[A Greene]

My little Jazz Quartet was planning a small Mid-West Tour.

Check out this link:
https://news.allaboutjazz.com/esp-l...t2aVuaeIKXUsYyyLqXXdnxgz-ClSBOUCbJBdk7epGzjv0

We did a Kick-Starter for promote a Live CD:
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...6HVXCFSLai8INKihupxMKgo1tHcTfEIPZZm3M5eO_42uA

Now I want to stay positive. The other musicians seem OK with hitting the road; however, my wife is giving me a HARD NO! This will be the at the height of this COVID-19 thing.

How would you handle this situation? This was going to be a big deal for our little group.

 

[milandro]

Not to rain on your parade but it is very unlikely that in April one will be able to tour or travel in the US.

Regardless of the wife ( she is right) , the authorities, by then, will come to their senses. I have just heard from friends just arrived in Rio de Janeiro ( they live there part of the year) and they say that nobody believes in contagion there, well, they better wake up. They will need to.

We were planning a holiday in September and I think that we are not going anywhere, not because we wouldn’t want to but because by that time lockdown will extend to almost anywhere.

This thing will change many things and we better come to terms with a new reality and not feed “ alternative” facts to our minds.

Stay negative ( to the virus!). Negative is the new positive.

 

[Sacks Of Phones]

however, my wife is giving me a HARD NO!

You have your answer.............:director:

 

[kfoster]

I am afraid that the venues will likely cancel closer to the dates of your tour, if not now. Clubs and restaurants here in NY are now required to reduce capacity by 1/2. That restriction may go into effect in other states too. Best bet is to contact the venues to discuss the situation.

 

[JayeLID]

Not to rain on your parade but it is very unlikely that in April one will be able to tour or travel in the US.

Regardless of the wife ( she is right) , the authorities, by then, will come to their senses.

"Come to their senses" ?

Really ?

Banning regional travel ?

"I do hope the 'authorities' come to their senses and start erecting roadblocks throughout the US" sorta thing ????

The last few weeks have been really interesting to observe from a sociological perspective.....

 

[milandro]

Unfortunately, we shall see ...

 

[JayeLID]

Now I want to stay positive. The other musicians seem OK with hitting the road; however, my wife is giving me a HARD NO! This will be the at the height of this COVID-19 thing.

How would you handle this situation? This was going to be a big deal for our little group.

I am afraid that the venues will likely cancel closer to the dates of your tour, if not now. Clubs and restaurants here in NY are now required to reduce capacity by 1/2. That restriction may go into effect in other states too. Best bet is to contact the venues to discuss the situation.

Sadly, Mr. Foster has probably provided the best (likely) answer here. Personally, I would take my band on a regional road trip tomorrow if the opportunity came up and I am pretty certain all 5 other members would be aboard.

But my concern would not be spousal objection...nor being checkpointed by police and told to turn around:|....my concern would be, given the current...'climate'....we would hit the road and book hotels and get out there ....and the shows would start getting canceled.

So the above advice is good advice.

Best of luck in however it goes.

 

[turf3]

Things are getting cancelled left and right. Even if (unlikely) the epidemic runs its course before you would go, or even if (unlikely) the areas you're talking about have seen few actual cases by the time you go, all the venues are going to be hurting financially and cutting back.

I'd bow to the inevitable early and move on.

 

[Saxydude]

I say "go for it," but it really depends on two factors:

(1) Will your venues close? Cleveland's most popular jazz club just announced it's closing for 30 days. In Ohio, our governor has banned gatherings of more than 100 people. My Facebook is flooded with my pro musician friends bemoaning the loss of income through schools closing, gigs cancelling, and shows (pit work) closing.

(2) Are you willing to go against the wishes of your wife? Whether or not you think this virus is something to be overly worried about, you should take your wife's position under serious consideration - that's just being a good husband (which I'm sure you are).

Me? - If I could get my wife to chill out, I'd go on the tour in a minute. If the pandemic peters out in a month but you cancel the tour, you're gonna regret it. If the virus gets crazier and you go, you'll have a bitchin' story to tell about touring during a pandemic. Hell, big bands used to tour war zones. Life, and music, must go on.

 

[Taragot]

In my region of Germany, schools are closed until april, 19.th. Same with concert halls, cinemas etc. This will likely be the case in the US, too, and we'll see if that will be enough. So I think, it's not your decision if you will go on tour or not. The concerts will be canceled - and if not, there won't be many listeners.
I think it's best to face it and plan a new tour some month later.
All the best!

 

[JayeLID]

I say "go for it," but it really depends on two factors:

(1) Will your venues close? Cleveland's most popular jazz club just announced it's closing for 30 days. In Ohio, our governor has banned gatherings of more than 100 people. My Facebook is flooded with my pro musician friends bemoaning the loss of income through schools closing, gigs cancelling, and shows (pit work) closing.

(2) Are you willing to go against the wishes of your wife? Whether or not you think this virus is something to be overly worried about, you should take your wife's position under serious consideration - that's just being a good husband (which I'm sure you are).

Me? - If I could get my wife to chill out, I'd go on the tour in a minute. If the pandemic peters out in a month but you cancel the tour, you're gonna regret it. If the virus gets crazier and you go, you'll have a bitchin' story to tell about touring during a pandemic. Hell, big bands used to tour war zones. Life, and music, must go on.

+1

The big question are the venues. You wanna get a firm answer or it'd be best to assume you are gonna get out there and they are gonna bail while you are on the road....

 

[JayeLID]

In my region of Germany, schools are closed until april, 19.th. Same with concert halls, cinemas etc. This will likely be the case in the US, too, and we'll see if that will be enough. So I think, it's not your decision if you will go on tour or not. The concerts will be canceled - and if not, there won't be many listeners.

a) there's a fair amount of presumption in this comment.

b) although I am SURE Mr. Greene's band is TOP-NOTCH, I am guessing they didn't have many concert halls or cinemas lined up. I interpreted the OP as meaning venues such as bars and clubs....

 

[hakukani]

If they closed down Broadway shows and the Metropolitan Opera, you probably won't be going on tour.

 

[Taragot]

b) although I am SURE Mr. Greene's band is TOP-NOTCH, I am guessing they didn't have many concert halls or cinemas lined up. I interpreted the OP as meaning venues such as bars and clubs....

in my region, every cultural activity with more than 50 persons is forbidden, even private meetings. I'm helping in a small club with concerts every weekend up to 100 persons, and we canceled everything for the next 5 weeks. There won't be small band concerts in my town until mid april at least. And the situation here is much better than f.e.in Italy now. But ask me again in two weeks.

The big question are the venues. You wanna get a firm answer

Todays firm answer may not be valid tomorow in this case.

Don't know about the circumstances in the Mid-West of the US, but the governement calls it a national emergency. I assume, the situation is not so different compared to Europe.

 

[JL]

I agree with the likely fact that most venues will cancel on you in any case. So starting with that reason, I'd cancel the tour.

That aside, if you were single, and were to have no contact with other family members (or friends for that matter), are not too worried about catching this virus yourself (especially if you're young and healthy), then yeah, MAYBE. Personally, I say listen to your wife! Why mess around with your own health and especially others? I wouldn't do it.

 

[Grumps]

Bottom line, is that people aren't going out. Venues are empty.

 

[Jazz Is All]

I agree with the likely fact that most venues will cancel on you in any case. So starting with that reason, I'd cancel the tour.

That aside, if you were single, and were to have no contact with other family members (or friends for that matter), are not too worried about catching this virus yourself (especially if you're young and healthy), then yeah, MAYBE. Personally, I say listen to your wife! Why mess around with your own health and especially others? I wouldn't do it.

Even if you are single and not in danger of suffering from it too much yourself--due to your own age and health--you will be one more case putting a further burden on the health care system as well as being a possible spreader of the virus during 14 days.

Do you realize that this thing has doubled the number of dead every 2 days and that all the health care workers are stretched to the limit in Italy and Spain. They are the first responders on the front lines fighting this thing to save you and me from illness and perhaps death. Do you remember the first responders on 9/11? Do you know how many fire fighters and police died that day and afterwards from the contamination they ingested working to save people?

This situation is no different, but instead of a terrorist attack, it's a virus attack on the entire human race. Right now here in Spain, and in Italy too, people have realized that it is not just their own health they are protecting by not going out, but that of everyone else too. When you multiply that by the entire population you deprive the virus of human organisms to infect.

Do you think 47 million people in Spain and 60 million in Italy are all staying in their homes now because they wanted to give up their daily activities? No man. Wake up! We are doing it not just because the medical experts made the governments realize the need for it but because we all realize now that it is the only way to flatten the curve on this disease and protect as many people as possible. Even young people like my teenage son know that if we don't work together as one group of people, we will all die together as separate selfish individuals.

Think about it, please. You can play out your window for your neighbors when you are quarantined like people in Italy are doing. Or do it online like musicians here in Barcelona are doing on Facebook and other online groups. You can hook up and play live together. SOTW could organize such a thing on FB if it were of a mind to. It could be really great. There is more than one way to be a musician and be heard, you just need necessity to foment your imagination.

 

[turf3]

Well, epidemiology will tell us that epidemics typically follow a pattern where early on, it looks like exponential growth ("doubled the number of dead every 2 days"), then it levels out and the rate of further infection goes to near zero.

But the important point is that in the US we're still in the early growth period of this disease. Restrictions on all kinds of activities are still in the early stages. If I were you I would presume that everything's going to be locked down tighter than a rattlesnake's ar$eh0le bu mid April and just call the ball on it now. If we look at the data from China, we see about 2-3 months before the number of new infections drops to near zero. With the measures currently being taken in the US, I would expect the rate of rise to be slower, so we can expect more than 3 months before stability is reached. That's way past April.

I would cancel now, focus on what's good in life, practice a lot, and realize that you can't control everything. Personally I'm looking out my back window at the meadow leading down to the river, and looking forward to hearing the great horned owl outside my window tonight.

 

[Mikeysaxcat]

First thing I want to do is congratulate everyone on their wise and healthy input. And the original poster as well. Going on tour nowadays in 2020 is a very difficult task and Im glad to see musical ventures opening up for everyone LIVE MUSIC has to live on and survive everything. Im living in Puerto Rico, have a small woodwind repair shop, play wedding gigs on weekends and teach woodwinds full time post graduate and in a fine arts school. Out here the government stated yesterday a full 15 day lockdown, no school, nighttime 8pm to 5am curfew, only supermarket trips, doctor and elderly visits allowed. They even activated the national guard. I had about 8 gigs coming up these weeks a few overhauls cued in and even a spring concert with students. It hurts economically but, family is first. I have a 7 year old son a wonderful wife with MS so everything else is second to me. I imagine I will practice maybe 6 hours a day, clean my gear, watch hulu netflix, play with my son, visit mom and dad Aaaaannnd check out the marketplace on SOTW all day jajajaja. Please be safe everyone and God bless. Hope you make the best decision possible. If you guys decide to start live streaming music send a PM. Best wishes.

 

[Grumps]

If you haven't canceled by now, it's probably been canceled for you. Good people, we're in for a long two months.