So, for the most part, I practiced social distancing this weekend, spending most of Saturday and Sunday alone in my car with audiobooks traveling I-95.

Of course, at the mid-point of my 600 mile highway odyssey, I spent a few hours making music with a small group of friends in St. Matthews, South Carolina at PossumCon, the name folks gave to the latest house filk at a dear friend’s house; the first since his spouse passed away last year; this weekend would have been her birthday, and it was a fitting tribute to her, as she loved this sort of thing.

We did spend most of our time the requisite six feet apart (all the better to leave room for guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and a theremin) taking turns playing silly, topical, and occasionally touching tunes spread around the living room. It was a wonderful, if temporary, escape from reality, since it looks like it’s the last time I’m going to get to play music out in the world for a while, as gigs are getting cancelled or postponed left and right, as governments all over the country start preventing gatherings of more than 50 people. FantaSci, where I was playing with the Humdingers this weekend, has been canceled, as has this month’s Open Mic at Castleburg. It sucks, but it’s probably for the best, even if it isn’t ideal.

In fact, lots of my fellow musicians, as well as convention organizers, small businesses, crafters, and the like are probably going to take a big hit over the next couple of months (at least) as prevention shuts down or limits their ability to ply their wares and events to the public; some of us have day jobs and will do alright, but a lot of these folks (including many friends of mine) depend on their art and creativity for income, and that’s going to be severely limited for at least the next little while. So, if you’re able, why not grab takeout at a local restaurant, buy a CD from a local musician, or browse folks’ Etsy stores for cool stuff (but don’t click the ads you see out there on social media; the current policies are really hurting vendors’ livelihoods).

In the interest of giving, I’ve made my record, World’s Okayest…, free (or name your price) on bandcamp for the forseeable future. I have a day job that isn’t going anywhere (at worst, I’ll be teleworking if they shut the facility down). If you were thinking about buying my record in the next little while, take mine, enjoy, and go buy someone else’s who does this for a living and would miss the income. Otherwise, just enjoy.

Lots of musicians I know are turning to online streaming to get their music out there since our ability to perform in the usual venues is limited right now. We streamed about two hours’ worth of our “concert” on Saturday, and I’m likely to work on setting up some sort of streaming arrangement this week as life settles down, and probably do some sort of show by the end of the week. In the meantime, check out your favorite performers’ social media (my bandmates in the Blibbering Humdingers are doing one Monday night at 8pm, for example – wish I could join them, but, y’know, latency…), since that’s where they’ll promote their efforts – also, my virtual friend (we’ll meet IRL one of these days), Eric Distad of The Faithful Sidekicks and FAWM fame has set up Filk Streams, which is attempting to catalog various performers’ streaming events so they’re all centrally located for easy discovery.

Otherwise, as much as I’m talking about the news of the day, this weekend was actually quite a refreshing change; as I said, I spent most of my road trip listening to audiobooks (via Libro.fm, which is like audible, but works through local bookstores and passes proceeds back to them), and not the news. Just, me, the road, and some stories, and it took me out of the current events bubble for a bit, and it was nice. I’m not saying that keeping up with current events is bad; it’s not, and it’s the responsible thing to do, but in this age of the 24 hour news cycle, it’s okay to step away; the headlines will still be there when you come back. Get outside, or curl up with a book, or whatever; it’s good for you.