I am so excited to perform my first hour long set as a solo artist.
Over the last 12 years I have performed literally a couple of hundred times. Nowhere near as much as the pros but I feel like I’ve done my due diligence learning the craft. I just believed back then that there were no opportunities to do an hour, by myself, on anyone’s shows.
I, to this day, cannot sell the kind of tickets required to headline.
Believe me, I’ve tried.
What I can say is when the time came for choosing out the music in this set, I had so many available choices that people won’t see my whole catalogue.
This is the family friendly hour, as close as we get to that.
I’m really proud to be in this place and so excited to share this collection of my life’s work with the world.
Saturday at noon I’ll be participating in PorchfestNDG and I am truly thrilled.
I could have performed at PorchfestNDG before but I let hearsay keep me from asking
It turns out to get this cool hour long set I needed to fulfil two requirements:
Have an hour’s worth of music to play
Keep it family friendly
I now realize the main reason many of my peers have not played PorchfestNDG was the family friendly part. I have to perform some surgery on my live versions to cut out some bad words. It’s also not the right time for Lose Weight.
Now is though, go add it to your playlist (not if kids can hear it though).
I was so caught up in the world of 5-25 min Hip Hop sets I never really looked too far elsewhere.
I’ve been ready for Porchfest for years. I just let pride and ego get in the way. Now I got a cool set, on a dope porch and we are going to raise some money for charity.
High key, this type of thing feels really good to be a part of.
Porchfest is a homegrown neighbourhood festival that takes place all over
Wikipedia says Porchfest started in Ithaca, New York in 2007.
The idea was so cool it spread. Musicians who live in a neighbourhood, go on their porch or balcony, and perform for the hood. Often this performance will be a charity fundraising event where the musicians donate time to raise that cheddar.
Montreal started its own Porchfest over here in NDG.
We covered the beginning of it on The Trainman Report podcast so go there for a recap:
You can find the full map for this year over on the PorchfestNDG website. The homie Kimberly is lending me her porch and I’ll be over on Marcil by Monkland at 12:00 PM on Saturday the 18th of May, 2024.
I’ll be real, I’ve never gone to Porchfest before. I hear it’s a lot of fun. Music of all genres being played by musicians all over. You can easily walk, or cycle (or if you want to fight parking battles, drive like I will with my heavy amp) around and enjoy 7 hours of music over the span of two days.
All from musicians that live in the hood.
If you don’t live in NDG, it’s a good opportunity to come see the amazing hidden gems we have to offer.
I’m a little sad that Eleuthera is booked at the same time as me and I will have to miss that show.
It’s an inclusive event that gives us a chance to support local merchants
I certainly hope the fine folk who come watch us play donate some money to Women on the Rise, the charity we are supporting this year.
I also hope people take some time to spend some money with local merchants.
There are a gajillion restaurants on Sherbrooke and Monkland. There’s a bunch of cool stores. Between the music and the expected good weather I know you’ll be in a generous enough mood to support the hood.
Personally I’ve not yet decided where I’m eating lunch, but there’s like 15 restaurants I sincerely want to try within a walking distance of where my set is.Things like Porchfest are super important for a community.
Make sure to take some time to pressure your local politicians to fund more festivals.
If you have an idea for something you’d like to bring to life, let me know, maybe we can brainstorm how to approach it.
Porchfest is pretty cool and I wanted to take a quick minute today to spread some love their way.
See you Saturday.
Live Long and Prosper Everyone