Re: Anyone else have no players near them?
Originally Posted by
allenhopkins
Hey, it's COVID, right? My weekly jam at the coffee shop around the corner is kaput, and so's the coffeehouse. Local folk club weekly sing-around is on Zoom, which is not group-singing-or-jamming-friendly.
Ultimate solution is to host the jam yourself, starting by attracting two or three others you scrape up through your persistent proselytizing, hoping it will enlarge by warm weather when you can move it outside 'cause it's too big for your living room. Or not.
Good luck.
I'm with Allen. These are COVID times. The Ottawa region usually has many types of musical sessions or jams, but as far as I can tell, there are now no public jams in Ottawa. A newcomer to Gatineau, Quebec, across the river, found, nothing going on there either. I'm a senior, and was fortunate enough at the beginning of COVID to find an elderly couple to play with, in their home. Still, we've had breaks that last for weeks when one or another of us has a cold, an operation, or injuries from a fall. This too shall pass.
Some one has to organize sessions: find and negotiate terms for a space (if in a bar, a free drink for musicians? a reserved sitting area, recorded music turned off), set a time, publicize the activity, and host the session. If no one else has done this organizing, you might want to take on the task. When my sweetheart and I couldn't find a venue that was open to the traditional folk songs that we enjoy singing (as a focus of the evening's music, not as novelty items), we started a folk club. A seniors centre gave us free space and provided volunteers to collect entry fees and serve coffee, tea, and goodies. We split the door between the centre and performers, so that we never had to take a financial loss, though we weren't paid either. By chance, another friend opened an open-stage folk-singing club about the same time. Now there are three not-for-profit folk clubs, specializing in traditional song in Ottawa area and nearby, all somewhat different (two are free) and all successful but affected by COVID conditions. Having a musical gathering involves an individual or small group taking responsibility to organize. Again, these are COVID times, so gatherings will be small no matter what.
Last edited by Ranald; Dec-04-2021 at 12:28pm.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
Bookmarks