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Sunday 24 March 2024

The Year Was 2020

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When remembering the early part of 2020, it is amazing how normal everything seemed right up until the point where the world pulled on the brakes. This is kind of the basis behind my latest film, a short presentation in which I play two parts; myself as a much older man at some undetermined point in the future, and my grandson. In the story, the grandad remembers a time before 'the virus' but the grandson has never known a world in which he could leave the house. Obviously I noticed the plot hole as soon as I had finished filming - how would a grandchild be conceived under such circumstances? Perhaps I will one day write a prequal in which the whole family move into a big house prior to lockdown so they can stay together. 

The weird thing about the very beginning of 2020 is how positive I felt about it, some pretty big projects were on the horizon which of course went down the toilet. Looking at my appointments diary for 2020 (big waste of money as it turned out), things were slow but sure. On Wednesday 8th January I recommenced filming on The Random Sessions, with Alex Hale's episode and a week later I filmed Jodie Rose, which I didn't realise was going to be an important one. At the end of January I went to Teesside to see my family for a late Christmas. I was meant to go the week before Christmas but my December was written off by an illness that was worse than any flu I had ever encountered and played havoc with my respiratory system - I have always been ahead of my time! It was while up north that I heard mention on the radio of some kind of virus originating in China but didn't really think anything of it, after all, we had already experienced coronavirus in 2002 and it didn't really make an impact over here. 

In February I noticed a pattern of gigs being cancelled or postponed due to this virus, which at the time I thought was a bit of an overreaction. Please don't get me wrong, I soon realised that shit was getting real but I, in common with everyone else, had no idea what was going to happen next. While I was angry at live music being made to suffer, I was not a Covidiot. We went into lockdown far too late and came out of it in such a disorganised fashion that it is no wonder that people soon got fed up of the whole thing. The last thing we needed was the moronic brigade who 'did their own research' and suddenly knew more than medical experts. Of course lockdown was necessary and if it had been able to continue for the rest of 2020, or at least until everyone had been vaccinated, then the result would have been far different. I had fired a shot at the Covidiots in a previous video during lockdown. Anyway, this isn't the place to show up people and their idiocy. 

To return to February, on the 26th I not only filmed The Random Sessions with Simon Waldram but also went to watch him play a gig afterwards which I also recorded. My diary notes that Sherwood Shessions took place on Saturday 29th February, which I was a bit taken aback by as I forgot that Sunday wasn't always the day it happened. I had already noticed that the town was becoming quieter, at some stage during this time there was a raft of fuckwitts buying toilet roll but I haven't recorded that in my appointment diary or work journal. What shocks me now is that two weeks before lockdown I went to two gigs and filmed an episode of The Random Sessions, and on Tuesday 17th I filmed the final pre-lockdown episode with Michael Upton, in which we discussed the impact on the music scene.

This is where my film comes in. The live music scene was already in chaos with musicians not wanting to cancel for financial reasons and having to wait for venues to make the call. By now a lot of performers were staging live stream gigs from the comfort and safety of their own homes and hopefully bringing in a bit of income via donations and virtual tip jars. My film starts with the grandson about to watch a live streamed gig because in the universe of the film 2020 was the beginning of the end. When I found the script in my archive I noticed that it was dated (always date and keep your work, my advice to all creatives) 16th March 2020, a full week before we actually went into lockdown. 

I predicted the impact of downloads on the music industry, I predicted a future of online television, I predicted that podcasts would become as big as radio. Thankfully I got this one wrong!

The Year was 2020 is available to watch here.