Levitt Pavilion Denver at Ruby Hill Park. Courtesy of Levitt Pavilion Denver.
COMBO Board Member Alex Teitz sent a few articles that deal with the entertainment business in Colorado and elsewhere. We felt the information contained in these articles is important to musicians and hope that you will take the time to read them.
# # # # #
‘This Is All About Jesus’: A Christian Rocker’s Covid Protest Movement
By Julia Duin, Politico | It was one of those breathtaking late summer afternoons in Seattle, with sunlight splashing over a part of the city that, two months earlier, had been occupied by Black Lives Matter protesters. In Cal Anderson Park, part of the six-block stretch that became known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), volunteers were setting up for very different kind of event.
Pacing about doing sound checks on the sidewalk was a man with a generous mane of curly blond hair wearing Birkenstocks and a 1990s-era Seattle Sonics jersey over cutoffs. This was Sean Feucht, an evangelical Christian musician from California, and he was about to stage a rock concert with a distinct message: Covid-19 won’t get in the way of those who want to worship together.
At about 6 p.m. Feucht, 37, picked up his vintage 1963 Gibson J-45 sunburst guitar. “Can we come to agreement that heaven will be opened up tonight?” he asked, to cheers from a crowd that was largely maskless and not socially distanced, despite a state requirement to wear face masks unless 6 or more feet apart. “This is all about Jesus,” he said. “Don’t try to sing pretty. Don’t try to be on key or on pitch. Just be wild. You’re in CHOP, for heaven’s sakes.”
Read the whole, very long, story here:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/25/sean-feucht-christian-rocker-covid-protest-movement-431734
Julia Duin is a reporter in Seattle who specializes in religion.
# # # # #
Harry Styles Investing in New Music Venue in Manchester
By Hilary Fox, Associated Press | While most music stars are rescheduling tour dates to 2021, Harry Styles is looking farther ahead and making plans to headline his own arena — one he’s putting his money and ideas into.
Styles is one of the investors in a £350 million pound ($456.6 million) new concert venue in Manchester, England, called Co-op Live.
The project, announced Monday, teams him up with Oak View Group on what they hope will be the UK’s largest arena.
“As long as everything’s in order by 2023, hopefully they’ll let me play there. If I haven’t messed it up yet,” Styles said, smiling.
After 10 years touring the globe and playing record-breaking stadiums shows with One Direction, Styles, 26, knows what he’d like from a venue, both as an artist and as an attendee.
“Ultimately, I’m a music fan,” he said. “I love going to shows, I love live music.”
For performers, he also wants to create great memories.
Read the whole story here:
https://apnews.com/article/harry-styles-new-music-venue-manchester-c87d8cdbd75ec69ea20f11968929a82e
# # # # #
How Denver’s Safer at Home Level 3 Restrictions Will Hit Music Venues
By Kyle Harris, Westword | With the City of Denver now moving back to Safer at Home Level 3 guidelines in order to control a massive uptick in COVID-19 cases, indoor events will be capped at 25 people, and outdoor events at 75.
Those mandates leave venues that have scheduled concerts with larger audiences in a bind: Do they cancel the shows entirely, or do they somehow try to reduce the number of ticketholders who can attend?
Already burdened by reduced capacities before this new reduction, venues are struggling to survive. According to a study by the National Independent Venue Association, nearly 90 percent of the country’s venues say they won’t make it until the end of the year without federal relief. And there is no sign that aid is coming.
Without federal support and facing another possible stay-at-home order, many Denver venue owners say they will be forced to close, while others worry that they will face years of debt if they remain in business. Except for Levitt Pavilion, nearly all of them have already furloughed or laid off staff, and are facing further cuts if things don’t turn around.
“Without federal support and without a vaccine, it’s just going to get worse,” says Chris Zacher, executive director of Levitt Pavilion Denver, who serves as co-captain of Colorado’s NIVA chapter. . .
Read the rest of Kyle’s story here:
https://www.westword.com/music/covid-safer-at-home-level-3-restrictions-hit-denver-music-venues-11832869
Kyle Harris quit making documentaries and started writing when he realized that he could tell hundreds of stories in the same amount of time it takes to make one movie. Now, hooked on the written word, he’s Westword’s Culture Editor and writes about music and the arts.
# # # # #
Victorian Hologram Keeps Music in Touch With Lockdown Audience
By Stuart McDill, Reuters | Musicians are using an interactive hologram based on Victorian technology to reach fans in the locked down world of the coronavirus pandemic.
Musion 3D teamed up with Faroe Islands singer Dan Olsen to launch Fanshare, a modern twist on an illusion technique known as Pepper’s ghost involving a huge sheet of glass which was used in theatres in the 1860s.
“It’s the closest you’re going to get to a virtual image, a virtual likeness of the real human being,” Musion director Ian O’Connell told Reuters.
“You don’t need glasses, you don’t need a headset. You’re sitting here as if you’re watching a regular stage show.”
Olsen and a guitarist played in a small studio in east London while their images were projected onto a stage in central London where the piano player was performing live.
“It looks like all three of us are on stage playing at the same time but two of us are holograms,” Olsen said.
Read how they do it here:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-tech-holograms/victorian-hologram-keeps-music-in-touch-with-lockdown-audience-idINKBN27D1BG
Reporting by Stuart McDill, writing by Ed Osmond; Editing by Janet Lawrence
# # # # #
[Thank you to Alex Teitz, http://www.femmusic.com, for contributing these articles.]