June 23, 2026
Old Firehouse No. 7

Alex and I moved to St. Louis from New York City. For 12 years we lived in a large home on Portland Place in the Central West End. We frequently opened our home for various charities, with Alex planning and executing events for over 100 people. (He loves to entertain!) 

St. Louis is an American music capital. The Mississippi River was a conduit for many musical styles traveling north, especially jazz and blues. I am a former board chair of Jazz St. Louis, and Alex and I hosted a number of nationally-renowned musicians at jazz salons in our CWE home. We also developed close friendships with a number of St. Louis musicians whom we would put up against any touring artist from other cities. Our small city is truly blessed by the quantity of world-class musicians we have here.

But making money in St. Louis as a professional musician is hard work. There are a limited number of venues here, and they often take a big cut of ticket sales. As we were looking at houses to “downsize” to from our prior home, one thing that made Old Firehouse No. 7 stand out to us was the opportunity that the firetruck bay presented to provide a home venue where musicians could perform and receive all of the revenue from the audience’s donations.

Some of our best memories in our prior home are of extraordinary musical moments that moved us:

• A night of jointly singing around the piano with the cast of the Muny’s Dreamgirls. (I even did a drunken 4 a.m. duet with Tituss Burgess, who also played the piano!)

• Trumpeter Terrell Stafford and his band blowing the socks off our living room, and declaring he wanted to record an album there.

• Sir Brian Maye attending our closing party for the national touring company of We Will Rock You and watching the actors and actresses take turns performing songs in the living room.

• And a midnight surprise at our Christmas party when an absent friend sent the principal cellist from the St. Louis Symphony to our door to play a concert in our grand hallway unaccompanied, where the rich sounds of his cello echoed off the ceiling and the marble floors and filled our hearts with holiday cheer.

Some nights when musicians perform in your home you capture lightning in a bottle. We recently had that same thing happen at the Firehouse when Denise Thimes and Kim Fuller Barnes each sang beautiful numbers to me in celebration of my birthday.

Alex and I treasure nights like that, and we want you to experience them, too. So we have decided to host periodic concerts in the firetruck bay for a limited number of people. We’re calling them “5 Alarm Concerts.” We hope to have them monthly, but we’ll ease into it and see how it goes.

We’ll put plenty of seats in the firetruck bay on concert nights. There’s no reserved seating (except our own). First come, first served. You can bring your own beverage. (No food, please!) I usually have plenty of beer in the fridge, which you’re welcome to while it lasts.

These concerts are a chance to catch extraordinary musicians in a casual home setting. Enjoy listening to them. Call out, clap, whistle, and show them some love. But if you must carry on a conversation, take it outside into the courtyard. Let’s keep the focus on the artists.

Finally, a housekeeping matter. Literally. Remember that you’re a guest in our home, not a concert hall. We are the ones who will be cleaning up after you. If there’s something you need, ask. There are coasters around; please use them. If you spill something, say something. Throw your rubbish in the can outside, please. And when you post your photos on social media, do us the favor of tagging the artists and @old_firehouse_no_7.

We hope you have a magical time at the Firehouse. Thanks so much for supporting the artists!

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