When you spy a fireman on a balcony, you pray for lives to be saved. When that fireman is Dante Mazzetti singing from a balcony, your ears perk up and your attention becomes fixed.
With over forty-two thousand followers on Facebook, Dante Mazzetti must be doing something right. As both a singer/songwriter with a folksy style, and as New York City fireman, Dante Mazzetti has become quite an unintended social media master.
In the continuing search for guests on The Long Island Sound podcast, I came across Dante on Facebook. I’m positive that the AI (Artificial Intelligence) led me to him, or maybe it was some sort of cosmic connection that led to our interview.
Covid Creativity
The impact of the quarantine and Covid changed our lives forever. Even the landscape of the New York City workplace has taken on a new shape, as many refuse to go back to the old normal and reimagine their workplace as more mobile than ever. Musicians accustomed to working out in the trenches of pubs, bars and music festivals were relegated to their homes to sort out the next steps in their creative careers. Some felt the stifling effect of not being heard, and others turned to their creative minds to discover new outlets for their art. Everyday people resorted to Zoom calls to keep connected to family, friends and community. Yet the desire to connect with each other on a deeper level was a thirst unquenched.
Technology can be a challenge to baby boomers like myself, whereas younger generations seem to be born with a Matrix-type connectivity which still amazes me.
I’ve followed some musician’s live streams on Facebook, some great, and some not so great. I was introduced to Twitch, as an alternative to the Facebook Livestream, which has brought a modicum of success to performing musicians during quarantine. Twitch was originally started by a group who built a community of like-minded video gamers in need of a competitive environment to showcase their skills. Eventually the platform, geared to quality video, evolved into a virtual stage for musicians seeking the thrill of a live performance. The ability to have a virtual tip cup, allowed musicians to generate income during the shutdown.
Maybe it’s the lack of a live audience that hindered many musicians from effectively commanding the virtual live stream. Maybe it was the perceived chasm of technology to overcome which encumbered the performance, I don’t know, but I do know when someone is able to command the platform. The ability to have themselves heard and drive more and more fans to their music, and seemingly crack the social media code to build a new fanbase. I put Dante Mazzetti in the win column. Facebook has been Dante’s goto platform for live streaming, supported by Instagram ads to attract new fans.
“The first time I was like, you know, it’s like, sideways, the whole show, but then, you know, people really started to jump in.”
Dante Mazzetti
There’s a Dylan-like quality to Dante’s demeanor and performance. He invites you onto his balcony as his intimate style of performing allows you to peer into his world. We can read about Dylan’s entrance to the Folk scene in Greenwich Village, and imagine what it was like to see him at Cafe Wha. I would think the impact of these early hootenanny’s may have been the inspiration for Dante Mazzetti’s daily balcony sessions during the Covid quarintine.
Bellowing from a Balcony
The live steam balcony sessions started out as a daily routine as his followers on Facebook and social media began to grow. The marketing and business acumen of his wife Jessica, helped propel them into the stratosphere of notoriety, allowing this humble podcast host to take notice.
With my suburban mindset, I asked Dante, how did his neighbors react to the sessions? He said they started their queries, when his sessions became less frequent, as they hope for more. It appears the community was not only building on the Internet, but locally as well.
Dante and Jessica were recent guests of mine on the Long Island Sound podcast, and I began to digest his music in preparation for the conversation. I became intrigued by the depth of his lyrics, especially in the song, Blue and Gold. Dante seems to be very prolyfic in his songwriting, hitting the studio every six weeks or so to nail down more tracks and recently written songs. We explored the song Hey Mama, which made me reminisce about the musings of Hank Williams, as Dante painted his landscape in lyric and melody, accented by an old soul in a young man.
Dante is a multi-instrumentalist, covering the gamut of styles that we now call Americana. His music is comforting and warm, as he seems ready to pick up the guitar anytime, anywhere to entertain or just hang out. Here’s what Jessica had to say about his songwriting:
“And, and I think in all of Dante’s music when it does have a positive spin, which he’s doing a lot more lately, there is this dose of reality.”
Jessica Gerono
Prior to Covid, Dante would perform over sixty shows a year, Mazzetti has been featured on radio stations throughout the world, has opened for several major artists, such as Ben Folds, Guster, and America, and was chosen to star in Levi’s “What’s True” national television commercial campaign. Ten years into his formal musical career, I believe he is on the brink to set things ablaze with his music.
As an active New York City Fireman, the reality of the day hits you in a moment’s notice. Each call to respond could just be an unintended alarm or chance to save a life from a burning inferno. Dante’s development of the muse is both tangible and sensible, calling us to be present in the moment, with the promise of igniting an interest to know more about this artist, and reminding us that maybe it’s time to just hang out on the balcony.
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