Moonlight at the Treehouse

Mark and I had been talking about doing a show at the Treehouse (the Treehouse is Mark's awesome house in the woods in Los Gatos) for years... but, work, and the challenges of the space, plus money and performers -- was making it into a puzzle in my head I was having trouble solving.  A dry run seemed like it might be worth it, but where would we start?  Would it be themed?  Would it be a party?  Would we bill it like a show?  Would we tell people about the performances, or let them discover things on their own?  Would it be frustrating to miss performances if we had a bunch of things happening at once?  There were a million questions.

My original idea was to create an evolved version of 8 with 8 performers for the night.  I wanted to find a strong piano player whose music we could route to different parts of the house, and then have collaborations happening with the piano music.  Dancers on the deck, another instrument out by the zen garden, a spoken word artist or a singer down in the bar in the basement...  The purpose was to create an environment of magical discovery with 4 connected performances at once, then some kind of break, and 4 more.

*countlesspossibilitypuzzlespin*

At the beginning of this year, Mark and I started talking again, and finally decided to just throw a party.  We'd make it a free for all open mic night to see if some of my vision might happen organically.  We gave it a loose theme -- a party under the moonlight (a full moon) at the treehouse on a Saturday night.  Perfect.

We invited a bunch of creative people, and people who like creative things, added some special touches (buttons, star garland, disco stars on the trees), made food, designed an invite, designated a DJ, and confirmed some people who would perform at some point.  We'd see how people moved about the space, how the different parts of the house would feel, if people would perform, and how people would respond to the performances.

The things that went well:

• We had a really nice turnout
• A great mix of mine and Mark's friends, and co-workers
• Everyone was well behaved
• The weather was great
• People performed who likely wouldn't have agreed to be booked on a show
• There were some really brave and lovely performances
• It was very in the moment 
• Since nothing specific was planned, we were all on the journey together
• Mark had great lighting around his house 
• The disco stars were magical 
• People told me they had a great time

The things that might need attention, if we do this again: 

• The different areas of the house felt isolated (which might make the original idea work well, but maybe wasn't ideal for this kind of party)
• People who'd been on the deck couldn't find us when we went downstairs for the performances.  
• Both the DJ and one of the committed performers had emergencies and weren't able to come last minute 
• Would have been good to have some backup plans
• Mark's place wasn't ready for a party when I arrived 
• Specific expectations or a plan around this would've been worth it.  I had to sweep all 3 decks and clean both bathrooms, aside from last minute party things.  Also, our tealight wayfinding didn't work that well before the sun went down.  Ha. 
• The food selection wasn't great
• We needed ice, more cups, and any kind of vegetable 
• I think it might've made sense to either curate the night more, or to not create performance expectations at all.  (Though I'm a bit torn on this point.  It was special having people choose to take the mic in the moment, which maybe wouldn't have happened if things had been more curated.)
• If the night was more curated, I think I would either go after my first idea full force and see what happens, OR would maybe make it much more of a curated kind of party... 
• If a party - acoustic performances scheduled in the living room, dance music outside on the deck, and maybe a free for all music setup (with no prior expectations) in the basement bar
• Planned technical support would be good for the sound system(s)
• The timeframe could've been shorter and the party probably could've started later (this would depend on what we're trying to accomplish)
• It would've been good to find ways to integrate people more 
• Moving furniture around, more connection points or things to connect over

At the end of the night, a friend of mine told me how much he enjoyed the night and appreciated what I do to keep things like this alive.

Update: 4/17

For the last couple of weeks, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that something was missing from our moonlit night.  Then, a few days ago, I was in a Lyft on the way to the airport and, as the driver and I were talking about our passions and career trajectories, we started talking about ei8ht.  During the conversation, I realized that a very important element in making ei8ht special was its mission to bring people together around local art while giving back to the community.  The show wasn't about me making money, or just entertainment, it was specifically about celebrating, supporting, and honoring local art, while also donating to positive community efforts -- in ei8ht's case, an important arts education and violence prevention program in Oakland.  In the background, it was a hope that some day I might use the experience on a resume, but I wasn't sure if anyone would take it seriously...

FEED YOUR SOUL