(BG Independent News is checking in on some local performers to see how they’re doing with the lights turned off on nightlife. Here’s our first report.)
By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Tim Concannon had a little something special in mind for the March 18 edition of the Humpday Revue.
“Nothing crazy,” he said. He just wanted to mark 10 years since he launched the Wednesday night show upstairs at Grumpy Dave’s. Now the revue calls Stone’s Throw home and has become a staple of Bowling Green’s music scene.
But just days before Gov. Mike DeWine pulled the plug on night life in Ohio, as the COVID-19 gripped the state and nation. That had Concannon and the other regulars singing the blues. Then Tim South who contributes his oddball South of the Border weather forecasts, posted one on Facebook. And a poet wrote a haiku dedicated to the revue.
That lifted their spirits a bit and gave Concannon a sense maybe he and his cast of musicians and comics and hangers on could ride out the pandemic online.
He recorded a short video. Employing appropriate physical distancing he moped around downtown where he encountered some of the regulars in alleys and street corners.
That’s as much as they and other performers are likely to get out for some time.
Local club musicians, most of whom perform more for love than money, are trapped inside with their instruments missing the night life and the camaraderie that goes along with it.
Singer songwriter Tim Tegge was one of the performers featured in that video, caught at the Four Corners singing his song “Fishin’ Hole.”
Now at home Tegge reports “I still pick up my guitar many times throughout the day but it’s not the same right now. I’m having a hard time with all of this. “
And while nothing is as therapeutic as writing a new song, and he has one in the works, “the words just aren’t coming like they normally do.”
The only online outreach he’s done has been the Humpday Revue video.
While he and his band the Black Swamp Boys considered performing together using the Zoom platform, the difficulties working with home computers and local internet connections put the kibosh to that. “It’s not as easy as Jimmy Fallon and The Roots make it look,” he said.
“I miss performing with the band and I miss hanging out with friends after a good set. There’s nothing like busting out an awesome set and then having a beer to celebrate. It doesn’t feel the same doing that at home staring at a computer.”
Instead, he wrote: “I thought I would take advantage of all the extra time to do more songwriting and to organize all my unorganized music files but that just hasn’t happened. I’m just not feeling inspired to write a song about COVID-19 right now. I guess my muse is hunkered down in isolation somewhere else.”
Concannon is continuing to work his day job from home. “In my spare time I tend write a lot of music. It’s just a way to decompress my day and stay just a little ahead of the craziness of my everyday life.”
He has lots of melodies he’s been working on, but the lyrics are lagging behind. He does hope to have a song finished to debut on one of the Hump Day Revues one of these weeks.
Unlike the live version of the revue that rolls from Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday morning, Hump Day Revue (Remote) on Facebook Live has clocked in at under an hour, with each getting a little longer.
But Concannon also doesn’t want them to get much longer. “I don’t want it to be too stressful for me.”
He serves as virtual master of ceremonies. Each of the regulars has fans who’ll tune in to see them, Concannon said. The show starts at 9 p.m.
Last Wednesday he yucked it up with Humpday favorite Jerry Schnepp, academic innovator by day rock ‘n’ roll performer at night. Schnepp was logging in from Chicago where he’s staying during the pandemic. He and Concannon discussed the cocktails he concocted with whatever dribs of alcoholic beverages he had around the house.
He also welcomed Kelly Wicks, of Grounds for Thought to talk about the local arts scene and coffee. Wicks also discussed Artist Relief an Americans for the Arts program. The initiative offers $5000 to professional artists facing financial stress because of the pandemic. Wicks sits on the national board of Americans for the Arts.
Concannon said he uses the show to help promote Stones Throw and other businesses in town.
Concannon said he’s having a good time with the format, and it allows some people who couldn’t make it because they have to be up early in the morning to get to work.
“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s really a great way to stay connected with different people who have been part of the Hump Day Revue.”
