2020: A mask-wearing, socially distant year in review of Worcester in pop culture!

2020.

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Who am I fooling? It was the worst of times. Full stop.

In many ways, 2020 was the year that never was and, hopefully, never will be again.

In 2020, terms like PPE and social distancing became part of the popular vernacular, while mask wearing — a fashion trend once exclusive to bank and train robbers — became commonplace.

We feverishly watched “Contagion,” “Outbreak,” “The Cassandra Crossing,” “The Andromeda Strain,” “The Stand,” “The Omega Man,” “Planet of the Apes,” “12 Monkeys,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” “The Night of the Living Dead,” “28 Days Later,” “World War Z,” and any film that we could get our hands on that remotely dealt with a pandemic to pick up pointers on how to survive in “the new normal,” only to find that no post-apocalyptical movie could have ever prepared us for the run on toilet paper at our neighborhood grocery stores.

The following are some of the highlights (and low points) of a year we will never forget no matter how hard we try. 

Early Shocks

In January, it was announced that “Rock and Shock” would be no more, but a new horror and hard rock convention from the show’s original creator would rise from the ashes. However, like all horror, pop culture and comic conventions, nothing was happening this year, due to the coronavirus.

In February, the "Holy Grail" of comedy was shown in all its glory at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts. And John Cleese (one of the founding members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and one of the funniest men on the planet) wasn’t that shabby either. After the second screening at The Hanover Theatre in three years of 1975′s “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” the 80-year-old Cleese kept a packed crowd made up of young and old laughing up a storm and, quite possibly, might have raised Worcester’s collective I.Q. (or, at least, sense of humor) a few points. This would be one of the last stage shows in Worcester before the pandemic hit.

We should have known 2020 was going to be bad when WAAF 107.3 FM, the legendary rock radio station, was sold to contemporary Christian radio network Educational Media Foundation for $10.7 million and went off the air midnight Friday, Feb. 21. The writing was on the wall, or should I say, on the dial.

On March 1, “Rocky Horror Picture Show” heroine Susan Sarandon came stumping for Bernie Sanders at Electric Haze, 26 Millbury St.  The personable star of “Thelma & Louise” (she played Louise) and “Dead Man Walking” (for which she won her Oscar) showed off her communication and listening skills as she engaged a modest-size crowd made up mostly of millennials. Sanders did not attend. Apparently, he had better things to do than be caught dead in Worcester.

Then, on Friday, March 13, everything we love, everything we cherish, came to a dead stop.

Not Ready to Rock

In 2020, there was no St. Patrick’s Day parade, no St. Patrick’s Day concert from the Dropkick Murphys (although they did a live remote at an undisclosed location with no audience), no St. Patrick’s Day. There was no debauchery or public urinating. Something was seriously wrong and it wouldn’t stop.

There was no spring concert season. There was no summer concert season. There was no winter concert season.

There were no shows at the DCU Center, the TD Garden, Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, The Hanover Theatre, Indian Ranch, the Xfinity Center, the Worcester Palladium or the Boch Wang Center.

There were no Rage Against the Machine or Black Crowes reunions. There were no Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard, New Order and the Pet Shop Boys, James Taylor and Jackson Browne or Journey and The Pretenders double-bills.

Aerosmith, Bad Religion, Billie Eilish, Bikini Kill, Bob Dylan, Justin Bieber, Bon Jovi, BTS, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Kenny Chesney, Dead & Company, the Doobie Brothers, Five Finger Death Punch, Foo Fighters, Liz Phair, Garbage, Godsmack, Green Day, Guns N’ Roses, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Joel, Krokus, Lady Gaga, Alanis Morissette, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, Rammstein, Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band, Slipknot, Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Harry Styles, Roger Waters, Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Weezer all pulled the plug on their respective tours this year, many of which were going to make their way to the Bay State. Even hometown hero Ricky Duran had to cancel his Hanover Theatre show.

But national and local musicians and performers persevered, getting their music and their art out to fans via Zoom, Facebook, Instagram and any way that they can.

For example, Worcester chanteuse extraordinaire Niki Luparelli — who just put out a digital “Bowie Tribute” album and digital “Quarantine Christmas” album — has been broadcasting online for months with a series of shows, including “Luparelli’s Lounge,” “Happy Hour” live from her “boozy kitchen” (think Julia Child meets Cheech and Chong), “Loopy Comedy” and several “Comedy Studio” shows, while consummate songbird Cara Brindisi performed a “Live Stream Snow Day” filled with holiday songs and gathered 30 of the best musicians in Central Massachusetts (including Luparelli) for a four-hour-plus “Worcester Musicians Winter Solstice Concert” the Sunday before Christmas.

Even nationally known comedian and Worcester native Orlando Baxter adapted and did a series of free comedy shows on Zoom for the teachers and staff of various school districts.

A Year of Loss

Then, there are those who made a lasting impact on Worcester who we lost. The following are just a few that slipped off this mortal coil in 2020.

April 13 truly marked an end of era. That is the day Jeremiah “Jerry” Loconto died from complications of COVID-19.

A lifelong resident of Worcester, Loconto is the last of the eight Loconto siblings best known for Conte Brothers Formal Wear, Perry Conte Music Center and Conte Sound, as well as decades of playing live music.

Chances are if you rented a tux for prom in the 1970s and ’80s, or took music lessons during that period, Jerry Loconto or one of his siblings helped you out at Conte Brothers Formal Wear — where Loconto worked as the manager — or at the “family business,” Perry Conte Music Center, where he also worked for many years before he retired.

Jerry Loconto played drums and bass in the Jerry Conte Trio in various local clubs.

At an age when most people are thinking about retirement, the Jerry Conte Quartet — with Jerry Loconto on drums, his brothers Alfred Loconto on guitar and Peter Loconto (the founder and president of the Perry Conte Brothers Music Center, Conte Formal Wear, and Conte Sound) on bass, and Jack Dinsdale on keyboards — were still pounding out Swing Era standards every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the ’90s at the Tudor Motor Inn Lounge in Shrewsbury.

Voted best punk band in the 1998 Worcester Phoenix Best Music Poll, Thinner was still going strong when the power-punk trio released its eighth album, “We Lifted Ourself,” last year.

Featuring guitarist Daniel "Ruggy" McGee, bassist Neil Lucey and drummer Craig Wilson, Thinner were seasoned veterans of Wormtown’s rock ‘n’ roll trenches. Before Thinner (which formed in 1996), McGee and Lucey were in Popskull together.

On April 21, McGee died of cancer, and the city music scene still mourns his loss.

“Danny’s greatest gift of all was his ability to be the coolest person in the room, while simultaneously being the sweetest, most loving, kind, and humble person you’ve ever known and, he did all of this wearing black clothes and sunglasses every day, and every night,” his obituary affectionately states.

No argument here.

On May 8, Paul Vuona, cofounder and keyboardist of the beloved ‘70s musical juggernaut Zonkaraz and longtime owner of the once-popular Firehouse Cafe, died after a battle with cancer.

At a time when cover bands were starting to dominate the local music scene, Zonkaraz would pretty soon reign with their original, foot-tapping mix of folk, country, Latin American, blues and rock.

“In 1972, I had a band in Worcester, the Prairie Oysters, and saw Paul one time and talked to him about playing and then, six months later, he had the hottest band in town and left everybody in the dust,” said Walter Crockett, who eventually joined Zonkaraz as one of its guitarists. “And that was as a trio (Vuona, guitarist Ric Porter and singer Joanne Barnard). They were a trio drawing 200 people to the Blue Plate (in Holden).”

At the end of its run, Zonkaraz grew to include Crockett, guitarist Larry Preston, bassist Jon Webster, drummer Tom Grignon and percussionist Spider Hanson. But, it was Vuona who was always “the godfather” of the band, Crockett said.

“Zonkaraz wasn’t a concert band. It was a dance band. It was a band where people danced all night long and they learned the songs and loved them,” Crockett said. “In terms of writing their own songs around here, Zonkaraz, by far, was the most original.”

Van Halen was the first act to play multiple concerts at the Worcester Centrum and on Oct. 22, 1982, the first to receive the key to the city. If you were lucky enough to score a ticket for any of the three sold-out shows on Oct 22-24, you were lucky. At $11.50 a ticket, I caught all three nights and my ears are still ringing to this day.

At the time, the David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen was the biggest group in the country and it wasn’t because of “Diamond Dave” (although that helped). It was because of Edward Van Halen, the best guitarists to come along since Jimi Hendrix.

While most hard rock guitarists sound as if they're treading water, Edward Van Halen always sounded like he was making a musical motion to part the Red Sea. He was more than your typical guitar god. Edward Van Halen was a rock ‘n’ roll messiah.

The most brilliant part of Van Halen is how he would define and redefine guitar playing in the rock medium. Give him a routine structure, and he' would obliterate it. Give him a tired riff, and he would reinvent it. Give him a common chord, and he would create a crusade out of it. Give him room for a solo, and he would turn all other guitar tricksters to dust.

Whether his hands danced in unison or he was knob-twirling and hammering his fret board at the same time, Van Halen’s innovative, awe-inspiring guitar playing was a true wonder to behold and the reason Van Halen is stamped with his moniker.

A Year of Change

In response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a team of local artists and volunteers brought their creative skills to the Black Lives Matter movement in mid-June, using Major Taylor Boulevard as their canvas. Letters for the mural were painted on 15- by 26-foot blocks in the road next to the DCU Center.

The artwork within each letter was designed to the tastes of 18 artists who worked on the project. One contains “I can't breathe,” words said by George Floyd as he was dying while police knelt on him during his arrest.

Another pays tribute to the protest of American runners Tommy Smith and Juan Carlos at the 1968 summer Olympics, Civil Rights activist Ruby Bridges, who as a child was the first African-American to attend William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana, the Black Panther Party, and American rapper and Nipsey Hussle.

Worcester's Black Lives Matter mural quickly became one of the most acclaimed in the country, and attracted numerous visitors, including many politicians, notably then-Senate hopeful Joseph P. Kennedy III. 

Showcasing the artists who assisted the lead artists in the city’s Black Lives Matter mural, “Beyond the Paint: Artists of Worcester’s Black Lives Matter Mural” opened Aug. 14 at ArtsWorcester, giving the community another opportunity to discuss the cultural significance of the BLM movement, as well as to appreciate all those local artists who brought the message of unity to the city. 

Two-time Grammy Award nominated rapper and Worcester native Joyner Lucas had a good year in 2020. His debut studio album “ADHD,” released on his self-owned label Twenty Nine Music Group, debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, with 39,000 album-equivalent units. The album features such hit singles as “Isis (Feat. Logic),” and “I Love,” both of which are RIAA platinum certified.

A hip-hop artist who made his name with issue-driven songs such as "I'm not Racist" took an accusatory tone with "Devil’s Work,” a one-sided conversation with the man upstairs where he rattles off a series of iconic rappers (including Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.) and influential black leaders (including Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X) whose lives were cut short by gun violence. Talk about perfect timing.

Lucas also released the extended play “Evolution,” which featured “Fall Slowly,” Lucas’ steaming collaboration with Ashanti, whose accompanying video is so red hot that many fans are convinced that two artists must be a couple in real-life, but word on that is mum, and we're not the type to ask.

Ready for Our Close-Up

In October, Sacha Baron Cohen made the ghost of Worcester’s most infamous native proud with his incredible, Oscar-caliber performance of Abbie Hoffman in the riveting “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” a must see for anyone who takes pride in being from Worcester.

Most likely, Abbie’s real-life brother, Jack Hoffman, would have shouted “Yippie” in glee after seeing the bio-pic but he never got a chance to see it. Jack Hoffman died June 2 of the coronavirus.

The Denholm Building was transformed into Jordan Marsh in Boston’s Downtown Crossing (circa 1960s) for “Julia,” a new HBO Max series based on the life of “The French Chef” Julia Child. Sarah Lancashire, best known for the British television series “Last Tango In Halifax” and “Happy Valley,” plays the title character, while David Hyde Pierce (Dr. Niles Crane on “Frasier”) plays Julia’s devoted husband, Paul.

Also in October, the Liam Neeson action flick “Honest Thief” opened in theaters.

Filmed in November 2018, “Honest Thief” is not the best movie ever to be filmed in Worcester. “American Hustle” currently has that honor. But “Honest Thief” is certainly the movie in which the City of Worcester gets the most airtime, so much so that Central Mass. cinephiles might be wondering why Worcester didn’t get second billing after the 68-year-old action star.

In the movie’s best scenes, Neeson's character tackles a dirty FBI agent and the two go flying out of a three-story window of the AC Hotel by Marriott Worcester; a police cruiser in hot pursuit of Neeson driving a stolen bakery van gets sideswiped by another car at Salisbury and Lancaster streets, near the Worcester Art Museum; and Neeson gets the jump on another special agent on the steps of the Cathedral of Saint Paul on Chatham Street, with a great view of the Great Wall and Alpha Travel across the street, on Main Street.

While “Honest Thief” will probably stand as the movie with the most scenes filmed in Worcester, “American Hustle” has strong competition as the best movie to have scenes filmed in Worcester with Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up.” Of course, it doesn't have a cameo by Mayor Joe Petty and a mock-up of the Telegram & Gazette like Lifetime's "Christmas on Ice." 

In December, three-time Oscar-winner Meryl Streep filmed a key scene “Don’t Look Up” inside the DCU Center. Streep plays the president of the United States, who has a chief of staff who is also her son, played by Jonah Hill. 

In the film, fellow Academy Award-winners Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play star-crossed astronomers who discover a devastating meteor is on a collision course with Earth.

In the guise of the POTUS, Streep downplays the meteor and her faithful minions believe it to be “fake news” that Armageddon is just around the corner.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the coronavirus sues the Netflix people for infringement of copyright.

And with that, let's end this year of reckoning with a mash-up quote from the Who and the Beatles: 

I've got a feeling ’21 is going to be a good year … It can’t get no worse.