House Concerts. If you’ve never been to one, I recommend making it a top priority. I recently attended a show in Quebec and this is the story of that day. The reason I went to Canada for an obscure concert is because my capstone documentary is focused on house shows and the intimacy of hearing live music in a unique setting.
My partner and I, Olivia Lyons, are trying to answer a few questions. Why is this a community that people want to be a part of, why do the homeowners want to host live music in their homes, and why do the artists want to perform in such small venues?
Our project will be done in mid to late April, and will be broadcast on a local Vermont news station, RETN. We filmed our first show two days ago in Ayers Cliff, Quebec...and boy, did we have a day!
Olivia and I left Burlington around 3pm. We crossed the border, everything was looking good. We were about 15 minutes away from our destination when we turned onto a road that had a sign saying “closed during the winter months”. We did not see the sign. My car got stuck in the snow, and we were stranded in the middle of nowhere. I grabbed my ice pick out of my trunk and got to work on the snow behind my tires. Turns out the problem was that the middle of my car was marooned on a chunk of ice and we would most definitely need someone to pull us out.
We thought we were doomed. Planning out our next move, we tried checking if we could get AAA to come save us as we had only just crossed the border. No luck there. We walked to a house to see if anyone was home and still no luck. As we were about to give up hope we saw a truck pull into a long driveway that led to a barn. We flagged them down and explained what had happened. The two men attached a chain to my car and twenty minutes later we were cruising down a not closed road. We made it just in the nick of time.
Filming and interviewing was a blur, but a warm and fuzzy one. We spoke to some amazing musicians (Kyshona, Mary Bragg, and Hannah Miller), got to eat some delicious homemade food, packed up, and got back to Burlington at around 2am. A crazy day, but one I’m not sure to forget anytime soon.
