Groupmuse Year 5
A few weeks ago, on January 12th, we celebrated the 5 year anniversary of the first ever Groupmuse: An evening of good cheer and music by Cesar Franck and Zoltan Kodaly in a beautiful home in Dedham MA. And by “celebrate”, I mean we acknowledged it in passing, and briefly lamented our inability to properly celebrate so significant a milestone, comically busy and stretched thin as we are. Which, in and of itself is something of a testament to 5 years well-worked — not only are we still around after half a decade, but the years have been so bountiful and productive that we hardly have any time to take stock and celebrate how far we’ve come. Still, I give you my word, at the ten-year, we’ll throw a decennary birthday bash in the Grand Style.
We made staggering strides in this fifth year, expanding all over the country, and generating enough revenue month after month to cover all our expenses with enough left over to buy a big beautiful RV named Daisy, who safely carried us in her warm belly across the whole country this past fall in a four-city launch tour, which I’ll go into more in a bit.
Chronologically speaking, we launched Groupmuse LA almost a year ago, to great effect. Thanks to a community of particularly committed hosts and electrifyingly talented musicians, it thrives to this day. What’s more, our first LA Massivemuse is in the works.
Next in line was the double header DC/Baltimore launch; that was in May. While Baltimore’s been slower going, DC has been fire. We already have a virtually weekly presence there, and we’ve now watched two Nights Out at the Kennedy Center sell out.
This fall we launched Philly with a bang 12 groupmuses in the first month. We have such high hopes for Groupmuse Philly, given its legendary DIY scene and its particularly rich classical culture.
And then, we met Daisy. She was built on a Chevy, born in ’86, and had over 200,000 miles on her treads. With an oven, a fridge, a toilet, a fridge, and three full-sized beds, she was warm when it was cold, bearable when it was hot, and she took us all the way from Seattle to New Orleans, with only a very great deal of problems, instead of a simply overwhelming amount of problems. We love you Daisy, and we always will.
First stop was Seattle, where we’ve had a lovely community for many years — so it was high time for a visit. We were lucky enough to be in town for a groupmuse at the legendary Ann Farr’s house. In case you don’t know, Ann Farr is one of the most prolific hosts in the history of Groupmuse and the Central Pillar of Groupmuse Seattle. Her groupmuse was packed to the brim with shining faces, and was a powerful testament to all Groupmuse Seattle has become.
We were also very fortunate to hold court with Operamuse — one of the most marvellous organic formations in all of the Groupmuse-iverse. It was started by two singers — Sammy and Mike — who take the masterworks of opera and distill it down to a living room-sized experience and update the plot to reflect the modern world. They’ve produced half a dozen or so, and for each, they put on a three living room run, always making a sold-out stop at Ann Farr’s. It was such an honor to meet this crew of folks who so fully embodied the full potential of all that Groupmuse can be. And, best of all, they’re now planning a Massivemuse — Seattle’s first as a matter of fact.
Next, it was Portland, whose charms and quirks melted our hearts. We put together a splendid community of hosts, connected to a crew of terrific musicians, and consumed 40,000 calories worth of Voodoo Donuts. Oh, we also met with these badass growers called HiFi Farms, who are helping us to organize a series of HiFimuses: we provide the music, they provide the product. Our first HiFimuse had over 100 people in attendance and was written up in the local press.
Denver was a peach — a great group of hosts and musicians, and Kyle and I went to different Groupmuses on the same night — both packed, both dreams. We were only there for three nights, but we did manage to score some Voodoo Donuts.
Next stop was Austin, where our trio was completed with the arrival of Ezra. Austin was warm and wonderful — we met with a great many fired-up musicians ready to Groupmuse Austin to its gills. We also went to a septet-sized Groupmuse in the lovely home of Mrs. and Mr. Gibson — who, in an act of vintage southern hospitality, put all three of us up for a night to give our faithful steed Daisy a rest for being lived in by three full-grown primates. While there IS a Voodoo Donuts in Austin, we sadly had to leave before getting a chance to sugar-stuff our gobs.
Our last stop was that American Legend, New Orleans. We took in the Louisiana Phil one night, danced like mad all nights, and fell in love with what is now my personal favorite city of all time.
And that was that! We parked Daisy in a nice temporary home in NOLA to cool her heels until her next adventure.
We split for our separate corners for Thanksgiving and began the long, hard, rewarding work of turning all those sparks we’d scattered over this magnificent country into roaring fires of sweet, sweet music — work we continue today.
In 2017, we organized 882 groupmuses, touching tens of thousands with this great music and raising almost $300,000 for musicians, averaging $151 per player per groupmuse — up 15% from 2016.
All in all, a great year in the Groupmuse-iverse — a noted contrast from the world outside the Groupmuse-iverse, which is precisely why you’ve got to get up in this Groupmuse-iverse!
Thank you all for the sounds, the living rooms, and the human warmth that made another beautiful year of Groupmuse possible.
All the best and all the love,
Sam, Ezra, and Kyle
