" NYC IS BACK!" (Ed. "No It Isn't.")

 

 

When Saturday night's big Homecoming concert in Central Park was conceived, most of the United States was seeing a light at the end of the dark COVID tunnel. People were getting vaccinated. Positive cases were declining. Restaurants were bustling. Live Nation began fucking over concertgoers like pre-pandemic days of old. This was supposed to be a celebration.

But, there was a variant. There is always a damn variant. Now, positive COVID cases are up, hospitals are running out of beds and yet, there are still some holdouts, who, when they aren't splitting the atom or bagging groceries at the Circle K, are rallying against science because, "no one is going to tell me what to put in my body and...oh excuse me one second... yes extra cheese, extra hot sauce and I'll have two more Stroh's and a double Jagermeister."

Look at that picture above. One sneeze and it's a damn Golan Globus movie.

But there is good news!

Even though The Homecoming Concert was cut short due to some inclement weather named Henri, I'll admit to getting a bit teary-eyed as I watched 60,000 New Yorkers letting loose for the first time in a very long time, even if the "all-star" line-up occasionally resembled the casting call for "Cannonball Run 4."

To paraphrase my friend Whip, "The quality of the music better pick up real soon, or a lot of people will die in vain."

Ouch! 

Good line, though. I know if I risked my life by showing up on that Great Lawn and witnessed "the future of hip hop," Polo G. not even bother trying to lip sync, I'd be feeling the same way. Even rapper Fat Joe lost some weight. What a rip off. Might as well have been Svelte Joe rhyming with LL Cool J!

Turns out Barry Manilow was kicking some serious butt, actually singing and dancing at 78 years old, when the NYPD forced an evacuation due to some very scary lightning strikes during "Can't Smile Without You." Good thing, too, or there'd be a few other things Barry couldn't do. A record was set for most rainfall in an hour in NYC, right about the time when Elvis Costello, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon were getting set to hit the stage.  

Let me hang up the sarcasm for a minute.

I wanted this concert as much as the next guy, even though I had no intention of attending. Personally, I don't have an interest in being around more than a dozen people at one time, not while the Delta Variant and the anti-vaxxers continue to spew their poison. But I wanted it for those who did attend. And for those who needed to see some light.

But at what cost?

I don't even want to be a little sick. I don't want to be a breakthrough case and "only have mild symptoms." I don't want a "mild flu" for three or four days. Because then I have to isolate, and I don't want to isolate for ten days. And what about those around me? And who's to say it will only be a mild flu for only a few days? That's a risk I don't need to take, not for a live version of "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

I will be venturing out in a few weeks, to a small, all vaccinated, sit down show, where I will be masked for the duration. I may also call an audible if things take a turn, and just bag the whole thing. Who knows? What I do know is, I'd like to make the decision and not have the decision made for me by reckless people.

I'll continue to wear my mask. I'll continue to mind my neighbors and respect those around me. And I won't stop speaking out against those who continue to put good, innocent people in danger by spreading false and harmful information. If you think that's overstating things, then you're really not paying attention.

Oh...more good news! A tip o'the hat to my friend Zippy, who continued to watch CNN's coverage long after I gave up.

There will be a new Elvis Costello/Burt Bacharach album, as well as a new Imposters album in 2022.

See? It's not all bad.