“I love playing in front of people, but COVID has devastated that. I did a virtual show. I hated the streaming experience."
“I love playing in front of people, but COVID has devastated that. I did a virtual show at the Millwald Theater in town. I love the Millwald, but hated the streaming experience. It was very sterile. A performer needs an audience, they just do. I need to see people. The thing about having an audience is that everybody who’s sitting out there is breathing the same air. They're experiencing the performance, the emotions, the stories in real time. They're all responding to it. Research has shown that humans pick up on the vibes coming from people sitting around them and when people are sitting in a concert hall or watching dance or even if they're clustered around a painting at a museum, they’re breathing the same air and they're experiencing something at the same time and there's no substitute for it.
A musician is a storyteller. To be sitting there and not having anybody to tell the story to, it's tough. I've seen many live streams and every musician is trying to survive and they have to do it. They're trying to generate some income. They're trying, but it's very sterile. There's just something missing. I’ve heard people talk about Zoom the same way. Seeing someone on a screen, without actually being in front of the person, it’s just not the way humans are meant to interact. It's vital to our DNA that we are looking at each other, that we are next to each other.
COVID is wearing everybody out in multiple ways. Everybody's tired. Just psychologically, you've got to force yourself, you know, to pick up your instrument and to keep at it. That's what I have to do, I have to keep writing. Picking up my banjo is always like holding an old friend. It helps.
When I get to do live performances again, I’ll be very grateful to see everybody, to connect with the people sitting out there. So it's going to be wonderful. I can't wait because I've got a bunch of new tunes that have never been recorded and I'm anxious to play those live and get some feedback on them to see see how they go."
-- Thom Moore (September 2020).
Thom Moore’s album, “That Evening Sun,” can be purchased on iTunes, CD Baby and Amazon and sampled on Spotify and YouTube. For a signed copy, email Thom at thombanjo2003@yahoo.com.
