Table for six, please

I love that I get to tell this brief, true story. I'll spoil one thing: it's about what people call your online presence, which I think abstracts and sanitizes the concept to death. We're going to break through that with this story.

It's from the third of my recent gigs, which took place on Sunday, December 4th at 2nd Floor Gastown.

William Chernoff Trio at 2nd Floor Gastown

I came into this gig riding high. The first of my three album release gigs – at the Tangent – was packed. And at the second, Frankie's After Dark, a solid crowd stuck around to enjoy our set despite the late hour and my relatively low profile as a musician. (Playing after Mike Allen's main show certainly didn't hurt!)

So at this one, 2nd Floor Gastown, I assumed it would be a bit quieter. But when we picked up our instruments for the early set, I was worried that the venue wouldn't even make back what they were paying me. We're talking about a dozen patrons.

And once we ate dinner and moved on to the late set, I really got worried: still only about a dozen patrons were coming into the house now. If only 24 people came through, that's a weak night.

Then, the table for six walked in.

They were Millennials who arrived just before we started the late set. I noticed that after my first tune, they didn't do what I expected, which was to keep talking amongst themselves and ignore me. Instead, they were attentive, and one of them looked straight at me when I talked about each tune.

The set went well. When we finished playing, I shared some chats and laughs with the friends I knew who were there.

But I couldn't wait to go up to the table of six and thank them, and ask who they were!

I slowly got nearer to their table, then said, "Thanks so much for coming!" (read: you saved me and barely kept this gig in the black!)

The one who was staring me down turned to face me. "Thank you, you were great," she said. "We actually had other plans for tonight but decided pretty late to come here instead."

I said, "Really? Why?"

"One of my co-workers was listening to your Radio on Spotify [WC: this is where the app starts auto-playing more from an artist after you finish their album that you pressed play on] at work last week. I asked who it was and he said who you were, and then we Googled you and found your website, and saw you were playing here this weekend. You had a post right at the top of the page with a link to this show, so we decided to come down!"

I understood that this coworker wasn't in the table for six, or else he probably would have said something. I was too impressed to say much in response. All I could think of was one thing:

Act casual. Don't show them that this is making your week, month, or even year, just act like you've been there.

"Thanks so much," I said, "I really appreciate it! Have a great rest of your night."

I don't want to beat you over the head with takeaways from this: I think it's self-explanatory.

Believe it or not, I have another story like this – but from the Frankie's late show. I'll have to wait to tell it, though, because it involves someone I actually know.

PS. there's video of the first tune from this set: