Legendary jazz musician Charles Lloyd has performed at some of the world's most famous music venues, like the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Now, he's stepping up to help a historic South Coast theater. One of his favorite performing arts venues is Santa Barbara's Lobero Theater Lloyd says as a performer, it’s been hard for the last few months to not be able to share his music in person with audiences.
Tonight, you can see the Charles Lloyd Ocean trio on stage at the Lobero. There’s no audience, but it’s a streamed event intended to being music to jazz fans, and raise money for the financially struggling theater.
The Lobero has lost more than a million dollars in income from cancelled events due to the pandemic. Two thirds of its staff has been furloughed, and like many theaters, nightclubs, and other performing arts venues, its future is a question mark.
David Asbell is Executive Director of the Lobero Theatre Foundation. He says since the shutdown, they’ve done things like hosting a blood drive to keep the theater involved in the community. But, perhaps the biggest project has been a series of lived, and taped performances at the Lobero produced for streaming,
Jazz artist Charles Lloyd is excited to be a part of the series.
The theater’s David Asbell says the live stream events aren’t big moneymakers, but they are good for music fans, and are helping. He think it will be next spring befor they can reopen for events.
The Lobero’s livestream pay-per-view events are designed to be affordable, with tickets just $15.00 each. A portion of proceeds are going to the non-profit National Independent Venue Association, which is fighting to keep performing arts venues alive.
The Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio streaming event begins at 8 Friday night. You can find information on that concert and other Lobero livestream events, like Steppenwolf’s John Kay November 13th, and a Thanksgiving weekend rebroadcast of Kenny Loggins “unplugged” show at: lobero.org
