10 seasons and counting.

It's hard to believe, but on Saturday at 3pm, I kick off my 10th season of playing music at Gepettos. Last year was the first time we tried the Saturday "Apres Ski" and it worked out great. So, once again I will be playing EVERY saturday (3pm to 5pm) from now until the end of March.

I've also had the great pleasure of playing 3 shows in the past 3 weeks at The Phoenix House at Sunday River. I can't say enough good things about this place...a top notch, proactive approach to entertainment. For example, the existing stage was in a corner in the dining area, away from the bar...which made it difficult to interact with the Apres Ski bar crowd and to set an appropriate volume for the diners while still reaching the bar. But instead of letting this be a problem, the great staff and owners at The Phoenix House removed a corner booth near the bar and built a SECOND stage. The fact that they had one stage was cool enough. Brining in a second smaller stage to create a viable Apres Ski venue is brilliant! This makes the Apres performances much more interactive with the bar crowd, and also allows the evening bands to set up during the apres performance instead of everyone having to rush to transition between acts.

While I am sure there is some concern over the lost revenue from that corner booth, I really believe that they will make up for it (and then some) in Apres bar sales. It is just nice to see such proactive measures being taken to retain guests, and to allow the entertainers to "bond" more with the audience. Kudos!

More news on the horizon, but that's all for now....


J


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