There say I may get a vaccine soon. It will take a long time to get the vaccine out.

My guess we could see some start un in 2022

I got my first Moderna shot last week.

I read an article in the newspaper saying that area hospitals received quantities of the vaccine. We are in the current group to be vaccinated, so we started calling and re-dialing and re-dialing. Two hospitals were out already. We called dialed and redialed the third and finally got through. They gave us an appointment to be jabbed at 6:30 AM. Of course, I wasn't awake yet

We must have gotten in just under the wire because Leilani called a girlfriend and by the time she got through they were all out.

I had minimal side effects. If I raised my arm above the horizontal I had a dull ache in the vaccination spot the next day. Definitely not enough to call it pain, just enough to let me know something happened there.

When will we perform again? I hope by the 2021-2022 winter season. I haven't had a gig since March 17, 2020.

We are learning new tunes, I'm making backing tracks for them, and we can rehearse in our house, but without the audience, something is missing.

I'm not complaining though, our house is paid for, we are debt free, and we are healthy. There are others who are much worse off. We feel lucky.

Insights and incites by Notes

It doesn't have to be missing. Set up a Zoom call, post the invite here, and you will have dozens of people watching and listening.

I’m a jazz musician but as a diversion I direct and write music for an eight-piece classical chamber orchestra that arose from church concerts. I’ve taken the optimistic step of scheduling an outdoor concert in a tent May 29. We will see if it can happen. At least the musicians have a gig they can look forward to, and morale is important.

I am supposed to play March 5th but I have a had time imagining me crowding into a little room with 9 other people to rehearse for a show that I anticipate will be cancelled. That's 8 weeks from this past Friday. Covid isn't going to change radically by then. The venue only holds 2000, and they have told me that they can only seat to 1/6th capacity, so about 350. At $40 a ticket, I can't see it being profitable for them when they pay staff, bands, electric bills... That venue has a "cabaret" format where they set the band up at the back of the stage and puts 200 folding chairs on the stage. They charge $20 a seat and don't have to light the whole place, have ushers, concession people for 4 stands, etc. I just wish they'd make a call so we don't waste time and risk our health to rehearse for a show that doesn't happen. I have pretty much lost interest in that band by now anyway and am still deciding if I will just drop out completely rather than deal with some of the issues inside the walls.

Everything has changed. Personally, I think it's going to be a long time before things get back to normal. And count me in the camp of those who believe that the world will never return to what we knew it to be in 2019.


( crazy conspiracy theory redacted ) Nothing to see here.... move along.....

Truth is we stopped playing music "the way we use to" way before the pandemic came along. Nightly gigs became three day weekend gigs. Weekend gigs became the Saturday night gig.

Clubs got smaller, cost of larger venues became more expensive. Insurance became more costly by the year. More law enforcement is needed every year. The cleanup gets has become a bigger deal.

Drugs that are killing large numbers of people are in constant use any music venues. You can play on the street in Houston,Texas but you can not except a tip.

The trash is unbelievable, drunk Chesney fans.



I think the local Saturday night band will be around for a bit more into the future but who knows. The music world is changing along with a country that is hardly recognizable.

Billy

Here in Cleveland the business died in 1986 when the state changed the drinking age to 21 in response to BLACKMAIL from the state who said "Change it from 18 or 21 or you get ZERO highway funds." Before that there was more venues than bands and we decided where and when we would play and told them how much they were going to pay us. Slowly there were venues closing everywhere because they lost that 3 year demographic that included college kids. Then there were more bands than venues and the undercutting began. Bands that made $1200 a night for a bar gig were playing for $400, just to play. Fortunately I was always in good bands so we got private party and corporate work. Now every band is a 3 piece with a front singer and they all play the same 50 songs so every player can play in many bands. You never see the same lineup twice in a row. Nobody rehearses. I have been at places where the drummer and bass player had to be introduced on stage. How tight can a rhythm section be that have never even met, much less played together?

But hey, I'm almost 70 and my music time is about over.

Somehow I have lost the desire to be on stage. The last few times have been OK but not very rewarding, nice young guys to play with. They are good friends and we like each other a lot. Most are thirty years younger then me.I play their stuff but they don't know how to play much of anything I really like. Had some fun playing in Rome in the street in 2018. All my bandmates have got old and died.

Besides all the typical aches and pains the worst thing about getting old is losing everyone you went through life with. Sometimes I play along with the record and remember the nights and places we played . Many of the juke joints no longer exist and have been long since torn down. I can still smell the Bar B Q out back. Never had really any fear and never really had any trouble.

I always had Colt Python in my guitar case but never had the occasion to need it. The only things that has changed is the 40 Cal Sig I carry around now days, concealed and locked and loaded.

Nowadays no place is safe, from the bar down the street to the United States Capitol.

We will be back playing in the places we use to play in that have not gone under but it will never be the same.

Billy

Billy

"I always had Colt Python in my guitar case but never had the occasion to need it. The only things that has changed is the 40 Cal Sig I carry around now days, concealed and locked and loaded.

Nowadays no place is safe, from the bar down the street to the United States Capitol.

We will be back playing in the places we use to play in that have not gone under but it will never be the same.

Billy"
...............................................

Funny how each country is different Billy, over here in Irealnd (though we have had our share of trouble mainly in the past) no one except the criminal fraternity feels the need to carry a gun or would feel comfortable doing so, in Uk it would be the same.

But then if its the thing to do to protect yourself where you live, its hard to have any other option.

As regards playing I don't seem to find as many doing live music on facebook nowadays as used to be earlier in the pandemic.

Good idea, but it's not the same thing.

What we do is a dialog with the audience. Immediate feedback, back and forth responses, I even choose the next song by judging how the one I'm presently playing is going over and doing my best to anticipate the wants or needs of the audience.

When I see Big John come in, after he gets settled I'll play "Fever", "Chain Of Fools" or one of his other favorites. Margot gets "What A Diff'rence" or "Moonglow". Ann gets "Jolene", "Happy" or "Cat's in the Cradle". Don gets "True Love Ways" dedicated to Shirley. Others I know by their faces and their songs. Plus we have running gags with the audience, and they all know their parts in the routine.

And yes, the live music business has been dwindling for decades.

I "blame" a few things.

1) Home media improvements(TV, Internet, etc). In my parent's generation TV was black and white, and the audio bandwidth was so narrow the frequency response was almost entirely midrange. As I hit the stage, TV was color, but the picture was grainy and the audio bandwidth in the broadcast was still narrow and midrange. Now we have 7.1 high fidelity surround sound, giant screens that look great, zillions of cable channels, and they hook up to the Internet. You don't have to go out to hear live sounding music anymore. You can have Billie Eilish, The Rolling Stones, Brad Paisley, The London Philharmonic or just about anyone else you want in your living room looking great and sounding great

2) At home diversification of entertainment: People don't rely on music as much as they once did. Smartphones, computers, and anti-social media compete.

3) Away from home diversification: Karaoke, Sports Bars, DJs, and Open Mic nights have replaced a lot of the gigs that pro musicians used to rely on.

I saw this trend coming in the 1990s, so I ceased to rely on the night-clubs for gigs and went after the biggest market in South Florida, Senior Citizens. We went for Yacht Clubs, Country Clubs, Condominiums, Retirement Developments, and the like. We can work 2 nights a week, make what we used to make 5 or 6 nights in a club, and there is always an audience, (never the Thursday night doldrums because there is a party, and people are invited).

It's been good to us. For the past 12 years before COVID, we had an afternoon gig in a restaurant one day per week in the tourist season. It was also a place where the elderly audience hangs out, and we got a lot of side gigs from that one.

The elderly audience grew up with live music being the binding identity of their generation, so they still enjoy it.

Then COVID happened, and my audience being of the vulnerable age wisely decided to stay home.

I'm hoping that when this plague has subsided, they will be as eager to hear live music as we are eager to entertain them.

I have never lost the thrill of being the entertainer and having that dialog with an appreciative audience, and hope I never do lose that thrill. I'll be like Willie Nelson or Tony Bennett and entertain until I can no longer do it.

Insights and incites by Notes

Here in New York State the DJs put most of the wedding bands out of business and the DWI laws killed at lot of the other places we used to play, like the VFWs, Elks clubs, etc. In the small town I grew up in there were 4 bars that had local bands playing on Friday and Saturday nights in the late 1960s. Now there are none. So my days of gigging have been over for about 20 years now.

To get back on the topic I don't think that we will be able to do a lot of things like we used to do.

Billy, GOD is 30 years younger than you. <ducking>

If the criminal fraternity didn't have those guns, would they still be criminals? I think if someone has it in their heart to be evil they will do it with a gun, a sword, a knife or a shovel.

However, if the rest of the people refuse to be victims and carry defensive weapons, who are they going to rob? Laws vary in different countries. However, no matter what the law is, just having a law in place does not ensure people will obey it. The gun control nuts here have zero idea of what current gun law is, and if they would seek education about it they would see that the laws in place are strong. What you can't legislate in any circumstance is behavior and making people follow those laws. It's against the law for a felon to own a gun. But how do you legislate against that felon's neighbor buying a gun and letting that felon "steal" it (and coincidentally "drop" $1000 where the gun used to be)? If that neighbor is will to commit that "straw purchase" felony for $1000, no law is going to prevent that. I own a rifle and 4 handguns. I bought every one of them legally, at sporting stores, filling out the proper paperwork. I have no police record at all so I had no problem. DUI, domestic violence, having had in patient mental health care in your life, being a fugitive from justice, being in the country illegally... all of those things are disqualifying conditions. The anti gun people have no idea what the legal process is to buy a gun. They will immediately point to private sales not being subject to background checks, and they are correct. But is that not the government putting their nose into a citizen's desire to sell a piece of his property? That is a dangerous precedent. What's next? If I want to sell my car I have to rub a background check, at MY initiation and expense, to see if the buyer has a driver's license, insurance and no DUI in his past? I say that is too much government control. Wasn't there a long running war in Ireland about government control of that nature?

So yes. Parts of the USA are relatively safe, but there are a lot of cities where carrying a protective weapon is a very good idea. I have one with me at all times.

Apply this to music. You are leaving a gig. Some criminal knows you just got paid for your gig and you have a car full of gear worth a fair amount of money. You are a target. I refuse to be a target.

The standard thing here goes like this. The punks watch a guy load his car. As he gets close to the end, one of them approaches the guy and starts telling him how great he is and offers to buy him a beer. They go inside to get that beer, and the other punks break into the car and clean it out. As a result, it has become practice (at least where I live) that everybody loads their car at the same time, and the cars are never left alone. When I was "running point" watching the other guys load, I moved my gun from the inside waistband holster to where it was in clear sight. If somebody wants to test me to try and steal a guitar or a snare drum, well...

Different practices in different places.

Notes, while I appreciate every word of that post, and I always appreciate what you have to say, allow me to reply.

I too am of the older generation. I am 5 months from my 70th birthday. However, after working for years in IT, I embrace the technology at a far higher level than most in my age group. Truth is that most people I know that are my age fall into 2 camps. Those who fear technology (because - GASP - it would call for me to learn something new) and those who play the "Why, when I was young..." card.



When your option is having 50% of what you prefer or 100% of nothing, which holds more value? All you would be doing is setting up your own personal Street Jelly session with a crowd you invite by emailing your mailing list a Zoom invitation. That can interact with you through Zoom. You will play the same "Fever" for Big John as you do in a live setting. I also don't know how familiar you are with Zoom and Skype and the like. Or how familiar your audience is. (Because... Florida.) I had a Zoom call here a few weeks ago with 11 people on it. It was just to chat with a bunch of people who all know each other and used to hang out. 1 person declined saying "I don't have a webcam." I replied "Your laptop has a webcam built into it. You have sent me pictures from it. You also have a phone that can run Zoom. You are flat out lying to me and I don't appreciate that. If you just don't want to participate, if your friends aren't worth the bother to RUN AN APP, just say so, but do not lie to me. After all your whining about having to stay home and missing your friends, if you aren't reaching out to the friends you miss SOOOOOOOOO much you are a hypocrite and I don't think you belong in my life." And she is gone. That kind of two-faced BS is not welcomed here as it is negativity.

If you miss your audience and they miss you, those who understand Zoom rather than fear it would JUMP at the opportunity. And maybe some will actually, I don't know, learn and grow with the experience. Zoom couldn't be easier to use.

When my nephew's kid got married they hired a DJ. I asked the kid "With a musician in good bands in your family, you hired a DJ?" His reply actually made sense. He said "I have heard your band and you guys are great, but this younger crowd will want to hear music you don't know and can't learn on the fly. A DJ will either have the CD or be able to download the song on the spot and fill every request." And as sad as it is to admit it, the little punk was right. We don't play that "whoop there it is" kind of music, nor will we ever. Plus the DJ cost him 1/4 of what a band would have cost.

It's sad to become my father and say this, but it is truly a different world.

When my daughter got married, THEY hired a disco to play after my mates played for their wedding dance. Hee hee, the floor was packed with dancers. My mates finished, the disco started and the place emptied within 35 minutes ROFL ROFL

I think live performances will be back by the fall at least here in Florida.

Careful, friends. All discussion in this forum should be music-related. There is some veering into politics that will get the thread deleted.

Thanx Matt. You're right. My bad. I deleted my post.

Notes, some of the online venues are interactive. Many have a chat window where the audience can chat with the musician(s). There is a delay due to bandwidth, so interacting with the audience takes a slightly different form... but those online performers who take a rest between songs, wait for the audience response then reply to specific individuals tend to get good results.

Everything has pros and cons. The advantages of online performing include:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) a covid free environment

2) a way to keep your show fresh

3) a potentially global audience

4) most online sites include tipping, so you can also make money

5) there are MANY online venues... so many you could play all day every day if you wanted to
FB Live, Twitch, StreetJelly.com, Stageit.com, sessionslive.com and many more

6) the audience for online music has expanded due to global lockdowns. Everybody is online.

I have only done one such stream, and I ran the stream on one computer and watched it on another. That way I saw the comments as the stream saw the comments. I only had 9 people on at the high water mark. I used Zoom and told people that there would be delay and they wouldn't all see the same delay, so if they had any comments they should wait for the break between songs and gesture toward me so I could unmute them, because can you imagine me having their mics feeding back to me as I did a song? It would be like singing in a cave with all the echo. SO they muted their mics while I was in a song, and I muted them on my end too. Worked fine. I did 9 songs for them and then we all chatted, because this was a select group of people I would normally see with some regularity and it was a chance to catch up. Some have dogs that can't wait to visit and meet my new dog. A few are out of state so we only communicate via email and text anyway.

This technology available now is CRAZY good and if people would just open their minds and be willing to TRY SOMETHING NEW they'd see that. Geeze if my band's show on March 5th doesn't get canceled due to Covid I am going to stream the whole thing. The venue has free wifi so why not? Those 2 out of town people can see a show they would otherwise have no shot at. It will be a bad angle from side stage and the sound will likely not be good but they can "be there". In fact I may play off stage by the monitor mixer so I can wear my mask. The optics won't suffer because my role is mainly to double the horn section and the audience will see 3 live horn players and not be the wiser.

Technology makes almost anything possible if people embrace it instead of sneer at it.

I just booked my next gig!!!

It's in February 2022.

I think I have time to get my voice in top shape by then

The 2021/2022 winter season is already looking better than the 2020/2021 winter season by one gig.

I'm also holding deposits on over a dozen gigs that got cancelled this season. When COVID knocked on our door, and they cancelled, I gave them the option of getting their deposit back or applying it to a future gig. They all chose to apply it to a future gig.

The RV Resort where over 600 Canadian RV families spend the winter (along with 300 USA RV families) assured us we will be back as soon as the Canadians come back. We do a couple per month there, all year long.

Another place where we played 12 years might have us back next year, but until they can hold 100% capacity, they can't afford us, even if we cut our price down to the bare minimum. There are new owners, so nothing is certain in that venue.

So will things be normal?

No, but better than this year.

Insights and incites by Notes

PS a poll of the people on my mailing list (mostly senior citizens) resulted in comments like: "What's Zoom, I heard of it in the news", "I can barely check emails and Facebook on my computer", to the occasional "Good idea".

That is good news Bob. At least that gives you some hope for the future.

I have a drummer friend who has been working in Mexico in the past. He says there are a few jobs there now but pretty dangerous due to Covid-19. Large numbers of Americans and some Canadians are spending time there due to less restrictions.

Billy

Bob, move to Scotland and you could get a gig for New Years eve LOL

You can duck and run for cover. It will not do you any good. I have friends in low places who take up for me...lol



Billy

EDIT: Oh I forgot he also has a big brother Eddie.

That guy is ADORABLE Billy!!!

Switching to the Senior Citizen market when the nightclubs started cutting back from 6 nights a week to 4 or less was a good move for me.

This audience grew up with live music and considers it superior to recordings, they are loyal, they are appreciative, and they are consistent.

If there is a downside is that they don't drink as much as their younger selves did. That makes getting gigs in commercial venues more difficult, which is one reason why we downsized to a duo. Less cash flow means less band budget.

But the majority of our work is parties at condominiums and retirement developments. These are the kinds of gigs I'm holding deposits for. And I don't take deposits from the people from the good customers who have been booking us for years.

We have well over 500 people on our e-mail list. Most are probably gone 'up north' in the summer and spend the winters here. That means we work many one-nighters per week in the winter, and we're lucky to get 1 or 2 per week in the summer. But everybody in the hospitality industry in Florida is used to the work very hard in the season and not so hard off season.

Me? The only part of it I consider work is schlepping the gear from gig to gig. "They" tell me that weight training is good for my health, so I don't have to go to the gym for that. I do "speakercise".

Learning songs and sequencing the backing tracks is time-consuming, sometimes frustrating, but always rewarding when it comes out right.

Playing on stage is one of my favorite things to do. I get into that place where there is no space, no time, no me, just the music that feels like it's flowing through me instead of from me and the energy returning from the audience to go through me some more. Pure bliss.

From that pure bliss I take glimpses of the audience to see how they are reacting. Do they need another fast song? Should I slow it down? Something Caribbean? Or Country? Or classic Rock? Or Salsa? Or whatever. Is it time to talk between songs and perhaps do some shtick to amuse them? Or should I just play non-stop music?

But all that takes only moments, and for some reason I can do that without leaving 'the zone' when I'm playing. The reason is probably decades of experience.

I don't think I could get that experience with Zoom even if the majority of my 500+ regular audience members knew how to zoom.

I'm lucky. I found what I love to do, and it pays the rent. My wife is my duo partner, lover and very best friend too. When I met her she was in another band, and both our bands broke up within a couple of weeks of each other. That was pure luck too.

Life is the perfect way to spend the time of day.

Insights and incites by Notes

Thanks for the story Bob

I use Zoom, I have BIAB, I have a DAW, I use the internet. None of that comes close to live work with live musicians. Those things are useful but just a tool.

The interactions that happen on stage or in a studio can not be replaced with software. Well...that's my take but there is also a world of people who live vicariously through their cell and TV, evidently preferring that to any kind of live interaction.

There are reasons other than the pandemic that we don't play music like we use too.
Bob alluded to several.

Billy

To be honest, Billy, almost every musician I have worked with at some point became a tool....

<not really a people person>

Well I’m lucky. I live in an area that has had little to no community spread of the virus. Any time community spread might occur they lock down our state very quickly.

Now today, I’m about to restring my olde Tele in preparation to do a show on the 5th February (first one for over 11 months). Then at this stage about two a month. These are just in my village to limited numbers just to entertain and reinstall some sanity, but at least we are starting to come back to a bit of a norm.

I have just called a meeting to discuss going back to normal (including afternoon tea with restrictions) for our village lawn bowls club. I’m president of the bowls club. Last year I had to come up with a Covid safe plan to allow a restricted form of bowls to be played.

Slowly we are getting back to a norm but social distancing is still a must. The functions are closed to all non residents of the village.

Let’s all hope for the best.

Keep well all.

Tony

.. looking at the question another way; no I'll never play music like I used to, I don't even like some of that music anymore.

I have a feeling that what nobody is willing to say is that "The only reason I want to play music is for people to give me money, and if I don't get money for ZOOM calls with fans, screw it."

If it's PLAYING you miss, if it's FANS you miss, you never had to stop. So if it's MONEY you miss, just man up and admit it. You can (should?) play EVERY DAY no matter what. Can you tell me that your fans wouldn't appreciate you doing on hour on Zoom if they miss you so much? And if they have been shoving money in your pockets for years, don't you owe it to THEM to make the offer?

SO tired of hearing people whine about this. We are in the throes of something NEVER SEEN BEFORE in our history. If Covid is not a concern for you, through a party at your house, invite 200 people, and risk it.

Or you can email your mailing list and see who would like to attend a virtual concert so they can at least feel connected.

I once read a review of a TV where some guy was complaining because his remote didn't work and it was going to take a week to get a new one. (In that case he had the additional handicap of being so stupid he didn't know you could press buttons and turn the TV on.) When I responded "You know you could get off your *** and walk the 8 steps to the TV and turn it on yourself," he said that walking to the TV was not an option because the remote was supposed to work. And I replied again "So you would rather NOT watch TV and %^@%# about it than use the option I pointed out?" He never replied.

I don't know what this topic reminded me of that.

Plan on 2021 being EXACTLY like 2020 was. Which is why I didn't get the comments from all the sheeple in the world about "I can hardly wait for 2020 to be over!" Really? How's 2021 treating you so far?

Come on Eddie I will write, play, and sing you a original song for a dime. I will even make a recording with all the stems and send it to you with all the rights. I thank it will be very useful.

I could do this in costume but that would raze the price a bit.

Billy

I'd go a whole buck just to see the costume, Billy!!

Eddie,

It's the fans I miss. I miss performing as much as playing music, plus I miss the feedback, the energy, the party, the camaraderie.

We're not only musicians, we're entertainers and the immediate feedback from our audiences is part of the high we get when playing music for them.

I can't say that I don't miss the money. It is my profession, and although I love my job and would do it for free if the situation was different, in today's world money is an essential fact of life.

I have no intention of whining. I'm biding my time until it's safe to do so again. While waiting, I'm learning new songs, improving my backing tracks for older ones that were made when I wasn't as good at making them as I am now. In addition, I'm writing new style and fake e-disks for Band-in-a-Box, and we're rehearsing in the living room to keep our chops up.

I do believe that in the 2021/2022 winter season, I'll have some gigs and be able to entertain.

We're thinking that after we get our second COVID vaccination we might find a public, outdoor place to play for free that isn't in competition with any commercial business. Perhaps a park where the audience can remain social distanced.

Leilani and I both agree, entertaining an audience by playing music is our second favorite thing to do.

Insights and incites by Notes

The first is eating BBQ!

(Knowing that was a joke, Rob, I still can't resist.)

Really? Barbecue? Have you SEEN his wife???

Notes, you CAN NOT BELIEVE the whining up here from the local copy band segment. Apparently they want to play those same 45 songs as every other band does for that $75 and a bar tab because their spouse is getting tired of supporting them while working from home. It is SO RIDICULOUS that I ended up dropping at least 15 people from my Facebook friends.

If one more person tells me "Corona virus just like the flu..." I am going to punch them in the face and say "That broken nose is just like a scratch..."

Couldn't agree more Eddie sick of the covid hoax nutters

Well...I will have to think about it Eddie. Being the first gig of the year and a whole buck on the line. I'll call my agent and get back to you.

Billy

By the way, I took a 600 mile drive today to buy a new Recumbent bike. Perhaps a photo will be coming soon.

600 miles? I can't think of anything I would drive 600 miles for.

Well.... Certainly not a piece of exercise equipment that by June would become a place to hang clothes.

Hi Billy,

Which bike did you purchase? My son just purchased a VANSWE.

I got this for myself. I got to ride it about 300 feet. Then my wife took it away from me....lol

Guess I will have to get another one.



Billy

In 2017 Eva and I leased a car and drove through most of western Europe, about 9000 kilometers. So, 600 miles is not a lot but I was really tired when I got home. Driving in South Florida at night really sucks!!

Billy

If you want to make a living by playing music, you have to treat it as a business. A business you may love the work at, but if you neglect the business, you will need a day job or a wife that is willing to and can support you.

That means learning the songs your audience wants to hear, entertaining your audience, and learning new songs as they become popular with your audience. It means both practicing and rehearsing (there is a difference) so you can play every song you do to the absolute best of your ability.

It also means being professional in everything you do. Show up on time, don't take long breaks, be easy to get along with, dress appropriately, and work for the benefit of the entity that hired you.

There are a lot of people that don't understand this. I don't mind them so much, because that makes my music business appreciated by the entertainment purchasers.

And anyone who actually believes COVID-19 is just like the flu has been brainwashed by propaganda outlets pretending to be news media.

As far as Facebook is concerned, I don't hear the whining.

I quit Facebook after the Clinton/Trump election.

When I found out they were using bots to read everyone's posts, read everyone's private messages, log the likes/dislikes and use that information to decide what fraudulent 'news' articles to send them with the intent of rigging a US election, I deleted my data and left.

I don't care if they were trying to elect the candidate I wanted to win or the candidate I wanted to lose, using fraud to influence an election is not in my set of values. I decided that if I continued to let FB profit by selling my information, I would become an accomplice to fraud. That isn't in my set of personal values so the only thing for me to do was to wipe my data and get out.

I know this hurt by business, because I used FB for advertising, but I just had to follow my conscience.

And I found out that life without Facebook is actually better.

Insights and incites by Notes

What Notes Norton says here is important. Particularly in the way you treat your employers, that is what people that hire you are. Treat your audience with the respect they deserve. Entertaining your audience rather than yourself is also important. Do what you do well.

If anybody is interested in trying out playing online then check out my FaceBook group. There are a GREAT bunch of people on there. Very encouraging and all levels of guitar players are most welcome and encouraged. Even total beginners.

The idea behind the group is that I post a challenge song every day and then people come on and post their renditions of that song (playing their acoustic guitar or ukulele or even their piano).

You do not have to go live unless you want to (a video recording is fine), you do not have to show your face if you don't want to, you don't have to have any fancy recording equipment, just press record on your phone, hell, you don't even need to sing if you don't want to!

On a Monday people can play and post whatever song they want. This is a private group so only people who belong to the group can see your posts and your posts/comments, etc, cannot be shared.

It is great fun and an easy way to get into playing online.

Here is the link

https://www.facebook.com/groups/song.a.day.challenge