The Pandemic Blues, Part 13: An inspiring story that still resonates

This column on one of Attleboro’s most recognizable faces, disc jockey Nate Adams, first was published in The Sun Chronicle in June, but it’s just as relevant – and inspiring – almost six months later as it was when I first wrote it.
It’s an especially good read as we navigate another major surge in COVID-19 cases, and the continued anxiety over the election that won’t end due to well …….. you know why.
Let’s just pray that people start acting like menschen – the Yiddish word for decent people – just as the subject of this column, Nate Adams, has been for his entire life.
God bless you, Nate.

UPDATE TO THIS STORY ON JAN. 6, 2021!

Attleboro DJ’s drive-by
concerts going strong
Here’s an update to last June’s story about Attleboro disc jockey Nate Adams providing drive-by musical entertainment at area homes during the coronavirus pandemic for a donation to the Norton Parks and Recreation Department. Adams says that to date, he’s done more than 200 such musical visits, including more than 100 for the Norton Parks and Recreation Department. For a $10 donation to the department, Adams will come to your house and play five or more songs to celebrate any occasion, including birthdays, anniversaries and weddings. To request music, contact Sharon Rice of the Norton Parks and Recreation Department and Norton's Cupboard of Kindness Food Pantry at RiceS@nortonmaus.com or 508-285-0228. Or contact Adams at 508-226-2668 or at djspecial@comcast.net. Adams stresses that he doesn’t charge a fee, but welcomes donations to area charities.

This column was originally published on June 4, 2020 in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA.

To request drive-by music, contact Nate Adams at 508-226-2668 or at djspecial@comcast.net.  There’s no charge, but a donation to Norton's Cupboard of Kindness Food Pantry will be appreciated.

If you were to call longtime Attleboro resident Nate Adams the city’s pied piper-in-residence, the thousands of people who have listened to the music he’s played as a DJ at community events over the last three decades would likely agree. 
They also might call him a rock star.
That’s because Nate, as he's known to his fans, has been a mainstay at countless city events over the last 30 years, including the Lees Pond Festival, the city’s Memorial Day parade, Fourth of July fireworks, youth sports parades, community fundraisers, road races and Kids Day in North Attleboro.
Not even the coronavirus pandemic has stopped him from spinning tunes; he's merely taking the music ---  ranging from rock, pop, old standards and patriotic to Top 40 hits --- on the road to people's homes.

In the beginning
Adams, 64, has “been collecting music and building sound systems since 1978,” and said he became a DJ at local events to fill a need for Attleboro. It all started, he recalled in an email interview, six months after he moved to the city from Boston.
“I went to my first Memorial Day event on Attleboro Veterans Memorial Common,” he said. “They were setting up for the morning event and all they had was a small Radio Shack speaker. I offered my assistance because I had a sound system in my van. That morning, they had full sound and patriotic music filling the air. That was the beginning of my sharing with the city of Attleboro.”
Not long after, he stopped by the city’s Fourth of July fireworks at Hayward Field “and once again they had no public address system and no musical entertainment. I offered my services and was told the budget only allowed the city to present the fireworks display. I volunteered my services and returned the next year on the Fourth of July.”
Adams kept that patriotic tradition alive this Memorial Day, when he played music for veterans at both the city’s Veterans Memorial Common and the Veterans Triangle at Capron Park.

Devoted to Sturdy
Adams --- a single father of Crystal, 24, a Suffolk University graduate --- worked full time for 30 years at Sturdy Memorial Hospital, where he had been an environmental aid in general services before retiring in February.
But the pandemic quickly ended his retirement, as he received a call from Sturdy “wondering if I would be able to come back to work and help keep our staff in PPEs. I returned to the hospital to help keep our small in-house laundry service running. We are washing isolation gowns and nursing scrubs around the clock to keep the staff equipped with protective wear,” he said. “I have remained on the staff as a casual worker, and when health restrictions are lifted from volunteer service, I will join the volunteer staff” working with the oncology department’s transport unit.

Giving back during the pandemic
Adams, whose last major gig before the pandemic was the Winter Night Festival in downtown Attleboro, hasn’t let COVID-19 stop him from giving back as he’s been playing music on a drive-by basis after being inspired by seeing social media posts about people “coming together to sing songs, play instruments and connect. I found it very inspirational. I put the call out in my circle of friends and family to do the same,” he said. 
Requests started pouring in. “On the first day out, there was a family in Pawtucket who wanted a drive-by for a 13-year-old, and a family in Bellingham who wanted me to park in their driveway and play music for a 9-year old while the fire and police departments came by, followed by at least 30 vehicles with sirens and honking horns going. It was so exhilarating.”
Interest grew, he said, after speaking with Sharon Rice of the Norton parks and recreation department and Norton's Cupboard of Kindness Food Pantry. A post about Adams on the department’s Facebook page went viral.
“The first day we spoke, Sharon had two” requests within 30 minutes, he said. “Within three days, she had to create a spreadsheet with 20 music visits listed,” he said.
“That number grows every day,” he said. “I’ve done birthday celebrations of all ages, three wedding anniversaries, and one couple celebrated their 50th anniversary. I had a request to just come and play music in the driveway for some children; it turned out to be a father-daughter dance.”
In return for his services arranged through Rice, “she receives donations that go to the Norton food pantry,“ he said.
Besides playing music, Adams has also been running errands for homebound seniors.
“I received a call from a retiree from Sturdy who wanted to check up and see how I was doing, and I also wanted to know if she was well. As it turned out, she needed assistance with errands that needed to be run and she had health issues that didn’t allow her to leave her home,” he said. 
He was soon helping out others.
“These fine ladies served Sturdy for many years and were always kind and loving to me when they saw me on the job,” he said. “They’re having a tough time, and helping others is what we’re here to do in life.
“I believe this is my destination in life,” he said.
That's especially true during this life-altering pandemic.

Larry Kessler is a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor. He can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com.

THE STORY ONLINE can be found at:
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/coronavirus/renowned-attleboro-dj-nate-adams-putting-his-own-spin-on-helping-during-pandemic/article_df9236e2-f73b-5306-a803-92415ac49687.html