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The 25th Haiku Milieu Concert: Friday, August 28!

The 25th Haiku Milieu concert will be on Friday, August 28 at FitzGerald’s in Berwyn, Illinois. 

What began as a creative experiment inviting songwriters to write original music inspired by my haiku has become one of the most meaningful parts of my artistic life. 

Haiku Milieu Concerts

Each Haiku Milieu concert is a one-of-a-kind work of art. Lovingly curated artists write a song inspired by any of the haiku in my books, on Instagram, or in the Sunday email. Unless explicitly created as co-writes with me, they belong solely to the artists.

While we offer one rehearsal for those who would like to run their song with the band before the show, for many artists, being on stage for the Haiku Milieu concert with the band is the first time they will perform it live!

Haiku Milieu is Unique To Our Creative Community

It takes courage for our Haiku Milieu artists to step onstage and share a brand-new song, especially backed by a world-class band. But that’s only the surface.

Behind that moment is a lifetime of work: booking gigs, navigating an industry where “indifference” is often the kindest description, writing songs that can make a room ache or soar, and juggling the endless roles: publicist, manager, promoter, just to keep a roof over your head between shows.

And after all that, there’s often almost no room left to grow. An unintended consequence of success is that audiences want their beloved familiar hits. New songs, the very lifeblood of an artist’s evolution, can get squeezed out.

There are spaces for students and early career artists to find their footing with open mics, jams, and song circles.

But for seasoned artists? Opportunities to stretch, to risk, to debut something new are surprisingly scarce.

Raw, unrepeatable, ALIVE!

You witness some of the hardest-working, most masterful songwriters alive: not in retrospect, not after the polish, but in the very act of creation. In that fleeting, electric moment when a new song is shared, when spirit and matter collide and something entirely new enters the world...that is the essence of Haiku Milieu concerts.

We bring as many of these artists into the room as we can, because those raw, unrepeatable, alive moments are the reason Haiku Milieu Concerts exist. 

Can I submit for inclusion in Haiku Milieu concerts?

Haiku Milieu is a one-person operation. 

I write, publish, and distribute my own haiku, songs, books, and recordings while maintaining an active performance schedule. I also handle every aspect of the concerts — from curation and production to promotion and preservation on the YouTube channel — capturing roughly 50 new songs each year, the vast majority created by artists other than myself. All of this has been funded personally to this point.

Because of that, I’m simply not able to accept submissions for Haiku Milieu concerts.

The most meaningful way to be considered is simply to be present: within your own creative practice, at your peers’ shows, and as an active, generous contributor in the artistic community, supporting the work of others as well as your own.

And of course, staying connected matters: join the Haiku Milieu mailing list. Follow on Instagram, Facebook and the Haiku Milieu YouTube channel. Purchase and make the Haiku Milieu books, music, merchandise and community part of your life, and keep up with things as they continue to evolve.