Spring may see live music back in Napa Valley, if Ken Tessler has anything to do with it.
Tesler, managing director and producer for Blue Note Napa and the Oxbow River Stage, said he is finalizing an agreement with Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena to be producing live music performances, beginning with concerts for a drive-in audience in May.
Covid-19 has caused the temporary closure of Blue Note, Napaās outpost of the famous New York establishment offering jazz and food. Concerts at the upstairs JaM Cellars Ballroom, upstairs at the Napa Valley Opera House, also were canceled, along with the 2020 season of outdoor Oxbow RiverStage shows.
āUnfortunately, this left me with a lot of time,ā to work on other projects, Tesler said.
These included lobbying state and federal government for support for the arts and artists during the pandemic, as well as trying to plan for a future in the most uncertain of times.
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(U.S. Rep.) āMike Thomson and (State Senator) Bill Dodd have been a great help,ā Tesler said. āThey have really tried to help the arts.ā
One of the biggest challenges, however, has been that live music venues are not included specifically in the current state tiered guidelines for what can be open and what must close as hospitals reach their capacity for patients.
āIt covers retail shops, restaurants, wineries, nail salons, and gyms,ā he said. āBut there is no mention of live music venues.ā
āFor us, however, the first and foremost consideration has to be public safety. That is more important than anything else,ā he added.
For Tesler, the decision to keep Blue Note closed was fairly clear. āInitially we had to answer the question: are we a restaurant that has live music or a music venue with great food? It has become clear, however, that we are music first ā with food.ā
The design of Blue Note, where the audience shares tables set close to the stage to hear the music of jazz greats like Chris Botti perform, make social distancing a challenge. Tesler said, āIt could be done. There are things we could do, like putting plexiglass barriers between the stage and the audience. But itās a question of safety for everyone first.ā
Upstairs is a different matter, however. The spacious JaM Cellars Ballroom, formerly the main theater of the Napa Valley Opera House, presents more options for live music. Tesler said he realized that the upstairs rock concerts (where most of the audience is standing) can have a reputation of being rowdier with members of the audience yelling and cheering ā and thereby potentially spreading Covid germs ā ābut again, there are things we can do.ā In addition to requiring masks ā a given ā he said they could mark off the floor in circles, reducing and limiting the number in the audience.
āFor that matter, we could move Blue Note upstairs,ā Tesler speculated, and set up tables all six feet apart.ā
Then there is the third element of his entertainment plans in Napa, the Oxbow RiverStage concerts, which opened with a concert by the Steve Miller Band in June 2019 and proved to be a resounding summer success.
Tesler had just announced the line-up for 2020 when the coronavirus began shutting down large gatherings of people in close proximity. āWe canceled the first concerts but kept thinking maybe by the end of summer we could have one ā nobody knew what was going to happen,ā said Tesler, who ended up canceling the season.
BottleRock Napa Valley also announced, then canceled, its May 2020 festival, first postponing it until the fall, and then calling it off altogether for the year. They are hoping to bring the festival back for Labor Day 2021, but have not yet announced plans.
One thing music presenters are good at is crowd-control, said Tesler, who had extensive experience presenting concerts back east before he came to Napa to open Blue Note. āWe know how to manage crowds ā safely.ā
The concerts at Krug
What sets live music and other entertainment venues apart from other businesses is the planning required, Tesler noted. When restrictions allow restaurants to reopen, for example, he said, within a week or so it should be possible to bring back staff, order supplies, and create a menu. āBut we need two or three months to book and market acts.ā
This was one of the reasons he began working with Charles Krug while he waits for a word that itās safe to open or plan for any of his Napa entertainment venues.
āThey have done shows before and they were open to the idea,ā Tesler said. The historic winery, which launched its Tastings on the Lawn event in the 1950s, regularly hosted concerts, comedy nights and fundraisers for local non-profits on its grounds. āThey, too, have been great to work with.ā
Tesler said he is working on plans first for drive-in concerts, possibly by May. As the pandemic and public health permits, he plans to continue with outdoor concerts at Krug.
āWe wonāt, of course, forget Napa,ā Tesler said. āBut only when itās safe.ā
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