But I am very glad to finally be looking at 2020 in the rear-view mirror! It has been interesting seeing how different artists have been coping with the pandemic and related restrictions. I have, like everyone of course, had to cancel and reschedule a number of shows and scaled waaaaaay back on touring. Fortunately, I had been working on my Solo Acousti’Lectric show pre-covid and have been able to hang in there doing occasional outdoor events and extremely reduced-capacity indoor events. I have had to rethink how a concert experience works under these circumstances, and as a result I sadly have had to discontinue all the social interactions that used to be typical: no meet & greets, no selfies/signings, and no in-person merchandise sales. This just seems wise to me in the face of being lucky enough to still have live concerts of any kind. Live music is church for many of us, but we should still take precautions.
Internet live-streaming became a whole new rabbit hole for me to wander down, and I have become (I think) fairly decent at broadcast production on my little Linux laptop. Which leads me to this: I cannot begin to share how truly grateful I am at the generosity folks have shown in making donations to help cover costs during this emergency. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart! I can’t wait to get to the other side of all this, but until then, more YouTube live-stream events will be on the way...
This upcoming year is starting off with several interesting developments. I am teaming up with my old DSO bandmates, Rob Eaton and Rob Barraco, along with Jay Lane, Skip Vangelis and Jake Wolf for a run of shows in Denver and looking forward to that! A couple of Central American destination events have popped up: four nights Solo Acousti’Lectric in Costa Rica at a brand new Grateful Dead themed hotel February 15-20 (send email to contact@thegratefulhotel.com for package/reservation info) and then Mexico with another all-star “supergroup” featuring Melvin Seals and Rob Eaton again (rescheduled for May 21 & 22 now.) As usual for these times, new shows sometimes pop up on short notice and I will try my best to keep you informed via my website, email blasts, and social media.
It looks like covid restrictions are going to continue a while longer, but the vaccine is rolling out, most people are wearing masks where appropriate and keeping safe social distance, and hopefully by late spring some short tours with bands should start happening again. It will be a challenge for everyone in the live music world, from musicians to clubs and venues to road crews and production staff to publicists and managers. The music touring world that we all had pre-covid took decades to build to where it was, and it will take a while to get it rolling again, even once restrictions are lifted. But everywhere I still see the fire in peoples eyes… music fans, musicians, venue teams… and I believe we will get back truckin’ on, and we will survive!!
Peace, Love & Art!
-John Kadlecik
