Pandemic Positives

Tragedy, Terror, The Things that drive us to connect

Lockdown - staying in as much as possible - those were the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic for my wife, Lynn, and me. We live in an “English-basement” style condo in a 1904 building in the Sheridan-Kalorama Historic District. Our home became our bunker.

Like any good bunker dweller, we used our internet connection to reach out to the world. Here I’m reminded of “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Foster, a 1909 short story which predicted our situation a little too accurately. With time on our hands and a need for connection, podcasts became companions. On the West Coast, with all public gigs cancelled, David Gans began to livestream daily, collecting a small group of fans called “The Green Room” after the backstage of many a venue. We still gather there to this day.

In a similar way, Jay Blakesberg began broadcasting “Photos with Stories” on Fans.live through the Relix Magazine. On September 13, 2020, nearly four years ago as I write this, I tuned in. I knew nothing of Lisa Law and her “Flashing on the Sixties” book and DVD or her role in procuring the food, paper plates, and dixie cups for the free kitchen at Woodstock in 1969 but by the end of the presentation, I did! I ordered the books she had available on her web site and when they came within a couple of days, I got an email from her saying that they were on their way. I wrote back saying not only were they on their way but they had arrived and, as is my habit, I put my phone number in my signature. To my surprise, the phone rang at noon that day. I wasn’t available to pick it up but she called back that evening and we talked for what must have been an hour like old friends. I committed to help her realize the “Museum of the Sixties - which was a pop-up museum in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico the following summer.

Helping people realize their visions gives me such a charge. My vision for this Substack is that it will develop into an ongoing resource and source of inspiration for others to do similar things.

The friendship with David Gans led me to listening to him being interviewed on the Morning Show at KSKQ radio in Ashland and Medford, Oregon on July 23, 2021. As I listened, I heard the host recount an event that had happened in Maryland thirty years earlier. Someone had left a slip of paper under her windshield that said “I like the stickers on your car. Would you like to trade some tapes?” and this led to many doors opening for the interviewer, Holly L. Adams. She proceeds to name the fellow and it turned out that he had been a guest at my wedding on May 3, 2008! We’d seen a few shows together subsequently. Hearing his name in this context led me to pick up the phone and call Holly. The next week, I was the guest on her show and have been a guest a few times now. I’ve also arranged for other guests to appear including Jay Blakesberg. You can listen to that interview in two parts here: Jay Blakesberg and Holly Adams on KSKQ.

The upside of the pandemic lockdown then was that it moved me to reach out and use the network that had always been available to make connections - to help friends who hadn’t met yet connect.

Last night, I screened “Wonder Boys” with Jack Brady who spent a lot of time out in Santa Fe. In the summer of 2021, he was able to make it to the Museum of the Sixties and Lisa Law herself took him through the museum. Jack had also been at Woodstock in 1969. Catalyzing connections like that is worth its weight in gold to me. If you’re inspired to do the same, please comment on this post and let me know your story.

As Margaret Atwood once observed, in the end, we all become stories.