Laurie
Schaeffer just celebrated her 10th anniversary producing music events
- 153 of them, to be exact. Greg Abel, her pal since college days
in the ‘70s, has been emceeing those shows. Together they are Schaef-Abel
Productions, and if you share their love of great lyrics sung by
the folks who wrote them, you should check out a Schaef-Abel show.
Laurie, an environmental planner, didn't really mean to get into
this challenging sideline. KRCB Program Director Robin Pressman
hosted concerts at her Lake Sonoma home in the ‘90s, and Laurie
had been a regular attendee. According to Laurie, “When she (Robin)
told me that it was becoming too much work I asked how I could help
. . . well, I've never stopped.”
Laurie and Greg specifically seek out singer-songwriters in the
folk and country genres. Says Laurie, “Greg and I love Americana
music. We host concerts exclusively in a ‘listening room' environment
(although some concerts may be danceable, we have created the space
so that it's inductive to sitting still and LISTENING to the WORDS
are important to us).
“Ten
years ago, December 8, 1997, is when I hosted the first concert
in which I sought out the artist, Cheryl Wheeler. We sold the place
out (over 70 seats, at Robin Pressman's house) to mostly an audience
that wasn't familiar with Cheryl. Not only did audience flip out
over Cheryl, but many still come to my concerts as a result of trusting
not only my taste in music but in the friendly, listening room environments
I create. We've created an intimate room; before the concert, during
the break and after the concert, many in the audience interact with
each other and many new friendships have resulted.”
Laurie's passion results in terrific shows with a loyal roster of
performers and an ever-growing mailing list of devoted attendees.
But it also means she spends a ton of time paired with tenacity
to land her preferred artists. Her venues of choice are small, which
means she can't pay the performers the rates they usually require.
A primary performance space for her is Studio E, on the rim of Sebastopol
, which seats about 100 people. Studio E was not built to be a concert
venue at all - it's a professional recording studio with space added
for live concert recordings. Fortunately, the very coziness that
results in a small paycheck for the performers also delights many
of them.
According to Laurie, “I tried for almost ten years to host Jimmy
LaFave and finally did on a Tuesday in September of this year (the
day after Labor Day) and sold the place out! Jimmy and his band
loved playing at Studio E and are looking forward to coming back.”
Her
willingness to take any date an artist might have open is another
reason for her success. When she identifies who she wants, she follows
their tour schedule, looks for open dates, then pursues them. Singers
on tour often prefer to fill those holes in their schedule, and
appreciate offers from producers willing to host them on the less-popular
timeslots - exactly what enabled Laurie to land Jimmy LaFave after
her 10-year effort.
The artists also like the respectful treatment and the down-home
attitude of Laurie's volunteer staff and “fabulous” sound man, Peter
Viehoever. Laurie even provides a home-cooked meal with their favorite
dishes. And the “listening room” ambiance results in an extremely
attentive audience, and what entertainer wouldn't appreciate that?
When I asked Laurie about some specific standout memories, she first
replied, “Tough question. There have only been a small handful of
performances that weren't stellar.” But then she followed with a
couple of her favorite moments.
“Billy Joe Shaver was quite memorable. He's a living icon, one of
the original ‘Honky Tonk Heroes' (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson,
Kris Kristofferson and Shaver). He and his band toned it down for
us that night and the intimacy was precious. Everyone there was
so aware of his powerfully written lyrics, how many major hits he
has had and the influence he has had on an entire genre of music;
and that for him and his band to be playing in a room with just
100 people!
Steve Seskin, Craig Carothers and Don Henry performed at Studio
E last January. Besides all being accomplished songwriters from
Nashville and good friends, there was some ‘magic dust' sprinkled
on that night. They were in GREAT moods and obviously having a blast.
Their humor, bantering and love of each other spread throughout
the room.”
And wouldn't you know it? Schaef-Abel Productions is bringing back
the Seskin-Carothers-Henry team on January 11. My honey, my friends
and I already ordered our tickets. If you want to attend, you'll
need to act fast. Check out the details on this show and other Schaef-Abel
events at northbaylive.com
. At the very least, you'll want to sign up for their
email list to find out about other upcoming shows.
-
Carol (Kiki) Noack, Marketing, Raven Performing Arts Theater
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