It’s been five months since my office closed up shop and my normal routine was disrupted by a pandemic that has displaced and destroyed a thriving concert and event industry. Of course, my position is not unique, as this plague unleashed upon us keeps creating health and economic havoc around the world. Fortunately, the company I work for has been able to keep few of us on a limited payroll as we try to sustain and renew a working business model and, seeing how most of my compatriots have been furloughed, this is a major accomplishment in a diminished business.
Glass: Half-Empty or Half-Full?
On the positive side, lately, I’ve had more people inquiring about gear and labor as they try to host and promote concerts. While a good portion of these attempts have been unrealistic in their goals, there have been a few home concerts and streaming events that we have put together. A few clients are beginning to rent equipment again, and some of my musician friends have begun streaming their live and socially distanced shows. Of course, when it rains it pours, and if one manages to avoid contracting the virus, they still might get eaten by sharks, stung by murder hornets, have their trees ravaged by spotted lanternflies, get gassed at a protest, have their store looted, lose power due to a hurricane, lose a home to a tornado or succumb to the 90-degree-plus heat wave that has been sweeping our nation.
Conspiracy theories abound, and the Illuminati shadow government, once considered responsible for controlling our thoughts and actions has now become the Democratic deep state and brought to light by the mysterious Q. While we once tried to make sense of assassinations, 911 and mass shootings, the followers of Q are trying to decipher messages that tell of a vast deep state controlled by left wing pedophiles. We have become a land divided, with sides being chosen like a schoolyard basketball game and delineated by one of the sides wearing masks to mitigate the spread of the virus and the other refusing to wear a mask as a patriotic statement.
Meanwhile, extended federal unemployment benefits have come to an end and, while the rate of unemployed has dropped from 11% in June to 10% in July, there’s evidence a resurgence of the virus is stalling an economic rebound. Through July 18, the top five states leading the nation in unemployment were reported to be Nevada, Hawaii, California, Louisiana and New York. Not surprisingly, they are states that have strong entertainment and hospitality industries. It’s insulting to those of us in any of the entertainment-related businesses when tax-funded members of congress allude to cutting benefits to inspire people to return to jobs that don’t exist.
Last year, the live music business grossed $11.1 billion dollars and, before the arrival of Covid-19, PricewaterhouseCoopers projected global gross receipts of $31 billion dollars by 2022. This means our industry was strong, and those of us who were involved were all making money. I have been involved with live music and events for the last 50 years, either on one side of the microphone or the other, and most of my friends and associates are also long-time players in the live entertainment field.
Get A Job!
Many, like myself, have found ways to work through our retirement age, as most of us need the income, but mainly because we enjoy our work. A good portion of us have drifted through different areas of live work to survive as we grow and change. The “Find Something New” initiative suggested by certain politicians, Apple, IBM and AT&T, to name a few, is something most of us do as an ongoing process to stay in our chosen field. We are diverse by necessity and learn and perform such varied skills as engineer (monitors and FOH), stagehand, production manager, stage manager, guitar tech, keyboard tech, drum tech and truck driver to survive in a capricious business environment. Not that finding something new is a bad suggestion for an uncertain business in ambiguous times, but I don’t recall hearing this solution given to those in the coal business when that industry was suffering. Try telling a 30-year vet of the coal industry to try something new like getting into the solar business or growing hemp for sustaining clean and affordable energy. That would be a no-fly zone!
We are in a devastated industry, and after six months of an unplanned, forced retirement, with at least another six months to go, there may be no choice but to learn another skill. If that’s the case and we all assume new responsibilities, then there may be no one available to fill the necessary tech positions come the reopening of our $11-billion-dollar business. After speaking with many friends in the music business, including those in television, theater, concerts and events, I have not once heard a musician or a tech express joy in receiving unemployment rather than going to work. Many of us are used to living paycheck-to-paycheck and season-by-season so, in some strange way, this is not totally unfamiliar territory, but help is needed.
Living in “Interesting” Times
These are strange and exhausting times in which we are living, and while I understand how the great divide has split our country, it certainly doesn’t help in establishing a way to eradicate this virus by ignoring the experts or forming conspiracy theories. If you feel the need to rebel against an invasive government, throw out your cell phone, toss your television out the window, get rid of your EZ Pass and credit cards, study the constitution and become a politician, but for the sake of us all, wear a mask and social distance! It’s a proven therapy that has worked in other countries.
While many businesses are up and running — albeit on a limited basis — the music and entertainment business is shut down until further notice. While it’s true that many of us are finding ways to amuse ourselves and each other with live streaming, online jamming and by making home recordings, it must be noted that these activities are more of an exercise to maintain our skills rather than a vocation intended to increase our bank accounts or to pay rent. Unfortunately, no one is putting out the virtual tip jar for the engineer, rigger or stagehand — although that may be our next move in staying solvent.
If this is indeed the direction we are following, then, as we are waiting for our business to renew itself, please watch us mix a show in real time; watch a video of us rigging a line array; follow us as we load-in and set up a stage; watch the excitement and drama as we ring out monitors; and be privy to us as we negotiate a rider. Remember that what we are streaming is the history of what was once the exciting stuff of our dreams so, thanks for watching, and please don’t forget to leave something in the virtual tip jar.
