Dear IFS Friends,

This morning I received a call informing me that Bruce Rouse suddenly
and unexpectedly passed away yesterday. Bruce was a wonderful man
who hosted The Rouse House concert series with his wife Liz. The
Rouse's loved singer songwriters, giving house concerts, entertaining
Friends, the Kerrville Folk Festival, the South West Regional and
National Folk Alliance. I met Bruce and Liz because they generously
partnered with Austin Songwriters Group to provide two songwriting
workshops featuring Steve Seskin and Allen Shamblin one in 2002 and
another in January 2004. For several years the Rouses were involved
with presenting the seminar at the Kerrville Folk Festival about how
to host and run house concerts and trying to get more concerts going
around the country. They co-moderated several sessions at the SWFA
and the National Folk Alliance Conference

I don't have many details about his services, but they are likely to
happen on Wednesday in Pflugerville, Texas.

I promise to let you know more when I do.

If you have a Bruce Rouse or Rouse House story or memory
you'd like to share
please send them to me and
I'll share them in the next IFS issue
which will be about House Concerts.
send your emails to
AndeRasmussen@...

How to start doing House Concerts
How to Get more house concert gigs
How to train your fans to do a house concert featuring you.

Bruce Rouse was dearly loved and he will be greatly missed.
My heart goes our to his wife Liz, his children, and grand children.

Please let other songwriters know about this great loss.

Ande Rasmussen
AndeRasmussen@...
cell 512-217-2728


History of the Rouse House Concert Series.

During the Kerrville Folk Festive in 1991 John and Sherri Arnold from
San Antonio presented a seminar on getting house concerts started in
Texas. Liz and I attended and thought that this might be something
interesting to do "some-day", but we were busy planning a dauighter's
wedding and really did not have the time right then. We did talk more
about it though and thought that some time it would be interesting
and it might even become big enough to get Jon Ims to do a concert in
our home. Back in Austin the wedding plans consumed our time until we
got a call asking if we were still interested in doing these "house
concerts", because if we wereJon Ims was coming to Texas and would be
interested in doing one if we would host it.
Well, after getting our daughter to the altar in October we really
started to plan for that first house concert with Jon Ims. Although
we knew lots of people from the Kerrville festival to say hello we
did not know names and addresses. We put together a news letter which
described what a house concert was and that we were going to be
having Jon. We sent it out to all 12 people whose names and addresses
we knew that enjoyed this type of music. Once the word was out we
started getting calls from strangers asking if they could come. The
Saturday before the concert "She's in Love With the Boy" by Thrish
Yearwood was #1 and "Falling Out of Love" by Reba McIntyre was #2
which certainly helped with both credentials and name recognition. By
the time the concert came on November 19, 1991 we had some 50 people
seated on rented chairs for the concert.
One of the members of the audience that night was Christine Albert
and she agreed to do our next concert for us, so after a break for
Christmas, we started doing the concerts on a regular monthly basis.
News about the concerts series kept speading and our mailing list
kept growing. Finally we decided to drop people from the mail list if
they had not attended a concert within a six month period. This
allowed us to keep our mailing list at approximately 200 people so
our mailing costs stayed reasonable. As news of the concert spread
amongst entertainers we started getting calls from all over the
country from performers wishing to do concerts. As a result of a
couple of bad experiences we decided to establish some clear booking
policies, particularly that we needed to hear the performer in live
performance before we would book some-one.
As the years have passed we have made every effort to get the
absolutely best entertainers that we could get for our concerts. In
some cases that meant calling repeatedly until the situation was
right for both the entertainer and our situation before it coud be
arranged.
For several years we have been involved with presenting the seminar
at the Kerrville Folk Festival for information about house concerts
and trying to get more concerts going around the country. We co-
moderated a session at the Ninth Folk Alliance Conference in Toronto
in February 1997.

Rouse House Past Concert Performers
November 19, 1991 - Jon Ims (Nashville)
January 18, 1992 - Christine Albert (Austin)
February 15,1992 - David Roth (Seattle)
March 20, 1992 - Ken Gaines (San Antonio)
April 17,1992 - Bill Oliver (Austin)
May 18, 1992 - Mike Williams (Battle Creek)
July 10, 1992 - Joseph & Theresa Brunelle (Austin)
August 15, 1992 - Susan Lindfors/George Byers/
Steve Brooks & Don Walser (Austin)
September 19, 1992 - T. R. Ritchie (Seattle)
September 26, 1992 - Josh White Jr. (Detroit)
October 17, 1992 - Kimberly M'Carver (Houston)
November 13, 1992 - Michael Smith (Chicago)
December 12, 1992 - The Billys (Ashville, N.C.)
January 15, 1993 - Chuck Pyle (Golden, CO.)
February 26, 1993 - Butch Hancock (Austin)
March 17, 1993 - Allen Wayne Damron (Austin)
April 10, 1993 -Susan Lindfors/ Christine Albert
Barb Donavon/Emily Kaitz (Austin)
May 22, 1993 - Anne Feeney (Pittsburg)
July 17, 1993 - Olin Murrell (Austin)
August 27, 1993- L. J. Booth (Amherst, WI)
September 25, 1993 - Ed Miller (Austin)
October 23 - 24, 1993 - Shake Russell & Jack Saunders (Houston)
November 20, 1993 - Fred Small (Acton, MA)
December 10, 1993 - Tom Lewis (Vancouver, B.C.)
January 22, 1994 - Michael Elwood & Beth Galliger (Austin)
March 5, 1994 - Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen (Bennington, VT)
April 16 - 17, 1994 - Chuck Pyle (Golden, CO)
May 10, 1994 - Tommy Sands (Ireland)
June 29, 1994 - Dick Walker & Martha Gordon (Austin )
July 23, 1994 - The Therapy Sisters (Austin)
August 27, 1994 - Don Walser (Austin)
September 17, 1994- Sid Hausman (Tesuque, NM)
September 18, 1994 - David Roth (Seattle, WA)
October 23, 1994 - L. J. Booth (Amherst, WI)
November 19, 1994 - Jack Gladstone (Kalispell, MO)
December 4, 1994 - Josh White Jr. (Detroit, MI) &
Crow Johnson (Arkansas)
December 10, 1994 - Kerry Grambacher/ Sid Clifford/
Breck Alan & Mandy Mercier (Austin)
January 28, 1995 - Tom Prasado-Rao (Maryland)
February 4 - 5, 1995 - Michael Smith (Chicago, IL)
March 6, 1995 - Tommy Sands (Ireland)
March 25, 1995 - Anne Hills (Pittsburg, PA)
May 19, 1995 - Cosy Sheridan (Utah)
June 22, 1995 - Steve Brooks & Kirt Kempter (Austin)
July 22, 1995 - Ray Wylie Hubbard (Poetry, TX)
August 12, 1995 - Betty Elders (Austin)
September 16, 1995 - Dick Siegel (Ann Arbor, MI)
October 20, 1995 - Jana Stanfield (Nashville)
November 4, 1995 - Jon Ims (Nashville,TN)
December 1, 1995 - Bill Staines (Dover, NH)
January 12, 1996 - David Roth (Seattle, WA)
January 27, 1996 - Buddy Mondlock & Carol Elliot (Nashville)
February 17, 1996 - Erik Moll/Emily Kaitz/Mary Reynolds (Austin)
April 6 & 7, 1996 - Chuck Pyle (Golden, CO)
April 20, 1996 - Jack Gladstone (Kalispell, MO)
May 11, 1996 - D. C. Fitzgerald (Pittsburg, PA)
August 12, 1996 - Christine Albert (Austin)
September 28, 1996 - Valdy (Fulford Harbor, B.C.)
October 11 & 13, 1996 - Anne Hills/Eileen Weiss & Denice Franke
October 26, 1996 - Nancy Moran (Nashville, TN)
December 4, 1996 - Peter Rowan (Blanco, TX)
December 14 & 15, 1996 - Ray Wylie Hubbard (Poetry, TX)
January 18, 1997 -Lee Murdock (Kaneville, WI)
January 25 & 26, 1997 - James Keelaghan (Canada)
March 8, 1997 - Michael Lille (Nashville, Tenn)
April 12, 1997 - L. J. Booth (Wisc.)
May 16, 1997 - Kevin So (Boston, Mass.)
August 2 & 3, 1997 - Vance Gilbert (Tenn.)
September 19, 1997 - David Massengill (New York, NY)
October 18, 1997 - Deborah Liv Johnson (San Diego, CA)
November 22 & 23, 1997 - James Keelaghan (Canada)
December 13 & 14, 1997 - Connie Kaldor (Canada)
January 24 & 25, 1998 - Michael Smith (Chicago)
February 21, 1998 - Steve Seskin (California)
March 21, 1998 - Steve Gillette & Cindy Mangsen (Vermont)
April 18 & 19, 1998 - David Roth (Seattle, WA)
May 9, 1998 - Dave Mallett (Maine)
August 22, 1998 - Tim Bays (Nashville,TN)
September 21 & 22, 1998 - Butch Hancock (Terlingua, TX)
October 17 & 18, 1998 - Anne Hills (Bethlehem, PA)
November 22 & 23, 1998 - Sara Hickman (Austin, TX)
December 12 & 13, 1998 - Darden Smith (Austin,TX)
January 30 & 31,1999 - Vance Gilbert (Boston, Mass.)
February 20, 1999 - Small Potatoes (Fayetteville, Ark.)
March 12 & 13, 1999 - Steve Seskin (Richland, CA)
April 10 & 11, 1999 - Shake Russell (Austin, TX)
May 15 & 16, 1999 - Jack Gladstone (Kalispell, Mont.)
August 21 & 22, 1999 - Chuck Pyle (Golden, CO.)
September 25 & 26, 1999 - Still On The Hill (Fayetteville, Ark)
October 9 & 10, 1999 - Terri Allard (Austin, TX)
November 6 & 7, 1999 - Ed Miller (Austin, TX)
December 11 & 12, 1999 - Kate Campbell (Nashville, Tenn)
January 8 & 9, 2000 - Katie Moffatt (Santa Clara, CA)
February 19 & 20, 2000 - Tom Russell (El Paso, TX)
March 4 & 5, 2000 - Michael Smith (Chicago, Ill.)
April 1 & 2, 2000 - Bill Staines (Dover, NH)
May 13 & 14, 2000 - Suzanne Buirgy (Venice, CA)
August 26 & 27, 2000 - Tom Prasado-Rao, Tom Kimmel & Michael Lille
September 16 & 17, 2000 - Betty Elders (Austin, TX)
October 14 & 15,200 - Gretchen Peters (Nashville, TN)
November 18/19, 2000 - Tom Paxton (New York)
December 9 & 10, 2000 - Dave Olney (Nashville, TN)
January 13 & 14, 2001 - Small Potatoes (Gary Ill)
February 3, 2001 - Kate Campbell (Nashville, TN)
March 24 & 25, 2001 - Michael Smith (Detroit, Mich)
April 21 & 22, 2001 - Vace Gilbert (Boston, Mass)
May 12 & 13, 2001 - Ray Wiley Hubbard (Wimberly, TX)
August 25, 2001 - Tim Bayes (Nashville, Tenn.)
October 6, 2001 - Chuck Pyle (Colorado)

http://www.pe.utexas.edu/~brouse/history.htm