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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 21, 2020)
ENTERTAINMENT Saturday, March 21, 2020 East Oregonian B3 Musicians find ways to perform during pandemic By TAMMY MALGESINI East Oregonian PENDLETON — Inde- pendent musicians are tap- ping into their creative energies to find ways to sur- vive financially while pub- lic gatherings are restricted because of COVID-19. Thomas Paul, a Boi- se-based musician who often is invited to perform with Pendleton-based James Dean Kindle & The East- ern Oregon Playboys, took to Facebook in recent days to ask for help. Paul, who also serves as a counselor for Pendleton Center for the Arts’ annual teen Rock ’n’ Roll Camp, is referred to as the Playboys’ unofficial fifth member. Paul asks that people send him direct messages (his Facebook account is www.facebook.com/thom- aspaul117) with a song request. He suggested it could be a favorite song or a request to sing “Happy Birthday” to someone spe- cial or a song dedication. “If you are so moved to do so and able, you can then consider making a donation to me in an effort to replace some small amount of my lost income,” Paul wrote in a March 16 Facebook post. Paul also encouraged people to reach out for friendly chats or if they just needed to talk. “People care about you. I care about you,” he said. Fluff and Gravy Records, the label for Bart Budwig’s “Another Burn on the Astro- Turf,” recently put out a plea requesting assistance. Bud- wig, who is the sound engi- neer at The OK Theater in Enterprise, was in the midst of a four-week tour of Austria and Germany when shows kept getting canceled. According to Fluff and Gravy, Budwig, who was traveling with his entire band, was still trying to make travel arrangements on March 13 for everyone to return to the United States — at the tune of nearly $9,000. People were encour- aged to make donations or EO file photo Thomas Paul performs at the Boise Contemporary Theater during the 2017 Treefort Music Fest. The Boise-based musician is looking at ways to continue performing during the restrictions on public gatherings. EO file photo Contributed photo Bart Budwig plays during the June 2019 Jackalope Jamboree in Pendleton. The Enterprise man was in the midst of a four- week tour in Austria and Germany when show cancelations forced him and his band to scramble to make expensive trav- el arrangements to return to the United States. Portland-based musician Pete Krebs recently launched the “Pete Krebs Jukebox,” playing requests on his Facebook page. Listeners have several options to provide tips to help the performer. purchase the musician’s albums. “I am blown away by all the donations/album sales coming in to help me out with my tour and travel losses,” Budwig said in a Facebook post two days later. “I’m tearing up just writing this post. I am feel- ing the love.” Budwig is a musician’s musician — often shar- ing the stage and spotlight with musicians across the Virus-shocked Hollywood gets break with streaming services By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES — Sports are on hold, theaters are closed and so are amuse- ment parks, a disaster-movie scenario that has Hollywood reeling. But Americans held captive at home by the coro- navirus can turn to Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and other streaming services, outliers in an entertainment industry brought to an unprecedented standstill. The recent launch of Dis- ney and Apple services and the upcoming arrival of NBCUniversal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max unleashed speculation about winners and losers in an increasingly crowded field. With self-imposed or required isolation the abrupt reality, emerging and niche streamers could draw new subscribers — gains that may even outlast the corona- virus crisis. The viral outbreak “has caused so much pain across industries globally,” said Dan Ives, an analyst with Wed- bush Securities. “Yet on the streaming side, the demand for those services is going to increase exponentially over the next three to six months” as consumers around the world remain stuck in place. Up to a 20% increase is AP Photo/Chris Pizzello Pedestrians walk past the closed Laugh Factory comedy club on Monday in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Sunday ordered all of the city’s bars, nightclubs, restau- rants, gyms and entertainment venues to close in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. likely in the amount of time subscribers spend watch- ing streamed fare, and mil- lions of new customers will hop aboard worldwide, Ives predicted. Pay TV channels could benefit as well as more people become shut-ins and reconsider cutting the cord, slowing an accelerat- ing trend, said analyst Jef- frey Wlodarczak of Pivotal Research Group. Broad- cast networks facing rat- ing declines also could see a boost in viewership, he said. Streaming companies are reacting to the moment in varied ways, but always carefully. Media companies want to be seen as good cit- izens who are serving up an antidote to anxiety over the virus and housebound bore- dom, not capitalizing on a disaster. For most people, the coro- navirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast major- ity of people recover. Netflix, sitting comfort- ably in the front ranks of streamers, emailed custom- ers with a gentle nudge to “Rewind. Replay. Rewatch,” followed by suggestions of previously viewed titles, such as “The Crown,” “Schitt’s Creek” and the 2012 movie “Frances Ha” starring Greta Gerwig. The Walt Disney Co. put the box-office hit “Frozen” on its Disney Plus stream- ing service three months ear- lier than planned, “surpris- ing families with some fun and joy during this challeng- ing period.” The animated film became available in the past few days on the service in the U.S., Canada, Holland, Australia and New Zealand. Hulu, controlled by majority owner Disney, is relying for now on such high-profile programs as the newly released Reese With- erspoon-Kerry Washington series “Little Fires Every- where,” based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling novel. For Disney, streaming is the outlier in a corporate portfolio otherwise slammed by the coronavirus: The sus- pension of theatrical and TV productions and delays in new movie releases, includ- ing its long-anticipated “Black Widow,” but also the closure of Disney resorts in the U.S., France and Asia and the sports lull’s impact on its ESPN channels. Disney and the other major streaming services didn’t respond or declined requests for comment for this article. ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR ON HOLD East Oregonian With the restriction of public gatherings because of COVID-19, the entertainment calendar is suspended until further notice. If musicians, authors and other artists are doing something special on their websites or social media pages that others might enjoy viewing, shoot us an email. Please include all relevant details, includ- ing a brief description of what you are doing, a little biographical information about you and your music/ art form, contact information and your web address (or social media account URL) where people can find you. The current deadline for entertainment page infor- mation is Wednesdays at noon. For more information, contact Tammy Malgesini at community@eastorego- nian.com or call 541-564-4539. region and beyond. He has taken the stage in Pendleton numerous times. For more about Budwig, search for his social media pages or visit www.bartbudwig.com. Another musician that’s reaching out across social media platforms is the front- man of Pete Krebs & the Rockin’ K Review. A two- time inductee into the Ore- gon Music Hall of Fame, Krebs has been a part of the Portland music scene since the late 1980s. Known for his explo- ration of everything from punk rock and gypsy jazz to traditional country and western swing, he recently launched “Pete Krebs Juke- box.” He’s playing requests and dedications on his Face- book page (www.facebook. com/pete.krebs.52) and offering listeners a variety of ways to provide help to him as a performer. People can make a donation via a PayPal tip jar on his website at www.heypetekrebs.com. ——— Contact Community Edi- tor Tammy Malgesini at tmalgesini@eastoregonian. com or 541-564-4539. BRIEFLY Country singers to perform ACM special from home NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Academy of Coun- try Music had to post- pone their upcoming awards show because of the spreading coronavi- rus, but CBS will air a new television special featuring country stars performing from their homes. The academy announced Thursday that in place of their post- poned awards show on April 5, “ACM Presents: Our Country” will feature conversations and at-home acoustic performances from country artists. Many A-list touring art- ists who have had to can- cel or postpone tours have participated in online con- certs as the world contin- ues to practice social dis- tancing to slow the spread of the virus. Performers have not yet been announced for the 8 p.m. EST special, which will also feature clips from previous ACM awards shows. The ACM Awards, which was scheduled to be held live in Las Vegas, was postponed to September at a date and venue to be announced. Conan O’Brien to return to air, with an iPhone NEW YORK — With iPhones and Skype, Conan O’Brien is going back on the air. The late-night host said he will resume putting out new episodes of TBS’ “Conan” on March 30. His staff will remain at home, AP Photo/Jordan Strauss In this April 7, 2019, file photo, Keith Urban poses in the press room with the award for entertainer of the year at the 54th annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. and the show will be cob- bled together with O’Brien on an iPhone and guests via Skype. “This will not be pretty, but feel free to laugh at our attempt,” said O’Brien on Twitter. The late-night shows have all shut down produc- tion due to the coronavi- rus pandemic to avoid con- gregating live audiences and large TV crews. Some hosts have pumped out web videos. Jimmy Fallon has pro- duced 10-minute “At Home” shows for NBC’s “Tonight.” In one epi- sode, he did a video chat with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Jimmy Kimmel and David Spade have given mono- logues from their homes. On Monday, Stephen Col- bert delivered a 10-minute monologue from his bath- tub in a segment that was added to an episode that was otherwise a rerun of CBS’s “The Late Show.” O’Brien, though, is the first to try to remotely mount a full broadcast from home. “The quality of my work will not go down because technically that’s not possible,” O’Brien joked in a statement. — Associated Press
