Is it too soon to return to normal life?
Of course it is. But things changed today. Saying "the worst is over," New York Mayor Andrew Cuomo announced that the governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Delaware were forming a task force to plan for re-opening schools and the states' economies.
That's not all. Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden held a televised lovefest straight out of The Kaminsky Method. If you didn't feel safer with these alter kockers agreeing for once, you probably haven't been as scared as the rest of us. (Even funnier, their ad libs.)
So, no. Stay hunkered down. Don't stop wearing your Old West bandannas if you go out.
But you can be happy, just a little. Or hopeful.
While you're still stuck at home, Music Editor Brian Cullman concocted a playlist he calls Upfulness. A reggae word. It will make you feel a whole lot better than that crackpot malaria remedy. (No, seriously, don't take that.)
Di party gon tun up now.
Upfulness.
Just what it sounds like.
Like sunflowers reaching for the light, it’s a reaching out for joy, even in the midst of tragedy and sorrow.
Sweet & Dandy is dedicated to Sam Clayton, Jr, a Jamaican sound engineer who recorded Toots & The Maytals (as well as Steel Pulse, Horace Andy & Ernest Ranglin, among many others) and who died this week of coronavirus.
Toots & The Maytals : Sweet & Dandy
Cheb Khaled is an Algerian rai singer, “rai” (which means “opinion”) is The Middle East’s answer to reggae, regardless of what the question really was. It’s a music of hope and of a way out of no way out. “Chebba” (which means “girl,” or “baby”) was produced by French visionary Martin Meissonier, who also produced Fela & King Sunny Ade & Alpha Blondy. And who is currently in hospital in Paris recovering from coronavirus.
Cheb Khaled :: Chebba
Jive from the townships of South Africa from bandleader Walter Theletsane from the late 1940’s, a time when many people were more afraid of jive than of the plague.
Walter Theletsane :: U Boogie Woogie Wam
Because it’s The Beatles. And when they said they felt fine, you believed them!
The Beatles :: I Feel Fine