It's a rainy, miserable day at the farmette. But I'm feeling quite uplifted.
Last night we tuned in to the TogetherAtHome concert, and it was a doozy. Lady Gaga really outdid herself in organizing this amazing eight-hour marathon, the last two hours of which were televised on pretty much every channel you can think of.
It was more than a musical concert. Although that was pretty spectacular - Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, Beyonce, and a really cool thing with Keith Urban in which there were three of him (!) Plus Celine, Andrea Bocelli and a raft of others. There was also the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Secretary General of the United Nations, ordinary health care workers, stars like Idris Elba and more.
It was not a fundraiser - she'd already garnered more than $100 million from corporate donations. All the proceeds were split between the WHO's COVID-19 response fund and regional and local health care responders. So it was more an entertainment-information-warning-thank-you to health care workers fest. I called it LiveAid with even more heft.
Hard to believe that that in-person and televised concert was 35 years ago. Just goes to show you, celebrity activism actually does work in times of trouble. Over decades.
What's scary is that people are getting antsy about the near-complete lockdown that's been happening since the pandemic began.
Demonstrators in the U.S. - egged on by their demented president - are flouting science and demanding to be allowed to go back to work. One woman who attended a church service without any safety precautions said she didn't believe in the virus, and that she was 'washed in the blood of Jesus' so she'd be protected anyways. Really?
I can understand that people are worried about their tight financial situations and perhaps their souls. But risking your life - and the lives of the folks who'll have to take care of you when you do get sick - to go to work (or church) is maybe a bridge too far?
Most churches and most people are being sensible. There's a lot of creativity going on for people to get together safely and stay sane. And things do have to open up one day. Just not yet, I think.
Yesterday, I had an in-person visit with sister Sandy and her daughter Erin - they stood near the car, and I stood at the end of the walkway. We 'hugged' from a distance and had a good chat. I was so excited and had such a good time, I didn't think to take a photo. That's healthy, I think - we have to live events as well as record them.
I know this isn't my usual fare. But I just had to let off some steam. Frontline workers are exhausted. They risk their lives every day. People are dying in their thousands. The least we can do is stay the f)$%^k home.
And when spectacular entertainment can be brought right into the living room of places like the farmette house, what is there to complain about?
Until next week.