NOTES FROM THE FALL MEETING - September 10, 2018
The weather forcast was for rain, but the intrepid performers could not be detered. Attending were:
George Capaccio - Albert Einstein
Stephen Collins - Walt Whitman (the younger)
Mike Francis - Galileo, The Stargazer’s Apprentice
Deborah Anne Goss - Charlotte Cushman, 'Victorian Musicales', 'Anti-slavery songs', Proper Ladies
Sam Grant - Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant
Julie Marin - Mrs. U.S. Grant
Gail Hamel - Abigail Whitney
John Horrigan - Historical lectures (Revolution, Weather)
Judith Kalaora - Deborah Sampson, Annie Adams Field, Lucy Stone
Bil Lewis - James Madison
Michael Mack - poet, playwright, performer
Tracy Messer - Calvin Coolidge
Gary Poholek - Charles Dickens Christmas Carol
Brent Ranalli - Henry David Thoreau
Ted Zalewski - Teddy Roosevelt, Postman Roulin, et al
And first time attending:
Lynn Noel - True tales of unsung heroines
Randy Ross - The Chronic Single's Handbook
Notes
It was decided to try keeping personal updates to a minimum and use the time to discuss the evenings topic, going national. First the personals:
Stephen Collins is heading back to Florida to try another tour. He’s been contacting libraries with the idea of getting a working vacation paid for. He’s also gotten Herman Melville up and running and has met another playwright who has an Ambrose Bierce that Stephen will be debuting some time next year.
Tracy Messer attended a presidential site summit in Washington this summer and has a tremendous supply of information for all of our presidential performers.
Lynn Noel introduced herself and her programs on unsung heroines. Like Deb Goss, Lynn’s programs are a combination of living history and historical music. Her premier program is Gudrid the Wanderer, the first viking woman in the New World. Lynn also recommended using the free Hubspot CRM to help keep track with inquiries and bookings. (I recently started using Hubspot so I’m no expert, but Lynn is and she loves it.)
Randy Ross also introduced himself to the group and the autobiographical program he created about his slightly cynical trip around the world. He performs his show in his home as part of AirBnB Experiences.
It’s going to be a little difficult summing up the discussion on going national. Ideas and comments were flying around the room. Several of us are already somewhat established around the country, here are a few of the grains of wisdom:
- When talking to prospective venues, let them know any places you’ve performed outside New England
- Make sure your website indicates either places you’ve traveled to or at least that you’re willing to travel
- Make sure you keep good records of mileage, air, meals, lodging, etc. since you’ll need all of this at tax time.
- Find some long lost relatives to visit and plan to seek out jobs before you go to optimize costs
- Many venues (libraries, senior living, etc.) may be willing to pay better than some of our local venues so keep that in mind when negotiating.
- If you get booked in a distant venue, ask if they can think of anyone they know who might be interested in a program in the general area
As you might imagine, there were many other comments related to these ideas, but I just couldn’t keep up. We may need to start recording the meetings and either transcribing or maybe making a podcast. Something to think about.
If you attended the meeting and think of something I forgot, let me know. Until the Winter Meeting.
Mike Francis
Webmaster SoloTogether
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