Covid Day 434 – Are We There Yet?

So, please stay with me on this one. I have a question to ask you at the end.

The fine folks at Newton-Wellesley Hospital and TripAdvisor contacted me (and a few thousand other people) and allowed me to get my two doses of the Pfizer vaccine over the past three weeks. Now, theoretically, within the next two weeks it will be safe for me to go out and rejoin society. I will still wear a mask for inside spaces for the next little while, and of course I won’t be able to travel to any of my international destinations.

However, there is light at the end of this tunnel. The question really is, are we there yet?

I want to get back out into the world. I want to perform in front of crowds again. I want to see my friends on stage singing their songs, live. I want to share in this magical thing that we do which is making music together.

But yes, I am also like the impatient toddler in the backseat of the car on this one. I have enough of an understanding to know that we cannot stop the car until we actually get to our destination. But I don’t have enough knowledge to be able to gauge exactly when everything will be to a place where we can say we are “there”.

Things are already heading in that direction. In mid-June I’m going to be heading down to New York and New Jersey to spend some time with friends and family. The guitar may come with me as one of my friends, who produces programs for children, has a project that he wants me to write a song for.

I’ll also have occasion in July to sit in with Outside the Lines as we celebrate the life of Donald Humphries, who passed in March 2020. It will be our first chance to get together and really share everything that he meant to us. And we’ll do so with laughter and music together, outdoors.

Now, my question for you:

I’m putting the finishing touches on the EP that I’ve been promising for a while. All of the songs are mastered, and I’m working on the artwork and the distribution right now. 

I’d really love to launch it with a party. Would you feel safe to get together in person in July? And if so, where should we do it? My first inclination is to ask the folks over at Bill’s Pizza in Newton if we could have a reunion of the Open Mic Jam crew, but I want to make sure that everybody feels safe doing that. What do y’all think?

• – Chris