The OSEES return to Henry Miller Library for a performance with no audience. (But you can watch online.)

About two months ago, in a year when live music has mostly been relegated to impromptu living room virtual performances, the Los Angeles-based experimental garage rock band OSEES decided to make the trip north to Big Sur and, along with a small crew of technical engineers, perform on the Henry Miller Memorial Library stage for an audience of no one.

“We had a small crew of our in-house recorders, some moviemakers and a couple folks from the venue to help us out,” says founding OSEES member John Dwyer. “We werereally quite fortunate to have the access.”

Magnus Toren, HMML executive director, stresses that safety precautions were strict during the filming. He says when promoter (((folkYEAH!))) contacted him about hosting the music event, the idea instantly resonated.

“It was an opportunity to both help the musicians continue to make music and to support the technical people who make their livelihood supporting the musicians,” he says. “I was impressed with the amount of energy that OSEES was able to muster without an audience – an audience can enhance the enthusiasm.”

Producing live shows has been something of a minefield in Monterey County. On Sept. 29, the County Health Department clarified that no live musical performances, even singer-songwriters at restaurants offering outdoor dining, were permitted – the logic being that musical entertainment promotes lingering. That’s meant recorded performances for no audiences, experienced only virtually.

OSEES, formed in San Francisco and now in its third decade of music making, first played Big Sur (the band then stylized as Thee Oh Sees) during the 2011 Woodsist Festival. Although unable to tour in 2020, the newest lineup offers no signs of slowing down. With multiple albums already released this year, and an expected forthcoming one based on a stream on Dec. 19 of the HMML recording, Dwyer prefers to keep busy.

“It keeps the wolf from the door, as it were,” he says. “Idle hands and all that.”

Likewise, the Henry Miller Library has found ways to adapt. Toren closed the doors to the bookstore, sealed a selection of books in Ziploc bags and hung them from a persimmon tree on the property – books growing on a tree. “Visitors are encouraged to literally pluck them from the tree,” Toren says.

While more streaming shows are in the pipeline, the format may outlast pandemic times. “It depends on the reception,” Toren says. “Streaming may be a way to augment what we think of as performing arts. This is something that we are going to live with and learn from and hopefully enjoy.”

OSEES at the Henry Miller Memorial Library streams at 8pm Saturday, Dec. 19. $3.98/streaming access; $9.98/stream plus WAV + 320 KBPS MP3 download. folkyeah.com/#/osees-henrymillerbigsur-2020.