Once, Boston was âa special placeâ where musicians thrived
By Malcolm Gay Globe Staff,Updated March 12, 2021, 7:53 a.m.
Email to a Friend
By almost any measure, keyboardist Wesley Nagy was doing pretty well.
The Vineyard Haven musician had carved out a comfortable life for himself, playing the islandâs lucrative wedding circuit, serving as music director at Grace Church, and gigging at bars and other venues with his reggae-infused cover band, The Grateful Dread.
One year after the onset of the pandemic, however, Nagy has seen his performance schedule evaporate. His income has shrunk to less than a quarter of what it was before the COVID-19 crisis. Heâs racked up an estimated $80,000 in credit card debt. And although he had been trying to make ends meet doing construction, that came to a crashing halt last summer when he cut off his little finger while sawing a piece of oak. Now heâs on unemployment, hoping eventually to sell some property he and his estranged wife acquired over the years.