“At 7pm we will have a NYC clap”
Dear Reader
I sat late into the night reading the stories and anecdotes about folk singer John Prine that filled the Internet, following the news of his death at the age of 73, due to complications from the coronavirus. Stories, either spoken, by the likes of Bill Murray, who credited the folk-singer with lifting him out of depression, or sung, by the likes of Brandi Carlisle, who played for him on her guitar into the quiet hours. Earlier in the night, Schitt’s Creek ended its 6-season run with a fan-pleasing finale and the moon rose into the sky as a big and luminescent pink ball (if you could see it through the clouds). All of this to say, this new reality we are living in is sometimes starkly hard to process. The sound of the sirens here in New York used to blend into the background of the city’s soundtrack. Now we hear them as a constant reminder of what is going on behind the closed doors of the city’s hospitals, that over 700 people died in one day in our beloved Big Apple. But I also hear the birds a lot more too. And that’s no small feat.
Onward we go, though, as steadfast as we can be. Today’s entertainment options for these times:
1. The PBS channel WNET is making 5 shows from its series Great Performances available for free online, from now until May 27. This includes last year’s Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Much Ado about Nothing, which I could not score tickets to, starring Orange Is the New Black's Danielle Brooks and Grantham Coleman. Check out their site for the other shows.
2. The Roots have created a whole week’s worth of events - and that’s aside from all the daily/nightly turn-tabling Questlove has been doing. Today Roots’ guitarist, “Captain” Kirk Douglas, will host the second in his series about playing with musical heroes. Today’s subject is Stevie Wonder. Which is lovely if you saw when Mr Wonder called into Questlove’s live homage Stevland Saturday, the other night? Pure joy.
3. If you’re a fan of soothing voices that act as a balm for the soul, might I suggest some James Vincent McMorrow? He’ll be playing his first album, Early in the Morning, from beginning to end today, 10am PST/ 1pm EST.
4. The Museum of Graffiti has created its very first colouring book — the first volume of what it seems will be a number of books to come is now available. You can download the pages from their website and colour in art from the likes of NOC167, Scribe, Ghost, Pure and Endzo any which way you may like.
5. If you’ve ever seen an advert for those Masterclass courses on Facebook but never taken one, here’s your chance. Neil deGrasse Tyson is hosting a livestream one, answering questions and talking about science. It’s today at 5pm PST/8pm EST. I’d say this one could be both entertaining and informative right now.
Thank you for reading. I’m going to leave you with this young 7-year-old Greek boy, Stelios Kerasidis, playing an ‘isolation waltz’ on his piano. It’s quite beautiful.
Stay safe, stay sane
Your neighbour
Nadia