Pandemic Art’s Main Stage: The Street

Photo Via Break Down Brass

The clatter of silverware and murmur of dinner conversation overtook Christopher Street to give any Saturday night observer a hint that New York was still alive. Joining that noise was the sharp slap of the wood drumsticks against one another, the shuffling of feet against the pavement, as the band Break Down Brass settled near their new audience.

The group of eight stationed themselves across from the adapted socially distanced diners and began to play songs back to back. Much to the dismay of the first cold breeze wafting down New York’s Avenues, a crowd formed now inspired to remain outside. Dinner guests abandoned their manners to stand and glanced over the wall of bobbing listeners, jettisoned from their usual West Village walks.

Despite the closing of public spaces, art originally intended for galleries and music halls has managed to overflow into the city’s streets. Various bands, such as Break Down Brass, have become accessible to a crowd who might not consider seeing a brass band live.

The final number, “Crazy In Love” by Beyoncé, was the only song with a vocalist. The single woman in the band, weaving in and out of the crowd, created the distanced intimacy reminiscent of a time before pandemics.

The band picked up their things and the crowded returned to their journeys elsewhere towards Washington Square Park or deeper into the Greenwich Village cobblestoned streets. The music faded away in cinematic likeness marking the end of the spontaneous moment. In the new quiet, the final group left from the show, hollered joyfully at a waitress who crossed the street to relay that their table was ready.