Coronavirus
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Concert in Observation Area After Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine
Yo-Yo Ma received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a field house clinic at Berkshire Community College on Saturday. Afterward, he treated healthcare workers and individuals waiting in the observation area to a surprise concert. According to The Berkshire Eagle, the famed cellist “wanted to give something back,” so during the 15-minute observation period following his inoculation, he took out his instrument and played a brief set. Yo-Yo Ma situated himself along the wall of the observation area, masked and socially distanced away from the others. Following his 15-minute performance, he waved and placed his hand over his heart as he received a healthy round of applause. See photos and video below via an Instagram post from Berkshire Community College. Relat...
Ontario Government Injects $2 Million Into Canada’s Ailing Music Sector
The Government of Ontario says it will inject $2.5 million (USD $2 million) into the struggling Canadian music industry by investing in two non-profit groups. The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) will receive $500,000 (USD $400,000) to aid the live industry all over the province, Lisa MacLeod, Ontario’s Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture, announced today (March 12). The provincial government will also provide $2 million (USD $1.6 million) in COVID-19 relief to the Unison Fund, the Canadian music industry’s emergency charity, which provides financial assistance and counseling services for musicians and industry members. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get...
AstraZeneca: ‘No evidence’ of higher blood clots risk from coronavirus vaccine
UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca insisted on Friday its coronavirus vaccine was safe after some countries suspended its use in response to concerns about a potential link to blood clots. “An analysis of our safety data of more than 10 million records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country” from the jab, a company spokesperson said. “In fact, the observed number of these types of events are significantly lower in those vaccinated than would be expected among the general population.” The AstraZeneca jab, developed with Oxford University, forms the mainstay of Britain’s vaccination programme, and of many developing economies. It is relatively cheap and easier to st...
Austin Venues Announce Unified Safety Protocols As Texas Ends Mask Mandate and Reopens
On March 10th, the state of Texas ended its mask mandate and allowed most businesses to reopen at 100% capacity. But many experts think it’s too early to do so, and in response, over 30 Austin venues and businesses have banded together to announce the new initiative Safe in Sound, committing to following CDC guidelines and protecting patrons from COVID-19. The participating institutions vow to restructure operations to accommodate six feet of physical distancing, require employees and customers to wear appropriate PPE, provide hand sanitizer, train employees to maintain safety standards, and commit to daily sanitation of business facilities. Stubb’s, ACL Live, Antone’s, Mohawk, Paramount Theatre, Empire Control Room, and Zach Theatre are among the pledged venues. “This program as a whole u...
Zimbabwe authorises Sputnik V, Sinovac vaccines for emergency use
Zimbabwe has authorised the emergency use of four Covid-19 vaccines, including Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinovac, the minister of information said on Tuesday. The southern African nation last month rolled out its Covid-19 vaccination programme after receiving a donation of 200 000 doses of shots from China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). Last week, India announced that Zimbabwe had become the first African country to authorise the use of its Covaxin vaccine. The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe has authorised the use of Sinopharm and Sinovac shots from China, Russia’s Sputnik V and India’s Covaxin, the information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said in a post-Cabinet briefing. “All Covid-19 approved vaccines will be procured through the National Vaccine Procurement Fund ...
Music’s First Blockchain Ticketer Big Neon Has Run Out of Money
Big Neon was billed as music’s first blockchain ticketing company when it launched at the end of 2018 and announced plans top become a token-based system by 2020 and the eventual “spiritual successor” to Ticketfly. But 27 months after launching, the mobile-based ticketing system has run out of money and is now shutting its doors, co-founders Dan Teree and Ryan O’Connor confirm to Billboard. Earlier this week, Teree and O’Connor sent to a note to venue clients like the Midway and Bimbo’s 365 in San Francisco, the Gas Monkey in Dallas and The Exit/In in Nashville announcing Big Neon’s plans to close effective March 30. “It is with great regret that Big Neon has decided to cease operations,” the letter read. “This was ...
Victor Osimhen returns to training ahead of Bologna clash
Victor Osimhen has returned to full training ahead of Napoli’s Serie A game against Bologna at Stadio San Paolo on Sunday. The 22-year-old suffered head trauma after landing awkwardly on the turf following a collision with Cristian Romero in his side’s defeat to Atalanta on February 21. The forward spent the night in the hospital and underwent several tests but has been cleared of any damage to his head. The Nigeria international missed Napoli’s clash against Granada in the Europa League as well as their league games against Benevento and Sassuolo. The Parthenopeans have now confirmed the Super Eagles forward has rejoined the rest of his teammate in preparation for their league game against Sinisa Mihajlovic’s men “Osimhen did the whole session with the team,” read a statement from the clu...
Just Because COVID-19 Restrictions Are Lifting Doesn’t Mean Venues Are Opening
Over the past 24 hours, several states have reduced the restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. On Tuesday, both Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves abruptly decided to lift all capacity restrictions on businesses and end their states’ mask mandates starting next week. Then today, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that plays, concerts, and other performances can resume indoors at limited capacity beginning next month. Just because music venues are allowed to reopen, however, doesn’t mean they’re all jumping at the opportunity to do so. The intensity and longevity of the coronavirus pandemic has been a major burden, if not an outright death bell, for independent music venues over the past year. Despite Congress allocating $15 billion for thea...
The Stone Roses’ Ian Brown Refuses to Play Festival With Mandatory Vaccination Policy
Ian Brown has said a lot of crazy shit about the coronavirus. In a bizarre Twitter rant last fall, the former Stone Roses frontman called COVID-19 a “plandemic” that’s making us “digital slaves”, and he shared a new solo song that fleshed out his worldview into 5G microchip territory. Since then, he’s continued to blather conspiratorial nonsense on Twitter, and now he’s putting his money where his mouth is. As of today, the English musician has stepped down as the headliner of an upcoming UK festival because attendees are required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The 58-year-old was slated to headline the second night of a three-day festival called Neighbourhood Weekender, but after organizers announced that they’re pushing the fest back to September and that attendees will have to s...
WHO: End to pandemic not likely in 2021
The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes it is unlikely the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19）will come to an end by the end of 2021. “I think it will be very premature and unrealistic to think that we are going to finish with this virus by the end of the year,” Michael Ryan, director of the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said at a briefing on Tuesday. “What we can, if we are smart, finish with is the hospitalisations and the deaths and the tragedy associated with this pandemic,” Ryan added. The WHO’s focus at present was to keep transmissions as low as possible and vaccinate more and more people. The situation regarding the delivery of vaccine doses had already improved compared to 10 weeks ago, Ryan said, although there were “huge challenges” in distributing them and the virus stil...
Primavera Sound Festival 2021 Canceled Due to COVID-19
Next verse, same as the first: Primavera Sound Festival 2021 has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 edition of the Barcelona fest was first postponed, then scratched outright. But there was reason to think the 2021 iteration would be allowed to go on this June as scheduled. In January, Primavera organizers hosted a trial concert that showed no transmission of the novel coronavirus. Besides that, the global vaccine push has inspired optimism in all corners of the globe. But those sunny feelings are tempered by uncertainty surrounding three potentially alarming new virus variants first identified in the UK, South Africa, and Brazil. Besides that, America’s foremost infectious disease expert Dr. Fauci has been cautioning that live events won’t be able to safely return until ...
Dolly Parton Receives COVID-19 Vaccine That She Helped Fund
Dolly Parton has gotten a dose of her own medicine. On Tuesday, the beloved country singer received the first dose of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine — which she herself helped fund. Back in April, Parton contributed $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s research efforts for a vaccine. Vanderbilt’s research subsequently played a key role in developing Moderna’s vaccine. “My longtime friend Dr. Naji Abumrad, who’s been involved in research at Vanderbilt for many years, informed me that they were making some exciting advancements towards research of the coronavirus for a cure,” Parton said at the time of her donation. Fast forward 11 months, and Parton is reaping the rewards of her sizable charitable donation. That said, even though she was eligible due to her age, Parton...
