“Love your enemies in case your friends turn out to be a bunch of bastards.”
— RA Dickson
Gary Watkins: Durango, Colorado
I’ve known Gary Dog since 1992 when I joined his Durango based alternative-rock band ‘Dog at Large’. We were the ultimate “party band” ‒ with a cast of characters, all excellent players. For years we played around the Four Corners spreading our brand of lunacy. We’ve got lots of stories about partying, carousing, driving over the treacherous Red Mountain Pass in blizzards, practical jokes gone wrong, hilarious antics, and of course – the occasional “German pie fight!”
Gary is still entertaining locally. In the winters, he works at the ski shop at Purgatory Ski Resort, and in better weather, Gary Dog is a part-time surveyor. Otherwise, he is recording at his home studio and sheltering with his beautiful wife Suzy in their cozy mountain home. (Of course, Gary is always planning another band reunion.)
Gary Watkins, email:“It looks like we get to live in the time of a pandemic. Unprecedented to say the least, but we’ve seen a lot of unprecedented things in our lifetime. An assassinated president, a resigned president, a movie star president, women candidates for vice president and president, a black president, two or three ill-advised and failed wars, men on the moon, home computers and the internet. Our parents saw December 7th and we saw September 11th. They had the great depression, we had the great recession and now whatever this is. They came together during those events with a shared sacrifice and firm resolve. Rosey the Riveter and GI Joe. With us, well not so much.
“My wife works checkout at a grocery store and does all the protocols. Mask, gloves, plexiglass shield, she undresses on the front porch when she gets home and follows all the guidelines we have seen. I’m lucky enough to be a surveyor working out in the boonies away from people or alone in the office while my boss works from home. But at City Market I see maybe 1/3 of the patrons wearing masks and, until required, many of the staff were unmasked as well. I see unmasked people walking down the street right next to each other and then I see people alone in their cars wearing masks. At first I noticed a huge reduction in automobile traffic but these last few days I’ve noticed a resurgence. One man I know thinks it’s all an overblown hoax and just an excuse for lazy people to sit at home and smoke pot. Other folks are making masks at home. One day last week on a survey where there were other people involved I found out that the concept of six feet is totally foreign to some.
“How an event such as this, a virus, an impersonal disease for Christ’s sake, can become so politicized is beyond my understanding. But just like we have flat earthers, birthers and climate deniers, there are people who attach sinister convoluted conspiracies to nearly everything. And they are egged on by some in the media and certain people in power. We need to look back at our parents’ experience, how the greatest generation came together and persevered through the difficulties of the 1930’s and 40’s and came out victorious and prosperous. Yes, they weren’t perfect but they knew how to defeat terrible foes and overcome long odds. If there ever was a time in history that we needed a cooperative public willing to make necessary sacrifices ‒ this is it. If there ever was a time in history that we needed some smart, compassionate leadership ‒ it is now. Life during pandemic is not so different than life during wartime. ‘This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no foolin’ around!’”
Jana Weisborn: New Mexico, USA
In the early nineties, I met Jana while playing a six-nights-a-week house gig in Albuquerque with the fabulous Ravin’ Brothers. I soon found that she is a brilliant conversationalist who knows how to have fun. And our Jana has credentials: she’s a full-fledged psychiatrist in private practice ‒ ‘the odd treating the id.’ She travels from her home in Silver City to her place in Albuquerque, to her place in Santa Fe and back again. A true New Mexican! (Come to think of it. I could use a shrink about now.)
Jana Weisborn, email: “I learned of COVID-19 last December. The information coming from China caused me to feel uneasy with a gnawing certainty that a shift would be occurring – one of those shifts that would activate a primal resourcefulness that I hadn’t needed in life since living in the wild as a very young woman. It caused me to start noticing more of what others would say and think, even more than usual. It also caused me to listen to myself carefully, honor instincts, and act when they kick in.
“As a psychiatrist I see between 5 and 12 patients a day — depending on how long I can sit still. As a medical professional, I receive ongoing reports from the CDC and the WHO on a daily basis. I had always known the potential of a pandemic. My grandparents used to describe details and losses of the 1918 pandemic. More recently I watched in trepidation as the Ebola virus came inadvertently into the US when our healthcare team returned from Africa. I was relieved that the potential for widespread deadly infection was swiftly contained by the CDC and WHO.
“My acute awareness and certainty increased when learning about the rapid spread of Covid-19 around the world. The current administration disbanded the previous pandemic team that kept us safe from the rapid spread of Ebola. There seemed to be no response at all from the US political leaders when warned all the way through February. I felt like John Snow living in a potential parallel to Game of Thrones: ‘Winter is comin’…
“I knew it was a matter of time before the US would be reporting cases. In short order, I learned of very ill people who were testing negative for flu. My son, his daughter and pregnant wife, were among the affected in January. They were down for a month and a half and continue to recuperate. Scattered patients stopped showing for appointments in February. I later learned a handful had been hospitalized and some had died, but nobody was discussing it. Covid-19 was here and wearing a mask of anonymity. Our nation’s administrative infrastructure was (and is) feudal and perhaps fatal, with a leader not unlike the malevolent aristocrats in Game of Thrones as well, with little else on their minds than greed, acquisition, and the unbridled narcissism that defines them.
“When the ‘shift hit the fan’ in March, I started warning my other adult sons ‒ all in their 30s ‒ that things were going to change rapidly. They are all professionals: one working as an electrical engineer for NASA; a structural glazier working at Sandia Base; a regional manager at Guitar Center; and a construction worker who is taking care of my 86 year old mother. They all reacted like I was a mother hen, even the one who already had the virus from which he still was coughing in March.
“By the end of March the electrical engineer and the regional manager were both working from home. The two who work in the field continue working away from home. These are the two sons with young families and one is a daily part in my mother’s life. There is a continual undercurrent of vigilance that goes along with the maternal instinct. It is active in me but I have no control of their lives. I don’t really worry ‒ but I do have a healthy respect for life and death.
“On a video chat with the entire family the other day, the boys did concur that I have probably forgotten more than most may ever know. It meant they were now taking it seriously but in natural male fashion, didn’t want to discuss their fears. They quickly started reminiscing about the time they found me wedged under a king sized Tempur Pedic mattress while trying to rearrange my bedroom. Now that was a perfect storm!”
Brian Flynn: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
I put in several tours-of-duty with the hard-driving Brian Flynn Band – and survived! This gregarious guitar playing entertainer resides in the seaside city of Cabo, Mexico and is still ripping it on stage. My friend, Brian, speaks fluent Spanish and is married to Angelica ‒ a beautiful Mexican woman ‒ and is raising two precocious daughters. The following is an excellent description of life in Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic . . .
Brian Flynn, phone & email: “The last five months have been some of the craziest, depressing, scariest but also wonderful months of my life. I’ve never seen anything like this in my lifetime. In December, after 8 years of trying my wife and my daughter were finally admitted to the United States and had the opportunity to finally meet my mom. At the same time I was notified that I’d been elected as an Authentic Bastion of Mexican Rock in the Encyclopedia of Mexican Rock by Arturo Lara, director general. For a foreign musician living and working in Mexico for 27 years it was an ultimate honor. I was inducted in Mexico City in a wild ceremony Feb. 20th. A wonderful culmination to my career here. One month later… March 17th, live music no longer existed.
“We’ve been locked down here in our home in Cabo San Lucas since March 17. The lock down hasn’t been unpleasant so far. I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with my wife and kids and to slow down a bit. My health has had a chance to rebound a bit now that I’ve been forced to rest and relax, something I’ve never been good at. It has been a reflective time to contemplate my life, career, family, future, etc.
“This moment in time requires us to be positive, strong and responsible. I’ve seen great acts of kindness as well as ridiculous, irresponsible acts endangering the health and welfare of others. Not aggressive acts, but stupid irresponsible ones. Somebody hit a pause button on life and the world and we need to pay attention. It is one world, and all of us are in this together.
“The Mexican government has been slow to respond to the pandemic on the federal level, but incredibly responsible at the local and state level, similar to the U.S. We are mandated by a stay at home order until August 1st. Our international airport is closed, though some flights are still coming into our domestic terminal. The economy is at a standstill. But, as always, the Mexican people have handled it very well. I’ve always been impressed by their resiliency, which has greatly been put to the test. No stimulus package here, we’re helping each other out. No matter how bad you got it, somebody has it worse.
“I am so glad I have my wife to depend on, and depend on me. This would be so much more difficult without her. As well, I’m impressed my daughters here have handled it all so well, in spite of being so scared. That is a testament to my wife as well: She is one year out from double mastectomy cancer surgery and doing well. In comparison to that ordeal, this is nothing!
“It’s getting hot here now, this is when I usually go back to Colorado, and the rest of the world in general. It’s touring season starting mid May. But . . . live music doesn’t exist anymore. Never thought it possible.”
William (Bill) Lockard: Woodland Park, Colorado
I’ve known Bill since the Ford administration! He and his lovely wife, Jill, have been best friends and confidants of Jayebird and me, and we are family. We met in Dallas and then both couples decided to see the world – although, separately. Bill is a top notch drummer/classical guitarist and has played halfway around the planet.
Bill Lockard, phone &email: “So, my friend DC wanted me to write about being at home during the lock-down. OK…
“I’ve been doing analogies in my mind to try to help explain this pandemic survival-mode. Thought I would write one down:
“Here we are safe at home, but surrounded by a mine field. Every now and then someone has to navigate that mine field to get provisions. That person has a plan and knows a way to minimize danger if only a few people go.
“There are some people who are getting restless. On TV, they see other people that want to go out. They are protesting about lost freedom and choice. Some politicians and businessmen are supporting them.
“Demolition experts are saying that they are still locating more mines and have not removed all the ones they know about.
“What would you do?”
DC has been a frustrated musician for over fifty years, and now has decided to become a frustrated writer. Learn more at DCDuncan.com. He’ll keep you posted.