Performing in the pandemic, by zoom, drive- in and doorstep
NEW YORK » A good way to hear what we’ve missed this year is to listen to Sam Cooke’s landmark live album, “Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963.” On a warm January night in downtown Miami, Cooke was well into his torrid set when, in the middle of “Bring it on Home to Me,” he asks the audience to join in.
“Let me hear you say yeah,” coos Cooke.
The “Yeah!” that follows — instant, exuberant, loud — is one of the great call- and- responses in music, a euphoria of performer and audience as one.
Anything like that blissful moment has been painfully out of reach in 2020. Music halls have been closed since March. Broadway is shuttered. Comedy clubs empty. Live studio audiences mostly sent home. Cinemas with only “Wash your hands” on the marquee. The entertainment world has trudged on, by live- streaming, zooming and improvising. But its in- person soul was nearly snuffed out, and with it a lifeblood of human connection. The pandemic has upended entertainment industries, driving thousands out of work, reshaping timetested institutions and accelerating digital transformations. For the arts, which
are predicated on bringing people closer together if only for a song or a few acts, a year of isolation and social distancing goes against nature. Yet despite gathering being nearly impossible in 2020, many have found ways to connect nevertheless — even if applause is on mute, and standing ovations are sounded by car honks.
After a month of practicing and playing inside, Los Angeles Philharmonic members Cathy and Jonathan Karoly decided they had had enough. Cathy, a flutist, and Jonathan, a cellist, began playing on the porch of their Pasadena, California, home. At first, they didn’t tell anyone but their neighbors. Friends came and sat on the lawn. Passersbys inquired. And before they knew it, the Karolys had played 25 concerts, through heat and ( until recently) virus spikes.