Canceled: A Southern Portrait Pt. II — Soda Citizen

Photos and words by Sean Rayford

When I talked with Greg Slattery on Monday it was bad.

“That was the most devastating day in my life, as a business owner. I had to make phone calls to all of my employees and tell them it looks like I have to lay everyone off. But then Sandra and I regrouped.” he says about his partner Sandra Moscato, at Curiosity Coffee on North Main in Cottontown on Friday afternoon.

“There has been a huge outpouring of support. Beyond that though, it took some — and I think this happens with life in general, pandemic or no pandemic. But when you're sort of put up against the wall, you get creative or you die. And in this case, overnight we've created an online ordering platform which was instated two days ago, that provides people the opportunity to order in advance and those that feel, justifiably, unsafe, entering public buildings, we can bring it out curbside.”

They’ve introduced menu items that cater to our new world of to-go. A mimosa kit featuring champagne and a small orange juice is $12. “We do a brunch kit. You can get two quiches that are made local by Lucuma Gourmet who was at Soda City. So, we do her quiches, we do a bottle of champagne, and an orange juice and it's $25. We're going to put out mixed packs of locally sourced beer.”

Different than Monday, Greg now sees a path where his business can provide normalcy to his community while keeping the doors open and employing a staff.

But despite his outlook growing positive, he still sees big challenges moving forward and complains of a “lack of uniform communication from the federal government, to the state level, to the county and to then the city.” He’s not happy about conflicting statements from the Governor and the Department of Revenue.

On Monday, while confronting the worst, he spoke on a subject that I suppose many Americans are experiencing. “The troubling part is that I have family members who think it's a joke. They blame the Democratic Party and calling it a hoax. They are two weeks behind Trump. Two weeks ago, Trump is tweeting that's it's a hoax. He's obviously taking it more seriously. Fortunately. It's kinda mind blowing and that's almost been the hardest part for me.”

“That's really hard to swallow when I know that somebody close to me has bought into this idea that this is just some some sort of conspiracy. Viruses aren't very partisan."

Friday, March 20, 2020

Johnny "Holiday" Baez runs two barber shops in town. He works out of the Holiday’s location on Huger St. across from the university baseball stadium. From New York, Holiday is a former junior college cross country national champion who transferred to UofSC on a track & field scholarship, running the mile and half mile.

"I always was cutting hair. I started cutting hair in middle school. I was cutting hair when I went to two different junior colleges. When I transferred down here, I was cutting hair — my teammates and all that. It was just something I always did.” He’s been in small white building at the Huger St. location for four years, where 60% of his clientele comes from the university. “Over the last four days, we may have had only about five or six walk-ins. Normally we are looking at... we're normally looking at about 87. When you do the math, it’s tough. I feel for the barbers,” he says on Friday evening.

The husband, and father of a 17 month-old son expects the next few weeks - and months - to be devastating. His personal appointment based clientele is strong but he still sees a decline there. He worries that the disappearance of walk-ins is a look into the future for his clients.

But still, Holiday tries to find the light. “In some shape or form, it doesn't feel good but I think a lot of good could come out of it. It's waking people up to live different. To wanna do different. We're in the process of figuring things out -- but once it's said and done, things will never be the same.” .

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

“I've cried. I've gotten mad. I've gotten depressed. It's really weighing on my brain. And it ain't good going to bed… fucking sad,” says John Gibson on Wednesday afternoon sitting at an empty bar at The Comedy Closet in West Columbia. The day before, South Carolina governor Henry McMaster ordered the closing of businesses like his. The one he opened less than six months ago.

John is also my roommate, and the reason behind an occasional traveling comic passed out on the couch in the dining room. For now, a thing of the past.

He remembers the dagger coming Sunday night, when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced tri-state mandatory bar and restaurant closures. He knew South Carolina would follow suit. "Everyday I've watched the news. And you know what they always say about the news… There’s nothing good going on. And so everyday I've been waiting for the worst. And everyday the stress gets more and more. And I've been a little short with people and I didn't mean to be. But it’s been just waiting around for them to tell me to shut my doors. And they finally did that yesterday.”

Following the statewide order to shut down bars, the venue owner and stand up comic himself, spent weekday afternoons at the Meeting St. venue selling t-shirts, hats and gift certificates to the occasional supporter.

Gibson started live broadcasting on social media on Wednesday night with his “11pm Post Curfew Show.” It’s available on Facebook and Instagram and it helps with his own sanity.

The Comedy Closet has a Facebook Marketplace shop with merchandise and John’s $ app accounts are Redbeardcomic for both Venmo and CashApp.

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

“ALDI is hiring immediately, so I've been looking at that,” says Neasha Perry on Wednesday evening on Main St. in Columbia. There are plenty of open parking spots and it's pretty quiet. Nearby, one of the yellow shirts wipes off a bicycle rack, spray bottle in one hand.

“I've been looking at anything that's work from home related.” Perry was working two jobs, one in specialty retail sales and the other, at Gin’s Juice mobile bar where she’s been at the Soda City Market for the last two and half years. The retail employer has cut her hours and the markets and events are gone. “Both of my jobs are on edge right now. It's like whew! You don't know what can happen.”

Neasha’s boss didn’t think they’d cancel Soda City Market when they did, but Perry was worried after the college market got the axe when University of South Carolina students didn’t return from Spring Break.
“Next thing you know, large festivals and gatherings, markets -- all of that have been shut down. I wrote her back and was like, 'did you hear the news?' Her boss responded with an expletive.

“I've been trying to think if we can just deliver juice to people at home, or either just have pick-ups. Just something to supplement our income right now.”

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

“Pretty much, my entire life got cancelled,” says comedian Jenn Snyder, on Tuesday afternoon just before the Governor’s executive order closing restaurants and bars and delaying state taxes. “I’ve had 1…2,3,4,5,6,7 gigs cancel by the end of this month. I'm suppose to headline the Comedy Closet on the third and fourth of April. I assume that won't happen.
It won’t.

With life canceled, Jenn has been live streaming every night at 9 p.m. on Facebook, early in the week she provided commentary while watching Love is Blind. “It's a garbage show on Netflix. It's actually the worst show in the world. But, I like to talk shit about it. And people were watching and were like, 'I want to tip you for doing this, how can I do that?”

“I'm Probably gonna make a little money on that, but not enough to pay the bills. But still, enough to eat, things like that. I'm really grateful for the people that do that.”

Living with her parents, Jenn has been practicing social distancing much longer than her peers and skipped out on some events before the closures and cancellations. "I can't do it, I can't bring things back to my parents. I haven't been going out or doing anything. If I go to the store, I wear clothes that I take off before I get in the house. I know that sounds paranoid, but that's what I've been doing. I carry hand sanitizer on my all the time.

Jenn will be live-streaming every night at 9pm, her Venmo handle is @jenn-snyder-2 and her Paypal handle, jennsnydercomedy1@gmail.com

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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

As I pull into the parking lot at the South Carolina AV warehouse on Tuesday afternoon in West Columbia, Governor Henry McMaster delivers an executive order. I’m tuned into the live broadcast on NPR. Among other things, he closes bars and limits restaurants to to-go orders while extending state tax deadlines.

“I’m requiring the Department of Revenue to extend the state tax deadlines for all state taxes. They are delayed until June the first. That is to file and to pay. All state taxes. Incomes taxes, business taxes, sales taxes for small as well as large businesses, admissions taxes, motor fuel taxes, and any tax I've left out. The idea behind this is to allow these businesses to maintain their cash flow during this crisis in order that they be able to pay their employees,” he says. The statement would conflict with messaging from the DOR over the next few days, confusing and angering local business owners.

“A banking client has canceled all of their meetings. We just lost the Electric Co-Op down in Marlboro. The Convention Center, we are in house AV there, they've shut down the entire convention center until April, “says Hayden Graham,” head video tech at South Carolina AV, Inc.

But Hayden feels he is in a fortunate position; salaried with an employer that can weather the storm for a few months. “We had a meeting this morning and we kinda went over everything with the company. We're in good standing for the first wave. And if things get rough, we'll see what happens.”
In the meantime, Hayden plans to do some yard work.

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