Sofa Salon 2018 News

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2018, Austria, Östereich, Georgie Fisher, gigs, Linz, Listen to Leena, new music, news, Orit Shimoni, photos, TEDx, The Antler King, Trolli Truffle, upcoming events, video

Photo request, TEDx, and February and April Salons

 

Dearhearts, Welcome to Sofa Salon!  Don’t forget to  us on Facebook.
Meine Lieben, Willkommen zum Sofa Salon! Bitte nicht vergessen bei Facebook „Gefällt dir“ anzuklicken.

I hope you had a good slide into 2018. Do you feel positive for the year ahead? I’ve come back from a month at my Mum’s house feeling energetic! Join me this year for some amazing events.

1. Sofa Salon goes to TEDx Linz
EN: On February 10, I will give a talk at TEDx Linz. The theme is house concerts as the new normal in independent music. My talk will be in Deep Space, Ars Electronica’s 360-degree projection room, and to create a spectacle, the talk will have huge projections and live music from Austrian artists Listen to Leena and Trolli Truffle. A mini Sofa Salon!

But I need your photos. If you have a high-resolution photo of artists or audience at a Sofa Salon that I could use, please email me. I will credit you as the photographer, and you will see your photo in the eventual TED talk video.

DE: Am 10.02.18, ich bin eingeladen, einen Vortrag beim TEDx Linz halten. Thema: Hauskonzerte – Die neue Normalität für indie-Musiker. Man findet mein Gespräch in Deep Space statt – der 360-Grad Vorführraum im Ars Electronica. Sodass es spektaculär ist, benutze ich den Beamer und Live Musik von Listen to Leena und Trolli Truffle! Spannend, ja?

Aber ich brauche dein Fotos. Wenn du hi-res Sofa Salon Fotos von Künstler oder Publikum haben, bitte schreib mir ein E-Mail. Ich biete natürlich Bildnachweis an, und Man der Fotos im kommendem TEDx Video sehen kann.

You can see my TEDx welcome video here:

Samantha Wareing @ TEDxLinz 89 views

2. Next Salons
The next two Sofa Salons are a collaboration with the lovely crew at indieBerlin. We’re planning to create some amazing events together in Berlin this year!

Friday 16 February – Sofa Salon #76: The Antler King (BE) + Georgie Fisher (AU/Ber)
https://www.facebook.com/events/1688429681215778/

Friday 13 April – Sofa Salon #77: Orit Shimoni (CA) + guest TBC
https://www.facebook.com/events/384290252000754/

Please reserve your places by email. Bitte Plätze per E-Mail Reservieren.
Time/Einlass 19:30. Price/Eintritt 8-15€

3. After losing my domain name to a useless online sniper who wanted to sell it to a furniture shop for 2000€, the website is back online: www.berlinsofasalon.de

Nach dem Verlust meines Domain-Namen an einen Scharfschützen, der für 2000 € an einem Möbelhaus verkaufen möchte, ist meine Website wieder online. Prima!

I wish you all proper snow and a little sunshine.

Kind Regards,
Samantha

Sofa Salon News November 2017

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2018, collaboration, Georgie Fisher, house concert, indieBerlin, lineups, news, Orit Shimoni, playlist, Sofa Salon, spotify, The Antler King

This is a long email! If you just want the gigs or playlist, click the navigation links below:

1. Sofa Salon 2018
2. Sofa Salon Collaboration and Future Plans
3. Spotify Playlists

Sofa Salons 2018 – First Announcements
Friday 16 February – Sofa Salon #76: The Antler King (BE) + Georgie Fisher (AU/Ber)
Two years ago I had an email from Belgian musician And They Spoke In Anthems asking if he and The Antler King could do a show at Sofa Salon. I loved them both immediately, but the dates didn’t work out for both acts. Featuring a singing drummer, layers and layers of delicious guitar texture and a wonderful, dark mood, The Antler King are going to be amazing.
Joining them is Australian-in-Berlin Georgie Fisher, who you’ve been telling me you want to see at Sofa Salon. Also a house concert host with The Muso Next Door series, her whiskey voice and rhythmic guitar chops will be a strong opening for this Salon.

Friday 13 April – Sofa Salon #77: Orit Shimoni (CA) + support TBC
Orit played a very memorable Sofa Salon a couple of years back and is one of the artists you often ask me about. We managed to find another date in Orit’s incredibly busy and never-ending tour schedule.

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Sofa Salon Collaboration and Plans
I’ve tried this year to get acts like Fazerdaze, Hannah Lou Clark and Julia Jacklin. In talking to booking agents, I know I need to be able to offer more money, but changing what’s good about Sofa Salon is not the right way to go. 40-60 people. 8-15€ on the door. Intimate, private listening spaces with good people – these are the things that make Sofa Salon a great way to experience music.

After She Makes War in September, I got talking to Noel from Indieberlin, the long-running email culture guide. I asked about possible solutions for raising money without changing the atmosphere. He suggested we meet. With his events coordinator Chloe, we talked about collaboration, sponsorship and funding options, even a German Sofa Salon tour.

I mentioned that I have the chance to take Sofa Salon to Barcelona next year. It’d be a great excuse to take Berlin acts to Spain and hang in a city I really love. We talked about finding a local alcohol sponsor so we could make a Salon cocktail. I’m leaning towards the dirty martini.

We talked about how video is so important to promote music now. I said I love that Sofa Salon is a technology-free listening space, but Chloe said there are subtle ways to record an event so people can see and hear how lovely the atmosphere and how good the music is. We’re going to collaborate on the next few Salons. If it works, we can dream bigger.

I’m going to ask you for ideas and help. If you have strong opinions on how Sofa Salon should grow very organically, please let me know. if you have contacts with suitable sponsors or know of funding options we should explore, email me. If you know of people with living rooms in other parts of Germany who would love to host a Sofa Salon, please ask them and tell me.

I look forward to seeing what could happen, and always with you and the musicians in mind. ❤

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Sofa Salon Spotify Playlist
On the Sofa Salon Facebook page, I said I wanted to compile songs from all the musicians that have played Sofa Salon over the last seven years. I asked which platform you’d all prefer to listen to. You said Spotify. So, here is the 2010 Sofa Salon Playlist., our very first year!

You’ll find songs from Eric Eckhart, Wasp Summer ;), Grand Salvo, Miranda, Brome, The Alma Church Choir and more. It’s a wonderland of excellence. I’ll add another year’s playlist with each email update for your listening pleasure. If you’re on Spotify, can you please follow me?

Fun fact! When he played the second ever Sofa Salon, Timotheé from Brome was in a band with Claire called Bocage and it was amazing, but the Bocage album isn’t on Spotify. It is, however, on Bandcamp, so I’ve also made a Bandcamp Wish List. It collects nearly all the remaining Salon artists, and also gives us a very easy way to listen to, buy and support the music we fall in love with.

You could like Sofa Salon’s Bandcamp page too. Eventually, I will populate the Wishlist with every Sofa Salon artist with music on Bandcamp, but with different songs to the Spotify Playlist.

I’m still trying to work out how to compile the spoken word performers I booked in the early days. Suggestions?

Fun fact! Christina Maria from Sofa Salon #3 is now called Rykka and represented Switzerland at 2016’s Eurovision! See the stars at Sofa Salon first!

Feel free to share the music on the playlists with all your music-loving friends. Please let me know which songs you love the most and what you think of the playlists.

Kind Regards,
Sam

Sofa Salon mini-Festival of Cloudy Songs

Dearhearts, Welcome to Sofa Salon!  Don’t forget to  us on Facebook.
Meine Lieben, Willkommen zum Sofa Salon! Bitte nicht vergessen bei Facebook „Gefällt dir“ anzuklicken.

Hello Dearhearts,

As the harvest sunsets burn up our October evenings, we start to think of cozy things – candles, warming food, gathering friends, glühwein, netflix marathons.

To finish the Sofa Salon year, I accidentally programmed a mini-festival on October 27 & 28. The story is a classic concert promoter’s tale of having too many great options for one date.

Sun Tailor has been on my wish-list for three years. Just as we finally found a suitable weekend, Melanie Horsnell, who has played Sofa Salon before, said she was coming back at the same time.

Let’s put them on the same show! Job done! Melanie then said she was touring with King Curly, and asked if I wanted him on the show, too. I listened to his music and fell in love. I couldn’t say no, but I couldn’t put three people on one lineup. I would have to do two shows, and so the Sofa Salon Harvest Festival of Cloudy Songs was born.

About a month back, I was offered work outside of Berlin finishing on the day of the first Sofa Salon festival show. I can’t say no to the money, so I have booked a flight back, which will arrive at the time Sofa Salon normally starts.

My hosts, and my friend Monica, who some of you will know from selling drinks at Sofa Salons past, are going to let guests in from 20:30 on Friday 27 until I arrive from the airport. Music will start at 21:15. We’re in a lovely apartment at Rosenthaler Platz for both shows! Press your thumbs for me that there are no delays!!!

For Saturday 28, things are back to normal with doors from 19:30 and music from 20:15.

I hope you can join me for one or both:

FB: Sofa Salon #74: Melanie Horsnell + King Curly (AU)
FB: Sofa Salon #75: Sun Tailor (ISR) + Michael Brinkworth AU

Kind Regards,
Sam

Sofa Salon presents She Makes War

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2017, Bristol, Hunger Streets, Kidaphex1975, Laura Kidd, lineups, news, She Makes War, singer-songwriter, Sofa Salon, The Commonwealth Passage, upcoming events

Dearhearts, Welcome to Sofa Salon!  Don’t forget to  us on Facebook.
Meine Lieben, Willkommen zum Sofa Salon! Bitte nicht vergessen bei Facebook „Gefällt dir“ anzuklicken.

The monstrously talented Laura from She Makes War comes to Sofa Salon in two weeks. We’re already half-booked, so if you’d like to come to this Salon, please email me now for reservations. Support comes from one of my favourite Berlin songwriters, Kidaphex1975 (James Trottier from Hunger Streets, The Commonwealth Passage).

Indie Berlin are long-time friends of Sofa Salon and are super-excited to see She Makes War in our intimate living room setting, so they interviewed Laura. You can read the interview here: https://www.indieberlin.de/en/music/makes-war-brilliant-bristol-indie-explosion-comes-calling.html

Die tierisches talentierte Laura von She Makes War ist bei uns am Sept 30. Wir sind zurzeit 50% reserviert, so wenn ihr Lust habt, diese Konzert zu sehen, bitte mich schnell einen E-Mail schicken.

Indie Berlin sind langfristiges Unterstützer von Sofa Salon, und so spannend war, dass sie einen Interview mit Laura gemacht haben. Bitte hier klicken, es zu lesen (auf Englisch): https://www.indieberlin.de/en/music/makes-war-brilliant-bristol-indie-explosion-comes-calling.html

Liebe Grüße,
Sam

Future Sofa Salons – Book Now!
Friday 27. October – Melanie Horsnell (AU) + King Curly (AU)
Saturday 28. October – Sun Tailor (ISR) + Michael Brinkworth (AU)

Kind Regards,
Sam

Sofa Salon Summer Update

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Australia, australian musician, Berlin, Castanet Club, entertainment, host, host a house concert, house concert, Jac Amidy, music, news, Rachel Snow, Sofa Salon, Tim McMillan

1. Become a Sofa Salon apartment host
2. Sofa Salon #72: Tim McMillan + Mimi Gilbert
3. Future Salons

Become a Sofa Salon apartment host
Sofa Salon hosts are the home and heart of the house concert experience. Would you like to host a house concert in your apartment?

I’m looking for hosts for the three remaining Sofa Salons this year including the one on June 24. I host many in my own home, but I enjoy the act of moving Salons from place to place, filling up different corners of the city with music.

Sofa Salon is designed to be a simple hosting experience. Guests arrive from 19:30, music is usually finished by 22:00 and the night is wrapped up by 23:00. If your room is big enough to fit 30-40 people sitting on chairs or on the floor, I can provide acoustic music, drinks and a wonderful relaxed atmosphere with the lovely salonnières that you know from coming to the shows. You’re welcome to invite your own family and friends. I’ll help set up and clean up.

Please email me back if you want to discuss becoming a Sofa Salon host.

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Samstag 24. Juni – Sofa Salon #72: Tim McMillan (AU) + Jac Amidy (AU)
Berlin-based Australian Tim McMillan’s been on my radar for years. A phenomenal guitarist, he writes complex and beautiful modern folk songs that remind me of Midlake or Nick Drake and performs with violinist Rachel Snow. When I hosted and he played the Australian Embassy’s Australia Day event a few years ago, I got to watch him up close and offered him a Salon on the spot. Finally, the date has come along!
Video: Spiders (song)

Jac Amidy is a mainstay of the Australian music scene, releasing albums since her big break as singer/bassplayer of legendary cabaret troupe, The Castanet Club. She’s a gifted singer, guitarist and songwriter. We’re in for a very personal, idiosyncratic treat.

Einlass 19:00. Eintritt 8€. Musik ab 20:15. Reservierungen per E-Mail. Please reply to this email or email berlinsofasalon@googlemail.com to reserve your places. I already have reservations, so don’t wait!
FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1886222238321030/

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Future Sofa Salons
Saturday Oktober 28 – Sun Tailor (ISR) + Melanie Horsnell (AU)

Kind Regards,
Sam

Couch magazine features Sofa Salon in Salon-Kultur article

Tags

Couch, Germany, house concerts, Kate Seabrook, Kini MOD, lifestyle magazine, magazine, Salon-Kultur, Sofa Salon

German glossy lifestyle magazine Couch is doing a feature in its new edition on the trend of Salon-Kultur – home-based entertainment.

Kini MOD at Sofa Salon 2013. By Kate Seabrook Photographer.

They got in contact to ask if they could use photos people had taken at Sofa Salon.

There should be at least one, and hopefully three, in the article. The largest image is from our friend Kate Seabrook. I suspect it’s the one of Kini Mod from the November 2013 Sofa Salon at Markus’ house.

The magazine is out on February 10. I’ll post a scan when I have a copy of the magazine.

Cheers,
Sam

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Sofa Salon Lineups 2014

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2014, Berlin, Cera Impala, Fredrik Kinbom, house concert, Il Tempo Gigante, lineups, Lisa Richards, live music, Mélissa Laveaux, musicians, My baby Will, Odi, Sofa Salon, Svavur Knutur, Vincent Long, when, Zoe Boekbinder

Hallo zusammen,

We had a really great Sofa Salon last Saturday night at K98, a wonderful house project. The space is much bigger than previous Sofa Salon wohnzimmer but will definitely work for the right musicians. Iris Romen’s enchanting country-jazz and Big Daddy Mugglestone’s situationist gospel preaching were two opposing sides of the Americana tradition and made for an exciting evening. Plenty of happy faces. I stayed until 06:00 and now know that shots of Berliner Luft are a seriously minty bad idea.
I’ve been booking for future Sofa Salons and we’ve got some wonderful lineups coming together.
Email me (berlinsofasalon [aet] googlemail.com) for reservations.

Friday 7 February: Vincent Long (Ber) + My Baby Will (Ber)
For Sofa Salon #53, Berlin troubadour Vincent Long manages to be funny, sweet and somehow sultry all together in one tall, literate indie-folk parcel. Vincent put in wonderful sets at various events over Berlin in the last year like Melodica Festival and Everyone Is From Somewhere. When our hostess saw Vincent at Melodica Acoustic Festival Berlin, she asked if she could host Vincent for Sofa Salon. Done. Support comes from inventive Italian in Berlin Monica Cipollone a.k.a. My Baby Will.
Eintritt 8€. Einlass 19:00. Bring friends. This one is behind the Bergmannstr in Kreuzberg.
https://www.facebook.com/events/199601670247416

Friday 14 March: Odi (IE) + Fredrik Kinbom (SE)
#54 features rootsy Irish indie pop singer-songwriter duo Odi + Swedish lap-steel musician Fredrik Kinbom. Odi’s quavering, emotional voice and emotive music was one of the lovely surprises that sometimes pop up in the Sofa Salon inbox. Fredrik Kinbom stepped in last-minute to support The Re-Mains at Sofa Salon last year and sounded so lovely (I’m a terrible sucker for good slide/steel guitar) that I have found him another show. People have already reserved places for this show, so get in quick.
Website: Odi
Website: Fred Kinbom

Friday 11. April: Il Tempo Gigante (DK) + Mélissa Laveaux (CA/FR)Sofa Salon #55 features amazing Danish guitarist/songwriter Il Tempo Gigante and talented Candian musician Mélissa Laveaux. I am hugely excited because after I booked Il Tempo Gigante for Berlin Music Week 2012, he suffered an unfortunate accident that stopped him playing for quite some time. It’s a pleasure to have him back on the live scene and doing a show for us. He is supported by remarkable Canadian songstress Mélissa Laveaux who, based in Paris, has been making waves with her very funky acoustic sounds. If you liked Elyas Khan at Sofa Salon, you’ll dig Mélissa.
Website Il Tempo Gigante
Website Mélissa Laveaux

Sunday May 11 – Melanie Horsnell (AU) + Hanna Leess (US)
It’s my birthday and I’m hosting a mini-festival with some hand-picked artists from across the world. Featuring is wonderful Australian musician Melanie Horsnell who will be touring Europe for the release of her most recent album The Cloud Appreciation Society. More on the lineup as I confirm acts.
Website: Melanie Horsnell
Website: Hanna Leess

Friday 13. June – Cera Impala (US) + Zoe Boekbinder (US)
Cera Impala returns to Berlin after having moved to the lovely gothic city of Edinburgh. She is much-loved in Berlin’s roots music scene as a player, writer and bon vivant. It’s a pleasure to have her back at Sofa Salon. Zoe Boekbinder is a roving US singer-songwriter with an apparently ferocious work ethic and a backpack of finely observed songs.
Website: Cera Impala
Website: Zoe Boekbinder

September: Svavur Knutur (IS) + Lisa Richards (AU)

Sofa Salon

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Berlin, blog, gigs, house concerts, indie, music, Postrwall, press, reblog, review, Sofa Salon

Sofa Salon got a lovely profile on Berlin music blog postrwall.
Thanks, Maria!

Sofa Salon featured in Slow Travel Berlin

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article, Berlin, Europe, Germany, house concert, Kate Seabrook, music, performing, Sam Wareing, Simon Morrison, slow travel, Slow Travel Berlin, Sofa Salon

Oh, that’s nice news to wake up to. Saloniers, our house concert series has been featured in excellent philosophical travel guide Slow Travel Berlin!

Simon Morrison wrote (and played) about the Sofa Salon concept and interviewed me. Kate Seabrook showed some of the fantastic pictures she’s taken over the last two years of Sofa Salon.

If you’re new to Sofa Salon, you can send me an email below and join the mailing list.

Wasp Summer and Eric Eckhart perform at Sofa Salon HQ in Moabit with Lena Tjader on backup vocals.

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House concerts for touring musicians

Here’s a link to a great article about the logistics and economics of touring via house concert in the US. Some great acts mentioned in here – Caitlin Cary, David Bazan, James McMurtry, Alejandro Escovedo.