SLA must give businesses a straight answer

How do you un-sing a song? The New York State Liquor Authority thinks it knows how.

The authority recently added language to its website that turned off music in venues across the state — even though it had previously told some of those venues they could host live music.

Sportsmens Tavern in Buffalo was one of those places. When Sportsmens reopened as part of phase three, the owners found almost by accident that if a venue had live music before COVID-19, it could continue to have live music. Jason Hall of Sportsmens said they got it in writing from the Liquor Authority. Since then, Sportsmens has hosted reduced capacity performances.

Then came a notice on the Liquor Authority’s website this week: “Please note that only incidental music is permissible at this time. This means that advertised and/or ticketed shows are not permissible. Music should be incidental to the dining experience and not the draw itself.”

Hall wonders if “incidental” means the Liquor Authority says musicians must play for free. In any event, Hall told a reporter about the show the previous night, plans for a show that night and on the weekend. “We’re not canceling,” he said.

We don’t know whether it is safe yet to have live music. Early in the pandemic, singing was singled out as one of the activities with the greatest potential to spread the virus. Venue owners are taking precautions — reduced capacity, tables spread apart, no dancing — but we don’t have the expertise to know if that is good enough. However much fans want live music to return, it isn’t worth endangering New York’s success in beating back the virus.

What we do know is that music fans and the business people who offer live music deserve a better explanation. What changed and why?

If the answer is that new research or hard-earned experience suggests live shows are less safe than previously thought, New Yorkers may be disappointed but they have proved they will do what’s best for our collective good.

But in the absence of that, fans and business owners are left to wonder — and fume. That is unfortunate and unnecessary. The Liquor Authority should speak up and explain itself.