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boredout305 · 3 years

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Kid Congo Powers Interview

Kid Congo Powers was a founding member of the Gun Club. He also played with The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Powers currently fronts Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds and recently completed a memoir, Some New Kind of Kick.

The following interview focuses on Some New Kind of Kick. In the book Powers recounts growing up in La Puente—a working-class, largely Latino city in Los Angeles County—in the 1960s, as well as his familial, professional and personal relationships. He describes the LA glam-rock scene (Powers was a frequenter of Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco), the interim period between glam and punk embodied by the Capitol Records swap meet, as well as LA’s first-wave, late-1970s punk scene.

Well written, edited and awash with amazing photos, Some New Kind of Kick will appeal to fans of underground music as well as those interested in 1960-1980s Los Angeles (think Claude Bessy and Mike Davis). The book will be available from In the Red Records, their first venture into book publishing, soon.

Interview by Ryan Leach

Kid Congo with the Pink Monkey Birds.

Ryan: Some New Kind of Kick reminded me of the New York Night Train oral histories you had compiled about 15 years ago. Was that the genesis of your book?

Kid: That was the genesis. You pinpointed it. Those pieces were done with Jonathan Toubin. It was a very early podcast. Jonathan wanted to do an audio version of my story for his website, New York Night Train. We did that back in the early 2000s. After we had completed those I left New York and moved to Washington D.C. I thought, “I have the outline for a book here.” Jonathan had created a discography and a timeline. I figured, “It’ll be great and really easy. We’ll just fill in some of the blanks and it’ll be done.” Here we are 15 years later.

Ryan: It was well worth it. It reads well. And I love the photographs. The photo of you as a kid with Frankenstein is amazing.

Kid: I’m glad you liked it. You’re the first person not involved in it that I’ve spoken with.

Ryan: As someone from Los Angeles I enjoyed reading about your father’s life and work as a union welder in the 1960s. My grandfather was a union truck driver and my father is a cabinetmaker. My dad’s cousins worked at the General Motors Van Nuys Assembly plant. In a way you captured an old industrial blue-collar working class that’s nowhere near as robust as it once was in Los Angeles. It reminded of Mike Davis’ writings on the subject.

Kid: I haven’t lived in LA for so long that I didn’t realize it doesn’t exist anymore. I felt the times. It was a reflection on my experiences and my family’s experiences. It was very working class. My dad was proud to be a union member. It served him very well. He and my mother were set up for the rest of their lives. I grew up with a sense that he earned an honest living. My parents always told me not to be embarrassed by what you did for work. People would ask me, “What’s your book about? What’s the thrust of it?” As I was writing it, I was like, “I don’t know. I’ll find out when it’s done.” What you mentioned was an aspect of that.

When I started the book and all throughout the writing I had gone to different writers’ workshops. We’d review each other’s work. It was a bunch of people who didn’t know me, didn’t know about music—at least the music I make. I just wanted to see if there was a story there. People were relating to what I was writing, which gave me the confidence to keep going.

Ryan: Some New Kind of Kick is different from Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s autobiography, Go Tell the Mountain. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but think of Pierce’s work as I read yours. Was Go Tell the Mountain on your mind as you were writing?

Kid: When I was writing about Jeffrey—it was my version of the story. It was about my relationship with him. I wasn’t thinking about his autobiography much at all. His autobiography is very different than mine. Nevertheless, there are some similarities. But his book flew off into flights of prose and fantasy. I tried to stay away from the stories that were already out there. The thing that’s interesting about Jeffrey is that everyone has a completely different story to tell about him. Everyone’s relationship with him was different.

Ryan: It’s a spectrum that’s completely filled in.

Kid: Exactly. One of the most significant relationships I’ve had in my life was with Jeffrey. Meeting him changed my life. It was an enduring relationship. It was important for me to tell my story of Jeffrey.

Ryan: The early part of your book covers growing up in La Puente and having older sisters who caught the El Monte Legion Stadium scene—groups like Thee Midniters. You told me years ago that you and Jeffrey were thinking about those days during the writing and recording of Mother Juno (1987).

Kid: That’s definitely true. Growing up in that area is another thing Jeffrey and I bonded over. We were music hounds at a young age. We talked a lot about La Puente, El Monte and San Gabriel Valley’s culture. We were able to pinpoint sounds we heard growing up there—music playing out of cars and oldies mixed in with Jimi Hendrix and Santana. That was the sound of San Gabriel Valley. It wasn’t all lowrider music. We were drawn to that mix of things. I remember “Yellow Eyes” off Mother Juno was our tribute to the San Gabriel Valley sound.

Ryan: You describe the Capitol Records Swap Meet in Some New Kind of Kick. In the pre-punk/Back Door Man days that was an important meet-up spot whose significance remains underappreciated.

Kid: The Capitol Records Swap Meet was a once-a-month event and hangout. It was a congregation of record collectors and music fans. You’d see the same people there over and over again. It was a community. Somehow everyone who was a diehard music fan knew about it. You could find bootlegs there. It went from glam to more of a Back Door Man-influenced vibe which was the harder-edged Detroit stuff—The Stooges and the MC5. You went there looking for oddities and rare records. I was barely a record collector back then. It’s where I discovered a lot of music. You had to be a pretty dedicated music fan to get up at 6 AM to go there, especially if you were a teenager.

Ryan: I enjoyed reading about your experiences as a young gay man in the 1970s. You’d frequent Rodney’s English Disco; I didn’t know you were so close to The Screamers. While not downplaying the prejudices gay men faced in the 1970s, it seemed fortuitous that these places and people existed for you in that post-Stonewall period.

Kid: Yeah. I was obviously drawn to The Screamers for a variety of reasons. It was a funny time. People didn’t really discuss being gay. People knew we were gay. I knew you were gay; you knew I was gay. But the fact that we never openly discussed it was very strange. Part of that was protection. It also had to do with the punk ethos of labels being taboo. I don’t think that The Screamers were very politicized back then and neither was I. We were just going wild. I was super young and still discovering things. I had that glam-rock door to go through. It was much more of a fantasy world than anything based in reality. But it allowed queerness. It struck a chord with me and it was a tribe. However, I did discover later on that glam rock was more of a pose than a sexual revolution.

With some people in the punk scene like The Screamers and Gorilla Rose—they came from a background in drag and cabaret. I didn’t even know that when I met them. I found it out later on. They were already very experienced. They had an amazing camp aesthetic. I learned a lot about films and music through them. They were so advanced. It was all very serendipitous. I think my whole life has been serendipitous, floating from one thing to another.

Ryan: You were in West Berlin when the Berlin Wall was breached in November 1989. “Here’s another historical event. I’m sure Kid Congo is on the scene.”

Kid: I know! The FBI must have a dossier on me. I was in New York on 9/11 too.

Ryan: A person who appears frequently in your book is your cousin Theresa who was tragically murdered. I take it her death remains a cold case.

Kid: Cold case. Her death changed my entire life. It was all very innocent before she died. That stopped everything. It was a real source of trauma. All progress up until that point went on hold until I got jolted out of it. I eventually decided to experience everything I could because life is short. That trauma fueled a lot of bad things, a lot of self-destructive impulses. It was my main demon that chased me throughout my early adult life. It was good to write about it. It’s still there and that’s probably because her murder remains unsolved. I have no resolution with it. I was hoping the book would give me some closure. We’ll see if it does.

Ryan: Theresa was an important person in your life that you wanted people to know about. You champion her.

Kid: I wanted to pay tribute to her. She changed my life. I had her confidence. I was at a crossroads at that point in my life, dealing with my sexuality. I wanted people to know about Theresa beyond my family. My editor Chris Campion really pulled that one out of me. It was a story that I told, but he said, “There’s so much more to this.” I replied, “No! Don’t make me do it.” I had a lot of stories, but it was great having Chris there to pull them together to create one big story. My original concept for the book was a coming-of-age story. Although it still is, I was originally going to stop before I even joined the Gun Club (in 1979). It was probably because I didn’t want to look at some of the things that happened afterwards. It was very good for my music. Every time I got uncomfortable, I’d go, “Oh, I’ve got to make a record and go on tour for a year and not think about this.” A lot of it was too scary to even think about. But the more I did it, the less scary it became and the more a story emerged. I had a very different book in mind than the one I completed. I’m glad I was pushed in that direction and that I was willing to be pushed. I wanted to tell these stories, but it was difficult.

Ryan: Of course, there are lighter parts in your book. There are wonderful, infamous characters like Bradly Field who make appearances.

Kid: Bradly Field was also a queer punker. He was the partner of Kristian Hoffman of The Mumps. I met Kristian in Los Angeles. We all knew Lance Loud of The Mumps because he had starred in An American Life (1973) which was the first reality TV show. It aired on PBS. I was a fan of The Mumps. Bradly came out to LA with Kristian for an elongated stay during a Mumps recording session. Of course, Bradly and I hit it off when we met. Bradly was a drummer—he played a single drum and a cracked symbol—in Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Bradly was a real character. He was kind of a Peter Lorre, misanthropic miscreant. Bradly was charming while abrasively horrible at the same time. We were friends and I always remained on Bradly’s good side so there was never a problem.

Bradly had invited me and some punkers to New York. He said that if we ever made it out there that we could stay with him. He probably had no idea we’d show up a month later. Bradly Field was an important person for me to know—an unashamedly gay, crazy person. He was a madman. I had very little interest in living a typical life. That includes a typical gay life. Bradly was just a great gay artist I met in New York when I was super young. He was also the tour manager of The Cramps at one point. You can imagine what that was like. Out of Lux and Ivy’s perverse nature they unleashed him on people.

Ryan: He was the right guy to have in your corner if the club didn’t pay you.

Kid: Exactly. Who was going to say “no” to Bradly?

Ryan: You mention an early Gun Club track called “Body and Soul” that I’m unfamiliar with. I know you have a rehearsal tape of the original Creeping Ritual/Gun Club lineup (Kid Congo Powers, Don Snowden, Brad Dunning and Jeffrey Lee Pierce). Are any of these unreleased tracks on that tape?

Kid: No. Although I do have tapes, there’s no Creeping Ritual material on them. I spoke with Brad (Dunning) and he has tapes too. We both agreed that they’re unlistenable. They’re so terrible. Nevertheless, I’m going to have them digitized and I’ll take another listen to them. “Body and Soul” is an early Creeping Ritual song. At the time we thought, “Oh, this sounds like a Mink DeVille song.” At least in our minds it did. To the best of my ability I did record an approximation of “Body and Soul” on the Congo Norvell record Abnormals Anonymous (1997). I sort of reimagined it. That song was the beginning of things for me with Jeffrey. It wasn’t a clear path when we started The Gun Club. We didn’t say, “Oh, we’re going to be a blues-mixed-with-punk band.” It was a lot of toying around. It had to do with finding a style. Jeffrey had a lot of ideas. We also had musical limitations to consider. We were trying to turn it into something cohesive. There was a lot of reggae influence at the beginning. Jeffrey was a visionary who wanted to make the Gun Club work. Of course, to us he was a really advanced musician. We thought (bassist) Don Snowden was the greatest too. What’s funny is that I saw Don in Valencia, Spain, where he lives now. He came to one of our (Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds) shows a few years ago. He said, “Oh, I didn’t know how to play!”

Ryan: “I knew scales.”

Kid: Exactly. It was all perception. But we were ambitious and tenacious. We were certain we could make something really good out of what we had. That was it. We knew we had good taste in music. That was enough for us to continue on.

Ryan: I knew about The Cramps’ struggles with IRS Records and Miles Copeland. However, it took on a new meaning reading your book. Joining The Cramps started with a real high for you, recording Psychedelic Jungle (1981), and then stagnation occurred due to contractual conflicts.

Kid: There was excitement, success and activity for about a year or two. And then absolutely nothing. As I discuss in my book—and you can ask anyone who was in The Cramps—communication was not a big priority for Lux and Ivy. I was left to my own devices for a while. We were building, building, building and then it stopped. I wasn’t privy to what was going on. I knew they were depressed about it. The mood shifted. It was great recording Psychedelic Jungle and touring the world. The crowds were great everywhere we went. It was at that point that I started getting heavy into drugs. The time off left me with a lot of time to get into trouble. It was my first taste of any kind of success or notoriety. I’m not embarrassed to say that I fell into that trip: “Oh, you know who I am and I have all these musician friends now.” It was the gilded ‘80s. Things were quite decadent then. There was a lot of hard drug use. It wasn’t highly frowned upon to abuse those types of drugs in our circle. What was the reputation of The Gun Club? The drunkest, drug-addled band around. So there was a lot of support to go in that direction. Who knew it was going to go so downhill? We weren’t paying attention to consequences. Consequences be damned. So the drugs sapped a lot of energy out of it too.

I recorded the one studio album (Psychedelic Jungle) with The Cramps and a live album (Smell of Female). The live record was good and fun, but it was a means to an end. It was recorded to get out of a contract. The Cramps were always going to do it their way. Lux and Ivy weren’t going to follow anyone’s rules. I don’t know why people expected them to. To this day, I wonder why people want more. I mean, they gave you everything. People ask me, “When is Ivy going to play again?” I tell them, “She’s done enough. She paid her dues. The music was great.”

Ryan: I think after 30-something years of touring, she’s earned her union card.

Kid: Exactly. She’s done her union work.

Ryan: In your book you discuss West Berlin in the late 1980s. That was a strange period of extreme highs and lows. During that time you were playing with the Bad Seeds, working with people like Wim Wenders (in Wings of Desire) and witnessed the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the GDR. Nevertheless, it was a very dark period marred by substance abuse. Luckily, you came out of it unscathed. As you recount, some people didn’t.

Kid: It was a period of extremes. In my mind, for years, I rewrote that scene. I would say, “Berlin was great”—and it was, that part was true—and then I’d read interviews with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and they’d say, “Oh, the Tender Prey (1988) period was just the worst. It’s hard to even talk about it.” And I was like, “It was great! What are you talking about?” Then when I started writing about it, I was like, “Oh, fuck! It really wasn’t the best time.” I had been so focused on the good things and not the bad things. Prior to writing my book, I really hadn’t thought about how incredibly dark it was. That was a good thing for me to work out. Some very bad things happened to people around me. But while that was happening, it was a real peak for me as a musician. Some of the greatest work I was involved with was being done then. And yet I still chose to self-destruct. It was a case of right place, right time. But it was not necessarily what I thought it was.

Ryan: Digressing back a bit, when we would chat years back I would ask you where you were at with this project. You seemed to be warming up to it as time went on. And I finally found a copy of the group’s album in Sydney, Australia, a year ago. I’m talking about Fur Bible (1985).

Kid: Oh, you got it?

Ryan: I did.

Kid: In Australia?

Ryan: Yes. It was part of my carry-on luggage.

Kid: I’m sure I can pinpoint the person who sold it to you.

Ryan: Are you coming around to that material now? I like the record.

Kid: Oh, yeah. I hated it for so long. People would say to me, “Oh, the Fur Bible record is great.” I’d respond, “No. It can’t possibly be great. I’m not going to listen to it again, so don’t even try me.” Eventually, I did listen to it and I thought, “Oh, this is pretty good.” I came around to it. I like it.

Ryan: You’ve made the transition!

Kid: I feel warmly about it. I like all of the people involved with it. That was kind of a bad time too. It was that post-Gun Club period. I felt like I had tried something unsuccessful with Fur Bible. I had a little bit of shame about that. Everything else I had been involved with had been successful, in my eyes. People liked everything else and people didn’t really like Fur Bible. It was a sleeper.

Ryan: It is.

Kid: There’s nothing wrong with it. It was the first time I had put my voice on a record and it just irritated the hell out of me. It was a first step for me.

Ryan: You close your book with a heartfelt tribute to Jeffrey Lee Pierce. You wonder how your life would’ve turned out had you not met Jeffrey outside of that Pere Ubu show in 1979. Excluding family, I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who’s had that sort of impact on my life.

Kid: As I was getting near the end of the book I was trying to figure out what it was about. A lot of it was about Jeffrey. Everything that moved me into becoming a musician and the life I lived after that was because of him. It was all because he said, “Here’s a guitar. You’re going to learn how to play it.” He had that confidence that I could do it. It was a mentorship. He would say, “You’re going to do this and you’re going to be great at it.” I was like, “Okay.” Jeffrey was the closest thing I had to a brother. We could have our arguments and disagreements, but in the end it didn’t matter. What mattered was our bond. Writing it down made it all clearer to me. His death sent me into a tailspin. I was entering the unknown. Jeffrey was like a cord that I had been hanging onto for so long and it was gone. I was more interested in writing about my relationship with him than about the music of the Gun Club. A lot of people loved Jeffrey. But there were others who said they loved him with disclaimers. I wanted to write something about Jeffrey without the disclaimers. That seemed like an important task—to honor him in a truthful manner.

Ryan: I’m glad that you did that. Jeffrey has his detractors, but they all seem to say something along the lines of “the guy still had the most indefatigable spirit and drive of any person I’ve ever known.”

Kid: That’s what drove everyone crazy!

Ryan: This book took you 15 years to finish. Completing it has to feel cathartic.

Kid: I don’t know. Maybe it will when I see the printed book. When I was living in New York there was no time for reflection. I started it after I left New York, but it was at such a slow pace. It was done piecemeal. I wanted to give up at times. I had a lot of self-doubt. And like I said, I’d just go on tour for a year and take a long break. The pandemic made me finally put it to bed. I couldn’t jump up and go away on tour anymore. It feels great to have it done. When I read it through after the final edit I was actually shocked. I was moved by it. It was a feeling of accomplishment. It’s a different feeling than what you get with music. Looking at it as one story has been an eye-opener for me. I thought to myself, “How did I do all of that?”

I see the book as the story of a music fan. I think most musicians start out as fans. Why would you do it otherwise? I never stopped being a fan. All of the opportunities that came my way were because I was a fan.

#kidcongopowers #interviews #gunclub #jeffreyleepierce #cramps #Badseeds

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enterpain · 5 years

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"I'm sorry, I- I cannot do this." uwu sad boi comfort him mike || @spiear

‘‘ HEY....HEY MARVEL, LOOK AT ME. it’s just an interview. caesar is a LOVELY guy, i can assure you that. i’ve been interviewed by him more times than i can count. it’s really nothing to worry about. just.....be yourself. they’ll love you if you just be HONEST with the questions....do you want to take a break ? ‘‘

#spiear #( 002. ) ✧⌠ ❛ 𝖼𝗈𝗏𝖾𝗋 𝗎𝗉 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗅𝖺𝗆𝖾. ❜ ⌡#( mike ? helping with mock interview questions and giving advice on how to get the most sympathy ? )#( yes )#( but also mike being super kind to all the tributes he works with and wanting them to be comfortable ? )#( also yes )

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1962dude420-blog · 3 years

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Today we remember the passing of Peter Green who Died: July 25, 2020 in Canvey Island, Essex, England

Peter Allen Greenbaum (29 October 1946 – 25 July 2020), known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)" and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.

Green was a major figure in the "second great epoch" of the British blues movement. Eric Clapton praised his guitar playing, and B.B. King commented, "He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats." Green was interested in expressing emotion in his songs, rather than showing off how fast he could play. His trademark sound included string bending, vibrato, and economy of style.

In June 1996, Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him at number 58 in its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Green's tone on the instrumental "The Super-Natural" was rated as one of the 50 greatest of all time by Guitar Player in 2004.

Peter Allen Greenbaum was born in Bethnal Green, London, on 29 October 1946, into a Jewish family, the youngest of Joe and Ann Greenbaum's four children. His brother, Michael, taught him his first guitar chords and by the age of 11 Green was teaching himself. He began playing professionally by the age of 15, while working for a number of East London shipping companies. He first played bass guitar in a band called Bobby Dennis and the Dominoes, which performed pop chart covers and rock 'n' roll standards, including Shadows covers. He later stated that Hank Marvin was his guitar hero and he played the Shadows' song "Midnight" on the 1996 tribute album Twang. He went on to join a rhythm and blues outfit, the Muskrats, then a band called the Tridents in which he played bass. By Christmas 1965 Green was playing lead guitar in Peter Bardens' band "Peter B's Looners", where he met drummer Mick Fleetwood. It was with Peter B's Looners that he made his recording début with the single "If You Wanna Be Happy" with "Jodrell Blues" as a B-side. His recording of "If You Wanna Be Happy" was an instrumental cover of a song by Jimmy Soul. In 1966, Green and some other members of Peter B's Looners formed another act, Shotgun Express, a Motown-style soul band which also included Rod Stewart, but Green left the group after a few months.

In October 1965, before joining Bardens' group, Green had the opportunity to fill in for Eric Clapton in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers for four gigs. Soon afterwards, when Clapton left the Bluesbreakers, Green became a full-time member of Mayall's band from July 1966. Green made his recording debut with the Bluesbreakers in 1966 on the album A Hard Road (1967), which featured two of his own compositions, "The Same Way" and "The Supernatural". The latter was one of Green's first instrumentals, which would soon become a trademark. So proficient was he that his musician friends bestowed upon him the nickname "The Green God". In 1967, Green decided to form his own blues band and left the Bluesbreakers.

Green's new band, with former Bluesbreaker Mick Fleetwood on drums and Jeremy Spencer on guitar, was initially called "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac featuring Jeremy Spencer". Bob Brunning was temporarily employed on bass guitar (Green's first choice, Bluesbreakers' bassist John McVie, was not yet ready to join the band). Within a month they played at the Windsor National Jazz and Blues Festival in August 1967, and were quickly signed to Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label. Their repertoire consisted mainly of blues covers and originals, mostly written by Green, but some were written by slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer. The band's first single, Spencer's "I Believe My Time Ain't Long" with Green's "Rambling Pony" as a B-side, did not chart but their eponymous debut album made a significant impression, remaining in the British charts for 37 weeks. By September 1967, John McVie had replaced Brunning.

Although classic blues covers and blues-styled originals remained prominent in the band's repertoire through this period, Green rapidly blossomed as a songwriter and contributed many successful original compositions from 1968 onwards. The songs chosen for single release showed Green's style gradually moving away from the group's blues roots into new musical territory. Their second studio album Mr. Wonderful was released in 1968 and continued the formula of the first album. In the same year they scored a hit with Green's "Black Magic Woman" (later covered by Santana), followed by the guitar instrumental "Albatross" (1969), which reached number one in the British singles charts. More hits written by Green followed, including "Oh Well", "Man of the World" (both 1969) and the ominous "The Green Manalishi" (1970). The double album Blues Jam in Chicago (1969) was recorded at the Chess Records Ter-Mar Studio in Chicago. There, under the joint supervision of Vernon and Marshall Chess, they recorded with some of their American blues heroes including Otis Spann, Big Walter Horton, Willie Dixon, J. T. Brown and Buddy Guy.

While touring Europe in late March 1970, Green took LSD at a party at a commune in Munich, an incident cited by Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis as the crucial point in his mental decline. Communard Rainer Langhans mentions in his autobiography that he and Uschi Obermaier met Green in Munich, where they invited him to their Highfisch-Kommune. Fleetwood Mac roadie Dinky Dawson remembers that Green went to the party with another roadie, Dennis Keane, and that when Keane returned to the band's hotel to explain that Green would not leave the commune, Keane, Dawson and Mick Fleetwood travelled there to fetch him. By contrast, Green stated that he had fond memories of jamming at the commune when speaking in 2009: "I had a good play there, it was great, someone recorded it, they gave me a tape. There were people playing along, a few of us just fooling around and it was... yeah it was great." He told Jeremy Spencer at the time "That's the most spiritual music I've ever recorded in my life." After a final performance on 20 May 1970, Green left Fleetwood Mac.

Green was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent time in psychiatric hospitals undergoing electroconvulsive therapy during the mid-1970s. Many sources attest to his lethargic, trancelike state during this period. In 1977, Green was arrested for threatening his accountant David Simmons with a shotgun. The exact circumstances are the subject of much speculation, the most famous being that Green wanted Simmons to stop sending money to him. In the 2011 BBC documentary Peter Green: Man of the World, Green stated that at the time he had just returned from Canada needing money and that, during a telephone conversation with his accounts manager, he alluded to the fact that he had brought back a gun from his travels. His accounts manager promptly called the police, who surrounded Green's house.

In 1979, Green began to re-emerge professionally. With the help of his brother Michael, he was signed to Peter Vernon-Kell's PVK label, and produced a string of solo albums starting with 1979's In the Skies. He also made an uncredited appearance on Fleetwood Mac's double album Tusk, on the song "Brown Eyes", released the same year.

In 1981, Green contributed to "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Super Brains" on Mick Fleetwood's solo album The Visitor. He recorded various sessions with a number of other musicians notably the Katmandu album A Case for the Blues with Ray Dorset of Mungo Jerry, Vincent Crane from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Len Surtees of The Nashville Teens. Despite attempts by Gibson Guitar Corporation to start talks about producing a "Peter Green signature Les Paul" guitar, Green's instrument of choice at this time was a Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion guitar. In 1986, Peter and his brother Micky contributed to the album A Touch of Sunburn by Lawrie 'The Raven' Gaines (under the group name 'The Enemy Within'). This album has been reissued many times under such titles as Post Modern Blues and Peter Green and Mick Green – Two Greens Make a Blues, often crediting Pirates guitarist Mick Green.

In 1988 Green was quoted as saying: "I'm at present recuperating from treatment for taking drugs. It was drugs that influenced me a lot. I took more than I intended to. I took LSD eight or nine times. The effect of that stuff lasts so long ... I wanted to give away all my money ... I went kind of holy – no, not holy, religious. I thought I could do it, I thought I was all right on drugs. My failing!"

Enduring periods of mental illness and destitution throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Green moved in with his older brother Len and Len's wife Gloria, and his mother in their house in Great Yarmouth, where a process of recovery began. He lived for a period on Canvey Island, Essex.

Green married Jane Samuels in January 1978; the couple divorced in 1979. They had a daughter, Rosebud(born 1978).

Green died on July 25, 2020 at the age of 73.

#July 25 #2020 #R.I.P.#Peter Green #Fleetwood Mac #The Original Fleetwood Mac

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foreversendmegardenias · 3 years

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Taken from a personal blog on Facebook called, ‘The Beach Boys 101: The Band, The Music, The History’

If you are interested in learning about the reality of The Beach Boys history rather than the idealistic, sanitised version portrayed by the various BB groups on Facebook, then I recommend you follow this blog.

“The Last Years Of Carl Wilson’s Life His Relationship With His Brother Brian Was Definitely Strained.

But Why ?

One of the reasons I decided to start this page is because many of the other Beach Boys pages on Facebook have too many rules and stipulations on what you can and can’t talk about.

For instance, if you talk about Mike Love or say he had any type of talent or made important contributions to the Beach Boys’ music on a Brian Wilson page, that’s unacceptable.

If you say “Mike Love made the recording of “Pet Sounds” difficult” on a pro-Mike Love page you get your comment deleted and even kicked out of the group.

Same goes for Dennis and Carl pages. Even to give the impression that Carl may have been closer to his cousin Mike than to his two brothers is not acceptable even though history proves it most likely was true, especially in the final years of his life.

The most annoying pages of all are the ones run by people who have close relationships to members of The Beach Boys’ inner circle. They wouldn’t dare to say anything critical of a band member because it may damage their relationship with them. Therefore, you are given this “fairytale” perception of how things were.

Obviously we seem to be doing something fans of the band enjoy. After three years this page continues to grow and we thank you all for that.

The whole Beach Boys story is not all sunshine and roses that’s for sure. On this page we want to talk about and debate the difficult subjects part of the history of the band.

The true story of Brian and Carl is one many fans try to avoid. An agenda is pushed that Brian and Carl were close, right to the very end. Sadly though that’s not the case. As a matter of fact, in the very last years of his life Carl was fueding with Brian more than at any other time through his life.

Don’t get me wrong, both Brian and Carl truly loved each other. Carl especially did many things behind the scenes to help Brian get through some of the most difficult times in his life, especially finally breaking away from Eugene Landy.

Yet, from 1995-1998 something with Carl changed. Granted, by this time he may have already been sick and didn’t even know it. After the filming of the excellent Brian Wilson documentary “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” which was produced by Don Was, discussions came about proposing that Was would produce a new Beach Boys album using the material written by Brian Wilson and Andy Paley.

In mid-1995, Brian met with with Mike Love and Carl to play a number of songs that he had written with a songwriter named Andy Paley who Wilson had been working with since his solo debut album in 1988.

According to producer Don Was, Mike Love at first seemed receptive but Carl really never was. Not only did Carl not like any of the music or songs, he actually offended Brian by telling him the material was not commercial enough for The Beach Boys.

There could’ve been a number of reasons behind this. Carl was obviously embarrassed by the last Beach Boys’ studio album “Summer In Paradise”, a record where he totally relinquished any artistic control to Mike Love with disastrous results. Also having recently worked with artists like Tom Petty during the “Wildflowers” sessions, and Willie Nelson during the “Stars And Stripes” project definitely had Carl reassessing his own legacy. Especially since he had been writing and recording some new quality material of his own with his peers Robert Lamm of Chicago, and Gerry Beckley of America.

Being the team player he had always been, Carl did record vocals for a song called “Soul Searchin’”, a song he absolutely hated and made his feelings known that he didn’t want it released. (The song would eventually be released six years after his death on Brian’s “Gettin’ In Over My Head” solo album).

From that point onward he would fued with Brian’s wife and soon-to-be manager Melinda, not only about the music Brian had written but he also wasn’t happy that she was pushing him to finish the abandoned “SMiLE” project. Carl felt that would’ve caused Brian to have a nervous breakdown.

According to Don Was , who was present at these sessions, the final straw for Carl was the recording of the song called “Dancin’ The Night Away” that was intended for a show called “Baywatch Nights”. Camera crews were even brought in to film the event as a Beach Boys type of reunion. (A clip of that abandoned documentary will be posted in the comments section).

Carl hated the song so much that he walked out of the recording session which became the final nail in the coffin. After that, even Producer Don Was realized that these songs Brian wrote with Andy Paley weren’t that great and he tactfully told Brian he needed to write some better songs.

Both Melinda and a heartbroken Brian, who thought these were some of the greatest songs he ever wrote, blamed Carl for it all falling apart. That coupled with how Melinda also blamed Carl that Brian could not get a record deal, especially after the “Stars And Stripes Vol. 1” Beach Boys project where she felt Carl treated Brian like an invalid, basically making every record company shy away from giving him a recording contract.

Brian was so livid with Carl that in an interview for Vox Magazine during that period he stated : “Carl is my brother, but Carl is a a******. I love Carl, I love his singing, but he’s an a****** to me. Those guys are too . I oughta beat the h*** out of them all. I dunno, I’d probably get beat up if I tried that. ... I'll work on my own, solo, before I work with a bunch of guys that don’t give a s*** about me.”

It’s a shame that soon after Carl was diagnosed with lung cancer and never had the chance to truly make up with his brother Brian.

As history proves many of those songs Brian wrote with Andy Paley weren’t all that great, just as Carl had stated. (Will post bootlegs of those songs in the comments section).

A few were released on Brian’s 2004 “Gettin’ In Over My Head” album, yet the majority remain unreleased to this day. Even that album wasn’t given a fair chance since just a few months later Brian would finally finish and release “SMiLE” and thankfully (though he came close) never had a nervous breakdown.

Soon after the Andy Paley sessions, Brian would team up with former wrestler and music businessman Joe Thomas to have a much more successful songwriting collaboration that continues to this day, even though Melinda tried to sue Joe after the release of Brian’s comeback album “Imagination” in 1998, stating he didn’t allow Brian to produce that album the way he wanted to.

Brian, along with Joe Thomas, did write and record the beautiful “Lay Down Burden” a song Brian would later dedicate as a tribute to Carl proving how much Brian truly loved his baby brother. Carl also recorded a song as a tribute to Brian before his death called “Like A Brother”.

There’s no doubt in my mind, especially the kind of man that he was, that Carl would’ve made peace with Brian (the two did get together to watch the Super Bowl just days before Carl died, proof they may have been working towards a reconciliation) and would’ve contributed his angelic voice to many of the excellent songs Brian has written since that time.

It’s shocking that Carl has been gone over 23 years now. The Beach Boys camp is definitely NOT a better place without him.

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#beach boys warts and all #beach boys reality #beach boys tell it like it was

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romanovanatalia · 6 years

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I just saw Bohemian Rhapsody and I could talk about it for hours. Growing up, Queen was huge in my house. My dad is a huge fan. He was able to see them 3 times when they came to Argentina in 1981, so of course, he would play Greatest Hits and make me and my sister watch Live at Wembley '86 and Rock Montreal. When I was 12 years old, I learnt english because of their songs. When I was a teen I listened to Queen every day, bought all of their albums, watched all the videos. I sat alone, taking refuge in their music (you know, like Radio Gaga says) during times I was depressed and couldn't even bring myself to get out of bed. Today, their music means every day more and more to me, as I grow up, I can relate even more to their lyrics. They saved my life. They are MY life soundtrack. In 2015, Brian and Roger came to Argentina with Adam Lambert and I could see them live. I cried at the stadium because of how much they mean to me.

I waited for this movie 10 years. 10 years of news of "will they finally make it", recasts, never endings "we are close to make it a reality". I still can't believe we finally have this film so I'm gonna talk about it as much as possible.

Acting: Rami Malek is amazing. His fake teeth made me cringe a bit but he gave so much of him to this role that it's unbelievable somebody could be able to portray Freddie. Still, I knew he was never gonna fail me. Gwilym Lee and Joe Mazzello are out of this world as Brian and John, they became Brian and Deacy. You could see how much dedication they put and I'd like to give a shoutout to Joe for being able to become Deacy without having him to guide him, unlike Gwilym. Ben Hardy was good, but I still believe his characterization is the poorest. I usually give Roger Taylor a lot of crap, but he's my favourite, and I cringed so hard seeing Ben with his baby face and long hair portraying an almost 40 year-old Roger who aged a lot from the early 80s to 1985.

Story: overall, it was good. I felt it was rushed a lot, especially the first half an hour, but I understand it was necessary to fit 15 years in 2 hours. As longtime Queen fans, my sister, my dad and I had no problem understanding the set ups, characters and stories, but people who know little about Queen could find it very fast paced and hard to gather so much information in so little time. I understand the need to put Freddie's diagnosis in 1985 instead of 1987, but the historical innacuracy of some events (conquering South America in the 70s instead of 1981, John Reid still being their manager until the 80s, the creation of WWRY, the band not playing live together for years before Live Aid) really annoyed me because following the true timeline wouldn't have hurt the film's structure. They show Freddie being queer and diagnosed and enough of his private life for those who claimed they were erasing that part of his life because of the comments of that Sacha Baron Cohen asshole (still, as a Freddie admirer I'd have preferred to show as little as possible about Munich because I know he wouldn't have liked it).

And now, my list of moments I enjoyed/complained about:

I hated the Somebody to Love version at the opening credits. It wasn't that hard to use Freddie's real voice. That song was the one who meant the most for him, after all.

Freddie working at Heathrow and being Brian and Roger's biggest fan. AMAZING.

Tim Staffel (Smile's original singer) is the unluckiest dude in the world.

I'm sad we couldn't see Freddie and Roger sharing and apartment and working together at Kensington Market because some great anecdotes happened during that time (Freddie having guests and making them tea on a teapot in which Roger had weed hidden and accidentally making everybody high, Roger stealing Freddie's clothes and selling them at the market after a discussion)

Some A+ chemistry between Freddie and Brian.

Bomi, Jer and Kashmira ❤️

Freddie's birthday party scene was hilarious.

Deacy sent to the basement at Ridge Farm, poor little thing

Also, why did they change the name of the farm? Idc, I'll still say Ridge Farm.

The whole I'm In Love With My Car issue!! I can't believe they did that without including the cupboard incident.

Love that Roger criticized Brian's "you call me sweet / like I'm some kind of cheese" lyrics in Sweet Lady because I've always dragged him for that.

Brian and Deacy not batting an eye at Roger after he threw them food but screaming "NOT THE COFFEE MACHINE!!" the moment he grabbed it (during that time, Rog had some anger management issues he controlled by destroying his drumsticks and electronics)

They really had Mike Myers in the film to say "Bohemian Rhapsody is not a song teenagers listen in the car while they bang their heads"

Their anger the moment I'm In Love With My Car was suggested as the lead single.

Kenny Everett!!

I'm not much of a Mary fan but Lucy was great.

I'm glad they showed Freddie playing scrabble for a tiny moment.

Why the fuck did they do a 1973/4 montage with Fat Bottomed Girls and a 1977/78 montage with Now I'm Here? Was it really that hard to switch the songs to their respective eras?

Jim Hutton ❤️ he truly deserved all of the 80s scenes. He really needed to be more. I don't understand why Freddie goes looking for him during the Live Aid day but they were wearing their engagment rings. I really deserved seeing Freddie and Jim referring at each other as "my husband"

I really wanted Freddie and Jim's real meeting at that pub. "Jim! Freddie Mercury is hitting on you!" "Who?" Lmao I love Jim for not having idea of who Freddie was.

That Paul Prenter asshole, I swear to god. I always hated him. I deserved less of him and having Phoebe Freestone (whom I met years ago at a Queen tribute band concert in my city and was a total sweetheart!) in the film instead.

Rami is allergic to cats so they had some clever editing there.

A few scenes showing the ongoing feud between Brian and John. Interesting.

What the fuck were Gwilym, Ben and Joe doing in the couch at the background during the I Want to Break Free video shooting scene?

"Without me you'd be Dr. Brian May, an astrophycists whose published thesis hasn't been read by anyone" WEEEELL

"And Deacy... well, I can't even think what you would have been without me" EXCUSE ME?! Freddie would have never treated John Richard Deacon that way, he adored him.

Deacy's one liners were HYSTERICAL. They made a good work showing his peculiar sense of humour.

Once more, Under Pressure proves that it can make me cry like a baby. That song is so powerful.

It was horrible that they erased Bowie. Horrible. They could have started a classic rock cinematic universe with Bowie appearing and having a cameo of Taron Egerton as Elton John, who was a close friend of Freddie.

"Freddie, could you give us a minute?" "Why did you do that?" "I just felt like it"

Their reunion scene has all my uwus

They put a lot of effort in the costume department, I appreciate that.

"What do you think of David, guys? I think he's gay" I SNORTED

Bob Geldof YASSS!!

The Live Aid scene ugh. I was ok singing along to BohRap and Radio Gaga but the moment Hammer to Fall started (just my favourite song EVER), I started crying like a baby again and didn't stop until the end.

That girl wiping her tears after We Are the Champions? ME

The ending with Don't Stop Me Now was beautiful.

Some good extra soundtrack songs like Super Freak, Sultans of Swing, Carmen's Habanera.

The Show Must Go On as the credits song? I'm still crying.

#bohemian rhapsody #queen #freddie mercury #text #film review #sort of?

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losgirlythings · 6 years

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Friends idea

So Im laying in bed watching friends and had the best idea. it's a friends spin off with Ben, Emma, Erika, Jack, and 2 more kids from pheobe or joey (or both). it starts with grandma geller dying and Monica calling Erika to let her know she can move from the dorm into the apartment IF she works at central perk. Erika moves one of the other kids in with her, while Jack and the other boy are living in Joey and Chandler. Emma and Ben have their own places (since Ben is 9 years older than everyone else, and Emma is like 2 years older than everyone) Rachel and Ross are happily together, Monica and Chandler are going through some issues dealing with Erika and Jack growing up and moving out and finding their purpose in life now, Joey either never got married or is now a widow, pheobe and Mike have moved away since their child is on their own (or they never had kids). periodically the original cast makes guest appearances, with funny bits about the kids teaching them about new technology. The kids are younger than the original cast. to pay tribute to the original, the kid that moves in with Erika needs to be going through a crisis. maybe it's joeys kid and she's mad because he's dating again? or pheobes kid because her and Mike sold their house and are traveling the country? But anyway, so it all just kind of falls into place that their kid lives with Erika, and they are all Friends! The show could be called Friends Again, or The One With The Kids. Ooh and a story line where Erika sleeps with Richards son. and Jack sleeps with Janices daughter. Preferably around the same time, and Chandler and Monica visit and it's just super awkward. And by the time they could get scripts together the kids could be their legit ages. Say 2024, so Ben would be 29, Emma would be 22, the twins would be 20, pheobe and Mike adopted a child (because of how her life was, she wanted to save another child from that kind of life, and after the triplets she didnt wanna give birth AGAIN) so that one would be 25 and joeys kid is 18. Also the triplets could be shown as well. One of the boys out of all of them needs to be gay, so maybe instead of one of the kids moving in with Erika, it's joeys kid who is gay and came out to joey. Joey was in so much shock that he couldn't say anything so he left and moved in with Jack. but Joey isn't upset so obviously that will all be resolved by the end of the episode, but by then Joeys son has decided he wants to live on his own (with Jack). Joey is reluctant at first because he is worried about his son being so young until Monica and Chandler come down from Heckles old apartment and say that they sold their house and are going to be living there now! Boom.

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samkirschberg · 7 years

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The Ally Coalition's 4th Annual Talent show with Lorde, Jack Antonoff, Kacey Musgraves, and more!

A few nights before the Grammy Awards, comedians, artists- some past/present Grammy winners and nominees, and a fashion designer came together to put on an epic night for an awesome cause. The Ally Coalition was started by the band fun. (Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff, and Andrew Dost) and fashion designer Rachel Antonoff. TAC works with friends in the entertainment, fashion, and music worlds to raise awareness and funds in support of LGBTQ+ equality, to help create safe spaces, and to be a resource to take action.

The 4th annual star-studded talent show included Lorde, Kacey Musgraves, The National, Spoon (Britt Daniel/Alex Fischel), Shamir, Bleachers, Andrew Dost, Phoebe Robinson, Aparna Nancherla, Jacqueline Novak, Mike Birbiglia, and hosted by Rachel Antonoff. It was The Ally Coalition’s biggest talent show yet. The show raised almost $200K (double of last year!), which will go to homeless LGBTQ shelters and local organizations around the country including New Alternatives NYC.

In times like these, saying that you’re an ally is nice, but not good enough. Be kind to each other and support one another. If the world isn't being inclusive, stand up for all and fight for not just your rights, but the rights of others. We all deserve to be treated equally and love who we want to love. Donate or volunteer for different organizations. Get involved and help in any way you can.

Some highlights from the show included:

Kacey Musgraves unfortunately didn’t bring her karaoke microphone, but she was still amazing and hilarious. She performed two songs “Butterflies” and “Rainbow” that will be on her upcoming album, and her hit “Follow Your Arrow”. After performing she declared, “I’m an ally for fucking life. Hands down. Don’t care what anyone says.”

Comedians Novak, Birbiglia, and Dope Queen Robinson did sets on about the importance of ordering your own damn fries, some sperm troubles, and a super weird scene in the Kingsman: The Secret Service movie, respectively. Aparna “Beast Mode” Nancherla talked about New York winters and how vaginas are more regulated than guns.

The National performed three songs including “I Need My Girl” and “Fake Empire.” Spoon beautifully covered John Lennon’s “Isolation." Both bands rocked and were super honored and psyched to be at the show. Mr. co-founder Andrew Dost showed off his piano skills playing some music from an upcoming secret project and covers of Judee Sill’s “Waterfalls” and Harry Nilsson’s “Turn on Your Radio."

It was also great to have songs performed that were LGBT themed. Shamir started off by saying, “I have a lot of songs about LGBT issues because I’m a part of that alphabet.” And then sang his songs “Straight Boy” and "90's Kids." Kacey’s “Follow Your Arrow” has the lyrics, “Make lots of noise/Kiss lots of boys/Or kiss lots of girl/If that's something you're into.” Bleachers performed “Alfie’s Song (Not So Typical Love Song)” live for the first time. The song is off of the Jack Antonoff-curated album for the movie Love, Simon- a film about a teenager’s coming out story.

Bleachers played a heartfelt tribute to Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries. Band member Mikey Hart actually went on tour with The Cranberries making it a little more emotional. They also performed “I Wanna Get Better”, a cover of ELO's “When I Was a Boy," and kicked off the show with the Beatles-esque “Good Morning.”

Ella spoke to the crowd, “We were here [at The Ally Coalition Talent Show] last year, we were doing this, and it was like the first time I’d been on a stage in a long time. I felt very much like I just emerged from our hiding place situation to come and play. I could feel like everyone was just like, ‘Oh my god, it’s her. What is she doing out in the world?’ By that point, we’d written pretty much all of Melodrama and we were just getting ready to finish it up and put it out into the world. And I remember being here last year and thinking like that feeling just felt impossible to even understand- that there would be another record for me. And now there is. We made it together and it’s nice that I can still come here and annoy Jack.”

Sitting on the piano bench, they performed “Writer in the Dark”, Carly Rae Jepsen (a TAC talent show alumni)’s song “Run Away with Me”, Roy Orbison’s “You Got It”, and “Green Light”. While singing, she pointed to mic to the crowd and everyone sang, “I’m waiting for it, that green light, I want it!” The performance got the only standing ovation of the night. It’s just the magic of Lorde and Jack.

The evening ended with The Ally Coalition Talent Show tradition of inviting everyone back on stage to sing Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way”. The best part of these talent shows is that they’re low-key and chill. They allow the artists to be themselves and vulnerable and appreciative. They are all there to show their talent and help raise funds for LGBT+ youth. It makes you fall in love with new artists and more in love with artists you already love/like.

You know what’s also cool about bringing all these artists together- not only are we fans of them, they are also fans of each other. Shamir spoke about how excited he was to finally meet Lorde, Aparna, Phoebe, and Kacey. He has even covered Kacey’s “Merry Go ‘Round” in the past. As you watch each performer, you could see the other performers watching from backstage.

Take the pledge to be an ally with The Ally Coalition and start doing something to make a difference.

All photos by Daniel Silbert and Gabby Kirschberg.

#the ally coaliton #tac #jack antonoff #lorde #melodrama #rachel antonoff #shamir #aparna nancherla #ella yelich o'connor #phoebe robinson #kacey musgraves #andrew dost #fun.#spoon #the national #bleachers #mike birbiglia #lgbtq #jacqueline novak

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letterboxd · 7 years

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Coming of Age.

There’s nothing like a good coming of age film, as the Letterboxd community has recently demonstrated. From Rebel Without a Cause to Stand By Me to Boyhood, there’s something about the transition from youth to adulthood that gets us right in the feels. (Get it perfect and you’ll hit the Academy in the feels, too: hello, Moonlight.)

The last year has seen a great run of coming of age films: Moonlight of course, along with Hunt for the Wilderpeople, American Honey, The Edge of Seventeen and Mustang.

And now a new wave is now rolling in, notably: Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Kevin Phillips’ thriller Super Dark Times, and, to a certain extent, Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck and Sean Baker’s The Florida Project.

Letterboxd caught up with Gerwig, Guadagnino and Haynes at the recent 55th New York Film Festival; what follows is a combination of press conference and Letterboxd-specific questions about comings-of-age and memorable movies.

Greta Gerwig—Lady Bird

Gerwig’s first film as the sole writer-director, Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as the title character, a spirited Sacramento high schooler who feels destined for greater things on the East Coast (“Lady Bird” is the fanciful name she gives herself; her parents know her as Christine but humor her nevertheless).

Although Lady Bird features many of the tropes familiar to American high school movies—prom, losing one’s virginity, best friend fights, wrong-side-of-the-tracks class comparisons—they’re handled in a fresh way, a deft balance between comedy and drama. Inspired by, but not directly drawn from, her own upbringing, Gerwig says, “It was a love letter to Sacramento, and I felt like what better way to make a love letter than through somebody who wanted to get out and then realised that they loved it.

“In a way it’s secretly the mother’s movie as much as it is Lady Bird’s movie. Somebody’s coming of age is somebody else’s letting go. And I was just as interested in the letting go as I was of the young people’s stories.”

Like many of its coming-of-age predecessors, such as Pretty in Pink and Blue is the Warmest Colour, Lady Bird has a strong class narrative running through it; a purposeful inclusion by Gerwig, who greatly admires English filmmaker Mike Leigh.

“Class is a very difficult thing in America,” she says. “We’re uncomfortable with class and how that works but I think it’s something that’s an invisible force that shapes a lot of people’s lives.

“Life is not fair, and resources are not divided fairly, either in talents or in economics. […] One thing that I wanted to explore is: Lady Bird’s always looking up at other people, and people she thinks have more, and have it all together, and meanwhile those people are looking up at other people. And she doesn’t see how much she has, because in a culture of ‘more more more’ and ‘I always need to get to the next level’, there’s no way that you can appreciate what you have.

“It’s that disease of always looking up and never being where you are.”

On the challenge of directing, Gerwig says her acting experiences stood her in good stead: “One of the reasons is that most directors only ever are on their own sets! They don’t actually know how anyone else does it. And I’ve been on a lot of sets, and I’ve seen a lot of different ways of working and a lot of different ways of relating to actors and crew, and I’ve sort of seen what works and what doesn’t work, and I took all these ideas that I’d been gathering over the years.

“And they could be as little as things like having your crew wear name-tags every day. Which sounds small, but… if you switch out camera operator and [the actors] don’t know who the new person is, and you know, because you’ve talked to them, but they don’t know. I stole that from Mike Mills on 20th Century Women. So I felt like that was helpful.

“My greatest joy is working with actors and watching them bring life to these things that I’ve put on the page that are essentially dead until they bring their spirit and their artistry to it. So I adore them, and I think they know that, and I have a lot of empathy for what I’m asking of them. Because I’ve been there. And it’s hard. I try to bring sensitivity to it.”

FYI: Lady Bird broke American box office records on its opening weekend.

Luca Guadagnino—Call Me By Your Name

Guadagnino (whose first language is Italian, hence the idiosyncrasies in the quotes to follow) says he was attracted to the adaptation of André Aciman’s novel Call Me By Your Name because, “I always found myself restless as an audience member towards films that tells the coming of age that are […] basically relying on the cliché, on what is the assumption that the narrative has to deliver in order to get there.”

Asked which cliché he wanted to avoid in particular, Guadagnino says, “I think for instance that there is the idea that there is a contrast against the lovers, is something that is so artificial. You know? That there has to be somebody who is gonna contrast them, and then the lover will triumph. And in the gay canon it will triumph or maybe it will be bittersweet, it will not triumph.”

Call Me By Your Name brings the teenaged Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and graduate student Oliver (Armie Hammer) into each other’s orbit via a long, hot summer at Elio’s family’s Italian villa. Clocking in at over two hours, it has a languid, unstructured feel, a narrative pattern directly inspired by Maurice Pialat’s À Nos Amours.

“That was very, very, very dear to me. What is great about Pialat’s cinema is the capacity that he has always had to really the avoid the traps of a narrative and to be very at the center of his characters, and to really be letting live the flesh and blood and bone and sperm and every other kind of biological fruits of these characters, in a way that is really connected to his audience members because we are like the people in the screen.

“I wanted to prove that I could tell the story from the perspective of someone like Pialat instead of from the perspective of a three-act script.”

See the trio of films about love that Luca Guadagnino chose for Letterboxd.

At the time of writing, Call Me By Your Name is sitting at the top of Letterboxd’s ‘Unofficial’ Top 50 for 2017, based on weighted ratings for the year to date.

Todd Haynes—Wonderstruck

Haynes directed the big screen version of Brian Selznick’s novel Wonderstruck, which Selznick himself adapted. It’s an epic story split between two children in two different time frames, both confronting deafness and looking for family. Julianne Moore stars in two roles, one a silent-movie star.

As well as a tribute “to the endurance of New York, to the history of New York”, Haynes says Wonderstruck is also about “the imagination of young people, the language of cinema… and the theme of deafness”. Haynes said in planning this film, he thought a lot about the films he saw as a child, “the films that kind of entered my mind and bloodstream and changed the way I saw things. They were films that were always maybe a little beyond my reach.”

We asked Haynes, Selznick and Moore to share their memories of the films that changed the way they saw things as children. Haynes chose Mary Poppins, Romeo & Juliet and The Miracle Worker as his key childhood movie memories. Visit the Letterboxd list to learn why.

Selznick, who also wrote the novel Hugo, which Martin Scorsese adapted, says he “mostly loved monster movies” when he was a kid. “I was really into The Phantom of the Opera, the Lon Chaney silent movie. I grew up in New Jersey, so there was the ‘creature double-feature’ in the afternoon when I got back from school. Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and King Kong.

“I’m distantly related to David O. Selznick who produced King Kong and Gone With the Wind and Rebecca, so there was also an added thrill of seeing my last name at the beginning of all of these movies that I really loved! Even though they were from the California movie-making side of the Selznicks, and I am from the New Jersey dry-cleaning side of the Selznicks. Successful dry-cleaner though, I have to say.

“And then, every year, looking forward to seeing The Wizard of Oz on TV when it was ever the holidays. And that moment, which I think is one of the great moments in cinema history, when Dorothy opens the door from her black and white world in Kansas into Oz.”

Meanwhile, Julianne Moore’s childhood movie memories are of the eclectic films programmed in a tiny Alaskan cinema, which ultimately transformed her approach to acting.

“When I was in fifth grade, my family moved to Juno, Alaska, and there was a movie theater in town that my sister and I went to every Saturday, no matter what. But because the population was so small in Juno they changed the movie every single week, so sometimes we’d go and see The Aristocats, and then one week it would be like One Day in the Life [from the novel by] Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. And then Minnie and Moskowitz, which is a Cassavetes film! And they let us in! Every Saturday! I didn’t know what I was watching half the time. I really didn’t, not until years later.

“It wasn’t until I would see movies in a revival house in Boston when I was in college that I kind of drew a connection to these movies I saw when I was in fifth grade … and it was just this sort of different, very, very human point of view. So if you’re Ivan Denisovich and you’re in prison and you reach down and you pull up a fish eye in your soup—I remember that very distinctly!—you know, that creates a different kind of experience to you right away, and you’ve done that visually with a fish eye in a spoon.

“It was something that kind of honed my interest in behavior, in performance, so I became interested in less in a theatrical kind of performance and more of a cinematic one because of this guy who owned a theater in Juno, Alaska.”

For more coming of age films, try these Letterboxd lists:

Teenage Wasteland: a Comprehensive List of Coming of Age Films A Film of Myself: My Favourite Female Coming of Age Films French Feminine Coming of Age Cinema

#coming of age #childhood #teenager #high school movies #todd haynes #julianne moore #greta gerwig #luca guadagnino #wonderstruck #call me by your name #lady bird

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2020laxteentour · 4 years

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Day Three (Volunteering in Nipsey Hussle’s community @Crenshaw&Slausson)

The adventure today in California was amazing. Cleaning around Nipsey Hustle’s store and memorials made me feel good on the inside because he was doing good things before he died and he has a legacy now. It was no reason he should’ve passed. That was the highlight of my day. -Jordan B.

The highlight of today was our volunteer activity in Crenshaw. I am not new to community service but I believe this is the first that I have seen people’s faces light up with such joy for doing something great for the community. I had listened to Nipsey’s music and never realized who he was until my flight landed the very same day he was killed. The volunteer site was a complete surprise to me but I am glad that I was able to be a part of it. I also enjoyed the rest of the day, especially Venice Beach. It’s one of my favorites here in California, but of course I still have so much more to explore. The sunset was beautiful and the mountains always enhance the scenery. The most important thing about today was spending the last few hours with everyone and enjoying each other’s presence. I am so glad I was able to be a part of this experience and WeCCAAN is truly like a family to me. -Kristen L.

I really like Nipsey Square and I liked how when we were cleaning up people thanked us for cleaning up the streets because no one would. Cal Tech looks big and there's a lot of nerds. The art district is so cool and fun. Venice beach was not as packed as the good places and other things but I really liked it there was a lot of seaweed which I did not like. I liked coming to California and putting my feet in the Pacific Ocean. -Jamil B.

Volunteering in South central LA, very, very rewarding. The locals were appreciative and kind as we picked up trash and contributed to their community. So blessed to be a part of this tour. I pray everyone have the spirit of service. Venice beach. Beautiful. Awesome experience, to see everyone enjoying themselves. Living free and vicariously. CALI owes me nothing !!!! Thanks a Bunch. -Toquetta C.

The third day on our service learning trip! We started with a early morning to kick off the day and see what LA had to offer us. First stop, was our Community Service Activity. I was able to see the Murals around Crenshaw and helped the community around them by cleaning up the trash and litter that defiled the neighborhood. During this experience I was overwhelmed by the amount of trash that filled the streets and attention that wasn’t given to places like Crenshaw. Unlike how upper scale areas of LA are given proper treatment and care because they are seen as better than other parts of the city. We then went to see the LA Art Pavilion. The buildings there were tremendous, they were complex and modern in a way that complimented the theme of the area which was art. To finish it off we viewed the sunset at Venice Beach, the way the sun rolled over the nearby mountains made it a pleasurable view. -Marcus R.

The adventure today in California was amazing. Cleaning around Nipsey Hustle’s store and memorials made was a great experience and it made me feel like I was showing a good sign of respect by picking up trash around his memorial. Also the beach was relieving and fun and I would really would like to come back. -Iterrius J.

Cleaning up the trash around the businesses was interesting in both the types of trash and the varied reactions local residents had to seeing us out there. I loved the architecture of Cal Tech and there was a fountain that recycled water from the air units that I thought was pretty cool. Venice Beach was absolutely beautiful and the food was great I even got to try an elite which was better than I thought it would be. I was SO tired getting back though and I still didn't get much sleep before writing this but I had fun for the most part. -Essence H.

It was an honor to serve the Inglewood community today as we cleaned the area and paid homage to Nipsey Hussle. It was inspiring to see the different college campuses back set with looming mountains, stoic and poised. Finally it was rejuvenating wading in the brisk salt water at Venice Beach. Many of us reflected on loved ones who have since passed on and we wrote a collective tribute to them in the sand as the sun spewed warm colors across the shimmering ocean. All is well. -Giovan B.

Today was very fun and amusing. Cleaning up Nispey’s memorial made me feel really good on the inside because I knew I was contributing to a community outside of mine. Afterwards going to the beach was really cool, being able to see the sun set on the Pacific when I’m used to the Atlantic. Other than freezing, today was amazing. -Bascia P.

A very exciting day starting with the cleaning up of Nipsey Hussle neighborhood. The neighbors were very appreciative to see the group cleaning up the streets. On to the campus of CalTech, such a lovely campus. Venice Beach as very relaxing so many shops and restaurant to choice from. The afternoon ended with the entire group watching the sunset such a beautiful view. -Pamela G.

The day was filled with learning about the different culture dynamics of the cities. Pasadena was peaceful, the air was clear and it didn't possess that LA vibe to me, it was more family. The Art District was beautiful, the architectural designs of the buildings were astonishing, even though we couldn't go into the buildings just the works on the streets spoke volumes. Venice Beach was O-MAZING......it was so much to do there, the food was plentiful, and they didn't lack entertainment or shopping. To me Venice Beach is the place to be if you want to get a mix of what California is like. Today was filled with culture. -Patrice C.

Today I learned the significance of giving back to a community. We went through and instead of just viewing the area, we picked up whatever trash and loiter there was. -Noah W.

Such an indescribable feeling. Helping to uplift the community of the late GREAT Nipsey Hussle is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Explaining to Jamil what Nipsey did for his community and how he wanted to help. He was more than just a rapper. He cared about where he lived. It was an honor to help. To not just be a tourist but to volunteer here has been such a blessing. Dipped my feet in the Atlantic on the Miami tour... dipped my feet in the Pacific on the California tour. WeCCAAN and we did! I also learned there are 3 types of columns... the more decorative and ornate, the more important the building. -TeShania B.

Bitter sweet since it's our last full day here in the Pacific side of the country. The BEST day by far for me was today, we served a great community...the Nipsy Hussle community, it was super rewarding; businesses around and community members appreciated us cleaning the areas, love to see their smiles and gratitude. During the afternoon we watched the sunset and felt the cool breeze while reflecting on how not only did we "see and serve" but we did it during a pandemic. California was beyond my expectations, great vibe, tons of culture and the most amazing weather. Thank you Dr. Mike for this great tour and experience. -Rania A.

SECOND VISIT--AUGUST 21ST-23RD (Volunteering on Skid Row)

Today was a full day of experiencing LA and I love it! First and foremost, I’ve never heard of Skid Row being real, I always thought it was something just on movies and tv shows. I’m glad I was able to experience the environment and was able to help clean what they call home. Later we visited the Marathon Store as it was gated but to also see how much the neighborhood love Nipsey Hussle also known as “Neighborhood Nip.” One of my small highlights of the trip was visiting Watts Towers... I’m a big fan of architecture and I was just amazed of how he was able to design his pieces with glass bottles, glass plates and etc. I remember learning about Watts Towers in art history in high school but was very thankful to see it in person. Biggest highlight was visiting Venice Beach and being able to explore different cultures through food or clothing. This was the first time also being by the Pacific Ocean. Ending my night visiting Hollywood was very interesting and entertaining, I brought plenty of souvenirs to keep this trip in memory. -Joy F. (PART II)

Two things stuck with me all day ...learning that Vietnam wasn’t a war (like we were taught in school) but a conflict due to not wanting to admit defeat & seeing that Skid Row wasn’t what I thought it was. My kid brother has a video game that depicts that Skid Row was all about gangs. Being that I’m from a small town and live in the next city over, homelessness isn’t an issue ...or if it is, it isn’t big. To see that there is literally a street full of what would be considered homeless people was eye opening. I couldn’t even say they were homeless because honestly they made what they had their home, with most caring for their tents as they would if they were in houses. I’ve always done community clean up & other service events with my church but this was a different experience. Being able to view the murals of Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant was pretty cool. I wasn’t a big fan of neither but both have so much respect in their respective cities that I think “how can you dislike them?”. I also got to try birria tacos and consomé for the first time. Very satisfying. Literally went back for more. Hollywood at night was colorful but I enjoyed it during the day more. I’m making it my business to visit LA again on my own. Although today was pretty much nonstop, I enjoyed it all. This experience was a good one overall ...my first tour with WeCCAAN & my first time in LA. Thanks for the experience. -Markesia B. (PART II)

Good morning Vietnam . A saying that I have heard over the years in various setting but truly never really know the meaning, and sadly I never asked the meaning. That all changed today. This morning while meeting for our morning huddle to head to our community service event for the day, one of the other service volunteers asked what the statement meant and I was so enlightened when Dr. Mike has a very in-depth history on the Vietnam conflict which then surprisingly turned into a conversation about Marcus Garvey. Skid Row. A location I only heard of before but could have never imagined all that I saw. A neighborhood of people who are less fortunate. The streets were lined with homes created with tarps, tents and or whatever they could find to have a covering at night or during the day while they rest. Some of the neighbors were even out sweeping their spaces up and trying to organize the little they had. It broke my heart to see that but it also showed me that even in poverty they were trying to do the best they could. That let me know I should never make excuses for anything I’m going through to be the end all but to try to make the best out of it. -Sha’Bria J. (PART II)

Venice Beach was so beautiful. I enjoyed seeing the various art forms being displayed out there. Everyone was so free and didn’t mind being expressive and it was just a dope vibe. Coming from Daytona I was sure I had seen the most beautiful sunsets ever, but today I learned otherwise. The sunset fell right on top of the mountain point so gracefully. It was so refreshing to see to just sit in silence and enjoy that moment. It created a moment to be mindful and a chance to breathe. Another amazing day! -Sierra W. (PART II)

Today was a very moving day for me. The things that are portrayed in media and on TV for the California lifestyle and entertainment are usually positive and full of happiness. However, no continent, country, city or town has the perfect environment and/or standard of living. The haves and the have nots co-exist as one unit. In all my years of living so far, I have not seen one without the other. The most interesting part of today was the morning time in which I learned Ho Chi Minh, the Prime Minister of Vietnam at the time of the Vietnam Conflict, had been inspired and influenced by a black person during his younger years. Today’s experience was a true reminder that although I may not have what others have, I still need to be grateful for what I do have as there are others who unfortunately, are way worse off than I. -Kristen L. (PART II)

We started the day with some volunteer work over in Skid Row in L.A. Just looking around and observing the conditions that people live in, even in the darkest of times, people still try to take care of their own as well as those around them. When i thought about L.A. before, it was about the shining lights but I never realized how close a place like Skid Row could exist to a place like downtown L.A. after the volunteer work we went down to the community that Nipsey Hustle was working on. There were many beautiful pieces of artwork and murals dedicated to his work and dedication. Afterward we went down to venice beach. I took the time to reflect on what I saw in L.A. This city has two sides to it and most people only know of the famous and fortunate side of it. If more awareness and time could be put into the more poverty stricken side of L.A., then the conditions that people live in could be improved. -Javon B. (PART II)

Today as we walked around Skid Row, it angered me. I felt like it was so disgusting to have such a place almost down the street from where the Lakers play. On the other side, it was interesting to see the community that the people who lived there had with each other. Society would tell you that such a place would be cold and void of life but as we walked through a cleaned up, there was music and smiles and for a split second I almost forgot where we were as we talked to some of the people who lived there. Seeing the Kobe and Nipsey murals also showed me how much pride the city has for its greats. Even as we entered Crenshaw and got further away from DTLA, I still saw mini Nipsey murals and rest in peace sign aways for the Bryants. -Kasamba A. (PART II)

THIRD VISIT--DECEMBER 27TH-29TH (Volunteering on Skid Row)

Today, I had the opportunity to volunteer at Skid Row. Once I stepped out the van, I felt an immense amount of compassion for every one who called this street home. I immediately reflected on their life situation and wanted to do more, give more. I realized there’s so much more work to do for the homeless community of L.A. A few miles away, we visited Pasadena, CA and saw the Rose Bowl stadium where history was made. The homes, condos, and mansions were beautiful while also inspiring. I thought it was my goal to become successful & live in L.A. but now I’ve reached higher to live in the quiet neighborhood of Pasadena. The inner city of L.A. made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. Something I’m not used to being raised in Atlanta. It gave me a different perspective of what black Californians may go through rich or poor. -Shauna J. (Part III)

Today journey was an exciting one for sure. Helping clean up garbage made me feel good because I’ve never gave back to a community like that and it was a great experience. After that Venice beach gave me an exhilarating experience because the whole place was lit up with life, from the boardwalk to the canals. Then later on we went on to roscoes chicken and waffles which was really a delicacy. -Qadir C. (Part III)

This morning began with the volunteer clean up project on Skid Row. To be given the opportunity to actually walk down skid row again is a very touching experience. Seeing the people living conditions makes me realize how fortunate and blessed I am. The houses in Pasenda near the Rose Bowl are nice and very expensive . Venice Beach this time around I felt more relaxing. I enjoyed tacos and tostada at The Original Teddy’s Red Tacos which a real treat. The stroll down Hollywood Boulevard and Rodeo Drive is always exciting. Rodeo drive Christmas decoration is so beautiful the time of year. The night ended with chicken from Rosco Chicken and waffles was great. -Pamela G. (Part III)

I had wonderful time at Venice beach. The highlight of my trip was Venice canals. It’s interesting how it’s actually a community of people that actually live there on the banks of the canal. The homes were of various architecture from modern to Bungalow to retro style homes with beautifully vivid colors and artsy landscape designs. I also really felt at home in Pasadena. The park at the rose bowl was comforting with the view of the mountains surrounding the area. It was awesome. -Dameon C. (Part III)

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junker-town · 5 years

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6 winners from Week 11 of the NFL season

Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images

Michael Gallup paid tribute to his brother, and Maxx Crosby put on his Khalil Mack pants.

Week 11 started with a defensive player of the year candidate clubbing a rival with his own helmet. Sunday was always going to be a bit anticlimactic after that.

A showdown between the Texans and Ravens turned into a blowout that only reminded the world Baltimore can nuke your defense a hundred different ways. Kyle Allen reverted back to backup form in a four-interception day. The most entertaining touchdown of the day didn’t count.

That didn’t mean there weren’t still plenty of reasons to remember Week 11’s biggest winners. Kirk Cousins looked like a third-stringer for two quarters, then one of the league’s top passers for his last two. Lamar Jackson got Deshaun Watson’s MVP vote. The Colts got Jacoby Brissett back from injury and broke their Brissett-less losing streak. Tom Brady found a new enormous coat!

Of course, this week’s winners went beyond the final scores. Who made the list of champions despite a relatively quiet day?

It wasn’t ...

Not considered: the Buccaneers, fiercely committed to finding creative ways to turn the ball over

Jameis Winston came into Week 11 with a league-leading 14 interceptions. It took him less than one quarter to get to No. 15 — though this one was not his fault:

Demario Davis with an off-the-back INT @demario__davis pic.twitter.com/4Jp1cyIBN7

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) November 17, 2019

O.J. Howard gift-wrapped an interception for Saints linebacker Demario Davis, and then was stapled to the bench for the remainder of the game — that was the tight end’s only target. That also meant Howard couldn’t be responsible for interception No. 16, which pinballed off Kiko Alonso‘s chest and into Vonn Bell’s hands.

You love to see selfless Kiko letting @Vonn have this one #Saints #Saints #Saints pic.twitter.com/deJYt6MAtc

— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 17, 2019

And that wasn’t all! Winston added a pick-six and an interception in the end zone to cap his day and even had a botched snap he was able to recover deep in the New Orleans red zone. He’s now responsible for 18 interceptions and 11 fumbles in 2019, and it appears even pairing up with QB whisperer head coach Bruce Arians won’t be enough to rehabilitate a career marred by careless play and sloppy turnovers.

Now on to ...

Week 11’s actual winners

6. The Jets, who are 3-1 against the NFC East ...

... and 0-6 against everyone else.

It turns out the best way to keep Sam Darnold from seeing ghosts is to throw him in there against the worst teams the NFC has to offer. Last week he outshined the Giants with 255 total yards and two touchdowns (one rushing, one passing). On Sunday, he shredded the Washington defense for four touchdowns and 293 passing yards in a 34-17 win.

Darnold wasn’t the only player to perform some important resume building in against the East’s least successful team. Jamal Adams had three sacks on the season coming into Week 11, which makes sense since he’s a safety and not a defensive end. He doubled that season total vs. Washington, because for the first three quarters rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins was a lost fawn trying to to cross a frozen pond.

When will they stop trying to block him with RBs?@TheAdamsEra | #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/HRSYZLOx0J

— New York Jets (@nyjets) November 17, 2019

Haskins eventually finished his day with a pair of garbage-time touchdown passes to salvage his second start as a pro. With any luck, his front office can trade its impending No. 2 overall pick for a handful of assets who can help him reach his potential as a professional quarterback and give him the cast needs.

Or, in a much more likely development: Washington will squander the pick, use its cap space on veterans who won’t contribute, and eventually alienate an injured Haskins until he leaves in free agency four years from now or is released with an injury settlement before then.

For now, Washington is stuck as the fifth-best team in the NFC East, if you want to include the mighty Jets.

5. Jason Sanders, hands team member

Two players have recovered onside kicks in 2019. One was Cordarrelle Patterson, a dynamite returner who moonlights as a wide receiver and understands the ins and outs of how a kickoff bounces better than anyone. The other is a kicker who’d never officially possessed a ball in his year-plus in the NFL until Sunday.

.@jasonsanderss decided to do it all by himself ‍♂️#BUFvsMIA #FinsUp pic.twitter.com/J7UuOhyVRk

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) November 17, 2019

NFL teams were 1 for 29 before Sanders broke out the sneaky Pete onside kick in the second quarter against Buffalo. Unfortunately for Sanders, and in true 2019 Dolphins fashion, Miami fumbled away possession on the very next play.

That led to a Bills touchdown, and eventually, Miami having its two-game winning streak snapped. It also marks the first time the Dolphins have lost since acquiring secret weapon Aqib Talib (who won’t play a single snap for the club this season).

4. The Falcons, who were one point better than a week of insufferable jokes

Atlanta has nothing to play for after a 1-7 start, except a chance to save head coach Dan Quinn’s job. If the last two weeks are any indication, the Falcons don’t want the man who led them to an NFC title in 2016 to go.

Atlanta won:

its second straight game

against a NFC South rival

on the road

by double digits

Four wildly unlikely things that came together for one unexpected streak (if we’re being generous) after a bleak start. Last week, the Falcons cracked open the Saints and spilled them all over the Superdome. In Week 11, they would up dispatching the Panthers — and got a perfect 2-for-2 performance on extra points from kicker Younghoe Koo to keep the game from becoming a meme.

That made the final score 29-3, one day after Baylor put together a stunning throwback to Super Bowl 51 by blowing a 28-3 lead against Oklahoma — a loss the Falcons social media team was fully aware of.

‍♂️

— Atlanta Falcons (@AtlantaFalcons) November 17, 2019

That’s a significant display of symbolism. If the Falcons are going to be successful under Quinn, the franchise has to put the specter of 28-3 and the greatest collapse of all time behind it. Sunday’s win, following a season of adversity, was a statement about how this team can move forward. It showed they’re one better than 28-3. And with two straight wins over divisional opponents, they’re showing they believe in their coach too much to just roll over and die.

Or, maybe it just means Kyle Allen isn’t as good as he seemed and the Falcons are too talented to be a 2-14 team and are more likely a 5-11 one. Either way.

3. Tony Romo, still our lowkey football psychic

Romo knew exactly what the Patriots needed when they faced third-and-11 from the Eagles’ 15 in a game where three different drives to the red zone had already stalled out with field goals.

“Now you have to have some kind of cool play,” he opined for a Patriots offense that’d struggled to catch Philadelphia off guard. “The only problem is, all the cool plays take time.”

It turns out he was right on both counts, almost as if he knew the rarely discussed trivia tidbit that Julian Edelman was once a MAC quarterback.*

"now you have to have some cool play. the problem is, all the cool plays take time" -- Tony Romo, seconds before this Julian Edelman TD pass to Phillip Dorsett pic.twitter.com/VlhKgFdDSZ

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) November 17, 2019

Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels dug into his bag of tricks and dialed up a lead-taking double throw that included both of Tom Brady’s most trusted targets. The future Hall of Famer spun a lateral out to Edelman, who had two-plus seconds to turn his attention downfield and find a wide open Phillip Dorsett in the end zone for six points. It was New England’s only touchdown in a 17-10 win.

That pivotal play was cool, took time, and worked on third down. Romo knew it was coming, and that wasn’t the only time he’d be vindicated during the broadcast (even if Bill Belichick didn’t agree).

While the Eagles were waiting for that call, Carson Wentz asked our cameraman what he thought the call was. The cameraman said "Tony Romo said no question it's a touchdown." Wentz responded, "Well, Romo's always right." It ended up being a touchdown. (via @TracyWolfson) pic.twitter.com/wMDwwWYp1k

— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) November 17, 2019

*nearly as overlooked as the salient points that both Jimmy Graham and Antonio Gates were college basketball players.

2. Maxx Crosby, the Khalil Mack replacement we all expected him to be

Oakland’s pass rush was nearly nonexistent in 2018. The Raiders had traded away wrecking ball Khalil Mack that offseason, and a toothless group managed just 13 sacks — far and away the lowest total in the NFL.

Head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock spent big to overhaul their offense in the offseason but only brought in one big-name defender: safety LaMarcus Joyner. That put the pressure of rebuilding a low-octane group of edge rushers on some ineffective incumbents, as well as first-rounder Clelin Ferrell and fourth-round pick Maxx Crosby.

This week, Crosby stepped up to deliver a fresh dose of misery atop the Bengals’ smoldering pile:

Not one... Not two... Not three... FOUR sacks for @CrosbyMaxx today. Unreal. #RaiderNation pic.twitter.com/Kjqdr0tVt2

— Oakland Raiders (@Raiders) November 18, 2019

Crosby abused the Bengals’ inept offensive line for the biggest day of his NFL career, sending fill-in quarterback Ryan Finley to the turf four times for a net loss of 37 yards and one fumble. He was part of a unit that harangued the rookie QB into a 13-of-31, 115-yard, zero-touchdown afternoon.

Crosby only had 2.5 sacks in the half-season leading up to the game against Cincinnati’s AAA lineup, so it’s fair to doubt whether this breakout was a sign of things to come or just an outlier performance. Either way, it helped the Raiders improve to 6-4 with a 17-10 victory, and Oakland is now in the thick of the postseason hunt less than a year and a half after Gruden gutted the roster.

If Crosby can be half the player he was in Week 11 through the end of the season, the Raiders could be a real headache as 2019 winds down.

1. Michael Gallup, who did his brother proud

One year ago Sunday, Gallup learned his brother Andrew had passed away at the age of 23. He used his memory to fuel him against the Lions — and that motivation helped carry him to one of the biggest performances of his budding career.

Gallup had a personal-best nine catches and 148 yards as the Cowboys outlasted the Lions in a 35-27 win. After the game, he acknowledged how he carried his brother with him on the field.

A year ago today, @michael13gallup learned his brother passed away. "I needed to come in here and play that one for him." He had 9 catches and 148 yards in a @dallascowboys win (via @SlaterNFL) pic.twitter.com/okFyJTGWQy

— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) November 17, 2019

“Obviously it’s going to be tough around this time every year,” Gallup told reporters after the game. “His birthday was Nov. 10, so it’s always a hard one.

“But to go out here and have fun and do what I love – he knows that I’ve always loved this game, and he was up there watching me. So it’s a good feeling to be able to do that for him and have the family watch as well.”

That was the second-year pro’s third 100+ yard game of the 2019 season. More importantly, it was a fitting tribute to a family member.

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barbosaasouza · 6 years

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Nintendo Labo: Genius or Insanity?

The French have a saying: Les extremes se touchent. It’s a way of saying that things so far out on either side of a spectrum might actually have some overlap. Some of the world’s brightest minds throughout history, for example, have had a touch of madness. Perhaps some of Nintendo’s designers have this trait too. Innovation requires unique thinking. Nintendo’s newest innovation, Labo, is a series of cardboard construction kits that interact with the Switch platform. And frankly, it feels so mad, that maybe it’s brilliant.

As Nintendo describes it, Labo “combines the magic of the Nintendo Switch system with the fun of DIY creations.” It draws on the appeal of building blocks like Lego as well as the Switch itself, which has already sold well over 14 million units worldwide. Nintendo will begin by selling a Variety Kit and a Robot Kit on April 20th, for $69.99 and $79.99, respectively.

Reactions to the Labo announcement a few months ago were, unsurprisingly, polarizing. Some took to social media to lavish praise on Nintendo for doing something truly creative, something that no other major company in the business would even dare to attempt. Others bemoaned the fact that Nintendo is charging people 80 bucks for pieces of pre-cut cardboard.

Nintendo’s product track record is certainly not flawless (Virtual Boy, Wii U anyone?) but if the house of Mario can legitimately sell cardboard pieces at those prices, it’s hard not to think of it as genius. The margins are going to be substantially better.

As Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter explained, "The only costs are design (R&D) and marketing. My guess is that R&D is very low, but marketing is around the same as for any other games. So the difference in profits is the difference in R&D spending. That is likely $50 - $80 million total. If they sell 10 million Labo [units], the profit per unit will be $5 - $8 higher than a conventional game."

The announcement and pending launch also serve to fill a marketing gap for the Switch, which is coming off the stupendous release of Super Mario Odyssey last holiday but doesn’t have any major first-party titles on the immediate horizon.

“Labo is a great and novel product that fits well with Nintendo's history and its penchant for coming up with cool accessories,” Joost van Dreunen, CEO of SuperData Research told me. “Its key value currently is to boost the marketing effort for the Switch. Releasing the Labo footage unexpectedly bought Nintendo a lot of traction on social media, which is clearly a critical component to its overall marketing strategy. By continuing to feed its fanbase, Nintendo keeps its core offering top of mind.”

That said, the analyst was unsure “whether people will buy it en masse and whether it will have a life-cycle beyond a few weeks of novelty before it ends up on a shelf much less relevant.”

youtube

Predictions aside, Nintendo Labo is already a hit with one important crowd: creatives. The bulk of the developers I spoke to about the cardboard kits expressed genuine enthusiasm.

“There's something about building the toys you play with that I'm sure will reach a broad audience,” said Jean-François Major, co-founder at Tribute Games, which has released the Contra-like 2D action title Mercenary Kings Reloaded on Switch and other platforms.

“With games like Minecraft, we've proven people are open to non traditional and linear experiences. However, the Labo games will need to be as creative as the cardboard construction.”

Klaus Lyngeled, CEO of Zoink, which just released the platformer Fe, is equally enthused.

“I think it’s an amazingly creative idea,” he said. “I personally really love games that also are toys. A few years back we developed a plush toy for the Wii called WeeWaa. It was a real passion project for me. My kids were quite young then and both played a lot of games and with their plush toys, so I created this cute little character that could eat the Wiimote, and when you moved WeeWaa he would react accordingly on screen.

“As we designed the game we explored lots of ways to use the accelerometer and IR camera and I can really see how Labo is being very creative with all these features.”

Mike Wilson, co-founder of both Devolver Digital and Good Shepherd, has gotten to know a wide array of developers over the years, and he knows creativity when he sees it.

“I’m pretty sure my response was the same as everyone else’s, which at first was like ‘WTF is this a joke?’ and then soon moved to ‘Wow this is crazy and kind of cool.’ As someone that works with a lot of developers, I don’t think the potential of Labo has even sunk[en] in,” he commented. “... I could see the younger end of Switch players really embracing it. I love it when Nintendo does weird stuff!”

Nintendo, of course, has always had youth in mind when developing its games. That family-friendly image extends to Labo, as well. It’s something that’s targeted at kids, yes, but importantly it’s an activity that can be enjoyed jointly with parents. Anecdotally speaking, my wife does not play games, but as a woman who’s very artistic and crafty, she’s already cut and assembled things for our two toddlers using Amazon boxes. Who’s to say that’s not an untapped audience for Nintendo?

“Since I have kids, I'm already planning on buying some of the Labo things,” John Comes, CTO of indie publisher tinyBuild Games told me. “As someone who was also a mechanical engineer at one time, the entire concept is right up my alley.”

Jeremy Dunham, VP of Publishing at Rocket League developer Psyonix is planning to purchase Labo as well. “I plan on buying Labo for my kids when it's released to see what they think. I'm really excited to see what kind of ideas this kit will spark and how different (or similar) those ideas are to other building sets,” he remarked.

There’s something especially gratifying about learning to build things. You take a certain pride in what you’ve constructed. When I was a boy in 1986, I used to play endlessly with a mechanized, battery-powered construction kit called Robotix. Had I been told that I could hook up my Robotix creations to my Nintendo Entertainment System to control Mario’s jump or Simon Belmont’s whip, I think I would have been ecstatic. Nintendo may be onto something special with Labo.

I feel like this is the first gaming platform that can bridge the gap between 'games' and 'educational games'.

“My son already has an engineering mind, so the STEM learning opportunities will be huge,” Comes said. “I feel like this is the first gaming platform that can bridge the gap between 'games' and 'educational games'. There's such a divide there when you weigh teachings vs. fun gameplay.“

Dunham, too, is optimistic about the educational aspect, but he cautioned that Nintendo must remain open to broad possibilities with Labo.

“If you're only ever relegated to a few recurring designs, or add-on packs are hard to find, or any other number of challenges, it could be limiting,” he said. “I think of toys like Lego and love their concept of giving you blueprints, but still giving you the freedom to make whatever you want. If Nintendo Labo maintains that kind of flexibility, the potential is very, very high. The real trick is making sure that the cardboard itself is the only rigid thing about it.”

I also imagine that a community of Labo hackers will form and we might see some much more innovative designs floating around the internet.

Major added, “Labo is a great opportunity to see what makes something tick… it [could]l be a great parent/kid weekend project. A Labo kit could replace building a birdhouse.”

Lyngeled took it even one step further, suggesting that Labo has genuine classroom potential: “I could see that the Swedish educational system might pick this up and start using it in class -- especially if you can start programming your own toys, which it seems like Nintendo are hinting at in the trailer. I also imagine that a community of Labo hackers will form and we might see some much more innovative designs floating around the internet."

But what about the selection of cardboard as Labo’s building material? Surely, Nintendo has made a mistake by not using plastic? Time will tell how durable these kits can be, but Nintendo explained the reasoning behind its decision in a recent investor Q&A.

Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo Director and Managing Executive Officer, remarked, "I'm sure we surprised everyone with the use of cardboard, but it's not so far-fetched if you consider how familiar the material is, at least to Japanese people who, from a young age, use it for play and as a material for creating things such as fancy crafts.”

Tokyo-based veteran games journalist Justin Leeper can attest to how ingrained the papercraft hobby is with Japan’s youth. His mind immediately turned to Origami upon watching the Labo announcement trailer.

“While a mere novelty in the West - ‘Aunt Carol can make paper cranes’ - origami is a long-standing and beloved art here in Japan. Building is much more than a niche portion of Japanese toys as well,” he told me. “Go to any toy store in Tokyo, and you’ll see beautiful dioramas you can buy and build from scenes out of Studio Ghibli movies, for example, or metal sheets that somehow turn into abstract TIE Fighters. Then there’s Gundam models, train sets, Lego... all based on building.”

He continued, “The Japanese are also big on packaging. A gift isn’t a gift unless its box is put in another cardboard box that’s placed in a decorative bag and wrapped with a few hundred yards of ribbon."

"Cardboard is called ‘danboru’, a word whose origins I’ve never known despite being written in the character set for foreign-to-Japan words. There’s a relatively popular manga character, Danbo, who’s a cardboard robot from the series Yotsuba&. If anything, it shows the acceptance of cardboard in Japan’s pop-culture consciousness.”

For his part, Comes isn’t concerned about Labo’s cardboard pieces. Should a piece wear out, there’s an obvious fix, he said:

“I personally feel like cardboard was the perfect material to use. It's very approachable. I'm not worried about it getting damaged. I mean, it's cardboard. If it breaks, take the last Amazon box you got and cut out the same piece.”

Along with the worries about cardboard longevity, there’s still the very legitimate issue of price sensitivity. Nintendo will have to convince parents that the value that Labo brings justifies the expenditure. Dunham, however, has seen much worse in the hobby industry.

There appears to be a bit of a stigma associated with the cardboard so far, which is understandable, but kids and their parents will tell Nintendo really quickly if the quality and replayability is worth the price once it's out.

“As a parent of two kids myself, I can tell you that most crafting/building/exploration kits are typically a bit more expensive than you'd expect,” he offered. “There appears to be a bit of a stigma associated with the cardboard so far, which is understandable, but kids and their parents will tell Nintendo really quickly if the quality and replayability is worth the price once it's out. “Given that a lot of smart-device-controlled robots are typically in the range of $100 or more, though, I can see the argument that the ability to build the toy first would make the price worth it for some.”

Regardless of how well Labo performs on the market, Nintendo deserves credit for trying something this bold. And let’s say that it does take off, would the one-time playing cards company begin to partner up with outside developers to make unique kits for their games? Nintendo has shown an increasing willingness to work with third parties and especially indies on Switch, but extending Labo feels unlikely, even if it does get developers’ creative juices flowing.

“That would be fantastic [if they did],” exclaimed Comes. “I have a mechanical engineering degree and I've made games for 17 years. So building my own Labo thing would be a great combination of my two life loves. I'd spend hours tinkering with building them.”

Dunham liked this idea as well: “A Rocket League kit would be really neat to see on store shelves, but I imagine that Nintendo wants to see how its initial experiment works out first before opening the floodgates. If it is a success, though, and kids start asking for themed sets based on their favorite properties, Nintendo has shown in the past (in games like Smash Bros. and even our own to a lesser extent) that they have no problem finding ways to make that happen.”

Major went so far as to call Labo “an indie’s dream” and Tribute would love to see Nintendo reach out to indies for more ideas. “A lot of innovation comes from smaller studios. It would probably be a great idea to tap into other studios’ creative minds as long as Nintendo maintains a certain level of quality control,” he said.

Clearly, the developer community is fired up, but from a business standpoint, getting indies involved in Labo would still involve clearing some major hurdles.

“[It] would be amazing [to work on Labo], but unfortunately I don’t think it will happen. I don’t think Nintendo will fund an indie developer to make a game for Labo as it’s too niche,” Lyngeled said. “And funding on our own is too big a risk. We survive because we can sell digitally. Distributing a Labo kit on our own [would be] very complicated. We never managed to get the [WeeWaa] plush out on the market because of distributing.

“One solution could be that people build a construction [kit] out of household materials and their own cardboard. That could be a fun way to make an indie Labo game. Let’s see how well [these] Nintendo kits sell before diving into this.”

April 20 should be an interesting day for Nintendo. It could be utterly inconsequential or it could mark the beginning of a new long-term franchise. “Given how beloved Nintendo is and how much weight their name carries, I think [Labo] will do very well at launch,” Dunham said.

This article is a preview of Greenlit Content's upcoming industry site, launching soon.

Nintendo Labo: Genius or Insanity? published first on https://superworldrom.tumblr.com/

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rassasassalin · 7 years

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Might as well christen this place where I can overthink some rasslin’. Good a night as any for it. Gonna be taking notes as I go through Raw, and will publish under a readmore when done. Really long, mostly just steam of conscious. Might do a summarized thoughts later. But probably not. Summaries are my mortal enemies.

!!! Dean vs Joe! That should be a fun match! Love Joe, love Dean, and their styles should clash pretty well. Also, I love Joe’s theme. And Joe talking. He’s so damn good on the mike. He’s got a wonderful cadence, and he’s like, the perfectly articulate heel. So good.

I like the Roman drinks orange juice after he brushes his teeth sign. It’s good. I mean, it’s hella gross, but I like those kind of signs. Good stuff.

The Roman chant is interesting. I haven’t really heard a crowd chant for a face in a while. Although I think it’s still arguable whether or not Roman is a face. Still. Good to have a crowd chanting for one. Part of the problem, I find, with today’s rassling, nobody chants for the faces to come out and fix problems, because there is no real Top Face that, you know, does face things.

Congrats to the dude who’s wife bough him tickets.

Yeah, no duh it’s a trap, why’d Ro go out there on his own, that’s silly. Clearly Joe and Sheazaro made some kind of alliance last week, come on boys. Also of course look at the fight in Dean, he’s always been the one in the Shield that gets the shit kicked out of him the worst, he’s a pain magnet, that’s part of why we love him so much.

Was feeling pretty happy from that promo about Bliss and Banks fighting the first women’s match over in Abu Dhabi, but then they cut to the ring and I see a sign saying that the Browns will be the Superbowl Champs and I’ve been laughing ever since fuck me, keep living the dream my friend, keep living that dream.

Seriously tho, I’ve loved Mickey James for forever, what a legend, what an underrated gem, I hate that she’s being wasted right now.

So... I didn’t watch Tough Enough since like... idk, the third “season”, I guess you could say, and I never watch Total Divas, but... maybe I’m totally wrong, but Mandy Rose feels a lot like- just from ring attire and attitude-, a golden version of Eva Marie? And I’m not particularly interested in that. Like watching Paige wrestle, I’ve enjoyed Sonya from what I’ve seen from her on Main and on NXT- always down for some female Bruisers, y’know?- but Mandy just seems... Idk. Been there, done that, seen that character a hundred times. Unless she’s going to pull a Marlena with a... Velveteen Dream? He’s the only openly sensual sort of rassler in the WWE right now that could follow that old spirit of Goldust- and he definitely doesn’t need a handler of any kind, to be honest. But like, outside of that? Don’t care. Got the feeling she’s going to be the weak link/first one to betray Paige’s lil group.

...Omg. Matt. Matt, babe. God, I wanted him to break so bad, but I just... I mean, I’m laughing, but I don’t really see this turning out well for either him or Bray? It could be good, if treated carefully, but I just don’t trust anyone on creative to do Bray right anymore. Which is a fucking shame, because he makes a fantastic cult leader, he was so charasmatic and scary and then they took away his fucking cult and just what is even the point? Like even the fact that he never wins anything, I could mostly ignore or more not really care if even after a loss he was still like this looming, evil shadow ready to consume any and all that come in his path but- Look, point I’m trying to make here is that Bray is actually supposed to be a serious character, even if they don’t make him a properly scary character anymore, and putting him up against a comedy act- and Br/Woken Matt is a comedy act, a fantastic satire, simply the best, I love him.... I don’t know. Maybe if I knew that Matt and Bray were actually coming up with their storyline. That’d be cool, but... I’ll try to be optimistic, but it’ll be hard.

...The breaking the Woken, ehehehe, fuck you Impact.

Fuck my life it looks like someone is cutting their own youtube backstage promo against clips from Bray, I’m laughing and crying and- WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU KNOW ABIGAIL AND YOU GUYS HUNG OUT IN BABYLON I MEAN BABY-LAWN? Nevermind youtube promos, this is like two kids on the playground playing imaginairy war and Bray just pulled out what he thought was his trump card and Matt’s all flip turning it upside down and now Bray’ll cry to the nearest adult that Matt’s not playing the game right, he’s not allowed to change Abigail’s backstory.

God, Bray, no, don’t make me choose, I love you both- broken warriors??? Wyatt swarm???? Could we have a whole battle royal sort of thing???????? Because I’m down, I’m so down- Stop making me laugh at your laughing you fucking dweebs I’m crying, I’m actually literally crying.

Booker looks so done with everything, poor Book.

Oh. Ohhhhh, okay, here we go, Cruiser Weights now, what are they going to- oh no, not this thing with Nia, I’m just. I love Nia. I don’t hate Enzo, but there’s no reason for- DREW! oh, they acknowledged Swann. Real quick, there we go.

...Drew’s lil’ elbow. His oooohing. HE’S WILLING TO FIGHT NIA! I LOVE THIS MAN.

What do you mean Finn’s fighting Curtis? But his neck is like, super broken guys? No, really, come on, this isn’t fair, poor Axel. I love that guy. SHut the hell up Cole, he SO needs that neck brace, he got beat the heck up by the Shield, he’s hurt. Lookit Curtis and Bo. Look at those happy babies. Even Finn’s happy. This is all I need in life.

!!!!!!!!! Curtis, no! You need- oh, sucker punch, nice. Noice. Now this might be a fight. Wow, Curtis is coming in hard and fast, I like it. Oh no!!! His neck again! Poor Curtis. Looks like it’s his curse to have to be in a neck brace for the rest of his career. I too, hope he’s okay, Corey.

Worried about the way they keep talking about Sheamus. I’ve been hearing things about him might having to retire soon, and now I’m super bummed because I actually really like that big Red Headed goof. I’m gonna miss him if he does have to leave soon. Wonder if they’ll actually give him the big singles belt one last time. Hmmm... Anyways... yeah, not sure I trust the whole Partners Barred from Ringside thing. Wouldn’t hold my breath for there being no interference.

OKAY. I’ve not seen THAT one before. Just toss the man by the knee over your shoulder Sheamus, that’s fine, it’s cool, doesn’t make me hurt at all. Hella nice submission, tho. Love me some submissions.

And THAT’s why big men don’t tend to go up on the top rope. Should listen to our beloved Gulak. No Fly Zone for Hosses.

Alright, I hated that knee when Rollins started to use it, and it’s still not the greatest finisher I’ve ever seen him do, but at least now he looks pretty confident while doing it. Makes a hell of a difference.

Hehehe, did asking if Dean had a strategy. Cmon, Renee, you should know your man better than that. Heh, thanks for the pep talk babe.

Ah, yes, and here we have a commercial for Tribute for the Troops, which I’mma watch and cry like a bitch during. Fantastic. And on the Base where I was born, too. Even Better. Looks like it’ll have some amazing matches. And maybe Machine Gun Kelly will get attacked by KO again? I’d enjoy that.

DREW!!!!! MISTER T!!!!!! HE’S SO FUCKING CUTE I LOVE HIM LOOK AT HIM CALL EVERYONE BY THEIR LAST NAMES!

“Winner of the Gulak Match”- Micheal Cole, 2017

Alrighty, Swann mentioned again.

OH MY GOD DREW YOU FUCKING CUTIE SWIVEL CHAIRING AROUND SO HE CAN’T EVEN SEE MUSTAFA CLAPPING AT HIM. Drew “There’s a lotta money working with Enzo but I’m going to casually not say how much” Gulak. YOU HEARD IT HERE, PEOPLE ON THE STREET TALKING ABOUT HOW GREAT DREW IS. Drew IS honorable-ish. The chances are very slim that he’s gonna be the one that ends up stabbing Zo in the back. Much more likely that it’s the other way around. ORrrrrrrrrrr that the other boys on the Zo Train will turn on Zo, and Gulak will be the only one that stands by him, a true and loyal friend despite the fact that they’re such an unlikely friendship.

Never stop asking Drew whether or not he’ll fight Enzo. He is so bad at blatantly changing the subject and I love it, he is legit a horrible politician he’s so bad at two-facing it’s beautiful and amazing.

This just in, Davari just killed Neese with a beautiful spinning discus. I love that move. Great move. Rest in peace, Tony Abs.

I don’t know if the other cruiserweights are inspired by him, but I am super inspired by Drew. I love him. Stop badgering the man Cole. Friends can fight each other and it doesn’t necessarily mean an end to a friendship. Not... all the time.

Man, Musafa has such pretty moves. Gorgeous. I love him. Shut up Drew, it’s not disgusting. Don’t actually shut up, I love you. Oh, and look at Davari taking a play out of Drews- opps, nope, Cedric not letting that happen again- AHAHA “He’s not flying he’s falling! He’s using gravity to his advantage!” I wish we coulda seen Drew’s face when he said that.

So... I’m thinking it’ll be Cedric vs Gulak? Yep. Yep, it’s Ced- oh no, oh Drew, oh his face, he looks like he’s realized that he’s in trouble. He totally is. There’s gonna be some retribution coming Gulak’s way. He might still win via some duplicitous means- I’m thinking probably Enzo helping Drew get the win so that he gets what he think’s’ll be an easy win against his lackey. Fuck me, I love Drew Gulak, what a fantastic character, what a beautiful man.

Aaaaaand Roman vs Cesaro next. Gonna be a slobberknocker.

BUT FIRST DREW AGAIN!!! MORE DREW!!! YAY!!!! “Friendly Trashtalk”- Woah, woah woah woah, how dare you Enzo!?! Be friends with that poor boy! YOU SHUT UP ABOUT HIS POWERPOINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NIA IS BEST WOMAN, LOVE HER, LOVES THE POWERPOINTS, ALSO DREW IS SO FUCKING CUTE “hai nia...!” Seriously though if they’re going where I think they’re going with Nia and Enzo, I am NOT looking forward to it. Enzo, right now, isn’t Eddie, and Nia ain’t Chyna. Love Nia, I really really do, but they haven’t given her enough character to BE a Chyna. And Eddie and Chyna was a long, slow build, you know? They worked their way into it. You can’t just throw an oddball couple together all the time and expect it to work. Not without any lead up. Fucking give us hints and glimpses and work up to it. Don’t just throw it in my face all at once and go “Here you go, isn’t this a glorious couple!?” No. It’s outta no where, makes no sense, there’s no chemistry, please stop.

Man, I love me some Uppercuts. And some clotheslines. These big boys are gonna beat the shit outta each other and it’s great. Roman doing what Roman does best- hitting people hard. And some joint manipulation from Cesaro. Noice. Awwww.... that’s not nice, Cesaro. I’m sure like, probably more than half of that crowd likes Roman. Yeah, I’m hearing what sounds like some kids chanting let’s go Roman. Which, I mean, you know you’re at least doing something right if you got the kiddos cheering for you. Annnnnd, Imma have to take a break watching this because the fujiwara hold always looks super gross and I never wanna see someone’s arm actually break. Cat has perfect timing and has decided to lay on my face. Thanks, Cat. Duuuuuuuude, why you gonna- yeah, see, your arm’s already damaged, don’t try to punch someone with it you big ol handsome dingus. He’s still got a spearrrrr fuccccck that was naaaaasty I hate it when they throw each other at the ring poooooooost aaaand... yep, okay, just gonna nosell there for a second, alright, I get it.

Man... Cesaro might actually win this. It doesn’t make a lot of sense for him to win this, storyline, but he might. Aw... man, I miss the swing, feels like I haven’t seen it in forever.

What the hell was that, why was the ref trying to separate them? I get so confused nowadays. Used to be we could trust that if a ref did something like that, it’d be kayfabe stuff. Now refs aren’t allowed to be part of the stories, so... Eh. I miss when we had like, heel ref shenanigans. Whatever, guess I’m just old. Not a bad fight, though, in the end. Even if that ref spot was really weird.

Seriously tho, okay, when did Lesner even come into this rivalry between Kane and Braun??? That’s so random. Wouldn’t be against Braun taking that fucking title off of Brock so he can just go the hell away again. Can’t stand him, hated him when he was fighting in the UFC, hate him fighting now. Best thing about Lesner is that Heymen’s his mouthpiece, and even that is still awful because Paul being Brock’s advocate means that he’s not advocating for more deserving talent.

Yay, Asuka match where she’ll kill someone in the ring! And then’ll she’ll get surrounded by- oh no, someone else killed Alicia first. Yep, okay, so there’s finally going to be a showdown. They’ve been teasing this for a while. They’ll probably actually attack this time. But if they really wanted to swerve, they’d show that Asuka is actually the one in charge of Absolution, all along. That’d be great. Not going to happen, but I’d really love Asuka being, like, in charge of a cutthroat female gang. That’s go serious potential. Asuaka would make a great mob boss.

Three on one, whatever Booker, it’s still Asuka. Yeah, see, they wouldn’t let her just- Ooooooh, Nia! Nice. Super nice. Love it. And even Foxy! That’s sweet, lookit her being all savage. Ehehe, fucking Nia just standing there like yeah, you forgot to take out me, that was a mistake.

Hey look! It’s a Kurt segment that doesn’t start out with him looking at his phone! And Jason being mature!!! I don’t trust it. They’re gonna turn this boy heel. Yeah, okay, there we go. That’s more what I was expecting. Duuuude, don’t tease me with an Angle Joe match. I miss those. Those were fantastic, and I know that you’re not going to give them to me.

I hope Deans feeling a bit better now. Last couple of times I’ve seen him fighting he’s seemed kinda foggy and outta it. I worry about him.

AHAHA- Aj’s been Nice? He put a man threw a car window. I mean, that man was a McMahon, and I kind of loved it, but still? Pretty sure even after his face turn he’s pretty solidly on the limbo between the good and bad list this year.

If Jason costs Ambrose this match Imma not be happy. I’m really looking forward to this match. Joe will actually let Dean be, you know, creative with his brawling. And that’s where Deano’s best, when he’s allowed to be unorthadox. And Yeah, yeah, Ambrose is definitely looking more all there. ‘S’good. Man, I’d kinda love for Joe and Ambrose to get in a match where Joe finishes him off in a coquina clutch and Dean doesn’t tap, he just passes the fuck out. That’s such a glorious face move, refusing to give up even as your body gives up on you.

Loving the way Ambrose is bounding off the middle rope, tha’s beautiful- oh! A slap! Nice! That’s a beautiful mistake.

Jason’s enjoying the match. Good. Me too. JASON, NO. YOU STAY WHERE YOU ARE. STOP WALKING. Oooooh, good save there, Ambrose. That’s my boy. Dude. Dude, no, Jason, don’t- what in the world is going on here? Fuck me, Jason is going to cost Dean the- fuuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkkkkkk, DAMMIT JASON. Yeah, yeah, okay, now you’re in trouble. I DIDN”T MEAN THAT I WANTED AMBROSE TO SLEEP IN THIS MATCH, ARGH!!!!

So, uh, Deano vs Jason next week? Or for the next year? Because let’s face it, Ambrose holds a grudge foreveeeeer.

Hey, Titus!!!! Apollo!!!! And... Dana... yay... Oh! The good brothers! I wish that I could say Nerds with such vim and vigor. It’s a serious gift.

Also yay, no one got killed as Braun made his way to the ring???

Okay, come on, we all know Zayn and Owens ain’t getting fired, Daniel is going to get Shane out of the picture and take over the role as ref so it’s actually fair. Or like, idk, Hunter or Steph are going to come out and fuck someone over.. Maybe Randy will turn, because, you know, he’s got a connection to Trips and also he’s been a face for like forever in Viper years and also we’ve got that unresolved stuff with Hunter giving the Universal Championship to Kevin, soooo.... Either way, someone getting screwed, and I’m pretty damn sure it ain’t going to be out canadian boyos.

Eheheheh, reinforcing the ring. I hope they break it in two. I love that shit. So much fun. Because I’m apparently still a baby.

Ummm... Pretty sure Kane’s most monstrous moments involved his various kidnappings of pretty ladies. Or the time he tried to kill his Paul Bearer. But you know, what do I know, I’ve just been literally watching Kane since he first premiered AS Kane. Sure, yeah, most “monstrous” thing he’s ever done was thrown a man in a trash collector. Yep. That’s it.

A countout??? Boooooo... Also... who’s going to go fight Brock now? Someone’s gonna get Kayfabe murdered until there’s only one left to fight Bork.

Okay, they seriously need to stop with the whole fucking with people’s throats thing. I don’t like it, it worries me, and also they make choking gagging noises which sets off my own gag reflex which is not fun.

oh hey, look, Braun became insta-face by bringing out a table. I love how easy to please wrestling fans are sometimes. Kane? You okay? That trip looked nasty.

OOOOOH!!!! BRAUN HAS INHERITED THE MONSTER SIT UP MOVE!!!! THAT’S SUPER EXCITING!!!! That looks like a passing of the torch to me. I like it. I like where that could be heading. Yes, good, good end to Raw.

#wwe raw #sassin about rasslin #monday night raw

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flauntpage · 7 years

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Bird Droppings: Bombs Away

What a delicious and truly tasty win. For real, I want to lick it. Not like that fucking freak, Dolphins offensive line coach Chris Foerster wants to lick a stripper’s hoo-ha, but in a friendly way, like a dog warmly greeting you with a smooch on the nose and oh, did you have beef while you were out? WHERE DID YOU GET THE BEEF? OHHHHH BOY I WANT SOME OF THAT BEEF!

The Eagles are slowly, but surely, like an effective Doug Pederson offense, proving to us that they are among the best teams in the conference. Wins over the Redskins, Giants, Chargers and Cardinals aren’t exactly enough to print those Super Bowl tickets, but it’s encouraging that the Eagles are improving and, yesterday, demolished an opponent as the heavy favorites.

I thought the Cardinals’ defense was good enough to STYMIE the Eagles’ running attack and force them into some bad offensive habits. I predicted the Eagles would lose a low-scoring affair, 19-15. I’ll wear that like a mark, a mission, a brand, a scar. If Love Ertz, then Blount Scars. And he continued to do so yesterday with a 14-carry, 74-yard performance, good for an average of 5.2 yards per rush.

To be fair (to me), the Eagles’ early offensive outburst was helped greatly by their field position. On their first three touchdown drives, they started at the 46, 36, and the (Cardinals) 15, respectively. I suspect that without those luxuries, they wouldn’t have jumped out to a 21-0 lead, which had the added benefit of forcing Arizona to all but abandon their dreadful-without-David-Johnson running game and rely on 402-year-old Carson Palmer, who hasn’t been good since Larry Fitzgerald took one into the end zone in overtime against the Packers in the playoffs two seasons ago. Spending the offseason learning how to fall should be a sign that it’s time to hang ’em up. As such, this game script was written so unabashedly in the Eagles’ favor that even EL James would’ve been like yeah, OK, it was one thing for Ana’s friend to get sick before the big interview, but it’s another thing entirely to go up 21 against an aged quarterback on the road playing an effective 11 a.m. start time. We should take out that Burner punt return to keep things realistic. Does anyone have a whip?

But all those things did happen, and an effective offense, which has progressed and earned its Deep Ball and Slant Route stripes the past two weeks, made the Cardinals pay. The defense and special teams put the offense in a position to succeed, and then they dropped the hammer once the lead was secured. It’s hard to imagine a better team win.

So where does this put the Eagles in the NFC?

They have yet to play the Packers, Cowboys or Falcons, arguably the three best teams in the conference. They’ll play the Panthers on Thursday night to cement the fourth team. But you can only play the games you’re given, and the Eagles are 4-1. The Redskins and Cardinals aren’t total dog shit, and there’s also this:

The Eagles are 4-1 and their one loss was against the only undefeated team in the NFL: Chiefs. It was KC’s closest game in terms of score.

— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) October 9, 2017

But the NFL doesn’t run on an Elo system, so being “slightly worse” than the Chiefs and “substantially better” than the Cardinals has no bearing on upcoming tougher matchups.

For me, this season will come down to whether the Eagles are better than the Cowboys. If the Eagles game was the entrée yesterday, then the Cowboys game was the dessert. Or perhaps the Eagles game was the appetizer and the Cowboys game was the entrée, because the Packers-Cowboys tilt was one for the ages. I could watch a full season of those two teams playing each other. There is genuine star power on both sides of the ball, and Aaron Rodgers is an absolute freak. One of the best ever. He is so much fun to watch that today I feel like gushing over him more than Wentz. And his heroics might mean more to the Eagles. The two-game lead over the Cowboys is a HUGE deal. Throw in the possibility of Ezekiel Elliott missing the next six games, including the Eagles game, and it seems even larger.

Still, this season will come down to whether the Eagles are better than the Cowboys, on the field. That is what will get them in the playoffs. We’ll worry about the Falcons and Packers later.

I can’t put the Eagles ahead of either, though. Rodgers it too good, and the Falcons are supremely talented. But with the Eagles beating up on lesser opponents, the pecking order is becoming more clear. The Eagles are working their way up the ladder, like a simplistic video game structure– this week they will take on the Panthers for fourth place, and in a few weeks they’ll take on the Cowboys for third.

As far as stats go, the Eagles have some impressive ones:

The #Eagles have held the ball for 2:57:42 so far this season. That's 11th most in NFL history through five games.

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) October 9, 2017

Think how far they’ve come since Chip Kelly, who was actually allergic to time.

NFL Offense Leaders – Yards per Game 419 … Patriots 414 … Chiefs 398 … Eagles 388 … Falcons 382 … Rams

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) October 9, 2017

That… is some good company.

Third-Down Leaders 53.4% … Eagles 50.0% … Panthers 48.4% … Packers 47.0% … Rams 46.9% … Chiefs 46.7% … Broncos

— Reuben Frank (@RoobNBCS) October 9, 2017

This is even more impressive. Carson Wentz is a damned wizard on third downs. If he were Sam Bradford, he’d be:

Let’s do more because I’m having fun:

The Eagles are ninth in passing yards per game (259).

They are fifth in rushing yards per game (138).

They are second in total plays run (345), just one behind the Cardinals.

The are ninth in yards per play (5.8).

They are third in first downs per game (23), just behind the Patriots and Chiefs.

They are first in time of possession (35:32), a full two minutes ahead of the second place team.

And this is for a team whose defense is considered its strong point. They are middle-of-the-pack in most defensive categories, but they’ve clearly dictated play on many occasions this year, not to mention they’ve played the last two games without arguably their two best defensive players.

Celebration

How horned up were you to see the Eagles’ baseball touchdown celebration followed by the Mike Trout sighting?

#VictoryMonday mood: http://pic.twitter.com/ZHuCNtw9EO

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 9, 2017

"Hey there's Mike Trout!" http://pic.twitter.com/45aE6Kaocv

— Michael (@mikeVSphilly) October 8, 2017

That was the NFL equivalent of an 80-second porn trailer.

Apparently the baseball idea was Alshon Jeffery’s, because he wanted the Eagles to hit home run plays. Truly awesome.

Rhy Hoskins weighing in was just the icing on this two-sport three-way:

A+ celebration I think for our next lesson we’ll work on the bat flip #FlyEagelsFly https://t.co/KaDZgVdbf0

— Rhys Hoskins (@RhysHoskins22) October 8, 2017

Tom Petty

Moments later, the Linc rocked to Tom Petty:

#Eagles🦅playing Tom Petty after TD!

“I Wont back down”

Whole Linc singing http://pic.twitter.com/4462sLdk9j

— John Clark NBCPhilly (@JClarkNBCS) October 8, 2017

The @Eagles DJ is better than the Beaver Stadium DJ 🦅⚪️ Tom Petty Tribute after TD✊ Sincerely, The Beaver Stadium DJ #FlyEaglesFly http://pic.twitter.com/GrQZx3rLxk

— PJ Mullen (@psuPJ) October 8, 2017

You can stand me up at the gates of hell…. #TomPetty #FlyEaglesFly http://pic.twitter.com/b8GqcK3iAD

— Marisa Magnatta (@MarisaMagnatta) October 8, 2017

I Won’t Back Down won the weekend. Between Jason Aldean’s brilliant and fitting performance during the cold open on SNL, the Florida Gators blaring it during their game, and the Eagles following suit on Sunday, the song became a rallying cry for a nation without being contrived. It was all kind of moving, really.

Former Five

Locker room visitor jokes that he "had more swagger" escaping sacks than Carson Wentz shows. Enjoyed watching Wentz. http://pic.twitter.com/eXK6qeGzp7

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) October 8, 2017

Jesus Christ Donovan McNabb got fat. But he remains the king of back-handed compliments:

And now here he is pretending to not secretly resent Carson Wentz:

Donovan McNabb in #Eagles🦅lockeroom

Introducing his son Donovan and getting autograph from Carson Wentz http://pic.twitter.com/femDBYYdVR

— John Clark NBCPhilly (@JClarkNBCS) October 8, 2017

Still, good to see McNabb back (and sober). All good vibes at the Linc yesterday.

Agholor

Nelson Agholor did the best thing he’s ever done yesterday and his fall into the end zone was a tribute to DeSean Jaccson:

Nelson Agholor on splash into end zone: "That was kind of a tribute to [DeSean Jackson]…I watched a lot of his tapes, shout out to D-Jax."

— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) October 8, 2017

Wat it do baby one time !!

Announcers

Chris Myers stinks. I hate his face. The Kenjon Burner mistake was fun, but he said a bunch of things that made little sense. Daryl Johnson was only marginally better, but him continually saying “Allshon Jeffery” made me want to vomit. I can’t wait for Tony Romo on Thursday night. I can’t believe I just wrote that.

Bird Droppings: Bombs Away published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

Text

Interview: Kimpton CEO Sees IHG Helping to Propel Its International Expansion

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants CEO Mike DeFrino sees plenty of growth for Kimpton under IHG. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

Skift Take: The hotel company that started the boutique hotels movement in the U.S. wants to set a precedent for scaling up — without losing its soul in the process. But can it succeed?

— Deanna Ting

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants CEO Mike DeFrino first started working for Kimpton in 1992, when company founder Bill Kimpton hired him to the be the general manager of The Alexis in Seattle.

And ever since, DeFrino has been with the company that played a pioneering role in the modern boutique hotels movement in the U.S. and has since been acquired by one of the world’s largest hotel companies — InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in 2014.

DeFrino recently sat down with Skift to discuss the progress Kimpton has been making since the deal, as well as the future of boutique hotels, loyalty, and hospitality overall.

Since IHG’s acquisition of Kimpton, the brand has now begun to expand internationally while still maintaining its sense of independence from the larger corporation. This extends to the hotel company’s loyalty program, although next year it will be combined with IHG’s program.

As DeFrino continues to lead Kimpton, he said he’s committed to ensuring that Kimpton’s independent streak remains, and that the company can keep focusing on what it does best: running boutique hotels and restaurants.

Skift Editor’s Note: DeFrino’s comments have been edited for clarity and length.

Kimpton’s Growth

DeFrino said thanks to IHG, the brand is expanding globally.

“We opened our first hotel two weeks ago in Amsterdam. It’s our first hotel out of the United States or out of, I should say, North America, because we’ve had hotels in Canada before,” DeFrino said. “But it’s really exciting and it’s sort of a tribute to the whole Kimpton-IHG relationship because we had gone nearly 35 years without being able to spread our footprint across either ocean.

“Now we were able to put something on the map and show sort of the products of this relationship. There’ll be more to come. We opened in the Caribbean as well and we have a signing and planned opening in Paris in a few years. It took a little while for people to understand, outside of the U.S. what Kimpton is, but with IHG’s reach and their penetration in the global markets, it sort of started to bear fruit right away, so we’re pretty excited for that.”

While opening its first property outside North America, Kimpton is not neglecting the U.S.

“We’re also continuing to do what we do here in the United States. We have seven additional openings in 2017. All in U.S. cities from Denver to LA and Palm Springs and Charlotte and Nashville. All of them are new builds and we’ve never had that before.”

“We also had this hotel open last year in Grand Cayman called The Seafire and it’s done really well. People love it and it’s a beautiful hotel and it’s on some island beach. So, all of a sudden, we’re finding a lot of interest for Kimpton in resort locations and especially in the Caribbean where we sort of proved that we could pull it off and, so we have a hotel opening next year in Grenada and we think that we’ll have a few other takeovers within the next year or so. So, you know, we’re doing what we do, but we’re starting to do it in different ways and different places.”

About the Incoming IHG CEO

DeFrino said that when Keith Barr replaces Richard Solomons as CEO of IHG later this year, the transition should be a smooth one — and that Barr knows Kimpton well.

“So, the incoming CEO, Keith Barr has been part of the Kimpton acquisition and integration since day one. He’s been with IHG forever and he had such a prominent position prior to the CEO post that I don’t see a blip in that radar,” said DeFrino. “I mean, Richard [Solomons] was very happy to have Kimpton in his portfolio; he’s been a leader for us frankly, obviously for them, too, and we really enjoyed working with him. But Keith, as his sort of commercial agent has been a real business partner and thought partner and he’s in the mix. You know, he’ll probably be less in the mix with his new job, but he really got to know Kimpton well, which was kind of fun and he’s super smart and very capable and very commercially focused, so he’s got a good, a really good head.”

On Loyalty

For now, Kimpton and IHG operate two separate loyalty programs, but plans are for the two to be combined by next year.

“What we hope to do and what we’re planning on doing is maintaining the ethos of that loyalty program, that Kimpton Karma program and marrying it with the currency of IHG’s reward program, so our goal is to have the best of both worlds and be able to provide that individual treatment and sort of specialization, which I think people expect in boutique hotels, perhaps a lot more than they do from the big brands,” DeFrino said. “So, together with Kimpton Karma and IHG currency, we’ll have a tremendous reach. IHG has something like 100 million people in their loyalty program.”

IHG’s global scale will help Kimpton grow even more, said DeFrino, especially after the two loyalty programs become one.

“The thing is, since Kimpton has never been outside the United States, people don’t really know Kimpton in China or know Kimpton even in Europe very well, and we think that this will give us some street cred outside of North America,” he said. “And so, when people are booking from Shanghai and they see that it’s an affiliate, that Kimpton is affiliated with IHG, they’re going to feel good about booking that. We also think that those travelers, especially inbound travel from China is going to be more and more interested in staying at lifestyle boutique hotels or whatever we’re calling them today. So, we think we’re in the right place with sitting on a strong credible loyalty program and currency and with the Kimpton point of view and style and design and restaurants and bars, we think that sort of is the one-two punch we need.”

On Why Loyalty Programs Won’t Go Away

“I think that many travelers belong to many loyalty programs,” DeFrino explained. “So, to say that your loyalty program has a certain number of people gives no assurance that that person isn’t also in every other loyalty program. That’s one thing. For hotels, the main advantage of a strong loyalty proposition is to get more bookings on your own channel because that’s the least expensive way to book. It’s significant; it’s not just a little bit cheaper, it’s a lot cheaper. I think there’s an underlying fight with the OTAs [online travel agencies] and loyalty and, if you listen to any of the loyalty guys speak about it, they’re very transparent about that. We’re trying to serve up better offers and better, sometimes better rates or discounts I mean, whether it’s not clicking around or all the different programs that have been put forth.”

“For example,” DeFrino said, “Hyatt considers itself much more of an up and upscale brand and has less of its inventory at that midscale level. The midscale traveler whose staying at whether it’s Holiday Inns or Courtyards or whatever you’re go-to midscale brand is, those guys have to stay a lot of nights to earn a night and if they’re road warriors, they will and that’s important to them.”

DeFrino wonders about the future of loyalty, especially in the upper tiers of the hotel industry.

“What I always wonder is, as people, as rates get higher and higher and people have more freedom to book where they want, how much of their decision making is going to be loyalty based, on whether they’re getting loyalty points. Four Seasons and the super luxury hotels, they don’t do loyalty, so there is, at some point, there’s a place where people don’t care about it. And what they care about ultimately is being treated well, being recognized, being recognized for their spend with that company. I think that’s important to people. But, [loyalty programs] definitely are here to stay and there’s definitely sort of a war, but you have to stay a lot to earn a room and that’s the nature of it, and you have to book on their channels, on our channels and not on the OTAs. But the OTAs now have combatted that with their own loyalty programs, so I don’t know.”

On Keeping Kimpton’s Culture Alive

“It’s definitely a dance,” he said, talking about Kimpton being owned by such a large hotel company now. “We’ve been lucky because IHG has left Kimpton sort of independent, so we’re still sitting in our offices in San Francisco. We have a full sort of senior leadership team that report through me. We all have a counterpart in IHG that we sort of have a line of communication with, but we are really very much, other than the fact that we don’t buy real estate anymore, we are very much the Kimpton of old. A lot of my team have been around a really long time.

“We are refining the way we’re doing it. We realize that if this expansion takes root, which we’re starting to see, we’re going to need to figure out mechanisms and ways to scale Kimpton. It’s really hard to do what we do, since we’re very one at a time, every restaurant’s different, every hotel’s different. We want to maintain that that’s a really, really important part of what we do.”

“IHG’s goal is to grow Kimpton significantly all around the world and it’s our goal to make sure in that process that it’s done our way. So, we don’t have a franchise model today. And we aren’t even working on one and we are finding that our new properties in many cases are pushing up against luxury more and more, so we call it ‘luxury without the attitude’ or I think Skift’s term was ‘lean luxury,’ which I love. So, we see ourselves in that niche, so we’re finding ourselves much closer to the traditional luxury pricing and brands than we used to be and our product is much more sort of reflective of that, like this hotel. So that’s a new position for us, but we like it. It enables us to play and maybe both the upper ups go in luxury pools, so it broadens our scope a little bit. We’ll continue to be an upper upscale group or brand, but as our product gets more and more refined, it commands a better and better rate.”

On Hotel Design

What about the hospitality industry’s increased focus on design? How does that affect Kimpton?

“I certainly think that there is a heightened design interest by big brands,” he noted. “The problem is big brands that try to do high design are a little bit tricky, because we think design should be individual. So, after we build one, we throw out the blueprints and start over with the next one. I mean there’s no Kimpton out of a box, so it’s hard to scale that. It’s hard to do 20 hotels a year or 100 hotels a year or whatever it is the big brands are doing. It’s hard to do that. But that’s our level of expectation for ourselves that every hotel will be individually designed with a cadre of maybe 20 different designers in our stable and every restaurant will be individually concepted and individually designed almost always by a different designer than the hotels so that they don’t look matchy-matchy.

“We feel strongly that there should be more than one restaurant in each property. There should at least be a cocktail bar or a rooftop or something else, so more and more often we’re doing multi-concepts. And then we think that every design should be different for its location. It shouldn’t be inspired by its location where you have pictures of the empire state building on the wall when you go into New York City, it shouldn’t be sort of dorky-inspired. It should be inspired by neighborhood or history or what’s happening in that particular time.”

“Our designs also change,” DeFrino added. “We don’t leave it for 15 years. We’re refreshing somewhat perpetually, so a little bit of time with this, but also current- our designs are also getting much more modern. I think designs went sort of a little bit eclectic and maybe homey. We’re consciously not your home away from home. We want to be better than your home. We want you to come to our place and go I want to do this in my home. I want to have this, I wonder if I cannot get one of these for my home or this would look in my home. Home away from home is not what we’re shooting for, but people should be comfortable and people should be inspired. I don’t know how you do that when you take the same design and roll out 100 times that’s a little tricky. But it’s certainly better than what it was before. It’s certainly a step up for the industry.”

On Hotel Food & Beverage

Restaurants have always been an integral part of any Kimpton hotel since the very beginning and that remains the case today for the company.

“I think there’s still a long way to go in the restaurant and bar world for the industry,” DeFrino said. “We’ve always done it so it’s been important to us for a long, long time. As hotels become more social centers, people are going to stay longer in the properties. I think having more to do in a property is going to be the trend. So, whether it’s multiple restaurants, or whether it’s spas or fitness centers, or activities that you were talking about, those are all things to keep people in and I think that’s certainly a trend we’re seeing.”

“Our point of view has remained pretty much the same on how important that is for the customer experience and how that — and now the expectation that if you’re staying in an expensive fancy hotel that you better have food and drink and not just the garden grill or whatever it’s been. I think a lot of hotel companies are resigning themselves to the fact that they cannot do it and they’re leasing out a lot of their restaurants, which is better than a crappy restaurant, right?

“I mean, it makes for a little bit of an inconsistent experience sometimes, but frankly that’s in the answer, so we’re seeing a lot more competition from our restaurant group, within our restaurant group from other restaurant groups as more and more of these restaurant companies are created, more options are out there. The competition in our restaurants is steep. In that industry in general, but you know, it’s never been an easy business. And it continues to not be an easy business.”

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rollinbrigittenv8 · 7 years

Text

Interview: Kimpton CEO Sees IHG Helping to Propel Its International Expansion

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants CEO Mike DeFrino sees plenty of growth for Kimpton under IHG. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants

Skift Take: The hotel company that started the boutique hotels movement in the U.S. wants to set a precedent for scaling up — without losing its soul in the process. But can it succeed?

— Deanna Ting

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants CEO Mike DeFrino first started working for Kimpton in 1992, when company founder Bill Kimpton hired him to the be the general manager of The Alexis in Seattle.

DeFrino recently sat down with Skift to discuss the progress Kimpton has been making since the deal, as well as the future of boutique hotels, loyalty, and hospitality overall.

Skift Editor’s Note: DeFrino’s comments have been edited for clarity and length.

Kimpton’s Growth

DeFrino said thanks to IHG, the brand is expanding globally.

While opening its first property outside North America, Kimpton is not neglecting the U.S.

About the Incoming IHG CEO

DeFrino said that when Keith Barr replaces Richard Solomons as CEO of IHG later this year, the transition should be a smooth one — and that Barr knows Kimpton well.

On Loyalty

For now, Kimpton and IHG operate two separate loyalty programs, but plans are for the two to be combined by next year.

IHG’s global scale will help Kimpton grow even more, said DeFrino, especially after the two loyalty programs become one.

On Why Loyalty Programs Won’t Go Away

DeFrino wonders about the future of loyalty, especially in the upper tiers of the hotel industry.

On Keeping Kimpton’s Culture Alive

On Hotel Design

What about the hospitality industry’s increased focus on design? How does that affect Kimpton?

On Hotel Food & Beverage

Restaurants have always been an integral part of any Kimpton hotel since the very beginning and that remains the case today for the company.

0 notes