Creating Unity in Community: How PVD performers create connection in virtual space and what they’ll take with them into physical space

When I sat down (virtually), with three Rhode Island musicians, I had no idea their takeaways from navigating pandemic life would overlap as much as they did. For all three, Dylan Block-Harley, Chachi Carvalho and Roz Raskin, what’s most important is creating art and community in Rhode Island and beyond. This three-article series explores how having to pivot to engage with virtual programming has impacted and inspired them. 

The first interview in this series is with Dylan Block-Harley (MisSter Dylan), a dedicated creator and long-time Providence musician who comes from a family of performers and storytellers. When I asked him about performing in virtual spaces, he talked about a show he did with his dad Bill Harley (hands down his number one influence) and his brother Noah Block-Harley (of the Horse-eyed Men), which was livestreamed from the Columbus Theatre.  

Mayté Antelo-Ovando: What has the experience of performing virtually been like?

Dylan Block-Harley: From talking to [my dad] it seems like the big challenge is changing your mindset from performing to an audience that’s a living creature — in the room with you, [to being] online, [where] that is removed. I think it can feel like a vacuum. The job is to switch the mentality to more of a TV sort of mindset. That’s what my dad said, “The person you’re performing to is right there.” So it’s this direct like, “Hi! How are you? You know, how are YOU doing?” Which, if you think about it, is actually a really powerful, totally different opportunity and way to connect with people. 

If you have the intention to connect as deeply with the person on the other side of the screen as you can — I mean, like Mr. Rogers. You watch Mr. Rogers and he’s talking directly to the kid who’s trying to figure out how to tie his shoes. I think there’s a deepened level of potential for intimacy. Live concerts have so much extra shit and noise around them, there’s the bar, there’s the load-in, there’s the soundcheck, there’s the where are we going to eat, there’s the how many people are going to come? Fuck — there’s people here now! It’s a really demanding setting, it means that all switches are all the way on, as opposed to the one switch. 

My hope, and what I’m looking forward to in the live concert, is being able to really focus on turning the one switch on, which is I am fully present and here with you now. I’m looking forward to the intimacy on stage that my brother and my dad and I will be able to have as a result of having the stage just to ourselves. I feel so blessed that we get to do this together… not just have this common language of music and be family, but to get to share that together and with other people on stage is such a … how blessed can you be?

Reflecting on a pre-recorded show he did with RI Monthly through PVD Live, Dylan said:  

D: I feel like this pandemic has been such a pressure cooker for a lot of artists I know because what does it mean to engage with the internet now that that’s all I have to reach an audience? I can’t go down to Nick-a-Nee’s and plug in. I have all of this impulse to create that’s not going anywhere and I have this incredible tool to play with and work with. And I think that it really demands meta-creativity. You know, there’s the thing that you’re making and then there’s how you’re going to present it. What function does it serve on this all-functioning machine? 

M: Yeah, what function does it serve? 

D: My art? I had what my father would call a  “come to Jesus” moment. I’ve spent so much time agonizing over what it means and needing it to mean something. And I had this moment where I was like, you know what? Fuck what it means. The purpose of this is just that I make stuff and share it with people. That’s it. That’s all it is. I don’t need to impose meaning on it. I just need to make it and get it to where it needs to go and still focus on creating. And so the intention with the Patreon [where he posts video and audio weekly] is to have a practice of showing up every week. It was just my mom at the start — you know, it’s family and friends. The hope is that it will grow over time. 

M: Since you talked about that intimacy that’s created, what that might that look like when you are able to have live performances next? 

D: Yeah! I’m too excited about the prospect of playing music for people in person, really in person. Were you at the Willy Mason show at Nick-a-Nee’s? The sun was just streaming through and there were people in the room that were just so happy to be a) in his presence and b) listening to this, and being in each other’s presence. That presence being threaded with music is … I mean, what’s better than that? You know? I imagine that there’s also gonna be (eventually) a pretty banging house show scene, which I think will potentially add to that level of intimacy. 

I think one thing people are starving for right now is realness. Real actual interaction with something that is alive and means something to them. Just because we’ve been so dissociated from one another and our normal. I mean, our culture is pretty dissociated in general. So I hope one silver lining of this is that we don’t take shit for granted. Like nothing, absolutely nothing. I wanna shout out my dad real quick, he has a great poem called, “Take Nothing for Granted.”

Hopefully [live shows are] deeper and better than they have ever been. And I would be shocked if that were not the case. You know, like, I’m talking world peace. That’s what I want. That’s what I want out of this fucking thing, I want world peace. 

M: Is there anything that you think has changed for you because of this reality that you might take with you into future live shows? 

D: Yeah. I mean, Mayté, everything has changed. I get a little bit gun shy when people ask me how I’m doing because I know there are a lot of people fucking struggling right now, and as much as we promote self-care and all of that, we really have to start taking care of (each other). Like if you see somebody in need and you know what it is they need and you’re able to do something about it, you have an obligation to do that. That’s how I’m trying to move through the day now.

That aside, back to the creativity. Everything has changed. I’m making a [kids] TV show, “The Dilly Show!,” right now in my basement. That wouldn’t have happened without the pandemic and also without, like, a week off work. 

Towards the end of our conversation Dylan spoke about access and meaningful connection through technology. 

M: We haven’t talked about this yet, but the access that is created in virtual space… 

D: As in, anybody can access it from anywhere you mean? Yes, provided we figure out a way to get high-speed internet to every low-income family in Providence. I mean, and the world. The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed. But to your point, it’s bigger than busking, man. Busking’s cool cause you never fucking know who’s gonna walk by. But the internet is weirder. 

M: Virtual space still does foster connection. It’s amazing that you really can connect. 

D: You can! Every other week I’m part of group therapy, a men’s group. Right now it’s just white cis-men. That’s all done on Zoom and it has been deep connective tissue for me during this time, that challenges me, and [has] made me do some deep deep work, you know? So, shout out, therapy!

Lastly, when reflecting on the future and creating, Dylan said:  

As my mother-in-law Susan Doyle says, “The process is revelatory.” Every artist should have that written on their wall. I think my hope for what I’m making next is that it gives life to the part of myself that I haven’t been in touch with enough to actually let out. You know like, this little light … let it shine. You know, Weird Al’s (his number one influence for the Dilly Show) light is pretty pretty bright! [Weird Al is Dylan’s number one influence for “The Dilly Show!.”] So moral of the story, everybody go listen to “Everything you know is wrong,” because it’s the greatest song of all time. Come at me. 

MisSter Dylan is creating and launching “The Dilly Show!” in the coming months. Follow him on Instagram @missterdylan or become his patron on Patreon (patreon.com/missterdylan) for more updates! Stream his music at missterdylan.bandcamp.com