When Sheltering Is Not So Safe
Playwright Candace Perry writes that “a portion of the Clothesline Project has been hanging in our yard in Wellfleet. We take in the shirts each evening and don’t hang them in inclement weather.”
The Clothesline Project originated in Hyannis in 1990, after members of Cape Cod’s Women’s Defense Agenda learned that while 58,000 soldiers lost their lives in the Vietnam War, 51,000 U.S. women were killed by the men who claimed to love them. The Clothesline Project has been displayed locally and all over the world, including last year at the Wellfleet Public Library.
“Each shirt on the clothesline tells a woman’s story,” Perry says. “At this time of sheltering in place there is great fear that sheltering is not so safe for many women and children. It’s in our yard in Wellfleet now to call attention to the concern about battering and to let women know there is help.”
To find out more, go to clotheslineproject.info. Independence House, the Cape Cod resource center addressing domestic and sexual violence, has a 24-hour hotline at 800-439-6507.
WOMR DJs Treat Covid-19 With All That’s Jazz
When the coronavirus hit, Henry and Jane Fischer, the husband and wife DJ team who have been regulars on WOMR in Provincetown since 2005, had to improvise. Their radio show, Dixieland Jazz, Etc., encompasses all types of jazz, ragtime, and swing — “the ‘etcetera’ covers a lot of territory,” Henry tells the Independent. Though the show used to air on odd-numbered Sundays, these days, it’s been almost every Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon (92.1 FM, 91.3 in Orleans, or womr.org). And instead of doing shows live at the WOMR studio in Provincetown, they prerecord them from home.
The couple use an audio editing program to alternate music tracks with prerecorded descriptions or recaps before sending it off to be broadcast. Listeners can email instead of calling in requests. When the Fischers were at WOMR’s studio, they mostly relied on its vast library of recordings, but now they have to comb through their own CD collection, much of it discovered at the swap shop.
Working from home has presented challenges. “Our house has very high ceilings, and it’s hard to get rid of the echo,” Henry says. “We tried using some couch cushions to deaden the sound.” Jane complains that it’s hard to maintain spontaneity with a prerecorded show.
Still, it’s a rewarding way to spend your time during quarantine — Henry and Jane, who taught physics and math, respectively, have been retired since 2001. And it’s a great opportunity to play music by artists who can’t currently perform.
“I have learned so much about jazz since starting the show,” Jane says, though she claims not to be a “moldy fig” or a die-hard jazz purist. —Saskia Maxwell Keller
Tin Pan Alley Home Edition
During the coronavirus lockdown, while Provincetown’s Tin Pan Alley is offering meatballs and mac ’n’ cheese to go, it’s also presenting a kind of “musical takeout” to enjoy at home. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday from 7 to 8 p.m., you can live-stream concerts by the musicians who usually frequent Tin Pan Alley’s piano bar stage, right from its Facebook page.
The virtual concerts are free, co-owner Jack Kelly tells the Independent, and Tin Pan Alley pays the musicians for their time and talent, but he hopes viewers will contribute what they can to the virtual tip jar.
“This is just a purely selfless act to support artists at a time when they have been hurt the hardest,” says Tin Pan Alley’s musical director, Mike Flanagan.
On tap this week are Mike and Brendan Ryan performing on Thursday, May 14. Boston-based singer Sheree Dunwell is live on Sunday, May 17. Flanagan says of Dunwell, “She can sing any style, and she is actually trained in opera. Her musical chops, the way she uses her instrument, are amazing.” —Saskia Maxwell Keller
