Dear Reader
Here, we are, Day #234 of this whole thing. My home country, South Africa, joins many other parts of the world and us here in New York, in lockdown /quarantine/ isolation/shelter-in-place, as of midnight tonight. While we here in New York have been allowed to go out for walks and run (and some people continue to play basketball), their lockdown will not allow for that. But doing it full-on is the way it will work, according to everything I’ve read from Italy, South Korea and China. The more consistent the approach to tackle the Coronavirus, the more likely it will work. I know there are factors that don’t make it easy for everyone to shutdown but we’re living through unprecedented times and if each country could learn from the other, “flattening the curve” could be the next big, necessary, worldwide hit.
I’d like to include more events from Africa for this list, so if you have any suggestions, please do send along. I’m hoping to make this a global thing of joy in these terrible times. Here, then, is today’s list of entertainment options for this ghastly time:
1. Global Citizen’s #TogetheratHome series continues with another packed line-up today - Kygo at 11am PST/2pm EST, Jon Batiste at 2pm PST/5pm EST, Ty Dolla Sign at 3pm PST/ 6pm EST. But my pick for music would be the Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert that will be broadcast on KCRW, which was recorded on March 16, when the group performed in LA at CAP-UCLA. 9pm PST, 12am EST, 6am CAT.
2. Following a decades-long residency at Joe’s Pub, Justin Vivian Bond is hosting Auntie Glam’s cabaret ‘I Hate The Spring’ Happy Hour! — live-screaming from the “House of Whimsy” in upstate New York — at 2pm PST/ 5pm ET / 9pm GMT. V encourages you to mix yourself a cocktail or a mocktail, play dress up at home and join in the fun. Thanks to The Queer Review for this tip.
3. Meanwhile Canada-based actress Rebecca Perry is doing a condensed, ‘intimate fireside edition’ of her solo show, From Judy to Bette: The Stars of Old Hollywood on YouTube Live, at 6:30pm EST / 3:30pm PT / 10:30pm GMT.
4. It may not be everyone’s cuppa tea, but Miley Cyrus has been hosting a daily live talkshow on her IG, between 11:30 PST/ 2:30 EST/ 6:30pm GMT, with guests like Ellen DeGeneres, Rickey Thompson (oh my gawd!) and Reese Witherspoon. Today she’ll have Antoni from Queer Eye, Mark Ronson and Ryan Tedder.
5. The Seattle Symphony is playing its part in sharing performances that provide strength, comfort and joy. Today, at 7:30pm PST/ 10:30pm EST / 2:30am GMT (for you insomniacs) Dvořák Symphony No. 8 is on the menu.
Thank you for reading.
Until tomorrow, I’ll leave you with the musings of Marc Foster, from Foster the People, and his new song, It’s Okay to Be Human.
Stay safe, stay sane
Your neighbour
Nadia