Someone asked me the other day what was the best living room or house concert that I've ever played at . There are so darn many, but playing the Mark Twain's Mansion might be a top contender.
Check out the items of the mantel in the picture above. The story is that Twain would gather all his kids in front of the fireplace, before their bedtime, to tell them some crazy or fantastical bedtime story. Can you just imagine? Here is the one time I wished Instagram Live existed in 1880.
Anyway, the one rule his kids and Twain demanded of himself was that he had to somehow mix in all the items on the fireplace mantel (the cat in a ruff painting, a statue of a dancer, a drawing of an old woman, etc) into the story. Furthermore, he could never repeat himself. If his kids caught him telling the same story, say, about the ceramic dancer from a previous night, he would have to go back and start all over again from the top. The kids, they said, loved when their dad messed up. They got to stay up later
Here's "Mexican Wrestler" with a little rambling intro. Anyway, the video is a good example of what a house concert is like with me, except your living room, no matter how lovely, is probably not as woody and historical. Despite that, I'm gonna look to book some house concerts for late Fall and Winter. I will even sing a song about the items on your mantel.
xo