2021 in the arts: Will we be back to live shows by, say, October? - Chicago Tribune

This is my vision for 2021. It is September, maybe October. My wife and another couple walked to the entrance of a man with a scanner, which was located in a building on the north, south or west side of Chicago, even in the suburbs, and even in Indiana. My vision is not critical.

I took out four sheets of paper from my pocket (I held it because I was that person). This person is not scanning our foreheads, but scanning bar codes on paper. We walked in, checked our coats, had a cocktail, and headed to our seats. Our seat is surrounded by other seats. All other seats are occupied by dead bodies; recognizable, glorious human bodies; human breathing no longer threatens our bodies with known debilitating diseases.

In front of all of us, in the center of our common concern, there is a stage (or screen) that will present (or project) live entertainment on it.

We become a community again. We are free to celebrate what others do to convey thoughts and emotions, such as a collection of songs in plays, movies, concerts, and a whole set of paintings on the wall. We were once again allowed to experience collectively, and then divided into small groups to discuss the situation we just witnessed.

This is a ritual that I have performed thousands of times before. When it happens again in 2021-even if the band keeps staring at its feet or the playwright thinks that the shock value can replace the structure-it will be the most fascinating feeling I can think of. Even though I am sitting here in an unfamiliar home office with the space heater whirring at my feet, my eyes become more organized as I type this paragraph.

It may not happen immediately like this from latching to unity. There will certainly be intermittent steps, reminiscent of several music clubs last summer, when these clubs opened with scattered indoor seating, they were the boldest among us.

However, for our careful sorting, if we want to return to the social circle and keep our distance, many things will have to be broken.

Fortunately, some of the most important functions do just that. As the taxes we paid provide some overdue support, some performance venues we used to gather may still receive us there. The second large federal coronavirus relief bill passed in late December features a staggering 15 billion U.S. dollars to help keep music venues, theaters and movie theaters alive.

Chris Bauman, owner of the Chicago music venues Patio Theatre and Avondale Music Hall, said to me in December: "I think we are still a bit shocked to complete this process." "This can save the entire industry... which is enough to enable us to stay in among them."

Bauman is the treasurer of the Chicago Independent Venue League, which first brought together historic city music clubs in an attempt to prevent the Live Nation Group from establishing a series of large-scale developments in Lincoln Yards. New place. north.

It provided a perfect structure, and then, when the flu pandemic hit, everyone was forced to cancel all reservations and turn down the heating in those empty halls. CIVL joined NIVA (National Independent Venue Association), which was quickly established in response to the COVID closure, and through shrewd lobbying efforts won the bipartisan support for the "Save Our Stage" bill.

By the time SOS was passed in the large-scale relief plan in December, under the less eye-catching nickname of "closing site operator allowance", it had developed to include movie theaters, theater stages, zoos and museums.

Some people worry that so many pies will mean that there is not enough fruit to satisfy everyone. However, at least the legislation was made to ensure that the most-affected companies get help first, and $2 billion of it will be allocated to places with no more than 50 employees.

"There are many assumptions," said Robert Gomez, CIVL co-chairman and owner of Subterranean and Beat Kitchen. "But 15 billion dollars is a lot of money."

Then there are civic signs to consider, which also tend to be favorable.

A drunk drunk in the Springfield State Capitol in Illinois once said: "Let's not talk about POL-tics". This was a blow to our group of Springfield reporters sitting outside in a bar. Then, by telling us that Sammy Hagar is Van Halen's best singer, he doubled his knowledge of right and wrong.

In the current situation, we cannot talk about politics because it has become the existence of art. We need a wide range of vaccinations to sit next to other people in the theater again, and now that political parties that believe in science are about to take over the federal government, it’s more likely to happen.

In addition to the admirable start of the vaccine development process, the White House has treated COVID-19 as someone else’s problem from 2017 to 2020, and until the end, it allowed most states to fend for themselves when developing vaccination plans. The result of this stubborn model is a disappointing overall promotion. This precious preventive liquid is placed in the freezer instead of being shot into people's arms.

However, the incoming government has promised not only to prioritize the procurement of vaccines, but also the most important logistics of bringing these substances into our bodies, and they have hired a team of experts with faculty and staff to lead this work.

So far, due to the number of approved vaccines and the signing of contracts for the purchase of vaccines, for most people, the number of vaccines vaccinated before mid-summer to late summer does not look optimistic. This is what I told us to reconvene the meeting. View in autumn. (Sorry, Lollapalooza, but I just didn’t see it and I’m glad to be proven wrong.)

The optimistic Live Nation president Joe Berchtold (Joe Berchtold) is more optimistic. He told CNBC in early December: "Overall, we expect that we will be able to return to performance, and by next summer, we will not need social activities, and of course no outdoor activities."

He seems to expect faster and wider distribution of vaccines than the vaccines established so far. However, preparations are being made to produce new vaccines, which may greatly increase the supply, and I am confident about the arrival of the capable cavalry, which may promote the development of the schedule.

The third necessary condition discussed by the art host-in addition to site survival and medical intervention-is public confidence. Even if we all know, even if experts tell us that we are safe now, they just don't know what people will need to transcend our new vision of the world.

For months, we have correctly believed that every other person we meet in public places, grocery stores, or on sidewalks is a potential vector of disease. We have started to recoil in crowd scenes in old movies, which can be traced back to 2019.

For most people, turning off the switch may not be as simple as being told to do so. I have talked with some local museum officials and think that it may not be until 2023 or 24 that income levels before the pandemic can be restored.

Or is it the kind of switching, that kind of safety mechanism will be overwhelmed by the desire to get out of the sofa, sweat and return to the public? It has been repeatedly pointed out that the "Roaring Twenties" was closely followed by the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.

To be sure, there will be a lot of new art ready to welcome people. Just like I have been busy dealing with Netflix and Hulu catalogs, in recent months, many of our creative work producers have been busy doing what they do.

I am eager to see what they think, or at this point, I even want to see some old guys shine in the hottest tournaments. See you on the Sammy Hagar show.

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