Ticketmaster and Live Nation tickets. Adam Pardee/STAFF. While much of the world is coming together to share resources in an attempt to mitigate the financial and emotional toll the coronavirus pandemic is taking, Ticketmaster tried to take a different tactic—until it quickly backfired. Traditionally, Ticketmaster, the largest seller of…

Insert Foot and the hope for more great music. Last week I wrote about the Covid-19 pandemic creating opportunities for musicians to reconnect and remember why they became musicians in the first place. Remember? It’s so drummers and Billy Joel can attract women. No, I won’t get over it.…

Attendees at Outside Lands at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco photographed on Aug. 12, 2019. In a public address Tuesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that despite evidence of California bending the so-called Covid-19 and coronavirus spread curve, the possibility of gatherings hundreds or more people is “negligible”…

The One True Mayhem. Courtesy photo. Hot off the release of their well-received sixth album, Daemon, Norwegian black metal godfathers Mayhem were ready to take the world by storm—until the coronavirus hit. The band suddenly had to get out of town. “We had two days of pre-production before we figured…

Chefs Mourad Lahlou and Frank Hanes prepare meals at Aziza in San Francisco on April 11, 2020. Onome Uyovbievbo/STAFF. Alongside arts and entertainment, perhaps no other industry has been more shattered by the nationwide coronavirus shelter-in-place orders than food service. Of the 16 million unemployment claims filed since the…

As far as we know, Tony Hicks is only having one kind of baby as he passes time at home during the COVID-19 quarantine. Some good really can come from this coronavirus mess. In the middle of boring COVID-19 isolation, I just spent more than an hour with 10…

No industry has been left untouched by the impact of the coronavirus and the subsequent stay-at-home orders issued around the country. While we’ve documented the impacts on the music and touring industries, the affects on the travel, tourism and wine industries have been just as great. Along with bars…

Gabriela Gonzalez (center) performs in ‘Sandpaper Ballet,’ during the SF Ballet 2020 season. Courtesy: Erik Tomasson/SF Ballet. The nonprofit SF Ballet, facing the loss of $9.5 million and more than half of its season, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to make a $2.1 million biweekly payroll to keep its…

Side Door livestream, Courtesy photo. For the past few Saturdays, award-winning musician Dan Mangan has played a show for hundreds of fans online. That in itself isn’t particularly novel. In the interest of everyone’s health and safety, concerts worldwide have been canceled for the foreseeable future and musicians have…

Chuck Billy (center) and the rest of Testament. Courtesy photo. If these were typical times, East Bay thrash metal rockers Testament would have been in the middle of a tour of Australia, Thailand, New Zealand and Singapore right now. An American headline tour would begin on April 20. Titans…