TOTAL ORDER ISSUE 101 | Page 29

Starting Over .

SUPERFAN !

Starting Over .

By Ronnie Shapiro Stoeckel

When you are the ultimate superfan of independent artists worldwide , you deserve your own page . Welcome to the SUPERFAN page and the newest edition to our team , Ronnie Shapiro Stoeckel .
She is going to bring you the independent music scene from the fan perspective .
After writing this article
I thought to myself “ who am I to say these things ? I ’ m surrounded by veterans who are going through this and much worse . They are going to pounce on me for this since I ’ m what you would call a “ newbie .” Then I wrote another one , but it didn ’ t quite say what I wanted it to say . Writing this and getting it all out was more therapeutic than anything , so I decided to stick with it .
I , like pretty much all of you reading this , am a big fan of music , and I ’ m pretty supportive of local bands . ( Thus , my “ Superfan ” title .) What many of you may not know is that I also manage a local rock band . ( No , believe it or not , it is NOT Rofo Audio …. not that that would be a bad gig to have of course ….) My band , StillCraft ( shameless plug , look them up !) has been in existence for over 3 years now . We had a busy gig schedule , with 3 – 4 , sometimes 5 shows a month . We were gaining fans , doing everything right . We got our name trademarked , had merch made , had a banner to hang at shows . We were really hitting our stride . ( You all know what it ’ s like – you were there .) We were nominated for local music awards and had a great time at the awards show and afterparty . Things were really going in the right direction for us . Then , it happened . We all know what “ it ” is ….. the pandemic . The quarantine . The pox upon us . The Rona .
as all of our fellow musicians know , we all went from this exciting rock and roll ( country , polka , medieval death metal …. insert your genre of choice ) life , to nothing . NOTHING . March and April were the saddest , most depressing months . With everything being closed , there wasn ’ t much any of us could do . Some musicians tried doing the live stream thing on Facebook . That filled a little of the void , but it wasn ’ t true , live , music . Also , on the other end of the spectrum , venues that we loved performing at , that people loved going to , whether it be a local neighborhood bar or a bigger
Sadly , there are many bands , that won ’ t make it out of this . Too many to count ,
club , were closed . Some ended up closing for good . Sadly , there are many , too many to count , that won ’ t make it out of this .
There are also many bands that won ’ t make it out of this . So where do we go from here ? Slowly , some places started having live music once again , but as soon as we thought everything was looking up , we get hit with yet another rule . One step forward , two steps back . As a manager , this means I will have to start the booking process pretty much from scratch . Instead of playing at our favorite 3 places 6 times a year , with scattered other venues , I will have to reach out to new venues . I will have to sell these guys over and over to new places , places that we would love to play at but maybe they won ’ t be able to pay us even close to our rate so we ’ ll have to pass . Then we have the question of when ? Will this be able to happen in the spring of 2021 ? Summer ? Will people still be leery about coming out ? All of us booking agents will be scrambling , as if we ’ re all new to the game , to try to win the best prize ( in this case , the prize being a spot to perform at ) This has been a very depressing few months for many reasons , and of course the health and safety of our families , friends and fans come first . But when our livelihoods are ripped out right from under us ( and by livelihood , I use that term loosely . For me it ’ s not my main source of income , but it ’ s my passion . For many of you out there , I know it is your main monetary source and I do feel for you .) it feels like a kick in the gut . Right now the best all of us can do is keep doing what you can to strengthen your skills . Keep writing , keep practicing . I ’ ve been taking my camera out and trying new things so that when the band hits that stage , I ’ m ready also . Support each other , however you can . We can still share videos of the bands we enjoy ( well , for now anyway …. We can point our friends in the direction of the amazing videos we find !) We can still comment on posts . We can still post positive comments about a new band we found . Whatever we have to do to keep each other and ourselves relevant . Yes , it ’ s hard to do when it feels like the world is falling apart around us , but we need to keep an eye out for the light at the end of the tunnel . We need to keep music alive and one day the world will be ready for us to shine once more .
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