Items

• 2020-04-10

  Gab Grieco's personal experience with the archive

  I have been consistently posting material on the archive since we started contributing the archive as a class. I’ve given my interpretations of events or personal experiences throughout my posts, and I think my posts point out some small but important parts of this pandemic that would have otherwise been brushed under the rug. I aimed to focus on the ways the live music industry was affected by Covid. Since many of the venues I go to in New York have been closed down and are in jeopardy of never reopening, I thought it would be best to give my thoughts on those examples while I also wanted to show the rippling effects the governmental lockdowns had on a number of industries. The shutdowns of these venues really affect many other industries — there are entire businesses, bartenders, performers, comedians, artists, and activists who are negatively impacted by these shutdowns. I've seen people who work at my internship get laid off because the company, an events booking company and publication, is not making any money at the moment. Yet, while I notice that a lot of my friends or artists I like are not making a lot of money during this time, I’ve seen so many great fundraisers put together by these musicians to help other groups of people who are disproportionately affected by the virus and shutdowns. I searched for new content through social media, news sites, and personal accounts. I found myself actively and coincidentally finding material to post, whether it be reading an article or hearing about an “online concert” from friends and coworkers. I tried to diversify my material while attempting to stay in the realm of the live music business. For example, I gave an account of my purchase in support of the Groundswell Rapid Response Fund through the music-buying site Bandcamp (almost like iTunes), while I also posted an article explaining how California lawmakers had amended laws in favor of the gig economy, which directly affects musicians and artists. I wanted to post pieces from both large publications and small publications to hear diverse voices and to understand the pandemic through different perspectives.
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  2020-04-01

  Letter Writing In Support of Great Scott TEMPLATE

  Beloved Allston/Boston venue Great Scott was denied a lease renewal. People across the country have banded together to write to the venue's landlord offices. This template facilitates the process and may have increased the number of letters written.
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  2020-04-07

  Life Without Live (2, My relation to the story)

  On May 7th, Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield published a piece reminiscing on the time when it was okay to go to live music events. A section of the piece details Sheffield's last show before quarantine -- Control Top at Union Pool in Brooklyn. It was interesting to hear how much he enjoyed the show, since the company I work for worked really hard to book and promote it. I tweeted about the article from the company account and received very kind words back from Sheffield.