Items

• 2022-05-13

  Non-profits celebrate return of LoveLoud music festival

  This is a news story from KUTV by Hayley Crombleholme. After a two year break, LoveLoud will return, and will feature acts like Neon Tress and Imagine Dragons. This event is to help raise funds for LGBTQ charities. COVID has been hard on non-profit organizations. While this festival is meant to raise money for LGBTQ youth, some are excited to be back for in-person events.
• 
  2022-01-14

  My First Pandemic Concert

  Since the pandemic has commence, I haven't done many public outings or attended big events. This January, I had finally got enough of the courage to go to a concert for the first time in three years. Overall, I would argue that the outing was fun and safe, but I could not help but still feel anxious and scared of what was yet to come despite it being a good time. Part of this was because the concert did not require anyone to wear a mask, nor did that enforce social distancing with the seats like I thought they would. Most of this was because COVID-19 cases had started to climb down despite the onset of the new variant OMICRON at the time. I wore my mask regardless since we were sitting so close to people and still enjoyed myself despite these bypasses. I feel that this concert represents how I and other people felt confident enough to do big social outings again despite the pandemic still going on. I also feel like this concert illuminates how people still seek entertainment and enjoyment in their lives and how the pandemic impacted the way people use to be able to go out and enjoy themselves. Now that things are starting to slow down with the pandemic, people like myself are starting to use this opportunity to go enjoy ourselves, which honestly brings me much hope and optimism about the future now.
• 
  2021-03-01

  Club Red Concert Venue Closes Due to COVID-19

  This article details the closing of the popular Mesa concert venue Club Red during March of 2021. Unfortunately, due to an inability to host concerts as a result of COVID-19, Club Red ran out of business and had to close its doors after 15 years of music. Club Red was the first notable local music venue to close in the wake of the pandemic, and it made me sad personally because my own band used to play shows there. I have had the privilege to interact with Kimberly LaRowe of 13th Floor Entertainment, who is featured in the article, on several occasions to book shows for my band, and I never had a bad experience. While it is not explicitly stated that Club Red closed as a result of COVID-19, it his highly likely, as suggested by Kimberly LaRowe in the article. This article does an excellent job of diving deep into how drastically the local Arizona music scene has been affected by COVID-19, especially venue owners and promoters. Also, this article provides a very interesting story of the history of Club Red over the years, and details the subsequent reactions that many local and prominent musicians had to the venues closing, which certainly adds to the archives performing arts collection
• 
  2020-02-05

  Supalonely- A Lonely Hit

  Supalonley by BENEE is a song that rose to prominence on social media platform Tik Tok. In 2020 when millions of people were in lockdown with little to do, sites like Tok Tok saw their userbases skyrocket. This had a colossal effect on the music industry, as songs that became trends on Tik Tok could easily transfer that success to the charts. This was the experience of Supalonley. The song's snarky self-depreciation appealed to the young generation on Tik Tok who used it as a catharsis for the youth they were losing, and this popularity propelled it to mainstream success. The music video, set mostly in a suburban house, was also a familiar setting for people in lockdown. HIST30060
• 
  2020-09-03

  Performing in a Pandemic- the 2020 VMAs

  In a year that saw tens of thousands of live performances cancelled across the world, the music industry grappled with how to adapt to the covid cimate. The 2020 MTV VMAs (Video Music Awards) showcased the innovations undertaken by performers in order to continue their work. Masks were a particularly big theme, used not only for protection but also as part of costuming in Lady Gaga and Doja Cat's performances. The lack of a designated stage also allowed for creative set pieces, such as The Weeknd performing on a rooftop filmed by helicopter, the ultimate social distance filming. Watching the VMAs and these live performances was incredibly uplifting for music fans who had missed out on concerts, and although the pandemic was far from over when this was recorded, it was a needed semblance of hope for the arts community. HIST30060
• 
  2020-01-22

  Blinding Lights, The Song of 2020

  If there is one song that defined the 2020 experience, it was Blinding Lights by the Weeknd. It was the most-streamed song of the year and achieved widespread commercial and critical success. Despite being released at the end of January before Covid had shut down North America, the imagery of empty Las Vegas streets and abandoned roads in the music video became an iconic part of lockdown life- the feeling of being alone and disoriented in a place that feels almost familiar. The frantic pace general insanity of the video was also a key part of this song's success as the world spiralled into the pandemic at a breakneck speed.
• 
  2020-06-30

  Glass Animals, Heat Waves- A Lockdown Music Video

  As the number one song in Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2020, Heat Waves is a song that is irrevocably linked to the Covid 19 pandemic. While its lyrics about loss and longing and the inability to fix anything aren't specifically about the pandemic, its themes resonated with audiences as they mourned the loss of their old lives and lamented over their helplessness. Although it was released in 2020, its popularity continues to grow in 2021, proving the song's staying power. The music video is incredibly unique and truly representative of the time, capturing how neighbours and strangers struggled to connect despite lockdowns and physical barriers. In a comment under the YouTube music video, Glass Animals wrote: "this video is a love letter to live music and the culture and togetherness surrounding it. It was filmed at the peak of the lockdown in my neighbourhood in East London by the lovely people who live around me, just using their phones. These are people who are usually out at shows, in galleries, going to cinemas etc. These venues are left empty now, and many of them will not survive. The song is about loss and longing, and ultimately realizing you are unable to save something...and this video is about that but for art, being together, and human contact. Huge love and thank you’s to everyone who got involved and helped out. When everyone was leaning out of their windows filming, I felt that same sense of togetherness and spine-tingling energy that happened at live shows. It made the coldness of performing to an empty room with the band stuck on screens feel even more heart-breaking." HIST30060
• 2020-11-25

  Taylor Swift's Pandemic Ballad

  Taylor Swift was a defining artist in the 2010s. As her following grew, she ventured further into pop and spectacle, but with the sudden onset of Covid and its subsequent lockdowns, Swift changed her music style to a minimalist folk aesthetic. The song "exile" featuring Bon Iver captured the melancholic and rundown emotions of the general public by the end of 2020 and was a cathartic experience. "Exile" and its accompanying album "Folklore" were widely praised and "Folklore" went on to become the best-selling album of 2020. The music video for "exile" shows how music production changed during the pandemic. In the video, Swift and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon are seen sitting in separate home studios, as they never met in person to record the song due to travel restrictions. All the musicians featured are socially distanced and Vernon is wearing a face covering. There are also no special effects, a small budget, and a simple editing style, which stands in contrast to Swift's pre-pandemic music videos. HIST30060
• 
  2020-04-08

  Keeping Concerts Alive

  The pandemic forfeited any chance of attending that concert or planned music festival. Although online meetings weren't anyone's favorite, the switch from in-person concerts to Instagram and Facebook live concerts was a success. These quarantine concerts were able to keep the public entertained in their homes while keeping the spirit of live music alive.
• 
  2021-03-29T10

  Lars Wolfshield Oral History, 2021/03/21

  Self-Description: “I am a pansexual and gender fluid artist and artist manager and I work primarily with Black and queer musicians and bands.” Record label: https://www.instagram.com/wolfshieldrecords/ Some of the things we spoke about included: Representations of pandemics prior to 2020 and associations with an extinction event and coming to see it as an experience of trauma and isolation. Purchasing health insurance and life insurance for the first time in response to the pandemic, especially as the primary earner of the household. Vegetable gardening during the pandemic, veganism, and the importance of healthy food access as an equity issue, and sobriety. The government’s failure to impress the severity of the pandemic on citizens. How having had Swine Flu impacted early reactions to this pandemic. Getting the first vaccine shot. That failures in federal policy meant individuals had to make their own decisions Anti-racism is not optional. Homelessness in Austin TX and the importance of welfare programs. Safety procedures for music recording during the pandemic. How the “obliteration” of the music industry as it was opens possibilities for new and more equitable systems for artists. Cultural references: South By Southwest
• 
  2021-03-14T18:05

  Alex Smith Oral History, 2021/03/14

  Self-description: “I’m an artist, writer, musician, and an off-and-on again activist, lecturer, worshopshop leader. I’m coming out of Philadelphia. My work revolves around concepts relating to Afrofuturism; for lack of a better term: superheroes and the conceptual nature of superheroes and the idea of the vigilante and the people’s champions and heroes can walk among us. I use [aesthetics and the immersive ideas of] from science fiction, cyberpunk, solarpunk, biopunk, and Afrofurturism to empower people of color, queer people and to project us into the future and our ideas and culture into the future as well. I use different mediums to do that, my bands Solarized (a sort of noisy punk rock band) and Rainbow Crimes (indie rock, but a little crazier and noisier than many excursions into that). I have written a short story collection called ARKDUST. And I do collage work and soundscapes and curate events like Laser Life, which was a queer sci-fi reading that me and my friends in a collective that I’m in called Metropolarity put together. That’s my praxis right now: a little bit of everything. I view my work as if I’m creating for 18 or 19 or 20 year old Alex, who probably needed some queer Black sci-fi in his life. So, I’m projecting these aspects of myself back to the past to not just nourish my community, but to nourish myself.” Personal website: alexoteric.com Other biographical details: Vegetarian, experiences depression, Pew Center for the Arts Fellow, during COVID is the first time in his life he’s had Health Insurance. Some of our discussion touched on: Using art to project hope and remaining hopeful during the pandemic. Afrofuturism as a part of the fabric of activism, how it is imbedded in culture and impacts queer and POC culture. How Afrofuturism exceeds an “aesthetic revival” of representation of Black people in the future and the kind of work that needs to be done to ensure those futures. Deciding to cancel a show he was organizing in the early days of the pandemic to protect the presenters and audience members. The everydayness of people dying because they don’t have healthcare access or can’t afford medicine* outside of the times of COVID-19; racism, sexism, and transphobia in the healthcare system.Corporate interests and their influence on policy. The unreasonable imperative that artists take the pandemic as an opportunity for productivity when many are out of work. It is hard to make art without fuel and without food. Witnesses barriers in the healthcare while caring for his partner after a stroke 5 years ago, the importance of medical bureaucratic literacy in a “Kafka-esque system”. Excitement about getting the vaccine. The pandemic in geopolitical context. Isolation in practice: Safety precautions and research prior to traveling for a funeral. Hope for “science married with activism”. Scholars in the humanities and social sciences need to be more visible, speak in lay person’s terms, do advocacy, and get in the streets. “Nothing is safe unless it empowers.” Other cultural references: Netflix, Zombie Movies, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Oprah’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Black Panther, Teenage Bounty Hunter, Elon Musk, GoFundMe. A specific reference is made to the need for his sister’s sickle cell anemia medicine in this interview. She dies a few months later. The GoFundMe to cover funeral expenses can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/memorial-fund-for-elizabeth-graham?utm_campaign=p_cp_url&utm_medium=os&utm_source=customer For Alex's work see: alexoteric.com https://solarized.bandcamp.com https://rainbowcrimes.bandcamp.com/releases https://metropolarity.bigcartel.com/product/arkdust-by-alex-smith https://web.archive.org/web/20210420173825/https://www.pewcenterarts.org/people/alex-smith https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexoteric/black-vans-queer-poc-cyberpunk-super-hero-comic
• 2020-02-05

  Dancing through the Pandemic

  I have never experienced a pandemic like COVID-19, most of us have not. When we were told to stay home, quarantine and social distance life just became static. I moved into somewhat of a virtual reality, taking online classes and working from home. However, being home everyday without any socializing or going to the gym became really depressing and I had a hard time focusing on my work. One day my sister and I were sitting on the couch, over with pandemic life and she says "let's have a dance party". We blasted music throughout our apartment for hours and just danced all the pressure and stress out. We did this at least 3 times a week for months during the most difficult times of the pandemic. It became something we looked forward to. It was the best decision we have ever made. Not only could we destress but we had the time of our lives and it brought us closer as a family.
• 
  2021-03-31T16:14

  Gyre Oral History, 2021/03/31

  Self-Description: “My name is Gyre. I am a multidisciplinary artist based in South Africa with global ambitions. I specialize in music, but I also work as a freelance writer as well as in dance. I’m a dancer learning to choreograph. Political commentator, particularity with regard to the LBGTQA+ community. I identify as queer. I am homoromatic and homosexual at this point in my life. You never know honey, it’s a spectrum. I had my first venture into artistic expression that is rooted in queer rights and queer understanding and queer theory, was my debut album, titled Queernomics, which was a documented audio-visual book about the contemporary experiences of a Black queer South African male, and that has gotten me into the positions that I express myself in, both out of passion and out of profession. Inkosi Yenkonkoni, which means “The Gay King”, in my native language which is Zulu.” Other details available here: Works produced during the pandemic: Kithi, International LGBTQ+ Rights Festival, writing on football. Some of the things we spoke about included: “What happens at the top is just politics, what happens at the bottom is real life.” Thinking about the term “pandemic” Listening to the body The pandemic exposing state corruption Having written a song called “Quarantine” in 2018 The inadequacies and privileges of Medical Aid in South Africa, having aged out of Medical Aid before COVID, the personal impact of worse-health insurance during pandemic, the importance of demonetizing health care Pre-COVID keeping busy: organizing, walking, collaborating Transit during COVID, sub/urban and outskirt disparities Canceling shows and taking dance classes and rethinking what it means to be productive Global Americanization and the impact of Trump’s pandemic denialism on South African health Moving out of disbelief about the severity of COVID after losing a loved one in the first wave Gratitude for the global influence of the Black Lives Matter movement, and sadness that tragedy in the diaspora brings neocolonialism to the fore The importance of social media for queer counter-violence and activist fractures among LGBTQA+ Feeling allyship with the #metoo movement How homophobia intersects with everyday altercations about social distancing The anxieties of hooking up during the pandemic The importance that scientists learn to speak in lay terms about climate change and vaccines Existence as resistance and creating art “Spread love not tolerance” Other cultural references include: Trans Day of Visibility, astrology, and the TV series Pose.
• 
  2021-03-18T11:10

  Brianna Tong Oral History, 2021/03/18

  Self description: “I am sitting in my bed right now as I’ve done for a lot of this quarantine. In regular times and I guess still now, I’m in three bands and I also work at the library, the public library. So I’ve been working there in person since we came back to work in May. I was contacted for this interview through Bussy Kween Power Trip, which is a Black queer punk band with three people, no guitars, so my close friends. I’m in two other bands. One band is called Je’raf and one is called Cordoba. And one person each from Bussy Kween is in each of those bands. Haven’t played a show in forever. I can give a little about what I look like or am like. I’m a woman. I’m 26, almost 27 I guess. I’m Black and Asian. I’m kinda short. And during this pandemic I’ve been in general super lucky to have a job still and a great living situation. And I met my partner right before the pandemic, so we’ve been chilling a lot and that’s been amazing. She is so great. Yeah, just going to work and working on all kinds of things in my home. And sometimes having the energy to do a bunch of music and crafts and other art things, and sometimes laying in bed for a full day.” Performs in: https://amalgamusic.bandcamp.com/album/throw-neck https://bussykweenpowertrip.bandcamp.com https://cordoba.bandcamp.com See more coverage on music: https://web.archive.org/web/20201125235322/https://chicagocrowdsurfer.com/brianna-tong-amplify https://web.archive.org/web/20201111045606/https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/chicago-jazz-fusion-unit-cordoba-actualize-their-ambition-on-specter/Content?oid=83730117 See more coverage on pre-pandemic organizing here: https://dailynorthwestern.com/2015/02/18/campus/chicago-black-lives-matter-activists-speak-at-second-breathe-in-event/ https://dailynorthwestern.com/2016/11/16/campus/students-take-action-to-support-undocumented-peers-in-light-of-election-results/ Some of the things we discussed include: Humour in the early stages of the pandemic and developing a fear for the safety of others; empathy The journey from vaccine apprehensions to getting the first shot of the vaccine, household and coworkers doing the same; the importance of vaccine access for Black and Latinx communities; resisting the narrative that all rural people and Black people are anti-vaccine White supremacy, the murder of Black people by police, the mainstreaming of “defunding the police” activism Difficulties getting out of bed and noticing new behaviours; taking up new activities: stick-and-poke tattoos, embroidery, cooking elaborate meals Therapy Pre-pandemic life: going to queer parties, busy with rehearsal What community support means for health, the harms of for-profit healthcare, growing up with access to good health care coverage and racism and sexism in the healthcare system, ableism, fatphobia, and the crises of inaccessible healthy food, lack of parental leave, pollution Working in the public library system: working remote for the first two months, reduced libraries services upon reopening, prophylactic supplies and cleaning regimes, the importance that libraries serve in communities (access to internet, printing, and books), enforcing mask mandates, shifting to online programming How the return to work at the library normalized being inside indoor spaces when it is still unsafe Doing outside live music Looting as purposeful resistance to corporation Union of Musicians and Allied Workers protests against Spotify (https://louderandclearer.byumaw.org) Biden’s failure to get the $15 minimum wage Murders tied to racism, sexism, sexworkers, anti-Asian violence that was committed the day before the interview. See coverage here (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/17/us/atlanta-shooting-spa.html), here (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/17/eight-killed-atlanta-area-spa-shootings), and here (https://www.npr.org/2021/03/17/978141138/atlanta-shooting-suspect-is-believed-to-have-visited-spas-he-targeted) The expectation that lots of art and reflection will come out of this experience, wanting solutions from the humanities and social sciences, the importance of preserving stories of people ignored by media
• 
  2020-08-26

  The ED Musos

  The ED Musos are a group of health care workers from Emergency Departments in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the UK and the USA. We came together for connection and wellbeing during the pandemic. We made this and other videos in our own time. We send love and support to everyone impacted by COVID-19.
• 
  2021-07-24

  Janine Brown. Oral History, July 24, 2021

  In this two-part interview, Ashley Tibollo interviews Janine Brown on how her life was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first part of the interview, Brown discusses how her last year of college was impacted and about her transition to remote teaching. She discusses her fears of the Delta variant, what sources she uses to get her information and what her feelings are regarding government action. She also discusses family life and how she was affected by the quarantine. She ends this part with her hopes for the future. In the second part of this interview, Brown discusses her decision to move in with her boyfriend right before quarantine and what it was life navigating a new relationship amidst a pandemic. She also discusses her pets and how their moods changed as her life changed. She discusses the difficulties of house hunting and the ways that the pandemic has affected the market.
• 
  2021-06-18

  A Linguistic Tour through Arthur Avenue

  I traveled to New York this summer, and one of the places I visited was Arthur Avenue, located in the Belmont neighborhood of the Bronx and the main artery of the Bronx's Little Italy. Arthur Avenue provided a unique insight into the function of immigrant languages during the pandemic. Most of the people I heard talking as I walked down Arthur Avenue and went into the stores were speaking English, as would be expected in most of the United States. Some had an accent similar to a "standard" American accent/my Californian accent, while others spoke in New Yorker accents. I heard some people speaking Italian, mostly if not entirely elderly people, in several stores, including Cerini Coffee and Gifts. I also heard expression of language through music, in the form of a speaker in front of Mario's Restaurant playing "Tu vuò fà l'Americano" ("You Want to Be an American") and "O Sarracino" ("The Saracen"), two famous Neapolitan language songs. I didn't expect to hear music in Italian "dialect" (called so even though Neapolitan is a proper stand-alone language). However, Belmont is no longer just Little Italy. It also has a large Albanian presence. I saw a flyer on a street pole in Albanian which I presume to either be a missing sign or a flyer for a funeral. I have no idea what the flyer said because I don't know Albanian, but among the text were two pictures of an elderly man. In front of Randazzo's Seafood, I also saw a sign advertising some type of shellfish (I can't remember which) in Albanian and English, though not in Italian, which I thought was interesting since the store is owned by the grandchildren of immigrants from Sicily. There was also an Albanian television provider called TV ALB, which indicated to me that there are enough Albanian speakers in the area to sustain an Albanian-language cable or broadcast provider, even during the pandemic. I didn't hear any spoken Albanian. This could be a purely anecdotal observation, but I saw Italian primarily as a spoken language and Albanian primarily in writing. There was some writing in Italian, but most of it was either names of food items that couldn't be translated into English or sayings like "mangia bene vivi bene" ("eat well, live well", as a command; the picture of which is attached to this story) for promotional purposes. There was no actual communication occurring in written Italian. On a non-linguistic note, most of the restaurants also had outdoor seating under canopies, a consequence of COVID.
• 
  2021-02-14

  When Will The DJ Of Luv Grant Me My 1 Request

  In February 2021, Victoria based musician Future Star released their debut album called "When Will The DJ Of Luv Grant Me My 1 Request". The song "Duck Song" explores intimacy during a pandemic with lines like "i wanna be comforted, you can't hold my hand", "throw a blanket over me from across the room", and "we stay six feet away".
• 
  2021-02-07

  Jazmine Sullivan & Eric Church Sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl LV, Interpreted by "Wawa" in ASL

  Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church sing the National Anthem for the Super Bowl LV Pregame Show. Warren “Wawa” Snipe performed the song in ASL. The Kansas City Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during Super Bowl LV in Tampa Bay.
• 
  2021-02-07

  ASL performer steals the show during Super Bowl national anthem

  Warren “Wawa” Snipe, who is deaf, performed the song in American Sign Language, and won over fans in the process. He also performed during H.E.R.'s rendition of "America the Beautiful."
• 
  2020-03-14

  Last show before Quarantine

  This photo was taken at the last show I went to before the my university, school, and the world all shut down seemingly within around a week. It was in the middle of ASU spring break. It had around 100 people there, all outside. At that point, people were aware of Covid-19 and I expressed concerns going with my friends but we still went. The only protocols that people there were taking was hand sanitizer but at that point there were no established protocols with Covid-19 beyond hand hygiene (at least to the general public). I at that point had wore disposable face masks to my classes as the ASU health services were giving them out for free in the lobby and ASU seemed to be downplaying the threat.
• 2021-02-18

  When Covid is Over

  When Covid is over I am going to see my grandkids in Washington State and paint my son’s house and then take my whole family out to dinner in a restaurant. 
 When Covid is over I am going to dress like a rock star and play music in bars. 
 When Covid is over I am going to keep the thrifty habits and good hygiene and good recipes that I learned during Covid.  
 When Covid is over I am going to take my time browsing the hardware store and the supermarket. 
 When Covid is over I am going to visit friends and have parties. 
 When  Covid is over I will be thankful that Covid is over.
• 
  2021-02-09

  Artists Reimagine How Covid-19 Will Shape the Art World

  In a time when people can't go to museums or concert halls, arts and musicians are improvising. Many are taking part in digital exhibitions and performances. Others are embracing the practice of street art, it always artists to continue creating art and have more exposure to the general population.
• 
  2021-02-12

  Mr. Carl is Always Watching

  An unexpected benefit of quarantining for the past eleven months is my son has become quite the pianist. Since we’re always home, he wanders to the piano often to play his pieces - during recess, lunch, waiting for his sister to be done with whatever she is working on. Honestly, because he has endless practice time he has advanced much quicker than he would have if life were normal. His teacher and he share a dry and quirky sense of humor. My son’s favorite part of the week is when "Mr. Carl" calls for their virtual lesson. Carl noticed early into quarantine that the way the phone sits on the piano makes his picture reflect in painting on the wall. He told my son he is always watching him, and it has become their inside joke. When we put up Christmas decorations, the painting was temporarily replaced. Being a creative and funny guy, Carl photoshopped himself into the decoration and texted it to me to share with my son. Now after every single lesson, Carl texts me a picture of where he is that week. Carl’s positivity, consistency, and continued high expectations have helped my son thrive and I am so thankful for him.
• 
  2020-06-26

  My new hobby

  During the summer of 2020, not a lot was going on in my life. I had just recently finished my undergraduate degree and had little to do on a daily basis, there were no jobs, no friends, not even family. Gradually, I got sick of just playing video games day in and out; however I wasn’t getting sick of the music of these games, many of which used the banjo. Some of these songs seemed pretty simple, and with my previous experience rudimentary experience with the guitar I figured I’d be able to some of these tunes. I started picking up my dad’s banjo, which is in the photo I provided on a daily basis; using YouTube tutorials I started to pick up the basics. In all honesty it was pretty easy to pick up, and just a relaxing experience, I even grew to like the feeling of developing callouses on my fingers? That’s a little weird but it felt like they were physical reminders of how much work I was putting into learning this new instrument. Recently I’ve kind of stopped playing, but I still love just plucking at it every now and then. My friends online similarly liked hearing me play every now and then, so in a sense it was a great coping mechanism to boredom and loneliness. However, I’ve really stopped even plucking at it, I don’t feel a drive to do much anymore; so I just kind of stare at it now every now and again, which is incredibly weird. This item maters to me as it helped me through the initial stages of the pandemic, and helped me stay mentally active during quarantine. However, as the pandemic has dragged on I kind of have lost the desire to play it, or do much of anything else really. I’d like to add this item to the collection of performing arts as it is a musical instrument, and I would perform for my friends on Discord every now and then (but then again I’m not a professional artist or performer so I don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to be in that collection) Mental health on the other hand is a way more accurate collection for this item, as it really helped me stay mentally active during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-22

  My Quarantine Experience

  During the pandemic, I got really into music and started practicing daily for many hours since it was so enjoyable. It was also convenient since the pandemic has been here for a while, so it passed a lot of time. This experience is important to me because I've become extremely passionate about music, and I really want to dive deep into vocals and be able to sing well. I believe that music is a way to really express myself especially at a time of a pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-16

  Falling Back On My Escapism

  As the title suggests, this is a description of my favorite things that helped me through the pandemic. I think it's important to capture the pleasures we've fallen back on despite all the negatives.
• 
  2021-01-12

  My favorite things

  This document contains several of my favorite things that have helped me get through the pandemic, such as video games, music, my banjo, cooking and my dog Dobbs! I submitted this from the ASU HST 580 internship course.
• 
  2021-01-11

  The Changing Sounds of Public Education During the Covid-19 Pandemic

  My wife and I are both public educators at Hamburg Area High School, a rural school district in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused our district to fluctuate between in-person and virtual instruction. During virtual days teachers have been encouraged to teach from home to mitigate the risk of exposure to the virus. I conduct my American History classes from the office in our home, while my wife, a music teacher, performs virtual music lessons with her students in our dining room. This shift to virtual teaching from home has caused my classroom, which is usually quite traditional, to sound much different. While I attempt to educate my students on the finer points of American History, the sounds of young (and often struggling) musicians fill the air. Meanwhile, my two dogs also interject into class as they battle over toys and pillows. The Covid-19 pandemic has not only moved the location of public education, but also changed the way that education sounds. I recorded the following audio clip while my 3rd period AP US History class was studying primary source documents on the post-Civil War Reconstruction time-period (1865-1876) on Monday, January 11th.
• 2020-09-22

  September 22 2020 Music

  These past few months have just felt like the same thing on loop constantly with nothing new besides music. I have the same album on repeat for months now. The album is called “No Pressure” By Logic. I have really been enjoying it but sadly it is his last album as of now. I ordered his vinyl too. This year so far i can say its been very hard but this years music feels like a flashback to all the 2016 music. A Lot of good music has been made and im grateful for that because it's what I need to stay mentally stable during these times.
• 
  2020-12-15

  Jackson Brockenbrough

  Jackson Brockenbrough, Jdagiver Production, explained in a verbal interview that as a direct result of COVID his inspirational has been effected. Lack of city life has made it more difficult for him to tap into his creativity. The dullness within the current state of the world translates into his work as many artist are effected by the their life and surroundings as a source of inspiration. Jackson continued explaining that even though this time is more difficult to produce music, he has a responsibility as a producer during COVID. For example the world utilizes music as an outlet to express and feel emotions of such as emotions of fear and frustration that COVID induces.Jacksons has also been faced with the difficulty of individuals being unable to contribute to sessions like they did prior to job restrictions because of COVID. Jackson’s story explains how an entrepreneur faces not only individuals struggling, and competition but also effected by the economic state of his consumers too.
• 
  2020-10-20

  Photo of women playing music at Mi'kmaq protest

  This photo shows women, some wearing masks, holding up signs and protesting.
• 
  2020-04-09

  Twenty One Pilots one of the first to release a song during lockdown, “Level of Concern”, to help relieve anxiety

  I think this item is really interesting, and it does fill an archival silence, about musicians and what they did in lockdown- if they stopped producing music, if they were even more eager to, etc. I first heard this song in the lockdown, and it made me feel like I was connected to the band- he was singing about the same things I was experiencing, I realized everyone was going through similar things in quarantine. I had never thought about what musicians and singers were doing, for some reason I thought their lives didn’t change much, but they did. I thought it was really cool Twenty One Pilots saw that people were down, stressed, etc. and wanted to relieve some stress with a song about the pandemic.
• 
  2020-09-24

  Christopher: Find the things that gives you peace

  Christopher is the administrative aid at the African American Museum of Nassau County. He works with museum director, Joysetta Pearse, to promote understanding and appreciation of African American culture, art and tradition through education, interpretation, exhibitions, collections and programs for the enrichment of the public. Chris discusses his work, as well as how we hopes to come out stronger, on the other side of COVID. He also discusses the loss of his uncle and getting a diagnosis of his own during COVID.
• 
  2020-10-15

  Galvin Bisserup, Photographer, and the Father's Day Men's Chorus Project

  "Galvin P. Bisserup, Jr. is the owner and principal portrait photographer of Glickman Studio Photographers which has been in Freeport, NY for 98 years. Over the years he has captured the many eventful moments of individual lives, from infancy through seasoned adulthood. For over three decades this professional photographer has been behind the camera capturing the smiles from the heart and soul. In this interview, Galvin recounts his career and how his work as a community photographer has been impacted by COVID. He also describes a project from this past spring which resulted in the creation of a music CD in celebration of Father’s Day with his men’s chorus. This interview was recorded by Juilee Decker and Joysetta Pearse with Galvin Bisserup on October 15, 2020 at 6 pm ET and lasted approximately 40 minutes. It was conducted over Zoom. A transcript is attached, along with multiple images associated with the interview, provided by Bisserup. It is part of the LongIslandCommunity series, an initiative of COVID-19 archive (Juilee Decker) and the African American Museum of Nassau County (Joysetta Pearse)."
• 
  2020-11-17

  Bandcamp Offers Artists A New Paid Livestream Platform

  Bandcamp, the popular indie music streaming platform, has offered musicians a new revenue stream to replace in-person live shows. Fans can buy a ticket to access the show and purchase merchandise at the "virtual merch table". As the music industry has been turned upside down due to the end of touring and live shows, this offers another way to supplement the income of artists.
• 
  2020-11-15

  The Healing Power of Music

  My friend Sarah who currently lives as St. Mary's University sent me pictures of the way she gets through her anxiety which is with music. The pictures that she provided show that the Healing Power of Music is a way to escape all the chaos that is happening in our lives around us. This shows when there is no where else to turn music always seem to have your back by providing comfort.
• 
  2020-11-15

  Faces of the arts shutdown: Nathan Hubbard: ‘As far as I know, everything is off the table’

  The San Diego Union-Tribune has published a short series chronicling local musician's experiences and struggles during COVID-19. This story is about drummer Nathan Hubbard and how he has gone from performing almost every day to having very little work.
• 
  2020-11-17

  Jewish Melbourne

  We had a beautiful celebration for my daughter's Batmitzvah that was not how we imagined or planned it to be. Despite the restrictions, we were blessed with a simcha that was overflowing with yiddishkeit, connection, Jewish history, music, family, love and tradition.
• 
  2020-09-15

  Jewish Melbourne: Chabad on Carlisle Q & A with the Rabbis about Rosh Hashanah

  On Tuesday 15 September Chabad on Carlisle held an online Q&A with their Rabbis, along with musical entertainment, for Rosh Hashanah
• 
  2020

  Jewish Melbourne: FOJAM's best of 5780

  Festival of Jewish Art and Music (FOJAM) produced a 'Best of 5780' list: "Without getting too heavy and nostalgic for the year that has passed, 5780 has been uh pretty challenging. But hey, Jews never expect anything to be easy. We want meaning and enrichment more than anything else right? That's why we love our arts! This last six months has really felt like we have a community of people surrounding us and we are feeling good going into 5781. We have created a Best of 5780 (Hebrew calendar year) for you to consume over the high holidays and hopefully you come back rejuvenated and inspired."
• 
  2020

  Jewish Melbourne: FOJAM Newsletters

  Festival of Jewish Art and Music (FOJAM)'s theme for 2020 was 'Homeward Bound' and they issued a number of newsletters across the year, collating them on their website.
• 
  2020

  Jewish Melbourne: FOJAM events

  The Festival of Jewish Art and Music (FOJAM) normally puts on live events, but during the Covid lockdown they have organised a series of livestreamed events for the community. Attended by hundreds of people, some of these events - or excerpts from the events - have been shared afterwards on youtube.
• 2020-10-05

  Xbox Live Shenanigans

  This is a trap remix of Darkthrone’s “Transilvanian Hunger” that I made on my phone in GarageBand. My friends and I usually congregate on Xbox Live every night after we get home from work for the night. With rising costs, dwindling savings, and less work available than ever before, we don’t really plan things anymore. When we do, the plans usually include cooking dirty burgers, drinking beer, and playing board games at someone’s house. That and playing Xbox together are the cheapest options for hanging out that we even have. Lately, our favorite pastime has been making beats on our iPhones in GarageBand. Someone jokingly told me that Norweigan black metal is the only un-sampleable musical genre. I set out to prove him wrong. Laughter and hilarity ensued.
• 
  2020-10-28

  Pandemic Playlist: Reflections of Quarantine Life Through Music

  In March I was laid off from my full-time job of 6 years. Those first few weeks of unemployment found me struggling to stay productive and positive. With too much time on my hands I did what any well-adjusted person would do in that situation—listened to sad music to make myself feel worse. Tom Waits – More Than Rain Like many Americans, I live paycheck to paycheck. I knew that missing even one pay period would mean falling behind on several bills. I get paid weekly which means that even though I don’t make a lot of money, I at least always have enough to make it through to next Friday. Being broke made me feel like a failure. I resented my pre-pandemic life of always being so busy and going the extra mile at work. What did I have to show for it? “None of our pockets, are lined with gold Nobody's caught the bouquet There are no dead presidents we can fold Nothing is going our way” The “our” in this song made me think of all the other people who were in the same situation as me. I was sad not just for myself, but for everyone else who was out of a job. It reminded me to be grateful for the things I still had. Tom Waits is someone who I admire for his humor, but this particular song is void of any playfulness. The best way I can describe this song is to call it a cross between a lullaby for pirates and a circus ballad for depressed clowns. It features a melancholic vocal and a wearisome accordion sluggishly making its way through the song. “It's more than rain that falls on our parade tonight It's more than thunder It's more than thunder” The pandemic is much bigger than what we initially took it for. It’s poverty, depression, isolation, death… The Specials – Ghost Town The Specials are my favorite band, and this song which is perpetually on my playlist took on several new meanings for me. “Ghost Town” was originally written in response to unemployment and racial tensions in Thatcher era England. Now the song seems as though it was written against the backdrop of Trumpism. “This town, is coming like a ghost town All the clubs have been closed down This place, is coming like a ghost town Bands won't play no more” Driving around downtown San Antonio during the early days of quarantine was incredibly eerie. All the usual sights had vanished: tourists waiting at crosswalks, work trucks driving to their next job sites, bicyclists slowing down traffic, mariachis playing at restaurants, and people strolling the Riverwalk. San Antonio was dead. “This place, is coming like a ghost town No job to be found in this country Can't go on no more The people getting angry” The harmonized ghostly screeches in the chorus set the spooky tone for the song. How can we possibly live in a city that is dead? When everything was closed, I felt like a ghost--dead and unable to enjoy my favorite hobbies. I couldn’t visit friends, travel, or waste time browsing clothing stores. I had a difficult time figuring out how to enjoy life. Ginger Rogers – We’re in the Money Of course a depression era song would resonate with me. For the first time ever I had money in my savings account. This was only possible because I was temporarily laid off and able to receive unemployment benefits. I begrudgingly went back to work when my boss received a Paycheck Protection Program loan. Not only did I have to work in-person putting my health at risk, but I also had to do so at my regular pay rate which was much lower than my unemployment benefits. Body Count – Body Count I discovered this song while watching a video montage of BLM protests on Instagram. I was immediately drawn to Ice-T’s angry vocals complemented by an equally aggressive punk rock backing. The lyrics sound like they written this year, but they are from 1992—a year after the Los Angeles riots. “God damn, what a brother gotta do To get a message through To the red, white and blue What? I gotta die? Before you realize I was a brother with open eyes” The Specials – B.L.M. Just like Ice-T, The Specials have been singing about Black lives for decades. In 1980, Specials guitarist Lynval Golding wrote a song called “Why?” after he was violently attacked because of his race. In that song he seeks understanding and asks his attackers “Why did you try to hurt me?” Almost 40 years later, Golding wrote another song about his experiences with racism. Again, he takes a gentle approach by telling the listener: “I'm not here to teach you I'm not here to preach to you I just want to reach out and say Black lives matter” Cher – Chiquitita These days everything exhausts me, and I feel like I have no time to rest. As soon as Cher opens with “Chiquitita tell me what’s wrong?” I start crying. Thanks for checking up on me, Cher. As with most of her songs, I get happy when her music comes on because I know I’m about to do an ugly sing-along. Nowadays this song just hits different. “You were always sure of yourself / Now I see you’ve broken a feather” I have never felt so uneasy and uncertain in all my life. I used to be the shoulder to cry on when my friends needed comfort. I no longer have the energy to offer my strength. Lila Downs – Una Cruz de Madera Despite being a song about death, the Lila Downs version is a happy, upbeat tune. She turns it into a party song. The overall translation of the song captures how I want my loved ones to handle my passing. Instead of a fancy funeral, I’d prefer a big party in my honor. I don’t want my family and friends to shed tears, or feel any sadness. The only thing I want at my wake is a serenade in the early morning. Toots – Got to Be Tough Toots is one of those artists who radiates positivity. It’s hard to be in a bad mood when his upbeat tempos and powerful, soulful voice booms through the speakers. I saw him perform live a few years ago and watched him with awe. He would step away from the microphone and continue singing at an impressively loud volume—his voice filling up every corner of the auditorium. I was pressed up against the stage because he motioned for everyone to get closer. Toots came over to me several times and squeezed my hand and sang directly to me. In those moments I felt so happy and lucky to be alive. My best friend was right next to me and we both had tears in our eyes. How lucky we were that this Jamaican icon came all the way to perform for us in a stuffy San Antonio venue! We swore that we would see Toots again. I was excited when Toots dropped his new single “Got to Be Tough” earlier in the year. It meant that a tour would follow. The song itself was also a great comfort. “Got to be tough when things get rough You got to be tough and this is a warning You got to be smart, living in this time It's not so easy to carry on” Sadly, Toots passed away from Covid-19 two weeks after his “Got to Be Tough” album was released. Listening to the title single doesn’t bring me much comfort anymore. It makes me think of how excited I was that I was going to see him next year. Now it just makes me nostalgic for the days when we could go to shows and experience a more intimate connection with music. Nothing beats bonding with thousands of strangers who are singing, crying, and dancing to the same music as you. The song makes me miss being as happy as I was that day Toots held my hand and sang to me.
• 
  2020-10-15

  Wear a mask

  A Disney take on COVID and how wearing a mask is the easiest thing to do.
• 
  2020-05-06

  Coronavirus quarantine: 21 classical music activities for self-isolating families

  With families and individuals having to go into self-quarantine, a well-known classical music station suggests musical ways to keep busy and entertained.
• 
  2020-07-22

  J.S. Bach’s Bradenburg Concerto No. 3 Driveway Concert

  Despite COVID-19, members of the Phoenix Symphony are still finding ways to perform and uplift the community while staying safe.
• 
  2020-10-20

  Carly's Quarantunes

  This is a playlist of songs I've listened to during quarantine and an explanation about each of them.
• 
  2020-10-18

  Care after 5km

  A friend of mine had a rough week. She lives down the coast, well out of my 5km play pen (the distance we Melbournians can travel from home). The phone calls are fine, but can be draining and don't replace a supportive hug. Feeling a bit helpless as a friend, I put together an hour of music I thought she'd find comforting. Diversifying the kinds of connections we keep up has been relieving in that way. Low pressure interaction, much like spending time in person when it is relaxed, calm, and conversation will bounce off stimuli in the world, is hard to replicate digitally. I've really stepped up my playlist game these days. She loved it. HIST30060