{"id":19718,"date":"2020-11-12T05:30:32","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=19718"},"modified":"2020-11-12T09:01:23","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T14:01:23","slug":"facing-the-music-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/12\/facing-the-music-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing the Music, Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Three<\/a> \u2026 <\/i><\/p>\n

Live Music in WNC Before, During, and After COVID-19<\/h3>\n

This feature appeared previously in<\/em> Capital at Play Magazine<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Among the musicians interviewed for this story, Andr\u00e9 Cholmondeley has seen perhaps the most significant change since the pandemic began. While he\u2019s active on the local music scene (playing guitar in Wham Bam Bowie Band and as a solo avant garde\/experimental synthesist), he also leads Project Object, an internationally touring group that pays musical tribute to Frank Zappa. In normal times, Cholmondeley is only occasionally at home in Asheville; he\u2019s more often found hopping around the globe, working as tour manager or instrument technician for an A-list roster of clients that has included Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Derek Trucks, Al Di Meola, Ten Years After, and Yes.<\/p>\n

\u201cLive music is my entire livelihood,\u201d Cholmondeley says. He says that his activities include \u201cworking on tours for three or four major artists per year, doing two or three small tours of my own, doing press releases, and booking and managing other artists from my home office.\u201d Characterizing his income as \u201cmodest,\u201d he proudly emphasizes that all of his income-generating endeavors are music-related.<\/p>\n

Cholmondeley estimates that the pandemic has caused him to lose more than $50,000 in revenue. \u201cThe grand universal irony is that [2020] was going to be my busiest spring\/summer in years,\u201d he says. His bookings\u2014all since canceled\u2014included a stadium tour with Poison, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce, Joan Jett, and Def Leppard.<\/p>\n

Since the shutdown, Cholmondeley has turned to web-based performances, offering instruction and workshops, including a primer on analog synthesis, and conducting interviews with other artists. \u201cThat all has generated a bit of cash and is lots of fun,\u201d he says, \u201cand builds an audience for a possible future in physical touring. I’m always happy in life to make lemonade from lemons.\u201d He feels certain that web and technology will \u201cplay a more central role [in music performance] moving forward.\u201d Cholmondeley is also keeping an eye on the efforts of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA<\/i>).<\/p>\n

The Business of Music Searches for a Way Forward in the Region<\/b>
\nFounded in March 2020, NIVA\u2019s stated mission is \u201cto preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independent live music venues and promoters throughout the United States.\u201d The organization has more than 2,000 members across the country, and in Western North Carolina, nearly 20 venues have joined NIVA\u2019s efforts. \u201cWe strongly support and have been actively working with NIVA in order to ensure a path forward for our independent venue and festival industry,\u201d says Liz Whalen of the Orange Peel.<\/p>\n

The famed Orange Peel has canceled nearly all scheduled shows. \u201cIndoor shows are not particularly safe,\u201d Whalen says, \u201cand it’s our belief that they won’t be, until there is a vaccine or effective therapy.\u201d The venue has lost approximately 95% of its revenue due to the shutdown, she reports.<\/p>\n

In hope of bridging at least some of the shortfall, the venue\u2019s management has applied for and received a grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority as well as a PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loan. They\u2019ve also applied for a loan from the Small Business Administration, \u201cbut we have not received it, and we have no real way to communicate with them [to determine] if it will be forthcoming,\u201d Whalen says. \u201cWe are not counting on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Orange Peel has scheduled livestreaming shows in cooperation with local music platform IamAvl (Independent Arts + Music Asheville). While the club isn\u2019t open to audiences, its interior has been reconfigured to accommodate livestreaming. \u201cThe stage set stays the same, and we have social distancing and no-contact load-in protocols in place to bring a rotating cast of local bands regularly,\u201d Whalen says. She notes, however, that the financial return on livestreaming is negligible.<\/p>\n

The Orange Peel has looked into the feasibility of large-scale, outdoor venues to host drive-in concerts, \u201cbut the logistics and production are quite expensive,\u201d Whalen says. Instead, partnering with Asheville Brewing, the Orange Peel is opening an outdoor space on Coxe Avenue in Downtown Asheville. Whalen says that the new venue, Rabbit Rabbit, \u201ccan potentially host small, socially-distanced outdoor shows.\u201d Beyond that, Whalen is hopeful that NIVA\u2019s lobbying and advocacy efforts will secure some help for music venues. \u201cWe are not booking touring shows for 2020 or even early 2021 at this point,\u201d she says. \u201cIt’s just not realistic. We are hopeful that by next summer, it will be possible to do larger outdoor concerts again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Grey Eagle in Asheville\u2019s River Arts District is a NIVA member as well. Originally located in Black Mountain, the storied venue has been a prominent and foundational fixture in the region\u2019s music scene for more than 26 years. Owner Russ Keith says that the Grey Eagle scheduled more than 30 shows a month before the pandemic, and while music venues typically run very tight profit margins, he says that the venue was \u201con track to grow the business from 2019 before the pandemic hit.\u201d Like most other local music rooms in the region, the Grey Eagle has experienced a 95% decrease in revenue.<\/p>\n

But the music hasn\u2019t completely stopped. A number of popular local and regional music artists\u2014including Eleanor Underhill and Friends, the Get Right Band, Free Planet Radio, and Steep Canyon Rangers\u2019 Graham Sharp\u2014have livestreamed shows from the venue. And beginning mid-summer, the Grey Eagle began scheduling concerts on its outdoor patio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a safely distanced table setup and a heightened health\/safety protocol,\u201d Keith says. \u201cWe\u2019re requiring masks, doing spaced-out seating with reserved seating assignments for patio shows and [implementing] extremely thorough cleaning practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russ Keith is realistic about the benefits of the patio shows. \u201cThere\u2019s very little [financial] return on these kinds of events, but they\u2019re helping to raise spirits and keep the Grey Eagle on the map,\u201d he says. \u201cOverall, it\u2019s worth it if we can provide live music experiences to the community in a safe and manageable way.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be continued \u2026<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Three \u2026 Live Music in WNC Before, During, and After COVID-19 This feature appeared previously in Capital at Play Magazine. Among the musicians interviewed for this story, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3668],"tags":[191,237,3190,4012,675,3894,2173],"class_list":["post-19718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-business","tag-andre-cholmondeley","tag-asheville","tag-ashley-heath","tag-blake-ellege","tag-diana-wortham-theatre","tag-the-grey-eagle","tag-the-orange-peel","cat-3668-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19718"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20126,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19718\/revisions\/20126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}