Manny James, clad in a black bathrobe, was a third of the way through his set Sunday afternoon. He had just finished covering Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On?” when Corey, playing keyboards, approached the camera to make sure everything was in working order.
“This is what you do when you’re in quarantine with your bros,” he said. “You got to have music to feed your soul.”
Manny James brought himself, Corey on keyboards, and Ryan on guitar to perform for his fans, not at a club or a restaurant, but at a “secret location” — a recording studio. He broadcasted that set through his Instagram account, to the delight of dozens who peppered him with comments and hearts from start to finish. The show was intended to put out good vibes, give people a chance to relax, and offer a moment of catharsis.
“I feel like people are losing it,” James said in an interview before the show. “Every artist friend I’ve talked to is like, ‘I’m about to lose my mind.’ They’re stuck in the four walls and they can’t move, so that is handicapping their creativity. Even when it first happened, I said, ‘dude, we got to get ahead of this. Let’s figure out something.’… I have my studio. I reached out to my keyboardist, my guitarist. I reached out to the two of them and said, ‘let’s lock in, let’s have a show.’”
But James really intended it for his fans — “for people who feel like they’re trapped in the house and can’t do anything.” The afternoon set might give them a chance to “just be connected to other people, even if you can’t be in the same space as them,” James said.
“Music is our best form of communication,” James added. “There are things I might have difficulty communicating through words. It’s way easier to do through music. What better way to uplift people’s spirits than to do what we love to do?”
On Sunday afternoon, “What’s Going On?” led to the Manny James original “Dear America,” a thoughtful meditation on the realities of being a black man in the United States. It was a heartfelt performance, wistful and kind. Then James switched up the mood.
“Let’s party a little bit, bros. What else we got on that list?” They kicked into Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You.”
That was in keeping with what James had said before the show. “I think people are depressed,” he said. Getting laid off or working from home, taking care of children with schools closed, getting food from the grocery store as announcements kept coming to avoid unnecessary travel — “none of us were prepared for this,” he said. “Three million people signed up for unemployment. You might not get that check soon. Not knowing when your paycheck is coming in — I think that’s the main thing, more than anything. More than household responsibilities or kids.”
James didn’t have a solution. He just wanted to offer some solace, to “just put some positive energy out there and help people deal with their struggles…. even for an hour, 45 minutes, maybe they can take that energy and give it to someone else.”
James himself is currently unemployed. His wife has a steady job at Connecticut Valley Hospital; James is taking care of house and child. “She goes to work every day and I hold the fort down,” he said.
And he isn’t panicking. “A lot of it has to do with who I am personally,” James said. “Because of my upbringing, because of where I came from” — he grew up in Church Street South — “I’m able to survive things and put things in perspective.”
“My faith in God plays a role too,” he said. “I don’t feel the world is coming to an end. We’re in a rough patch.” But for James, that meant that “everybody needs to come together, do what we can, and we’ll pull through.”
In addition to caring for his son, James is “being constructive with the time. It’s working to my benefit.” He’s learning coding and working on music. He has just finished a new song, called “I’ll Never Let Go.”
“I want to say it’s the best record I’ve ever done,” he said. “I’m actually starting my own record label as well.” He’s planning on putting the new song out later this spring. “This was in the works before this,” meaning the outbreak, “happened, and I didn’t have the time to finish it. But now I do. Creatives always say that: We need more time. Now we have the time.”
As James keeps in contact with the people around him, he said, “I just hope that what we’re going through beings us closer, as a community, within our own homes. I feel like this is the time to really remember what’s important: a sense of pride in community, taking care of each other, having each other’s backs, and really working to make the world a better place…. It used to be about people and community and fun and being creative, cheering each other on. It’s getting back to that because people have no choice.”
“One foot in front of the other,” he added. “As long as we do that, we’ll be fine. We got to lock arms and get through it together.”
As things heated up in the studio Sunday afternoon — particularly due to some deft work from Corey as he filled in drum parts on his keyboard — James was in his element.
“We’re having fun. I’m feeling good,” he said. Ryan and Corey kicked up the energy a notch. “Hope you’re all feeling good. Hope you’re staying safe. Please practice social distancing.”
Then he asked his band to bring the energy back down. “We got one more joint. This is for all the ladies watching this,” he said. It was K‑Ci and JoJo’s sincere ballad “All My Life.”
“Sing it with us,” James said.
To check out the video of Manny James’s performance, visit his Instagram page.
Manny James is true Elm City treasure. Can't wait to hear the new music.
Be safe out here!