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Local musicians go 'virtual' to connect with audiences during COVID-19 pandemic

With gigs canceled and venues closed during the coronavirus crisis, St. Augustine studio works with local musicians to create online "live" performances.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A walk through St. Augustine is often like a virtual radio station -- every few footsteps, you hear a different song wafting live from any of countless bars and patios.

But as those myriads of venues remain closed during the coronavirus crisis, that "walking jukebox" experience is suddenly silenced and local musicians are effectively out of work.

“Every Friday or whatever, I’m like ‘Okay, I’ve got a gig!’,” up-and-coming vocalist/pianist/guitarist Shayla Nelson said. 

Those are the words she would use to describe her normal – and suddenly former – rhythm of life.

Nelson, who’s a regular performer at such venues as Cheba Hut and Flavors Eatery, said she and her peers – like so many others - are suffering the consequence.

“The fact that everything is shut down, most things are shut down, their source of income is running short, and that’s hard for us as musicians,” she said.

In the true camaraderie of such an arts-friendly town, Jim Stafford, owner of Eclipse Recording Studio a few miles south of downtown on U.S. 1, is banding together - figuratively and almost literally – with many local artists to create a solution. Just days ago he and his staff began offering artists the opportunity to record live performances inside the studio, to be viewable online.

“In the course of about five hours of phone calls I booked my first 20 shows,” Stafford said.

His logic was almost self-evident.

“Most people that are in the arts industries, performers, are not people that have a month’s worth of money to fall back on,” he said.

Stafford is a musician himself and his studio was already feeling a financial pinch by the time of our visit. But while he planned to quarterback the recording, engineering, and eventual posting of the virtual concerts, he wasn’t taking a dime for his services.

“We all of a sudden found ourselves with all kinds of free time,” he reasoned, “and so this is what we do, and so that’s why we’re doing it.”

Starting Wednesday, March 25, Eclipse will air concerts at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. each Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening, indefinitely until music venues can operate normally again.

The shows will be viewable either via the studio’s Facebook page, Eclipse Recording Company or by accessing the studio’s YouTube channel at eclipserecording.com/live.

Viewers will have the opportunity to make donations to their favorite acts via a PayPal link.

“Donate what you want – be generous!,” Stafford urged. "Let us know in the note on the PayPal payment who you want the money to go to, and we’re going to pass it all through straight to them.”

Stafford told First Coast News that by Tuesday night he’d already booked seven weeks’ worth of shows. He also urged musicians perhaps a little less familiar in St. Augustine to reach out to him.

“We would love to try and support anybody that is interested, even if it’s people that we haven’t met before,” he said. “Just the fact that we have the technology to do so is so amazing to me."

Guitarist and singer Walt Kulwicki, a St. Augustine veteran performer, both solo and as the founder of the band “Those Guys,” echoed a similar sentiment.

“I just think it’s wonderful that people are able to hear live music still,” he said.

On that note, Stafford pointed out that the venture is as much a boon to music enthusiasts as it is to the artists.

“There’s a lot of people that simply like to go out and have happy hour, listen to some music,” he said.

Both Nelson and Kulwicki offered thoughts about playing ‘live’ without the actual presence of an audience.

“There’s so much energy from the crowd,” Nelson said. “The absence of it is kind of what makes me a little nervous.”

Her performance in the studio would belie any butterflies.

“I’ve played to some empty rooms before, so it’s really not a big thing,” Kulwicki said. “I’m used to looking around and seeing two or three faces, and going, ‘Okay, I’m going to do my show just like the room’s full’.”

Not done dispensing humor between renditions of Jimmy Buffett’s “Come Monday,” Kulwicki imagined one more bright side of the live-to-tape performances.

“I guess I’m going to have a demo video to send to places I want to travel when I retire,” he said.

Nelson balanced her appreciation for the opportunity with a pang to see the people who are listening to her again.

“Right now this is a nice substitute for being out and about, but I can’t wait for that to happen again,” she pined. “For now you’re going to rock on, online?,” she laughed, “Yeah, yeah, rock on, online!”

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