00:38:02:42
Unknown
And there can be that sense. It's not like it's it's it's a minefield or anything, you know, it's not like, you know, you're you're you're at war or something. However, you know that kind of, that kind of thing. You, you learn because there's no rulebook out there right now. Yeah. I mean, yeah, you learn as you go along.

00:38:02:42 - 00:38:34:22
Unknown
I mean, you're now the rulebook, right? You know, and that's why we have you on this show. This, because I think it's important for not only, independent musicians, but it's so crucial that people that, love music. In order to, in order for, independent musicians to survive and thrive, you have to have people like you and, and so how does this relationship work and is kind of where we're heading with these, these interviews.

00:38:34:22 - 00:39:00:09
Unknown
But Molly is going to send some video, right. Some of your concerts. So we're going to take a look at one of those concerts right now. And, we'll figure it up after the fact. And a little captions and, after that, we'll take a little break. And you are listening to Molly Lenz, who has Molly's house concerts, up in Lincolnwood, Illinois.

00:39:00:16 - 00:39:22:56
Unknown
Yep. She's booked solid, guys. So don't like, you know, show up at her door with your instrument. Okay. And but we'll talk. We'll talk about that, too, because, this is, the second interview I really want to kind of get into the nuts and bolts from your experience. Sure. To see if we can launch 100 Warhols concerts, which is great, right?

00:39:22:56 - 00:39:48:35
Unknown
You know, I mean, some people don't want competition. I want competition, right? You know, and I want and I'm it's not competition, but it's I, I know what you mean. You I mean, it's like me playing music and and, interviewing people that are musicians, you know? And I want to I want to, a rising tide lifts all boats, so to speak, especially in the independent music business.

00:39:48:35 - 00:40:03:50
Unknown
And, and, that's, that's why I'm doing this, and that's why I'm so grateful that you're here. Let's watch this and then we'll be back. You are on strong out.

00:40:04:46 - 00:40:19:31
Unknown
With the Waco Brothers. Welcome to Molly Grove. This time. Is it okay?

00:40:26:11 - 00:40:49:00
Unknown
I forgot everything. I love everything about this town. I used to know the best I could be all the way. You, I really love.

00:40:49:05 - 00:40:53:00
Unknown
You you.

00:40:53:05 - 00:40:58:32
Unknown
Crazy. Wait.

00:40:58:37 - 00:41:05:15
Unknown
Derry Town is about the place. Great.

00:41:05:20 - 00:41:34:14
Unknown
Good. I always knew you'd end up on your. We could have this great sound system on the place to make some of the good times on the way.

00:41:34:19 - 00:41:57:11
Unknown
Through you. In some spiders. Now, what is that place called? Late. My memory through the regular.

00:41:57:15 - 00:42:13:55
Unknown
I forgot every kid I ever loved by Buffalo. Oh, yes. I take things. I mean, here's.

00:42:14:19 - 00:42:30:02
Unknown
You know, was right when the go that new place. So you made me to recognize you.

00:42:30:07 - 00:42:36:46
Unknown
Every town is another place.

00:42:36:51 - 00:42:50:52
Unknown
I always knew you had to follow your dreams. I'm. I'm. Every town's just another place to.

00:42:50:57 - 00:43:02:06
Unknown
Somehow live. Your sounds always say. Hey.

00:43:02:11 - 00:43:35:41
Unknown
Come here, I love you I will tell you about this town. Run everything I love you about you. Thank you. Like this time. Every time I feel about you. Tell you about this track. I'm running every minute I ever. You're about to turn you out. This time I really.

00:43:35:46 - 00:43:43:38
Unknown
Yeah. Thank you. I new awareness of sound. What do you think?

00:43:43:38 - 00:44:12:44
Unknown
Hello subscribers, and welcome to Inside Views of Marathi Fine Art, where people are talking about their collected works by artist Martin Alma Cormac. Hey y'all! To see introducing our newest piece to our collection, my wife and I, we've been collecting art now for a little bit over ten years. Discovered Martin MacCormack. Love the work he's done.

00:44:12:44 - 00:44:43:23
Unknown
This is our second piece from Martin, but we really like about this are the colors. It really matches the spring with walls and everything. Just got it back from the framers. Beautiful piece. This is an original watercolor. And the reason why we really try to focus on originals now is with all the eye stuff that's around here, if you got something that you can document, that is an original piece of art, it should hold its value or even increase its value over the a few years.

00:44:43:23 - 00:45:07:29
Unknown
So we're looking at this as an investment piece as well. So anyway, it's a beautiful piece. I'll bring the camera in a little bit to give you a closer zoomed in look, but, yeah, we think it's we think it's awesome. Additional originals and prints and merchandise of all of Marty's art can be purchased at Martin mccormick.com.

00:45:07:34 - 00:45:13:52
Unknown
Thanks for watching.

00:45:13:52 - 00:45:28:57
Unknown
Hey. We're back. And, before we had that nice little break, we had, we had Molly, getting, Well, she wasn't arrested, but she was saying, would have been better if you were arrested.

00:45:29:39 - 00:45:53:38
Unknown
It would have been just much more for the, total hasn't come yet in Maine. And maybe ahead. We don't know what the sound ordinance is in Lincoln. One, but very interesting about the fact that, percussion is kind of, a difficult thing to hear for a house concert across the board. Well, outdoors and outdoors or even indoors.

00:45:53:38 - 00:46:18:18
Unknown
I mean, it's it takes it takes a very good percussionist. And I don't want to belabor the fact, but, you know, a house concert with 30 people on somebody playing a full kit. They have to be pretty damn good at playing the kit. So not to, you know, stunt people and, Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, so the room that I host my concerts in now.

00:46:18:23 - 00:46:43:18
Unknown
Yeah. So when I moved out here, And what, you were back, I mean, were you, like, was Chicago calling you? And. Yes, I mean, I, I love Chicago. Great. I love Chicago, I was I mean, throughout my entire time in new Jersey, I was always a member of the Chicago History Museum. Oh, nice. Cool. And I was always coming back to visit friends and family.

00:46:44:08 - 00:47:12:22
Unknown
My mom lives here, and, like, she needs a little extra help. And, before the pandemic, I kept trying to get my job to allow me to work remotely, and they wouldn't. Right. They would let me come out one week at a time. Eight months out of the year on my own dime. Right. And and I thought, this is just not that's not working.

00:47:12:27 - 00:47:46:48
Unknown
Between that in the summer. And so we were being told. Yeah, to so kind of head back so that the pandemic happens and everybody everybody's working from home. Right. Or you're not working with most awful. But, so I'm working from home and obviously in the evenings there's nothing to do. Sorry. One I think it was August afternoon, bright sunny day.

00:47:46:48 - 00:48:12:43
Unknown
I remember sitting on my sofa thinking, well, you know, they kept having these town hall meetings at work telling us we're doing a great job of working remotely. And, I don't know how long this is going to last, but really, it's now or never. Yeah. So you felt that? I mean, all along I had thought about the things that were tying me to new Jersey.

00:48:12:49 - 00:48:46:53
Unknown
Yeah, I owned a business. I had a job that was good and paid the bills and, you know, right. Was was stable and I owned a house. After my husband passed away, I sold the business. So now I've got a house and a job, and I thought, this is the time where I can sell the house, because everybody in New York, in a studio or one bedroom apartment that was stuck in that house all day, all they wanted to do was buy a house with some land.

00:48:46:53 - 00:49:19:01
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. So, housing prices kept going up, availability was shrinking. And I thought, now is the time to put the house on the market. And smart and and then, I knew, a realtor out here, and I contacted him and we started talking and making plans. He would send me links to houses he thought I might be interested in.

00:49:19:06 - 00:49:42:34
Unknown
Initially, I was looking in this area, Rogers Park in West Rogers Park. Yeah. I have a friend that lives in West Rogers Park and a bungalow, and I thought, well, this would be great, you know? But then I started looking at houses and the houses were expensive. Yeah, they needed work. Yeah. And there was little street parking.

00:49:42:45 - 00:50:07:08
Unknown
Yeah. Now, when I'm looking at houses, obviously I'm looking for a place to live. And as I'm getting older, I'm thinking, well, maybe everything on one floor, like a ranch would be better instead of stairs because my knees are shot. Okay, well, that makes sense. I mean, were you also thinking, that was the main thing? Can I host a house?

00:50:07:12 - 00:50:30:42
Unknown
Really? So that was a motivator. Isn't that awesome? That's why really didn't have parking, okay. And and it had to have space where I could host. Yeah. That makes up, makes a lot of sense. And, so you you ended up in Lincolnwood, which has the space and some pretty damn nice homes to, I might add. I mean, I it's weird.

00:50:30:44 - 00:50:59:55
Unknown
It's weird because it's, it's that community was built right after World War two, tons of mid-century modern, smaller houses. But now now these houses are being torn down and these McMansions are going up. Or they'll take a what I call a fungo, you know, a cute little bungalow, and they'll throw, like, a second and third. And so it's like it kind of kills the whole thing.

00:51:01:04 - 00:51:27:03
Unknown
But what Lincoln, what does it have? It does have parking. Pretty. So they're about to turn Pratt into bike lanes. Oh, well, yeah, but but I I'll also say that in this the right street to do it though. This is Chicago car guys. Yeah. I mean in January or February I had a concert and we had snow.

00:51:27:03 - 00:51:52:22
Unknown
We had like maybe six inches of snow. And Pratt is an emergency vehicle route, so they don't allow parking when there's more than two inches of snow. And so everybody had to move their car and they did. And they were they were fine with it. So yes. But you found your house and you. So you made the jump, but you brought the house counselors along.

00:51:52:22 - 00:52:21:22
Unknown
Okay. No, you have all your talent up new Jersey. You know, the people that you have talked to and you know, and and these are people that, can I say, are below the radar to some degree. Would you say, they're not they're not the people that your national acts like. They were they were known locally, known locally, and they're not going to get, played.

00:52:21:27 - 00:52:47:24
Unknown
Right. And and we're in even though we're in this era of streaming and, and maybe I'm stirring this, and you've stopped me from staring it too long. Too hard. But it's these are musicians that really need a place to play. And the difficulty is, is that, in in the second interview, we're going to get more into the nuts and bolts of, of of building a house concert with Molly.

00:52:47:38 - 00:53:18:50
Unknown
Okay, maybe that's what we'll call it. But independent musicians, sometimes they cannot fit in the club situation because the club situation usually depends upon a fairly good body count. Right. A lot of people come in. You have to have a club. Usually fits about 300 people, you know, 150 to 300, right? But, I mean, who has an audience like that when you, especially when you're starting out, it's so tough.

00:53:18:50 - 00:54:02:21
Unknown
And even as you're going along, it all depends on so with a band's promotion of themselves, but also, you know, there just there are fewer and fewer venues. Well, in the pandemic, the pandemic, through a hand grenade basically into a very anemic live music scene. Anyway. Yeah. So along comes somebody like you into Chicago that, is brave enough to announce that you have a house concert since did they find their way to you, or did you happen to know some musicians here in Chicago, like, John Langford?

00:54:02:21 - 00:54:28:36
Unknown
It's a great guy. And, you know. Well, it's sort of a combination. Okay. Tell us how that happened. Because I'm just very curious about that. Great. When the pandemic hit, one of the bands I was slated to have play in April is called My Darling Clementine, and they come from Manchester, and a friend of mine in new Jersey had said, oh, I know the guy who does promotion for them, love them, and I'm like, well, I don't know them, but okay, sure.

00:54:28:36 - 00:54:52:26
Unknown
Why not? So I booked them and then they put out, like a graphic listing of all of their U.S. states, and they listed Black Dog House concerts in Chicago. And I'm like, I didn't even know there were any house concerts in Chicago, although I remember hearing years ago, The Smithereens, of course, being a new Jersey band. Loveless, smithereens.

00:54:52:26 - 00:55:19:10
Unknown
Patton is, you know, lived here for a while and he would do house concerts. So I knew that there must have been some where, I don't know, but I did all kinds of research. I found Black Dog House concerts, and the guy who ran them said, you know, it was during the pandemic. And he said, my wife and I are getting tired of doing this.

00:55:19:10 - 00:55:44:28
Unknown
It's a lot of work. Yeah. And we're thinking of of quitting. And I said, well, I said, I just move back, and, and and I did house concerts in new Jersey. And I'm really looking forward to hosting some here. So, van is the name of the guy who did Black Dog, and he he's a huge music fan.

00:55:44:28 - 00:56:15:34
Unknown
First off, just like my number one fan, and he, he gave me on permanent loan his sound system. Wonderful. Yeah. I mean, it's a Sennheiser board, and I've got two microphones. I've got a couple of Yamaha amps and stands. It's great. Did he, did you know how to run those things at this point? Because you don't, I rely on the musicians.

00:56:15:34 - 00:56:34:09
Unknown
Okay. So the musicians themselves. Well, I like that. I mean, you know, it's chemicals. I got the cables. Everything is there. Just don't ask me how it works. Right. So. So the van gives you this, and, Yeah. And he gives you kind of the keys to the kingdom then. Right? He kind of says, well, well, did he give you a list?

00:56:34:09 - 00:57:00:30
Unknown
He and his wife, you know, what happened at that point? After my first house concert where I had six people, I, I realized, geez, I can't import my new Jersey friends. So I got to find a whole new group of people, and I asked him if he would send I sent him, an email listing, the, the upcoming show.

00:57:00:30 - 00:57:24:57
Unknown
And I said, would you be so kind as to forward this to your people and let them know you're not doing concerts anymore? But but, you know, you're attending my concerts and maybe they would like to also show. And he did. And that kind of got me a handful of people, who are sort of my core audience, which is really important.

00:57:25:47 - 00:57:54:32
Unknown
You know, the first six that you had with family and friends, when you came back. And so him giving you, you know. Yeah. True believers in the house concert. Yeah. You have it. I mean, it's a certain kind of person that likes house concerts, right? It's true. I mean, so it's someone who. Someone who has an open mind when it comes to music.

00:57:54:57 - 00:58:23:46
Unknown
Maybe they they like a particular genre. And maybe that's why they're coming. Typically when I say so. So the marketing background during the pandemic, I kind of used that downtime to move, right. My mailing list from, in terms of email over to MailChimp, because Google was blocking Gmail was blocking my my emails. So I went over to MailChimp.

00:58:24:23 - 00:58:49:36
Unknown
I have a friend who is in, she has her own graphic design company. She helped me set up a website. And so now I've got a website and I know how to do the formatting, an email and some of these things are things I do to my, my, my day job. So, so it helped. But it's not necessary.

00:58:49:40 - 00:59:25:44
Unknown
But it certainly is helpful. Absolutely. And and and so I, I, I would send out emails and I would, you know, like the web page, I, I mean, it includes most of the information about the band that the band sends me. Plus obviously I don't book bands without listening to them, so I'll listen to them and decide what I like about them and I'll mention that, and then I'll include a link, a couple of links to songs.

00:59:25:54 - 00:59:51:29
Unknown
Yeah. So that because that's really what people need to hear to make a decision. How did you how did you grow your base then? From the initial list that van gave you, was it just word of mouth? Yeah. Yeah, I really, really was. And as a marketing person, you know, the best form of marketing is word of mouth, right?

00:59:51:34 - 01:00:17:24
Unknown
And I haven't come up with anything better yet. Okay, so I am f as you can tell, I'm a talker and I love it. And I'm a social person. Yeah. So I one of the things I knew before I moved here was where I was going to be going to see live music, and when I went out to see live music, most of the time I was going by myself.

01:00:17:24 - 01:00:52:53
Unknown
So I would start talking to the people who were around me and, marketing background. I have business cards with the website and information. Some list some of the people who played in the past, and I would give them out to people, every now and you know that it's kind of weird because it doesn't work as well as I would want it to, but but it it works bit over time and and then and then the other thing too, that I do is I.

01:00:52:58 - 01:01:23:55
Unknown
I obviously encourage the bands that are playing to make sure that they're people who are aware of the show, and maybe they'll come out right. And, you know, there's there are things that attract people to house concerts that go beyond the band, too, right? In my case, the shows are tending to appeal to, slightly older audience.

01:01:23:59 - 01:01:59:39
Unknown
I mentioned that my knees are shot. Well, a lot of a lot of people's knees are sure and and, you know, people don't want to stand for three hours when they go to see a concert. Well, isn't that part of the joy of being able to do this? You have a certain amount of control. Yeah, with a house concert that you're not going to get from Performing Arts Center if you're doing that kind of work or if you're playing at Martyrs or Fitzgerald or, you know, you're up at space in Evanston or wherever you are on the planet and you're an independent musician, you know what we're talking about.

01:02:00:46 - 01:02:40:22
Unknown
So you you could finish you can start whatever time you could start, whatever day. What what day do you like to have with your concert? Usually Thursday through Sunday. But okay, so a little Thursday would be the last choice. You know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday usually works best because yeah, there are still people that are working full time and and you know, getting to my house by six for potluck, seven for the concert, doesn't since the little tight on the Friday and, jump back just a little bit for that very first Molly's House concert in Chicago, the homecoming concert, he was the artist that you had.

01:02:40:23 - 01:03:10:03
Unknown
You remember? Yes, it was Sam Robbins. It was the first time he played at my house. And he is excellent. He is. And a newer artist, and he's won Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competitions. He tours a lot. And, and he's excellent and he's a really nice guy. And I felt awful that I could not provide an audience.

01:03:10:03 - 01:03:31:50
Unknown
Well, what's his reaction? I mean, he was cool with it and he did come back again, but I still didn't have a good following at that point. So, so we have a he hasn't been back since then. But but I'm going to talk to him. I want to bring him back I love it. Yeah. That's one of the perks, of running a house.

01:03:31:50 - 01:04:03:12
Unknown
Counselor. Do you build these relationships with musicians? Yes. You know, and before the break, I said, don't come knocking on your door because you you're doing, I think this year you said, like, 18. Yeah. That is a pretty great, amazing schedule for somebody that's having a concert, but, you know, out of their home. Right? Are you finding that, people come knocking on your door talent wise?

01:04:03:17 - 01:04:32:58
Unknown
And are you finding people come knocking on your door listener wise, because the, the the ladder people, you know, wanting to, you know, listeners sure is the most important element. I'd hate to say it. Yeah. I mean, that's true, right? Well, I, I tell my friends, I wish I had as many people contacting me to sign up to attend a house concert as I do bands wanting to play.

01:04:33:02 - 01:05:02:00
Unknown
I mean, right, like today, if I just said yes to every musician I was contacted by, I would be hosting 3 or 4 shows a week. Yeah, I mean, I feel really bad. It's hard for me to say thanks for reaching out. I've never heard of these. This band, you know, and I don't have time to listen to them as a marketer because I have a full house.

01:05:02:08 - 01:05:32:08
Unknown
Right? I got a full list of bands that are playing through the end of the year, and yet I still will say yes sometimes. Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. But as a working person, there's a definite need there then. But yeah, what's interesting is, is that here you have this product, if you will, all these decent independent musicians that are for the most part kind of blocked out of the the big business.

01:05:32:08 - 01:05:51:20
Unknown
So you're not going to get Bruce Springsteen. But knowing Bruce Springsteen, you know, don't stop me from trying. You know, I don't know. I'm just to say, you know, knowing somebody like Springsteen, he'll call you. And by the way, my friends and golly. And then, yeah, they did have a saxophone player play at his house. Jake Clemons. Oh, wow.

01:05:51:25 - 01:06:35:12
Unknown
Granted, that was a few years ago. Yeah, but still cool. Cool. You know, and the the listening part of it, and, we're going to the next interview. We're going to get into the nuts and bolts, but I want to touch on this because there's obviously a need when you, you know, kudos to you, first of all, for, doing this and, and, but the fact that this has not translated yet into, a thing where people feel comfortable coming out to listen to music and as you say, you have an older audience.

01:06:35:26 - 01:06:58:26
Unknown
So you have people that basically, grew up with a lot of live music. So, yeah, very good. So I mean, the, the people that come in, it just it does vary and age. I have tried to get my, one of my best friend's sons, who's in music to come and see the Waco Brothers play. Right. The Waco Brothers.

01:06:58:36 - 01:07:21:48
Unknown
Okay. I mean, we're talking good stuff, punky country. Right? They say, I think Rolling Stones. And when, you know, it's like the Johnny Cash meets the clash. Right. And it it's it's a wonderful dynamic live band. And he's like well there's a lot of old people there, you know. Oh hey that's fine. We know how to rock out to dude.

01:07:21:59 - 01:07:43:49
Unknown
But you know, what are you going to learn? It's interesting because like somebody like that, you want them to to appreciate that live music is, is something that kind of percolates through the generations, you know, I'm sure pick it up. And that's that's the cool thing about it. You know, it's like you can say, oh, geez, you know, something like Joe Ely, who did?

01:07:43:53 - 01:08:07:49
Unknown
Yeah. Play with the clash, you know. Sure. You know, now he's now he's dead and gone, rest his soul. But, you know, seeing somebody like that, live. Yeah. Well, and this is the thing. Yeah. I was thinking about this this morning, like, a couple of weeks ago. I saw a movie, I that was in the theaters.

01:08:07:54 - 01:08:51:09
Unknown
And the thing I know about A.I. is it can write hit songs. Yes it can. Well, it can send a person, a live person out to play them, you know? And this is why live music is important. And also, I remember when I was a teenager and a huge Springsteen fan, Dave Marsh book about Springsteen came out and it had a big focus on his live performances, and it talked about the energy that, that, that that shifts between the performer and the audience and the audience and the performer and it's circular and yes, and wow, you know, very good point.

01:08:51:14 - 01:09:11:28
Unknown
Very true. I've been to many concerts and then I went to see, I got, I like I remember I was in college, I found, you know, this little, things with the phone numbers you tear off. Yeah. Somebody was selling some tickets to see Bruce Springsteen at the Uptown Theater, and I thought, okay, well, let's see if I can do this.

01:09:11:28 - 01:09:23:17
Unknown
And I got tickets for myself and two of my friends at the exorbitant. How am I? I couldn't afford this price of $90 each.

01:09:23:22 - 01:09:47:13
Unknown
And we were sitting in the middle of the theater. I mean, I don't even remember my friends being there. Yeah, I was so focused on the music on the stage. I mean, I remember at one point I just was like so ecstatic. I was standing on the armrest to my chair, like. Like swinging my jacket over my head.

01:09:47:13 - 01:10:11:28
Unknown
I just was laughing. Cathartic. Yeah, yeah. Good church. And so, okay, I'm sold on live music. And honestly, it is an experience that you cannot you have to you have to be there for it, and the audience has to be there for it mentally. And the performers have to be there for it mentally. You have to be focused on what you're doing, whether it's listening or playing.

01:10:11:33 - 01:10:41:39
Unknown
You're bringing up so many great points right now that, I, we definitely have to elaborate on when we get into the How to Build a House concert with Molly. But what I'm really enjoying is you're talking about, having a venue for people that, you know, there's a lot of Bruce Springsteen's up there. And I don't mean to diss Bruce Springsteen, but I'm talking about a great musicians with great heart.

01:10:41:39 - 01:11:06:09
Unknown
Great soul. Yeah, yeah, I never get that. That, you know, that bump that for sure. The hand of fate that blessed him. And you know, a guy like Paul McCartney that, you know, must have sprang out of, you know, Zeus's head. But here you are. You're offering a concert, due to freewill offering. How do you like to do it?

01:11:06:49 - 01:11:39:33
Unknown
Yeah. So everybody does it differently, right? I know people who will ask what the performer needs for a fee, and we'll just pay that. I know people who will put out a tip jar, and whatever the audience wants to give is fine. What's the best approach you feel? I, I, I say, there's a suggested minimum donation of $25 per person, right?

01:11:39:38 - 01:12:04:26
Unknown
$30 in some cases, but generally $25 per person. All of that money goes to the musician. Whatever merch they sell, all of that money goes to the musician. Because I had heard that, you know, sometimes there are professionals and musicians lives that will take a percentage and venues that will take a percentage of merch. So that to me is wrong.

01:12:04:31 - 01:12:36:44
Unknown
Like the reason I do house concerts is I love live music in my house. I love live music and I love sharing new music and and sometimes, you know, favorite music with people who come to see it. Yeah. My goal, I tell people, is, to to see the musicians move from my house to bigger stages. It's a full house.

01:12:36:44 - 01:12:57:28
Unknown
And so in New York and New Jersey, Willie Nile huge. I mean, he's big. He'll sell out venues there. Here, not so much. He does pretty good, but he doesn't sell them out. But, but I, I mean, I'm friends with him. So they come to town to play. They stay at my house, right. You know, but there's just great.

01:12:57:28 - 01:13:30:16
Unknown
Yeah. It's, the benefit of of having house concerts. In your words, I would like to hear as far as a summation, but what I feel, is that you can have a great artist in. And you are? You got a front row seat. You're like, right there. And you're also in a very relaxed condition.

01:13:30:21 - 01:13:54:23
Unknown
You know, somebody's home. There's none of the the distractions that you can get sort of with a club. And, that also is good for the artists because now you're going to get that energy loop. That is a very much more intimate, much more open, I think, than you can get from seeing somebody Stroman up on stage. Right.

01:13:54:28 - 01:14:16:42
Unknown
Well, I mean, I like I like all kinds of music. So it kind of, I'm not going to say all kinds. It drives me nuts. Some people say I like all kinds because they don't like. All right. You have you have. So I've got three. But, you know, it's the listening room environment. Some people host house parties.

01:14:16:42 - 01:14:38:52
Unknown
They call that a and then so usually there's a musician and there's a group of people that are focused on the musician. And then in the back, there's a bunch of people drinking wine and yakking. Yeah. They're not paying attention. Right. That kind of drives me nuts. Drives me nuts, too. The way I differentiate my concerts from going to a club is that it is a listening room.

01:14:38:57 - 01:14:59:09
Unknown
So when you come in and you sit down, turn off those phones and and focus on the band and you know, I let the musician decide whether they want to do one long set or two short ones with the break in between, maybe they can sell merch, people to use a bathroom, get a dessert, whatever. But I also like to build the community.

01:14:59:13 - 01:15:32:52
Unknown
Yeah, amongst the audience, because that also brings people back. Yeah. And and you know, there's also a convenience factor. I think a lot of these people would not go out to see live music were it not for the, the, the environment that I provide. Right. I think, just to, to wrap up this part of the interview up, the house concerts, I'm going to put it in a question.

01:15:32:57 - 01:16:03:33
Unknown
Where do you think where would you like to see house concerts go in relationship to the house concert that you run, do you feel? I mean, it's just a labor of love. Do you feel that this is where live music should live? I mean, honestly, I, I kind of feel like this is where. Like, music is going full circle.

01:16:03:38 - 01:16:33:53
Unknown
As you pointed out at the beginning, you know, people would have concerts in their kitchens. They they would have concerts in their yards, they would have, rent parties. And as a matter of fact, there was, that's why one of the places I first started going to and in, in new Jersey was in, it was called a rent party house, and it was held at a VFW or Foreign Legion, hall.

01:16:33:58 - 01:17:03:48
Unknown
But all the money went to, fund a food program for kids. So, but, yeah, I it's it feels like it's coming back full circle because there's a lot of I mean, first of I'm not paid $300 to see to to sit in the nosebleeds, to see a performer on the stage. And I can't really even think of a performer that I would do that for.

01:17:03:53 - 01:17:20:47
Unknown
Right. And I love Bruce Springsteen. I don't think I would do it for him. I've seen him plenty of times, and if that's the only way I could get in to see him, I wouldn't do it. In this case, I made you get a ticket, and this top section was a nosebleed ticket, but was right behind the stage and it was great.

01:17:20:51 - 01:17:50:11
Unknown
I don't think Bruce Springsteen would do it for Bruce and Springsteen. If by any chance you're watching this, please concur. Or disagree, but I, I think yeah, it's gone on and it has. And then there's also a lot of venues that are having so like I and I know that your audience is going to understand this, just everything about live music has, has altered a bit since the pandemic.

01:17:50:13 - 01:18:14:50
Unknown
Absolutely. It's harder to get people out of their homes to stop binge watching TV shows, to come and see live music. They would just rather stay at home. Yes. And so you have to, like, get them out there. Yeah. And so if they're not going out to see live music at midsize venues, those venues are having a hard time staying afloat.

01:18:15:39 - 01:18:39:48
Unknown
And, and, you know, they're closing smaller venues. They've always had it rough and they're closing. I mean, there are fewer and fewer places to play, which is why I get so many requests. Absolutely. And and I understand it. I, I just feel like it is coming full circle and that more, more house concerts is always a good thing.

01:18:39:52 - 01:19:23:24
Unknown
It's kind of splintered, you know, in that you're going to, you know, I mean, how many house concerts are you going to go to? Right. Well, and that's but that's something we can will address in the, the nuts and bolts, how to build a house concert with the next group of you. I want to thank you for, for being a pillar in the community of of independent music's, you know, even, the conscious that you're doing and the artists that you're bringing in, it's and the people that you're turning on to live music is, is an amazing thing.

01:19:23:29 - 01:19:54:01
Unknown
And, yes, we do, do we wish that, the, the younger generations will, catch on to this? I think eventually they will, I think, my feeling is that, the business apparatus of the music business, which, starting in 19, I'll just throw it 1979, started destroying the live music and, you know, the whole business.

01:19:54:01 - 01:20:15:59
Unknown
By the time I got into music, music was already being destroyed. I feel, just by, greed. So here we are. You're in the attic. To use another war analogy, I want to give you kudos for being in the front trenches of keeping a lot of music alive and keeping these artists giving some, place to play.

01:20:15:59 - 01:20:42:46
Unknown
But more importantly, people like you that love music. And if you love live music, there's no place better, I feel, than catching a house concert. Because you're going to get the the, the real kernel of essence of what music is all about. And you brought up those points. Community. You know, there's intimacy. You're supporting somebody that's dedicating their life to the news.

01:20:42:50 - 01:21:13:55
Unknown
And you're you're you're surrounded by somebody that is putting, you know, bringing like minded people. But you yourself, you came from a place of loving music. Yeah. And I think that's the start. Really. Can we close? You know, I don't know if you want to, but. Yeah. Piano. Well, sometimes I wish I could clone myself, tell you multiple shows, but, well, you know, there's there's something here that I think, and that's why we're going to do this next bit, you guys.

01:21:13:55 - 01:21:36:02
Unknown
Because for every one of you that wants to play music, there's got to be people out there that want to present music, and there's got to be people that want to come and be an active listener. And, and that's what we're going to touch on in this next interview, because if you don't have those three elements, ain't going anywhere with this.

01:21:36:02 - 01:21:58:42
Unknown
And don't let the big boys dictate what music should be. And that's that's why, I, that's part of the reason why strung Out is out here is, to empower us to bring music back to where it should be with the people. So Molly Lenz, Molly's house concerts. Don't don't call her. She'll call you. Yeah.

01:21:58:42 - 01:22:22:22
Unknown
I mean, it's terrible because I wish. I wish I could say yes. Yes to every musician that contacts me, but there are any number of reasons why I can't. I cannot host that many concerts. I mean, last year I hosted 22. It's crazy. And there's no time for me. Yes, I was just going to say when. I mean, I take care of my elderly mom.

01:22:22:22 - 01:22:45:56
Unknown
I work a part time job, I have a boyfriend, I have other things I like. You're living a life and you know, you're you're not. You're not just, you know, you cherish. The chairs are not permanently set up in your room. And that's, you know, that's that's that's important to, you know, because music, and I'm glad you bring that up.

01:22:45:56 - 01:23:08:05
Unknown
And we'll end it on that because even though you can have music being an essential part of your life, the people that put it under house concerts, the vast majority of people, I don't like Molly, you know, just people that are doing it because of the community, because of the love of live music. And that's that's the big thing.

01:23:08:08 - 01:23:34:25
Unknown
Nobody's getting rich here. And that's that's the other I. The point is, this is this is more about, you know, the essence of spirit. And what are we on the planet for to get, deeply spiritual on in the last few seconds? Thank you again. Next, interview with Molly. We're going to try to reach out to you that are sitting out there thinking, I wonder if I could do a house concert.

01:23:34:32 - 01:23:55:45
Unknown
Well, guess what, you can. So thank you. And, as always, just, keep inviting people to check out Strung Out. We'll end with a clip from one of your sunsets. Okay, so we're going to we're going to finish this with a clip from, Molly's House concerts. And she's going to curate it and surprise us with who she picks.

01:23:55:45 - 01:24:01:32
Unknown
Okay. All right. We'll see you on the next round. Bye bye.

01:24:01:32 - 01:24:12:06
Unknown
Yeah, well, then here we have it.

01:24:12:11 - 01:24:23:52
Unknown
Oh!

01:24:23:57 - 01:24:51:10
Unknown
Yeah. So I just could not do it. Just. You can do. And it is just. It was. It wasn't until he came to fly for practice. I think we messed up this one. No good on it. Don't talk. So, honey, there's things you want in and things you fear. Here is one for all. Done for what have you come for?

01:24:51:15 - 01:25:27:34
Unknown
What are you? He plays into the rings up you like. Oh, what parallels you like it just don't look down. Marvel at the wonder of it all to you. Makes no sense of all. We can't talk you down. Existence, please. Persistence on the edge. Just at your part. And don't touch it. Because they seem to let on to me.

01:25:27:39 - 01:26:23:14
Unknown
Looking like it was about you. And have some money and some friends. While it might go speed round across your way, they build your walls. For me about I'm for the ball. Let's not yet reach the ground. Go reach to da da da da da da da da da da da da da. What is like nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na morning came without warning.

01:26:23:19 - 01:27:03:03
Unknown
The crack of dawn breaking up. They shaking. You're about to take a crawl back inside. Scare the long way home again. Don't talk so hard in. There's things you want them, Things you feel is right. For all the done. For what I've come for. Why are they gazing through the lens of you like I want parallels you I keep all eyes from looking down.

01:27:03:08 - 01:27:17:49
Unknown
All of the ones that I'll go till your body stops and fall back to the ground. Go back to the ground.

01:27:17:53 - 01:27:31:43
Unknown
Don't talk. So then there's things you want then. And things you fear.

01:27:31:48 - 01:27:36:48
Unknown
You don't.

01:27:36:48 - 01:27:54:31
Unknown
Thank you for listening. For more information about this show or a transcript, visit Martin mccormack.com while there. Sign up for our newsletter. See you next time on Strung Out.

01:27:54:36 - 01:28:07:23
Unknown
It's so strong. Spain, we feel, makes no sense at all. The swan song wasn't part of the deal, was no good. All giving no choice. Giving us a.