Songwriter View: Social Pittance
By Patty Castillo Davis
By this time you all know we are in a situation. A GLOBAL situation.
We are not only confronted with one of the greatest health scares in decades, coined a “pandemic” by the World Health Organization, we are also faced with its effect on every aspect of what we’ve deemed normal in life in the interval after this occurred. How we navigate our humanity throughout the duration of the policies put in place to cease the exposure and eventual community transmission will determine if we have conducted ourselves with reason and moral purpose. Did you abide by the suggested guidelines to limit exposure? Did you only take what you needed to manage a quarantine? Were you mindful of others with fewer resources and the opportunity to prepare for such an event? Were you generous in keeping your local small businesses alive during the rigidly enforced procedures and closures?
I, like many other full-time musicians in this region, keep a tight calendar, ESPECIALLY in the Spring. It is the threshold of the flourishing gig season. At press time ALL of my jobs were canceled up through the entire month of May. The music industry’s financial collapse is a very personal disruption as performance in a live music space is my and many of my peers’ most common income sources. Waiting out the uncertainty to come, reinvention and potential financial aid will be what sustains most of us. It’s going to be reliance on personal revival and experimentation. Heck, a concert for one to six persons for hire abiding the social distancing? You bet. Online private concert videos? Yes. Virtual tip jar. That is going to be part of my plan. PayPal pcdenterprises@yahoo.com
We must rely on our fan base for sustenance.
Watch for your favorite local performers online and assist their endeavors by streaming their music and purchasing their merchandise. You know how to find me.
Fran Snyder from the Listening Room Network believes that these online efforts will become the norm and that small event will lead the music recovery.
I will have an online interview with Snyder discussing how the effects of Covid-19 will rewrite the rules for musicians, touring and production.
When we regain possession of all that was interrupted, we will have learned reinvigoration, resourcefulness, and rebranding.
There is more fresh news on the horizon in Country artist Dominic Del Curto. With roots in Oakdale and wings that delivered him to Texas and back, this traditional Country artist has taken his influences- Flatts and Scruggs, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and a host of other excellent artists and created a very personal album. California Rain is his creation which in his words touches on “homecoming, family, redemption, and duty. He has taken his own soul-bearing experiences and delivers them as lessons revealed and advice. You can find and follow him on Spotify, Applemusic, CD Baby and Amazon. The answer to the infamous ModestoView question Beatles or Stones? Del Curto prefers the Beatles.
It is with gratitude that I acknowledge all of the venues that held on tight until the realization that closing the doors was in the best interest of our future. There is a very real possibility that some of these doors may never reopen, the tone and landscape of what was before Covid-19 may be just a memory. 150 years ago this place was in its infancy with an upstart population full of aspirations. Did they dare to dream of the rich, vibrant community we have become? Do we possess that same optimism to persevere and rebuild? We will be in this familiar place when the guidelines and regulations are lifted. It’s going to take an abundance of hard work and unity to reclaim what we’ve created as residents. I’m in. Come with.
Send inquiries on how to help the relief effort for our local musicians to pcdenterprises@yahoo.com
