Dear Reader
In the years to come, when we think about this time, the time of a massive global pandemic and the lockdown that ensued, there will be hallmarks we'll remember. The masks, the rainbow notes in the windows, the 7pm cheer time, the Club Quarantine sessions and the weird dreams of sleep-deprived and anxiety-filled nights. There are many things I won’t want to keep after this — the image of refrigerator trucks outside hospitals is one I wish I could erase completely from my mind — but there are a few things I would like to keep. Like the notes in the windows and the 7pm cheer time. Wherever we find ourselves in the future, when we’re allowed to be in close contact again — heading out to dinner or walking into a movie — we could still clap for 2 minutes. Maybe as a reminder of those we lost during this time, but also a reminder of our collective resiliency and a little encouragement to anyone who may be struggling in life, to keep moving forward. Maybe it’s a tad naive, but I’m hanging onto the way I would like the world, my world, to be after this.
I also wouldn’t mind keeping the Club Quarantine parties. I do so enjoy hanging out with the likes of Michelle Obama and Naomi Campbell and not even having to do my hair or makeup for it.
Here are today’s entertainment options:
1. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which is meant to open in December (who knows if that will be the case), in collaboration with Oscar-winning costume designer Ruth E Carter, is putting out colouring pages each week. Every Tuesday, Ruth adds a new page to her Instagram, so head over there for today’s.
2. Pulitzer Prize-winning Suzan-Lori Parks is back at the Public Theater, after last week’s #WatchMeWork ‘performance piece’ via Zoom. You get to see her working on her latest writing project and then she’ll answer questions you might have about your own writing process, 5-6pm EST. All the deets are here.
3. Tomorrow at 5pm PST / 8pm EST, Deftones’ Sergio Vega is hosting a DJ set on the Deftones official Twitch. Useless fun fact, a Deftones concert was the first US concert I ever attended.
4. Digital Dragfest, which started last month as a week-long affair continues until the end of April with some of the biggest drag stars in the biz. Each show is 30 minutes, all-ages, and a once-off experience that’s not recorded or re-released. Tickets are limited too.
5. Chicago’s 101 WKQX is hosting bands in its #TheLounge sessions (last night I watched a Bush show from Gavin Rossdale that took me right back to my teenage years in Benoni), and tonight they’ll have The Head and the Heart on at 6pm EST.
As ever, thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this, please do share and subscribe. In case you haven’t heard it yet, I’ll leave you with Light of Love, the previously unreleased track Florence Welch put out this past Friday, as a way to raise awareness for the Intensive Care Society COVID-19 Fund.
“The song is about the world coming at you so fast and you feel like you won’t survive it, but in actually bearing witness to the world as it is, it’s really the only place you can be of service. I found so many ways to numb myself out, to hide from the world, and although waking up from that was painful, it’s never been more important not to look away, to keep an open heart even if it hurts, and to find ways to keep showing up for the people that need you. Even from a distance.” - Florence Welch.
Stay safe, stay sane
Your neighbour
Nadia