Community: Journey to the Center of the Hawkthorne
Community was out-of-control-bananas last night. So good.
Cindy Sherman, Untitled #479, 1975
Shameless link-bait perhaps, this list is still awesome: #7 Sabotage; #6 Supersonic; #4 Paranoid Android; #2 Smells like Teen Spirit; #1 Common People.
Well done, Brooklyn.
Via Gothamist. Photo via Entree Lifestyle.
The Decision
Following up my search for a new baseball team to root for, here is an unedited transcript from a private broadcast in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
Thank you very much. Everybody is on pins and needles across the country, particularly those teams who are in the running for Paul’s fandom.
Are you ready to go Paul? Where is the powder?
Left it at home.
What’s new? What’s been going on with you this spring?
Man, this whole experience of looking for a team, looking forward to it.
What have you thought about this process?
This process has been everything I’ve thought and more. And that’s what I did here, I put myself in a position to have this process where I can hear my friends’ pitches and figure out what was the best possible chance for me to ultimately see some winning baseball and to ultimately be happy.
You weren’t able to be recruited because you went straight from high school to Boston and rooting for the Red Sox. Have you enjoyed this recruiting process now?
I have enjoyed it. And I want to thank all my friends that I had an opportunity to email with and hear what they had to say. It’s been an unbelievable experience, a real humbling experience to be even to be in this position.
What did you expect? Because we’ve seen 30 foot billboards. We’ve seen long emails, Facebook posts, and Google documents. President Obama, for crying out loud, seven times has commented that he’d like to see you root for the Chicago White Sox. What did you expect from this process?
Well, certain things like that is one thing you can’t control. But I expected to be able to go through this process and be able to sit down with my friends and sit across from other friends and hear how they feel with me rooting for their team.
And the process was everything I expected and more. And like I said before, I just thank all those friends that have emailed with me and have that process. It was everything that I’ve ever expected and more.
How many people know your decision right now?
Not many. It’s a very, very small number. And I probably could count them on my fingers.
One hand or two hands?
Let’s say one.
When did you decide?
I think I decided yesterday when I bought the baseball cap last night. I mean, I decided yesterday I went day to day. I wake up one morning, it’s this team. I wake up another morning, it’s this team. And it’s a process that I felt it was I may feel like this is the best opportunity for me or not the best opportunity for me. But yesterday morning I woke up, had a great conversation with Niki. Once I had that conversation with her, I think I was set.
So the last time you changed your mind was yesterday?
The last time I changed my mind was probably in my dreams. And when I woke up this morning I knew it was the right decision.
So does the team that you’re going to, that you’ll announce in a few minutes, do they know your decision?
They’re about to find out.
They’re about to find out?
Yeah.
So the other 11, on pins and needles, they don’t know; they’ll be listening to this?
Right.
Who in this process, Paul, have you taken advice from and who has had the biggest influence?
I’ve taken a lot of advice from my friends and family. My buddy Matt has been great. A lot of people that I look towards in a time of need or for advice, and ultimately they looked at me and said you ultimately have to live with your decision that you’re going to make, and you have to do what’s best for you, for your family and for you to ultimately be happy.
What was the major factor, the major reason in your decision?
I think the major factor and the major reason in my decision was the best opportunity for me to see some winning now and some winning into the future also.
And winning is a huge thing for me. Jim, you know ever since I was in college or even in high school, we always talked, that was the number one thing for me: Help the team that I root for get better and just wanting to see them win. And I’ve done some great things in my years of rooting, and I want to continue to do that.
How deep of an evaluation do you have to do to go through that to figure out tomorrow, next year and beyond, that equation, that winning?
One thing that you can’t control is you never know. You never know. You want to put yourself in the position where you feel that it’s the best opportunity. But saying this team can win a championship next year or saying they can win it a year after, those are things that you don’t know until you go out there and actually watch the games.
Do you have any doubts about your decision?
No. I don’t have any doubts at all.
Would you like to sleep on it a little longer, or are you ready to make this decision?
I’ve slept enough. Or the lack of sleep.
Are you still a nail biter?
I have a little bit. Not of late.
You’ve had everybody else biting their nails. So I guess it’s time for them to stop chewing. The answer to the question everybody wants to know: Paul, what’s your decision?
In this summer, this is very tough, in this summer I’m going to take my talents to Capital City and root for the Washington Nationals.
The Washington Nationals? That was the conclusion you woke up with this morning?
That was the conclusion I woke up with this morning.
Why?
Like I said before, I feel like it’s going to give me the best opportunity to see some winning and to win for multiple years, and not only just to win in the regular season or just to win five games in a row or three games in a row, I want to be able to see some championships. And I feel like they can compete down there.
Was it always in your plan to root alongside your friends in D.C. like Nate and Erin?
Well, I mean, I’m looking forward to it. To say it was always in my plans, I can’t say it was always in my plans because I never thought it was possible.
But the things that the Washington Nationals franchise have done to be able to draft young talent like Strasburg and Harper, and to be able to put themselves in a position this summer to have that pitching staff and line-up, it was hard to turn down. Those are two great players, two of the greatest players we have in this game today.
And, you know, you add me rooting for them, we’re going to be a really good team.
The three of you will share now the spotlight and the limelight. And in many ways you’re rooting for your buddy Nate’s team. He’s been in D.C. How do you think you’ll be able to fit in and possibly not be the headliner all the time?
For me it’s not about sharing. You know, it’s about everybody having their own spotlight and then just doing what’s best for the Nationals.
You know, at this point Nate, he’s the unselfish guy here. To be able to have Erin and then me, to welcome us to his team, it’s not about an individual here. Because if that was the case, Nate wouldn’t have asked me to join him, or we wouldn’t have asked him if it was okay to come down there. It’s not about individuals. It’s about rooting for some good baseball, and that’s what this game is about.
How do you explain this to the people in Boston?
I mean, it’s heartfelt for me. You know, it’s hard to explain, but at the same time my heart, in the 11 years I gave to that franchise, to that city, it was everything.
And I never wanted to stop rooting for the Red Sox. And my heart will always be around that area. But I also felt like this is the greatest challenge for me is to move on.
What was the major reason to stop rooting for the Red Sox?
I don’t even see it it’s not about Boston; it’s about rooting for a couple players that I feel like I respect their game the most. And I feel like they have a great chance of winning and winning for multiple years.
Like I said before, this is a very emotional time for me. I know it’s emotional for my friends and also for the area. And if it was a perfect world, I would have loved to keep rooting for the Sox, because I’ve rooted so loudly for that team, they’ve done so many great things for me. But I feel like it’s time to change.
What do you think will be the reaction of your buddy Jen, a lifelong Red Sox fan?
I’m not sure. You know, she can have mixed emotions, of course, but it’s going to be a lot of emotions not understanding why. And then you’re going to have the real friends who love me for who I am. For me going to Boston College, and loving Boston, it’s always home for me. I’m still going to visit there. And Boston is always a home for me and that area.
Ever want to go through this again?
This is tough. This is very tough, because you feel like you’ve let a lot of friends down. You’ve raised a lot of friends’ expectations also. But it was a tough decision, because I know how loyal I am.
And one thing Niki told me when I was going through this process and what ultimately helped me make my decision is you have to do what’s best for you and what’s going to make you happy at the end of the day, because no one can live with the consequences or anything that comes with your decision besides you.
And once I heard that from Niki, the person that I always look to for guidance, it was easy.
You told me she had a major influence when you saw her last night after you bought the cap. You didn’t believe the reaction she had would be the one that you got. Could you share with us what she said to you last night?
Absolutely. Like I said, when I talked to Niki I thought I would hear a different reaction. When I heard her reaction I knew was it was a great move, because she felt it was going to ultimately make me happy. It wasn’t about visiting D.C. It wasn’t about seeing friends like Nate or Erin or Jonathan or Scott or C.J., who she believes are great people. But she felt it was going to make me happy.
When I heard that from Niki, it was like it was the relief that I was looking for throughout this whole process.
Rene Magritte’s “Empire of Light, II” now on view at the Museum.
Beastie Boys
“Unite”This is my favorite Beastie Boys song. There are a lot of great ones, but “Unite” has always struck me as the one where everything that is charming about them is pushed to the nth degree. They sound so playful and joyous; the song overflows with love for so many people and things. That, to me, is the essence of Beastie Boys: They made music about what they loved in the world. I’ve always tried to live my life with a focus on what I enjoy and what I think is valuable, and so songs like this were very instructive and formative things.
Seconded. I know the Beasties’ canon inside-out, up-and-down, left-and-right, and “Unite” is just about my favorite song of theirs. Aside from the unrelenting joy Perpetua mentions, there are the countless call-backs and references to other Beastie Boys songs (“rump shaking action,” “intergalaction,” “scientists of sound,” the Knicks and Zodiac sign lyrics, etc.), the mix of the silly and the serious, and the consistent on point rhymes (“I don’t like to fight, I don’t carry a piece/ I wear permanent press so I’m always creased”).
If you had to choose one song to sum up the 30 year career, this just might be it.
RIP Adam “MCA” Yauch. This is the August 6, 1998 cover story where we explore how three Punk-Rock wiseguys from New York made some records, changed America and built an empire of cool.
Here is an excerpt where they shared how they register at their hotels, as they were about to embark on their first tour in three years.
And Adam “MCA” YAUCH – the spiritual seeker – what of him? He registers under the name I. Clouseau, as in Inspector Clouseau, for he is a huge Peter Sellers fan. His favorite Sellers movie is The Party. “He plays an Indian actor,” Yauch says, “and the movie was banned in India because he is playing this bumbling idiot in the middle of all these white people, and some Indian people were insulted by it. But the irony is that he’s really the only intelligent person there – all the other people are morons. So it has a cool theme.”
Remember getting this issue at the height of my Beastie Boys obsession in high school. Yauch would have been a fair ref.
A Detroit, Atlanta or Dallas might be a convenient and cost-efficient place to make a film or television show, but they lack the essential cultural richness that can lure creative people to stay. The Big Easy is attracting that type, plus post-production startups, and animation and videogame outfits, giving a broader foundation to the nascent local entertainment industry.
“This is different,” notes Los Angeles native and longtime Hollywood costumer Wingate Jones, who started Southern Costume Co. last year to cash in on the growth in production in the state. “It’s the combination of the food and the culture that appeals to people. It must have been a lot like what Hollywood was like in the ’20s and ’30s. It’s entrepreneurial and growing like mad.”
Critically, Jones adds, Louisiana’s unique culture comes without the fancy New York or Malibu price tag. This is a place where small roadside cafes serve up bowls of gumbo, crayfish and shrimp that would cost three to five times as much in New York, the Bay Area or Los Angeles. Excellent music — from rap to jazz to blues and gospel — can be found simply by walking into a bar and paying the price of a couple of beers. And then there are housing costs, roughly half as high, adjusted for income, than the big media centers.
This mixture of affordability and culture is attracting young people — the raw material of the creative economy — as well as industry veterans like Jones. In 2011, we examined migration patterns of the college-educated and found, to our surprise, that New Orleans was the country’s leading brain magnet. New Orleans was growing its educated base, on a per capita basis, at a far faster rate than much-ballyhooed, self-celebrated places like New York or San Francisco. In fact, its most intense competition was coming from other Southern cities such as Raleigh, Austin and Nashville, the last two of which also share a strong, and unique, regional culture.
Another sure sign of the city’s growing appeal has been a torrent of applications to Tulane University, the city’s premier institution of higher education. In 2010 the school received 44,000 applications, more than any other private university in the country. The largest group, more than even those from Louisiana, came from California, with New York and Texas not far behind.
Increasingly, the Big Easy merits comparison not only to the Hollywood of the 1920s but also Greenwich Village of the ’50s, Haight-Ashbury in the ’60s and “grunge” Seattle in the mid-’80s. These, too, were once appealing places that were less expensive, less predictable and more open to cultural outsiders. Now they’re increasingly too pricey and yuppified for creative people bereft of large trust funds.
Ecstatic Alphabets opens at MoMA this week. Loving that comical tittle floating above the “i” in the wall text.
