#while the show is notionally set in portland

[cantsayidont]

YOU ME HER (2016–2020): Awkward but mostly endearing romantic comedy, created by John Scott Shepherd, about married Portland suburbanites Jack (Greg Poehler) and Emma (Rachel Blanchard), who are both pushing 40, trying to form a polyamorous throuple with their pansexual 20something grad student girlfriend Izzy (Prisclla Faia), whom they meet when she's working as an escort.

The first season, which is essentially all setup, is clunky and none too credible, with entirely too much self-conscious tittering, but things improve as the series begins to engage with the various complications of the characters' relationship rather than just trying to rationalize its existence. Izzy is sometimes too much of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and she's frequently only allowed to be messy in palatable ways, but her anxieties about the precariousness of her position are sympathetically handled, with amusing moral support from her scene-stealingly bitchy bestie Nina (Melanie Papalia), who derisively refers to Jack and Emma as "the Griswolds." Emma's snowballing midlife crisis is treated with some sensitivity, but Jack never really acquires a personality beyond Dorky Sitcom Husband, and by the fifth and final season, there's a mounting sense that Izzy has outgrown them both.

Ultimately, the show's biggest weakness is that both the narrative and Jack and Emma remain fixated on the idea that their blindingly white, objectively soul-crushing vision of suburban married life can somehow be adapted for LGBT and poly relationships with just a few nips and tucks, even though the story demonstrates over and over again that that will never work for Izzy unless she's willing to surrender her autonomy and individuality in the process. (At one point, they get fined by the homeowners' association because Izzy paints the front door a non-approved color!) While the finale concludes on an optimistic note, there's no reason to believe that Jack and Emma's cycle of impulsive rebellion and panicked retrenchment won't continue indefinitely because neither they nor the show's writers are willing to stretch far enough to contemplate different models of what family or committed relationships can mean beyond just a nuclear family with an extra cohabitating adult. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Yes, although the show's gay characters tend to be portrayed as mega-assholes. VERDICT: Doesn't always ring true, especially in the early episodes, but a surprisingly sincere effort was made, even if its conceptual limitations are sometimes very frustrating.

[usafphantom2]

How F-14 and F-15 pilots trained to take down the legendary Blackbird

Image created by Alex Hollings using U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin graphics.

Despite flying into the sunset nearly a quarter-century ago, Lockheed’s legendary SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance plane was so far ahead of its time that even today, some 59 years since its first flight, there has yet to be a single aircraft to challenge its position atop the podium of fastest crewed jets in history. Throughout its three decades of service, the Blackbird famously had over 4,000 missiles of all sorts fired at it, and managed to outrun every single one.

But no aircraft is invincible and the Blackbird was no exception. With looming concerns about high-speed Soviet fighters closing the capability gap that insulated the SR-71 from intercept, the Air Force decided to pit its Mach 3+ Blackbird against America’s own best fighters, both of which have also become legends in their own right: the U.S. Navy’s Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the U.S. Air Force’s McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.

And while no Soviet fighter or missile ever managed to catch up to the sky-storming Habu (a name pilots gave the Blackbird due to its aesthetic similarities to the pit viper of the same name), the same can’t be said for the simulated AIM-54 Phoenix and AIM-7 Sparrow missiles notionally lobbed its way by America’s top fighter pilots. Like any prizefighter with an undefeated record, the SR-71’s official tally may show only victories, but its unofficial training record is actually littered with defeats at the hands of its slower-moving (but highly capable) American fighter siblings.

But don’t let those simulated defeats fool you… because taking on the Blackbird and winning required a fair bit of meddling that stacked the deck in the fighter’s favor.

Related: How hypersonic drones could defeat missiles the same way the SR-71 did

The truth about air combat exercises (and what we can learn from their outcomes)

As Sandboxx News has covered at great length in the past, training exercises are rarely organized in a way that allows the superior platform to flex its distinct advantages to their fullest extent. Those sorts of exercises do occur in the form of platform and system testing, but the rules of engagement in complex combat training operations usually aim to level the playing field to some extent in order to give all pilots and crews involved some experience working from a tactical deficit.

In other words, commanders intentionally set the rules to give pilots experience fighting or surviving in uncomfortable circumstances, even if their aircraft are so capable that uncomfortable situations are unlikely. F-22 Raptor pilots, for instance, are regularly disallowed from beyond-visual-range engagements during training exercises against other fighters and are sometimes even required to keep their heavy drop tanks underwing when scrapping in close quarters – both conditions set by operational planners in order to nerf (or diminish) the Raptor’s greatest combat advantages.

(FLIR image from an F-16 of an SR-71 flying alongside an F/A-18)

But if you think the F-22 is often forced to fight with one wing tied behind its back, you’ll be downright shocked at the lengths SR-71 pilots would go to just to make themselves a viable target for America’s premier fighters. And when the fastest pilots in the sky got tired of losing and started breaking those training rules, not even the F-15 Eagle – the fastest fighter in American history with an unmatched modern air combat record of 104 wins and zero losses – could touch the legendary Blackbird.

Related: The King is dead: Why would America want to retire the F-22

Pitting the SR-71 against the Air Force’s F-15 Eagle

An F-15 Eagle from the 142nd Fighter Wing takes off from Portland Air National Guard Base in Oregon. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman John Hughel)

The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle program might be described as an American overreaction to alarming assumptions made by the Defense and Intelligence communities about the Soviet MiG-25. When the first images of this high-speed new fighter reached the Pentagon in 1967, its massive turbojet nozzles, vast wing area, and broad, gulping intakes led many to believe it was the most capable fighter ever seen to that point. In response, the U.S. redoubled its development efforts for a new air superiority fighter that might be capable of standing toe-to-toe with what certainly seemed to be a new Soviet juggernaut.

Of course, the MiG-25 was nothing close to the high-performer the United States feared it to be, but by the time American officials found that out in 1976 (when Soviet pilot Victor Belenko defected with one), the monster they built to take it on – by then known officially as the F-15 Eagle – had already entered service eight months prior.

Victor Belenko’s MiG-25 (DoD Image)

However, as dominant as the F-15 would prove to be in air-to-air combat, even it struggled against the Habu’s elusive combination of speed, stealth, and electronic countermeasures.

In the books, The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird: The Illustrated Profile of Every Aircraft, Crew, and Breakthrough of the World’s Fastest Stealth Jet, and, SR-71 Revealed: The Inside Story, former Blackbird driver and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Richard H. Graham discussed his time flying high-speed sorties against the legendary F-15 over the Nellis Air Force Base training range, not far from the clandestine installation many of us know today as Area 51.

The intent of these exercises, which the pilots took to calling Eagle Bait sorties, was to give F-15 pilots valuable practice intercepting high-altitude and fast-moving targets that only the Blackbird could simulate.

“To maximize scare, high-altitude/high-speed intercept practice for the fighters against the SR-71,” Graham wrote. “We stacked the deck in their favor to avoid a multitude of missed intercepts, and consequently, wasted time.”

But as powerful as the F-15 was, it faced all the same challenges as the Soviet MiGs. In fact, in order to give the Eagle a shot at scoring a kill against the Habu using the longest-range air-to-air missile available to it at the time, the AIM-7 Sparrow, the Eagle drivers had to be given special permission to exceed the jet’s safety envelope.

“In order to get high enough to take a reasonable shot at us, F-15 crews were given special permission to do a zoom-climb to 50,000 to 55,000 feet before a simulated AIM-7 launch against the SR-71,” Graham recalled. Flying to these altitudes in an F-15 wasn’t just a question of power, however. It also raised concerns about pilot safety inside the cockpit. “They had permission to be above 50,000 feet for a maximum time of 90 seconds without wearing a pressure suit.”

As they’d soon learn, the Eagle also struggled with approaching the Habu from head-on because its targeting systems weren’t designed to be able to see something closing with them so quickly. As former SR-71 pilot Dave Peters would later recall, the speed gate (a filter set to narrow down radar returns to only legitimate threats) had been set to 1,500 miles per hour.

“We were casually warping along from 1,850 to 2,000. So, for them, we didn’t exist,” Peters said. Yet, even once that issue was sorted out, the F-15s still had a steep hill to climb.

As part of “stacking the deck” in the Eagle’s favor, the SR-71 crews were instructed to fly along a specific flight path at altitudes no higher than 70,000 feet and speeds no greater than Mach 2.8. They even began executing fuel dumps, leaving a massive streak of jet fuel in the sky to help the F-15s find them overhead.

Similar to the F-22’s dogfighting conundrum, these rules rounded off the sharper edges of the Habu’s capability set, giving the Eagle a fighting chance.

When that proved not to be enough, Blackbirds were instructed to fly over a designated point in space (called the intercept point) and even call out their approach to it over open radio frequencies at one-minute intervals starting five minutes out. This approach, however unrealistic, gave the Eagle drivers the window of opportunity they needed, rapidly scoring simulated kill after kill against the SR-71 as it zoomed by.

“After each mission, we would debrief by phone, and the F-15 drivers would report ‘four AIM-7s launched, four kills on the HABU,'” Former SR-71 pilot, Capt. Steve “Griz” Grzebiniak later recalled.

Related: Project Oxcart: Why you had to be married to fly the CIA’s fastest jet

Teaching the air-to-air champ a lesson

(Lockheed Martin)

Even with all of the allowances the Blackbird drivers made for their competition, just shaking one of the notional AIM-7 Sparrows launched by the F-15s was simple. The now-dated AIM-7 carried only a semi-active radar guidance system onboard, meaning it needed target information to be relayed from the launching aircraft all the way until impact.

The SR-71 carried an advanced electronic countermeasures system onboard that, among other things, has been said to be able to discern between radar transmission and even broadcast phantom returns that would force the engaging fighter to re-acquire the real target. Because of the Sparrow’s semi-active homing guidance system, the Blackbird could dismiss an inbound Sparrow with the flip of a switch.

F-15A “Eagle” of the 110th Fighter Squadron, 131st Fighter Wing, Air National Guard, Lambert-St. Louis IAP, Mo., launches an AIM-7 “Sparrow” missile, during a Weapons System Evaluation Program. (U.S. Air Force photo)

But as the F-15s racked up victories, the competitive spirit of the Habu drivers began to take hold… and finally, they decided to break a few rules to inject a bit of humility back into the fighter pilots below.

This time, they didn’t execute a fuel dump at five minutes out like usual… mostly because they were flying 16,000 feet higher (now at 86,000 feet) and much faster than before… now cruising at Mach 3.2. The F-15s never had a chance.

“In the phone debrief after the mission, the F-15 flight lead reported ‘four shots and four kills’ on the first pass and mumbled something about radar problems and no kills on the second pass,” Grzebiniak said. “Even with the world’s best planes, pilots, and missiles, it would take a golden BB [a lucky blind shot by the enemy] to bring down a Habu.”

Related: Sea Eagle: America’s plan to put the F-15 on aircraft carriers

The F-14’s AIM-54 Phoenix Missile may have been the real Top Gun

F-14 flying alongside SR-71 during refueling (Image via Haburats SR-71 on X/Twitter)

The F-15 wasn’t the only top-tier fighter in the U.S. arsenal at the time, and the truth is, the Navy’s famed F-14 Tomcat of Top Gun fame was actually better equipped for these sorts of high-speed intercepts.

While the Eagle’s AN/APG-63 was a highly capable radar, it fell well short of the massive power output and multi-targeting capability of the Tomcat’s AN/AWG-9 radar and fire control system. With around double the detection range of the Eagle’s radar and the ability to track 24 targets simultaneously, the F-14 could guide six separate missiles into six separate targets at the same time. Despite being based on a fairly dated design, there wouldn’t be a more powerful radar installed in a fighter until the F-22 Raptor entered service.

But perhaps even more important was the Tomcat’s armament, because the F-14 came equipped with the now-legendary AIM-54 Phoenix missile – the longest-ranged air-to-air missile on the planet at the time that flew with a combination of a semi-active seeker to take cues from the F-14’s radar and an active radar-homing seeker for terminal guidance. In other words, once the Phoenix was close enough to a target, it could rely on its own onboard radar to close in, rather than needing the launching pilot to maintain a lock until impact.

AIM-54 hits a QF-4 target drone during testing. (U.S. Navy photos)

Training intercepts that pitted the F-14 against the SR-71 were known by insiders as Tomcat Chase sorties, and were usually carried out over the Pacific, rather than the Nevada desert, thanks to the presence of F-14-hauling aircraft carriers at sea. As with the F-15, Habu drivers did their best to give the F-14 a fighting chance, flying along straight, predetermined flight paths at lower altitudes and speeds than they would normally do. They also maintained open radio communications, allowing the SR-71 pilots to guide the F-14s into their relative positions so they’d have a chance to fire their notional AIM-54s.

The Blackbird flew with its transponder on, and again, without its defensive electronic countermeasures engaged. But, again, even in these very favorable conditions, Tomcats struggled to find their mark.

“The 14s could find us but they couldn’t do anything until we modified and gave them times, route of flight, speed, and altitude beforehand so they could have a pre-planned setup,” Pilot Dave Peters recalled. “The 15s didn’t do that well for quite some time.”

A Fighter Squadron 211 (VF-211) F-14A Tomcat aircraft banks into a turn during a flight out of Naval Air Station, Miramar while carrying six AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. (U.S. Navy photo)

Tough as it was to spot the Blackbird zooming past, once the Tomcats did, the Phoenix missile was capable enough to pose some real problems for the Blackbird. With a top speed in excess of Mach 4 (except when put into a ballistic flight path into the ground, where it could exceed Mach 5), the AIM-54 had the speed and the range required to close with an airborne Habu, and thanks to its onboard radar seeker, it would be tougher to shake than the Eagle’s Sparrows.

However, there remains some debate about whether or not even the Phoenix could have found its mark in the Blackbird’s high-altitude domain.

“Another factor in our favor was the small guidance fins on their missiles,” Graham wrote. “They are optimized in size for guiding a missile to its target in the thicker air from the ground up and around forty thousand feet. At eighty thousand feet the air is so thin that full deflection of the missile’s guidance fins can barely turn it.”

Related: The best fighters America *almost* put on aircraft carriers

Tomcats, Eagles, and Habus… Oh my!

This picture of an SR-71 flying alongside F-4s and F-14s was too cool not to include, so just pretend those F-4s are F-15s! (DoD image)

At the end of the day, the Tomcat Chase and Eagle Bait sorties flown throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s were about far more than the pilots’ pride. These exercises were about identifying technical limits (like the Eagle’s speed gate), assessing aircraft capabilities in circumstances outside the norm, and helping pilots gain the experience they need to exercise complex problem-solving in the heat of a high-stakes situation.

These exercises, like a great deal of military training, weren’t about finding winners and losers, they were about making everyone involved, from the ground crews, to command and control, to the pilots better at some of the most difficult, arduous, and complex jobs in warfare.

But that doesn’t mean fighter pilots didn’t take their chance to down a Habu seriously… and as you might expect, they took losing just as seriously.

“There was some animosity at first with both the Eagles and the Tomcats because they kept accusing us of not showing up,” Peters recalled about the times the fighters couldn’t find his fast-moving Blackbird. Listening in on the open radio lines, Peters couldn’t help but enjoy their frustration a bit. “They got a little huffy because nobody told them we weren’t coming.”

[claudiajcregg]

Hoo boy, I'm behind on tagged stuff. (After this, I owe the last line I've written, the 8 tv shows, and who knows what else!) But this one was rather easy, even if formatting took me longer than I thought.

Tagged by the incredibly talented @onekisstotakewithme, whose stuff you should absolutely read because she's so good. (And prolific, too!) Thank you, Ally <3

Rules: share the first lines of ten of your most recent fanfics and tag ten people. If you have written fewer than ten, don’t be shy and share anyway.

I have eleven (for now? hopefully?) and I'll put them under a cut because this might get long for my mobile peeps. (I'm not the best at first lines. Or all that follow. I noticed a pattern, lol.)

Tagging anyone who wants to do it, of course! Feel free to ignore it if you don't want to do it, or if you've been already been tagged, etc. I probably missed some posts here and there. ♥️ @miabicicletta, @ballroompink, @holy-ships-x-red-lips, @district447, @eyes-onthehorizon

From most recent to oldest. They are all for The West Wing. Will I come out of this hating my writing even more? We'll see!

still you never took your hand from mine

The idea of writing a book by herself had always felt like this thing she wasn’t sure she wanted to do, at least not at that point in her life. 

The (in)famous memoir fic. CJ starts writing a memoir while pregnant with her first child.

haunted by the notion somewhere there's a love in flames

Filomena Ristorante was an enchanting establishment she hadn’t heard of until earlier this afternoon. 

Set during CJ and Danny's business dinner in S1. It's two chapters long!)

just your smile lit a 60-watt bulb in my house that was darkened for days

When the President summoned her to the Oval Office on Tuesday, the last thing C.J. was expecting was for him to invite her to their Thanksgiving festivities up in the Residence — that was, if she didn’t have plans already.

Thanksgiving 2006 in the Residence, with a dash of thanks and trivia. CJ/Danny, with Jed/Abbey, Josh/Donna, Charlie/Zoey

don't want you to go but I'll be okay

The flight back to Andrews Air Force Base had been pushed back until the morning for various reasons; not least of which had been avoiding a repeat of everyone’s protests on the way to Portland due to the late departure time.

C.J. finds some unexpected closure when she goes out for dinner during the Portland trip. (Yes, I'm copying some of the summary for some of these, lol.)

I'll be your friend in the daylight again

If C.J. was asked to name whatever meetings she had been a part of this week, she would fail.

C.J. and her complicated feelings about her NSC card resurface once Josh gets his during the Santos administration. (No, but I'm actually surprised by how accurate and succinct some of these summaries are.)

catch my pieces as they fall apart

His beautiful wife was sad and exhausted and likely sick, and Danny didn’t know how to take her pain away.

After her father passes away, C.J. grapples with grief and what her future might hold.

say it's here where our pieces fall in place

The sun over the plains was unforgiving on this late winter day.

A series of glimpses into C.J. and Danny’s lives, together and apart, from 1998 to 2008. It's 11 chapters!

we could be the way forward and I know I'll pay for it

The second the call with Hogan disconnected, she stopped walking around the secluded garden area and was hit with a cold breeze she wasn’t prepared for.

St. Augustine, FL; spring of 1998. C.J. wrestles with her burgeoning feelings for Danny when she runs into him outside a campaign event.

maybe everything's turning out how it should be

This wasn’t the same without Leo.

As a way to honor his late mentor, Josh brings back Leo’s Big Block of Cheese tradition during the Santos Administration. Unbeknownst to him, he ends up having a special crackpot meeting of his own. (This has implied CJ/Danny and Josh/Donna.)

all's well that ends well to end up with you

The sun was setting over the small mountain range in the distance, coloring the sky with a pink-orange hue that was breathtaking. 

C.J. and Danny find a moment of quiet in a hectic day and reflect about how they got to where they are. Their wedding. It's set after their wedding.

... and +1, because I felt bad leaving it behind

maybe we'll sleep here covered in star shine

At four in the morning, the sky was beautifully dark with just the slightest hint of the day that would soon start on the horizon. 

On a sleepless night, C.J. finds herself staring at the stars and reminiscing about her childhood.

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

The People of Nirvana Vs. Courtney Love

Recently in 2021, Courtney Love, the widow of Kurt Cobain decided to reignite a feud she has kept up off and on for more than 20 years with Dave Grohl. She has since deleted an Instagram post, where she accused Grohl and Krist Novoselic of taking advantage of her over the Nirvana brand forcing her to sign a contract that took quite a bit of money away from her. She also went on to say that Kurt Cobain was essentially a solo act. Let us now take a look at everything else that has led up to this between Courtney Love and the remaining members of Nirvana.

Courtney Love was born on July 9, 1964 to countercultural parents. Her father had been a roadie and member of the inner circle for the Grateful Dead. She primarily grew up in Portland, Oregon becoming a member of several short-lived bands making a name for herself on the punk rock scene. Love would begin acting in movies such films as Sid and Nancy and Straight beginning in her early 20’s. In 1991, she released the debut album with guitarist Eric Erlandson from a new Los Angeles band called Hole, which received a lot of attention from the press. Around that same time, the singer met Kurt Cobain eventually marrying him and having a daughter a year later. She received a lot of negative stories from the press due to the rumor that she had a heroin problem. A GQ article that caused the couple to take the magazine to court stated that she had been using the drug while pregnant. Another widely held notion is that the couple had met and bonded over their mutual pastime of doing the drug. After the death of Cobain, Courtney would return to acting starring in The People Versus Larry Flynt, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination in 1996. She would go on to star in other films such as the Andy Kaufman biographical picture Man on the Moon in 2001 and Trapped in 2002. Her band Hole also put out three successful records between 1994 and 2002. Yet, around the year 2001, she decided to go to war with Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic.

During the time Kurt Cobain was alive, there seemed to be no indication that Courtney Love did not get along with either Krist Novoselic or Dave Grohl. Things steadily got worse after signing an agreement to form a limited liability company in order to manage the Nirvana brand in 1997. This partnership was not unlike the companies that control estates like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, or James Dean. Things went from bad to worse in 2001 when Courtney Love sued Grohl and Novoselic for the rights to Nirvana‘s music. The most likely reason for this lawsuit probably came in the fact that she had gotten word of a new box set with new material being compiled from the duo. In turn, Novoselic countersued her arguing that Love was only doing this because her career had stalled completely. Her band Hole had recently broken up at that time. This led to another lawsuit over the release of the song “You Know You’re Right,” the last song ever recorded by the band. The two parties would eventually settle in 2002 over the track. Love had contended the song would be lost on a box set if it were released. She wanted this track released on a standalone compilation album, which eventually happened in the settlement. One would think that everything would be fine after that, but that was only the beginning. Around that same time, it was reported that Dave Grohl called love an “ugly fucking bitch” in the midst of a concert performance. The bad blood seemed to subside for about 10 years when Love brought up the feud once again accusing Dave Grohl of trying to sleep with her daughter Frances Bean Cobain. One must note that over the period of those 10 years Courtney love continued to have major issues publicly including a restraining order by her daughter in 2009 that led to her losing guardianship for a time. Another incident came on the David Letterman show, where she flashed him several times, while jumping on his desk in a very agitated manner. In 2014, the actress seemingly made peace with Novoselic and Grohl as they reunited for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony for Nirvana. She was even caught on camera hugging Dave Grohl. Apparently, they had bonded over a discussion of another famous actress's breasts. Most people thought m the two parties had seemingly buried the hatchet, but apparently this was not the case based on her recent Instagram post. She has since apologized for it. Based on past history, this is probably far from over.

[foreverlogical]

As much of the political world went into an uproar over Donald Trump floating the idea of delaying the November election, inside the president’s orbit, his Thursday morning tweet suggesting just that was seen as something far narrower and more strategically focused.The president isn’t really trying to delay the vote. He is trying to preemptively delegitimize the likely results.Two administration officials and another individual close to the president say that what they saw Thursday morning was the most recent tantrum—“frustration,” as one of the officials put it—of a president in search of a scapegoat in case he’s denied a second term. None of these sources said they were aware of any serious effort to trample the clear constitutional guidelines and delay a presidential election.“He is terrified of losing this one,” said the person close to Trump. “I have heard him say more times than I can count how insane it would be to live in a country where the people could possibly prefer this guy, Joe Biden, over [the president] and think that this buffoon could be a better leader than Trump.”Asked at his press conference Thursday about the tweet, Trump said “it doesn’t need much explanation” before launching into a lengthy assertion of claims that there would be widespread fraud in the election due to the use of mail-in ballots, relying heavily on reports of delays and irregularities in New York City’s primaries. “I just feel, I don’t want to delay, I want to have the election. But I also don’t wanna have to wait for three months and then find out the ballots are all missing and the election doesn't mean anything,” said the president. “That’s whats gonna happen… smart people know it. Stupid people may not know it.” “Do I want to see a change? No,” said Trump, when pressed on whether he actually meant to change the election’s date or if he meant to sow doubt in the outcome. “I don’t want to see a crooked election.”Will Trump’s Voter-Fraud Rage Backfire?Even if Trump’s tweet about delaying an election—an act for which an army of legal scholars noted Trump lacks the authority—was just a bluff, it underscored a reality that isn’t much more reassuring: The president and his allies have been busy for months sowing doubt about the credibility of an outcome in which Trump isn’t the victor. And they’ve done so through increasingly baseless, self-serving means, including by directing tens of millions of dollars in advertising, multipronged legal action, and nonstop messaging, towards attacking the practice of voting by mail.On Thursday, following the president’s morning tweets, Trump’s lieutenants made clear that that was Team Trump’s primary concern: turning voting-by-mail, a well-established and fairly common practice in American elections, into a convenient bogeyman. “The president is just raising a question about the chaos Democrats have created with their insistence on all mail-in voting,” alleged Hogan Gidley, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary. “They are using coronavirus as their means to try to institute universal mail-in voting, which means sending every registered voter a ballot whether they asked for one or not.”Across town on Capitol Hill, the president hitting the send button on the Thursday tweet sparked a time-honored reaction: Republicans ducking and claiming they didn’t see it. For those who copped to looking, nearly all pointed out that Trump lacked the authority to follow through on his presumed threat. Others suggested he was merely joking. “I don’t know how else to interpret it,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told The Daily Beast. “All you guys in the press, your heads will explode and you’ll write about it.”But on the question of whether Trump’s words served to sow discord over the trustworthiness of the election, a familiar split developed, with lawmakers close to the president validating his stated concerns about mail-in ballots, and his critics expressing fear that Trump’s tweet was posted in earnest. Asked if she was concerned that Trump’s tweet would undermine public trust in the election, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) quickly said yes. “I think that we should all be working to shore up the faith in our electoral system,” Murkowski said.And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), acting chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has formally warned against undermining trust in U.S. elections, told The Daily Beast he wished Trump hadn’t said what he did. “He can suggest whatever he wants,” Rubio added. “We're going to have an election, it's going to be legitimate, it's going to be credible.”Even a co-founder of the conservative Federalist Society expressed horror at Trump’s tweet. “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate,” Steven Calabresi wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times. Fox News Analyst: Trump’s Election Tweet a ‘Flagrant Expression of His Current Weakness’Many Republicans were content to sidestep questions about the impact of Trump’s words on the public’s trust in elections. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) responded by saying that Trump was raising legitimate concerns about mail-in voting. But he also expressed confidence in the electoral process. “I feel like we’ll be ready to go in November, and we’ll have a free and fair election,” said Graham.While Trump’s main objective may have been to seed doubts about the outcome of the election, the fact that he expressed it shows the erosion of bulwarks against authoritarianism, according to lawyers and scholars. They warned that those safeguards depend in large part on Republican condemnation. The fact that they weren’t, said Jason Stanley, a Yale philosophy professor, poses an urgent threat to U.S. political stability, particularly as Trump “surges��� federal agents into what he describes as Democratic-controlled cities against protesters he conflates with terrorists. “Republican leaders have to denounce this. Trump is testing the waters, like he always does,” said Stanley. “The worry is that after multiple presidential elections in which the minority party won and governed in a way untethered from its electoral support, American democracy is seriously challenged.” Legal scholars agree that the law provides no authority to the president to delay an election, but instead leaves that power in the hands of Congress. In 2014, a Congressional Research Service report assessed the prospect of delaying an election due to a “sufficiently calamitous” terrorist attack. It concluded that while the Executive Branch held “significant delegated authority regarding some aspects of election law, this authority does not currently extend to setting or changing the times of elections.”But the Trump years have provided routine lessons about the fragility of American institutions as bulwarks against authoritarianism. Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute, said that beyond the illegality of delaying the election, it was significant that Trump believed he possessed the power to delay it. “There’s a difference between saying, ‘He’s not allowed to do this’ and saying, ‘He won’t do it,’” Jaffer said. “That’s what’s most disturbing here, not the possibility they come up with a colorable argument, but that the president will act in spite of the absence of any colorable legal argument.” A Justice Department spokesperson did not reply to a query about any recent guidance its Office of Legal Counsel has offered on the issue. During Tuesday testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, Attorney General William Barr said he had “never looked into” whether the president could override statutes establishing the date of the presidential election. Barr also demurred when asked if he committed the department to noninterference in a contested election outcome, saying merely, “I will follow the law.” Several prominent Trump allies—including some of his chummiest advisers and most hardened legal defenders—dismissed the notion that he could or would push the election back. In a brief phone conversation, celebrity attorney and Harvard Law figure Alan Dershowitz, a member of the defense team during Trump’s impeachment trial, said, “The answer is clear: only Congress can change the date of the election. A president doesn't have the authority… Of course, any citizen has the right to ask Congress to make a change, but I can’t imagine that they would do that.”But others close to the president kept the door propped conspicuously open. Testifying on Thursday morning, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an attorney, said about presidential authority to delay an election, “In the end, the Department of Justice, others will make that determination.” Stanley, who authored the book How Fascism Works, said the presence of federal law enforcement in American cities rendered it “a dangerous time” for Trump to “raise doubts about the election in case he loses.” He noted that in Portland, agents from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security “went and did what Trump wanted them to do” while using the language of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency to justify suppressing protesters.  Vigilante violence tied to the election is also possible in the event that Trump disputes the outcome. Armed accelerationist elements like the Boogaloo Bois, a meme-turned-militant movement, seek a civil war or a race war. In Louisville over the weekend, opposing armed militias assembled at a rally for Breonna Taylor but avoided violence. Historically, “it’s very familiar when you have a militarized force used to going after foreign enemies and then allowed to operate domestically to separate citizens from noncitizens, and now the worry is they’ll be sent against protesters and demonstrators, and all of this is worrisome ahead of the election,” Stanley said. “Unfortunately, this is on the Republican Party, and unfortunately, the Republican Party has not been acting like a party in a democracy for quite some time.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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[alexsmitposts]

The Emergence of the Technetronic Society of Humankind The world community is being transformed. The current pandemic is only another phase of a metamorphosis set in motion decades ago. The intersection of our physical and digital lives is the battleground, where the last hopes of freedom are being bludgeoned to death. Few can see this because most people are already casualties the old world order sacrificed before the altar of liberty. Most of you reading this introduction will sense a bit of melodrama. But I assure you, anything I could type out here pales in comparison to the skullduggery that has beset humankind the last half-century. The war for planet Earth is upon us, but the battlefield is not some desert in Syria or a swamp somewhere in Latin America. The battlefield is real and virtual. It’s in the streets of Portland, Oregon, and the pages of Facebook. The Third World War is taking place in Walmart. It’s spreading to every back yard in Florida and every apartment complex in Bucharest. We’ve taken up arms against one another over every facet of life, not just whether or not to wear protective masks. Working-Class Struggle Redux Some of you already see this. You understand because you were finally forced to unfriend that high school buddy who Tweets or shares Facebook posters revealing humankind’s ignorance and meanness. We’re back to being tribal, devolution is upon us, and the end is written on the slum wall and the internet version. Wall Street is making a killing, billionaires are gnashing their teeth and wringing their hands, and the so-called little people are boiling in a kettle about to explode. Amazingly, my words here can be proven. Nobody can call ��fake news” on this author. No sir. In 1970 the legendary (notorious for some) Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote a book entitled, “BETWEEN TWO AGES: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era.” The author, who was one of the five or six most influential political celebrities of the latter part of the 20th century, is well known for his aversion for first the Soviet Union, and then the Russian Federation. Brzezinski’s book was an is a “how-to” book on methods for using computers and communications technologies as a means of transforming society. Though the book reads like an analysis by a technology outsider, the work is part of a wide-spanning strategy we see coming to competition today. Let’s look at an excerpt from the first section of the book where the former counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson and President Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor delineates post-industrial America’s course: “In the technetronic society scientific and technical knowledge, in addition to enhancing production capabilities, quickly spills over to affect almost all aspects of life directly. Accordingly, both the growing capacity for the instant calculation of the most complex interactions and the increasing availability of biochemical means of human control augment the potential scope of consciously chosen direction, and thereby also the pressures to direct, to choose, and to change.” I won’t tax the reader here, but I encourage you to read the book yourself so that what I am presenting will sink in. Brzezinski, in no uncertain terms, is describing the fundamental transformation of society beginning sometime shortly before 1970, when he collated the information within the pages of the book. Remember, he was LBJ’s advisor. The Rise of the Techno-Bourgeoisie He continues in this section to refer to the past ideologies of the industrial age which built and sustained America and other democracies, to insist upon a more “modern” or “advanced” central ideology. Brzezinski, who most detractors would describe as a dinosaur or archaic, was discussing cybernetics replacing humans when Bill Gates was still at Lakeside Prep School being bullied and writing his first computer programs. I mention Gates for a purpose that may be obvious to some readers. This citation from Between Two Ages will transport the reader to my line of thinking here. Brzezinski writes knowingly: “In the emerging new society questions relating to the obsolescence of skills, security, vacations, leisure, and profit-sharing dominate the relationship, and the psychic well­being of millions of relatively secure but potentially aimless lower­middle­class blue­collar workers becomes a growing problem.” Please remember, this was published in 1970, years before Brzezinski would brag that he had helped cause the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan so that it could get its very own “Vietnam.” The man was a genius, an evil one, but a brilliant geo-policy strategist nonetheless. This book is not a reflection of Brzezinski’s powerful mind, however. This book is the revelation of a plan set in motion after Dwight Eisenhower left office. It’s a blueprint for the liberal world order to completely dominate the world. But before you label me, please consider how this “growing problem” is being used today. Who is Donald Trump? Aha! Now I have your full attention. What about the psychic wellbeing of aimless lower-middle-class Americans? Or, the psychic wellbeing of relatively secure Germans right before Adolph Hitler made them afraid of all the nations surrounding their country? Wait! Don’t go to that tangent, please focus on who got Donald Trump in the White House and how this came to pass. You see, Brzezinski and his colleagues created the conditions, the society, and the “path” we see taking shape today. Think about our symbols now, for instance. How did Google come to dominate the internet? Who stood behind? What does Google do? How about Facebook or Amazon, or any of the monumental successes we see controlling this technetronic society we now live in? Google lured the masses in with “free” and with slogans like “do no evil.” The competition was driven off, through massive investment. Now billions of people are analyzed and “computed” like Brzezinski revealed, to transform society, not to simply extract money via ads. Take the case of Facebook, it’s the same story. A huge swath of humanity is studied, spied upon, and manipulated while the puppetmasters tweak ideology, foment discord, and steer the crowd toward the desired endgame. Sounds crazy and dramatic, doesn’t it? But, wait for it. In 1972, Bill Gates served as a congressional page in the US House of Representatives. He was then a National Merit Scholar who went to Harvard for a brief time, where he met Steve Ballmer, who would lead Microsoft until 2014. Ballmer was an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble for two years, where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt, the onetime CEO of General Electric. I hope you are keeping up with me here, for these names figure prominently in the current situation. Immelt was the head of GE’s Medical Systems division (now known as GE Healthcare) as its president and CEO back in 1997. To make a very long story shorter, Brzezinski was closely tied to all the names I am mentioning either through roles at the Council of Foreign Relations, or via more intimate and secretive associations. Take into consideration GE and Immelt’s view on China from back in 2010 when he said; “’I worry about China. I am not sure that in the end, they want any of us to win.” Fast forward to 2015 and Brzezinski is pushing for Donald Trump to “outbid” everyone for the presidency. He tweeted this to his followers on Twitter: “What’s better: a billionaire outbidding everyone for the Presidency, or billionaires picking the candidates for the Presidency?” The answer to his feigned query is drop-dead simple – “It doesn’t matter, the same people control no matter what.” And the control processes were put in action once John F. Kennedy was out of the way. LBJ played his role to a “T”, Nixon got too big for his britches and had to go, Ford plated nincompoop in charge to put the plan on pause, and peanut farmer/Nuke sub commander Carter helped roll out the red carpet for our current technetronic society. But I’m getting ahead. The Immuno-Catalyst Let me retrace a step to the associations of Gates, Ballmer, and Immelt. And most importantly, the current healthcare/pandemic crisis some experts believe is an induced one. Remember Gates’ pal Immelt headed GE Healthcare, which entered an agreement with Gates back IBio to commercialize the iBioLaunch vaccine manufacturing platform. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded iBio Pharma, which has been in recent news because of President Trump grandstanding about a COVID breakthrough. The company is one of those focused on vaccines against the coronavirus. And if you’re getting lost in this maze of technocrats, now it’s time to interject another key player named Warren Buffett. Buffett, who for all intents and purposes owns IBM, is another link in what we should call the Brzezinski Plan for world domination. Remember, it was IBM that teleported Bill Gates out of brainiac obscurity back in 1980. It is not common knowledge, but the last Watson family head of IBM, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. served as US ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1979 to 1981. It was the ideas and ideals along with the patriotism of the latter Watson, from which people like Brzezinski convoluted the notion of modern democracy. Thomas J. Watson Jr. was also central to the administrations of L.B.J., Nixon, Ford, and Carter. Moving forward, most people are unaware, that Warren Buffett is also the biggest contributor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (more than $30 billion). And in this, we see how the “system” of control gets its continuity. Finally, it was the Brzezinski plan that delivered us to the current sorry state of democracy. The former advisor to key presidents not only helped devise the plan to shift the world’s ideologies and social structure, but he also helped empower the super elites running the show, and the lower-middle class minions who would stoke the forest of orchestrated rebellion. When asked how he would deal with the super-rich, Brzezinski differentiated people like Warren Buffett and Gates from the rest, while at the same time feeding the mob that Trump now leads and the left learning hordes on the left hanging: “It would be increasingly helpful if there was a movement to publish, worldwide, lists of those who make, largely through speculation, enormous amounts of money almost instantly, and hide the fact from their social context.” A Government of Business Power So, a ruling elite was and is to be lifted, isolated, and protected using demonic intimidation from every vector. Today’s dog and pony show across western capitals have roots in Rockefeller’s and Brzezinski’s Trilateral Commission, established to help put in motion the tenets from the latter’s Between Two Ages manifesto. If I throw in the fact that the Trilateral Commission’s notable member list includes such notorious super-rich as Jeffrey Epstein here, I’ve no doubt the reader will be overwhelmed by the scope of this “plan” for turning the world upside down. Finally, the academic Noam Chomsky once criticized the commission’s goals as undemocratic saying the publication of the organization, The Crisis of Democracy reflects how modern democratic systems are not democracy at all, but systems controlled by elites. And the Rockefeller Foundation’s support of the various German eugenics programs and the connections to Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele and Auschwitz tarnish anyone and everyone associated with Rockefeller, and the ruling elite of this new “modern ideal” or technetronic society. In his 1980 book With No Apologies, Republican Senator and presidential candidate Barry Goldwater called the Trilateral Commission: “A skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power: political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical in the creation of a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nation-states involved.” The Brzezinski Plan for new democracy is the liberal world order’s plan for humanity. It’s a process that’s been going on for decades, one centered around and dependent on the puppet President Donald Trump. You see, I believe it is Trump’s mission to utterly destroy the very social class of people he is supported by. It is the only idea that makes sense if you examine the loosed cannon idiocy of an otherwise shrewd businessman. What better way to bury the working class who have been bred, reared, and marginalized into mediocrity than to create a revolution against everything they stood for? The Confederate flag, the statues of heroes, the race issues resurfacing, riots, discord, snarling and biting at anyone and anything that is not TRUMP! Real Death, Real Fear, Real Monopolization For this Technetronic Era to culminate in a Utopia for the ruling classes, a pandemic was set loose, a very special kind of virus engineered (probably) for segmenting society. The hard-nosed working class would shun the femininity and weakness of mask-wearing, while the ultra-liberals at the other end of the spectrum would thrive on the morality of caring – and on winning against the callousness of right-wing discord. As I try to explain to those who ask, the situation today is a perfect storm of social upheaval engineered to bring in this new society. You see, both sides of the COVID argument are right – and wrong – at the same instant. This is as it was planned. Bill Gates and his monopoly on vaccines and the health community can hide in plain sight, while Trump’s and Biden’s handlers rake in hundreds of billions playing the dynamic markets. Watching it, at least from my perspective, is like watching the pressure in a boiler build up past the red danger gauge on the outside. In Hitler’s Shadow we find the depth of the US deep state and Brzezinski’s role in the planning for the new world without the Soviets (Russians) in the picture. There’s limited space for describing a CIA operation codenamed AERODYNAMIC which was the forerunner for transformative/revolutionary efforts in the CIS including Georgia, Ukraine, and now Belarus. The reader should understand that Brzezinski, and his father before him, were central figures in a movement to subdue and subdivide the Soviet bloc, and later Russia and her neighbors. No one reading this will know of a man named Mykola Lebed, who operated alongside Joseph Bandera and with the backing of the OSS and later the CIA. He immigrated to the United States because of his importance to the CIA and the deeps state, even though he was in league with the worst Nazis who ever breathed. Brzezinski broadened the scope of AERODYNAMIC, which was in league with former Nazi sympathizers to upend Stalin, and then later Soviet leadership. The history of it is all a deep well no single volume could encapsulate. Again, I have fallen too deep into the rabbit hole of the order, but the reader can observe via this CIA document bearing Brzezinski’s authorship how the plan for today was set in motion decades ago. Trump is destroying the Republican Party for good. Technocrat Bill Gates has monopolized immunization and will leverage it for this new Technetronic Society. The money and power behind this forceful transformation of our society are incalculable, mostly unseen, and probably unstoppable. Think about it, a plan to take over the world put in place decades ago, a plan hardly anyone notices because of its incremental, indomitable, and relentless nature. Sounds conspiratorial, doesn’t it? Well, conspiracies killed Caesar and overthrew the Czar. Conspiracies were the seeds of the American Revolution and the French one too. What? You think control is just a roll of the dice?

[onestowatch]

Chase Atlantic’s ‘PHASES’ Is an Astronomical Journey Worth Taking

With their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Chase Atlantic set out to create a work of truly astronomical measures. The result is an amalgamation of sounds and experiences, ranging from living life on the brink hip-hop to pulsating electronic undercurrents whose own swells and surges mirror the rush of emotions that accompany heartbreak and the desire for love. In many ways, PHASES feels like Chase Atlantic’s brash declaration for pop and where they can take the genre.

PHASES opens in atypical fashion for an act who historically fills every space of their songs with a range of genre-blends and influences. Opting for a more minimalistic approach, the purely instrumental “INTRO” sets the stage for the journey ahead. Crafting a soundscape that is rife with imagery of space travel, Chase Atlantic lays down the very first of many connecting threads that tie together PHASES as more than just a collection of songs but a sophomore effort worthy of your attention.

The interconnecting theme of space travel, and the soundbites that Chase Atlantic utilize to ensure the notion of that artistic journey is never forgotten, makes for a wholly cohesive project no matter where the Australian trio takes us throughout PHASES’ 12-track run. Whether it be venturing off into the neon-lit, The Weeknd-reminiscent “HEAVEN AND BACK” or taking a moment to reflect on “LOVE IS (NOT) EASY,” the Australian trio’s gift for musicality remains constant. Frontman Mitchel Cave spoke on what he envisioned for the sophomore effort, sharing,

“It’s the first time we were able to honestly and openly hone into something so monumentally special and raw without compromising even an inch of our integrity as artists. We’ve developed a completely new sound within a matter of months that has never been tapped into before. Chase Atlantic is now dwelling within a realm of its own; it’s both scarily isolating and blissfully euphoric at the same time. Welcome to a whole new era.”

PHASES is a wildly adventurous sophomore effort from a trio that was already making a career out of their knack for experimentation. And while we would say the sky is the limit for Chase Atlantic with a showing this strong, chances are they would just break out of the stratosphere in the year to come.

Listen to PHASES below:

Be sure to catch Chase Atlantic on their Ones To Watch and The Noise–presented tour before it’s too late.

6/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent Theater / SOLD OUT 6/29 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades / SELLING FAST 7/01 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall / SELLING FAST 7/02 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom 7/03 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre 7/05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot 7/06 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall / SELLING FAST 7/08 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom / SELLING FAST 7/09 – Lawrence, KS @ The Granada / SELLING FAST 7/11 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room / SELLING FAST 7/13 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater / SELLING FAST 7/15 – Chicago, IL @ House of Blues / SELLING FAST 7/16 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe at Old National Centre / SELLING FAST 7/18 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall / SELLING FAST 7/19 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall / SELLING FAST 7/20 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House / LIMITED TICKETS 7/22 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club / SELLING FAST 7/23 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall / SELLING FAST 7/25 – Silver Spring, MD @ The Fillmore / SELLING FAST

[masterofd1saster]

CJ current events 29dec22

Excellent toon

https://www.gocomics.com/thefuscobrothers/2022/12/21

***

Her actus reus was what????

Authorities have arrested a pro-life woman for silently praying outside an abortion clinic in the United Kingdom.***

Footage published by Alliance Defending Freedom shows police confronting Spruce, who has been charged with breaking a Public Space Protection Order for praying silently near an abortion clinic on four different occasions in Kings Norton, Birmingham.

The woman stands silently praying as the police approach her and ask what she is doing, after which she tells them that she “might” be praying in her head.

“Are you praying?” He asks her.

“I might be praying in my head,” she responds.***

The police then search her, arrest her, take her to a police station where they interrogate her, and charge her with breaking the Public Space Protection Order by silently praying.*** https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/12/22/are-you-praying-authorities-arrest-woman-silently-praying-outside-abortion-clinic/

In photos, she appears to be across the street from some buildings.

How do you feel about our 1st Amendment?

***

Where did SBF find $250M for bail?

In Bankman-Fried's case, the $250 million bond is secured by his parents' home. Since Bankman-Fried's parents signed the bond agreement, they would be on the hook for $250 million if their son flees. 

"They can take everything else," said Michael Bachner, a New York criminal defense attorney. "They can go ahead and take the bank accounts, the IRA accounts, stock accounts."

The $250 million bond does not reflect the family's assets, which could not be determined. Bankman-Fried said in late November that he now had "close to nothing" left and is down to one working credit card with "maybe $100,000 in that bank account."*** https://www.reuters.com/business/how-did-bankman-fried-secure-250-mln-bail-2022-12-22/

%age bail

***

Justice costs money

A shortage of public defenders in Portland , Oregon, has led courts to dismiss hundreds of criminal cases and delayed justice for scores of other victims whose cases have languished in a backlog for months.

Between February and December of this year, Multnomah County dismissed 300 cases because no public defender was available to represent the defendants, according to the Multnomah district attorney.

More than 2,300 other hearings were “set over,” meaning a court delayed hearings in cases in which a public defender was not available but may be in the future.

In all, the district attorney’s office said , nearly 2,500 felony cases were affected this year by a lack of public defenders.***  https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/portland-throws-out-hundreds-criminal-cases-public-defender-shortage

***

Vox calls someone else arrogant

A fresh debate is brewing on the Left over whether two of its most beloved justices should retire from the Supreme Court.

A senior correspondent at Vox floated the notion that the Supreme Court's eldest liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, should consider retirement while the Democrats maintain control of the White House and Senate.

"We have now lived with the consequences of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s late-life arrogance for more than two years," Ian Millhiser wrote on Wednesday, noting the late justice, who died in 2020, should have retired while Barack Obama was in the White House and had a Democratic majority in the Senate prior to the GOP takeover in 2015.*** https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/liberals-suggest-sotomayor-kagan-retire-supreme-court

Someone should remind Vox of Mark Twain’s line that reports of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. 

***

They misspelled Chiraq

https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a11b5918cfd479a0504a6b15388b5f2449ce4f8d3e865ee09a1cdcb7352f29ff.jpg 

***

[architectnews]

Ten architecture projects from students at the University of Oregon College of Design

An urban agricultural centre that highlights all aspects of the food cycle and a design that explores the domesticity of public space are included in our latest school show by students at the University of Oregon, College of Design.

Also included are mass timber structural systems, a forest-based education centre and solutions to the housing crises.

University of Oregon, College of Design

School: School of Architecture and Environment Tutors: Peter Keyes, Judith Sheine, Howard Davis, Mark Donofrio, Hajo Neis, Esther Hagenlocher, Craig Wilkins, Kayin Talton Davis, Cleo Davis and Gerald Gast

School statement:

"University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Environment is nationally recognised for its innovation and sustainability research, including designing buildings, interiors, landscapes and communities.

"We are committed to the principles of civic responsibility, environmental sustainability, international understanding and interdisciplinary education. The School of Architecture and Environment is located on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene and at the historic White Stag Block in Portland. We are a vibrant, collaborative learning community.

"We help students develop the values, knowledge, skills and practices they need to create better architecture and environments that resonate with people and their cultural, physical and ecological worlds. We are dedicated to recognising designers' accountability for their impact on environmental, social and cultural systems.

"We emphasise collaboration and a non-competitive but rigorous learning environment and encourage a supportive studio culture through facilitated peer teaching and teamwork. The School of Architecture and Environment doesn't dictate a specific design aesthetic or ideology for you to follow. Instead, we encourage intellectual inquiry as to the basis from which you forge your design path."

Feed Your City: Nourish Lents by Hannah Zalusky

"Nourish Lents is an urban agricultural centre that highlights all aspects of the food cycle, from growing to compost in order to educate and nourish the community.

"As a model sustainable urban food centre, it aims to reduce food-related carbon dioxide emissions by recycling food waste and providing alternatives to animal meat consumption.

"The programme directly addresses the economic and social needs of the Nourish Lents community with a large flexible plaza, grocery store, food pantry and community garden plots.

"The on-site aeroponic vertical farming and insect farming will become resilient food sources for the local restaurant economy, and new food businesses can grow in the rentable kitchen and processing spaces."

Student: Hannah Zalusky Course: Davis, ARCH 586, Foodspace: food, architecture and the city in the post-Covid 19 era Tutor: Howard Davis

Industrial Metabolism by Brennen Donnelly

"This thesis project examined the ecological and industrial processes of a town along the Oregon coast where logging and agriculture have historically dominated the local economy.

"A master plan was proposed that introduced facilities to refine logging waste into biochar. This is fueled by an onsite methane digestor, sapling greenhouses irrigated by the effluent from the digestor, dowel-laminated timber manufacturing facilities to expand logging operations, and hangars for industrial drones for seeding and reforestation.

"The building most extensively developed was the Timber Research and Innovation Centre. Inspired by Coastal Oregon vernacular, this building was proposed as a setting for researchers, designers, foresters and fabricators to collaborate to ensure that the natural resource is sustainably optimised on all fronts. The Timber Research and Innovation Centre is the feedback loop for all processes onsite."

Student: Brennen Donnelly Course: Donofrio, ARCH 586 Building Economy Maintenance Ecology Tutor: Mark Donofrio

Landscapes of Care by Josymar Rodriguez

"Landscapes of Care is a research project developed in Oldtown, Portland. This is a neighbourhood where urban blight coexists with new developments, transition housing and numerous organisations catering towards the houseless population.

"It is an area where the public realm is home to many people. The project builds upon these questions: can we design cities beyond the monotone, oppressive and anonymous grey landscapes we are used to? Can we expand the limits of the domestic and transform our cities into landscapes of care?

"The design explores the domesticity of the public realm. It states that the domestic city comes from within, from the intimate and spreads towards the outside. Here, it expands the notion of home and those who comprise it.

"This project is the first step in that direction with public access services on the ground floor and housing at the top. It offers multiple outdoor spaces to build tight communities, connect with nature, enjoy yourself and the company of others.

"The domestic city takes every chance to build a sense of home in the public realm, where you can find spaces for contemplation, meditation, rest, work and make, cook, and eat, cleaning yourself, meeting, and interacting. The domestic city erases the limits of public and private, putting in place structures of care and solidarity to build a just world."

Student: Josymar Rodriguez Course: Neis, ARCH586 The EU-US International House, Innovation and Re-Generative Design Tutor: Hajo Neis

Transcalar Digestion by Billy Guarino

"Transcalar Digestion is the culmination of a two-term research studio that examined the problems associated with water quality and land exploitation in the Tillamook region of The Oregon Coast.

"The building, landscape and climate work in harmony to frame the crucial relationship between the water cycle, land management and water quality. As a result, the building programme is situated atop a hill at the Port of Tillamook Bay to capture views of the watershed and immerse itself in the forest.

"Here, an aquafarm-to-fork restaurant allows people to taste quality seafood that is harvested locally and sustainably, while a museum showcases exhibitions related to ecology, geography, local industries, forests and water quality."

Student: Billy Guarino Course: Donofrio, ARCH 586 Building Economy Maintenance Ecology Tutor: Mark Donofrio

Gateway Elementary School and Civic Centre by Isaac Morris

"A generous ground floor public service and civic centre provide the platform to elevate an urban elementary school which utilises a standardised classroom module to create a village of learning for a free-roaming and self-discovering student experience.

"These elements are brought together via a generous pedestrian ramp which provides secure and universal access to the school, as well as creates spatial nodes of activity along the way."

Student: Isaac Morris Course: Hagenlocher, ARCH585 House of Learning Tutor: Esther Hagenlocher

Forest Stewardship Research Centre by Flynn Casey

"Located at the entrance to the McDonald and Dunn Research Forests near Corvallis, OR, the Forest Stewardship Research Centre (FRSC) is a facility for research and education focusing on the relationship between people and forests.

"The building leverages computational design and prefabrication to set a new standard for high-performance timber construction. It makes extremely efficient use of wood fibre, resulting in a lightweight structure that touches lightly on the ground, respecting the roots of the specimen trees surrounding it, as well as the archaeological Kalapuya land it rests on.

"The building is designed to be carbon-neutral in operation as well as construction, with the goal of meeting Living Building Challenge standards."

Student: Flynn Casey Course: Sheine, ARCH 585/586 Mass Timber Design Tutor: Judith Sheine

At the Intersection: Suburban Retrofitting by Holly Nuovo

"The single-family detached home, hovering like magnets five feet from the property line, turn their back on public space, privatising what used to be urban functions. Not just social division, these developments result in environmental disconnection.

"Fine-grain textures and proximities become a radical implication of the new urbanism created by banning single-family zoning. My project explores these potentials to conceive of the medium density home not as punishment but opportunity, not as an object but an ecosystem, where the house acts as a field rather than a mass, interacting with and influencing the interconnected forces that form our lives."

Student: Holly Nuovo Course: Keyes, Arch 585 Reframing Housing and Presentation Tutor: Peter Keyes

Peavy Lodge Forest Education Centre by Duma Nguyen

"Inspired by the structure of a tree, the Peavy Lodge Forest Education Centre looks to act as a beacon in the forest that also serves as a demonstration for mass timber construction.

"Peavy Lodge creates spaces of shelter similar to that of a tree overhang. The dynamic facade acts as a protective barrier from the elements resembling a tree's bark that breathes life into the building.

"Peavy Lodge's roof structure imitates the complexity of a forest canopy while allowing light to filter through openings in the roof, connecting users back to nature through the architectural structure.

"These elements combined create a beacon in the McDonald-Dunn forest that creates an ethereal, glowing object set in the forest scenery."

Student: Duma Nguyen Course: Sheine, Arch 585/586 Mass Timber Design Tutor: Judith Sheine

Green Works Progress Administration by Katherine Martin

"This project is about more than just the historic preservation of a beautiful building or a call for social justice in the face of rapid gentrification. It is also about more than providing easier access to a technical college education and more than a programme for America's most vulnerable to reinvent their livelihood.

"This project is about a 100-year-old building whose new life will allow itself (and the rest of us) to make it through the next 100 years. We need to start talking about buildings at the scale of centuries. This project hopes to begin that conversation and ask what it means to be truly sustainable, both for the climate and our communities.

"There is a lot of energy in the SoNo District between midtown and downtown Atlanta for a landmark proposal. From a climate perspective, utilising an empty building is the best strategy. The project preserves as much of the existing structure as possible, and any changes made to the facade or concrete system should have a restorative, performative, or programmatic purpose.

"The architectural strategy explored voids that enhance the daylighting and natural cooling properties of the structure. These voids also created large volumes suitable for workshops, the main programmatic element of the proposal.

"From a social sustainability perspective, this building provided a rich opportunity. In a rapidly gentrifying portion of the city, this project's unique history creates poetic statements about equity and justice in our inner cities. The proposal hopes to spark new life into this historic structure and help an often-ignored community, the homeless."

Student: Katherine Martin Course: Gast, ARCH 585/586 Linking Education and Architecture Tutors: Gerald Gast

Tools for Albina: Bstrong Learning Hub by Garrett Leaver

"This project is about intergenerational learning and Black youth. The traditional education system in America is broken, especially for students of colour.

"Learning comes from everywhere – it comes from the community and flows between generations. Noni Causey, director of The Black Educational Achievement Movement (BEAM), is rewriting education with Bstrong Learning Hub, situated in her home in Albina.

"As a student of Causey, I'm aware that its important to learn from professionals in our community in order to develop real-life skills. Here, I have imagined open source tools and an architectural tectonic to build momentum and change education.

"Detailed improvements to the site and street start to open up more conversations from the heart: bringing awareness to the history of Albina and other cities.

"Providing a safe, resilient forum for these conversations is first. A large covered forum and changes to the street front bring people in and maintain visibility. Next is introducing a sustainable, open architecture. Where the informality, lightness and tradition of the front porch are elevated. Inviting gathering, eating, and play around the corner.

"Students want to meet professionals and learn directly from the source. So, flexible and accessible maker spaces are available. This is also an opportunity for home improvement for other residents in exchange for them teaching their own classes and community. This architectural system paired with participatory design and making allow for scalable change, that grows with the Black community in Albina."

Student: Garrett Leaver Course: Wilkins, Davis, Davis, ARCH 585/586 ReBuilding Cornerstones. Tutors: Craig Wilkins, Kayin Talton Davis and Cleo Davis

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and the University of Oregon College of Design. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here

The post Ten architecture projects from students at the University of Oregon College of Design appeared first on Dezeen.

[goodfortune-au]

Good Fortune (Soulmate AU) Chapter 4: Angel's Guardian

Thursday was a curiosity in that it passed without much incident. Angel woke that morning to a hairball at the foot of her bed courtesy of Mayor Jello, but after she had gotten the mess cleaned up and thrown the comforter in the wash, she headed off to another mundane and uneventful day at the library. As she tended to her duties and watched the minutes tick by on the clock, she found herself stewing in anticipation of a sort. At first she thought it might just be jitters about the upcoming concert. Beside her reservations about big crowds of people, it’d been quite a while since she’d been to a live show; Derry wasn’t exactly known for booking the kinds of acts she found herself interested in. A lot of times she needed to go out of town to attend anything decent, usually to the likes of Augusta or Portland, and that was a significant trek to undertake on a weeknight. She didn’t exactly have a way out there beyond a taxi cab, either, and those could run up quite expensive tabs. For lack of time and financial means she often found herself sitting things out, with only the occasional outing for the sake of sanity. Derry was a rather dull place to live, after all.

But no, she was actually quite at ease about the concert. She had a bit of a game plan for the night, had been thinking about it all week really; she wanted to get there with plenty of time to spare, snag a t-shirt from the merch booth and maybe a patch for her jacket, make her way up to the front after the opening act was over and stay as close to the rail as humanly possible for the duration of the show. She debated the mosh pit but decided she’d rather opt out for this particular occasion, wanting to simply enjoy the music rather than get consumed in the capricious, wanton violence of the circle. That tended to be her standard procedure for concert-going. She liked to mosh for rougher, local acts she didn’t follow and sing along for bands she had a liking for. But despite her conclusive decision she still felt those butterflies in her stomach, more like buzzing bees humming away against the walls of her insides.

She’d been walking around all day, expecting to see something, though that something was a little lost on her. Another marble, a lost earring, perhaps a busted keychain lying abandoned on the ground, just waiting to be found by her wandering eyes. Gifts from a mysterious benefactor whom she couldn’t put a face or a name to, leaving behind offerings like a befriended magpie. After the sequence of the flowers, the marble, and the opal ring, she reasonably assumed that something else would follow, but nonetheless, it didn’t seem to be the case so far. She kept holding out for the possibility, even finding herself checking nooks and crannies all day wherever she could reasonably fathom the presence of a lost curio or trinket, but the effort was for naught. Even as she walked home she continued the search, even going so far as to eye the same red maple she’d passed on her way home Wednesday afternoon, for maybe there was a second ring to accompany the first dangling unassumingly from another branch. No such luck.

It began to occur to her that perhaps all this was something of her own imagining. Though she couldn’t deny it was certainly bizarre, the things she found herself stumbling upon, there was all the likelihood that it was simply a strange coincidence and nothing more. It was a disappointment to be sure, but she would be lying if she said it wasn’t the more likely of the two scenarios. A guardian angel? Pfft, grow up. The world was too cruel for such things. More specifically, Derry was too cruel for such things. If there was such a thing as a guardian angel around these parts, why were there so many disappearances and grisly happenings? Why was it all without consequence or closure? It simply didn’t make sense. If there really was such a thing, they were either lousy at their job or exceptionally negligent. Either way, it didn’t seem likely. She would do well to forget the notion entirely, for putting her fate in the hands of an imaginary protector seemed like it would get her into some nasty circumstances around here.

Thursday came and went, and Friday came following after. The end of the week, and the day of the concert. Angel put in her hours at the library (yet another day without a finding, she notes disappointingly), and went home immediately to get ready for her dubious night on the town. The concert started at seven and she could waste no time, taking into account how long it would take her to coordinate her outfit and makeup on top of how long it would take her to get there. She quickly decides on an old, faded Descendents shirt tucked into a pair of high-waisted, black washed jeans. She puts her hair in a high ponytail and laces up her Doc Martens, taking to her full length mirror to get started on her makeup. Once she’s suitably satisfied with her eyeliner she details a little swirl jutting out from her waterline and fastens her favorite spiked choker about her neck. Before she leaves her bedroom, she takes out her trusty biker jacket, studded and spiked and festooned with an eclectic assortment of pins and patches, slipping it on and shutting the bedroom door behind her. She’s already called ahead for a taxi, and she’s simply waiting on it to arrive.

Once she hears the telltale sound of a horn outside the front of her house she bids an affectionate goodbye to Mayor Jello and sets out. The drive over to the Terrace is quiet; she’s not quite the talkative type with strangers so she keeps verbal distance from the cab driver and passes the time looking out the window instead. The town looks the same as ever. Derry hadn’t changed much in the years since she’d been living there; rather, it almost seemed as though it resisted change, like the town would simply collapse in on itself if anything truly challenged its status quo. When the cab turns from Witcham back onto Up-Mile-Hill she looks on the people meandering up and down the street, patronizing businesses and fulfilling errands with casual ease. From a distance they seem almost like dolls, walking to a predetermined destination at the hands of something else entirely, with only simulated autonomy to their wooden limbs. She presses her forehead against the glass and sighs.

The cab drops her at the curb of the Terrace. She pays her fare, gets out, and thanks the cab driver, who gives her a curt nod before driving off and leaving her to her destination. The merch table was a bit of a hectic mess unsurprisingly. Once Angel had crossed the threshold into the main hall she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people inside. Derry was such a small town that she was used to small turnouts; this, however, was anything but. She thought about it and decided it made sense. Bad Religion was garnering a bit of a following as of late, so she could only surmise that people must have showed up from out of town for this one. She finds the wait pleasantly quick as she moves from the tail end of the line into the front in no less than ten minutes or so. She stuffs her chosen tee into the pocket of her jeans and takes a deep breath before heading towards the sea of people congregated outside the stage. The sound of the opening act is cacophonous on the mounted speakers, some nameless hardcore band putting their heart and soul into their ten-song set and she finds rhythm in her feet as she moves through the crowd. The crowd resists her entry the further up she gets and she finds herself having to elbow past people, the spikes on her jacket doing the brunt of the work as she slowly but surely makes her way to the front. And then, once she reaches the safety of the rail she clings to it for dear life, letting the feedback from the close-by amps turn to static in her ears as she waits for the first show to end.

When the band finally takes the stage, she finds herself getting caught up in the energy of a live performance again, calling back in response to their interactions with the audience and singing along at the top of her lungs when they begin every new song in their set. Their energy on stage is on par with that of the circle right behind her and the lead singer is charismatic and expressive, wildly gesturing with his hands as he belts out the lyrics to songs she’d listened to a thousand times over, wearing out the vinyl on a brand new album and driving all the neighbors crazy. This album, in her opinion, was one every bit as engrossing to listen to as their first, a refreshing welcome back to their initial sound after a decided, less well-received departure in their second. She’d been following them ever since she’d gotten her hands on their 1985 EP Back to the Known, and they were very quickly becoming one of her favorite bands. The current song ends and the lead singer talks up the audience for a bit before announcing the next.

“Alright, this next one is from our new album Suffer, s’called Do What You Want. Okay- one, two, three YA-HEY! ”

The band surges forward again into rhythmic, chaotic energy once more, calling the entire crowd forward in their deafening siren song. Angel sways with the sea of people, dancing and stomping her feet in tandem with the drum beats, calling out the lyrics and getting lost in them.

Hey do what you want

But don’t do it around me

Idleness and dissipation breed apathy

I sit on my ass

All godd*mn day

A misanthropic anthropoid with nothing to

The circle behind her is a vortex, slowly pulling her towards the chaotic eye of the storm and away from the haven of the rail. She fights to keep her place but with one clumsy misstep she trips into the outer rim of the mosh pit. The inner core is alive with discordant, screaming misfits; running rampant, elbowing one another, punching, slamming, stomping. Contained chaos just begging to break free.

Say what you must

Do all you can

Break all the f*cking rules and

Go to hell with superman and

Die like a champion, ya-hey!

The voices of the crowd are like a breathless, restless chorus and her voice is just one among hundreds blending seamlessly into one another. She finds herself succumbing to the energy of the circle, pushing and shoving with the rest of the outer rim until she herself is ushered into the center of it all. And from there it is every man for himself, struggling to stay upright in a maelstrom of mayhem and disarray; thrashing, each person leaping and pirouetting furiously in an endless, rolling gait to words of passionate anger. She tumbles headfirst into the rhythm and has no choice but to follow it, taking the perimeter of the circle at a jilted skip until she finds her stable footing again.

Hey I don’t know

If the billions will survive

But I’ll believe in god

When one and one are five

My moniker is man and

I’m rotten to the core

I’ll tear down the building

Just to pass through the door

She’s dizzy with exhilaration, now lost in the relentless, delirious disorder before her, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she shoulders into someone else, survival instincts of a sense consuming her in the moment as she fights to stay on her feet. She sees a path out of the circle and back to the rail, and as she rounds the circle for the umpteenth time, she lunges forward with a hand outstretched-

So do what you must

Do all you can

Break all the f*cking rules and

Go to hell with superman and

Die like a champion, ya-hey!

Stinging pain bites her in the face and she hits the ground with a thud. The impact is enough to knock the wind out of her and she gasps air into her starving lungs as her sight starts to fade. A hand reaches down to pull her back up before the stampeding herd can trample her and she wastes no time, she grabs hold and pushes back up onto her feet again. The roaring crowd cheers as she catches her breath. The circle has calmed; she finds the strength to amble out of the crowd and make her way towards the bathroom to get herself cleaned up.

“F*ck. F*ck f*ck f*ck! ”

She stares at herself in the mirror, looking down in dismay over the breast of her jacket. There’s a blank patch where a button had sat before, an old, yellowed one that read “Re-elect Graider for Council.” Inherited from her great grandfather, and very much irreplaceable. She must have lost it when she hit the ground. Finding her mood for the night soured by this unfortunate development, she spends the rest of the concert by the phone booth outside, listening to the concert from a distance as she calls for another cab. She tries not to let the self-hatred flow through her, trying very keenly not to let it turn into one of her infamous and self-destructive spirals. It wasn’t a huge deal. Or at least, that’s what she tried so earnestly to tell herself.

“Yes, can you come pick me up? I’m at Derry Riverside Terrace, just off Center Street by the Penobscot River. Okay, yes, thank you, I’ll be here.”

She hangs up.

“Shit, man…”

The ride home is silent and dismal. Derry is dim and black from the window of the cab, and it offers her no comfort as she rests her weary head against the frosty glass. The driver thankfully doesn’t offer much in the way of conversation, leaving her to stew in her quiet discontent until she’s dropped at the curb outside her house. She straightens her jacket over her shoulders and walks towards the front door, listening to the cab drive off behind her. She’d left it unlocked because she didn’t want to take her keys with her. It was fine; not like there was anything around her house that anyone in their right minds would want to steal around here anyway. Twisting the knob, she sets foot onto the polished hardwood, her boots thudding gently in the silence of the room as she does so. A meow greets her from the other room, and Mayor Jello comes sauntering in to wrap himself around her leg after she flicks on the light.

“Nice to see you too, pal. Been a long night, how about you?”

He doesn’t answer, but instead walks over to his food bowl. He starts pecking at it with his muzzle, seeming to disregard her now. She snorts.

“Kay then, I’ll leave you to it, Mr. Mayor. As for me, I’m heading to bed. I’ll leave the door cracked if you… You know, if you wanna come in- oh, what the hell am I saying, he knows the drill.” She says, now starting to talk to herself. She turns on her heel and kicks off her boots, leaving them by the doorway. Peeling off her socks, she tosses them into her laundry basket and starts to get undressed. She strips her bra from her chest, stretching with a big yawn as she casts it aside. With a wistful glance at the jacket sitting on her bed, she places it back on its hanger in the closet, stashing it out of sight so she wouldn't have to think about what she'd lost. Falling asleep, she forgets it all.

She sleeps in the next morning. It was her ritual to disregard alarms on the weekend, for there was simply no reason to get up early on days like these unless she explicitly had errands to attend to. The only alarm she wakes to is the biological one in her bladder, which has her stirring uncomfortably in her bed until she can take it no longer. Her eyes flutter open and she rubs them groggily, sitting upright to slip out of bed. Her feet land on the cold floor, one after the other, and she stretches with an indulgent yawn. The memories of dreams brush away from her mind like a schooner carried away by the waves and wind on an ocean shore, visible in the distance but fading slowly over the horizon with time. Derry seems deathly still and warm sheets ruffle quietly with the squeak of springs as she scoots forward off the mattress.

Clack!

She turns around in confusion, looking down to find a curious sight. There, laying innocently at her feet...Is her lost button. Her heart pounds in her chest as she picks it up, her mind racing a thousand miles a minute with more questions than she can keep up with. Shaking fingers brush against something on the back, and she turns it over to find a piece of folded paper tucked into the bronze pin. Pulling it out, she quickly scans over the words and her breath catches in her throat.

She’s speechless; a tingling warmth is starting to spread throughout her body. Her cheeks are getting red but the room is as cold as ever. She thinks of the feelings in her gut that had been building through the week, the persistent feeling of something new, something different. She thinks of all the things she found, the circumstances; how each little thing seemed to be left just for her and no one else. She remembers last night at the concert, and her encounter with whoever had saved her skin in the mosh pit. She thought it strange; their hand was silken and elegant against hers, and as she stared up into the sea of thrashing people she thought she could see two stars, gold and brilliant, staring back at her, but when she’d broken into the surface once more that hand had mysteriously disappeared, and the person along with it. The sky was black and soulless again, no signs of the lights that had beckoned her back. As she stands in the silence of the room, all existing skepticism once lingering in her consciousness had gone to the wayside now. Strange as it may seem, the answer to her was clear, having made itself unmistakable to her through the paper in her fingers.

“Lost and found.” The note says, and it's accented with a little heart.

Maybe she had a guardian angel after all.

[doomedandstoned]

A//TAR Perform “Arcana” Live at Ceremony of Sludge

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

It was the last live performance I attended in 2020, before orders were given by the Governor of Oregon to shelter in place. I'd heard about the novel coronavirus outbreak and the still mysterious disease it caused, COVID-19, but was crossing my fingers it hadn't spread too far into Portland yet. This was, after all, the annual Ceremony of Sludge! A tradition for nine years and counting, organized by Witch Mountain's Justin Brown. It brought together some of the most impressive new and long-standing heavy underground acts that the Pacific Northwest had to offer.

Everyone was in good spirits. No one had yet heard about the notion of social distancing, wearing masks, or taking that occasional sip from your buddy's beer. For one brief night, we could let our hair down (well, some of us who still have hair to boast of) and have a good time, as naive as that may sound in retrospect.

Four incredible bands took the stage on that March 6th eve at the World Famous Kenton Club, where I've shot many a show. On this Friday evening, I decided to leave the Canon at home and just let myself enjoy the music first hand, as so often my experience of live performances is through the lens (which I rarely peel my eyes from).

Today, Doomed & Stoned is premiering footage from that very night, revealing the song "Arcana" from A//TAR (or Alltar, should you prefer). If you haven't encountered them before, their sludgy-doom and post-metal stylings, with touches of atmospheric mysticism and Near-Eastern sound, establish the five-member outfit as truly one of a kind.

You'll recognize some of the members from other bands around town: Hound The Wolves, Tigers on Opium, Sixous, to name a few. The Portland scene tends to cross-pollinate a lot, which I suppose accounts for the creativity behind Alltar's unique sound.

I asked Frontman Juan Carlos Caceres about how these remarkable doom fantasias (and "Arcana," in particular) spring to life:

We have a pretty set in stone approach to writing our music. The musicians will compose riffs and string them together into a loose arrangement. However in this band, one of the creative choices we make is that Tim will title the arrangement. Once the music has a flow or is sounding like a song, they will pass it along to me and I will take that “title” and use it as the inspiration for the lyrical content and story of the song.

From there I’ll come in with arrangement ideas and help produce the song into its final arrangement by adding vocals/synths, and ultimately shaping how the song plays out from anything like needing things to be repeated for a certain length, to adding other sections that help the music sound like a song and not a string of riffs.

This can make for a long process to the end result, however with “Arcana” it actually came together very quickly. If I recall correctly it was two rehearsals. The song originated from a riff Colin brought to the table and the band spent a rehearsal coming up with some parts. They emailed it to me along with the title “Arcana”. I was deeply intrigued by this title and the fact that the word means secrets/mysteries. I quickly dove into writing the lyrics and had a full working version ready to go for the next rehearsal.

Deep in our genetic makeup, are the stories of centuries, the stories of evolution, the stories of failure, and the stories of progress. I gravitated quickly to this thought process and used the concept “Arcana” to tell the story of a message hidden deep within us, that guides us, whispers to us, but we are only aware of it through intuition and practice.

As to the meaning of "Arcana" and the influences driving the four songs on the setlist for the forthcoming album, 'Live At Ceremony of Sludge IX' (2021), Juan adds:

One of my favorite books is 'The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind' by Julian Jaynes. He proposed that the human brain existed in a bicameral state until about 3000 years ago. The theory is widely disputed but nonetheless I find the concept of our growth of consciousness fascinating.

There are hints of this in the lyrics, along with hints of evolving further into our next state of being. I really like to use phrases that portray a strong visual imagery that the listener can perhaps interpret in several ways. With this song, I wanted the listener to be curious whether we are in the past, present, or future.

Are we conscious automata? Are we free willed? Are we guided by things planted deep in our subconscious and genetic make up? Unlocking the mysteries of our consciousness and our DNA to propel ourselves into the next cycle of life, is what this song is about.

Performance Stills by Stephanie Savenkoff

Deep thoughts indeed to guide this deep cut from an album that will surely leave its mark upon you. "Arcana" is rich with esoteric atmosphere, enhanced by thoughtful instrumental details, brimming with attitude, carried by transcendent vocals that stir the heart with its cryptic creed.

Out February 12th, Alltar's Live From Ceremony of Sludge IX can be gotten on compact disc, as well as in digital format (pre-order here).

Give ear...

A//tar - Arcana

Lyrics

Messenger Show yourself Deep your roots plant themselves Further than time itself Unfolding

Whispering in my ear Only things I can hear Forever unknowing Unfolding

Library Circuitry Loops caught infinity Only you only me

Unfolding Unfolding Unfolding Unfolding

Mystery hidden deep in the sea Buried underwater effigy There is a message carved onto it Only one human can know of it Only one human can know of it

Open ocean Part ways for us all Open ocean Part ways for us all

All knowing Arcana Genetic permanence

DNA AND palindrome Mirrors speak in parables Offering miracles Unfolding

Splice open chromosomes Rewire what we know Binary in revolt Unfolding

46 deep in me 46 let me be Shadow step out of me

Unfolding Unfolding Unfolding Unfolding

Mystery hidden deep in the sea Buried underwater effigy There is a message carved onto it Only one human can know of it Only one human can know of it

Open ocean Part ways for us all Open ocean Part ways for us all

All knowing Arcana We are genetic permanence

All knowing Arcana

Some Buzz

Bring your pain, your loss, and your love and place it on the Alltar, as we honor those that came before us. Emerging from the Pacific Northwest region, Portland’s Alltar set out a two-fold reminder: one, of the potency behind a doom, sludge, and post-metal blend; and two, of just how good live music will be once it returns. After the successful release of their début Hallowed, the quintet’s next move is to release a live record commemorating a stunning set at Ceremony of Sludge in their hometown, which saw a stacked bill including Usnea and Brume shake The World Famous Kenton Club back in March.

“Ceremony of Sluuuuudge, baby!” comes booming through the speakers from vocalist Juan Carlos Caceres, whose amiable attitude contrasts with both the Ozzy-like wailing and harsher screaming - both of which hitting impressive peaks on “War Altar”. The lyrics draw from a wide range of topics; in the bands’ words, “the triumphs and tribulations of human-kind. From the technical and artistic birth of society’s achievements in art and technology, as well as the rise of power, war, destruction, and the control of humanity.”

Live at Ceremony of Sludge by Alltar

One unusual feature of this release is just how damn good the mix is for such a young band in a festival format. Aside from the vocals soaring and shrieking, the drums pop and crash, the bass rumbles with menace, and the cavernous rhythm guitars are hypnotic. The five work seamlessly to stir the genre-melding pot, the contents of which contain pinches of Neurosis’ Souls at Zero, Amenra’s Mass series, latter-day Elder, and Cult of Luna.

The record itself is akin to a beast that awakens - it starts with smooth guitar lines interwoven with Moog synthesizers on “Arcana”, while by the time “Cantillate” rolls around, there’s an unfolding crescendo of crunch. And then, just as the audience recovers from the devastating closer, a simple “thank you, we’re Alltar, Glasghote is up next!” It’s over in a short space of time, but that’s the beauty of live albums - there’s always the replay button.

Alltar is:

Nate Wright - drums  (Hound the Wolves, Tigers On Opium)

Tim Burke - guitars, samples  (ex-Boneworm, Hound the Wolves, Electric Ring, ex-Skull Island)

Colin Hill - guitars, samples

Juan Carlos Caceres - vocals, Moog synthesizers  (Tigers On Opium, ex-Sioux, Hound the Wolves, The Hungry Ghost)

Casey Braunger - bass  (He is Me)

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[easyfoodnetwork]

What Can Chipotle Teach Us About Mexican Food?

White-centered food narratives appear most often at major chains. It’s time to hold them accountable.

I’m a professional chef, and up until three years ago, I had no idea what barbacoa really meant.

I thought I did. I’d eaten my fair share of “barbacoa” at Chipotle, where its shredded-beef burrito was my splurge order. But on a tour of Xochimilco, a tapestry of canals and artificial islands that was once a major source of local produce for Mexico City, Paco, my tour guide, took me to his favorite barbacoa stall, where we were greeted with three juicy tacos and a bowl of lamb broth to wash it all down. When I mentioned that I’d thought barbacoa was only beef, he gave me a quizzical look: “Oh yeah? Where have you been eating barbacoa?”

As a chef, I was a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge. But as someone deeply convinced that food is an extension of identity, who has experienced first-hand the harmful impacts of stereotypes seeping into cultural norms and is now actively working toward changing them, I was horrified at how easily I accepted something completely stripped of cultural context sold to me by a chain.

But such is the world of giant quick-service and fast-casual business: Find interesting, “trendy,” flavorful ideas from any culture, dilute them into their most mass-marketable forms, and reap monetary gain without acknowledging the sources. Although these chains, due to sheer size and reach, are often representing certain dishes or cuisines to large swaths of people — sometimes for the first or only time — they do very little to contextualize the foods they serve. So far, these companies have experienced little pushback and are under no compulsion to change. But as we reckon with the complicated intersection of social and political structures behind food, we have an opportunity to demand a very different future for fast casual.

Barbacoa’s history is a fascinating case study of Caribbean “barbecue” (aka barbacoa) evolving as it moved through Mexico, where lamb or mutton would be wrapped in maguey leaves and steamed underground, and into Texas, where cattle heads were substituted for sheep due to regional availability. It is a laborious process, hence why devotees happily line up for chefs they believe can work magic in the meat, like Cristina Martinez of Philadelphia’s South Philly Barbacoa.

While the final shredded texture of beef barbacoa may resemble that of Chipotle’s “slow-cooked beef combined with water” — as it’s described by Chipotle’s culinary director, Chad Brauze — it comes nowhere close to representing barbacoa technique. In calling this filling “barbacoa,” a sharp contrast to its straightforward “chicken” and “steak,” Chipotle has found an easy way to add a marketable tinge of foreignness to its menu to back up its cred as a “Mexican” grill.

This is not to say food can’t, or shouldn’t, evolve. The very core of food culture is adaptation to new environments, new palates, new people, new ingredients — and these exchanges are not always peaceful or mutually beneficial. Barbacoa has changed over time to include beef as a common protein choice, Spam musubi is now a well-loved Hawaiian staple, and so forth — but ignoring history in search of “approachability” only serves to entrench distorted power dynamics that persist to this day.

As barbacoa becomes another “familiar” option on the steam table, we must examine who has the power to force the process of adaptation and assimilation for profit, and who does not. In the case of food, all that PR fluff about bringing people together completely misses — or perhaps purposefully conceals — the truth that with power, the food of another culture can become a mere commodity, a cog in the wheel of capitalism separate and distinct from the people closest to it.

At $4.9 billion in revenue and close to 2,500 locations as of 2018, Chipotle’s influence is undeniable. “One of the best things about Chipotle is our reach ... in many diverse communities throughout the United States and beyond,” Brauze said in an email. Yet when it comes to educating this diverse audience — some of whose view of “Mexican” food has been shaped specifically by Chipotle’s interpretation — he deflects observations of the chain’s responsibility. “We hope that all people will arm themselves with a greater knowledge of where their food comes from, what ingredients are utilized, and how it’s prepared.”

Maybe it is too much to expect a giant company like Chipotle, run by a primarily white C-suite and most famed for an efficient assembly line, to provide an anthropological perspective for each dish. But what is the inflection point of scale and profit where accountability also sets in, whether it feels “fair” or not?

Nomenclature is arguably the most visible — and therefore hotly contested — aspect of food representation. To have the ability to name something is power, and to proliferate that name widely is influence. At Noodles & Company, with 460 locations and a revenue of $458 million in 2018, dishes are titled “Japanese Pan Noodles” or “Spicy Korean Beef Noodles,” harking back to a likely inspiration (yakisoba) or arbitrary ingredient choice (gochujang). It’s easy to assume these are the results of a flippant naming process, but they’re in fact quite deliberate; as the chain’s executive chef, Nick Graff, explains, names are determined after conducting “online screening tests and taste panels where guests can tell us what naming convention best represents their expectations once they have experienced the dish.”

Consumers do not produce these flattened, generic names in a vacuum. It’s a result of centuries of blurring and erasure of geographic, historical, and cultural nuance, socialized into an idea that “other” places are more homogenous and less important. Consistent exposure to governmental and corporate propaganda has reduced vast regions like “Asia,” “Africa,” and “the Middle East” into amorphous descriptors barely varied enough to distinguish, their differences of little regard, and the essence of their cuisine easily distilled into a few fried wonton strips or a pinch of garam masala.

Generic menu names are the result of centuries of erasure of geographic, historical, and cultural nuance.

Within this self-reinforcing cycle, it’s unsurprising to see examples like Wendy’s limited-run “Asian” Cashew Chicken Salad, a riff on “Chinese” chicken salad that conflates China with Asia and disregards its complicated roots in assimilation and cultural adaption. (Wendy’s declined to comment for this story.) Even a trip to the grocery store yields similar findings: Enter Trader Joe’s painfully stereotyped Trader Ming’s line, which sells blurry pan-Asian items like Kung Pao Tempura Cauliflower in a package accentuated by a “Chinese”-ish font. (Recently, Trader Joe’s vowed to rebrand its “ethnic” lines, but has since reversed course.)

It’s easy to dismiss these collective occurrences as a byproduct of capitalism, to make excuses for the middle managers who aren’t willing to risk their own necks to push back. But food has always been entrenched in Western colonization, imperialism, and enslavement, and it continues to shape (and change) public opinion. The way we allow these national and international chains to treat a food culture implicitly shows the respect (or lack thereof) we have for the people represented by these cuisines — and it is with this backing that appropriative, white-centered food narratives can take place.

For instance, Google searches for “Nashville hot chicken” jumped from an interest index of 4 to 100 after KFC released its version in January 2016, with the New Yorker calling it a “viral sensation.” Yet no part of KFC’s marketing includes a mention of Prince’s, where the dish originated. (KFC declined to comment for this story.) The chasm left by KFC’s silence gives way to a very different, white narrative. Within the year, Food Republic treated the African-American soul of hot chicken as a mere footnote: “Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack may have created hot chicken in the 1930s ... but Hattie B’s has made hot chicken cool,” it said of a newer hot chicken contender in Nashville, after calling Hattie B’s chef “the man who launched the Nashville hot chicken craze.”

This erasure of foodways has further manifested in disasters like “pho gate,” where Bon Appétit anointed a white male chef as the expert on pho, allowing him to bend the narrative of an iconic Vietnamese dish with his own “rules”; Andrew Zimmern’s restaurant Lucky Cricket, where the celebrity chef insulted “horseshit” Chinese restaurants to tout his own “authenticity,” ignoring the foundation laid by early Chinese restaurateurs adjusting to an American palate and subsequent creation of a distinct Chinese-American cuisine; and Kooks, the Portland, Oregon, burrito cart whose two young female entrepreneurs proudly admitted to snooping their way into the intellectual property of “tortilla ladies” in Puerto Nuevo, Mexico, in order to profit off of their techniques back home.

These are far from the only times Black culture has been co-opted or immigrants’ contributions dismissed. But the stakes are now higher than ever. Stripping food from its undoubtedly political history in order to offer a sanitized version digestible by the majority allows for the frightening notion that minorities are separate and distinct from what they offer to the country. It suggests that after “we” as Americans have harnessed what we want from them, those people can be discarded.

Protesters shouted at Kirstjen Nielsen for dining at a Mexican restaurant after escalating the “zero tolerance” immigration policy in 2018, but her actions are eerily consistent with those of her predecessors. In the 19th century, Chinese restaurants were lauded as having some of the best food in the country; in spite of that, anti-Chinese political rhetoric was widespread enough to pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act — after Chinese laborers had been hired specifically to construct the most hazardous points of the transcontinental railway — which was not repealed until 1943.

How and when foods and cultures are embraced by a historically white-dominant America has had hefty implications. Without racial, socioeconomic, and political power, without the right “image,” ideas command little value — at most they are trendy, at worst “indecent” or even “criminal” if embraced by the minority. But demographics are changing: According to the Brookings Institute, at 45 percent minority, millennials are the most diverse adult generation in U.S. history (Gen Z will be even more so), and this presents an opportunity to push back on problematic nomenclature and representation.

If the actions of these big companies have demonstrated anything, it is that there is power in numbers. It is up to our generation to scrutinize these brands, whose reach permeates our lives on the daily, whose executives (inaccurately) treat America as though they are as white as they are, whose menus and messaging influence the next wave of restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs. One start would be for Chipotle to consider an accurate rebranding of its barbacoa to “shredded beef.”

To light the way, a new wave of fast casuals is actively changing the status quo. For these restaurateurs, the first step has been to hold their own menus accountable.

“A big issue we faced as operators [of a healthy Indian concept] was finding a way to meet consumers midway with their vision of Indian food and what we wanted to present them with,” explains Viraj Borkar, co-creator and culinary director of Inday, an Ayurvedic-based Indian chain. Now in its fifth year, Inday has learned its own lessons: a smooth chickpea puree originally called “chickpea masala” went through a sequence of name changes so as to not misrepresent it to those unfamiliar. (Now it’s no longer on the menu.) The “cauliflower biryani” was further clarified to give the backstory of biryani while explaining the Inday version as non-traditional, with its base of “cauliflower ‘rice’” now available separately on the menu. Borkar stands by the statement that “it is the fast casual’s job to educate people and give clarity” on what it is offering, which sometimes means the company needs to scrap a product causing more harm than good, and start over.

Lucas Sin, a 2019 Eater Young Gun and the culinary director of Junzi, a Chinese fast-casual chain, emphasizes this notion of education with the prevalent use of Chinese characters throughout his menu. No one dish is titled as if it represents a region, even if the flavor combinations may hail from one, and unfamiliar ingredients are deliberately not renamed so guests must actively learn what they are. Finding a balance between the “60 seconds or so” guests take to assess the menu and the terminology he deems important to promote has not been easy. Furu tofu, for example, a lacto-fermented type of tofu unfamiliar to most American consumers, is used throughout the menu and elicits questions, which Junzi’s staff is trained to answer thoroughly.

“The future of fast casual is not to tell people, ‘This is what you should eat because that’s what’s affordable.’”

“[One of the few terms] we’ve ever made up is our Jaja sauce,” Sin says. Because the Junzi sauce resembles the classic zha jiang sauce in flavor, but doesn’t have the ground pork component, he opted to create a phonetically similar word for it.

It is possible to reset the framework for making and serving foods from other backgrounds, too. Sofia Luna, president of Sophie’s Cuban, a Cuban fast-casual chain, hails from Lima, Peru, but saw that Cuban food was particularly popular among the Latinx community in the Financial District, where her family first started operating food stands. To open the restaurant, they brought on Cuban chef Eduardo Morgado to create the menu (with most items still available today) not just as a consultant or research and development chef, but an active owner of the business.

In particular, Luna has paid attention to the implications of naming: “If something is tweaked or modified, we want to be transparent with our customer. Our ‘Pernil with a Twist’ was named that way to ensure customers knew they were not getting a traditional pernil sandwich.”

Chef JJ Johnson of Field Trip, a rice-centered fast-casual restaurant with two locations in New York City, sees menus as a way to celebrate and expand, not marginalize, consumer perceptions of its roots by providing cultural context. As the menu spans many cuisines, from a loosely Thai-inspired sticky rice shrimp dish with green curry (simply titled “Shrimp”) to a jollof-style basmati rice bowl (“Veggie”), Johnson is adamant that “every culture deserves specificity” and “we don’t call something for a selling point, like ‘The Jamaican Bowl,’ because that’s just lazy.”

“Take jollof, for example,” he explains, “it’s a tomato-based rice, and jollof is about the preparation of the rice. The inspiration of the overall bowl [Veggie] comes from India. It’s somewhat similar to biryani [the bowl uses basmati rice]. We have a map showing people where the rice is from, and we lead with service by explaining the technique behind the rice. So if someone asks for ‘Spanish rice,’ we can say, ‘What kind of Spanish rice?’ and show them how there are styles, and there are regions.” By using straightforward language accented with in-person dialogue, Johnson is demonstrating that no restaurant “has” to lean on tired tropes to express flavor.

And it’s working: All of these fast casuals have seen steady engagement from customers since opening, disproving the idea that consumers exclusively care about convenience. The owners attribute part of this brand loyalty to their larger commitment to raising conscientiousness and increasing community access to new foods and food cultures. “Every community needs some sort of impact structure to improve,” Johnson says. “I opened in Harlem because I was tired of people telling Black and brown folks that we don’t care about what we eat. The future of fast casual is not to tell people, ‘This is what you should eat because that’s what’s affordable,’ it’s where you can understand your food, where someone can talk to you about it, where you want to try new things and expand what you know.”

These varied dishes all contribute to the growing tapestry of American cuisine, a multi-dimensional story of adaptation, innovation, and survival. Increasing a restaurant’s reach or volume does not entitle operators to shirk the responsibility of explaining the very complexities its foods are based on. Instead, we can embrace learning about food as a natural part of the eating process, each meal an opportunity to deepen our understanding of ourselves and each other.

Jenny Dorsey is a professional chef, writer, and the founder of Studio ATAO, a nonprofit community think tank working at the intersection of food, art, and social impact. Bug Robbins is a non-binary queer illustrator obsessed with printmaking, folklore, and green witchcraft. Edited by Rachel Kreiter Fact-checked by Andrea López-Cruzado

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/33wNu2R https://ift.tt/3iCMTB8

White-centered food narratives appear most often at major chains. It’s time to hold them accountable.

I’m a professional chef, and up until three years ago, I had no idea what barbacoa really meant.

I thought I did. I’d eaten my fair share of “barbacoa” at Chipotle, where its shredded-beef burrito was my splurge order. But on a tour of Xochimilco, a tapestry of canals and artificial islands that was once a major source of local produce for Mexico City, Paco, my tour guide, took me to his favorite barbacoa stall, where we were greeted with three juicy tacos and a bowl of lamb broth to wash it all down. When I mentioned that I’d thought barbacoa was only beef, he gave me a quizzical look: “Oh yeah? Where have you been eating barbacoa?”

As a chef, I was a little embarrassed by my lack of knowledge. But as someone deeply convinced that food is an extension of identity, who has experienced first-hand the harmful impacts of stereotypes seeping into cultural norms and is now actively working toward changing them, I was horrified at how easily I accepted something completely stripped of cultural context sold to me by a chain.

But such is the world of giant quick-service and fast-casual business: Find interesting, “trendy,” flavorful ideas from any culture, dilute them into their most mass-marketable forms, and reap monetary gain without acknowledging the sources. Although these chains, due to sheer size and reach, are often representing certain dishes or cuisines to large swaths of people — sometimes for the first or only time — they do very little to contextualize the foods they serve. So far, these companies have experienced little pushback and are under no compulsion to change. But as we reckon with the complicated intersection of social and political structures behind food, we have an opportunity to demand a very different future for fast casual.

Barbacoa’s history is a fascinating case study of Caribbean “barbecue” (aka barbacoa) evolving as it moved through Mexico, where lamb or mutton would be wrapped in maguey leaves and steamed underground, and into Texas, where cattle heads were substituted for sheep due to regional availability. It is a laborious process, hence why devotees happily line up for chefs they believe can work magic in the meat, like Cristina Martinez of Philadelphia’s South Philly Barbacoa.

While the final shredded texture of beef barbacoa may resemble that of Chipotle’s “slow-cooked beef combined with water” — as it’s described by Chipotle’s culinary director, Chad Brauze — it comes nowhere close to representing barbacoa technique. In calling this filling “barbacoa,” a sharp contrast to its straightforward “chicken” and “steak,” Chipotle has found an easy way to add a marketable tinge of foreignness to its menu to back up its cred as a “Mexican” grill.

This is not to say food can’t, or shouldn’t, evolve. The very core of food culture is adaptation to new environments, new palates, new people, new ingredients — and these exchanges are not always peaceful or mutually beneficial. Barbacoa has changed over time to include beef as a common protein choice, Spam musubi is now a well-loved Hawaiian staple, and so forth — but ignoring history in search of “approachability” only serves to entrench distorted power dynamics that persist to this day.

As barbacoa becomes another “familiar” option on the steam table, we must examine who has the power to force the process of adaptation and assimilation for profit, and who does not. In the case of food, all that PR fluff about bringing people together completely misses — or perhaps purposefully conceals — the truth that with power, the food of another culture can become a mere commodity, a cog in the wheel of capitalism separate and distinct from the people closest to it.

At $4.9 billion in revenue and close to 2,500 locations as of 2018, Chipotle’s influence is undeniable. “One of the best things about Chipotle is our reach ... in many diverse communities throughout the United States and beyond,” Brauze said in an email. Yet when it comes to educating this diverse audience — some of whose view of “Mexican” food has been shaped specifically by Chipotle’s interpretation — he deflects observations of the chain’s responsibility. “We hope that all people will arm themselves with a greater knowledge of where their food comes from, what ingredients are utilized, and how it’s prepared.”

Maybe it is too much to expect a giant company like Chipotle, run by a primarily white C-suite and most famed for an efficient assembly line, to provide an anthropological perspective for each dish. But what is the inflection point of scale and profit where accountability also sets in, whether it feels “fair” or not?

Nomenclature is arguably the most visible — and therefore hotly contested — aspect of food representation. To have the ability to name something is power, and to proliferate that name widely is influence. At Noodles & Company, with 460 locations and a revenue of $458 million in 2018, dishes are titled “Japanese Pan Noodles” or “Spicy Korean Beef Noodles,” harking back to a likely inspiration (yakisoba) or arbitrary ingredient choice (gochujang). It’s easy to assume these are the results of a flippant naming process, but they’re in fact quite deliberate; as the chain’s executive chef, Nick Graff, explains, names are determined after conducting “online screening tests and taste panels where guests can tell us what naming convention best represents their expectations once they have experienced the dish.”

Consumers do not produce these flattened, generic names in a vacuum. It’s a result of centuries of blurring and erasure of geographic, historical, and cultural nuance, socialized into an idea that “other” places are more homogenous and less important. Consistent exposure to governmental and corporate propaganda has reduced vast regions like “Asia,” “Africa,” and “the Middle East” into amorphous descriptors barely varied enough to distinguish, their differences of little regard, and the essence of their cuisine easily distilled into a few fried wonton strips or a pinch of garam masala.

Generic menu names are the result of centuries of erasure of geographic, historical, and cultural nuance.

Within this self-reinforcing cycle, it’s unsurprising to see examples like Wendy’s limited-run “Asian” Cashew Chicken Salad, a riff on “Chinese” chicken salad that conflates China with Asia and disregards its complicated roots in assimilation and cultural adaption. (Wendy’s declined to comment for this story.) Even a trip to the grocery store yields similar findings: Enter Trader Joe’s painfully stereotyped Trader Ming’s line, which sells blurry pan-Asian items like Kung Pao Tempura Cauliflower in a package accentuated by a “Chinese”-ish font. (Recently, Trader Joe’s vowed to rebrand its “ethnic” lines, but has since reversed course.)

It’s easy to dismiss these collective occurrences as a byproduct of capitalism, to make excuses for the middle managers who aren’t willing to risk their own necks to push back. But food has always been entrenched in Western colonization, imperialism, and enslavement, and it continues to shape (and change) public opinion. The way we allow these national and international chains to treat a food culture implicitly shows the respect (or lack thereof) we have for the people represented by these cuisines — and it is with this backing that appropriative, white-centered food narratives can take place.

For instance, Google searches for “Nashville hot chicken” jumped from an interest index of 4 to 100 after KFC released its version in January 2016, with the New Yorker calling it a “viral sensation.” Yet no part of KFC’s marketing includes a mention of Prince’s, where the dish originated. (KFC declined to comment for this story.) The chasm left by KFC’s silence gives way to a very different, white narrative. Within the year, Food Republic treated the African-American soul of hot chicken as a mere footnote: “Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack may have created hot chicken in the 1930s ... but Hattie B’s has made hot chicken cool,” it said of a newer hot chicken contender in Nashville, after calling Hattie B’s chef “the man who launched the Nashville hot chicken craze.”

This erasure of foodways has further manifested in disasters like “pho gate,” where Bon Appétit anointed a white male chef as the expert on pho, allowing him to bend the narrative of an iconic Vietnamese dish with his own “rules”; Andrew Zimmern’s restaurant Lucky Cricket, where the celebrity chef insulted “horseshit” Chinese restaurants to tout his own “authenticity,” ignoring the foundation laid by early Chinese restaurateurs adjusting to an American palate and subsequent creation of a distinct Chinese-American cuisine; and Kooks, the Portland, Oregon, burrito cart whose two young female entrepreneurs proudly admitted to snooping their way into the intellectual property of “tortilla ladies” in Puerto Nuevo, Mexico, in order to profit off of their techniques back home.

These are far from the only times Black culture has been co-opted or immigrants’ contributions dismissed. But the stakes are now higher than ever. Stripping food from its undoubtedly political history in order to offer a sanitized version digestible by the majority allows for the frightening notion that minorities are separate and distinct from what they offer to the country. It suggests that after “we” as Americans have harnessed what we want from them, those people can be discarded.

Protesters shouted at Kirstjen Nielsen for dining at a Mexican restaurant after escalating the “zero tolerance” immigration policy in 2018, but her actions are eerily consistent with those of her predecessors. In the 19th century, Chinese restaurants were lauded as having some of the best food in the country; in spite of that, anti-Chinese political rhetoric was widespread enough to pass the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act — after Chinese laborers had been hired specifically to construct the most hazardous points of the transcontinental railway — which was not repealed until 1943.

How and when foods and cultures are embraced by a historically white-dominant America has had hefty implications. Without racial, socioeconomic, and political power, without the right “image,” ideas command little value — at most they are trendy, at worst “indecent” or even “criminal” if embraced by the minority. But demographics are changing: According to the Brookings Institute, at 45 percent minority, millennials are the most diverse adult generation in U.S. history (Gen Z will be even more so), and this presents an opportunity to push back on problematic nomenclature and representation.

If the actions of these big companies have demonstrated anything, it is that there is power in numbers. It is up to our generation to scrutinize these brands, whose reach permeates our lives on the daily, whose executives (inaccurately) treat America as though they are as white as they are, whose menus and messaging influence the next wave of restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs. One start would be for Chipotle to consider an accurate rebranding of its barbacoa to “shredded beef.”

To light the way, a new wave of fast casuals is actively changing the status quo. For these restaurateurs, the first step has been to hold their own menus accountable.

“A big issue we faced as operators [of a healthy Indian concept] was finding a way to meet consumers midway with their vision of Indian food and what we wanted to present them with,” explains Viraj Borkar, co-creator and culinary director of Inday, an Ayurvedic-based Indian chain. Now in its fifth year, Inday has learned its own lessons: a smooth chickpea puree originally called “chickpea masala” went through a sequence of name changes so as to not misrepresent it to those unfamiliar. (Now it’s no longer on the menu.) The “cauliflower biryani” was further clarified to give the backstory of biryani while explaining the Inday version as non-traditional, with its base of “cauliflower ‘rice’” now available separately on the menu. Borkar stands by the statement that “it is the fast casual’s job to educate people and give clarity” on what it is offering, which sometimes means the company needs to scrap a product causing more harm than good, and start over.

Lucas Sin, a 2019 Eater Young Gun and the culinary director of Junzi, a Chinese fast-casual chain, emphasizes this notion of education with the prevalent use of Chinese characters throughout his menu. No one dish is titled as if it represents a region, even if the flavor combinations may hail from one, and unfamiliar ingredients are deliberately not renamed so guests must actively learn what they are. Finding a balance between the “60 seconds or so” guests take to assess the menu and the terminology he deems important to promote has not been easy. Furu tofu, for example, a lacto-fermented type of tofu unfamiliar to most American consumers, is used throughout the menu and elicits questions, which Junzi’s staff is trained to answer thoroughly.

“The future of fast casual is not to tell people, ‘This is what you should eat because that’s what’s affordable.’”

“[One of the few terms] we’ve ever made up is our Jaja sauce,” Sin says. Because the Junzi sauce resembles the classic zha jiang sauce in flavor, but doesn’t have the ground pork component, he opted to create a phonetically similar word for it.

It is possible to reset the framework for making and serving foods from other backgrounds, too. Sofia Luna, president of Sophie’s Cuban, a Cuban fast-casual chain, hails from Lima, Peru, but saw that Cuban food was particularly popular among the Latinx community in the Financial District, where her family first started operating food stands. To open the restaurant, they brought on Cuban chef Eduardo Morgado to create the menu (with most items still available today) not just as a consultant or research and development chef, but an active owner of the business.

In particular, Luna has paid attention to the implications of naming: “If something is tweaked or modified, we want to be transparent with our customer. Our ‘Pernil with a Twist’ was named that way to ensure customers knew they were not getting a traditional pernil sandwich.”

Chef JJ Johnson of Field Trip, a rice-centered fast-casual restaurant with two locations in New York City, sees menus as a way to celebrate and expand, not marginalize, consumer perceptions of its roots by providing cultural context. As the menu spans many cuisines, from a loosely Thai-inspired sticky rice shrimp dish with green curry (simply titled “Shrimp”) to a jollof-style basmati rice bowl (“Veggie”), Johnson is adamant that “every culture deserves specificity” and “we don’t call something for a selling point, like ‘The Jamaican Bowl,’ because that’s just lazy.”

“Take jollof, for example,” he explains, “it’s a tomato-based rice, and jollof is about the preparation of the rice. The inspiration of the overall bowl [Veggie] comes from India. It’s somewhat similar to biryani [the bowl uses basmati rice]. We have a map showing people where the rice is from, and we lead with service by explaining the technique behind the rice. So if someone asks for ‘Spanish rice,’ we can say, ‘What kind of Spanish rice?’ and show them how there are styles, and there are regions.” By using straightforward language accented with in-person dialogue, Johnson is demonstrating that no restaurant “has” to lean on tired tropes to express flavor.

And it’s working: All of these fast casuals have seen steady engagement from customers since opening, disproving the idea that consumers exclusively care about convenience. The owners attribute part of this brand loyalty to their larger commitment to raising conscientiousness and increasing community access to new foods and food cultures. “Every community needs some sort of impact structure to improve,” Johnson says. “I opened in Harlem because I was tired of people telling Black and brown folks that we don’t care about what we eat. The future of fast casual is not to tell people, ‘This is what you should eat because that’s what’s affordable,’ it’s where you can understand your food, where someone can talk to you about it, where you want to try new things and expand what you know.”

These varied dishes all contribute to the growing tapestry of American cuisine, a multi-dimensional story of adaptation, innovation, and survival. Increasing a restaurant’s reach or volume does not entitle operators to shirk the responsibility of explaining the very complexities its foods are based on. Instead, we can embrace learning about food as a natural part of the eating process, each meal an opportunity to deepen our understanding of ourselves and each other.

Jenny Dorsey is a professional chef, writer, and the founder of Studio ATAO, a nonprofit community think tank working at the intersection of food, art, and social impact. Bug Robbins is a non-binary queer illustrator obsessed with printmaking, folklore, and green witchcraft. Edited by Rachel Kreiter Fact-checked by Andrea López-Cruzado

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/33wNu2R via Blogger https://ift.tt/3jA38QQ

[aion-rsa]

Stumptown Canceled by ABC, Reversing Season 2 Renewal

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Stumptown Season 2 may have been officially on ABC’s fall schedule, but, in a shocking turn of events, it appears that the network has reneged on its renewal, due to (it’s 2020, so what else could it be?,) coronavirus concerns.

ABC has retroactively canceled freshman crime series Stumptown months after its May renewal for a second season. The news, which arrives via Deadline, proves that the show’s Season 2 prospects were short-lived, thanks to the pandemic, which delayed the Portland-set show’s start in its production home of Los Angeles. Consequently, with the aforementioned renewal having hinged on the now-impossible notion of the series being ready to air in the fall to help kick off ABC’s 2020-2021 season, COVID-caused circumstances have ended its ABC run altogether. However, the subsidiary studio behind the show, ABC Signature, will shop the series around, meaning that Stumptown Season 2 could eventually manifest on another network or even a streaming platform.

An adaptation of the indie comic title of the same name written and co-created by Greg Rucka, Stumptown stars Cobie Smulders as Dex Parios, a former military interrogator who is making a career transition as a private detective in the crunchy eccentricity of Portland. Dex’s perpetually-full plate consists of caring for special needs younger brother Ansel (Cole Sibus), a love triangle with local bar owner Grey McConnell (Jake Johnson) and police detective Miles Hoffman (Michael Ealy), the latter’s skeptical boss, Lieutenant Cosgrove (Camryn Manheim), gambling debts and a love/hate relationship with a local tribal casino owner Sue Lynn Blackbird (Tantoo Cardinal), who happens to be her deceased boyfriend’s mother. Yet the unassuming Dex’s disorganized demeanor hides a sharpness and tenacity that tends to yield results in her newfound trade.

Stumptown premiered on ABC on September 25, 2019 to a Nielsen average of 4.61 million viewers, kicking off an 18-episode inaugural season that stretched into March 25, 2020, and yielded a season average of 2.843 million viewers. Yet, while it was hardly a ratings juggernaut, it was generally well-received by audiences. The series, created by comic author Greg Rucka, was operating under showrunner and executive-producer Jason Richman, who was eventually joined by a promoted co-showrunner in Matt Olmstead. However, even before the nixing of the Season 2 renewal, the series was in the midst of a behind-the-scenes shakeup, which led to July’s addition of Monica Owusu-Breen, creator of NBC’s 2017-2018 mystery series, Midnight, Texas, as an executive producer, amongst an EP gaggle that also consists of Ruben Fleischer and David Bernad.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Regardless, while Stumptown’s days on ABC appear to be finished, the producers now face the task of selling the series to someone else; a goal that’s attainable, but difficult, given the health crisis circumstances and the fact that the show is known to be a rather expensive production.

The post Stumptown Canceled by ABC, Reversing Season 2 Renewal appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[xtruss]

Trump said he intends to declare antifa as a terrorist organization. Here's what we know about the decades-old, leaderless group.

The leaderless, non-hierarchial organization has existed for decades but has grown to greater prominence since Trump's election in 2016 and after the violent 2017 white supremacist rally and its counterprotests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

— By Michelle Mark and Connor Perrett | June 2, 2020 | Businesses Insider

Hundreds of protesters gather at Government Center including a protester with an antifa flag draped over his shoulders during a rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in Boston on May 31, 2020. Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

President Donald Trump and other Republicans have blamed antifa, which stands for anti-fascist, for ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd.

The president said amid the protests that he intends to declare antifa as a terrorist organization.

The leaderless, non-hierarchial organization has existed for decades but has grown to greater prominence since Trump's election in 2016 and after the violent 2017 white supremacist rally and its counterprotests in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The group has represented a boogeyman of sorts for Trump, who previously threatened to classify the group as a terrorist organization in July 2019 after a clash between members of antifa and far-right group the Proud Boys.

Members of the group are known for clashing with members of the far-right and decrying white supremacy, though the group has drawn criticism in the past for its willingness to use violence.

President Donald Trump on Sunday announced plans to designate a left-wing group known as antifa as a "terrorist organization," blaming the group and other unidentified "radical left-wing" organizations for ongoing civil unrest following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd.

Floyd, a black man, died while in police custody on May 25. Video of the incident showed that a white police officer held his knee to Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes, even after Floyd lost consciousness. That officer, Derek Chauvin, was fired and charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Three other Minneapolis police officers present have been fired but have not been charged with a crime.

Floyd's death has sparked protest — many peaceful but some violent — in Minneapolis and other major cities throughout the US, including New York, DC, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Atlanta. Over the past week, some protests have resulted in the looting of business, destruction of property, and death.

"I am your president of law and order and an ally of all peaceful protesters, but in recent days our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, looters, criminals, rioters, antifa, and others," Trump said at a June 1 press briefing.

Other Republican leaders joined Trump in claiming that protests are the result of antifa, a leaderless, non-hierarchial organization that has existed for decades.

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton called ongoing protests the work of "antifa terrorists" in a June 1 tweet, echoing the president's rhetoric. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz similarly equated antifa with terrorists and said the members should be "hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East."

The group has represented a boogeyman of sorts for Trump, who in July 2019 similarly threatened to classify the group as a terrorist organization after a clash between members of antifa and far-right group the Proud Boys in Portland led to the assault of a conservative journalist.

While the group has existed for decades, its name seems to have entered mainstream vernacular after a white supremacist rally and counterprotests clashed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Trump was most likely referring to antifa activists when he blamed "many sides" for the violence in his initial statement on the Charlottesville violence. At a press conference later that week, Trump criticized what he called the "alt-left" for "charging with clubs."

In and around Portland, Oregon, activists with the organization smashed windows and hurled smoke bombs during a series of riots following Trump's election. In August last year, 13 people were arrested in a clash between members of antifa and far-right groups.

It's not exactly clear how many demonstrators at ongoing protests are members of antifa.

"The radical left is much bigger than antifa, much, much bigger, and the number of people who are participating in the property destruction are much, much bigger than the radical left," Mark Bray, a historian at Rutgers University who authored "Antifa: The Anti-Facist Handbook," told the Associated Press.

Here's what you need to know about the activist movement:

What is antifa?

A counterprotester with an antifa sign outside the Boston Commons and the Boston Free Speech Rally in Boston in 2017. Reuters/Stephanie Keith

Antifa, short for "anti-fascist," describes a decentralized, leaderless movement dedicated to combatting right-wing authoritarianism and white supremacy. It has existed for decades but gained prominence after the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, and has continued to be associated with clashes and protests since.

Its members include a mixture of anarchists, socialists, communists, and other far-left activists. It's unclear how many people count themselves as members, but local, autonomous chapters or cells exist in major cities across the US, in many cases accompanied by sizable online followings.

The movement's adherents reject the notion that white supremacy can be quashed by any government apparatus and believe it instead must be eradicated through direct action.

Bray said the group lacks hierarchical structure or universal set of tactics that would make it recognizable. Its members often to espouse revolutionary and anti-authoritarian views, he said.

Sometimes their action consists of traditional community-organizing efforts like peacefully protesting or fundraising. In other cases, Antifa activists have staged doxxing campaigns to expose suspected white supremacists to their employer or landlord and have sometimes used violence to clash with those they view as fascist.

Antifa activists believe that legislative efforts or action from law enforcement are not only insufficient in expunging racist or fascist viewpoints but perpetuate them.

These beliefs were put on full display during the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally, when counterprotesters complained that the police had neglected to protect them from violence. It was antifa, instead, that had physically defended vulnerable counterprotesters and prevented further bloodshed, they argue.

"The police didn't do anything in terms of protecting the people of the community, the clergy," Cornel West, a prominent academic and activist, told The Washington Post. "If it hadn't been for the anti-fascists protecting us from the neo-fascists, we would have been crushed like cockroaches."

The origins of antifa lie in subcultures that emerged to counter fascism in the 1900s.

Antifa protesters at a rally on June 4 in Portland, Oregon. Getty Images/Natalie Behring

Antifa's origins are sometimes attributed to European movements in the 1930s against Nazis in Germany and Blackshirts in Italy, though a more direct and contemporary ancestor of the movement would be the far-left activists who opposed British neo-Nazis in the 1970s and 1980s during the height of the punk-rock subculture's popularity.

In the US and Canada, the Anti-Racist Action Network sprang up around the same time in the 1980s in a similarly loose and decentralized state that Antifa exists in today.

America's oldest antifa group that still operates is Rose City Antifa, which formed in 2007 in Portland, Oregon, according to Bray.

Bray previously wrote in The Washington Post that these early Antifa adherents typically faced outright animosity from the mainstream left for their attention to what was then seen as fringe, racist groups instead of tackling "more large-scale, systemic injustices."

"Years before the alt-right even had a name, antifascists were spending thankless hours scouring seedy message boards and researching clandestine neo-Nazi gatherings," Bray wrote. "They were tracking those who planted the seeds of the death that we all witnessed in Charlottesville."

'You need violence in order to protect nonviolence': Antifa, in its members' own words

Anti-fascist counterprotesters outside Emancipation Park on August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla

Antifa members don't hesitate to describe their movement as one that uses any means necessary to oppose fascism.

A 2017 manual for organizing local antifa groups published on It's Going Down, an Antifa-supporting journal, advises prospective members to stay anonymous, track and document "white nationalist, Far Right, and fascist activity," and organize demonstrations to counter events held by white nationalists or members of the so-called alt-right.

The manual warns against accepting "people who just want to fight," adding that "physically confronting and defending against fascists is a necessary part of anti-fascist work, but is not the only or even necessarily the most important part."

"No, I did not behave peacefully when I saw a thousand Nazis occupy a sizable American city," one activist wrote in a letter published on It's Going Down. "I fought them with the most persuasive instruments at hand, the way both my grandfathers did. I was maced, punched, kicked, and beaten with sticks, but I gave as good as I got, and usually better. Donald Trump says that 'there was violence on both sides.' Of course there was."

The necessity of violence in the face of what they perceive as a growing fascist threat is a sentiment expressed by many antifa adherents, who emphasize that white nationalists often cannot be reasoned with or otherwise opposed.

"You need violence in order to protect nonviolence," Emily Rose Nauert, an antifa member best known for being punched in the face by a white nationalist during a clash at Berkeley in April 2017, told The New York Times. "That's what's very obviously necessary right now. It's full-on war, basically."

Antifa's critics on the right have pushed back on the group's use of force

President Donald Trump makes a statement to the press in the Rose Garden about restoring "law and order" on June 1, 2020 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Right-wing critics of antifa have long expressed concerns about the chilling effect the group has on their First Amendment rights. Conservatives have also decried the groups sometimes violent and confrontational tactics.

Conservatives have long complained of censorship and infringement on their freedom of speech — particularly on college campuses, where predominantly left-wing student bodies and faculties have often succeeded at shutting or shouting down controversial right-wing speakers and events.

Among the most prominent of such instances was Berkeley's cancellation of Ann Coulter's campus speech in 2017 out of fear that far-left activists and antifa members would respond with violence. The American Civil Liberties Union denounced the cancellation as a "heckler's veto," a legal term in which the government suppresses speech out of fear it will prompt a violent reaction.

In 2019, clashes between antifa members and far-right groups turned violent, leading to 13 arrests in August. In July, conservatives targeted the group after right-wing blogger Andy Ngo said he had been attacked by antifa members.

The GOP's yearslong calls for antifa to be labeled a terrorist organization have been amplified amid the ongoing protests surround Floyd's death and police brutality.

In statements about protests over Floyd's death , Attorney General William Barr described "antifa-like tactics" by out-of-state agitators and said antifa was instigating violence and engaging in "domestic terrorism."

The right-wing media has also fixated on the antifa movement, portraying it as an example of violence inherent in left-wing ideology. Fox News' Jesse Watters even attempted to confront a purported antifa member on the air — a stint that backfired when it emerged that the purported antifa member was really an 18-year-old YouTuber apparently pulling a prank.

Trump and his supporters have reacted to antifa violence with zeal, drawing parallels between the movement and the neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members who antifa oppose.

Trump was possibly referring to antifa when he gave his now-infamous press conference at Trump Tower, during which he slammed what he called the alt-left — a term created by white nationalists that no actual left-wing group self-identifies under — as being equally to blame for violence in Charlottesville.

"What about the 'alt-left' that came charging at the, as you say, the 'alt-right'?" Trump said in 2017. "You had, you had a group on one side that was bad. And you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I'll say it right now."

The movement has sparked criticism, amusement, and discussion among the left.

A counterdemonstrator using a lighted spray can against a white nationalist demonstrator at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. Associated Press/Steve Helber

Liberals have generally been slow to acknowledge antifa. While some have lamented the violence at recent protests, others have reacted with amusement at certain antifa antics.

"Their presence at a protest is intended to intimidate and dissuade racists, but the use of violent measures by some antifa against their adversaries can create a vicious, self-defeating cycle of attacks, counter-attacks and blame," the Anti-Defamation League said of antifa. "This is why most established civil rights organizations criticize antifa tactics as dangerous and counterproductive."

One of the most-witnessed instances of antifa violence came on Trump's January 2017 Inauguration Day, when an activist punched avowed white nationalist Richard Spencer in the face as he was giving an interview. A video clip of the encounter immediately went viral, to the cheers of prominent mainstream liberals.

The incident and its viral response prompted a debate over whether it's moral to "punch a Nazi" and whether broad acceptance of that behavior could increase ambiguity over which people can be accurately described as Nazis and who has the right to decide.

"No, it's not OK to punch a Nazi," Brian Levin, the directer of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino, told CNN. "If white nationalists are sophisticated at anything, it's the ability to try to grasp some kind of moral high ground when they have no other opportunity, and that's provided when they appear to be violently victimized."

Levin continued: "That's the only moral thread that they can hang their hats on. And we're stupid if we give them that opportunity."

[acehotel]

Interview: Justin Strauss with Nancy Whang and Nick Millhiser

DFA Records set the stage for a new kind of incendiary punk-dance music in New York over a decade and a half ago, releasing records from artists that were smart, DJ-driven and simultaneously referential and avant-garde. Two of these artists, LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang and Holy Ghost!’s Nick Millhiser, have become icons for dance music with teeth, shifting the perception of the genre to encompass a delightful brand of irreverence. They make dance music to levitate to. 

The two have become a pair, doing traditional couple things like finishing each others’ sentences — except the sentences are about playing a sold out show at Madison Square Garden and the complications of dating a touring musician when you yourself are a touring musician. For this edition of Just/Talk, Nancy and Nick talk with legendary DJ and longtime Ace friend Justin Strauss about the highs and lows of the Internet, City Hall weddings and the fight against boring music.  

Justin Strauss: Nancy and Nick, you’re the first couple I’ve interviewed.

Nick Millhiser: Oh, really? We’ve been duped.

JS: How did you guys meet? How does this story start?

Nick: We’ve had to tell this story many times this week.

Nancy Whang: It’s true. We were at a wedding and there were a lot of questions about our origin story…

Nick: …and when we would get married.

Nancy: Well, we met at Plantain Studios which was James Murphy and Tim Goldsworthy’s recording studio, the DFA recording studio.

Nick: Still technically James’ for the moment.

JS: It’s still in there?

Nick: It’s still in there, yeah. I mean it could go at any minute, he’s renting it from the new owner of the building.

Nancy: This was 2000?

Nick: No, 2002…

JS:15 years, that’s a long time.

Nick: Yes!

Nancy: Right, it was 2002. Nick’s band in high school got signed to a major label.

Nick: It was called Automato.

JS: Oh yes. I have your record.

Nick: Oh, you’re the guy. You’re the guy who has our record.

JS: And Andrew Raposo, bass player in Midnight Magic and previously Hercules and Love Affair, was in that. I remember bought it at Virgin Megastore.

Nancy: Oh, wow.

Nick: I worked at the HMV record store on 42nd.

Nancy: Yeah, but that was at the ascendance of DFA.

JS: And Nancy, what were you doing at that time?

Nancy: I was just hanging out.

JS: Were you in the band yet, working with The Juan MacLean?

Nancy: We had done The Juan MacLean stuff. I think that was it.

Nick: That was the first one, “You can’t have it both ways.”

Nancy: I had recorded vocals for The Juan MacLean, and I think LCD. The first LCD 12” was out by then.

Nick: No it wasn’t. I remember…

Nancy: It wasn’t?

JS: Just LCD’s “Losing My Edge,” right?

Nancy: Yeah, and “Beat Connection” on the b-side.

Nick: I was living in Bushwick at the time and James was dating a girl who lived in Williamsburg — he would drive me home some nights — I remember one night he came downstairs and he was like, “look what I got, this is a thing I made.” I remember he said “you’re probably not gonna like it.”

JS: So this is a really exciting time in New York with DFA Records starting to come out and make some noise. For me, dance music had stagnated, and after DJing and making records for sometime, I was bored to tears with what was happening. I started getting very excited again because of things like DFA, Output Records and Relish Records, the Gomma label, and all these cool new labels, artists and producers.

Nick: Does Relish Records still exist?

JS: It does, very much so. Robi Headman’s label is putting out some great new stuff. So how did you meet James Murphy?

Nancy: I met James randomly at a party, we had a mutual friend who introduced us and then we just became fast friends.

JS: You were doing music on your own?

Nancy: No, nothing.

JS: What were you doing?

Nancy: I was working for an artist when I first met James. I was working for this artist who published Index Magazine and we met at an Index party. After that I was just doing various art worldly jobs. The office where I worked was like a block away from Plantain so I’d just always be there hanging out. And that was before the label really began.

JS: There was the Plant Bar scene happening then too. A lot of the DFA crew was hanging and working there.

Nancy: The office where the recording studio was was just this hangout, nobody was really doing any work or anything.

Nick: It was a very cool building. It felt very much (and I really don’t mean this in a bad way) like people were almost pretending to have real jobs in hopes that they would turn into real jobs. People would come in at noon because we have a record label. There wasn’t much to do, there was a lot of playing video games.

Nancy: It was very “behavioral psychology.”

JS: The Rapture was the first record released on DFA?

Nick: Rapture was the first, and that definitely wasn’t out yet because I remember them giving us CDs the first time we met with James and Tim. They gave us CDs that had rough mixes of stuff on it and I still have it somewhere, it’s a different version of “House of Jealous Lovers.”

JS: And you knew James because he produced the Automato stuff?

Nick: We met them through that. They hadn’t really done anything yet and we met them after we had signed to Capitol Records when we were 18 in 2000. We basically spent a year plus trying to find producers to work with and we had a really hard time. Honestly I remember meeting them and it’s not like we were blown away by them; in some ways we were way more impressed with Tim because Tim had done all the Mo Wax Records stuff and I was, in particular, a huge Mo Wax fan. The only record I knew that James had worked on at the time was a June of 44 record — weird New York indie rock stuff. And I remember very clearly the day after we met with him and we thought he seemed pretty cool. Alex was like, “well Tim seems cool. James just seems like a kid with a lot of toys. I don’t know what he does.” And then the first day working with him it became very clear that James is maybe the best engineer, also a great producer, but James has very clear talents.

But I don’t think anything was really out. I remember stuff coming out as we were making the record and seeing things happen for them very quickly. The reaction to that stuff was pretty immediate.

JS: You two met around this time at the label? And you met Juan MacLean through James?

Nancy: Yes, because I was just around all the time. Juan was working on this track and he wanted someone to do vocals, he wanted a female vocal, and James was like, “well I have a friend who has a female voice.”

JS: He hadn’t heard you sing at all?

Nancy: No.

JS: Just figured you could…

Nick: — and the defining voice of electro clash was born.

JS: Did you write the lyrics for that first single you did with Juan?

Nancy: No I didn’t. James wrote those lyrics. 

JS: And once the record was out did you guys start playing live?

Nancy: No, it just came out and I don’t think Juan had considered playing live for a while.

Nick: See, this was all happening around the same time. The Rapture’s “House of Jealous Lovers” was March 2002. We started making the Automato record in April 2002. Don’t ask me how I remember that. And I think at the DFA party at Warsaw Juan played one song. I think was just before we went into the studio. I have some recollection of going to that party and seeing James and Tim and being like “alright we’re going to start work next week.”

JS: And how long after you met did you guys become a couple?

Nancy: Seven years. Eight years.

Nick: A long time. We met then, but we really didn’t even hang out until much later.

Nancy: No, he was just a kid, fresh out of high school, still in his short pants.

Nick: I was a young man. We were the babies. I couldn’t legally drink when I met those guys.

Nancy: I like to say that we met when he was still a teenager, which technically is not true, I don’t think.

Nick: I think I was 20.

Nancy: But he had only just turned 20. And I was…

Nick: …older than that.

Nancy: Older than that. 

JS: And you grew up in New York?

Nick: Yeah, everybody in the band that I was in grew up together.

JS: In Brooklyn?

Nick: No, Upper Westside Manhattan.

JS: And where did you grow up?

Nancy: Portland, Oregon.

JS: And when did you come to the New York ?

Nancy: 1995.

JS: And what brought you here then?

Nancy: To go to school. I went to NYU.

JS: What were you studying?

Nancy: Visual art. I had some notion of becoming a painter.

JS: Do you still do that?

Nancy: No I don’t. I haven’t done it in a long time. Those aspirations quickly dissolved as soon as I got out of school because it was just heartbreak. The New York art world is brutal. I just don’t have the personality for it. 

JS: When DFA was in its early stages did you feel like something special and new was happening?

Nancy: It was for me. It did feel like something. But it was less like “we’re in a watershed moment,” and more a sense of self importance, that this is cool. What we’re doing is cool.

JS: What music did you listen to growing up?

Nancy: I grew up listening to punk and indie rock, just garage rock and stuff like that. So James and I had very similar musical backgrounds as far as what we listened to. And then we both had the same sort of fatigue about indie rock and how boring and joyless it was.

JS: And how about for you Nick?

Nick: I think there was a similar feeling. I’m a child of the 90s — I was born in the 80s, but my musical taste as a kid were for the most part, until the end of high school, very much just the music of the time.

JS: MTV?

Nick: MTV, Nas, Biggie. But what was happening in New York at the time was a lot of great underground hip hop, and that was very exciting for a moment, and then it got very boring right around the time that James et al were getting bored with indie rock. I very clearly remember meeting those guys and the way they ran the label, the way that they were just making music — the aesthetic of the music they were making seemed inherently more joyful and lighthearted. I remember James and Tim always had this thing: it’s important to have girls like the music you make.

If you make music for boys, that’s all who will ever like it. If you make music for girls, guys will also like it because they want to be with girls. And I never thought about it like that. I suddenly became very aware of all those shows in that world of Rawkus Records and Def Jux who were putting out really great music, but it seemed it was just all boys. It was all boys wearing backpacks, holding their backpack straps and, at most, kind of nodding their head.

Nancy: I mean it was the same in indie rock.

Nick: It was the exact same thing. There’s something that felt very cool and fun about going to early DFA parties and thinking, “oh I’m doing everything wrong. I want to do this.” And seeing those guys play was really inspiring, to see people make music that was so immediately gratifying. I remember them playing “House of Jealous Lovers” and James had a white label of “Killing” by the Rapture, which nobody had ever heard before, but every time he played it people went fucking crazy. And there’s something really inspiring about seeing something that was anonymous. It was before people were looking at the DJ or anything, and you could just see if it was good. You put it on, it worked. You had this very immediate visceral answer of good/bad.

JS: Did either one of you have a connection to dance music at this time?

Nancy: I did not at all. Not even a little bit. I remember watching a movie that came out in the 90s about dance music…

Nick: About going to a rave?

Nancy: It was either like Trainspotting or 24 Hour Party People or something like that. But it was more about techno and I remember my friends and I were so baffled…

JS: Baffled, meaning didn’t like it?

Nancy: No, I just didn’t understand it as a “thing.” I understood going out and listening to dance music so that you could dance, but then in this movie there were people who would buy the records, go home and listen to it. It didn’t make any sense to me why someone would listen to it at home. It still kind of doesn’t. But yes, I had no connection to it. I never even really heard of house music until I met James and Tim.

JS: And did they play you stuff and take you to clubs?

Nancy: Yeah, I didn’t understand because of the context of how I was listening. And because when James would DJ he’d play rock records but then he’d also play dance records — it all kind of melded into this one thing.

JS: It started to make sense.

Nancy: Yes, it was like, “okay that was fun.” This is gonna be fun to listen to and to dance to. DFA was sharing an office with Plant Records at the time, which was Marcus (Shit Robot) and Dom Keegan, and Marcus was DJing at Centro Fly every week so we would go there just to hang out with Marcus and drink for free. It was just what we did Saturday nights. But then, eventually, I started recognizing songs and absorbing it more, appreciating it.

JS: How about for you?

Nick: I bought Homework by Daft Punk when it came out. I had some sense of contemporary dance music, but it wasn’t until I was 18 and I moved out of my parents’ house to Cobble Hill, and there was a really great record store by my house called Dom’s. It was tiny, but he had awesome dollar bins. Alex and I would go shopping there, honestly almost every day because I didn’t have anything else to do, looking for samples. At the time every dollar bin’s basically like ELO records, Billy Joel Records and disco records. And as with anything you’re buying, with that mindset of looking for samples, you eventually start to like the stuff you got because of the weird record cover.

But it really wasn’t until — and I remember very clearly Alex and I having developed this very sincere love of it — finding the Loose Joints 12” Is It All Over My Face.

JS: Well that’s a good one.

Nick: I remember meeting James and Tim, the first two days we were in the studio with them, they were like “we’re not going to work, we’re just going to play each other records and talk about what we like about them.” I remember very clearly in the studio they had that first compilation of Larry Levan classics with the black and white photo of him on the cover. It had the Loose Joints track it. He played it to us and Alex and I were both just like “yeah, I know this song. I love it. Is it cool, is that okay to love this song?” I didn’t know because everybody else in the band sort of made fun of us. But Alex and I were getting into finding post-disco, very early hip hop, but still disco stuff. Some of the breaks on those records are awesome.

JS: Enjoy Records, early Sugarhill Records.

Nick: Yeah, I love it. By modern rap standards, it sounded amateurish and fun, but I love it.

JS: That’s how hip hop started, people rapping over disco records and breaks.

Nick: I remember the other guys in the band didn’t get it. There’s always this kind of “wink wink, you guys don’t really like this.” I remember being like “no, of course not.” And yet, if I want to listen to it all the time, it must mean it has a legitimate redeeming quality. James and Tim were the first people I had ever met who listened to that music in that context. Just played that music without a smile on their face. I had a realization that “right, if you like something, that’s just as valid as whether it’s fun or…” The 90s was such a funny time. If it wasn’t super serious and introspective, it wasn’t legitimate. Anything that was just fun was not real music. Everything was a rebellion against the 80s.

JS: There was a time when the 80s wasn’t thought of as cool.

Nick: Yeah I remember that very well.

JS: Now it’s cool, but back then…

Nick: It was the butt of the joke. Everything was just like “sooo 80s.”

JS: When was the change from Automato to Holy Ghost!?

Nick: The six of us had been playing together since we were teenagers and it was just doomed to implode from go. So that band broke up a year after the record came out. At that point Alex and I would write music all together in a room, but there were certain clusters of people who would start things together. Alex and I would always work on stuff together and what we were working on just started to feel dancier and more fun. I think it was even before Automoto played its last show. I started touring with Juan MacLean, filling in as a drummer. I played rough stuff we were working on for Juan, James and Marcus and they were all ready supportive.

JS: And James said “we should do a record?”

Nick: Honestly I think it was Tim first, but James was definitely the one who was the most encouraging at the beginning. There was a point where I was really frustrated with Automoto, I want to say it was New Year’s Eve, and I was venting to him. He was just said, “you should make your own music.” And I said that I didn’t have the equipment to do it and he’s like “well can you play bass?” I was like, yeah, kind of. Kind of a bass player. He was like “oh, do you have a bass?” I was like, no. “Come by the studio, I’ll give you a bass. Do you have a compressor?” I was like, no. He’s like “all right I’ll give you a cheap compressor.” And he gave me a bass and a compressor to do stuff with just drums and bass.

And that was sort of the beginning of Alex and I trying to work on stuff. I did the initial demo for “Hold On,” it was just the drums and the bass and the synth line. I remember playing James a bunch of stuff and James was like, “that one’s really cool.” And it was his ring tone for a while. I remember the rough demo was his ring tone. And he said “you should finish that one.” When we finished it, I remember talking with Tim — it had been done for a while — and Tim matter-of-fact made mention of it coming out. And I was like “what are you talking about?” He’s like “oh, we’re gonna put it out.”

JS: Were they involved in the production or was it just you guys?

Nick: Not until the end. The song was basically finished and then, at the very end when we were basically informed that DFA was going to put it out, Tim was like “if you want it out by this day we should really master it in the next week or two.” At that point James and Tim were sort of already on the outs, but James separately said, “I think you should re-record the vocals.” So we re-recorded the vocals with James, and then James mixed it, but that was all decided and done in a matter of 48 hours.

JS: And Nancy, what’s happening with you around this time?

Nancy: I guess this is around the time that Sound of Silver came out. In 2007 I was in LCD, but was still just a weekend warrior, I still had a job and we were just playing a couple weekends a month, a couple weeks a year. It was like ROTC.

It didn’t take up enough time for it to be something that I could do exclusively, but it took up enough time that I couldn’t hold down a normal job. I started working at this wood shop where we built displays for shop windows or store windows. It was very erratic. We’d be out for a year, and then we’d be home for a year while James worked on a new record or whatever.

JS: Were you involved in the first album?

Nancy: No, the first record James did all by himself. Pat might have played some drums and stuff, but it was really James in the studio alone. Because he started working on it before we even had formed as a band, and then when the second record came around after we had been playing together for like a year, Sound of Silver was a little more collaborative.

I think us playing together on the stage changed his ideas about how to record music. Having other people play at the same time rather than have him play one instrument, record that, and then go back to the next instrument etc, etc. 

JS: More of a band vibe.

Nancy: Yeah.

JS: Did you get involved in writing?

Nancy: No. No one’s ever involved in the writing.

JS: Still, to this day?

Nancy: Yes.

JS: So what’s the process? James presents you guys with a song?

Nancy: James generally has pretty clear ideas of what he wants to record so it’s like, “play this.” And then you play it. And then he takes it and does something to it.

JS: Right. And while this is going on, Holy Ghost! is in the studio making the first record album?

Nick: Yes, it was around the same time. Our first record took a really long time.

JS: And were you recording at DFA studios?

Nick: Some. That record we sort of did everywhere. At some point, we were able to quit our jobs. We were DJing so much, which was awesome, but it’s not like we were making enough money that we could take months off from touring. I remember when Hold On came out we had a Myspace page, and got our first out-of-state DJ gig.

JS: Had you DJ’d? Both of you guys DJj regularly now.

Nick: I had a little bit. I had turntables in high school, like a bedroom DJ. DJ’d a few things here and there; Alex never had. But it was always something I’d wanted, DJing was such a dark art pre-internet, it never occurred to me to pursue it professionally in any way.

JS: No one wanted to be a DJ when I started.

Nick: Right. And again, I think it was meeting James and Tim and that larger circle of people like Tim Sweeney, Trevor Jackson, or Maurice Fulton. All these different people were so interesting. It was a pretty awesome time, you go to see somebody and they were just playing whatever they wanted. That’s pretty great.

JS: And for you Nancy, what was your entree into the DJ world?

Nancy: Basically my first DJ gig was in 2010. It was when This is Happening came out and we were touring that record. I knew that it was going be it for LCD, at least for the foreseeable future, and this is what I do and I don’t have any other skills anymore. I’m gonna have to make a living when this band is done so I better start DJing.

JS: Did James came to you guys and said “It’s over,” or you just knew it?

Nancy: Oh no, he announced it in the press. “This is the last record.” He had said it privately about Sound of Silver, but I was like “that’s not true.” But with This is Happening, we knew that this is the last record. It was the last record while he was making it, and as soon as it came out, we knew that that was it. Our last hurrah.

Nick: And people had been asking you to DJ for years and you had always sort of…

Nancy: Yeah it terrified me. It still does. I’m like, “I have no idea what I’m doing up here.” I remember my first DJ gig was with a friend of mine at Tribeca Grand and we showed up with records and no headphones. I got there like, “how are you supposed to listen to this stuff?”

JS: Did somebody show you how to DJ or you just figured it out?

Nancy: Well, a couple of friends had showed me, “this is what you do with the turntable” and “this is how it works with the mixer,” but it was still beyond me. The first year of DJing was just me playing a record and then playing another song after that song was finished, and playing another song after that one was finished.

JS: And you were also doing shows and records with Juan MacLean at this time.

Nancy: Yes. While James was making This is Happening, I was on tour with Juan. We had just done that record The Future Will Come.

JS: Was that a more collaborative process?

Nancy: Yeah, with me and Juan it’s more of a partnership.

JS: Is that still something that’s on going?

Nancy: Yes, in fact I might record with him tomorrow.

JS: And at this time you guys are a couple?

Nancy: No. This was 2010, beginning of that tour. We played Coachella, we had been to Europe, and then we came back and were going to go on a U.S. tour. We did a run of shows at Terminal 5 before we left and we took Holy Ghost! with us on tour; they also did all the Terminal 5 shows with us. We did that, we went on tour, and then the tour was over, and…

Nick: And we missed each other.

Nancy: And we missed each other. A couple months later we got together. 

JS: DFA is a very incestuous family.

Nancy: Yeah.

JS: There’s a lot of cross pollination with bands, and it’s great.

Nancy: Totally. Andrew Raposo (Hercules and Love Affair’s original bass player) played in LCD for a couple shows because we needed somebody to fill in.

JS: You two both have very busy lives between your bands, your DJing, working on your new house, your dog. I’m impressed with how you manage it.

Nancy: I think it’s actually because we both do the same thing, we understand the life.

Nick: I think there are things about dating a touring musician that’s just inherently difficult. But when you’re in a relationship with somebody else who does that too, a few of those things they understand. They know that you’re going to have to go away and it’s not because you don’t want to be at home.

JS: It’s your job.

Nick: Yes. And when you come home you might be a little fried and might not be able to just jump back into life-as-usual. I see friends who are in a relationship and they fight about touring or it becomes a source of tension in the relationship…that tension isn’t in ours. That being said, it’s still tough because there are times when you’re both busy at the same time. There was one time two years ago when she was away for two weeks, got home the day that I left for two weeks, and the day I got back she left again for two weeks.

JS: So you didn’t see each other for a month or something.

Nick: More. And that sucks, there’s no way around it. I think we make it work better than most people, but it’s not always easy.

JS: Being in a band is like a relationship, and then there is being in a relationship.

Nick: I think that’s the hardest part for people who aren’t musicians or touring musicians to understand. That this something else in your life isn’t more important than you.

Nancy: But sometimes it is.

Nick: But sometimes it is. Or maybe it’s just as important as you.

Nancy: Or today it’s more important than you. Tomorrow you’ll be more important than this, but today this is what’s important.

Nick: It’s a very hard thing to explain to somebody, understandably. It sort of defies the logical brain’s common understanding of what a relationship should be.

Nancy: I always said that the key to dating somebody who’s a musician or an artist or anybody who does something creative, is that you just have to accept that you’re going to be number two, always. If you can be okay with that, then you’re fine. But it takes work regardless, relationships take work.

JS: Yes, just different work.

Nancy: You always have to put in an effort otherwise…

JS: So, you’ve figured it out sort of?

Nick: I don’t know that we’ve figured it out. It’s a work in progress. I think it’s great.

Nancy: That’s the thing, it’s not like you’ve figured it out, not like you’ve solved it and you’re like “okay, cool, we’re good” and you just glide along.

Nick: It certainly comes up.

Nancy: You’re always taking care of it. It requires constant maintenance.

JS: And so Nancy, you’re about to go on a long tour. Were you expecting LCD to get back together at some point?

Nancy: Yes and no. I was expecting it but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

JS: Was there ever a moment where you were thinking about it? Did you know that you wanted to jump back in?

Nancy: I’m still thinking about it. Everyday I reconsider. Is this really what I want to be doing? It’s complicated, but those five years between the last show and us playing again, that was a long five years. It was a long time for me to figure out who I was outside of LCD. I had spent so much time being in LCD and never really gave much thought into what I would do or who I was outside of the band, but all of a sudden I had to face this identity crisis.

JS: You won an award like best DJ in New York City?

Nancy: You know what, that’s just because I was in attendance.

JS: That’s great. Must’ve made you feel good?

Nancy: It was very sweet. 

But just figuring out what to do, DJing, making music. Whatever. Just on my own with other people. It was a very long journey.

Nick: It’s a long five years of forming an identity outside of that band.

JS: And then one day James calls and says “hey let’s get the band back?”

Nancy: Yes.

JS: But the nice thing is, at that point, you have each other too, you were together. And that was cool.

Nancy: Right.

Nick: But having to put in all this work of figuring out what your life would be outside of the band and then all of a sudden — and you missed it — but you could have all your time occupied again. 

Nancy: Yeah.

JS: So did you find you have a lot of free time during those five years and could do some things you weren’t able to do?

Nancy: No, but I did actually, at the end of last year, had amazing free time. I didn’t have anything to do, and I didn’t have to do anything. It was fabulous. But now that free time is going away.

JS: And when you guys got back together and played those first shows at Webster Hall, did it feel like “oh yes, this was the right thing to do?”

Nancy: It was fun. It was really fun. As much time had passed, it felt familiar and like no time had passed. Just back doing this again and it feels good, it’s fun, we like it, and we like each other, and we’re good at it, and we seem to be making other people happy.

JS: When some people were commenting that you guys should not have gotten back together after such a public end, did that affect you?

Nancy: It doesn’t really affect me, I don’t really give a shit. I mean I get it, it seemed like a strategy. But it wasn’t. I mean, I personally thought it was a little too soon, but now we’re here and it’s fine.

JS: How did you feel when you heard that that Nancy was going to go back to her job?

Nick: On one hand, I think I sensed it coming sooner than they did. On the other hand, I was very happy for her, and Pat in particular, because as much as I think the time off was really productive for them, there’s an obvious pride in being a member of that band. There was a certain spring lost from their step when the band went away. 

JS: During the break, Pat formed his own band, Museum Of Love.

Nick: Yeah, which was great. I love that record. 

Nancy was concerned about other things and I was concerned with whether or not she’d be happy. I think having some distance from a band allows you to focus on what you really want from being in the band. What do I need this to be? I think everybody in that band, James included, is better equipped to articulate and actualize what they want this to be. They’re also a bigger band now, so they have the power to manifest this thing.

JS: Can you have imagined that the band would become so big?

Nancy: No. Music was never anything that I aspired to do in any capacity, so everything from the very first thing until now — it’s all just like wow.

JS: When you get on stage in front of many thousands of people at these festivals, are you like “what am I doing here?”

Nancy: Sometimes. I feel very very lucky to be in this, particularly because it’s not something that I worked very hard to achieve. I mean, I worked hard, but it’s not like I was aspiring toward…

Nick: Unlike Al or James or Pat, who always wanted to be in bands.

Nancy: Yeah, since they were kids and picked up instruments, played in bands in their garages, I never did any of that. LCD’s my first band. So I feel very lucky. But I’m not fulfilling any premeditated goals that I had, so I can recognize that everything I do is an achievement. I would be just as satisfied had this thing never happened. Whatever this big show that we did.

Nick: And it was never your dream to play Madison Square Garden in the first place. Had that never happened you wouldn’t have…

Nancy: I wouldn’t have missed it. Having done it now, I’m like “that was amazing,” I’m really glad we did that.

JS: What’s happening with Holy Ghost! right now? Are you working on a new record?

Nick: We’re working on our retirement. We’re going to announce our break up.

JS: And then come back in a few years.

Nick: Yeah, we’re working on a new record very slowly but surely. 

JS: And you two have recorded together here and there?

Nick: Yes.

Nancy: Do I appear on every Holy Ghost! album?

Nick: Not the new one. I don’t think you sang anything on any new stuff. But you’ve been on every other.

JS: And you DJ together?

Nick: Yep, DJ together quite a bit.

JS: Will there ever be a Nancy Whang solo record?

Nancy: That is the question for the ages.

JS: Is that something that you would like to do?

Nancy: I don’t know. On the one hand, yes, now that I’ve sort of grown accustomed to this life of being a musician and having musical aspirations, I like the idea of making my own stuff. But what happens after that is terrifying to me. And I’m not sure I want that.

Nick: That’s certainly terrifying to everybody for what it’s worth.

Nancy: Exactly.

JS: And you guys worked on a record by yourself, just the two of you?

Nick: We’ve talked about it.

Nancy: Family band.

Nick: Family band, we were talking about it this morning. Doris would play a horn in every song. We talked about it, but no more so than half joking. Making weird ambient synth records. Which is basically what we listen to at home.

JS: With so much going on in this country and the world right now, how do you feel about artists speaking their minds on these things? Artists making their feelings known?

Nancy: I do think it’s important. If you have something to say, you should say it. LCD isn’t necessarily a very political band, but there are things that we talk about amongst ourselves and if you have an opportunity, if you have a voice and a platform, then you should use it. Always, but especially now because shit’s gotten so bad. It’s really important to realize that we wouldn’t necessarily be at this place if people had been more engaged before.

JS: What are your feelings on it Nick, as far as Holy Ghost! goes?

Nick: I agree. But it’s not something Alex and I have talked about formally.

JS: He’s been pretty vocal on the internet.

Nick: He has been, but it’s not something that’s come up in the music we make. Is it insensitive to not address it? It’s just the nature of the music we make. It’s just kind of like fun. If it came about organically, Alex wouldn’t censor himself if he felt like he had something to say. But I also think there’s a place for music to be a relief from all that. And right now it’s coming from all sides. I spent a day not watching the news because my sister got married and it felt like I missed the entire war. “Oh you didn’t want the news today?”

Everybody has an obligation to speak out and shouldn’t censor themselves. If I’m most frustrated with anybody, it’s our side politically. Alex and I were talking about this yesterday, why there isn’t somebody on the left to come out and, in strong language, just be like “fuck these people, fuck anybody who is at this rally.” We don’t need to censor ourselves or be inclusive because we’re unequivocally “fuck these people, if you’re on this side you’re on the wrong side of history.” Trump made up this term yesterday, “alt left.” I wish there was an alt left, it doesn’t fucking exist. It’s the first time in my life I really felt a sincere rage on behalf of my family. Both sides have been in this country a really long time, but both my grandfathers fought in the second world war, neither of whom I would say are particularly liberal men, but they fucking fought in this war. If either of them were still alive today to see their commander in chief essentially playing nice with nazis…it’s fucking insane.

JS: How do you feel about how the internet has changed our lives so much?

Nick: Nancy and I are in a really unique position, we’re not on Facebook, we’re relatively…

Nancy: …disconnected.

Nick: It’s weird. In some ways I don’t have any great insights like “it’s made everybody’s lives better” In some ways, I think it’s made people shitty and entitled.

JS: As a DJ and producer, it can be pretty helpful?

Nick: It’s amazing. I don’t think I would have a career if it weren’t for the internet. The avenue for a niche thing to reach people directly didn’t exist when I was in high school. We were talking about it to our friend Jay, saying the first time I ever heard “Liquid Liquid” was on a Grand Royal record sampler that I got at a Beastie Boys show in high school. Then something happened with their reissue of it and I remember trying to find it but I couldn’t find anything about them, I couldn’t find those records anywhere, and it just sort of disappeared from my mind until later when the Mo Wax reissue came out. I missed that aspect of music being mysterious and having to search for things.

JS: Is there anything you guys are listening to now that you’re finding inspiring or just fun?

Nick: Coming back to a lot of music from my peripheral past, listening to a lot of Sonic Youth which was always a band that I really liked but was never my favorite band.

Nancy: Speaking of the 90s, Nick and I watch a lot of MTV classics now, which show a lot of videos from the late 80s early 90s.

Nick: Moderate pop hits.

Nancy: Early rap records, but then also like…

JS: Beastie Boys?

Nancy: There’s some Beastie Boys, but also Pebbles and that kind of dancey R&B that came out of the 80s

Nick: It’s been really fun to be reminded of them. The fact that it made it on MTV made it pretty successful, but somehow history has forgotten, it’s not as celebrated.

Nancy: Pebbles’ “Mercedes Boy.”

Nick: And some weird English stuff too. Post shoe gaze but all very electronic production.

Nancy: We saw this video of this band called Curve, and I’d never heard this song, but it sounded very much like that.

Nick: We were both like “Oh this is from Manchester in 1992.” And they were from Manchester and this song came out 1992.

Nancy: Yeah, just had a very…

Nick: …defined aesthetic.

Nancy: Jesus Jones, EMF kind of sound. 

Nick: Baggy beats. Chorus of guitars.

Nancy: When I started listening to punk and indie, I rejected all that stuff at the time because I thought it was popular corporate music. But it’s good music.

JS: Do you feel a lot of pressure with this new LCD Soundsystem album coming out and how it will be received?

Nancy: Me, no. I feel no pressure. People are going to like it or they’re not going to like it.

JS: Are you really happy with it?

Nancy: I am. It’s weird. It’s different. Not wildly different, but different. It’s dark.

JS: Heavier record for a heavier time.

Nancy: I hope people like it so that we can continue to be a band.

JS: So there will be another one.

Nancy: Probably.

Nick: So not a good time to talk about the Shea Stadium retirement show.

Nancy: Exactly.

JS: Do you think it’s funny that with everything going on in the world that people are up in arms about the cover of your record, people not liking it or upset about it?

Nancy:  This is one of the cons about the internet and what it’s becoming. People just have all kinds of free time to form all kinds of opinions and share all those opinions with everybody.

And again, I would prefer it if people liked stuff that we did and put out, but also “It’s done, sorry.” What am I supposed to do about it? That’s what it is. Take it or leave it.

Nick: One of the things I always admired about LCD is that there was always this sense that the band is never bigger than James. When bands get big there’s always this, “oh it’s out of my hands” and I felt, from an outsider’s perspective, that James really tried to not fall into that way of thinking. This band is only as big as me, no decision gets made without me being close to it. There’s a point where things just grow and they’re sort of out of your control and you kind of have to let them go. The band does become the idea not within your control anymore. That’s true of your band now, you put stuff out there, you put this cover out into the world, and it becomes an article on Newsweek. That’s just the way of the world now.

JS: Are you guys planning to get married?

Nick: We’re for it.

Nancy: We’re for marriage.

Nick: I don’t think we’ll have a wedding.

Nancy: I know we will not have a wedding. I know for a fact.

Nick: We’ve been through enough weddings.

Nancy: This last weekend was a wonderful event, but it drew a line under the fact that we don’t want to have a wedding. I don’t want to participate in that at all.

Nick: There’s been a lot of talk this week, “so what are we gonna do?” Justin, have you been to City Hall for a wedding?

JS: Yes, I was a witness a few times for friends.

Nick: It is really cool.

JS: It’s easy, you stand in front of that little painted sky they have. And then walk over to Chinatown and have a nice lunch.

Nancy: My brother got married at City Hall and we went to Joe’s Shanghai for dinner after they got married.

Nick: There’s something nice about being in this room, everybody’s experiencing the exact same thing, everybody’s in a pretty good mood, it’s nice.

Nancy: It was pointed out a few times that, for being in a government office, the mood was really good. Everyone was really happy, people were excited, people were being nice to each other.

Nick: Everybody’s dressed pretty nice.

JS: People get spiffed up.

Nick: I really like that aspect of it.

JS: Well if you need a witness you know who to call. I’ve got it down now.

Nick: We’ll let you know.

[arplis]

Arplis - News: The year was 1995, and I was watching television

Frasier, to be specific, whose placement in the NBC “Must See TV Tuesday” lineup my family took literally. This was event viewing in the Michelman household, and my tweenage brain soaked it up like a sponge: the fashion, the erudition, the many glasses of sherry. One moment stands out above all else, wherein the audience is given a brief glimpse inside the Crane family refrigerator, which is revealed to be stocked to the brim with glowing blue glass bottles of mineral water imported from the United Kingdom. In the context of the show, this was just another item—like the Macclesfield ties, Joan & David loafers and Frasier’s apartment itself—meant to symbolize wealth and class. I discussed the topic with my mother; she told me that the water on Frasier was very expensive, and that in this family we drank water from the spigot on the fridge door. “Imagine paying money for water,” I remember thinking. Today, I wish we’d bought stock in La Croix. Bottled water of a clear, identifiable origin has long been popular in Europe, where the history of drinking site-specific mineralized water dates back thousands of years. But here in America, mineral water has baggage. I believe I speak for many readers when I describe first encountering mineral water as a totem of yuppie excess vis-à-vis late 20th-century movies and television, obsessed over by the likes of Patrick Bateman (he drinks Ramlösa and Apollinaris) and the aforementioned Frasier Crane (those iconic blue teardrop bottles of Tŷ Nant, from Wales). This identity wholly disconnects mineral water in the U.S. from its curative, egalitarian image abroad. It’s a status symbol, something rich people drink as a class flex: the little bottle of San Pellegrino, same as what they sell at the grocery store across the street, marked up to $12 at a restaurant catering to assholes. Frasier may be relegated to the great rerun loop of history, but today’s outlook for mineral water in America is evolving quickly, and there are merchants for the cause. One of them is a guy out of Fort Lauderdale named Brett Spitalny. With his company, Aqua Maestro, Spitalny has, since 2002, overseen a portfolio of imported bottled water. And that’s all he sells, offering about 30 different fine waters from around the world (including Borsec from Romania, Fiuggi from Italy, and yes, Frasier’s beloved Tŷ Nant), selling to a collection of retail and wholesale clients around the country and providing water education along the way to high-end hotels and restaurants. “What’s coming from the source is what you find in the bottle,” he says. “It’s not adulterated, and it hasn’t been purified or filtered or messed with.” The sentiment might be familiar to anyone who’s set foot in a natural wine bar. Aqua Maestro’s portfolio includes some recognizable brands, including Fiji and Voss, as well as deeply obscure bottles like Iskilde, a highly oxygenated still water from Denmark that “comes out of the ground looking like milk.” “Imagine paying money for water,” I remember thinking. Today, I wish we’d bought stock in La Croix. Ashley Epperson of Salacious Drinks, a Washington D.C.–based distributor and direct seller of mineral waters, looks at the seltzer boom as a pump primer for the U.S. market. “As far as Americans are concerned, we are way behind the times,” she tells me. “If you go to Japan, Europe, Australia, even Canada, they have huge water markets. But we are so used to the idea of free water, or buying purified tap water in a bottle. Most people don’t know what fine water tastes like.” In this way, a brand like Salacious Drinks caters to people who have had their interest piqued by seltzer, and are ready to learn more about the world of fine water. “We love someone saying, ‘Oh, I like La Croix’ because that means when we sit down and do a fine water tasting, they are going to say ‘Ohhhh…’” If mineral water is a beverage primed for growth in the American market, its punky cousin seltzer is surely to thank. The year 2019 was the year seltzer peaked: The stuff is everywhere, filling entire aisles at your local Target and spanning the spectrum of popular culture, from New York Times think pieces to Coachella activations to junk science finger wagging. La Croix in particular has been embraced by the extremely online millennial work force (especially in media), showing up in desk office candids and work fridge tableaus. There’s even a secret Facebook group for devotees of seltzer, profiled by everyone from The Spoon to The Guardian. (I’m a longtime member.) My own avid consumption of La Croix, which is just filtered tap water that’s been force-carbonated and flavored, had become reflexive, habitual, desultory—a drink to drink when I didn’t feel like using my brain, the water equivalent of ordering a Starbucks coffee. By contrast, Borjomi, a Georgian water I credit for thrusting me down this rabbit hole, tastes as if it were beamed in from another consciousness entirely. It is creamy, lush, with just a touch of finessed funk, like a beautiful raw milk cheese, or a piece of foie gras, or a glass of farmhouse saison (minus the hops and malt). I found myself (quelle horreur) skipping past the wine section and forgoing the beer at World Foods—the excellent specialty food and beverage market near where I live in Portland, Oregon—in favor of more Borjomi, and eventually, other delicious waters from around the world: Antipodes of New Zealand, Jermuk of Armenia, Llanllyr Source of Wales, and Essentuki of southern Russia, not far from the border with Georgia. The seltzer boom (and likely impending bust) has opened a door for us to reconsider what mineral water is, and who it should be for. If brands like Polar and La Croix (and yes, even White Claw) have helped unmoor fizzy water from its wealth-and-privilege trappings in America, then I say bully; after all, La Croix is owned by the same company that makes Faygo, the beloved soda of the ’90s horror-rap crew Insane Clown Posse. How bourgeois could it really be? In the pantheon of affordable luxuries, mineral water has few peers—a .75 liter bottle of Borjomi, the utterly delicious, naturally sparkling mineral water of the nation of Georgia, costs somewhere between $1.99 and $3.99, depending on where you’re purchasing. Turns out this was just scratching the surface. The well for water appreciation runs deep, and all aqueducts lead to the work of the world’s leading authorities on mineral water: Martin Riese and Michael Mascha, who together run Los Angeles’ Fine Water Academy, bestowers of the official Water Sommelier Certification. Germany native Riese first gained fame in this country for his work with the Patina Restaurant Group, whose properties across the United States include multiple operations at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and in New York’s Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Riese’s water menu for Patina is the stuff of legend, helping land him everywhere from The New York Times to Conan. “People started to come to [LACMA] just for the water menu and try the different waters and taste the differences between them,” Riese tells me. “I was a little surprised and almost scared.” Mascha, meanwhile, runs FineWaters.com, an international clearinghouse for water information and advocacy, and a compendium of bottled water brands large and small. A former professor at USC, Mascha came to water as an alternative to alcohol following a serious health diagnosis. “My cardiologist told me I could live, or drink alcohol, but not both,” he says. “Naturally, I made the decision to stop drinking, but by removing one bottle from the table I began to focus on another.” If mineral water is a beverage primed for growth in the American market, its punky cousin seltzer is surely to thank. Key to the duo’s methodology is understanding the differences among individual water sites. Not unlike wine, tea or coffee, water is a product of its place of harvest—in this case, different sites around the world through which rainwater is naturally filtered. Each mountain range and hillside has its own geological calling card, with a noticeable impact on a given water’s flavor and mouthfeel. Different waters vary in chemical composition, which is why the water bottled as Lurisia (from the Italian Alps) tastes vastly different from the water bottled as Borsec (from the Carpathian Mountains of Romania). Riese and Mascha discuss this in terms of total dissolved solids, or TDS, a phrase well-known by espresso geeks—low-TDS waters have an almost drying effect, while high-TDS waters taste rich and smooth, even sometimes a touch swampy (in a good way). On his website FineWaters, Mascha categorizes a range of mineral waters from “super low” (0-50 mg/L) to “very high” (1500+ mg/L). By this categorization, the 2,210 milligramsTDS on my beloved Borjomi is incredibly high—more than four times higher than Perrier, for example. It makes sense that this would be the water that hooked me. In specialty coffee, a topic I’ve written about extensively, it’s common for new acolytes to have a “light switch moment” with coffees that explore wild expanses of the flavor spectrum: Think wild-fermented and genetically diverse “natural-processed” coffees from Ethiopia, or highly prized and rightly expensive Gesha variety coffees from Panama. Same thing in wine, where young drinkers have gravitated in droves to the electric Technicolor “natural” wines of boundary-pushing makers like Anders Frederik Steen, Furlani and Cornelissen. These experiences fall on the extreme end of the product spectrum, and that’s why they hook new drinkers: The journey to “aha!” upends the preconceived notion of what coffee or wine should be, redrawing its culinary and cultural application. Same with Borjomi, an extremely mineralized water that led me to explore a world of flavor experiences—some more subtle, some even more extreme (say hey, Essentuki #4). “We’re seeing a wave of adoption where people realize that water is not just water,” says Mascha. “They get hooked for whatever reason, and then they realize that water has terroir, it comes from a place, it has flavor, and it can be integrated into epicurean ways like wine.” Ladies and gentlemen, it me. I was first suckered in by flavored filtered tap (La Croix), then had my mind blown by the outer edges of the mineral spectrum (Borjomi). It’s roughly the trajectory a wine drinker undertakes, from nipped high school Boone’s Farm to Jura savagnin sous voile, with a land of exploration and subtlety to discover in between. (Burgundy, if you’re paying.) Riese and Mascha advocate seeking out different styles and weights of water for different meal pairings and experiences: Cantonese suckling pork with Cana Royal water from Slovenia, or smoked fish roe with a low-TDS Swedish glacier water, which Mascha describes as tasting “like you’re in the middle of nature, and it’s raining and you open your mouth.” And in our conversations, each encouraged me to explore offerings across the minerality scale, like the soft, low-TDS waters of Svalbardi, Lofoten and Lurisia, or the complex, naturally sparkling waters of Vichy Catalan, Pedras and Ecuador’s Guitig. Unlike so much of today’s zen koan cacophony of wellness trend buzz, mineral water is certifiably good for you, something czars and soldiers and doctors in Europe have known for centuries (to say nothing of the older regulars at the 127-year-old Russian & Turkish Baths in New York’s East Village, swigging huge plastic bottles of Narzan). Mineral water is culinary, yes, but it’s also elemental in a profoundly satisfying way—an organism consuming the most delicious and interesting version of something it needs to live. “Like with wine, like with coffee, it’s not about finding what’s best,” says Mascha. These days he’s expanding the role of water to its place beyond the glass, working with cocktail bars to develop custom ice and chocolatiers seeking the perfect water to blend into chocolate bars. This feels like a natural expansion of the implied conclusion, which is that by re-evaluating the identity and flavor and history of the water we drink, we can then extend this new consideration into water’s role in the wild beer we drink, the cocktail ice we stir and shake with, the sip of water we take to realign our palates between the bites and bottles of everything else we love. “These waters come from a real place, from a real source with a cultural identity attached,” says Mascha. “They mean something.” The post Seltzer Is Over. Mineral Water Is Forever. appeared first on PUNCH. #LaCroix #MineralWater

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