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In a Time of Constant Mourning, Verzuz Offers Reprieve
Instagram Live music battles are a needed escape from the turmoil outside our windows
“Gonna” gets to the point much quicker than “going to” does. We were all “gonna” do so much before the Covid-19 pandemic devoured our calendars.
I still get notifications for canceled events I planned to attend.
I was “gonna” reunite with some old friends at a concert in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and set up some time to read with my cohort at a bookstore on Flatbush Avenue. I was “gonna” celebrate with my friends at their wedding in California, and pass a dank-ass blunt at their reception. I was “gonna” bring wine to a house party in Harlem, order a cab home, sleep, wake up the next day and serve cocktails at my job, visit my Grandma, and take my wife to dinner. I was gonna shop at the supermarket without thinking, frequent my favorite bars, repair strained relationships in person, dap up my homies, and hug loved ones. I was gonna sleep without the fear of never waking up again.
The world outside our doors is more troublesome than it’s ever been in our lifetimes. But music has swooped in and continues to offer us moments of reprieve.
