Sarah and I have the incredible good fortune to have lots of friends who are musicians and during this time of Quarantine and social distancing, they've taken to streaming live concerts.
Roy Swindell streams shows from his house every night at 7 and it's a rocking good time with tons of great comments by an audience scattered everywhere.
Joe Jarka broadcasts weekly porch concert and added 5 minutes of Beach time music from a dock overlooking the Beach that is closed to the public during this time of the Coronavirus.
Tracy Merrit and her daughter Emma are onscreen with some great harmonies from their living room to share old fashion Gospel.
Kyle Shriver plays slide guitar and acoustic Led Zep tunes to the glee of all!
Even my shy wife was challenged by a friend to share her music and, though she's shy to be on camera, Sarah loves a challenge and she's there for the world to watch playing "Sonatina" on piano.
She helped too as I got in on the act Live streaming Bar Church from our backyard and Che, our 3 year old, is seen singing and dancing as Sarah's Angelic voice floats in the air from behind the camera.
I find this all tremendously rewarding and fun.
These are sobering times for musicians.
Our friend Stephen O'Connor, aka Savannah Steve, lost 21 paying gigs on the day the economy slammed into a brick wall.
This rings true for all of our friends.
On a day when claims for unemployment insurance tops 6.3 Million, twice what the Government projected which shows you the accuracy of our elected officials, I'm grateful there's a new category that includes self-employed musicians.
They all deserve 10 times what the Government will give them.
Government doesn't believe in music and the arts anymore as demonstrated by the rape of funding for the these things.
Yet during these times of isolation and quarantine it's the musicians leading the war against loneliness and despair.
From Italian Balconies to families in living rooms perfectly singing "One More Day" from Les' Miserables to Roy Swindell's nightly concert, they're all making the world keep spinning come Hell or High water.
Even Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood got in on the act but it was way after the local players stormed out of the gate.
Sarah, Che and I want to say thank to the boys and girls in the band!
You're the first lights we all see in these dark times.
