ARTS
Playing It by Ear By Dora Segall Contributing Writer Live music venues shut their doors almost as soon as COVID-19 hit D.C., and nine months later, they show few signs of reopening. Independent venues were especially vulnerable—most had to furlough employees. After the weekly federal unemployment benefit of $600 ended in July, workers began searching for new ways to make ends meet. Five people working at independent D.C. music venues shared with City Paper how they have managed to keep busy and stay afloat without income from in-person shows. Johnny O’Connor Johnny O’Connor has been Songbyrd Music House’s primary talent buyer since 2016. Things were looking good for the Adams Morgan venue at the start of this year. Songbyrd had expanded to host small shows in its Vinyl Lounge upstairs, in addition to its larger, basement-level concerts. It also ran a successful record store, daytime cafe, and nighttime bar.
all but about five of its employees. O’Connor was one of the lucky ones. The effects have been tough for O’Connor psychologically. “Anybody in live music with a job right now is extremely lucky,” he notes. But when “everybody says it’s time to pause and be grateful, I kind of just have this visceral, like, ‘Fuck that’ reaction. I really miss the people that I enjoy doing what I love with.” O’Connor has spent the past several months rescheduling shows and helping with new initiatives to generate profit for Songbyrd during the pandemic. The venue livestreams performances, but organizing them has been complicated for a number of reasons. Recording equipment is expensive, and the lack of bar sales makes it difficult for artists and venue workers alike to profit. Another challenge is finding new acts to record this far into the pandemic. “We can’t afford to cover anybody’s travel, [so we] have to get bands that are somewhat close to D.C.,” O’Connor explains. “After a while, the ones that could make money will probably have all done livestreams already.” For the past several months, O’Connor has also commuted to and from his home in Baltimore each Saturday and Sunday to serve brunch. Nov. 22 was his last day serving. Outdoor dining, film screenings, and livestream projects were great activities for keeping customers engaged over the summer, but drawing people in as it gets colder will be more challenging. As prospects for the winter look increasingly bleak, O’Connor has turned to opportunities beyond Songbyrd. He has been working in management for a couple musicians in Baltimore, helping them find record deals and other opportunities. He has thought about starting a nonprofit for artists there. “You kind of have to wear both hats,” he explains. “I love Songbyrd and want it to stay in business, [but] then also, you got to think about yourself.”
James Lore
Music venue workers are struggling to make ends meet as the pandemic rages on.
Zeeshan Shad Unlike O’Connor, he was furloughed during the pandemic. COVID-19 hit Shad both as a booker and as a musician. “I got into this whole thing through playing music,” he explains. He first discovered the D.C. music scene as an undergraduate at Washington College while playing drums for gigs in the city. More recently, he joined a local band called Tosser. They had two tours scheduled for this past spring, one in the South and one in Europe. With the pandemic, both of
those plans went out the window. Shad moved in with his dad on the Eastern Shore as soon as Songbyrd stopped putting on in-person shows. “I kind of just locked myself out of music for a little bit,” he says. “I think I was super burned out and kind of needed to refocus my energy.” Shad managed to keep his job through the summer. In August, he went to Songbyrd to pick up his paycheck. Both owners were there and said they needed to talk to him. They told him they were financially hemorrhaging and needed to furlough him. “It was a conversation that I knew was inevitably going to happen,” Shad says. “There just wasn’t enough [going on] to justify having two bookers.” He had already been considering his next steps and is now pursuing a master’s in music business at Berklee College of Music. “I’m basically taking everything that I’ve learned and trying to expand it to another level, with the hopes that when this all comes back, I’ll have more options in terms of what I can [do] within the industry,” Shad explains. He is not sure whether or not he will return to Songbyrd, but he does plan to stay in D.C. “I’ve been able to travel extensively through playing music, [but] I always know I’m home when I’m here,” he says. Jon Weiss Jon Weiss was part of the founding team behind The Wharf’s Union Stage in 2017 and has been a talent buyer there ever since. By the start of 2020, he was booking shows for three other venues as well. In March, he started working with Union Stage to book concerts
A selfie of Johnny O’Connor Then the pandemic hit. “All of that is just totally gone,” O’Connor says. When D.C. banned mass gatherings of 50 people or more, the majority of Songbyrd’s revenue sources disappeared. The venue was forced to furlough
Before mid-March, Zeeshan Shad spent his days booking shows for Songbyrd’s Vinyl Lounge, scheduling sound techs, and sending out venue advances and holds. He also helped schedule and prepare for events downstairs when he had extra time. He had started out at Songbyrd as an intern fresh out of college in 2016. Then, one day, owner Alisha Edmonson told him she was planning on opening a new performance space in the room adjacent to the bar and asked if he wanted to book the shows there. Shad immediately agreed. In the years that followed, the Vinyl Lounge became a national touring room.
28 december 2020 washingtoncitypaper.com
Julia Leiby
Johnny O’Connor
Zeeshan Shad
Jon Weiss
