The Light At The End Of A Needle

Getting the Coronavirus vaccine today. Nervous a little, but maybe this is the first sign of getting life back to something recognizable. The musical chess pieces have been moving around the board in the last few days.

Garth Brooks moved his Las Vegas show this week to the middle of summer. Summerfest in Milwaukee moved to September, and Gulf Coast Jam to June. Sadly, Coachella and the Stagecoach festival have been canceled until 2022. What’s up with the CMA Music Festival? But for the most part, there’s hopeful news for getting the live music world reopened.

The Tony Bennett Alzheimer’s story was a surprise, not a shock. He is 94, and he was diagnosed with it in 2016. In 2018, he was still very active, cutting a Lady Gaga duets album and playing the CMA Christmas show. The disease is kicking in more now in early 2021, but we probably won’t see it like we did with Glen Campbell. His shows were like none other. He could play and sing, but the in between was difficult. My mother suffered through 15 years of it. Go online to AARP.org and read their story about Bennett. Alzheimer’s is a charity all of music should really get behind!

Have you heard Dolly Parton’s rework of “9 to 5” for a Super Bowl commercial? Redone as “5 to 9” for Squarespace, “La La Land” Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle spent who knows what on it. But the backing track for Dolly and the mix? Very thin track with no thump. That song needs the thump/bottom. (Maybe it’s just me.)

Eric Church doing the Super Bowl national anthem should be interesting, along with Luke Bryan doing the Super After Party on MTV/CMT and all over social media at 11p.m. (ET) after the game. It’s on Twitter, You Tube, everywhere.

Blake Shelton and Dan + Shay are working together on season 20 of “The Voice” starting March 1st. Has that been the gig of the century for Blake or what?

TikTok is where the action is. Artists -- even the Country ones -- are seeing results. It’s easy to operate. Can’t say the same thing for Snapchat. Still love YouTube the most, but you can’t do just one. Instagram is still a hit, too.

So, the shots are going in the arms slowly but surely. It’s a long road to get the country to herd immunity. One survey says a third of all Texans don’t plan to get the shot. Education badly needs to break out, and soon. The shot pace should pick up even faster with the new vaccines hitting the drugstores in days.

The first five months of the year are toast. The dice are rolling and July is looking like the month. Better have a shot record as soon as you can. Watch all that security Vax Check software roll out mid-year. Get the first shot you can!