An opening caveat. The listing date is my birth date only so as to make it “sticky” and always the first thing on my list of Concerts. The “location” for me is usually from a small studio in Irvine (before that, it was my home office). On-the-road, it’s usually me in a home or hotel room with a MacBook Air and an internet connection. Although I’d done livestreams before, when Covidtide began in earnest in March 2020, I did a livestream concert that lasted 3h45m … I call it the Miracle of the Bladder because I did not move one inch from my computer for the duration. This was on my 65th birthday.
Although there were cogent arguments to be made to only livestream occasionally and not “wear out my welcome”, I thought, “What if I just do this every week and see what happens?” Kind of like pre-VCR TV watching. If you want to catch the show, you had to park yourself in front of the television at the right time and channel or you’ve missed it. Appointment TV was a term sometimes used. Now, in this case, the vast majority of my weekly adventures are archived either on Facebook or YouTube. So there are often folks who watch/listen in on a replay. About two months ago (as I write this on Wednesday, October 12, 2022), I joined forces with my friends at The Upper Room Presents. They’re developing a collective of programs and I’m practically in on the ground floor of this emerging new platform. So, now my livestreams emanate from their Facebook Page and YouTube Channel. See accompanying links.
The working tagline for the format is quite simple: “Songs, Stories, Requests, Some Goofing Around, and a Little Prayer at the End”. Other than occasional interviews that are added to the mix, that’s the deal. Me livestreaming, visiting with folks, singing … all without a net. (And sometimes that no-net policy is a little more obvious than I wish it was.) A wonderful Comments Community of regulars has developed. They even chat with each other throughout the sessions. We also have the Blessed Lurkers (certainly there but mostly anonymous), occasional Welcome Newcomers (love to make new friends), and some oversight and blessings from my Wife under her not-so-secret online pseudonym: “The Message Faerie”. Hope you can join us. Most often, it’s Saturdays at 5:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. ET. Sometimes I’ll pivot to a Friday or Sunday if I’m on the road and the concert schedule demands the change. I’ve only missed four weekends during the three-years-and-counting run. There will be other “off weekends” as my concert calendar begins to increase. But I livestream from the road whenever I possibly can. I refer to an on-the-road episode as a “BBWL Lo-Fi Laptop Edition”. Thanks for wading through this novella. I remain Your Humble Acoustic Servant, Bob.