A man plays guitar for an online upload. Image by iStock

By PJ Grisar March 24, 2020

Welcome to your daily distraction, our recommendations for ways to stay engaged and entertained while we socially distance ourselves to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak. You can find our past recommendations here; many of the opportunities we’ve highlighted are ongoing.

Good morning! I come bearing a new hand-washing song from the king of easy listening, Neil Diamond.

With Diamond’s re-done “Sweet Caroline” in mind, here’s what else you may want to check out today.

1) Watch a Facebook Live concert

It’s a tough time for live musicians, who rely on ticket and merchandise sales to make a living. If you want to help out and give kudos to some great talents while enjoying some live music, start following the Facebook page jewishLIVE. This weekend, they hosted the Front Row Music Festival, featuring seven artists who brought viewers tunes from self-quarantine ranging from piano ballads to ukulele and guitar duets to some good old-fashioned acoustic folk. It was like “MTV Unplugged,” only more heymish. The page has regular updates from musicians — you can Venmo them tips — as well as links to lecture series on topics like the ultra-nationalist rabbi Meir Kahane and virtual prayer.

2) Color some weird stuff from your favorite museums

Have you ever wanted to color uncanny human-faced wild creatures from a medieval bestiary? How about scarab beetles, a clinical cross-section of a human abdomen or scenes from Shakespeare? You’re in luck, for over 100 libraries and museums have graciously made images from their collections available to your colored pencils. Go on Twitter and search #ColorOurCollections to find links to download black and white sketches from the New York Academy of Medicine Library, Lithuanian Art Museum, Folger Shakespeare Library and scores more. Their strange and exotic holdings make for the perfect fix for grownups bored with the typical adult coloring books or a precocious child whose interests are more eclectic than superheroes or Disney characters.

3) Cook through your “Curb” withdrawal

“Curb Your Enthusiasm” may have ended its uneven 10th season on Sunday, but that’s no reason for Larry David to exit your life. In a 2017 episode of “Binging with Babish,” a YouTube show where chef Andrew Rea prepares food from film and television, Rea teaches you how to make Larry’s namesake bagel sandwich from his favorite deli, Leo’s. (You know, that one that Larry tried to switch with Ted Danson’s eponymous sandwich because he was repulsed by its contents of sable and whitefish.) Rea also whips up the show’s infamous “Palestinian chicken” and Cobb salad — another contentiously-named dish from the show. You can watch some “Curb” while you cook or, if you’re not feeling up to David’s diet, check out some of Babish’s “Seinfeld” recipes.

PJ Grisar is the Forward’s culture fellow. He can be reached at grisar@forward.com

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