#NiagaraPerforms: Pandemic blues with Suzie Vinnick
Online shows allow connection when we’re not allowed to connect
For Niagara roots and blues singer Suzie Vinnick, the “new normal” is starting to feel … well, pretty normal. Since COVID-19 started shutting down all entertainment venues in mid-March, Vinnick has bided her time playing weekly livestream shows on the website StreetJelly. So when FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre approached her to play for the #NiagaraPerforms series recently, she was already primed.
“It’s really different, you don’t have that energy of the audience, but I’m really grateful,” says Vinnick, who lives in a former church building in Wainfleet.
“One of the things with living in the country is the internet is a little bit slower — that’s, I guess, the biggest challenge. First World problem.”
With the weekly show, Vinnick has found her mix of blues and talk, taking requests and staying in touch with fans albeit through a computer screen.
“There is a response to what I’m doing, and people do support me with e-transfer and PayPal and stuff like that. It’s cathartic, being able to connect with people when we’re not allowed to connect.”
The #NiagaraPerforms series is paying local musicians for their online concerts.
Shows have featured jazz duo Juliet Dunn and Peter Shea, country-folk singer Spencer Burtonand a reading of “Peg and the Yeti” by Carousel Players artistic director Monica Dufault (today at 7 p.m.).
A Saskatoon native, Vinnick is a three-time Juno nominee and 10-time winner at the Maple Blues Awards. She has toured with Downchild, John McDermott and Stuart McLean’s “Vinyl Café.”
Her livestream shows are a glorious display of multitasking; she’s singing, playing guitar and reading online comments at the same time.
“Sometimes people will request a song, and I’ll end the song (I’m playing) and jump to it,’ she says. “Or I’ll jot it down for the next show that I’m doing.”
While thrilled to still be playing, even without a crowd, Vinnick knows blues players like herself face a tough road the longer this pandemic stretches. It was already a scene struggling with a lack of venues.
“It’s nerve-racking, this whole thing is,” she says.
“It’s shaken things up a lot. I just saw something online yesterday how in Europe bands are playing outside and people are driving up to the stages. They’re doing outdoor concerts and people are social distancing in their cars.
“I may find a part-time job doing something else temporarily. I mean, it’s on my mind for sure. Just figuring out alternate revenue streams to get by.”