Last summer, while on a golf outing, we heard about a house concert being held close to where we were staying. We went online, bought tickets, and had a totally marvelous time. House concerts are small, intimate musical events put on in people’s homes, usually with well-known artists. Last year, we got to see renowned Canadian singer-songwriter Tom Wilson, and just this week we got to see multi-Juno and Grammy award-winning producer and performer Colin Linden at the same venue.
Anna Potvin hosts these concerts in a production facility set up in the garage at her home near Collingwood at the base of Blue Mountain, named “Studio79”. Ticket sales are limited to 40 people and cozy seating is provided for anyone who needs to sit. Folks can always stand if they choose to do so. The doors remain open but curtained off in cooler months. The venue is within walking distance of the Blue Mountain Resort, so it is very easy to book a room and walk over to the event for anyone coming from out of town. I would encourage you to check out Anna’s concert schedule on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/studio79.atblue/), or to search out other house concerts close to where you live.
In the Camera’s Eye” presents fast and furious snippets of things that have grabbed my attention… for whatever reason. I attempt to capture the essence of what I am sharing in no more than two paragraphs and in 10 or less photos with captions.
The gracious host, Anna Potvin, music lover, entrepreneur, savvy promoter, and all-round nice person.
The crowd is arriving. These events are strictly BYOB. One of the welcome features of events at Anna’s place is that they begin at a reasonable hour – in this case, 5:30 PM.
As you can see, the audience, in this case anyway, skewed towards the more mature, possibly retired, amongst us. 🙂 Other artists draw younger crowds. Anna’s offerings appeal to a wide range of music lovers… Which I like.
Anna introducing Colin. At house concerts you get to sit incredibly close to the performers.
Anna’s venue. The sold-out show has begun. I intentionally went and stood at the back just to see with the view and the sound was like, and it was all fine.
The inimitable Colin Linden. Colin’s amazing guitar playing, and gifted song writing were on full display. The music was fantastic, but just as remarkable was how Colin interacted comfortably with the audience and told wonderful stories about his life in the music industry, and about the musicians, like Howlin’ Wolf, who inspired him.
And what better way to bring the intimate sensibility of a house concert experience to you – a clip of one of Colin’s amazing offerings.
Typically, one of the benefits of attending house concerts is that the performer is happy to stick around for a short while afterwards and chat with attendees. Concert going does not get much better than that.
And you can always buy Merch directly from the performer and have them autograph it for you. Shoulda bought the vinyl…damn! 🙂
A final photo from my first foray to Anna’s. Tom Wilson up close and personal. Tom and Colin play in a favourite band together – Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.
