Pat Blythe – Christmas lockdown…..other stuff and music

This whole COVID thing is getting long, tiring, confusing and extremely exasperating for most of us. People start to rebel like children in a sandbox who don’t play fair. They confront each other in anger like the bully in the schoolyard. In many instances we seem to live in a rather thoughtless society whose three favourite people seem to be me, myself and I. It doesn’t seem to matter what part of this mudball we inhabit, everyone is infected…..not by the virus, but by fear, bad attitude, frustration, annoyance, (add your own descriptive here). Information, misinformation, ignorance, conspiracy theories, protests and riots, the numbers are over/under inflated/aren’t real….the list goes on. It doesn’t really matter what you believe, it’s affecting all of us. COVID fatigue is real and should have been considered by minds much greater than mine, long before now.

Pat Blythe – Celebrating music…..a little tongue in cheek……and music

DBAWIS summer hiatus is upon us…..August 10 to September 10. This will be my last column until September 15. Because of the timing of my column (Wednesdays) I will have almost six weeks off!! Time to enjoy the rest of the summer and focus on one or hundred other projects I have on the go.

There will be no summer festivals to regale you with when I’m back…..Mariposa was supposed to be celebrating their 60^th anniversary and Summerfolk turned 45. Live music is slowly leaking out on front porches, parks, driveways, street corners and back decks…..speaking of which…..I have the pleasure of hosting a few “concerts” myself. I typically host a summer BBQ, with about 35-40 people in attendance, the third weekend in July. Not this year. Instead, to give musicians a platform to play to real humans, I offered my back deck and The Back Deck Concert Series was born. Maximum audience size…..10.

Pat Blythe – Is that hand sanitizer in your pocket or are you just happy to be within 6ft of me…..and music…..

I keep checking my calendar to see what day it is. It’s Toosday….column writing day and the last day of March….out like a lamb. With the kinder weather approaching the great outdoors beckons. We still need to stretch our legs, get some fresh air, shop for the necessities and experience some sort of live human connection, even from a distance. We need it to thrive. Zoom, Skype, et al simply don’t cut it 100% of the time. Just don’t be stupid or careless about it. Common sense should prevail. Don’t be breathing down each other’s necks. Hugging and kissing are verboten for the moment. Social distancing is the new norm. When around other humans respect their space and give them some space.

Roxanne Tellier – Corona My House Baby

So – that was a pretty wild month, right? Even for a leap year? At this time of year, I’m usually talking about cabin fever, and writing about ‘hygge’ and how to cope when winter just won’t leave.