Nothing Normal About The New Normal

How does this movie end? Is this a “La La Land” kind of ending or a happy one? This new normal pretty much sucks!

The actors are frozen and don’t have a clue what to do, but the musicians are still making music. If there is anything cool about this situation, it would be seeing so many musicians at home and relaxed. They are performing all over social media, and it’s fun to watch.

The #deepcutschallenge was a great idea, artists singing some album cuts and calling out a fellow musician to do the same. Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker got this going, and many more came after. Charles Kelley singing a Temple of the Dog song was the most obscure. It’s on Instagram.

Rolling Stone’s “In My Room” series with Brian Wilson then John Fogerty looked professional, but the iPhone with just a little help makes great video. That show is three new episodes a week on Instagram’s IGTV.

More than once I’ve heard people say it so nice to see the stars so real and relaxed. Singing from their kitchen or media room or home studio, we are seeing a different side of the famous.

Cabin fever for a bunch of Music City gypsies used to burning up the skies and roads. It’s great that the stars can get some badly needed family time and do some entertaining from their homes.

A salute to all who have pitched in to make us all a little distracted from the headlines. It really does help! If you’re an artist and haven’t yet done it, by all means do it. Elton John is hosting a pop star version of all this for FOX on March 29th, at home shooting videos and raising money to help food banks and first responders.

YouTube has gone standard definition so as not to blow up the internet. The overloaded internet creates outages and slower speeds. Netflix had a big daytime bump this week. We are just not set up for situations like this. That’s an understatement of biblical proportions.

Radio and TV stations are work at home, and going more automated. News crews in TV that can’t go inside the buildings are using Porta Potties in the employee lot.

Nashville’s Lower Broadway is a ghost town. Hotels are pretty empty. There is nothing normal about this new normal. Schools are out, with remote classes for colleges. It’s make things up as we go along.

The Opry had one of its best shows in a long time last weekend, three members with guitars simply picking and singing. Back to the basics and the foundation with Brad Paisley, Vince Gill and Marty Stuart. It was special.

Since habits have been changed and social norms changed, will everything bounce back like it was on, say, Valentine’s Day? Will places like New York be hot zones for much longer? Will the fans have disposable income to go to concerts and Lower Broadway bars? No one knows, and it does all depend on how much economic damage is done to business owners and the rest of us.

Will we see 17,000 people jammed into our arena anytime soon for anything? You have to have a cure for this stuff before social distancing can really end. Many, many questions to be answered.

Who knows how this movie ends? I know we need to have faith. We need to have hope. We all need to see that light at the end of the tunnel. We need to maybe learn who our neighbors are, and take a chance to slow down long enough to take inventory.

We are at sea in uncharted territory. The music creators need to keep creating and playing for all of us who need their music more than ever. We need to remain calm and have hope that someone finds the way home.

Kenny Rogers left us with some great music memories. It was wonderful hearing what Don Henley had to say about him. Google that. There would probably be no Eagles without big-thinking Kenny.

Go to standard definition YouTube and watch Kenny and Dolly Parton, Kenny and the Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny and Dottie West, and Kenny and everyone else. If you want to see a master showman at work, look no further. He made it look so easy. And how hard, really, is that? Very!