Booking summer concerts

I've finally started working on getting some shows booked at our pavilion for this summer. The only one I'd had up until now was Tommy Womack for Father's Day evening. I think I may now have an opener for him too (if J. Andrew comes through). We'll probably have a good old-fashioned picnic as well.

Ryan Hirschy is going to do a Sunday morning or Sunday night show for us - I should find out tomorrow. We had him last year for a Sunday morning outside and it went pretty good. I like him. Today I also booked Dave Frincke from Fort Wayne. I have heard Dave many a time at c2g and really like not only his voice, keys and guitar work, but he's got a great heart for Jesus. I always like seeing someone who is totally in love with God sing and play, and that's what Dave is. And I think I lined up a band for a later summer date. They played for us last summer as Full Circle, but now they have a few different members and go by EarthSong (I think).

I have several more inquiries in and am on the lookout for more. What I would really like to do is book almost exclusively on Sunday nights at 6 pm from the middle of June through August. That way we could develop some continuity. And having the shows outside under the pavilion will hopefully draw more people from the community, because that's really what we're doing this for anyway. These aren't shows for our church - they are shows for the community our church building is located in and around. That's why we built the pavilion and the playground. So hopefully with our big yellow roadside sign people will know it's not just a "church thing."

We have plans to enclose one corner of the pavilion and make it a storage area / concession stand. Someone is donating a prep table that we can store pop and water in. And I'm thinking we can have pizza the night of shows. We can start with a few and if we run out we can always just have more delivered (the benefit of having your wife work at a pizza joint). If we charge 50 cents for pop and $1.50 for pizza we should cover our costs. So eventually I would like people in the area to think to themselves, "Hey... I wonder who's playing at the pavilion this Sunday? Let's go see."

The big challenge for me is finding performers though. And even though it would be easier to find Southern Gospel groups, I would really rather not have too many of them. We'll probably do a couple, but there's a lot of "other" good music out there too. Even good Christian music. Hopefully we will have some that isn't even "christian." It's a community thing, you know. We aren't trying to save people with this stuff; we just want to provide a place for people to have a good time, maybe develop some friendships, and if they get a hankerin' for Jesus too... well, there would certainly be nothin' wrong with that.

You know... come to think of it... I think this is actually the kind of stuff I like to do. Not so much when I have all kinds of other stuff to do too, but... this gets me stoked. There, I said it! There is somethin' I actually like to do. :)

So, that's what's happening. If you know any good performers who don't need a lot of money... lemme know, okay?

PS - I could also use a couple of spotlights (at least one). Like, real ones - not the shop lights we have now.