Not Music To Their Ears: MA Rule Clarification Crushes Artists

DANVERS, MA — A rare burst of optimism amid a devastating year for local artists is only leading to more confusion and heartache around the return of live music in restaurants.

Joe Crowley, who owns Breakaway in Danvers, said the calls came fast and fervently when Gov. Charlie Baker said last week live music could return to restaurants as of March 1. Small bands reached out about getting on the calendar with the North Shore music venue and restaurant set to reopen on April 2, while throughout the state those who have not played in front of an audience since the approaching winter brought the end to outdoor performances in October lined up gigs for the weekend.

"I keep hearing from people that 'Oh, this is great,'" Crowley told Patch. "Your industry is back. You are back. Everybody thinks it's great.

"But it isn't."

At issue is what Gov. Baker did not say — and the state did not publicly clarify until Friday — that while music is allowed indoors, singing is still prohibited. That means the vast majority of acts who instantly envisioned being back in front of a microphone and making a bit of money on a socially distanced stage in March are once again left out in the cold.

State Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control Commission Executive Director Ralph Sacramone issued a statement on Friday confirming: "The Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards has clarified that, while musical performances are permitted at licensed establishments for on-premise alcohol consumption, singing is not permissible indoors as part of these performances."

Yet, the clarification comes only after many places began allowing singers based on a widely held interpretation of Baker's announcement. WHDH-TV even did a live report called "Let The Music Play" with a singer and guitarist at a Braintree restaurant celebrating the return of indoor music Thursday night.

That report was no longer available on the station's website as of late Friday morning.

"I feel horrible for these artists," Casey Soward, executive director of the Cabot Theater in Beverly, told Patch. "It was definitely misinterpreted by everybody who thought they could go out and earn a living again. But you can't do much without a singer."

The ABCC statement said that singing is only allowed outside where 10 feet of distancing required between performers and 25 feet is required between the singer and the audience. Plexiglass barriers are not permitted as a way to mitigate those distances.

While that might be nice sometime later in the spring, it will not help this weekend with temperatures in the 30s during the day and 20s at night.

Both the establishment and the singer can be fined $500 if found in violation of the order.

"There is live entertainment going on everywhere and the state is reaching out and putting threats of cease-and-desist orders," Crowley said. "If you go around this weekend, a lot of places plan to have live music indoors."

Crowley said the musician confusion is another case of the state not communicating the "fine print" of its coronavirus-related announcements.

"It's a nightmare," Crowley said. "It's just been a communications nightmare with the state. They have been terrible. They're abandoning us. Everything is vague with no communication at all.

"They are putting pressure on us to follow these restrictions and our phones are ringing with bands who think they are allowed to play. It's a bad scene."

Crowley said he hopes further restriction easing will allow indoor performances soon and plans to have limited outdoor performances if the weather allows when he reopens in April.

But for many other spots across the state excited to extend some help to struggling musicians with a show in time for St. Patrick's Day, the news one full year after indoor shows initially went dark at the onset of the pandemic only brings more disappointment and frustration.

"This morning we were told we could have bands and then we looked into it and were then told we can't," Crowley said. "It's insane.

"It's really hard on everyone."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)