Investing in local artistry

It was a sold-out room Thursday night at The Soap Gallery on Champion Street in downtown Youngstown.

“Sold out” was just 110 people. But to local musician JD Eicher, it was a huge gesture of support and faith.

JD released his fourth album, “The Middle Distance,” on Friday. Thursday’s gathering at Soap Gallery was a CD-release party filled with family, friends and believers. I am one of the latter. (I guess I’m a friend, too; but I’m sure we’re not related.)

That 110 people would pay $15 to see him was a commitment not lost on the Canfield High grad. For $23, people can go to Austintown in two weeks to see singer Scott Stapp who, for 15 minutes in the late 1990s, was an international music sensation with his band Creed on the cover of every pop and rock media and on every TV talk show.

JD’s career at this point only gets him on the cover of his own social media efforts. So he was rather taken aback that 110 people paid $15. And he and the band were genuinely grateful – which showed in their set. The Soap Gallery is a soft room of artwork on white walls and dangling shabby-chic light bulbs. But it exploded with sound from JD and his band. One person wrote after that it might have been their best musical experience ever.

The window behind JD Thursday night revealed the glistening lights of the Covelli Centre.

In golfer terms – the Covelli sat an 8-iron away from Soap Gallery; a tennis player could fire a serve to the driveway; a soccer player could kick a ball to the front steps.

But for an artist such as JD to reach it? The Covelli Centre is thousands of miles up the road. It’s also about 300,000 album sales. It’s 1,000 nights in cheap motels in small college towns from here to Minnesota and here to Florida.

And – it’s one lucky shot.

The odds are so long to make it to a level that sells out Covelli.

I’m a Spotify music-streaming freak, and I especially like it for finding under-the-radar singers like JD. The world has not discovered JD, and he has a lot of peer company. My guess is that for every artist who sells out Covelli to 6,000 people, there are 500 singers at that exact time doing the same thing to 60 people. Or maybe even six people. There might even be 1,000 singers doing it at the same time.

JD told a great story Thursday of continually going to a place in Clarion, Pa., and playing to zero people, but still playing a complete set regardless, so as to get paid.

The truth is, his music is as good as that which fills Covelli and DeYor and more.

And that’s why each of those 110 people is vital to JD, as is this Valley.

Every artist who sells out Covelli started out just as JD is. But as their skill developed, so, too, did the energy of the believers in their hometowns.

I’m from Buffalo, and the Goo Goo Dolls had a solid base there long before their first national hit exploded. All of New Jersey knew of the Boss before America did. I remember reading about Hootie and the Blowfish getting signed after record agents went to their college-town base in South Carolina and saw 3,000 kids singing every song that eventually would become their debut national album.

So 110 people at $15 each is big. And if those 110 people can preach to two more couples, and those couples can continue that – in time, a chance to get to a national level emerges.

It starts with local belief and local investment in the arts.

Downtown-events boss Mike McGiffin, himself a musician and promoter of local arts, likened the local arts process to food and kids.

“It’s like trying to convince a child to try Brussels sprouts for the first time. You almost have to force-feed the potential audience,” said McGiffin.

It was fitting that JD had the release party at Soap – a new venue with the objective of showcasing local artwork as well as engaging the public in making art. It’s a shared vision of Daniel Rauschenbach, Stephen Poullas, Sarra Mohn and Chris Yambar. They share in the challenge of guys such as JD to persuade us regulars to invest in world-class artistry that happens to call this place home.

“The challenge of selling art is in getting the community to value a local artists’ work more than the generic stuff found in the decorations aisle at Walmart,” said Poullas.

I think what it comes down to is a pause and then a rally.

Pause to listen to guys such as JD or Northern Whale or The Labra Bros., or view artists at Soap or at Ward Bakery or elsewhere. Digest the brilliance and the ability.

Then – rally to their artistry.

If our local arts community were a state-bound high-school football team, we’d rally for them.

If local artists were brick-and-mortar businesses with 100 pending jobs, we’d rally for them.

If they were a decked-out hamburger or a craft beer, we’d buy an overpriced food-festival ticket to be able to say, “We tried that.”

I’m fortunate with my job to have the license to rally for some causes.

We had fun with JD’s release this week. You can find videos and content on Valley24.com. So, too, did Mike Case and Jess Briganti on the “WFMJ Today” morning show. I’d like to think we all played a part in JD’s sellout.

A younger co-worker came up to me Friday, after a week of hearing JD’s music for the first time as we dialed up our coverage, and said “You know – he’s pretty good.”

Another believer.

By the end of Friday, JD’s new album held a respectable “top sellers” position in iTunes’ “singer-songwriter” category next to some musical heavyweights.

Check it out. It’s a small investment for local success.

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. Email him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on Vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.