When Coronavirus Thursday hit, I didn’t panic but I did buy Oreos. I had gone to Winco the previous day and, sensing the impending crush, bought groceries and ONE package of toilet paper. Unfortunately I did not have the time to get all the things I needed to properly stock up for the pandemic AND buy what I needed to bake the bus shaped cake shaped I had already planned to do for my friend’s birthday. Despite the official announcement of a global crisis and first diagnosed case here in Bose, ID, Kate & Co carried on with our public city transpo, dive bar, pub crawl birthday celebration on Coronavirus Saturday. Ironically, (please note the proper use of this word in the example to follow,) the intention of the celebration was social responsibility- to our individual carbon footprint and our collective need for better public services for the most vulnerable of society. This is one of the reasons why I love my friend Kate. However, in the immediate, we were all aware that increasing exposure for ourselves and those dependent on public transportation, not to mention day-drinking and thus voluntarily compromising our own immune systems was not the most socially responsible choice.
I ended up closing out three of the five the shows at Liquid this weekend. I was originally supposed to feature for Josh Wolf but he did the responsible thing and called out. The shows should have been canceled, if not for the virus than for the general quality. Reliable local talent is never in short supply here and we ended up with a perfectly acceptable showcase but I am certainly not at headline a comedy club on a Saturday early show level. I am fairly confident, however that I tricked at least two intoxicated audience members into thinking I was; “You should have a Netflix special!” one of them exclaimed excitedly. No; No I shouldn’t. And actually neither should 99% of comedians; but that is a different conversation and with home quarantine in effect, Netflix may be all we have.
Voicebox, the karaoke business I bartend for closed for two weeks. DNA’s Comedy Club in Santa Cruz, where I was featuring next weekend called off shows. Treefort, the music, comedy and much more festival scheduled for the end of the month, in which I was going to run some shows is postponed. The city declared a state of emergency, the schools are closed and the YMCA finally announced late of coronavirus Sunday that it would also shut its doors for the week. The social introvert in me, feels like it won the lottery and I have to check myself, like “people are dying, don't be so goddamn stoked you get to blog all day.”
The layers of responsibility in our response to this as individuals, a society and a governing body are fascinating and complex and I plan to write about them and reflect in increasing depth over these next couple of weeks. But starting here with personal responsibility, I admit I did poorly this weekend. I didn’t wipe my butt with my hands and then touch other people’s faces but deep down I knew that the bus pub crawl and comedy shows should have been canceled and felt a mix of ignorant adult ass and ashamed child for carrying on. I have an aunt who is immunocompromised and important to me and I am worried about her. Most of us have people in our lives we don't want to lose to this.
Part of me is incredibly grateful for the work I had this weekend which was the difference between having rent and not this month. Plus, 25 minute slots are hard to come by for a comic at my stage of growth and I learned a lot. I love the shit out of my friends and would do anything for them, including a public city bus, dive bar pub crawl on Coronavirus Saturday, again. Among so many other things, this is bringing into focus what is important and its bringing up a lot of questions. What is the level of personal responsibility we have to stop the spread? How much toilet paper do people use? What is appropriate action at this time and for this place? Should I cancel this show or that show? Should I go to the mic tonight? Is it safe to eat at Olive Garden? Please comment below.
