A Letter from the Live Oak Coffeehouse Committee

October 9, 2007

Dear Live Oak Coffeehouse community:

Well, we have reached a critical crossroads in our 10-year coffeehouse concert series. The good news is that we have a FABULOUS concert coming up on Friday, October 12th with Michael Smith and Richard Berman. These are two of the most talented songwriters I know. We thank you for your support over the years and hope you can join us at this concert, which may be our last for a while.

The reasons for this are several, but can be conveniently grouped into three separate, but closely related categories: volunteers, attendance, and charity support. This letter discusses each of these subjects in some detail below.

1. Volunteers

Our volunteers work very hard to organize and host these shows. Some of the many tasks include booking performers; printing flyers; writing and sending out press releases; notifying radio stations and print media; updating websites; picking up, cutting, and serving pastries; picking up and serving coffee and pastries; setting up and operating sound equipment and lights; selling merchandise; collecting and disbursing money; contacting charities; washing dishes, and vacuuming the church. There has also been a lot of “behind the scenes” work, which involves coordinating schedules and activities with other Live Oak church officials and committees.

With few exceptions, the same group of people have done all these tasks for most of the life of the concert series. And we have almost always done so willingly and cheerfully. Perhaps the critical event precipitating the, hopefully temporary, interruption in the Live Oak Coffeehouse Concert series is the resignation of several key volunteers. Because of the myriad tasks involved in hosting these concerts, and the time constraints of the remaining volunteers, we simply do not have enough warm bodies at the present time to keep this going. We have made repeated efforts to recruit additional volunteers, but thus far have been unsuccessful. If some new volunteers step forward, this situation may change.

2. Concert Attendance

Even before the resignation of some key volunteers, the coffeehouse committee had extensive discussions about concert attendance. Some of our shows have been very well attended; most notably two relatively recent shows featuring the Austin Lounge Lizards Equally. In such cases, volunteer morale is especially high, and it is obvious that or efforts are appreciated and worthwhile. But many shows featuring other superb performers who we feel deserved a better turnout had have been poorly attended, and this has the opposite effect on morale.

The support of Live Oak UU church has been essential and greatly appreciated. If the Coffeehouse had to pay for the space and utilities out of the concert proceeds, we would never have been able to afford to produce series. However, attendance of Live Oak members at the monthly shows has been disappointing. While Live Oak church membership has grown, Live Oak member attendance at our concerts has declined. One problem is that the number of church activities has mushroomed. On most evenings at Live Oak, there are at least two activities to choose from. Music is only one activity and we all have time as well as financial constraints.

Before we moved to our new building, we sold as many as 50 season passes, most of them purchased by Live Oak members who wanted to support the series, even if they were unable to attend every concert. For the last several years, most of the concert attendees have been non- church members. This development was expected and welcomed, but we now typically sell fewer than 20 season passes. And many (most?) of those were purchased by volunteers, even though they are offered free admission to concerts as an incentive to volunteer. We have counted on season ticket sales to provide a minimum “guarantee” for the performers and the designated local non-profit organization at each show.

3. Charity support

Since the beginning of our series, 25% of the proceeds from each show has gone to support local charities. In return for our support, we have asked the particular organization to send at least one representative to the concert to give a short announcement about their activities, and distribute literature or flyers if available. In addition, we have requested that they help publicize the concert through their newsletters, email, and websites. Unfortunately, very few organizations have been diligent about this, and most have not even sent a representative. This, too, has been a major disappointment.

Some general comments

We knew it would not be easy to become an established venue with a solid reputation and a loyal audience, but we thought that after ten years, we would be further toward that goal. Our hope has been to establish a reputation for quality shows that our patrons might consistently attend, even if the particular performer(s) are relatively unknown. While some venues, admittedly mostly house concerts rather than church-based coffeehouses, have been able to achieve this level of success, we have not been able to do so. A church-based coffeehouse cannot hope to replicate the intimate atmosphere of a hose concert.

Obviously, some fluctuation in attendance is to be expected and we all need to deal with that reality. Clearly not all performers are equally popular, and no single performer can possibly appeal to all people. If our sole objective were to maximize attendance at each concert, we could change our booking policies to achieve this goal. However, our mission has been to present emerging artists as well as (relatively) big name “folk stars.” We have attempted to present performers who we believe are very talented but who are just getting started in their careers or are relatively unknown, at least to an Austin audience. There is a huge pool of talented performers out there who are struggling to be heard and who deserve an audience.

We have also made it a point to present local talent, even though many of these performers can be heard other places around town for free or for a minimal cover charge. We believe that local Austin musicians should not have to leave town to make a decent amount of money. So- called “folk” music is nearly impossible to define, but we have made a point of “pushing the envelope” and straying beyond what many perceive as its usual boundaries. Our occasional forays into bluegrass and rock, rather than exclusively “singer-songwriters, has resulted in some of our most memorable and best-attended shows but, in retrospect, may have hurt attendance with our “regulars.”

Another issue related to attendance is the two edged sword of living in “the live music capital of the world.” The blessing and the curse of living in Austin is having so much live music to choose from every night of the week. If we were the only game in town, our attendance would likely be much higher. But our shows are continually “competing” (if that’s the right word) with other local clubs, house concerts, bars, and restaurants for audience. Much of our audience consists of people who do not frequent other Austin-area venues. But one irony of our location in Northwest Austin is that it is a long drive (during Friday evening rush hour no less) for many of the South Austin “die hards” who actively support this kind of music.

Performers and attendees alike have consistently praised the quality of our venue: the great sound system, the attentive and appreciative audience, the quality of the coffee and pastries, etc. Complaints by artists about the amount of money they make are almost unheard of. In fact, given the economics of this segment of the music industry, many of the performers at Live Oak Coffeehouse are grateful for the relatively modest payment they do receive. However, the church sanctuary holds over 200 people and, unlike a house concert, when only 40 or 50 people show up for a concert at Live Oak, it looks really empty. It also makes it very difficult to attract the better-known performers, many of who have expectations or even require “guarantees” of $1,000, $1,500 or more.

This letter is, in one sense, way too long and includes more detail than many of you want or need to know. On the other hand, there is a lot more that could be said. In the interest of providing a relatively timely explanation for the hiatus in our long-standing monthly concert series, we wanted to get this out sooner rather than later.

Live Oak does plan on presenting occasional future concerts, but the series as it has been configured in the past faces an uncertain future. If you are willing to volunteer to help with the myriad tasks required to present concerts, we welcome your support. If you have ideas for future performers or how to improve attendance at our shows, publicity ideas, etc. we certainly welcome them. In addition, Connie and Austin plan on beginning an occasional house concert series in their newly renovated home in Northwest Austin sometime after the beginning of 2008. Stay tuned for more details about that.

Thank you again for your support!

Sincerely,

Austin Kessler and the Coffeehouse Committee