It's like the Great Depression, but instead, it captures our moment a little bit more. We don't know what is coming (although it probably isn't good) And in the meantime, we are in our homes, paused, waiting for the next big thing to hit. It's almost like someone has hit the remote to stop, and now life is just inching along at a much slower pace.
I know this isn't true-- Life is continuing of course, and plumbers must be called and grocery stores must be shopped and prescriptions must be picked up, but there's a certain amount where there isn't. Lots of businesses are closed, many schools are closed, and things are cancelled. Theatres, libraries, and non-essential stores are mostly shuttered. The same is true for lots of restaurants, which here in Illinois are now delivery or take-out only, at least until the end of March, and probably a lot further.
As you can imagine, many of my friends are artists, and this Great Pause is going to play havoc with their livelihoods. On a school performers Facebook group that I am in, guys who make their sole living in schools are suddenly having to face the likelihood of extended times of forced unemployment.
A few of them are doing some great things during the great pause to entertain children, adults, and everybody in between. I thought I'd tout a few of them. (And if you are a friend of mine and would like to be featured, please post your Great Pause project
In the meantime, I haven't quite figured out what it is that I could do.
VALERIE TUTSON
Val is a great storyteller based in Rhode Island. You can find her online at https://yamass.org/our-programs/valerie-tutson/ (she had a website http://www.valerietutson.com, but I can't get it to work right now.) She's posting Facebook Live videos of her stories on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/valerie.tutson/
DAVID LADON
David is a performer and teacher from Boston who I met while he lived in Chicago. He was my son's Hebrew School Teacher. He's now living in Colorado, and he also has a great band Animal Farm, which I've featured previously on the blog. David is also doing some Live Streaming via FaceBook on a Pay What You Can basis-- asking for donations on Paypal or Venmo. It's free to watch, and if you like it, you should donate. This is for younger kids, and he's quite engaging. He'll be doing different shows and tea time stories each day. You can find the live events on his facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/AnimalFarmMusic/
BRIAN FOLEY
Brian Foley has been producing Vaudeville Variety Shows in Phoenix once a month for the last couple of years. The two year anniversary was March 17, and it was canceled due to COVID-19. Undeterred, he produced a Virtual Variety Show in the Valley, in front of his garage, using videos from Youtube as his "Acts" I think he will be planning on doing it again if he needs to.You can find Brian on his website: http://www.brianfoley.net/ (although it doesn't seem like it's been updated lately) You can also check out his page on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/BrianFoleyArtist/
And this series is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Dk2lBcFtu-8
1 comment:
Seems like a lot of other performers have had the same idea. Here's a list of kindie performers who are creating music for streaming with schedules. There are over 150 performers on the list, and it keeps growing!
https://bit.ly/kidshowscorona
On the second page of that list, there's a URL where you can go to add your show, if you've a mind to.
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