Winston Watusi Music Plus

Here's Johnny! We've had plain Covid, Delta and now it's time for Omicron.

Since December we've been holding our metaphorical breathe, balanced on a metaphorical knife-edge. Now...

Now I suddenly realise that with regard to the second metaphor there, I don't actually know how it linguistically resolves.

What does happen after you've been 'balanced on a knife edge”? Do you fall off the side of the knife? Do you accidentally cut yourself from becoming unbalanced? It's not like a 'ticking time bomb”, where the end result is pretty easy to surmise. Someone at the department of metaphors needs to give this a serious look.

In the meantime, in line with 2021 being 'the year of the vaccine”, 2022 rapidly looks like becoming 'the year of the cancellation”. It's been a messy week. The traffic lights are red and it means a whole lot of stopping going on.

The year started with the cancellation of two prominent festivals: Rhythm and Vines and Northern Bass. Now we can add Fashion Week, Splore, The Auckland Pride Festival and The Others Way Festival, while in Tauranga the One Love Festival, Classics of the Sky and First We Eat have gone, with many many more on the way.

As has become standard with Covid outbreaks, the usual suspects are the ones suffering: tourism, hospitality, and of course the arts. It has been a rough time for those in the arts sector, and I suspect resilience is beginning to run low.

Hollie Smith

Angry men

I felt particularly bad for the cast of 12 Angry Men at the 16th Avenue Theatre. They added an extra show to try and accommodate people who couldn't attend because theatre numbers had to be reduced. After the preparation a play requires, it must be soul-destroying. At least a band can reschedule a gig – reassembling the cast for a theatre production is a far harder ask.

Then there's local singer Hollie Smith, who has just had to postpone the album release tour for Coming In From The Dark. For the fourth time. Those following her Twitter feed got things in real time...

January 22: 'FIRST BAND GIG BACK TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SINCE MARCH!!!!!!!!!!”

The following day red restrictions arrived.

January 23: 'I am f***** done; What's the collective noun of depression?”

Her feed is actually quite entertaining, and later that day she also found time for: 'Does red light mean Tamaki stays in jail longer? Asking for a friend.”

Hollie is not alone. I couldn't help notice that the Taranaki Country Festival, scheduled for February 18, is bravely – or at least optimistically – hanging in there. The message on their Facebook page says: 'If it's still RED come time of the festival 18-20 February we will postpone the Festival until Easter 15-17 April.”

And that brings one question to mind. Easter?

Easter

The way things work, what's being affected is very small gigs and very large gigs. Small gigs can't get enough people in with one-metre distancing; big gigs can only have 100 people.

So the Jam Factory programme is effectively off for the time being, though I'm assured that the Across The Great Divide show on February 27 will be going ahead, possibly because it is a Sunday afternoon and people can be outside.

But the big question is Easter and Tauranga's single largest music festival, the National Jazz Festival. In Taranaki they seem sure this will be over by then, but I must confess to being less positive.

Consider this: Easter is 10 weeks away. They say things will peak roughly 6-8 weeks after cases go exponential, which is predicted to be in a week or so. I add those times up and can't help thinking that it doesn't look good.

I don't envy the organisers. The festival launch has been cancelled, which is no big deal, but I'm guessing they'll want to make a final decision before whatever cancellation clause there is in musician contracts takes effect.

I know what a massive amount of work they have already done, and can only offer my deepest sympathy if everything goes pear-shaped.

This too shall pass.

CORRECTION: Despite all adversity, Auckland power pop trio Pocket Money, whose 2021 album release tour got cut short by the lockdown, are heading this way to play at the Jam Factory next week, on February 4. They promise catchy riffs, powerful rhythm and thought provoking lyrics. Good on them for being undaunted in the face of Omicron! Tickets are $10 from Eventspronto.co.nz.