Music, History & Magic: The Story of Tiny Porch Concerts at Peter Strauss Ranch

In this exciting episode of On the Road with Paul Ward, we meet Mike Corridori, the visionary behind Tiny Porch Concerts. Mike shares the fascinating history of Peter Strauss Ranch, nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains, where the concerts take place. From its roaring ’20s past, to becoming an amusement park with animals, to finally becoming an iconic music venue, this ranch is full of stories. Mike also recounts the 2019 Wolsey Fire that impacted the area and how Tiny Porch Concerts rose from these challenges.

Mike explains how the concerts started in 2016 and evolved, overcoming the challenge of keeping the events free, intimate, and magical. He describes the variety of music that fills the ranch, highlights memorable performances like Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, and shares how Nashville bands have become a staple in the lineup. Listeners will also learn how to make the most of their Tiny Porch experience, from bringing picnics and pets to supporting the concerts through donations to the Santa Monica Mountain Fund and/or becoming a sponsor.

Watch the full episode HERE:

0:00 Paul Ward introduces our guest, Mike Corridori of Tiny Porches Concerts

1:03 Mike Corridori gives us an awesome description of where Peter Strauss Ranch, where the Tiny Porch Concerts are held, is located

2:07 We learn the exciting history of Peter Strauss Ranch, how it ties to the Indy 500, and paints a beautiful picture of what the ranch looked like in the 1920s

4:20 Find out what happened to the ranch after the Roaring Twenties to include an amusement park, a pool and animals.

5:56 Mike Corridori tells us how Peter Strauss, an actor, became owner of the ranch

6:38 Peter Strauss donated the ranch to The National Park Service, who owns and operated the ranch now

7:02 The Wolsey Fire of 2019 destroyed portions of the ranch and the surrounding area  according to Mike Corridori 

7:54 We learn how Tiny Porches came about

9:16 Mike Corridori shares how he came up with ideas to overcome the request by The National Park Service for the concerts to be free

10:04 From the first concert in 2016 to now, Mike describes the evolution of Tiny Porches and how they find bands to play there

11:52 Learn about the type of music typically played, a few artists that have played, and how the setting makes Tiny Porches so magical

13:55 A story about when Taylor Goldsmith, of Dawes, performed at Tiny porches

15:03 Keeping Tiny Porches intimate and free is paramount for Mike Corridori’s vision

16:08 Find out what the future holds for Tiny Porches and how Mike Corridori hopes to keep improving on the overall experience 

18:24 How to learn more about Tiny Porches: www.tinyporchesconcerts.com, social media, and contacting Mike directly from the website and he will offer help in anyway he can

19:20 You can bring your own food and drink, including beer and wine, and make a picnic out of your concert experience

20:18 Why Nashville bands are attractive to Mike Corridori and how many concerts are in the Tiny Porch Series each year.

22:11 Where exactly The Peter Strauss Ranch is located.

22:47 Tiny Porches is a 501c3 and proceeds go to The Santa Monica Mountain Fund

23:36 A little more about the vibe of a Tiny Porches Concert, including the ability to bring your dog!

24:37 A little about the sponsors of Tiny Porches and they are always looking for more sponsors to keep the concerts going and enhance the experience

26:07 Thank you to our sponsor, Opus Escrow

Related Episodes:
Wings, Wrenches and Wise Cracks
Sage Brews: A Female-Owned Organic Brewery

For More Information on The Tiny Porches Concert Series:
www.tinyporchesconcerts.com 

Contact Paul Ward:
805-479-5004
paul@homeandranchteam.com

Have ideas for future episodes? We’d love to answer your questions – leave a comment! For any home buying or home selling needs in the Ventura County area of California, please reach out to Paul@HomeAndRanchTeam.com or visit www.HomeAndRanchTeam.com

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A special THANK YOU to our sponsor, OPUS ESCROW! Farm Talk with Paul Ward would not be possible without the support of our sponsor Opus Escrow. Supporting our sponsor ensures Farm Talk can provide listeners with the best possible episodes.

Paul Ward (00:05):

Hi friends, Paul Ward here, and welcome to On the Road. You probably have your favorite national park. Maybe it’s Yosemite, maybe it’s Yellowstone, maybe it’s the Grand Tetons. Well, did you know that the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation area is actually administered by the National Park Service and it’s the largest park next to an urban area, Los Angeles. So, you would never know that we are next to a bustling metropolis of 10 million people. And today we happen to be actually in a little corner called the Peter Ranch, and it’s also the home of a Tiny Porches concert series. And who better to talk to us today about that than our guest? Mike Corridori, the founder of Tiny Porches. Mike, welcome to On the Road.

Mike Corridori (00:51):

Thank you, Paul. It’s a pleasure. I really, could not be more excited to be here.

Paul Ward (00:55):

Absolutely. Well, we’re glad to have you. So, before we talk about Tiny Porches, Mike, tell us about the Peter StraussRanch. Where are we?

Mike Corridori (01:03):

We’re in a unique area here called Cornell Corner, basically between Paramount Ranch and Peter StraussRanch, where we’re at right now. And it’s known for movies that have been filmed here movie stars, musicians that like to hang out in this area. ‘Cause, it’s very rural. So, like you said in your intro, it doesn’t look like you’re in Los Angeles. It looks like you’re in the countryside. This is sort of like the cowboy area of LA and it’s just a really special place that people like to come to. It’s not that popular, you know, and that’s kind of a good thing, and a bad thing. Right now, I kind of think it’s a good thing because when you come here, it’s not overcrowded. You really feel like you’re Kinda a little garden of Eden here.

Paul Ward (01:45):

Yeah. Very much. Not too far off the freeway. Maybe a few miles, but a world away.

Mike Corridori (01:50):

Yeah. Five miles maybe. Yeah.

Paul Ward (01:53):

So, this particular spot, Peter Strauss Ranch, has kind of a rich history of characters, kind of Indy 500 and all kinds of folks have kind of owned this place over the years.

Mike Corridori (02:07):

Yeah, very much so. This particular property now called Peter Strauss Ranch was originally purchased by Henry Miller and he built carburetors for the Indy 500. And I guess he made a lot of money doing it ’cause this is a pretty big property, and he built a ranch house, and he also built this tower. So, coming here is like stepping back in time. And imagine this is the 1920s. You’re coming to this party out in the mountains or out in the hills of Los Angeles, like kinda

Paul Ward (02:39):

The roaring twenties.

Mike Corridori (02:40):

The roaring twenties. Yeah. It’s prohibition. You can’t have alcohol. So, he built this tower at the entrance of the ranch. It’s this big stone tower. And he would have somebody up at the top of this of this tower with a walkie-talkie. And when the police came, he would alert everybody at the party to say, “Okay, put your alcohol away!”

Paul Ward (03:00):

That’s awesome.

Mike Corridori (03:00):

<Laugh>. So yeah, it’s all about entertainment. This, you know, this ranch and this area in general.

Paul Ward (03:06):

He had a travertine dance floor, and he was kinda a partier.

Mike Corridori (03:09):

Yeah. There’s a thousand-foot travertine dance floor in front of the ranch house. And they would have bands, big bands play and dancing and

Paul Ward (03:18):

Kinda art deco type stuff from

Mike Corridori (03:20):

Yeah. Yeah. All night long. All night long. It was art.

Paul Ward (03:23):

Yeah. Wow. And of course it wasn’t as populated back then. I mean, this was like the middle of nowhere. Yeah. I mean, we’ve got, you know, motorcycles going by today ’cause it’s kind of like a popular with Harley Davidson guys and it’s popular with road bikers and your bicyclists.

Mike Corridori (03:39):

You’re right on Mulholland Drive here. So, it’s right off of Mulholland. And, and that’s a very popular place for people to ride bikes or cars. You know, if you have a sports car, Mulholland Drive is amazing place to ride your car on. And it kind of fits with the theme of the Indy 500 carburetor maker right here. So, he probably knew everybody that had nice cars. And they came here, and you know, even over at Paramount Ranch, just one mile down, they used to have a big racetrack there. Not a lot of people are familiar with that. So, it was a hot rod area <laugh>.

Paul Ward (04:14):

Interesting. And then, so Roaring Twenties came and went. And then, so what happened to the property after, after that?

Mike Corridori (04:20):

Yeah. So, the carburetor business for the Indy 500, I guess dried up. And he went bankrupt, and it was purchased by an amusement park. There was an amusement park on the site.

New Speaker (04:33):

Interesting.

Mike Corridori (04:33):

They built this giant pool, and it was fed by Malibu Creek. So, they dammed it up and they would fill this pool from water from Malibu Creek.

Paul Ward (04:41):

I imagine back in the day before, permits were a thing, right? Just, “Let’s build a pool.”

Mike Corridori (04:45):

Yeah. Yeah. And it’s exactly, and there’s this big island in the center, and they would have, like orchestras play why people would be on like these little rowboats. I know it sounds crazy to say a rowboat in a pool, but this pool is big. I think it’s like 60 million gallons.

New Speaker (05:01):

Wow!

Mike Corridori (05:01):

It’s the biggest pool you’ve ever seen. And they had the stage where the concerts are held right now, you’ll see like a brick wall behind the bands when they play. And back behind that, which you can’t see is all these sort of stone square buildings, which they had the animals in. And they would bring ’em out to the, to the front of the stage and they would kind of cart ’em around.

Paul Ward (05:30):

Interesting. So, what was the name of this park?

Mike Corridori (05:32):

It was Lake Encanto. And there was a big sign out front and it was very popular for a while. And then, but it couldn’t compete with other amusement parks. And eventually it went out of business

Paul Ward (05:44):

And then Disneyland came along.

Mike Corridori (05:46):

Yeah. Yeah. Disneyland. Yeah. Magic Mountain. It’s tough. It’s a tough business. I’m sure.

Paul Ward (05:52):

So, did it stay in private hands after that, or did somehow the National Park Service get involved?

Mike Corridori (05:56):

So, Peter Strauss was filming, “Rich Man Poor Man.”

Paul Ward (06:00):

He was an actor or a producer?

Mike Corridori (06:01):

He was an actor. He still acts. He’s in, he does Broadway shows. Oh, wow. He’s still around. He’s still around. Yeah. That’s amazing. He lives in Ohio. Okay. some people have said that he’s been to a few of the shows. I have not seen him, he hasn’t introduced himself, but it’s possible.

Paul Ward (06:14):

Interesting. He’s taking incognito coming to his own old property.

Mike Corridori (06:18):

Yeah. I mean, a lot of people, you know, he is the older generation of actors. So, I think a lot of people may not know who he is if they saw him. ‘Cause he does Broadway. He doesn’t do the popular movies that we see now. He is not a one of the Avengers.

Paul Ward (06:34):

<Laugh>. Right, right. So, he sold to the National Park Service at some point.

Mike Corridori (06:38):

Yeah. So, he sold it, pretty much donated to the National Park Service. And they’re the ones that own and operate this space now. And they’ve really tried to keep it exactly the way it was. You know, you don’t add stuff to it. You only preserve what’s made. So, the theater, everything like that is the way it looked back when it was before.

Paul Ward (06:58):

Then unfortunately the house was lost in the Wolsey Fire

Mike Corridori (07:02):

Yeah. So, the Wolsey Fire of 2019 destroyed the ranch house, the stage for the theater. It was pretty traumatic. And the bridge that gave you access to here from Mulholland was also burned down. ‘Cause It was a wood bridge, if you can imagine a wood bridge in California. But that burned and it took two years to recover from that. We rebuilt the stage. And then, I guess Caltrans rebuilt this beautiful bridge that they put there.

Paul Ward (07:39):

How did Tiny Porches come about? Because you don’t really think of having a concert in a national park or national recreation areas a little bit different. Did you just say one day, “Hey, this is a beautiful setting and I wanna throw concerts here.” How did this all come about?

Mike Corridori (07:54):

Well, I love live music and I’ve been going to shows, festivals, concerts, all around the country. I like rural settings. I prefer outdoor shows. And a lot of my friends knew that I like music. And so, one of my employees said to me one day, he said, “Mike, there’s this really cool theater not far from where you live, called Peter Strauss Ranch. I think there’s this show this Sunday that the National Park Service is putting on. You should go check it out.” So, I came here, brought my own, you know, picnic and stuff, and was just completely blown away and enamored. I just fell in love with the theater, with this whole surrounding here. I didn’t particularly care for the music that was being played. I didn’t think it fit the space. It was like heavy metal or something. Heavy metal is, fine. You know, just not here. So, I called up the National Park Service the Monday after. It was a Sunday, I think that I went to the show, and I asked him, I said, “Hey, do you need any help with this? It looks like, you know, you could use some help with curating the bands and maybe having, you know, different audience flow.” And they said, “Actually, if you want to take it over, please do.”

Paul Ward (09:01):

Wow. Just like that?

Mike Corridori (09:03):

Yeah. Quick. Yeah. I mean, it wasn’t, it didn’t happen that quick. I’m giving you a shorter story. But they said, “As long as it’s a free concert, great. You can do it.” And that’s a pretty big hurdle to do a free concert.

Paul Ward (09:14):

There are costs for everything.

Mike Corridori (09:16):

Yeah. You got sound, you gotta pay the artists. So, I came back to them, and I said, “What if we could get sponsors? Could we get VIP donors that we could give them special seating and maybe wine and cheese beforehand?” And they got back to me a couple weeks later. ‘Cause The federal government does move a little bit slower than other places. They can’t do a deal right there. And they said, “Great. Let’s do it. You know, send me a proposal.” And it’s been, I think we had a five-year contract. The contract came up two years ago and they renewed it then. So, it’s been great.

Paul Ward (09:54):

So, I imagine it’s evolving right. From your first concert. When was the first concert?

Mike Corridori (09:59):

The first concert was 2016.

Paul Ward (10:01):

Okay. So, you’ve been at it for about six years or so, or no, eight. Eight years.

Mike Corridori (10:04):

Eight years. We had, we had we had one hiatus. ‘Cause that thing that happened in 2020. The year before that 2019, after the fires burned this area down, we actually held the series at King Gillette Ranch, which is another big ranch house down the way. And then we came back here as soon as everything was ready because this is a special place. Tiny Concerts belongs at Peter Strauss Ranch.

Paul Ward (10:28):

Right. And so how did you find your first bands? And then how is that kind of evolving now? I mean, imagine words kind of getting out.

Mike Corridori (10:36):

Yeah. It’s much easier right now to get bands. ‘Cause now the more bands that have played here, the more bands that wanna play here.

Paul Ward (10:44):

You’re making a reputation.

Mike Corridori (10:45):

<Laugh>. Yeah. They tell their friends, you know, we have a lot of bands from Nashville that are calling us up that wanna play. ‘Cause it’s a great audience. They listen. It’s not rowdy. Everyone is there to listen. We get 300 to 500 people and it’s amazing. But to get that started was hard. So, I had this really long email that I would send out to artists or their management and say, “There’s this really amazing space in the Santa Monica Mountains, just outside of LA. You know, can you do it for this much money? You know, it’ll be worth your while.” And we got a few takers the first year, and then we started getting photographs of what it looks like at these shows. And then we had stuff to post on social media and to send on emails. So, people were getting more and more of a vibe of what this looks like. And they started getting the concept. And so, we’ve been getting artists ever since.

Paul Ward (11:35):

That’s great. Now, is there a particular style of music that the kind of concert gears towards?

Mike Corridori (11:42):

I would say in general, it’s called, it’d be progressive bluegrass, indie folk. Interesting. So all and a little bit of pop. So everything kind of fits in that and a little bit in country alt country.

Paul Ward (11:52):

Okay. So who are some of the bands that have, that have that have been here?

Mike Corridori (11:55):

Well, we just had Adam Ezra played our last show. We’ve had Sean Watkins play here. Steve Poltz These are names that in the folk world, in the folk bluegrass world. Not very big names. <laugh>. But if you’re listening to classic radio, you might not know who they are right now. But they will be very big names. To get sponsors and to get people to come to this shows. I would say this is our version of the Hollywood Bowl, but it’s much smaller. It’s very rustic, and plenty of parking. And I think that’s a really good way of describing it. When you see it’s a bowl, you know, a rustic small bowl for music. It’s meant for music and the acoustics work.

Paul Ward (12:42):

Right. It’s amazing because it’s natural stone.

Mike Corridori (12:47):

It’s not unusual for an encore or even in the middle of a set for a band to just completely unplug really. And then go, they’ll stand out in front of the stage and just play it completely acoustic crowd just goes dead silent. And it just sings.

Paul Ward (13:00):

I would imagine there’s something magical about having a concert in such a natural setting. I mean, the Hollywood Bowl is awesome, don’t get me wrong. Right. But it’s not a truly natural setting.

Mike Corridori (13:12):

Right. Yeah. This has a natural setting, actually, the way the stairs were and everything. It just conforms to the natural bowl. And then the mountain, if you look behind it there, it just keeps going up. It just keeps going all the way up to the Santa Monica mountains. ‘Cause that’s what the artist is looking, while the artist is playing to the audience, he’s looking at, or she’s looking at Santa Monica Mountains and it’s just this big.

Paul Ward (13:37):

So the experience for the artist is equally amazing. In a normal, not normal, but in a kind of a concert hall, sometimes the artist can’t even see the audience. ‘Cause the lights are shining so brightly on the artist. They’re just looking into the blackness.

Mike Corridori (13:55):

Here’s a great story about that. So, we had Taylor Goldsmith from Dawes play here. It was like a late afternoon, early evening show. And he came in, we just had one chair for him. He just sat sitting down to play an acoustic set. And he looked around. He just was like blown away. He had never been here before. He grew up in Malibu.

New Speaker (14:17):

And local boy.

Mike Corridori (14:19):

Local boy, local, yeah. Big star. And he said, “You know, I gotta tell everybody, I didn’t have any expectations here. ‘Cause I try not to have expectations, but if I did, this would’ve far exceeded my expectations.” And that’s, every artist feels that way. They come here expecting one thing, and then they’re always blown away and they always wanna play here again.

Paul Ward (14:40):

That’s awesome. And I would imagine with success is kind of that, you know, American idea about growing. Bigger is better. And the name of this is Tiny Portches that you’re limited to, you know, 300 to 500 people and that kind of is anathema to what you would think. But there’s something special about keeping it small.

Mike Corridori (15:03):

Yeah. We’ve had lots of people come, “Oh, this is one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. You could make this thing so big. You could do a thousand people, 2000 people.” I’d say. “We’re not, first of all, we can’t get a thousand people here, and we can’t do it anywhere else but here. This concert series was meant to be, your shows were meant to be here.

Paul Ward (15:25):

And then you have the added pressure of keeping it free. I mean, I imagine you can always raise the price of the wine and cheese to Yeah. <Laugh>.

Mike Corridori (15:34):

Yeah. We want to, you know, we wanna keep it free. And the more people you have, the more expensive it is to do it. So, you know, we need, we have parking lot attendants because we have so many cars coming right now. We do have volunteers that help with ushering and ticketing and stuff like that. But the more people we have, the more expensive.

Paul Ward (15:54):

That makes perfect sense. What’s in store for the future? What’s kind of the idea? I mean, obviously, the name is set. There’s the demand on the audience side, and the artists now wanna perform here. Who’s coming in the future?

Mike Corridori (16:08):

Well, we have a show tomorrow. We have a band called The Riverside is playing and the Salty Suites. These are, you know, traditional kind of bluegrass bands. And everybody’s gonna come. I guess I just wanna keep improving on what we’re doing here. I want people to come here. I want them to feel like this is their private concert venue. That they step back in time and they know it’s right in their backyard. And they wanna feel like this is something that, that is ours. That I can tell my friends about that live back east or wherever they live. And I can try to tell ’em about this great, amazing place. And when they come out and visit, I’m gonna bring ’em to this thing and show them what I’m talking about. And that happens all the time.

Mike Corridori (16:53):

I get relatives or, you know, friends that come to visit and then, you know, a county porch concert goer takes them to the show, and they introduce me to the friend and the friend’s, like, “You know, Jim’s been telling me about this thing for years. I can’t believe he’s totally right. This is amazing. I can’t wait to come back.”

New Speaker (17:10):

That’s awesome.

Mike Corridori (17:11):

Yeah. I just wanna keep doing that. So just improve on the experience really at the very beginning. A lot of people ask me, “Well, what kind of music, you know, is being played here?” Or, “Do you have…?” And it’s kind of a question that kind of would almost upset me a little bit. ‘Cause I don’t know. They’re gonna fit in the Americana thing. It’s gonna be original music. Let’s see what they sound like live. Because every band has roots in whether it’s country or bluegrass or folk. And when they play here, they really are kind almost forced to play that style. ‘Cause It’s acoustic, you know? If you get an up-and-coming country band for example, that, you know, plays electric and everything, when they come out here and they play, it’s gonna be more of an acoustic-like, folk kind of country sound that it kind of changes.

Paul Ward (18:02):

So, they could play those more modern songs, but maybe here it’s kind of in a more intimate acoustic setting.

Mike Corridori (18:11):

Like unplugged. Imagine like, it’s like unplugged. Yeah. That’d be a good way of explaining it.

Paul Ward (18:15):

Gotcha. So how can folks learn more about Tiny Porches? And maybe they’re watching on the East Coast or the Midwest, or maybe they’re here locally.

Mike Corridori (18:24):

Okay. Well, we have a website. At tinyporchconcerts.com. There you can get on the mailing list there, an email mailing list, and we tell everybody what’s going, what’s gonna happen next. Of course, we have social media that we do. If, if you wanna know more about it, get on the social media, get on the email list, and we’ll tell you what’s going on. And if you want to come out and visit and see a show, literally contact us through the website. I’ll tell you where to stay. If you want to camp, I’ll tell you where to camp.

Paul Ward (18:51):

Oh, wow. And yeah, you could camp on the Santa Monica Mountains.

Mike Corridori (18:54):

There’s lots of great campsites around here. So, I’ve had people, you know, coming from other places, you know, Utah and saying, “Hey, where can I park my trailer?” And I tell them, and, you know, I can handle 300 people doing that. <Laugh>

Paul Ward (19:09):

Now is the concert recorded or do you gotta be here to experience it?

Mike Corridori (19:13):

You have to be here to experience it. We have done some recordings, but you know, you’ll see more photos than you will recordings really.

Mike Corridori (19:20):

Well, you can, you can bring your own food and drink.

Paul Ward (19:24):

Oh, you can?

Mike Corridori (19:25):

Yeah. And you can bring wine and beer. So, it is a big picnic. And everyone comes out here and you can see some pretty amazing spreads that people put out.

Paul Ward (19:34):

They go all out.

Mike Corridori (19:34):

They go all out. Yeah. They get here early. And I like to walk around and meet everybody, you know, before the show, and I look and see what they’re making and stuff. And I’ve had some pretty good sandwiches. <Laugh>

Paul Ward (19:45):

<Laugh>, They’re not fooling around.

Mike Corridori (19:47):

Yeah. And they know I like wine. So, everyone likes to bring like, some really special wine. If they have something they really like, they like to share. So, I always like that too. It’s cool.

Paul Ward (19:55):

That’s great.

Mike Corridori (19:56):

Yeah. But the VIP between 4-5PM has wine, beer, cheese, charcuterie compliments of Cornell Wine right across the street. And some other local wineries and some wineries from Paso and stuff that also donate wine for the event.

Paul Ward (20:14):

You said that you gravitate towards Nashville bands.

Mike Corridori (20:18):

I do like bands from Nashville because I do feel like as LA is the epicenter for the movie business, I think Nashville is the epicenter for music. So, if you can make it in Nashville and music, you can make it anywhere. So, you always get a kinda certain vibe from the Nashville. It’s different. I can’t explain it. They’re just, they have a little bit different way of presenting themselves. Like they’ve been taught a different way than what you get here. LA’s a little bit more the LA artists. And I love LA artists. There’s just so many great ones here. Little bit more casual. A band comes from Nashville. They’re buttoned up. They’re ready to go.

Paul Ward (20:55):

Interesting. Yeah. And what does the concert series look like? Are you 12 months out of the year? Is it kind of a limited series? ‘Cause, I mean, we do have a little bit of a winter here.

Mike Corridori (21:03):

Yeah. Well, the first show is always Mother’s Day.

Paul Ward (21:06):

Okay.

Mike Corridori (21:06):

And then we do one show a month after that for three months. So, we have a total of four shows.

Paul Ward (21:11):

It’s short,

Mike Corridori (21:12):

It is a short series. And yeah, this is our last show tomorrow for the year. And it feels like we just got started, but it’s a lot of work. Putting on these shows is a lot of work. And it does start to get hot. You’ll notice tomorrow that it’s gonna be in the 80s and the 80s in this area with the sun beating on you feels more like, you know, 100 degrees.

Paul Ward (21:30):

It’s hot.

Mike Corridori (21:30):

Yeah. But when the music starts around 5PM, the sun kind of comes down behind the mountains and the trees and it starts to cool down. And it’s really one of the greatest temperatures to see a show. Everyone’s wearing shorts and t-shirts.

Paul Ward (21:44):

Do you feel that a short series is kind of what’s meant for Tiny Porches? Or do you see it being a little bit longer?

Mike Corridori (21:53):

I think we could do another show here and there, you know, weather permitting, but I think what makes it special is it’s not, you know, six months of concerts. It’s only these four concerts and everybody knows you have to get your tickets for these shows. Otherwise you might miss it.

Mike Corridori (23:15):

There’s a couple neighborhoods over here like that kind of surround us as well.

Paul Ward (23:20):

But still kind of not densely packed. And they’re no custom homes.

Mike Corridori (23:23):

No. When I say neighborhood around here, that means like, you know three, four-acre ranch houses with horses, those type of homes. And they, a lot of those people, they can either hear it from their own backyard.

Paul Ward (23:36):

Wow. How cool would that be?

Mike Corridori (23:36):

Yeah, I know. Wouldn’t that’d be great. Or they, a lot of them just will walk here, you know, they’ll walk with their kids and stuff and come and enjoy the show and introduce themselves. We do get a lot of children. And that’s surprising. You wouldn’t think that they would be into, you know, whatever kind of music is, we’re playing modern bluegrass. Right, right. But they get up there, they start dancing and they have fun, and then the parents start dancing. And I would say pretty much every show turns into a big dance party. Everyone’s dancing and enjoying it. Yeah. People ask about dogs and the theater’s kind of tight, right. So, if you bring a dog…

Paul Ward (24:14):

You can bring your dog?

Mike Corridori (24:14):

You can bring a dog. It’s gotta be on a six-foot leash at all times. And we really ask people to be respectful of the other audience, because we don’t want dogs barking.

Paul Ward (24:25):

Or eating somebody else’s charcuterie board.

Mike Corridori (24:28):

Right. <laugh> We really don’t encourage it, but some people wanna bring their dogs. We just tell ’em to kind of sit on the outside. You can still hear the music just fine.

Paul Ward (24:36):

Who are your sponsors?

Mike Corridori (24:37):

We have like 10 sponsors. Haley Dixon from the Financial Freedom Network. She’s a new gold sponsor this year, and she’s been very active. but all the other sponsors have been doing it since the beginning.

Paul Ward (25:07):

They believed in the vision, and they’ve carried through.

Mike Corridori (25:09):

Yeah. They believe in the vision. They like to bring their clients here. They like to bring their friends here or their coworkers, you know, they’re like so Ama Waterways. It’s not unusual for them to have 12 of their people in the audience, you know, having a good time. It’s a good way for sponsors to entertain their employees.

Paul Ward (25:28):

Sure. It’s like having a box seat at a Laker game. Right.

Mike Corridori (25:32):

Yeah, but like The Hollywood Bowl

Paul Ward (25:33):

But it’s better in a lot of ways!

Mike Corridori (25:35):

Yeah, it is better in a lot of ways. So, but we are looking for sponsors, of course.

Paul Ward (25:39):

Wonderful.

Mike Corridori (25:39):

And we do reach out towards the end of the year to, for new sponsors or if someone’s interested in being a sponsor, they can go to our website and there’s information there and they can contact me through the website.

Paul Ward (25:51):

Wonderful. Well, Mike Corridori, thank you so much for being our guest on this edition of On the Road. We’ve loved having you and learning about the Peter Strauss Ranch and the Tiny Porches Concert Series.

Mike Corridori (26:01):

Thank you, Paul, it was a pleasure. And thank you for being interested in this amazing music concert.

Paul Ward (26:07):

Absolutely. And of course, we wanna thank our sponsor, Opus Escrow. And be sure to tune in next time for the next On the Road.