The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
With gigs off, state musicians reach out online
NEW HAVEN — Even before coronavirus and the need for social distancing squashed gigs for most working musicians in Connecticut for weeks or even months, it already was a tough time to be a musician in the state.
But as residents stay home and figure out ways to insulate themselves from the pandemic, many of Connecticut’s musicians are seeking — and finding — ways to reach out and connect with their friends, fans and each other and get their music out to people who are desperate for contact, connection and quality entertainment.
Instead of local clubs or theaters, they’re popping up on Facebook Live, Instagram, YouTube Live and StageIt — in some cases beaming live from otherwise-closed music venues.
Some musicians — including full-timers who have lost all their income for the immediate future — sell digital tickets to provide access or put out virtual “tip jars” in the form of Paypal and Venmo links.
Some just want to salve their cabin fever, express themselves and be heard. Some even have gone live to raise money for charity.
And it’s not just a trickle of performers.
On a recent Saturday night, Facebook users could toggle between watching former Space/ Outer Space/Ballroom owner and onetime Mighty Purple frontman Steve Rodgers and singer-songwriter Seth Adam live from The Cellar on Treadwell, blues band the Rich Badowski Band of Granby live from the Music Lady Cafe in Central Village (which was otherwise closed) and, down at the Mother In Law Lounge in New Orleans, Kermit Ruffins — all playing at the same time.
All this while big shots such as like Neil Young, Garth Brooks, Keith Urban and John Legend make unprecedented efforts to play live online for their fans.
“I think that it’s affected all of us in terms of having to cancel shows,” said New Haven piano player and singer Sarah Golley, who plays “classically-infused avant pop” and is the administrator of the “CT
Original Musicians” Facebook page. “I was going to go on tour in April and that’s not happening.”
Instead, Golley created a virtual music series, “The Quarantined Series,” on the CT Original Musicians page, which essentially is a clearinghouse and branding opportunity where musicians can get some virtual attention for their endeavors.
“I just wanted to create some normalcy,” said Golley, who planned to go live herself at 7 p.m. March 28 from “my little closet studio” at home in New Haven.
“I know a lot of musicians have had gigs that were canceled,” said Golley, who also teaches music at The Rock House Music School in West Haven and Wallingford, which has moved many of its lessons online. “I’ve moved all my lessons online,” she said. “Everything’s moved online.”
The Quarantined Series is pretty simple, aside from the technology involved in making it happen.
For the most part, “it’s people in their own houses, and I’m just compiling them and kind of branding them so people can find them online,” Golley said. “When I set up the series ... I tell them to put in the Venmo” or other link so people who want to tip them or contribute to their livelihood can do so.
Singer songwriter Frank Critelli of Meriden lost two out of his three jobs when restrictions related to social distancing went into effect. His jobs as a performing musician and a bartender at Cafe Nine in New Haven went on hold for now, but he’s still working his part-time job as groundskeeper at a convent.
Critelli has done two livestreams so far. The first, about a week ago, “actually was my first time ever doing it.”
Generally speaking, “I don’t like the idea,” Critelli said “I’ve never been someone who takes selfies. ... I’ve never felt comfortable doing it.”
But right now, it’s the only game in town, “so I tried it out on a Saturday night, one song.”
Then he did another — and planned a third livestream Friday at noon , a replacement for a live appearance at the Hartford Business Improvement Association’s Winter Blues series.
Later on Friday, at 7 p.m., Guilford singer-songwriter and former State Troubadour Lara Herscovitch, about to release her new album, “Highway Philosphers,” planned to do her own livestream from Baobab Tree Studios in New Haven, to be streamed live both on Facebook and YouTube Live.
“This is very much not the moment I was hoping to let this music out into the world,” said Herscovitch, who took the plunge a couple of years ago to become a full-time musician. But she’s hoping it will do people some good.
“It’s a scary time for every musician I know — and a lot of other people,” she said. “I’m just talking it one day at a time.
“I’ve never done a livestream — I’ve never done a streamed concert before,” said Herscovitch, who set up a virtual tip jar through her Square.com account, as well as a new Venmo account. “It’s an adventure for all of us, and I’m grateful for the technology that allows us to be together. I’m here to offer music . ... I just feel good about having a way to connect with people.”
Critelli said the surge in people streaming music online has been an eyeopener for him.
“What I think is really cool is ... I’m getting turned on to so many people who I’ve never even heard before,” he said. “Watching the scene online, you see some kid from Ohio playing from his living room . ... You see what people’s living rooms look like . ... You see that you’re not alone.
“We love our scene ... but there are scenes just like ours everywhere,” and its nice to be able to look in on them, Critelli said.
One thing he’s not doing so far is expecting or even trying to make a lot of money.
“Since I’m still new to this livestreaming thing ... everything I do is for free,” Critelli said. “I’ll gratefully accept anything that anyone tosses into my tip jar,” but when he plays live, “I give away my CDs for free,” and when he plays at farmers markets, “The people who normally tip me are also hurting.
“Regular working people throw a dollar in my case” when he plays out live, “and I’m not going to ask regular working people to solve my problems, because they have problems of their own.”
Those seeking to raise money to make things easier for people who have lost work in the music industry aren’t just livestreaming — and aren’t just trying to raise funds for musicians. Cafe Nine in New Haven, owned by onetime bass player for the Big Bad Johns and The Swaggarts Paul Mayer, started a “Virtual Tip Jar” to raise money for and “emergency employee relief fund” for its employees.
The tip jar raised $145 each for Cafe Nine’s 15 employees this week, which, Cafe Nine said in a Facebook post, “will go a long way in helping them survive while taking a break for the health of our community.” The goal for the coming week is to raise $200 per employee.
Meanwhile, the Tipping Chair, a restaurant and club in the Milldale section of Southington that normally features live entertainment, has continued to livestream daily music from area bands and individual performers even though it now is open only for takeout and deliveries.
Another touring area musician, Frank Viele, was to play on Facebook Live Thursday at 7:30 p.m. — but not to benefit himself. Viele, in conjunction with NeuroTronix Records, planned to seek online donations for the CT Food Bank and American Red Cross.
John McCarthy, who co-owns The Rock House School of Music, said he still had some students coming in for lessons, “but we have set up Facetime and Skype rooms at the school, as well, to continue lessons for others,” and by this week, most lessons were being done remotely.
“We have many of the best Connecticut musicians teaching at our schools and want to keep them active teaching in this rough patch,” said McCarthy, who lives in West Haven. McCarthy said he has about 15-20 teachers working “and most of them are hurting” from the loss of performance gigs. “It’s not easy,” he said.
“I guess a blessing in disguise is, once this thing is over, if we have a snowstorm or something,” students and teacher “don’t have to miss their lessons” because they all will have gotten comfortable with online lessons, he said.
Meanwhile, his son and daughter, John Blues McCarthy, 18, and Melody McCarthy, 17, have a band, Tears Fall Down — and were in Dexter’s Lab studio in Milford recently recording it, he said.
Musician Rodgers, who has a job as music director of a church in Westport that’s going to keep paying him and the band until services start up again, admits that he’s “not as stressed as some of our friends.”
But he still lost his live performances and said the changes brought by the pandemic have “just been a complete upheaval for a lot of my friends who are in the music business.”
mark.zaretsky@hearstmedia ct.com