The Corona Virus has now affected millions of people around the world. It has been especially brutal on Austin’s Live music scene, it’s artists & it’s live music venues. For the self-proclaimed “Live Music Capital of the World”, Austin’s live music scene finds itself reeling without much to know of its future until this pandemic hopefully passes.
We at College of Hip Hop Knowledge are very close to so many of these entities so we figured we’d provide some insight into the recent events & the changes it has caused. We start off by shedding some light on what we’ve had to deal with at CHHK.
Personally, the pandemic has caused CHHK thousands of dollars due to cancellations of the 3 shows we had scheduled with the legendary New York Emcee Keith Murray. We had March 20th scheduled here in Austin at Kick Butt Coffee, March 21st in San Antonio at Reggae Bar, & March 22nd in Houston at Skyline Hookah Lounge. The show on March 20th was to signify our 4th year as an official LLC & to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Keith Murray’s Gold Selling album “The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World.” We held out as long as we possibly could hoping that these shows could still go on but alas it was not possible. The thoughts of all 3 being cancelled were heartbreaking. Fortunately, we were able to reschedule for a future date once all this blows over. We’re hoping for sometime in June or July. We will be sure announce once we have more info on the rescheduled dates.
Stay in tune with CHHK by visiting our website at www.chhk512.com
We spoke to some other local artists & friends who have also felt the burden of Covid - 19. We reached out to the Bozarth twins, Evan & Dustin, on how this has affected their everyday life & how they’ve managed to evolve due to the difficult landscape for artists at this time.
“So many lost gigs- for 2 bands, with both public and private events scheduled—at least 5 weddings or private events cancelled so far. These are our best paydays and this is peak wedding season. We lost many an opportunity at sxsw, including playing for a potential European tour since the label and booking agent couldnt make it to Austin. And those things are only for April. Our May/Jun stuff is still in question. On the other hand, I’ve gotten a much needed break from the grind of daily booking/marketing/rehearsal/logistics/etc. so i’ve had time to do other things like Purple Bee TV. Purple Bee TV is our multitrack recording studio and live streaming facility. We have been in the audio/video/streaming world for literally decades, but this represents a new era— where the artists are empowered and fans can interact with the show in exciting new ways.
We have produced 11 live shows in the last 2 wks and our artists have made over $5500 in donations so far. We’ve also been able to operate the studio and pay the crew, which is desperately needed in these times. The fans have been able to enjoy amazing music from the safety of their homes, and had a chance to directly support their favorite artists. We run our own signature Live program ‘Purple Bee Live’ and we also offer turnkey, white label streaming services for bands or sponsors to run their own live stream programs from our facility and broadcast on simultaneous platforms like facebook, twitch, and youtube. We’ll also be releasing the live recordings officially on Spotify and other music platforms, which can offer more sources of revenue for artists.
Dustin adds “It’s artists and musicians who are continually at the forefront of new tech and part of what makes us tick is that ability to evolve and adapt .. the delivery mechanism changes, but at the end of the day its the same goal.. delivering something genuine and real to the audiences and building communities around people’s connection to our art..
You can find out more info & make donations at purplebee.org
We also spoke to Curt Ganem, the in house sound tech at One-2-One Bar on South Lamar. The bar & music venue, which has been forced to temporarily close its doors like all other bars & music venues in Austin, was a true supporter of Local Musicians & their art. Curt explains below what he’s been dealing with since right before the shelter in place orders were put in place for Austin.
“In a nutshell, I had to immediately convert to live streaming alone at the club with bands until we went into the shelter in place at which point I had to pull all of my streaming gear out of the club and set up an insane testing situation in my home studio for the purpose of creating new(to me)ways to connect musicians with their audience. I had to pick up many skills in a short period of time, change operating systems, build a network, install and learn new software as well as dive deeper into the IT world than I ever wanted to go. We’ll see what comes of it on the other side of the wire.”
You can donate to One-2-One bar at the link below.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-our-beloved-one2one-bar-family?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR0GYBZAYmi7WIXXJZ65Hk0p7YOtkn7oNxsbbDHD5icAUfVgaTLeKu0SoFE
Social media links for College of Hip Hop Knowledge
https://m.facebook.com/collegeofhiphopknowledge/
https://instagram.com/chhk512?igshid=8b3u4kkg2kkp
https://twitter.com/CollegeofHHKnow