Posted by Kevin Lofgren

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Friggin' awesome.

I'm talking, of course, about the private concert with The Verve Pipe's Brian Vander Ark at the Farstar House last night. I was already a fan, so I know I'm not terribly objective. But it sounds like others were impressed too.

I was allowed to compile the set list. Well, that's not actually completely accurate. I made a list of all of the songs I wanted to hear, but Brian decided in what order to play them (mostly for tunings and vocal demands). It was simply blissful to have all of those people there in the same room together, and listening to an artist I admire. It doesn't get much better than this for me. Intimate evening with great friends and great music. Sometimes I forget this is a company. It just feels so much more like home. But that is what I was trying to build, so yay for me.

In addition to getting to decide on the songs, I got to record it too. So, take a listen:

Farstar's Theme Song
The Freshmen (Live at Farstar)

Here are some photos from last night.

I think I'm going to see if we can build Brian's website (it needs help) in exchange for him coming back every year or something. Like a lifetime supply of BVA for payment. I don't know, but that was too great not to have it happen again.

And since he said he'd booked sixty something of these private shows, and doing the math based on what we paid, it's pretty easy to guess that this should be a growing trend for every artist. Not a bad little summer of touring as long as you're willing to put up with small venues of intimate gatherings. I don't know if it's worth it to Brian, but it was certainly worth it to us.

kl