Sacramento's Torch Club's 'Live' Music Scene Lives Online
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento's legendary Torch Club is trying a new way to bring that "live" feeling alive again on its stage.
2020 has been like a live music moratorium with concerts canceled during the pandemic. Peter Petty is a Sacramento musician who took to the Torch Club stage to perform in front of an empty room. No patrons were there to watch.
Instead, Petty was performing live for the Torch Club's online audience.
"What it does, it acknowledges the weirdness, the absolute weirdness of this time in our lives," Petty said. "And that's a big thing just to acknowledge that things are not right, you know."
His performance is one of the dozens that the Torch Club is now posting as part of its 'Torched Holiday' collection for the month of December.
Third-generation Torch Club owner Marina Texeira is hoping the online recordings will remind patrons how many live musicians are waiting to return to the stage when it's safe.
"We're striving hard to make sure that we can open and remain significant in the music industry here," Texeira said.
"So if we could just hang on, this is an opportunity for us to through the magic of the interwebs, remind us all, we are still a community," Petty said.
The power of live performance, gone too long. Now at the Torch Club, a note of hope, the blues will be back.
Sacramento's Torch Club has been owned by the same family for 80 years, and they do plan to reopen when the pandemic ends. You can watch the Torch Club's live holiday music "Torched Holidays" by checking out their Facebook page.