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One wakes up and scrolls past footage of a protest at Tesla—scroll—a cooking video—scroll—a joke—scroll—and then asks their AI assistant if it’s going to rain.
They drive to work listening to a playlist featuring artists from four continents. By the time they get home at the end of the day and sit on the couch, they look up, and there it is again: a big dark screen. On the other side, endless possibilities. Every story, every song, every image.
Why would one put their pants back on, get in the car and see a show downtown?
After my first article in the Bohemian, most responses focused on my comment that North Bay music could use more integration. I argued for cross-genre and cross-identity collaboration as the path to creating our own regional sound.
Now, I see it’s even more urgent than that. Outside-the-box ideas are not just nice—they are necessary for survival in the performing arts. Because the competition isn’t another show. It’s Netflix, YouTube, TikTok, Spotify and an infinite scroll of algorithmic seduction.
Why go out, buy a ticket and brave the cold when dopamine is a swipe away? Local events feel like a gamble. Digital media is immediate, familiar and frictionless. The problem isn’t lack of talent—it’s that the cultural playing field has tilted so steeply that showing up in person now feels like swimming upstream.
The deck is stacked, but artists aren’t giving up. They’re getting weirder. More daring. More communal. More live—and more alive.
Bryce Dow-Williamson’s work at The Lost Church is a good example: His protest song show and album tribute nights feel more like community rituals than recitals. The DJ scene’s been way ahead as well, with Lush (every second Saturday at Vintage Space), Wolf Pack (first Fridays at Third Pig in Sebastopol) and Glitter/Goth (first Saturdays at Arlene Francis Center), creating immersive, people-powered parties. Musicians are also teaming up in unexpected ways and embracing in-the-moment creation. Audio Angel’s genre-bending performances at Moonlight Brewing and Arlene Francis featured surprise improvised collaborations with LaiddBackZach and Erica Ambrin.
Festivals continue to lead the charge for real-life experiences. Events like Gravenstein Apple Fair, Petaluma Music Festival, Rivertown Revival and Railroad Square Music Festival provide a full range of experiences for the crowd beyond staring at a stage. It raises the question—what can our shows learn from festivals?
Performances are getting more interesting outside of music as well. I’ve seen more fashion shows than ever (North Bay Fashion Ball, Trashion Fashion, Trashlantis). Live comedy is experiencing a renaissance (Standprov, Creature Comedy, Barrel Proof Lounge in Santa Rosa with comedy four times a week).
I am particularly excited by the hybrid zone—where pop culture gets bent, remixed and infused with real-life interaction. North Bay Cabaret’s recent May the Fourth Be With You is a perfect example, taking a franchise and messing with it in a way that promoter Jake Ward has said is “bold, live and boundary-pushing.”
I am trying my own hand at this with my friend Cincinnatus Hibbard in a recurring show called Performance Lab, where we invite local performers to try something new, interactive and exciting. The next show, at 5:30pm on Sunday, June 1, features an immersive Lord of the Rings experience at Sebastopol Center for the Arts (282 S. High St.). That’s not a bit. That’s the gig.
To my fellow artists: Keep pushing. Keep inviting. Make it unforgettable. Make it live.
And whoever is reading, I hope that this helps find something meaningful in the community. Something unpredictable. Something human.
Something that one doesn’t want to scroll away from.
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