The Saddle Rack just closed permanently

[Paul Sutherland]

A landmark club in the SF Bay Area has been the Saddle Rack, first in San Jose and then in Fremont. It was very large, with very overpriced drinks, high cover charges, and almost always packed on weekends. It has now announced that it is closed permanently, no doubt due to Covid-19.

I'm feeling pessimistic about the future of live music for local players. How are musicians to make money with social distancing rules in place, and major local venues closing? Has the music scene just fundamentally changed? Why bother practicing or investing in musical gear if all you can do is play at home? Endless practice with no goal in sight gets old.

(This is not intended to spark a political discussion, but rather a discussion about the new realities of life with an out of control virus running amok.)

[Don R Brown]

I'm feeling pessimistic about the future of live music for local players. How are musicians to make money with social distancing rules in place, and major local venues closing? Has the music scene just fundamentally changed? Why bother practicing or investing in musical gear if all you can do is play at home? Endless practice with no goal in sight gets old.

(This is not intended to spark a political discussion, but rather a discussion about the new realities of life with an out of control virus running amok.)

Discussion already well in progress: https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=355937

My un-expert 2 cents worth: the key word is money. Money is the representation of production, and production is the result of demand. If the virus magically vanished today, along with all restrictions, people will be free to do what they want, including go hear the music they want. The virus will not have altered the type of music any given person likes.

If everybody wants to hear "our kind of music", either the places which had it will re-open, or somebody will open new venues to make it available, so they can make money. If too many of us either HAVE to, or WANT to, avoid such venues due to lingering concerns, then there will not be enough money to make it worthwhile to the club owners and they will remain shut or will change their product offering to what sells.

Things are not the way we wish them to be, not the way they appear to be, and not the way we are told they are, but REALITY is the way things REALLY are. I'm not saying nobody will ever play out again, some members here are already booking gigs. But I doubt there will be as many venues booking the type of music that many of us enjoy playing.

[Jack Stoner]

The music scene changed years ago. I used to live in Kansas City, MO. Many bars had bands and I had more music playing opportunities than I wanted. Stiffer DUI laws were passed and within a couple months at least half, if not more, of the bars stopped having live music as people stopped going to the bars. Most of the Eagles, VFW's and other "private" clubs continued music on the weekends but not the bars.

Bars are still closed here in Florida so we don't know what affect it will have.

[Tony Prior]

A few dozen small venues closed in the Charlotte area over the last decade, over priced drinks, poor food, music that was not appreciated or considered popular, even repetitious, too many venues in the same area etc... There are many reasons venues go under, Covid 19 certainly can be one, but probably the #1 reason is poor management . They were probably not healthy enough to survive a "blip" in the line.

Over the last decade, my band mate and I worked as a duo on rotation in easily 4 different venues that were "sold" . New ownership went a totally different direction and eliminated live music all together. The Fri and Sat night social gathering crowds just moved on to another location down the street ! Evidently that was not a business they were interested in maintaining.

It happens

[Donny Hinson]

I think that probably in another two years, this will all be a bad memory. The world has changed, and most people are either frightened or a little apprehensive over the whole virus thing. For solace, I studied about the pandemic of 1918, which indicates to be far worse than this one. It was the same deal, people dying left and right, no cure, and no real sense of how to effectively combat it, other than isolation. There were no vaccines for anything back then, and we had just barely moved into the age of antiseptics and the importance of proper hygiene. (There was quinine, though, which may have helped some people.)

So, fast forward two or three years, and we were in one of the biggest booms ever, a time of prosperity and revelry our country had never seen...the "roaring twenties". The only "stimulus" back then was the pent-up spirits and emotions of a whole weary population (sound familiar?), one that had seen the worst of war and disease, but knew that they could conquer and persevere. Life goes on. I think we'll do the same, but some things will change, it's always been that way. Smaller venues and busking could even become more popular! Larger venues and concerts will return, given time, because they are such great economic engines.

Music will always be with us.

[Paul Sutherland]

After posting this I thought of the Spanish Flu followed by the Roaring 20s, just as Donny suggests. I suppose it will just take a bit of time, but live music will return. It has always been a pretty universal form of entertainment.

[Darrell Criswell]

For solace, I studied about the pandemic of 1918, which indicates to be far worse than this one. It was the same deal, people dying left and right, no cure, and no real sense of how to effectively combat it, other than isolation. There were no vaccines for anything back then
Music will always be with us.

Just a point of interest, there was a form of vaccination called variolation for smallpox which has been around for centuries, the Chinese used in the 15th century. It consisted of placing scabs from a smallpox victim under the skin of a younger person, It was generally a small innoculation and the mortality from this was about 2% which is considerably less than the 20% associated with smallpox.

[Dave Hopping]

Live music as a "real job" was pretty much on life support even before all this. We can always hope that the (IMO disproportionate) response to the corona virus didn't pull the plug,but the alacrity with which local governments locked everything down without declaring martial law gives one rather a jaundiced view of our prospects going forward.

[Johnny Cox]

I played the Saddle Rack several times with Ernest Tubb in the late 70s. Neat place.

[Joe Goldmark]

In addition to what Jack said about MAD and DUIs, another big factor was VCRs and big screen TVs. People stopped going out as much. Then came line dancers, who didn't drink and preferred a recording to a regular band. These changes accelerated in the '80s. We did have a bump from "Urban Cowboy," but not much else.

Joe

[Pete Finney]

I played both locations over the years with various Nashville touring acts. The original in San Jose was a classic honky-tonk for sure, full of history and "mojo." When they moved to Fremont it felt very generic and sterile to me; very little vibe at all. But it's still sad; we need all the venues we can get.

I've played for a living for over 40 years and through all the challenges and ups-and-downs it has never been anywhere near as scary and unsure as it is now. I don't think I'd ever gone more than a week or two without some kind of paying gig in all that time; it's now been two months. I have a rescheduled string of dates with The Monkees later this summer (what was supposed to be a 15 state tour of concert halls in April) but I won't be surprised if they fall through too at this point. Ironically a theater in San Jose is one of the venues on the tour.

Stay safe!

[Paul Sutherland]

What procedures would a club or concert venue have to put in place to make you feel safe in attending before a vaccine has been discovered?

Limiting the attendance seems to be part of the answer, but how do you prevent people from gathering in clusters, such as at the front of the stage, or crowding up to the bar to get a drink?

Taking temperatures before people are allowed to enter seems to be only a partial solution as asymptomatic people can be carriers.

Would you prevent people from any dancing in a nightclub that involved touching each other? How would you enforce that?

How can the promoter or club owner implement any such changes and still show a profit?

My questions are not for people who think this is all a hoax. Also I am not taking the perspective of the musician on the large concert stage who doesn't have to concern himself with the unwashed masses.

Seriously, what is the path out of this mess, short of a vaccine?

[Clyde Mattocks]

I think the first gigs to come back will be outdoor private parties where people bring their coolers and are able to practice reasonable social distancing. I have a friend who was always busy and now has some of those gigs on the books for mid and late summer.

[Donny Hinson]

How can the promoter or club owner implement any such changes and still show a profit?

Seriously, what is the path out of this mess, short of a vaccine?

If they allowed gambling in all clubs, that would do a lot towards making them more profitable. I can remember when bars, clubs, and even some department stores in Maryland had slots and pinball machines. Club owners were making money hand-over-fist! Just look at Las Vegas. Does anyone think they could pay those top-name entertainers millions of dollars a year if it weren't for the gambling? What happened was that governments in other states wanted total control over gambling. So, they outlawed slots and pinball machines, and brought in state-run lotteries.

The final path out of this pandemic is either a vaccine or a successful treatment, and I feel we'll have one or the other in less than a year.