Cautious return for live music
Social-distanced show planned at Boca Raton venue
Is South Florida ready to leave the house to hear live music again? Can a show be done safely, for patrons and artists? Will anyone show up?
Wary venue owners and outof-work performers are singing the same tune: There’s only one way to find out.
With locals making their first cautious steps into the new normal of socially distancing dining rooms across the region, live-music fans will have the opportunity to follow them Memorial Day Weekend.
Large-venue concerts by major touring acts are out, and shows at your neighborhood bar can’t happen under the state’s Phase 1 reopening rules. But restaurants
that have stages and generate most of their revenue from food occupy a unique niche, and some have begun to program music again.
A weekend lineup at Johnnie Brown’s in Delray Beach begins with popular local band Spider Cherry on Friday, and Crazy Uncle Mike’s in Boca Raton will have Tasty Vibrations on Saturday. In Fort Lauderdale, Ian Millar of the Irish Rovers is booked at the Field Irish Pub on Saturday and local icon George Orr will bring his Rod Stewart tribute act to Kelly Brothers Irish Pub on Sunday.
The most ambitious lineup will be found at the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton, which will offer three nights of music by local performers with a national following, led by recent Blues Music Award winner Albert Castiglia.
Joined by frequent collaborator Mike Zito, Castiglia will perform all five shows Saturday-Monday, accompanied by a rotating list of local blues luminaries that include JP Soars, Shaw Davis, Mark Telesca and Richie Schmidt.
But how will the Funky Biscuit host these concerts and still meet social-distancing rules? What will it look like?
“There was a cry for music out there, but we were only going to do it if, A) the state made it legal for us to do it and B) if we could do it in a responsible fashion. I think that’s what we’re doing,” Funky Biscuit owner Al Poliak says.
Tables have been removed, and the performances will take place in a room reconfigured to accommodate about 85 audience members, less than half its original capacity. Seating will be at tables only, with tickets sold in groups of two, three, four and six. Each seat costs $40, with a $25 food and drink minimum. Servers and other staff will be masked.
Tables have been separated by more than 6 feet and front-row seating has been moved a bit farther from the stage. Performers also will be positioned on the stage to be farther away from the audience.
Over the past several weeks the 9-year-old space also got an overdue facelift, Poliak says. Walls were repainted, carpets replaced and bars refinished.
Poliak will probably lose money during the weekend, but he says the economics won’t define success.
“If we have a reasonably decent house, and everybody felt comfortable with the whole situation, based on how we had it set up, I’m going to drive away feeling like it was a success,” Poliak says. “I got some musicians employed, staff paid. The numbers will be what the numbers are.”
Homecoming
Another goal for Poliak this weekend is to allow Castiglia’s local fans to celebrate the music honored at the prestigious Blues Music Awards in Memphis on May 3. The Wilton Manors-based singer-songwriter and guitar master won the award for best blues-rock album for his deeply personal 2019 Gulf Coast Records release “Masterpiece.”
The awards were livestreamed, with Castiglia sequestered at home.
Poliak is covering travel expenses for Texas-based guitarist Zito, the Gulf Coast Records owner who produced the album and played on it, to share the stage in Castiglia’s first performance since winning the award.
“These guys deserve that. It’s like one of the few things they get is recognition. These guys aren’t getting rich, ok?” Poliak says.
Castiglia has not performed in front of a live audience since a March 14 show at the Bradfordville Blues Club in Tallahassee, one of the first dates on a tour supporting his latest Gulf Coast Records album, “Wild and Free.” The record was recorded live at the Funky Biscuit with Zito, John Ginty and Lewis Stephens, and recently hit No. 2 on the Billboard blues albums chart.
Castiglia admits to being nervous about venturing out in public as well as getting onstage in front of an audience. He trusts Poliak to do all the right things — it’s himself he’s worried about.
“I’m a very huggy person. I like physical contact. That’s who I am. I’m a hugger,” Castiglia says. “My first instinct is gonna want to hug everybody that I haven’t seen in months.”
While he may be rusty, and has been playing a lot of acoustic guitar in the past two months, Castiglia expects to feel like his old self soon after plugging in on Saturday. He’ll probably open with the big, electrified rocker “Let the Big Dog Eat.”
“I’ve gotta exorcise some demons, man,” he says, laughing. “I’ve been Joni Mitchell-ing it for two months. I’m ready to rock out.”
Other stages
Among the many South Florida musicians anxious to get off the sideline is Fort Lauderdale guitarist Joel DeSilva, a prolific performer on the local scene since his days leading the psychobilly trio Hep Cat Boo Daddies.
He is booked to play Blue Jean Blues in Fort Lauderdale on May 30 and the Funky Biscuit on June 8, but is otherwise filling holes in his schedule with live-stream shows at Facebook.com/JoelDaSilvaMusic and online guitar lessons.
DaSilva believes this weekend’s performances may help other venues make decisions on when to book live shows.
“I think they are waiting to find out how things will be for them as far as revenue and safety,” he says. “It’s a waiting game.”
Those venues moving forward now include Johnnie Brown’s, the open-air eatery and bar on Delray Beach’s busy East Atlantic Avenue, where performances on the outdoor stage continue all weekend, beginning with Spider Cherry at 8 p.m. Friday. Seating will be limited to 83 people (20 inside), which is 50% capacity. For a complete lineup, visit JohnnieBrowns.com.
Taking a slightly different approach is Kelly Brothers Irish Pub in Fort Lauderdale, where Orr will perform Stewart classics such as “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and “Tonight’s the Night” on the balcony overlooking to parking lot 2-5 p.m. Sunday. Pub owners say you are welcome to set up lawn chairs 6 feet apart. Visit Facebook.com/KellyBrothersIrishPub.