Tuesday, July 13, 2021
By Jacque Roche, music blogger and booker
Saturday, July 10th started off like any other day. Facing a long humid day, it was time for something different. I decided to rejoin the world and get out to support some of the local musicians I’ve been securing gigs for. However, I needed to work through some of the challenges that had been keeping me from venturing out.
The job of a musician’s booker is often a solo task, with a lot of research, reaching out by phone and convincing a venue to book our act. The conversations of “do they draw” vs negotiating getting the artist paid, turned into “we’re not sure when we can start booking again, and all performances have been cancelled for the foreseeable future.” You can imagine how depressing it was to have to cancel gigs and explain that you had no idea when they’d be rebooked. As our music world crumbled around us, I found myself feeling the pain of the big venue bookers and spent many hours commiserating with them via text and tears. The negativity wore me down.
Many venue bookers appeared to abandon their emails. I stopped asking and left them to unravel the months of bookings. Live streaming absolutely helped being part of a community, and eventually musicians and venue found themselves putting together the virtual concert from the living room or home studios.
Those annoying alerts on the phone and iPad reported a dramatic increase in screen time and my Zoom skills went from zero to 60 in record time. For 13 or so months this became my new normal, while looking and booking became a distant memory. Everything started to change once vaccinations were available. Slowly venues started opening their doors to indoor and outdoor music with social distancing and limited capacity. Now we were all expected to prove draw after a dry year combined with the unknown of who was willing to go out. Hard to do as I was not yet there.
The outdoor shows opened a brand-new door for bookers, particularly those affiliated with our beloved Hudson Valley venue, Daryl’s House Club. I was invited to pitch local musicians, and immediately thought of many who had been anxious to snag a pre-pandemic brunch slot or open for a headliner on that prestigious stage. Talk about opening doors! It felt like the flood gates unlocked for the region’s local singer-songwriters overnight, and I was honored to be a part of it! With limited seating and little hope of seeing 100% capacity shows for a while, we managed to showcase multiple solo/duo and band acts at the club. I say “little hope” because I believe we were all fairly beaten down by this point, and not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
The the spring 
of 2021 reminded me of the thrill of my first bookings years ago at the Paramount Hudson Valley, Tarrytown Music Hall, Palace Danbury and my personal Holy Grail, Daryl’s House Club! I was combing through former interview calendars and pitching musicians continuously. While I don’t expect this booking frenzy to last forever, I have been riding the wave and shaking out the cobwebs. Obviously, I was not the only person pitching shows, and many local songwriters had an opportunity to work with Peter Moshay and take home a USB of music engineered by Daryl’s personal Grammy-winning engineer. Some even got the official video! More acts are scheduled for the remainder of the summer, that I hope you will attend. These are free performances. Please come out to support the locals and experience this outstanding listening room. With venues back to 100% occupancy, touring acts are returning and my “fun” may be coming to an end. In the meantime, we have all proven that the Hudson Valley is a bursting with talent and local artists deserve to be on their stage.
Jumping back to July 10th. I found myself fully vaccinated, unmasked with two acts back-to-back to enjoy at Daryl’s House Club that afternoon. The indoor brunch performance featured Erik Rabasca (Light Warriors Founder) from 12 – 2 pm. Erik performed familiar covers and original favorites, putting the audience under his spell. He attempted to Zen us out with directions to breath in and out while enjoying the healthy music vibes that washed over us during the show. His acoustic, social conscious global-folk music was perfect for a leisurely brunch with friends and family. After a short break and
sound check Alex Cano took to the porch with his high-energy country, roots rock performance at 3 pm. The sun shone down, and it was humid, though that did not deter the good will and happy crowd from dancing, clapping and enjoying a lot of food. It was a lively crowd, as we were all so grateful to hug, shake hands and make new friends. There were no strangers, and it was wonderful to talk with people other than my husband and pet birds!
I never imagined that we would experience a pandemic and sequester in my lifetime. It was not fun, and I experienced my share of panic attacks and depression. There have been positives that resulted from the forced seclusion. I now choose to focus on those as I heal and regain my footing, with caution and prayer that we are seeing the tail end of this shared experience, Covid-19. When I finally rested my head that night one such positive rang true and loud in my ears and heart. It has been my honor to pitch and introduce the exceptional talent our region has to offer. The pleasure of seeing groups of people enjoying live music as one respectful community will carry me forward and it heals my soul, reigniting a passion that has been resting for too long.
Jacque Roche is a freelance writer, editor and music blogger for HearItThere.com and contributor to Halston Media sources, More Sugar Magazine, HamletHub and The Patch. Archived broadcasts of 2016-2020 shows can be heard streaming on Mixcloud.com and found on the FB page, @Jacque’sGiantSpinOnMusic. Contact: Jacque at jacque@wbutterfly.net
Comments: info@HearItThere.com
