COVID Testimonial
Author: Paul Rivet
paul.rivet@gmail.com
Date: October 21, 2020
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Ottawa Jazz Happenings or of JazzWorks Canada.
I'm the drummer for the Ottawa jazz band The Killer B's. On Saturday July 25, 2020, we hosted a two hour free driveway show in Barrhaven. We played to a large crowd of musicians and jazz aficionados who all were thirsty for some live music. We were thrilled with the turnout. I videotaped the show and am currently editing it.
For our part, we had not been able to get together and play or even practise since March when the pandemic broke out nationally. We always keep in touch by email; however, and the idea of doing a driveway show was very appealing to us all, given the lack of live music over the past several months.
Even amidst the pandemic stillness of the music business, I've found it to be a busy time with other aspects of life overlapping into the less busy music side of things.
I did two other driveway shows over the summer with a rock band I play in named Soundcheck. I had tried to arrange one show north of Mississauga for Soundcheck but could not get buy-in from the other band members.
The Killer B's had a very recent request for another jazz driveway show, but the weather took a turn for the colder and that likely won't be happening now. Although the driveway shows could easily be called hugely successful, as they all drew large crowds of people happy to hear some live music whether they were standing or sitting on their own chairs, the state of the weather is now the main constraint in further bookings of any unsheltered outdoor band activities.
Aside from that, my own schedule of splitting my time between here in Ottawa and north of Mississauga has kept me busy enough to not get my remaining videos edited/finalized with only time to issue a "still working on them" notice to my jazz bandmates, who have been quite busy with other life activities on their own.
Not sure what the winter holds for restaurants or live music venues. I'm predicting nothing good, unfortunately. I look forward to when life gets back to normal, as I miss being so busy with these ongoing musical projects.
For our part, we had not been able to get together and play or even practise since March when the pandemic broke out nationally. We always keep in touch by email; however, and the idea of doing a driveway show was very appealing to us all, given the lack of live music over the past several months.
Even amidst the pandemic stillness of the music business, I've found it to be a busy time with other aspects of life overlapping into the less busy music side of things.
I did two other driveway shows over the summer with a rock band I play in named Soundcheck. I had tried to arrange one show north of Mississauga for Soundcheck but could not get buy-in from the other band members.
The Killer B's had a very recent request for another jazz driveway show, but the weather took a turn for the colder and that likely won't be happening now. Although the driveway shows could easily be called hugely successful, as they all drew large crowds of people happy to hear some live music whether they were standing or sitting on their own chairs, the state of the weather is now the main constraint in further bookings of any unsheltered outdoor band activities.
Aside from that, my own schedule of splitting my time between here in Ottawa and north of Mississauga has kept me busy enough to not get my remaining videos edited/finalized with only time to issue a "still working on them" notice to my jazz bandmates, who have been quite busy with other life activities on their own.
Not sure what the winter holds for restaurants or live music venues. I'm predicting nothing good, unfortunately. I look forward to when life gets back to normal, as I miss being so busy with these ongoing musical projects.