Forced to close, one local music venue is streaming its shows for tips

After nearly four decades of writing about live music in Central Kentucky, three of which have included a weekly column devoted mostly to performances presented on weekends, something quite unforeseen has arrived. For the first time, I find myself writing mostly on music you won’t be experiencing.

We can thank our unlikely and rather unwelcome sponsor, COVID-19 for that. With Gov. Andy Beshear’s order that concert venues close by the end of the day Wednesday designed to contain the spread of the virus, we find live music events being among the many audience-oriented activities being forsaken. Concert halls, theatres and university affiliated venues have gone dark with music clubs operating without most of the performances on which their businesses have been built.

The wave of postponed and canceled shows began to hit hard last weekend. The three performances we previewed here a week ago – a Norton Center for the Arts concert in Danville by jazz/pop songstress Kat Edmondson, an acoustic country show at The Burl featuring Brent Cobb and a jam band celebration at Manchester Music Hall by Live Dead ’69 were called off within 48 hours of their respective showtimes.

On a national scale, the picture was bleaker. Three major music festivals – SXSW in Austin, Tex., Big Ears in Knoxville, Tenn. and MerleFest in Wilkesboro, NC – were canceled outright. A fourth, Coachella, scheduled for mid-April in California, has been bumped to October.

Lexington live music shows affected by COVID-19

▪ Cosmic Charlie’s, 105 W. Loudon Ave, has shut down – sort of. The venue won’t be open to the public, but it has begun a series of live streaming events of at least some shows. The March 20 performance by West Coast electronica artist Random Rab and the March 21 concert by the West Virginia funk troupe Tangled Roots are being rescheduled. Go to cosmic-charlies.com for up-to-date info on the streaming events.

During the online shows Cosmic Charlie’s will be accepting tips though Venmo @spacechucks. All proceeds from the LiveStreams will be split evenly between the night’s artists and the venue. Cosmic Charlie’s said in a Facebook post “we’ll be honest: this revenue is our only hope of making sure our employees have jobs to come back to after all of this passes, and each and every dollar goes a long way to help keep us, and Lexington’s thriving independent live entertainment scene, afloat.”

▪ The Burl, 375 Thompson Rd., is closed “until further notice.” That means the March 20 outing by the Emo Night Tour and the March 21 performance featuring guitarist and 2018 Americana Music Awards Instrumentalist of the Year Molly Tuttle are postponed. Rescheduled dates have not been set. For updates, go to theburlky.com.

▪ Manchester Music Hall, 899 Manchester St., is rescheduling concerts “immediately impacted by COVID-19.” For now, though, shows by David Allan Coe (March 28), The Four Horsemen (April 3) and Eddie Montgomery (April 9) are still a go. For updates go to manchestermusichall.com.

▪ The Monday tapings of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour at the Lyric Theatre, 300 E. Tird St., are on hold, including a March 30 program featuring Aoife Scott and Ron Block. Tapings are scheduled to resume in early April.

▪ All events at the Singletary Center for the Arts, 405 Rose St., have been canceled through April 6. That includes a March 27 concert by the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and the Big Band Blast XIII on March 28.

▪ The Lexington Philharmonic has postponed the March 31 announcement of its 2020-2021 season at the Hilary J. Boone Center, 500 Rose St., to an as-yet-unannounced event this summer. At present, the Philharmonic’s final two performances of its current season, slated for April 17 and May 16, are still a go.

▪ Meadowgreen Appalachian Music Park, 303 Bluegrass Lane, in Clay City is suspending its Saturday night series of bluegrass concerts through early April. That means the March 21 performance by The Grascals has been rescheduled for May 2. The March 28 concert by Williamson Branch has been moved to April 25. The series is set to resume with an April 4 show by Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.

▪ A two-evening engagement on March 24 and 25 by Blue Man Group at the EKU Center for the Arts, 822 Hall Dr. in Richmond, are being postponed. Rescheduled dates have not been announced. All shows, in fact, have are being called off at the EKU Center through May 15.

▪ Looking ahead, bluesman Buddy Guy’s May 10 concert at the Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short, is still on. Keep an eye on this one, though. The guitarist has postponed all performances through mid-April, including a March 31 concert at the Paramount Arts Center in Ashland. That show has been rescheduled for Aug.2.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 5:57 PM.