In the spotlight this month is Peter Sellers, owner-operator of Sellers & Newel: a second-hand bookstore by day and a live music venue by night. Formerly a freelance copywriter, creative director, radio commercial producer and TV commercial director, Sellers changed course in 2011 when he opened his shop at 672 College Street, which has ultimately become one of Toronto’s best listening spaces.

JIT: At Sellers & Newel concerts, you collect the audience’s contributions and they all go directly to the artists; the local musician community is extremely grateful for your generosity. When you embarked on this journey as a presenter, what motivated you to be so giving, rather than taking a cut of the proceeds for your work?

PS: First of all, the goal of the shows was to bring potential customers into the store. It was not to make money from presenting live music. I had an ulterior motive.I figured I’d do a show a month and slowly build more awareness for the shop. So the idea was always for me to give all the money from the door to the musicians.

Also, when I did the first show, in June of 2015, I had no real idea how much, or how little, musicians made from gigs in Toronto. Back in the late seventies, my friend Rob Milling used to book acts into a performance space called The Back Room in the Pizza Patio on Bloor near Avenue Road. I knew how much those musicians got paid, but I figured that forty years later performers must get a lot more dough.

My place is so small that I reckoned it’d be no trouble to sell it out, and so I told Kevin Quain, the first performer, that I could guarantee him $250, which seemed to me not bad for a two-hour gig.

For that first show, we actually sold more than thirty seats at $10 a piece, so that worked out fine. I figured this whole thing was going to be a piece of cake. I was wrong. A whole bunch of shows did not do well at all. It’s tough some nights to drag even twenty people out to a show, let alone thirty or more.

But things picked up, and the number of shows grew to the point we’re at now where we host more than 100 a year and have done more than 550 in total. However I had an established policy that I was not about to change, and so 100% of the money still goes to the musicians.

JIT: How has the live music aspect affected your business as a second-hand bookstore?

PS: There’s no question that the shows have done exactly what I had hoped, they have helped the book business tremendously. For one thing, our tiny place is now known all over the world, which I never could have anticipated. I recently got a request for a booking from a music promoter in Kazakhstan. And our book sales just keep getting stronger.

We have also had tremendous support from the media which we greatly appreciate. Recent pieces about us in the West End Phoenix, and on Global TV, Friendly Rich’s podcast, and now jazzintoronto.ca — all inspired by the music programming — have been really helpful. Also a video made by an Instagram account called Curiocity was seen by hundreds of thousands of people and has had a huge impact on the number of new customers coming to the store.

JIT: The live music series famously began with songwriter Kevin Quain before expanding to include jazz, blues, classical, folk, creative music, branching out and evolving constantly. What do you find works best in the room, and is there anything that you have found doesn’t work as well?

PS: Pretty much everything works well acoustically. The room just sounds great. The simple reality is that I will book any music that I think will be interesting, but our primary focus is on instrumental jazz and improvisational music, which makes up about 75% of our shows. Overall, we’ve succeeded — and failed — with virtually every type of music.

JIT: What feedback have you received from your audience of listeners, who undoubtedly play a big role in this series? Anything that was particularly surprising?

PS: Most of the feedback we’ve gotten has been very positive. A bunch of people would like us to get the a/c fixed, which I understand. It can get pretty hot during shows between May and September. Some complain about the chairs which, to be honest, are the best folding chairs we could afford. Some cost us seven bucks each at Canadian Tire and a bunch of others we got free. A few folks don’t like how small the place is, but there’s not much we can do about that. We’ve had a couple of people who flat out hated the place. But they’re the exceptions. Lots of people keep coming back to show after show, new people come out to every performance, and most people love the quirky vibe.

JIT: If an artist is interested in applying to perform, what should they know? What in particular are you looking for in a submission?

PS: The best way to contact us is by email to litsocgigs@gmail.com. Be aware of what we do and how we operate. I have received a few emails from promoters looking to book gigs for musicians, and who referred to the place as the Sellers & Newel Speakeasy, a name we have not used since 2018. If they are too lazy to find out who they’re actually contacting, they will be turned down automatically. It’s pretty easy at this point to find out who we are and what we do.

JIT: If you could have anyone dead or alive perform at Sellers & Newel, who would you invite?

PS: There are tons of them, but five who stand out particularly are Tom Waits, Coleman Hawkins, Nash the Slash, Dutch Mason, and Buddy Tate.

JIT: You have a new record label operating out of the store – what is the motivation there and what releases are coming up?

PS: I get bored easily. The concerts were up and running smoothly, and I needed a new toy. A number of artists had been asking to use the place to make their own records and shoot videos. So I thought, what the heck, let’s start a label! It has been an instructive experience, and we’ve made some great records. Upcoming Lit Soc Records releases include a live solo piano record by Max Donaldson; an improvisational jazz trio album by Brittany Pitt’s Shapeshifter Trio, and a record by punk and reggae-influenced Scarborough singer/songwriter Joe Cash with a trio featuring Patrick Smith, Chris Banks, and Lowell Whitty. And there are more in the works.

I can’t wait to find out what’s next.