In case you’re new to Medium Cool, BGinCHI is here once a week to offer a thread on culture, mainly film & books, with some TV thrown in. We’re here at 7 pm on Sunday nights.
The mask mandate is coming to an end in lots of places, with some exceptions, etc etc. It may not happen overnight, but things are starting to feel like they might lurch back to something like near-normal.
In this week’s Medium Cool, let’s talk about what you’re going to do, or thinking about doing, once it’s safer. What arts-related activity have you been putting off that you’re most looking forward to doing?
The Week Ahead
The Thin Black Duke
I’m not comfortable going to a movie theater yet, but me and my Beloved are thinking about seeing Peter Mulvey in Northampton later this month.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Hiking Hadrian’s Wall, all of it, in late July or early August. Gonna meet a friend along the way I haven’t seen in 22 years. He was a kid then, now an adult with lot of mileage (14 year old daughter committed suicide 3 years ago) while adulting. We’ll have a good cry together.
Okay, that’s not arts related. The True/False Film Festival finishes today. We passed for the first time since it started (not counting last year) because we still felt sitting in theaters for 12 hours a day for 4 days straight was too risky. Next year.
WaterGirl
Risk level here is still marked HIGH, so nothing seems worth the risk at this point.
BGinCHI
Things are all over the place here right now. My university is masked, required. I gave a professional development seminar at a high school in Niles on Friday and it was mask-optional, and I’d say 20-25% of kids I saw had masks.
Trader Joe’s today was about 50-50 and we wore masks because we’re going out of town soon and just don’t want a cold or flu (or worse), before we get some downtime.
Looking forward to going to a concert soon, when work stuff slows down.
BGinCHI
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Wow. Quite a trip. Good you’re doing that.
Hildebrand
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: My wife and I hiked Hadrian’s Wall back in 2013 – it was a delightful experience. We hiked St. Cuthbert’s Way in 2019. Enjoy!
raven
But I got stop wishing, got to go fishing,
down to rock bottom again
I have been on a couple of offshore trips, the latest in October. We’re looking at May for the gulf, after spring break and before Memorial Day. Honestly it’s hard for me to be to worried too much, I don’t feel like I have all that much time left any damn way.
Miss Bianca
Playing a St Paddy’s Day gig with my band.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven:
I think about Paris when I’m high on red wine
I wish I could jump on a plane
I was about to start booking a trip for May when all hell broke loose. Now I don’t know what to do. I thought I might book a refundable flight and see where we all are in six weeks.
Jack Canuck
Things have relaxed/are relaxing down here in Australia; still a fair bit going around but it’s being mitigated by the high vaccination/booster rates. I’d like to see some live music or theatre again, but the main thing I’m looking forward to is getting back to practicing with the band I play bass in. We’ve managed one meet up in January, but I think the last one before that was back in June 2020. I miss playing live music even more than I miss hearing it, even if it’s just in a rehearsal room.
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sounds good.
UncleEbeneezer
Going to a wedding party in Phoenix in April. We will still mostly wear our masks anywhere crowded, indoors, but most stuff should be outside anyways. I don’t think we’ll be super-interested in dining out (indoors) or doing movies, indoor concerts etc. until Summer or Fall. When we finally go hiking though in September, we will probably just carry masks with us just to be safe but not really wear them unless we hit a very crowded stretch of trail. I’m still wearing mask any time I go inside a business and don’t see that changing for awhile.
pajaro
In the DC area.
I went to a movie last night at a local theater–they require both vaccines and masks, so we felt very safe. My community orchestra (all of us are vaccinated and all who aren’t playing winds are masked) is doing a concert later this month. I’ll be going to a concert at the Kennedy Center at the end of the month.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Already doing: Singing. The chorus I sing in is back in rehearsals for the first concert since Dec 2019. Socially distanced, vaccines required, N95s on at all times, and all of that required for the audience as well. But we’re singing.
Want to go back to: The (live) theater, any theater. Movie theaters. Our two favorite art museums, the Philly Museum of Art and the Brandywine (which is mostly dedicated to the Wyeth family and their artistic forbear, Howard Pyle).
But I don’t know when any of that is going to happen. Not this spring. Maybe summer.
dexwood
We bought tickets for the immersive Van Gogh exhibit that opened here last week. Admission is limited during reserved time slots and we will be masked although mask mandates have been dropped.
ETA – We’ re kicking around the idea of a trip to England in September.
UncleEbeneezer
@Jack Canuck: I hear ya. My trio had a gig booked in May 2020 that obviously didn’t pan out. We had one rehearsal last Summer when things were looking better but nothing since. Now my bass player moved so I probably need to start from scratch with new players. Really miss playing live too.
Scout211
Our big adventure is next month our daughter and her three kids are coming to spend spring break week with Grandma and Grandpa. That usually means activities like eating out, children’s museums, zoos and other kid-centered activities. It will be a big leap for us as we haven’t done anything of those activities for the past two years.
Baud
I might start reading again.
Scout211
Pro-Tip: Masks are now optional with e-books. Just saying’. ?
Kalakal
Had to work at a comiccon yesterday. estimate about 500 people, indoors, 95+% unmasked. Lets see how 4 vaccinations and an n100 mask do. Am not a happy bunny
O. Felix Culpa
@Jack Canuck: Thanks for the link. I enjoyed listening.
ETA: I’m walking the West Highland and Great Glen Ways in Scotland starting mid-April. I fell in love with long-distance hiking after walking the Camino Frances (the best-known Camino de Santiago route) seven years ago. We walked a portion of the Salzalpensteig in Bavaria last year during a lull in the pandemic; and hiked the Skåneleden in southeastern Sweden the year before the plague. I was thinking of doing a long-distance trail in Latvia and Estonia, but perhaps this is not the best year to be in the Baltics.
BGinCHI
@Jack Canuck: Damn! I like your sound.
Terrific stuff. Are you out gigging?
BGinCHI
@Baud: #18 tonight.
Hope you’re ok.
Scamp Dog
I will hit Denver’s City Park Jazz concerts this summer, Sunday evenings. I bring my iPad and sketch the band, which gives me an excuse to chat with them afterwards. Always a good time!
BGinCHI
@O. Felix Culpa: You’ll have…..interesting weather in April, as I’m sure you know.
We did a lot of walking/climbing in the Highlands in June several years ago, and we experienced all the weathers. You start and it’s nice, then halfway up, hmm…getting chilly, then blowing a friggin gale at the top. But SO gorgeous. Scotland is underrated in its beauty, I think.
Brachiator
The pandemic restrictions essentially destroyed my movie going habit. I used to regularly go to the movies on weekends. Worse, two of the closest movie theaters nearest me closed down.
But even if this were not the case, I don’t agree that the relaxation of mask mandates means that everything is safer or “near normal.” I sometimes go out to eat, but my main choices are places that have outdoor dining or which still maintain some good practices.
I will be watching to see if illnesses and hospitalizations continue to decline and whether further boosters are recommended.
I am not a big concert goer anymore, but look forward to visiting some museums. I will try to pick non busy days.
As for movies, I don’t know. Ease and comfort are important. I don’t want to do a lot of extra travel.
But I am really out of the movie habit. And the new normal makes it worse. There are fewer new films released. And the studios are hurting themselves by becoming walled streaming services. Some years I managed to see most of the Best Picture nominees and the most notable mainstream and indie films. The theaters near me offered a wide selection. It was just a matter of buying a ticket.
I do not have every streaming service and do not want to go through the nonsense of subscribing and cancelling just to see a particular film. Nor am I willing to pay an inflated price when my household is just me.
I might end up buying a movie when it is later released if the purchase price is close to what I might have paid for a ticket and popcorn.
Popcorn. Mmm. And a hot dog. Pretty much always had to buy movie popcorn, a hot dog and drink for as long as I have been going to movies. And I don’t care if it was real butter or butter flavored oil.
I will miss this the most if I give up going to the movies.
trollhattan
Went to a mask-optional, vaccine proof-required restaurant yesterday in the People’s Republic of Berkeley, CA and I felt as though they hit the sweet spot for that kind of business.
My workplace dropped the mask requirement for the unvaccinated (35% for us keeping score) and I do not favor that capitulation to the dumb and/or stubborn.
dexwood
@Jack Canuck: We have missed live music more than anything. Small clubs, larger venues (fuck stadia). Mrs. dexwood has saved every pair of music ticket stubs to every show (hundreds) we attended since our first date July ’75.
trollhattan
@Brachiator: Yeah, movie theaters. Not ready to return. Live theater I’m more amenable to, especially since the actors aren’t, you know, coming over for private showings.
AliceBlue
I’ve been taking online ballet classes for the last couple of years; I’m going to start looking for some in-person classes near me.
Suzanne
I did two arts-related things this weekend: On Friday night, Mr. Suzanne and I took Spawn the Younger to see HAMILTON this weekend at our local theater where they do the touring performances. Then yesterday, Younger and I went to the movies and saw “Death on the Nile”. It was my first movie in a theater in over two years. I got her a popcorn and a soda, which cost $15, HOLY SHIT. I forgot about that part.
I also went and got a massage today, first in over two years. Therapist said I felt like I was holding a lot of stress and tension. I DON’T KNOW WHAT SHE’S TALKING ABOUT.
ETA: Hamilton required proof of vaccination, movie had maybe eight people in the entire theater since we did a matinee.
TKH
Starting after Easter I will be practicing the walking arts, walking from Lake Powell to and through the Grand Canyon (from the Eastern end of GCNP to a side canyon that gets me to the Arizona strip near St. George UT.
I will likely not see anybody once I start walking until I hit Escalante and then again at the South Rim for resupply, shower and clothes washing. There is one spot where I need to see people, in the Grand Canyon. I am hoping for a ferry across the Colorado by a passing rafting crew.
I am so looking foward to it!
HinTN
Mrs H and I have been invariably masked when we have been in public spaces since this thing began. Saturday, we attended a Lyle Lovett concert at a small venue in Chattanooga. Under 30% masked by my estimate and we discussed our masked state as presenting as a political statement rather than a health and safety factor. The local Kroger dropped their mask mandate for associates last week. Today I went into Kroger without a mask for the first time in almost two years.
Mousebumples
Looking forward to warm weather and being able to dine outdoors at local eateries. My husband and I are triple vaxxed, but with a still unvaccinated 2 year old (and a baby on the way in the coming weeks), the pandemic is only as “over” as the case counts hopefully drop as the weather gets warmer.
Looking forward to a few family trips, as well, and maybe some culinary expeditions too…
RSA
I’d like to go to Europe again to visit museums. At the top of my wish list are two in Spain: the Prado in Madrid and the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait before it seems safe, though.
debbie
@Baud:
Good luck with that. I’m having problems maintaining enough focus for reading.
Josie
Before the pandemic, the other grandmother and I regularly treated ourselves to live Met opera performances in a local theater. We have missed doing that and will start again with two presentations in May. I am so looking forward to it. We have also taken our six year old granddaughter to a rock and mineral show and gotten her thoroughly hooked.
Ruckus
@WaterGirl:
I live in a high risk area as well, wear a mask at all times when outside my door. A few are not, even in stores. And of course not all are wearing something which would actually be considered a mask unless you were robbing a bank. And I notice quite a few mouth breathers about. I mean they must be mouth breathers, right…..
Yutsano
Getting on a plane. As of right now that might not be until November, but just feeling the rush of engines again…
prostratedragon
Already have attended several events since getting boosted last fall — a couple of movie theater shows (a film and a live opera) and a couple of concerts, including the recent Ninth at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. At all the venues masks were required, and at OH one also has to show proof of vaccination or maybe a very fresh negative test. Good thing, as the performers were not masked. One would hate to muffle that glorious singing!
Planning a spring trip that will involve train travel and being in an audience. I’ve eaten in very spacious and well-ventilated food court-type places all along, but haven’t been in a real restaurant since Before. Will likely do so at least once on this trip, though there should be outdoor seating in plenty of places.
Sure Lurkalot
I don’t know what safe means with the ever changing metrics. What was red is now green and it seems quite assuredly hospital capacity and staffing will be the main metric going forward.
I think I’ll hit a museum or two within the coming weeks, masking indoors. More outdoor restaurant visits as the weather permits. I have some flight credits, may book something for July, thinking Calgary. Looking forward to more hiking which we’ve done all along, luckily, lots of options along Colorado’s front range.
Sure Lurkalot
@RSA: Suggest adding the Reina Sofia to Madrid tour list…it’s a gem. Picasso’s Guernica is there.
Ruckus
@Jack Canuck:
Like your photos!
@raven:
We are on the downhill side, and going downhill without brakes can seem a bit daunting. I’m still getting used to retirement but am finding that it was worth looking forward to. Hope everything works out for you, had an idea at some point meeting up with you in DC to see the wall, I may be finally able to sit there (although I’m not all that sure) and look at it after half a century since I served and I’d like to see more of the capital and Smithsonian.
CROAKER
Limping along. Hope and fear..it will never be sane for me…be safe and god speed to the john glens
Raven
@Ruckus: I’d like that if it could happen. I’d consider vets day but too many are trump fucks.
Gin & Tonic
My dear wife and I have been attending concerts of the local symphony orchestra. They require proof of vaccination (and booster) for entry, and 100% masking throughout.
We also had breakfast at a classic local diner the other day after her MRI.
Gin & Tonic
@Sure Lurkalot: Seconded. I was fortunate to see it when it was at MoMA, then again in Madrid. Still breathtaking.
Raven
@WaterGirl: I’m not seeing many masks at The Assembly Hall.
MomSense
This weekend I saw my cousin and a few friends at her camp. On the 27th of this month my kids are playing a gig for the first anniversary of belleflower brewing so I hope to go to that.
RSA
Thanks! What a great suggestion.
Dan B
I’d like to see the new Natural History museum, the Burke, at the University of Washington. Friends raved about it. I’m planning to mask when indoors. I’d also like to have friends over to dinner.
PJ
@RSA:
I went to both last summer; it was fine. I can’t remember if they asked for proof of vax or not (it would be on their websites) but everyone was required to be masked.
FYI: There are some good Basque and Spanish paintings at the Guggenheim, but it doesn’t have much of a permanent collection. If you go, I would schedule it for when they have an interesting exhibition.
ETA: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid (https://www.museothyssen.org/en) also has an excellent collection and should not be missed.
Gin & Tonic
@TKH: That’s very ambitious. Good luck. (Been to Escalante a few times and loved it.)
Dan B
@Jack Canuck: Great music, thanks!
Ruckus
@Raven:
Yeah, I have no need to see trumpfucks, let alone be near them. I can only remember one trump lawn sign when he was running and that’s been long gone around these parts. Can’t recall seeing a bumper sticker at all but then maybe I’ve just been repressing those pictures in my head.
Poe Larity
Already hitting the small music venues as they warm up. One is back with daily shows and since the hipper youts crowded at the bar don’t appreciate the notes, I only have to worry about the band.
Miss Bianca
@Kalakal: Oh! Are you a comics geek or were you representing the library? Or both?
Disappointed for you that a con would have so little masking. Then I remember you’re in Florida. : ( P
Immanentize
Going to meet up with the Immp on April 1 in Austin to see Spiritualized. Then, the following Wednesday, it’s LCD Soundsystem in Boston. Live or die, my ears will be ringing.
Sure Lurkalot
@PJ: Yes, the Thyssen museum is quite excellent too. I like smaller museums so the Prado wasn’t my favorite in Madrid.
I agree the collection at Guggenheim Bilbao is not stellar but the building and outdoor sculpture are draws and Bilbao has great pinxtos.
Mike in NC
I want to see military museums in New Orleans and Pensacola.
Kalakal
@Miss Bianca: I’m not a comics geek. I have to say the attendees seemed to have a good time but it was as if Covid didn’t exist. I’m about as proof as I can make myself in terms of vax, masking etc. I’m now looking anticipating an anxious 10 days or so
PJ
@Sure Lurkalot: I found the food to range from really good to excellent throughout the Basque Country. Not so much in Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia. The Spanish like their food bland, and do not care for fresh vegetables.
RSA
@PJ: Thanks for sharing your experience! I’ll have to check out my priorities…
Kayla Rudbek
Museums (taking Metro into DC and spending a day at a Smithsonian) concerts, theater, and embassy events.
Things to Do DC is having live events now, and I miss dressing up and going dancing and/or socializing with their events. The Austrian Embassy had the best deal pre-pandemic; 4 hours open bar, good food, and ballroom dancing for a very reasonable price. I’ve also been to events at the Italian and French embassies through Things to Do. Which reminds me, I should check and see if my social organization at work still has any Hamilton tickets left.
TKH
@Gin & Tonic: It’s my second crossing of Southern Utah and I have done other tracks of this length. But I expect the GC to be the most challenging hiking I have ever done.
Ever since I first walked through Utah the first time I have spent October in Escalante doing day likes and three to ten day hikes. I just love that country! Too bad that I only had the time to do these trips once I retired.
Miss Bianca
@Jack Canuck: ooh, this is cool. Thanks for sharing!
James E Powell
I was planning on going to spring training in Arizona, but that is hanging in the air. Also planning on seeing Airborne Toxic Event at the Greek in April. I want to see/hear live music.
Sure Lurkalot
@PJ: Agree that being a vegetarian in Spain would be a challenge. In Cantabria, we stayed in a small family inn owned by the family of one of my DH’s workmates. We got good recommendations from them so we had good food there. But very little English spoken or menus translated…this led to some hilarity.
beckya57
Music camps are starting up again. We’re going to one in Hawaii that we normally go to every year (canceled last year) later this month, and then to another in our area (Puget Sound) that we also normally go to every year (canceled the last TWO years) in August. These are a major parts of our lives, and I can’t wait to go to them again.
schrodingers_cat
@The Thin Black Duke: Northampton in MA?
My art related activities are mostly solitary and took off during the pandemic.
Here is my latest, trying out my new brush pens.
NotMax
Might – might – find the gumption to venture to a restaurant. To pick up takeout, mind you, not to sit down for service.
99% of the time my own cooking is light years better than a restaurant meal, though.
BGinCHI
@Sure Lurkalot: Pinxtos!
Such great memories of those in Barcelona.
NotMax
Only other thing besides #71 is contemplating heading to NY to visit Mom this summer, circumstances at that time permitting. Still weighing the pros and cons. And remain leery about doing stuff there like attending shows.
Origuy
The picture is of members of the Santa Cruz Scottish Country Dance class in their Airgami masks.
Saturday was the first monthly party of the San Francisco branch of the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society in several months. It was up in Marin County, where the mask requirement has been lifted. The branch still requires everyone to be vaccinated. Most people went without masks; the doors were open for ventilation and it was in a large church hall.
Nancy
I am going to see Buddy Guy perform live. I want to experience the joy he radiates as he plays guitar.
Nancy
@NotMax:
I’ve gone to restaurants twice in the past six months. Each time, I came down with a virus that was not covid within days. I haven’t been sick for the entire time we’ve been masked and I forgot how it feels.