OJAI MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021
much to the detriment of live-music venues. Since live music has been basically dead, or at best, sporadic, many musicians now play on-line, so it’s kinda like watching MTV (back when they still had music) except that now you have to pay. It’s like going to the drive-in except you don’t have to drive. A better example is Coachella. OK, so you pay a zillion dollars and drive a million miles to Indio to see Paul McCartney, but there’s so many people there and you’re so far away, you end up watching Sir Paul on a big screen. Then again, by rocking at home,
you probably won’t waste your few remaining good years waiting in line to return that rental beer; also, there are no bartenders that can’t see or hear you and no bouncers that hate your face — then again, you probably won’t meet your next future ex-boyfriend/ girlfriend while sitting in front of your computer. Then again, you will avoid those 2 a.m. buzz-kill conversations with the cops. Yet, there’s clearly something magical about live music — that opportunity to experience the transcendental power of the words and the beat — especially
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if the band does not suck. OK, to review: Live music may not be dead, but at least, for now, it’s missing in action. Will it come back as before or is the future soundtrack of our lives watching music on some device, and not drinking to excess in a bar? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, Ojai Valley musicians, like musicians everywhere, are still at it despite the pandemic. It all boils down to a few easy questions: How have you survived? When was your last gig? When is your next gig? Just as Charlie don’t surf, Char-Man don’t rock — neither the hot sauce nor the scary legend lurking in the dark near Camp Comfort on Creek Road — but then there’s Char-Man the band, at it for almost 20 years and they definitely do rock. Even still, sort of … according to frontman Maher Zaidi it’s the same, only different. SURVIVAL: “There’s still a Char-Man. It’s thriving at this time. We did put out our third album last year, “The Power of the Night,” and people seem to really like it. We recorded it right before the pandemic and released it in July, and we also went into the studio at the beginning of the new year and recorded a single. We still practice — working on our chops and also working on a new album. We can’t play shows but once a week we get together to work on new music.
by BILL LOCEY
Roll
LAST TIME: “The last show we did was at the end of 2019, so we’re waiting for all that to open up again. We also did do a Ventura Theatre live stream on Halloween — it wasn’t really before an audience but it’s up on YouTube. NEXT TIME: I guess the only way you can support the band is to buy our records and when we can, we’ll play for you, but we’re still here, working on new material and we’ve never sounded better. Keepin’ the faith and keepin’ it alive, you know?”
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