In this episode, Jared Judge takes us behind the scenes of his recent gig at the Colorado Christmas Show, sharing the ins and outs of playing live music at a bustling holiday market. Jared dives into the strategic decisions behind selecting his setlist, the unexpected audience reactions, and the importance of self-promotion, all while navigating the personal journey of loss and community support. This candid reflection offers a glimpse into the life of a gigging musician, underscored by the necessity of seizing every opportunity to play — a testament to the mantra that one must give themselves more "at bats" to succeed.
In this episode, Jared Judge takes us behind the scenes of his recent gig at the Colorado Christmas Show, sharing the ins and outs of playing live music at a bustling holiday market. Jared dives into the strategic decisions behind selecting his setlist, the unexpected audience reactions, and the importance of self-promotion, all while navigating the personal journey of loss and community support. This candid reflection offers a glimpse into the life of a gigging musician, underscored by the necessity of seizing every opportunity to play — a testament to the mantra that one must give themselves more "at bats" to succeed.
Hey, what's up gigging pros! It's Jared Judge welcome back to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast where I can help you get more out of your music. Alright, so I am on my way home from day one of a two day gig at the Colorado Convention Center. And if you may recall that I've played a gig here before, I think I've actually played a couple gigs they're in before. But this one is a Christmas gig. It's for the Colorado Christmas Show, which is an interesting little market, I wouldn't say it's little by any means it uses one of the gigantic ballrooms, the exhibit hall in the Colorado Convention Center. And there are just hundreds of these little pop up Christmas shops selling everything from like, holiday sausage, and beef jerky, and Christmas ornaments, handmade ornaments. There's also like, you know, people selling everything from like massage tools to fireplace tools. I don't know, it's a very fun bit eclectic mix. And they have a holiday stage. And I will say it is not a paid gig. And I knew that going in. And I that was actually what I expected. So I saw this gig, I think I saw a Facebook ad for the Colorado Christmas show. And I was like, huh, that sounds interesting. Let me check it out. And I looked at it, and saw that it was this gigantic opportunity to be in front of like 1000s, of Denver natives. And it's early November, it's November 3 today, and an opportunity to showcase some holiday tunes. So perhaps I could use it to get some holiday party business. You know, I'm the kind of person who just experiments and tries anything, you know, at least once and see what happens. And so I went on the website for the show, and just found the contact for the show organizer. And I was like, let me just send them an email, see if they have a stage or what do music. So I sent them an email just saying, Hey, I'd love to sponsor the event with some live music. If you're interested, let me know. I got a response saying yes, it's a three day event, we'd love to have you all three days, as well, that sounds great. But I want one day of my weekend. So my wife and I we agreed with let's do two days. So I just played day one. And it was the have a little stage in the back corner, I had a decent audience, he was a weird audience, because all of them were there to do shopping. They were doing their Christmas shopping. So people would stop in and out. And I would get some applause here and now. And I had planned my show to be more like upbeat tunes, because I figured that's what people wanted. But it did mix in a couple of slower tunes, like, you know, Silent Night, and then believe from Polar Express. And what was interesting was that I had more of a crowd during the slower tunes. And they were definitely way more like, attentive during those tunes. And then later, you know, I had some kids like, really just watching and being really enamored at the instrument. And then a couple people came up after me was like, that was beautiful, it made me cry, which was so sweet. I also had my stand, like a, my stand up sign. It's the big old red thing, it's called the retractable banner, and get those at Kinkos they fold up and then you can put them, you market yourself with them. So I had that. And it had had a QR code on it. And I noticed a couple people taking pictures of it or scanning it, which was pretty awesome. So moral of the story is, I have no idea if this is going to lead to any gigs or anything. But it was fun. It was a way to bust out the Christmas tunes a month earlier than I would normally do it. And I do think it could, you know, I got some people interested in it because they were scanning my my code. So it could lead to something I just don't know. And if anything, I'll use it as an opportunity to network with the show organizer and see if they could get me into some other shows. And I don't know booked me for something. So Oh yeah, and I forgot one other thing, which was I had one of the show organizers who was kind of my dedicated sound engineer, he wasn't really doing much after I set up because we set the volume and set the levels and it was all good. He offered to take some photos and videos of me. So I have some better holiday photos. You know, Christmas trees in the background, me wearing a green sweater. So I'm gonna put those on my holiday parties page on my website, and just use that I might even put I should have done this earlier, but it's too late. Now, I need to create a schedule page for myself on my website, because I do play some public shows this being one of them, although it's not technically public, because I think people have to purchase a ticket to get in. Anyway, that being said, I need to put up a schedule page and let people know that this exists. And I should have sent out a newsletter to my corporate event and wedding planning partners. Just letting them know hey, I'll be here next come and listen. Because that would be a great way to build those really Ships plus any potential private event clients can come and see me here we play live. But Hindsight is 2020. And like I said, I'm doing this just for the experiment to learn how it all goes. And one of the things that I've already learned is, I need to promote the heck out of these public shows, because I didn't do any promotion. And here we are. So anyway, that's thanks for listening to my ramblings. It's been a while since I've done a done a podcast episode. Just a little full transparency because you know, I'm human. We recently lost our cat, Ozzy, who I loved and adored, still love, you know, rip to lymphoma, kidney cancer, and we've been dealing with that it's been really hard. pets do really become your family. And for those of you who have pets, I'm sure you guys get it. For those of you who don't, you know, I'm sure you understand, as well. Pets really are amazing. Like, I loved Ozzy, and I think we're gonna get another cat at some point once we have grieved and everything. And I just want to appreciate and tell you guys think thank you for all the messages that I've been receiving, you know, with condolences. Got a lot of pet owners who say I know exactly what you're going through and it's just really helpful. And I think we've built such a great community with The Gigging Musician Podcast and Fulltime Music Academy. So thank you. And yeah, thanks for tuning in to another episode of The Gigging Musician Podcast. Remember, "Your music will not market itself!" Bye everybody.