Neil and Friends at San Gregorio
In the last twenty six months there have been many casualties due to the pandemic. The music industry is one that has been hammered hard. Festivals being cancelled, venues going out of business, tours cancelled leaving musicians trying to reinvent how to do their music during these tough times. Our local music venues went the first year with no live music but as things drug on we started seeing these venues figure out how to create environments where bands could play and people could safely gather. Alice’s Restaurant opened up their back lawn area for the summer and fall and then moved the music to their front porch with canopies and heaters. San Gregorio Store created an area in the front of the store where people could safely gather. Loma Mar Store has been doing live music for a couple of months now. Applejacks has a great new area in their back yard with a beautiful new stage and has been hosting great events there. Unfortunately it was 37 degrees for their outdoor New Years Eve show. Many thanks to the Kerr brothers, George at the Store, Jeff and Kate at Loma Mar Store and Joe at Apple Jacks for making it possible for our local musicians to be able to gig.
Through all this the musicians have had to rethink how to get their music out especially the first year of the pandemic. Some have spent time in their studios recording and some have started using social media to get their music out there. One of our local musical icons Neil Panton has figure out a couple of ways to stay involved in the local music scene through all of this. Besides sitting in with a few of the local bands when he can, he has a couple of other unique projects going. First Neil is producing a show for local Pescadero radio station KPDO featuring the music of our local area. The Music of South San Mateo County is on the air every day for an hour at 3pm and 9pm. You can live stream at kpdo.net or listen over the air at 89.3. Most of his previous shows can be accessed from the archives. Also, Neil in conjunction with the San Gregorio Store is hosting a show the first Sunday of each month at 11am. Neil will be inviting other local musicians to sit in with him. He is keeping it fairly low key with a more acoustic feel. Last show was David Barrow with Devon Shane Baker and Jody Lamb. The weather was great and the show was well attended. The music as expected was awesome. On March 6th Neil will be joined by Johnny Hamilton and Terry Hiatt. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday listening to the best of local music and hanging out with neighbors and friends. Thanks to all the people who did mask up and socially distance so these events could happen safely.