Dear Reader
Back into a new week in this new normal. How was your weekend? I did one of the things a lot of people seem to be doing during this time — bake. Well, technically, it wasn’t true baking because most of the ingredients came from a box. But I tell you, as soon as I saw those little chocolate cupcakes start to rise through the oven window, I squealed with glee. I know most people have been making bread or banana bread, which I’d also like to try, but I have no flour and yeast, and these items seem to be as coveted as toilet paper at this time (okay, perhaps not as much, but still not as easy to come by). I don’t know what it is about the need to create food in a time of crisis, but it seems to go hand-in-hand with the need to eat a lot of it too.
Here are today’s picks of online entertainment options:
1. The National Gallery of Victoria opened up its Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines exhibition virtually so you can peruse artworks that show the intersections between the artists’ lives, practices and ideas. It includes more than 200 images — that you can leisurely peruse without the dozens of people that cramped the space when the exhibition was open in real life (or you know, having to fly to Australia).
2. One of the things I miss most about South Africa is going on game-drives. The Kruger National Park is hosting 2 live game-drives a day, which you can watch on YouTube. Morning drive is 5:30-8:30am CAT (in the US that would be the night before, 8:30pm PST/11:30 pm) and 3:30-6:30pm CAT/6:30am PST/ 9:30am EST for the afternoon drives. Game rangers are on hand too, and apparently there is a hyena that gave birth to 3/4 little pups recently that they have been checking on each day.
3. While the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles is currently closed, the institution has been opening its digital archives, sharing exclusive interviews filmed at the museum. And today’s band is Kool and the Gang! The Recording Academy have more events planned and I’ll be including them in here in the days to come, so do make sure you’re signed up so you can get down on it. [Insert lame joke drum sound effect here.]
4. Broadway.com will livestream a reading by Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Zachary Quinto and Ari Graynor of the late Terrence McNally’s acclaimed 1991 play Lips Together, Teeth Apart to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund. The livestream will be dedicated to McNally, who died on March 24 of COVID-19 complications. Watch here at 5pm PST/8 pm EST.
5. You know what hasn’t been cancelled during this whole thing? Open Mic Nights. If you have a song to sing, a poem to recite or a story to tell, you’ll find an audience at the Virtual Open Mic NYC. Sign up for tonight’s event here.
Thank you for reading — and for making it to the end of this newsletter. Please do come back again tomorrow. I like sharing these events and I hope you enjoy reading about them.
I’ll leave you with the wonderful Hamilton reunion that John Krasinksi gifted one young girl called Aubrey — and in the process, all of us Hamilfans too — on his new show Some Good News. It was the Zoom Where It Happened. [Insert excellent joke drum sound effect here.]
Stay safe, stay sane
Your neighbour
Nadia
I'm loving the Safari options! I really envy those game rangers...