You may have seen where John Legend and some other big names streamed performances from their homes using Instagram or similar platform. One of my assisted livings wants me to stream birthday shows from home. Rather than Instagram, they use Zoom.com for tele-conferencing and are asking all their entertainers to install it on their computers. So, I did.

We ran a test session and it worked pretty well. The A/L had connected their computer to an A/V system which projected the image from my computer onto a movie screen in their in-house theater. The audio was patched into the theaters speaker system. During the test I could see and hear the Activity Director and interior of the theater.... and she could see and hear me. There was a little window of my camera’s image in the upper right corner of my screen. The quality of the video and audio was better than I expected.

We tested with me playing an SX900 and singing using a laptop's camera and mic. First through a mic plugged into the KB, and then with no mic. She said she could hear either way, but the balance was better when the mic was used.

Of course not all facilities have theaters with this kind of gear….but….there should be somebody on staff at a lot of the A/Ls that should know how to mirror a computer screen onto a large screen TV.

The fact that my client is going to this trouble to keep entertainment available to their residents says a lot about them. I’m not scheduled to perform there until next month. However they are going to let me patch in to their next entertainer’s show this Friday. I’m looking forward to seeing how this plays out technically and with the residents.

Ed, Very interesting, you’re on the cutting edge of technology. Keep us posted.

It's getting so normal, I had to call my gig today to see if it was cancelled. They said, "oh yes, we're in shutdown". Didn't even bother calling me to cancel.

Wife sent me to the store for a loaf of bread...….nada

Look in the organic isle (frozen) Ezekial bread is AMAZING, and lots of folks don't know about it

Now you’ve gone and done it Dave, you’ll start a run on it, none left for Dave. Haha

I actually bake my own, have done for nearly 50 years, but we’ve had a run on flour, for goodness sake.

[quote=btweengigs]

Hi,
So I assume you actually get paid like if it was a regular gig?

Had a grand wedding gig scheduled for this Saturday ... the venue cancelled and just notified the bride yesterday. I feel so bad for the bride and family ... all that planning and work and to be notified a couple of days before the ceremony.

I think the cancellations are necessary for containment because so little is known about this thing, but I was told Harvard and MIT have already canceled graduations ... Imagine puting in all that work and spending $250 - 300k on an education and you can't go through the ceremony?!?

Ed

Sorry for the delay. Got bogged down with other stuff. So far I got one no for an answer. They said the people are staying in their rooms and not eating in the dining rooms. They are allowed only groups of 10 so this one is out. I'm sure I will hear more of this as I check into it which I think I will do to see if it's really viable. One place where I play in both AL and NH is going to discuss it. A few more are going to explore/discuss it. Another said they don't have the new smart TV along with no group get togethers except for staying 6' apart.

I will see but I don't know what to say at the moment.

Scott