Don't let the door hit you on the way out, 2021!
During a challenging year, live entertainment adapted and survived
HARK!
I hear…a recap…
As it prepares to melt into the New Year, it’s hard not to say, “Good riddance, 2021—don’t let the door hit you on the way out!”
In HARK Valley as across the nation, 2021 was devastating, despairing, depressing; it was the most deadly, dangerous, devious year since…well, 2020.
A recent Facebook message from Kevin Williams struck me as very-2021: “When Covid hit we started in the driveway playing for the neighbors then I rented a trailer and we started playing around the beach in Southern California then the police showed up told us we had to stop, so I just asked the guy if he played guitar and he took off his vest jumped up on the bandstand with us and played guitar! This is how we evolved through Covid instead of whining and complaining we just made the best stage we can afford…”
That’s pretty much how it was here in HARK Valley, aka Arizona: adapt, retool, play on...
Many comedy and music clubs that were closed for much of 2020 remained padlocked as 2021 frightfully began.
In mid-2021, the HARK Valley newsletter launched.
“Welcome to the Summer of 2021, which promises to be the intersection of euphony and cacophony,” I wrote, in the newsletter debut.
Some venues, I noted, such as the glorious-but-earthy Crescent Ballroom downtown and Nile Theater in Mesa, were not quite ready to put butts in seats.
“Others took the perennially-confused governor’s order (“OK, everyone back to normal - but be safe, and wear a mask or not, and don’t forget to social distance unless you don’t feel like it …”) to translate into two words: Game ON!”
Not so the excellent Musical Instruments Museum, aka "The MIM," which took the cautious approach.
During the dark days of the pandemic, the Summer of ‘20, the MIM shut down—staying dark and silent for seven months until popping back to life this summer.
In August, two crucial players in the Phoenix music scene returned.
The Valley Bar ("Basement Venue, Bar, and Restaurant in Downtown Phoenix; 130 N. Central Ave.) and sister spot the Crescent Ballroom (one block west of the Van Buren Light Rail station at 308 N. 2nd Avenue, Phoenix AZ 85003) both pulled the plug on live shows March 15, 2020, though the Crescent stayed open for takeout.
The Crescent speakers sparked back to life in early August; after being dark and silent for over a year, the Valley Bar reopened Aug. 18.
Though they normally compete for audiences, several music venues banded together in a show of solidarity in the fall.
Many of the most popular music venues in and around Phoenix now require patrons to present proof of COVID-19 vaccine or a negative test result before admission. HARK Valley favorites the Crescent Ballroom, Rebel Lounge, Yucca Tap Room, Valley Bar, Rebel Lounge, the Nash and Rhythm Room are part of the joint effort, which started Monday Sept. 20.
At the Yucca, "Masks are highly recommended as one additional form of protection for you and your fellow attendees – regardless of vaccination status – but will not be required to enter."
The Yucca also provided some handy links:
Proof of vaccination http://az.myir.net
Free Maricopa County Testing Sites: https://www.azdhs.gov/covid19/index.php#everyone-get-tested
MARICOPA COUNTY COVID-19 INFO:http://www.maricopa.gov/5641/COVID-19-Vaccine
As another brutal summer cooled into fall, outdoor music happenings like the Phoenix Pizza Festival returned; outdoor festivals are generally believed to be a safer way to experience live music than crowded, indoor venues.
Several venues didn’t make it out of the pandemic, with places like Club Red, Char's Has the Blues and the Lunchbox going underwater and not resurfacing.
But HARK Valley had one promising addition this year, with Westside Blues and Jazz, “the first nightclub in the Valley specializing in live jazz, Motown and rhythm and blues,” opening in Glendale this spring (a year after the original plan).
Watch out!
In the coming weeks, HARK Valley will feature a few “artists to watch” in the New Year.
May 2022 kick 2021’s butt right out the door!