{"id":23577,"date":"2021-03-16T16:56:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T23:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000019105"},"modified":"2021-03-17T12:59:06","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T19:59:06","slug":"relaxed-covid-19-restrictions-offer-little-relief-for-local-music-venues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/relaxed-covid-19-restrictions-offer-little-relief-for-local-music-venues","title":{"rendered":"Relaxed COVID-19 restrictions offer little relief for local music venues"},"content":{"rendered":"

When last we checked in with owners of local live music venues, nearly six months ago to the day, we found them doing what pretty much every other stripe of business owner was doing: struggling to survive.<\/p>\n

So, they could have been forgiven any unbridled excitement upon hearing the news, Friday, that Long Beach was easing restrictions on, among many things, indoor dining, movies and live music because the county had been moved into the state’s more relaxed “red tier.”<\/p>\n

Still, the excitement was soon tempered with the reality that while the updated regulations could work for restaurants, they simply will not work for most music venues, at least not ones in Long Beach.<\/p>\n

The three main sticking points are these:<\/p>\n

1) A 25% capacity limit.<\/p>\n

2) Performers must be separated by 12 feet on stage.<\/p>\n

3) Performers must be separated by 24 feet from the audience.<\/p>\n

As for the capacity limit, when he heard about that, Steve Guillen, owner of DiPiazza\u2019s, immediately dismissed any thought of opening up his restaurant for shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d he said. \u201cNo shows inside, outside of streaming live shows or filming a video. It doesn\u2019t make sense to open up [for shows inside] to customers until we can have at least 50% capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like other music venue owners, Guillen is now offering music outdoors and would rather pursue that without the hindrance of added regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re fully permitted for live shows outside and we\u2019ll keep doing that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Owner Steve Guillen of DiPiazza’s. Photo by Cheantay Jensen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One can enjoy music outdoors at other popular spots such as Alex\u2019s Bar and The Gaslamp. Michael Neufeld, owner of The Gaslamp, located on PCH across from Marina Pacifica, says his outdoor shows have been received so enthusiastically that he\u2019s \u201choping the city allows us to operate outside indefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges, Neufeld appears ready to try and gear up soon for indoor entertainment. He said that his venue would not be able to host its typical national acts due to the limited capacity. More well-known performers are naturally paid more and the 25% capacity limit would not generate enough revenue to pay for such acts.<\/p>\n

To adjust to the constraints, Neufeld said he plans to focus inside entertainment on local cover bands, light jazz, light classic rock, but no national acts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to have to really put it into overdrive to figure out our entertainment calendar,\u201d Neufeld said. \u201cI think we could have something in a week or two. I would love to be able to do it by next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alex Hernandez of Alex\u2019s Bar said he also will not be opening for indoor music, but will continue to offer food, drink and music, usually a solo acoustic artist, outside. Like many business owners, Hernandez finds himself making it up as he goes along.<\/p>\n

\u201cUm, we\u2019re just feeling our way through right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re probably going to expand our hours by the end of the month.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the draws of Alex\u2019s, indeed to all Long Beach venues, is their intimate nature. There really is no cheap seat, no bad spot; audience and performers are pretty much on top of each other, which sounded really cool more than a year ago. Now, not so much and not within regulations.<\/p>\n

Requiring performers to be 12 feet apart would likely preclude any band of more than three people on stage at the same time. Some venues, such as combination clubs and restaurants such as DiPiazza\u2019s or The Prospector, might not have the stage width to even fit two performers.<\/p>\n

The 24-foot gap between the front of the stage and the audience, besides looking bizarre, would likely push a good deal of Alex\u2019s audience out of the club\u2019s back entrance.<\/p>\n

Hernandez said he\u2019ll continue with a single performer, outside. He doesn\u2019t see anything changing until the region moves into far less restrictive tiers and, frankly, he doesn\u2019t see that happening until September.<\/p>\n

Is he OK with that? He has to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just passed the 365 [day] mark, we\u2019ve been dark for one year,\u201d said Hernandez, noting that this is the longest he\u2019s ever gone without seeing a live show since he was 12 or 13. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible we\u2019ve made it this far. We\u2019ll just keep going. People can come by, get something to eat and listen to some music in my big outdoor tent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would have never thought I\u2019d be operating like this, but it is what it is. You\u2019ve got to adapt to this thing or you\u2019re going to cease to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Long Beach Business Journal’s Brandon Richardson also contributed to this article.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI would have never thought I\u2019d be operating like this, but it is what it is.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":241,"featured_media":71279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17831,314],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[2890],"class_list":["post-23577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-coronavirus","tag-live-music","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/241"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23577"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=23577"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=23577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}