America, and the World, Have Talent

How many sentences begin with, “A Facebook friend told me about…”? True for some of you at least. But such a friend introduced me to an FB page called Socially Distant Fest.  Run by a Georgia startup called Stay Home Productions, LLC, Socially Distant Fest operates on the principle of providing a virtual stage for artists and performers currently unable to appear before live audiences to entertain from home.

These are not people we have heard of. They are primarily regular folks unable to get to their day jobs, so they have time on their hands. About 99 percent seem to be singers who play acoustic guitar, but not all. Also featured are those who play other instruments, like the piano, the harp, and even something called the theremin. There is an 11-year old boy raising money to buy a new drum set. Yes, these folks can raise money through a “virtual tip jar” system. While most are musicians, I have run across a couple of Tarot card readers, a woman who dances by her pool with curved light sticks, and an artist who makes patterns on fabric. I also found someone who leads medit

So are these people worth watching? I don’t think the site administrators let everyone on, but the vetting process, if any, doesn’t appear too restrictive. The quality of performers is surprisingly high, though.

Among my personal favorites are two sisters in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina who sing almost every day and have built up a large following. But it’s not just America that has talent. There is a young woman in Transylvania – yes, THAT Transylvania – who sings jazz, pop, rock, even a little rap, in both English and Hungarian, her native language. But don’t worry. While now Transylvanian, she does perform during the day as well as at night, and Dracula lives (so to speak) at least 100 miles away.

Many of these amateur or semi-pro musicians are covering hit songs, but a surprising number are showing off original work. Maybe, before the coronavirus, they were reduced to making their own solitary YouTube posts, but now there is a stage for them. I recommend Socially Distant Fest if you’re tired of the politics, COVID rants, memes with quotes from unknown sages, invitations to share, quizzes to find out which superhero you might otherwise be, or, of course, the endless parade of selfies. I find Socially Distant Fest a refreshing escape, kind of needed right now.