THIS IS HOW WE DO IT

We'll get through this time, after time

The last two months have felt like years, haven’t they? The national mood feels very similar to the 2020 Covid lockdowns, when we had no idea what would happen to us as a nation or when we would ever feel “normal” again.

I was reminded of those feelings today thanks to those pesky Facebook Memories that will gutpunch you without warning. Aside from several posts about my sons when they were little, there were reminders from 2020 - early 2022 that got me good.

Everybody went through shit back then. I spent the initial months of the quarantine alone—my sons stayed at their dad’s house where they had more space and their own rooms. In the late summer of 2020, I got my cats, Duke and Maxine, which helped, but you try going through menopause during a pandemic all by yourself, my friends.

Aside from writing The Sound of Settling because I wasn’t going to make sourdough bread and I didn’t identify as “crafty” at the time (where were you when I needed you, Taylor Swift friendship bracelets?), one major thing kept me sane until everything reopened.

I had finally found my people, my community: the Low Bar Chorale, which began as a one-off event in 2016 soon after David Bowie died and we gathered inside the Planetarium at OMSI to sing his songs with a live band.

It was such a beautiful experience that people wanted to do it again. It was first called The OK Chorale because it’s not about how well anyone sings—it’s about people wanting to sing. Nothing connects people or creates memories like experiencing live music together, and it feels physically good to sing. It started at Martha’s, the smallest bar at Revolution Hall, but quickly grew enough that we moved upstairs to the Assembly Lounge. And then we outgrew that space and have moved back downstairs to ShowBar, where we still have our regular meetups.

This community has brought me the kind of friendships with other women I’d been seeking my entire adult life. It gave me a break from the rigors of the service industry job I was working at the time, the money stresses, and the terrible dating experiences. I’ve called it my “group therapy” from the start. I’m now a volunteer and get to be at every show. I promise we’re not a cult, even though we do have some pretty great hats and t-shirts.

During the pandemic, when we couldn’t be together in person, our band’s lead singer and driving force behind Low Bar, Ben Landsverk, figured out a way for us to remain connected until we could return to Rev Hall. A lot of people did a lot of work creating our Virtual Chorales, and the results are just stunning.

I won’t post them all, but I’ll share my favorite favorites. “God Only Knows” is one of our signature songs. We do it every year at our holiday show, Snow Bar Chorale. But it became even more meaningful when we had to sing it separately.

“In Your Eyes” was incredible. I tweeted it on Peter Gabriel’s birthday and John Cusack retweeted it! Those harmonies make my eyes get all wet with feels.

This is an example of what we sound like when we’re together. If the harmonies don’t get you early in the song, they should smack you hard once we get to the acapella ending.

*sniffles*

Low Bar Chorale is my favorite thing in the whole world that requires me to leave my apartment, and I couldn’t be more grateful. The whole point of this is to reiterate what Ben keeps saying at the end of our shows now: DO NOT ISOLATE. Get out. Go be with your people. I wish your city had a Low Bar Chorale, because everyone should get to feel the way we do when we sing together. But this is how we’ll get through this time, after time.

If you’re in Portland, please come to one of our shows, because I guarantee you’ll feel better after you leave. It’s impossible to not have a great time. If you’re going to visit, try to plan your trip around a Low Bar, because you won’t regret it.

(PS, please tune into THE TARA SHOW today at 2 pm/11 am and join the chat!)