C.C. would like to give a shout out to two artists who recently bore the brunt of our authoritative battery. It definitely requires balls of steel to take a hit from the Counter Critic and still be able to walk it off and come back to leave a comment. And for that level of endurance, we’re handing out a new award: The Punching Bag.

First, Imani Uzuri sent us a kind-hearted email after we called her performance at the Performa Liebestodt “overwrought and hyper emotive.”

Then, Bill Shimell challenged our ten-dollar wager that he didn’t hit many of his notes during the opening night of The Met’s Iphigenie en Tauride.

Keep rockin’ you two. We’ll see you next time…in the ring.