Every 50 days of the pandemic, I’ve given out these awards to celebrate stuff that’s getting Nicole and I through this mess. And it’s gotten messier. So the stuff’s gotten tuffer. To wit:
BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES ALBUMS:
Thelonious Monk – Palo Alto
Jyoti – Mama, You Can Bet!
Bettye LaVette – Blackbirds
The Best of the Sensational Nightingales
Roisin Murphy – Roisin Machine
BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES SHOWS:
Woke (Hulu Series)
Watchmen (HBO Series)
The Indian Doctor (Amazon Prime Series)
Pride and Prejudice (Joe Wright, director)
EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES BOOKS:
Amor Towles – A Gentleman in Moscow
Hanif Kureishi – The Buddha of Suburbia
Ross Johnson – Baron of Love: Moral Giant
Richard Grant – The Deepest South of All: True Stories from Natchez, Mississippi
Stanley Booth – Red, Hot & Blue: 50 Years of Writing about Memphis, Music, and Motherfuckers
BEST ANTI-COVID-BLUES CURBSIDE EATS (some repeats, but that just testifies to their tuffness):
Tony’s Pizza Palace
Shakespeare’s Pizza
India’s House
Cajun Crab HouseTiger Chef
Streaming for Strivers:
Dreamers, awake!
The Overeem Farewell Tour: Dispatches from the Public School Trenches 