What Are You Doing While Riding Out This Period Of Social Isolation?

I'm QUITTING the band/venue scene. I'm in one band, which is LUCKY, to work once a month.
Even with flu shots, within the last 2 years, I have gotten sick only twice, but for me, I felt REALLY sick for those 2 times, had to go to hospital once, compared to all the other ill spells I have had through my life. We / I have not gigged that much within the last 2 years, so it seems no coincidence, and it seems significant, that each episode of illness happened 3 -5 days after a gig. At gigs, people are mingling, moving around, during singing, breathing in increases, and the air is trapped within the venue. And these episodes occurred even before COVID. I am 68, have a couple underlying conditions, my wife has a SERIOUS underlying lung condition. I don't know how long this COVID thing will last, it may now hang around every year. All of April is lost, we have no gigs now on the calendar. Maybe the clubs/venues will not start jumping in full-force even in May, and I'm not sure club patrons will be jamming the dance floors and restaurant tables immediately, within the next few months. For me, the risks of contagion within the next few months, and even further, for both my and I, are too high. I don't really want to have to go back to a venue/club environment. Frankly, even with no gigs, I'm getting "burnt out" even having to consider the possibility of getting back into it. Honestly and frankly, after many years of gigs, I'm FUCKING TIRED of playing the same BLOOZ-RAWK, guitar-based, DECENT-LEAD-AND-HARMONY-VOCALS-DEPRIVED, repertoire, which seems to not vary, from band to band. It seems like all the guitar players have only a few guitar "gods", Clapton, etc., have no respect for appropriate rhythm guitar, dynamics, ensemble playing, or any other music genres. I write and record songs, and with the bare minimum recording equipment I have, I can produce, satisfying to me, home demos. May drum at occasional jam sessions, or with acoustic song-based artists in the future.
 
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On TV they just aired the World Team Tennis All-Star 2020 game. I figured it was a rerun. Nope, it took place this week in Carlsbad, California to a crowd of 2500. How did this even happen? Isn't California closed for business right now? Did these people not get the memo?
 
I'm QUITTING the band/venue scene. I'm in one band, which is LUCKY, to work once a month.
Even with flu shots, within the last 2 years, I have gotten sick only twice, but for me, I felt REALLY sick for those 2 times, had to go to hospital once, compared to all the other ill spells I have had through my life. We / I have not gigged that much within the last 2 years, so it seems no coincidence, and it seems significant, that each episode of illness happened 3 -5 days after a gig. At gigs, people are mingling, moving around, during singing, breathing in increases, and the air is trapped within the venue. And these episodes occurred even before COVID. I am 68, have a couple underlying conditions, my wife has a SERIOUS underlying lung condition. I don't know how long this COVID thing will last, it may now hang around every year. All of April is lost, we have no gigs now on the calendar. Maybe the clubs/venues will not start jumping in full-force even in May, and I'm not sure club patrons will be jamming the dance floors and restaurant tables immediately, within the next few months. For me, the risks of contagion within the next few months, and even further, for both my and I, are too high. I don't really want to have to go back to a venue/club environment. Frankly, even with no gigs, I'm getting "burnt out" even having to consider the possibility of getting back into it. Honestly and frankly, after many years of gigs, I'm FUCKING TIRED of playing the same BLOOZ-RAWK, guitar-based, DECENT-LEAD-AND-HARMONY-VOCALS-DEPRIVED, repertoire, which seems to not vary, from band to band. It seems like all the guitar players have only a few guitar "gods", Clapton, etc., have no respect for appropriate rhythm guitar, dynamics, ensemble playing, or any other music genres. I write and record songs, and with the bare minimum recording equipment I have, I can produce, satisfying to me, home demos. May drum at occasional jam sessions, or with acoustic song-based artists in the future.

dude...never say never, but i definitely understand your worries about your health...just get into a prog metal band and your person to person contact will drop DRASTICALLY!!! ;). I play in metal bands, so I know!! The more odd time sigs you add to the music, the less people come out...

I DEFINITELY hear ya about the second part of the rant....the blues/country/classic rock blah blah blah "human juke box" thing. I avoided that for 49 years for all of the exact same reasons you are talking about. I only recently joined that crowd because I am good friends with the guys who asked me to play, and country (especially) was a style I did not understand, so I wanted to learn it. Having grown up playing in punk. metal, thrash and prog bands, it is sort of hard to "get into" the vibe of the gigs...where the crowd is sort fo only half paying attention to you. I was half joking about the crowd size of metal shows, but no matter what, at almost all of my metal shows the people are there to see you, and there is a different kind of energy to feed off of. With the blues/country band, we will get a big reaction for the first 3 or 4 measures of a song, but after that, we "dissapear"

I quit going to open mic jams for a lot of the reasons you talk about too with musicians in the blues/country scene...a lot of "unearned' posturing about musical ability...and A LOT of lack of knowledge about what drummers (and bass players) are supposed to do or be in a song situation. No thanks...if a trained musician is going to comment about my playing, I am all ears...If Johnny "Arm Chair Clapton" is going to comment = poorly - about my playing....no thanks.

keep doing what makes you happy musically. I wish i had the free time. and free money to get a studio set up going so that I could record stuff that I hear in my head, but right now, life isn't allowing for that
 
What am I doing?

Well......I've been in need of a haircut for the last 3 weeks.

Of course now they are closed up.

I shaved my own head tonight.

I've been watching Vikings on Netflix......I dunno how the hell they get such amazing haircuts with nothing but axes, sickles, swords and pitted, rusty old knives.

I look like a Gumby.

The front was easy.....

The back is the real kicker here.

Guys, just don't do it.

I look absolutely ridiculous now.

I look like I should be in a friggin mugshot or a police line up.
 
What am I doing?

Well......I've been in need of a haircut for the last 3 weeks.

Of course now they are closed up.

I shaved my own head tonight.

I've been watching Vikings on Netflix......I dunno how the hell they get such amazing haircuts with nothing but axes, sickles, swords and pitted, rusty old knives.

I look like a Gumby.

The front was easy.....

The back is the real kicker here.

Guys, just don't do it.

I look absolutely ridiculous now.

I look like I should be in a friggin mugshot or a police line up.

I’ve been shaving my head on and off for the last 25 years. I haven’t paid for a haircut since 2008. But I agree, some of us look better with a shaved head than others. Lol
 
What am I doing?

Well......I've been in need of a haircut for the last 3 weeks.

Of course now they are closed up.

I shaved my own head tonight.

I've been watching Vikings on Netflix......I dunno how the hell they get such amazing haircuts with nothing but axes, sickles, swords and pitted, rusty old knives.

I look like a Gumby.

The front was easy.....

The back is the real kicker here.

Guys, just don't do it.

I look absolutely ridiculous now.

I look like I should be in a friggin mugshot or a police line up.

they didn't actually shave their heads that close...that is just "hollywood"

what did you use? I always use a Wahl barber clipper I bought 15 years ago. You do have to get "stretchy" to get the back, but you get used to doing it after a while

I’ve been shaving my head on and off for the last 25 years. I haven’t paid for a haircut since 2008. But I agree, some of us look better with a shaved head than others. Lol

same here....from 1987 to 1997 I let me mohawk grow out. Hair down to my waist, but shaved sides...in 1997, I got sick of the ratty mess ,and shaved it all off. Have been "bald" ever since. I have never paid for a haircut in my life.
 
they didn't actually shave their heads that close...that is just "hollywood"

what did you use? I always use a Wahl barber clipper I bought 15 years ago. You do have to get "stretchy" to get the back, but you get used to doing it after a while



same here....from 1987 to 1997 I let me mohawk grow out. Hair down to my waist, but shaved sides...in 1997, I got sick of the ratty mess ,and shaved it all off. Have been "bald" ever since. I have never paid for a haircut in my life.

I used an old Braun/Philips? set of clippers.

The issue is I've got a mole on the back of my head, so I was trying to navigate around the thing and......well, yeah.

I got there eventually.......but it was uneven.

It's just a lot shorter than I wanted it to be.

I seriously look like a peanut with a bit of fuzzy mould growing over it.
 
I used an old Braun/Philips? set of clippers.

The issue is I've got a mole on the back of my head, so I was trying to navigate around the thing and......well, yeah.

I got there eventually.......but it was uneven.

It's just a lot shorter than I wanted it to be.

I seriously look like a peanut with a bit of fuzzy mould growing over it.

weird...I also have a mole on the back...and I discovered it the first time I shaved the ex mohawk locks off....OUCH!!! Now, I just put my finger on it, and shave around it, then carefully touch up around it. It took me about 3-4 months of doing it to get good at it...but I was also using no guard, and going all the way bald. My issues were that I was always missing a little strip, or patch, and had to get used to checking carefully with my fingers
 
On TV they just aired the World Team Tennis All-Star 2020 game. I figured it was a rerun. Nope, it took place this week in Carlsbad, California to a crowd of 2500. How did this even happen? Isn't California closed for business right now? Did these people not get the memo?

There’s not enough emojis for this ?

WTF !!!!!!???!!!?????!!!???!!!????!!!!???!!!
?????????????????‍♂️
 
Pretty much a lockdown over here in the UK. There aren't enough Police to enforce anything, so provided you're not taking the piss - it's ok. Some shops are open (essential. Supermarkets, Corner Shops, Pet Food, Hardware and... Bike Shops) but pretty much everything else is closed. Public events are a definite no-no and meetings of more than two people outside of immediate family are banned (and can be dispersed). It's times like this that i) I'm glad that I don't live alone any more and ii) I have a garden, even if it is only small.

The government weren't doing anything. Then we had a sunny weekend a couple of weeks ago and the beaches were packed, tourist towns were busy (even though many shops had voluntarily closed and pubs/restaurants had been ordered to close) despite the advice, so straight away on the Monday - lockdown.

My car was due its MOT (annual safety check, quite rigorous) but the government decided that all MOT certificates for cars due them after the 30th of March would be extended by six months. My car was due on the 2nd of April.

It's odd things here and there - but essentially stay indoors, go outside once a day to exercise and only go out when necessary. Caring for loved ones is fine, going to work if the job can't be done from home is also fine. The government have promised to pay 80% of the salary of workers for businesses that have essentially temporarily ceased trading or have had a significant drop-off in trade (called 'furloughing') but those employees must not work and the companies can choose to top up the rest of the salary if they wish.

It's been relatively straightforward here as both of us work in jobs that can be done from home and are doing so on full pay. A lot of people have been nowhere near as lucky, sadly.
 
On TV they just aired the World Team Tennis All-Star 2020 game. I figured it was a rerun. Nope, it took place this week in Carlsbad, California to a crowd of 2500. How did this even happen? Isn't California closed for business right now? Did these people not get the memo?
Wow. That’s a little worrisome.
There’s not enough emojis for this ?

WTF !!!!!!???!!!?????!!!???!!!????!!!!???!!!
?????????????????‍♂️
For real. Imagine the amount of mental retardation involved for this to go ahead.

Haha okay I just realized today is APRIL 4, not March 4. The event was on March 1. My bad, I feel stupid now! Been stuck at home for too long I think.

That being said, wasn't California already in trouble on March 1st? Maybe this shouldn't have happened anyhow?
 
What am I doing?

Well......I've been in need of a haircut for the last 3 weeks.

Of course now they are closed up.

I shaved my own head tonight.

I've been watching Vikings on Netflix......I dunno how the hell they get such amazing haircuts with nothing but axes, sickles, swords and pitted, rusty old knives.

I look like a Gumby.

The front was easy.....

The back is the real kicker here.

Guys, just don't do it.

I look absolutely ridiculous now.

I look like I should be in a friggin mugshot or a police line up.

I’ve been shaving my head on and off for the last 25 years. I haven’t paid for a haircut since 2008. But I agree, some of us look better with a shaved head than others. Lol

Also been doing the Netflix /HBO GO binge thing . Completed the sopranos, now 8 episodes deep into season 2 of deadwood. Love Vikings, that’ll be next , followed by Spartacus if this virus thing continues .

Absolutely, lol , some of us can’t pull off the shaved head or crew cut thing . I did it at age 22 thirty years ago on my own in the police academy. Instructor said hair too long , cut it by tomorrow or else. Well was working a 4x12 pm shift and nothing open then , soooooo..... yup , did it myself . First tried to cut it
shorter =disaster, so on to just trying to do a crew cut ( with scissors)= bigger disaster. I looked like something out of a horror movie .

Was over due for a haircut 3 weeks before this lockdown stuff started. So I’ve decided to revisit my youth and go the other way and just let it grow. Beard too maybe ??‍♂️?
 
Haha okay I just realized today is APRIL 4, not March 4. The event was on March 1. My bad, I feel stupid now! Been stuck at home for too long I think.

That being said, wasn't California already in trouble on March 1st? Maybe this shouldn't have happened anyhow?

Lol ?. I feel ya. I can definitely see how that could happen . ?.
 
Haha okay I just realized today is APRIL 4, not March 4. The event was on March 1. My bad, I feel stupid now! Been stuck at home for too long I think.

That being said, wasn't California already in trouble on March 1st? Maybe this shouldn't have happened anyhow?
It’s the Ginger spice sort like that crap from Dune so it messes with with your head. Heck now I’m in this big bubble turning into a big maggot snorting spice. I’m thinking about bending space-time and quantum crap like that :poop:
 
Also been doing the Netflix /HBO GO binge thing . Completed the sopranos, now 8 episodes deep into season 2 of deadwood. Love Vikings, that’ll be next , followed by Spartacus if this virus thing continues .
Ozark on Netflix FTW.
 
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