Red Hook Star-Revue, April 2021

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RODDY ON ANTI-CANCEL CULTURE,

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PAGE 6 APRIL 2021 INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

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BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT PUBLIC PLACE REMAIN M

by Jorge Bello

embers of the Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group were smiling in their Zoom squares when Christos Tsiamis, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) engineer leading the Gowanus Canal Superfund cleanup, reappeared on their screens on March 23. Tsiamis had not attended the group’s monthly virtual meetings since December, when he expressed concerns over changes utility company National Grid made last summer to its remedy of Public Place, the contaminated site of a former manufactured gas plant on which the city wants to build 950 affordable apartments, a park, and a public school.

His comments made waves among members of the advisory group and cast doubts over whether the new remediation plan would be sufficiently protective of human health. This angered the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the agency supervising the remedy and that approved National Grid’s changes. In the days after the December meeting, Michael Ryan, DEC’s director of environmental remediation, sent the EPA a letter in which he accused Tsiamis of misinformation, calling his statements “flippant” and demanding he retract them.

Said what I said Some members of the advisory group had speculated that Tsiamis’s absence at subsequent meetings was a sign that he had been reprimanded for speaking out. But Tsiamis seemed more steadfast than contrite at last month’s meeting. “I have not seen any new data or documents since I last spoke to you, and I have nothing to add to the assessment I provided previously,” he said about his December comments.

And while Tsiamis called attention to a joint DEC-EPA letter issued to the advisory group the day before in which both agencies pledged to “work cooperatively” to ensure an optimal remedy, he also asserted the EPA’s authority to comment on Public Place or anything else that might jeopardize its cleanup of the Gowanus Canal. “The Superfund site is not confined between the [canal] bulkheads.” Tsiamis also told group members that he was touched by their expressions of support for the EPA’s work. “I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The advisory group’s exchanges with Janet Brown, the DEC representa-

tive who had clashed with Tsiamis at the December meeting, were a lot less fuzzy—the patience of some members seemed to fray at the mere sound of her voice. Brown reassured the group that the state’s remediation plan for Public Place would protect its future residents from exposure to the toxic fumes evaporating from coal tar buried beneath the site and stressed that former manufactured gas plant sites can and have been safely remediated for a variety of public uses. “It all comes down to site details, where that contamination is, and preventing exposure. Just because [the contamination is] there, it doesn’t mean it’s going to harm you. It’s only if you come into contact with it.” Group members seemed unswayed, requesting that Brown provide them with more information in the future about comparable remediated brownfields in New York State.

As Tsiamis commented last month, good engineering can accomplish this, and he pointed to a former manufactured gas plant on West 18th Street in Manhattan as an example of a similar, successfully remediated site. The remedy there was carried out by ConEd and overseen by the state; it called for digging out and replacing soil down to 14 feet and trapping remaining coal tar by injecting it with cement. In areas

The work of Michael Greenberg, an environmental health and risk assessment expert at Rutgers University’s School of Planning and Public Policy, suggests that contrasting attitudes towards public officials may be fairly common. People that live around brownfields that are up for remediation tend to trust government scientists over developers and local elected officials because they may perceive scientists to be more concerned with protecting the public and therefore more likely to give an honest characterization of a site’s environmental risks, Greenberg wrote in a 2003 paper. Quoting Dylan Thomas, Tsiamis assured the advisory group that their faith in him was well-placed. “I will not ‘go gentle into that good night.’ It has always been my life’s goal to shed light in whatever I get involved, and that I will continue to do.”

and that I will

Infernal fumes Prolonged exposure to volatile organic compounds like those found in the toxic vapors emanating from Public Place can damage the liver, kidney, central nervous system, and can cause cancer, according to the EPA. Even so, what Brown told the advisory group is not wrong—site details do matter, and preventing exposure to contaminants is indeed the paramount consideration when crafting a remedy that protects human health. “If there’s no exposure, from a health point of view, other than people’s mental stress, you don’t have a problem,” said Greenberg.

"It has always been my life’s goal to shed light in whatever I get involved, continue to do.” of the site that weren’t stabilized with cement, ConEd installed below-grade walls to keep coal tar from spreading to neighboring blocks and a robust, multilayered system of clay, fabric membrane, and concrete to prevent vapors from rising into the building that was later built there.

National Grid’s original remediation plan, drawn up in 2011 by engineering consultant GEI, called for similar measures at Public Place, such as “wing walls” lining the site’s perimeter to stop coal tar from reaching the canal. The plan also contemplated a treatment system to clean water that comes in contact with the site’s pollution before it’s discharged into the canal. These features disappeared from later iterations of the remediation plan that were produced by another environmental consulting firm, Arcadis, in 2017. National Grid made more alterations to the remedy last summer when it changed the depth to which it will excavate and replace contaminated soil to two feet instead of eight.

Deep, please The answer to whether a brownfield site can be remediated for residential use is yes. Whether the structures safeguarding people from contaminants can stand the wear of time is another

matter, said Greenberg. “It’s like your car, if you don’t monitor it, stuff happens, things break.” The difference, he explained, is that when your car breaks down, you find out pretty quickly. Released contaminants, on the other hand, could go undetected for a long time if nobody’s paying attention— something to add to that mental stress Greenberg mentioned. Monitoring a remediated site in perpetuity, as Public Place will have to be, is also really expensive. A lot of money has to be set aside to guarantee constant vigilance and that there are enough funds to repair any failures.

As far as digging out polluted soil goes, the deeper the better, said Greenberg, though costs can become prohibitive for the party implementing the remedy. That’s why it’s important to have independent oversight: someone that can help determine the depth required for remediating specific areas within a brownfield, he said. “It might be 20 feet in some places, eight feet in other places, and two feet another place. It depends on what’s gonna go there.”

Voice of Gowanus, a local organization that opposes the construction of housing on Public Place and that has sued the city in a bid to stop the proposed rezoning of Gowanus, consulted another expert, Maureen Koetz, during a virtual panel discussion on March 24. Koetz, who directs the sustainability consulting firm Planet A* Strategies and has experience managing Superfunds, said it’s common for remediated brownfields to be converted into open-air public spaces like parks or golf courses, but that putting a residential building or school on a severely contaminated site like Public Place is atypical. “I don’t see it—rarely ever.”

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Not everybody loves the Governors Island rezoning The city is about to approve a rezoning proposal that divides Governors Island in half - one half parkland and the other half commercial with an emphasis on climate research. It seems like a laudable proposal, but a group called Metro Area Governors Island Coalition (M.A.G.I.C.)has come out with an alternate plan.

Here is what they say: 1. Bringing in high-density high-rise development is not the best use of this unique space that belongs to all New Yorkers. New Yorkers have a serious need for the welcoming, open, expansive, parkland quality (even in areas with buildings) that Governors Island provides and really isn’t available elsewhere in the city.

2) The main rationale for this intrusive project–financial self-sufficiency for Governors Island – is not justified.

The Trust’s own speculative projections (based on pre-covid conditions) state that financial self-sufficiency wouldn’t be achieved until 2050.

Meanwhile it’ll cost taxpayers billions.

Also, as Manhattan Community Board 1 points out, the Trust has not provided enough information to evaluate the project. As a City Planning Commissioner said at the March 1st public review, this project is akin to the City giving the Trust a blank check for an unspecified project.

3) In the review of the rezoning plan, any discussion regarding a climate research center is irrelevant, misleading, and should be termed off-topic. This is a proposal to up-

zone the south island, period. There is nothing legally requiring that a climate center be the result. Mainly it serves as a potential “anchor tenant” in order to attract developers and sell the upzoning to the public. In fact, GI is already productive as a climate hub, thanks to the work of Earth Matter, GrowNYC, Billion Oyster Project, the Harbor School and others. Five City Planning Commissioners noted that there is no Request For Proposals (RFP) in place to legally require that a climate center be built.

4) This is an awful rush and unfair.

Land Use public hearings being held virtually due to COVID-19 are too difficult for authentic public participation and should be suspended. There is precedent for this: the ULURP pro-

cess is currently halted in two Brooklyn rezonings, due to the Voice of Gowanus and MTOPP (Brooklyn Botanical Gardens area).

5) “Open space” is not just pedestrian access, as TGI is selling it, but involves sky and the feeling of openness. The “increased open space” that TGI is presenting is “woven open space similar to Battery Park City.” It’s boxed in by 10–30 story buildings and nonpublic areas.

6) Any new building on Governors Island should be kept to a minimum and not exceed the four story height of buildings in the historic district or the 35-foot height limit in the current zoning.

More here https://govislandcoalition. org/#presentation

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April 2021

we get letters Hope

What a great way to celebrate Spring, now that NYC restaurants including those in Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, the Columbia Waterfront, Gowanus and other Brooklyn neighborhoods are open for indoor dinning at fifty percent capacity. As more and more of us receive our COVID-19 vaccines, it is now easier and safer to patronize our neighborhood restaurants.

My wife and I don’t mind paying a little more to help our favorite restaurants survive. Don’t forget your cook and server. We try to tip 20 to 25 percent against the total bill including

taxes. If it is an odd amount, we round up to the next dollar.

Let’s hope many of the over one hundred thousand NYC residents whose livelihood depends on restaurants will be rehired. This includes bar tenders, waiters, bus boys, cooks and cashiers.

Wholesale food sellers, distributors and linen suppliers are also effected along with construction contractors and their employees, who renovate or build new restaurants.

Our entrepreneurs who have been lucky enough to remain open continue to work long hours, pay taxes and provide local employment opportuni-

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ties. If we don’t resume patronizing these establishments, they don’t eat either.—Larry Penner

At the end of the day, what really sets Action Kid apart is that he’s an entirely decent human person. —C Zifko

What?

Beg to differ

C’mon! Everybody knows that Action Kid (Kenneth) is the best NYC walking vlogger! Tom gets extra points for historical knowledge, but loses points for delivery.

OTOH, Action Kid may lose some points for doing the lucrative live chats almost all the time now, look at his older vids: both talkies and silent, walking and from his bike, and in all kinds of weather.

So wrong to compare these two… just because they both walk in NYC? Lol. What they do is wildly different. Tom’s videos are researched, planned, edited and sometimes even animated.

ActionKid does not do that at all. They bring totally different things to the table or the tube. They’re great friends and collaborate often for that reason.

— Lisa Bond

Words by George

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Why killing Washburn's Model Block is even more important than before

ollowing the example of Italian developer Estate Four, UPS has decided to flip their 350,000 square feet Red Hook property rather than execute their planned project.

I've heard from credible sources that UPS has put their 350,000 square feet of waterfront property, which they bought for around $300 million a few years ago, on the market.

While Estate Four was planning to repurpose the many historic industrial buildings between the Cruise Terminal and Valentino Pier Park, including the Snapple Building, UPS demolished everything except for one wall of the Lidgerwood complex, and left us with New York City's largest vacant lot.

It's unknown to me exactly what UPS is planning, but I'm guessing that they have had second thoughts about opening their regional center here.

I've heard they are hard at work at a new Bronx facility instead.

The last communication that I know of, to anyone in Red Hook, was to Jim Tampakis, who has been working on the last mile warehouse situation here. On September 1, 2020, in response to some questions, they ended a short note saying: "This is all of the information available regarding the Red Hook site at this time.

We will continue to share additional information as it becomes available.

Thank you for your leadership in the Red

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Hook community. Regards, Laura Lane, UPS Chief Corporate Affairs and Communications Officer"

Well, so much for additional information. But the site is demolished and bare and empty for all to see. The only thing missing is a "For Sale" sign. On a recent walk there, I didn't even see a guard. I guess there's really nothing to guard. They've left behind only some permits for remediation, applied for by a company named Sevinson.

Meanwhile, Van Brunt Street developer A. Washburn is applying for a hardship permit with the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) in order to build a 15 story building on Wolcott Street, directly across the street from the vacant ex-UPS lot. He persists despite the local community board's decision last February to not approve the project, in a nearly unanimous vote.

The BSA will hear from professional lawyers and lobbyists on behalf of Washburn. These include Capalino Associates, who also represented UPS in Red Hook. In other words, the best crew money can buy. A 15 story luxury rental with Red Hook sunset and waterfront views equals big bucks.

One of Washburn's points of argument is that his project reflects the context of the neighborhood. His justification of the height is that the Red Hook Houses includes buildings of up to 14 stories (even though these were built before current zoning laws).

If, God forbid, the BSA ignores the Community Board and approves the application, the UPS property becomes tremendously more valuable, as potential developers will see the ability to get through a neighborhood zoning change that could bring many more large luxury towers, using the socalled Model Block as precedent.

If our city government wasn't so full of shit and actually cared about the future of the city they rule, they first-ofall would have figured out some way to prevent a monolithic company to come in and wipe out a couple centuries of our history, using the magic words "as of right." Nobody in the community or any urban archaeologist or historian had anything to say about it, least of all anyone who lives here.

City Island, right here on the water.

And right near the ferry!

I have written in the past that this is what could have been done on the waterfront next to IKEA. But of course, nobody did anything and now Amazon is busy building one of their three new Red Hook warehouses.

This is our second chance. It's either something we want, or possibly a second Williamsburg beckons.

But what they should do now, if indeed they cared about the city, is to fork over the money to UPS to buy the giant lot - and start over.

Imagine what could be there - parkland interspersed among low rise homes built for a wide variety of diverse city dwellers - covering all incomes from lower to middle to upper classes. The land is big enough to include workplaces–both commercial and industrial–as well.

There could be modern 21st century factories, as well as a waterfront entertainment district building upon the success of our Brooklyn Crab. What better place than our own version of

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April 2021, Page 3

Methodist opens the new facility that replaces 8 historic brownstones

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by Nathan Weiser

ark Slope's Methodist Hospital opened their Center for Community Health (CCH) in March. It is an ambulatory care center where specialists provide exceptional, comprehensive care, according to the hospital.

The six-story, 400,000-square-foot facility, is located on 6th Street between 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue. It is the first major ambulatory care facility built in Brooklyn in 40 years and also the largest.

“NewYork-Presbyterian is dedicated to making world-class care more accessible, convenient and equitable in all the communities we serve, and the opening of the Center for Community Health is a reflection of that commitment,” said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian.

CCH features 12 state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery operating rooms, an advanced diagnostic imaging center, as well as access service representatives who will facilitate as seamless patient experience.

There are six procedure rooms for outpatient endoscopy and special procedures, a pre-anesthesia evaluation center, prep and recovery for ambulatory surgery, ambulatory infusion with a dedicated pharmacy and lab, a clinical trial office and surgical practices.

Their services include oncology, digestive, and endoscopy, as well as an infusion center, ambulatory surgery, diagnostic imaging, and more. Multidisciplinary teams of physicians from Weill Cornell Medicine work together to consider each patient holistically.

With an advanced MRI system, a fully digital PET/CT system, two 4D Ultrasound machines and more, specialists can produce the highest quality images and immediately incorporate the findings into a patient›s electronic medical record. The MRI system is also equipped with lighting and sound features to soothe anxiety.

A feature of the brand new building that visitors will enjoy is that it has lots of natural light with views of tree-lined Brooklyn streets and the Manhattan skyline, which will create a soothing environment. In addition, improve the aesthetic, pieces of artwork from a diverse group of artists, including local Brooklyn artists, are displayed throughout the building.

CCH’s layout encourages social distancing and COVID-19 safety measures are in place, including temperature and symptom screening upon entering, hand sanitizing stations throughout the building, appropriate PPE for all health care providers and patients and frequent disinfection of high touch surfaces.

Another helpful feature of CCH is that kiosks are located in the lobby to make registration quick and easy, and patients also have the option to complete their paperwork remotely and securely before their visit, online or on their phone, reducing wait times.

Upon arrival, patients will be given a personalized “smartband” that will provide access to the building.

Each patient who is having surgery will have their visit begin and end in the same space–a private prep and recovery room that serves as “home base” for them and their guests throughout their stay. For ambulatory surgery, patients will be assigned a nurse who will care for them throughout their visit.

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April 2021

Cesar Zuniga, Community Board Chair, wants to be your next City Council rep

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Interview by George Fiala

ed Hookers got their first view of Cesar Zuniga back in 2014, when, with the support of our council member Carlos Menchaca, he ran against Assemblymember Felix Ortiz.

a bubble. Local government is part of state government, and of course part of the federal government. We are operating in a big, influential city. As Councilmembers, we need to use our voice on the Council to get our State and Federal counterparts to work hand in hand with us to address some of these situations, whether it’s transportation, housing, economic development. Local City Council members have a responsibility to leverage their state and federal relationships to make things happen locally.

He didn't do that badly, but it was not yet Ortiz's time to lose.

Here is what he told the Star-Revue then, as part of our ask-the-candidates story: "As the son of hard working immigrants, Cesar Zuniga knows what it takes to succeed and raise a family in Brooklyn. Cesar lives in Sunset Park with his partner and his two young sons. He currently serves as the Director of Research and Evaluation for the Parent-Child Home Program, a national early childhood education program. In this capacity, he has helped bring early childhood education programs to families both nationally and throughout New York City, including Sunset Park. A member of Brooklyn Community Board 7 for the past 5 years, Cesar is also a member of the Council of the Sunset Park Promise Neighborhood Initiative."

Since then, he has graduated to be Chair of the community board, a position he has held for four years. Now he is running to replace Carlos Menchaca, who is term-limited.

I caught up with him at George's Restaurant in Sunset Park a few weeks ago and had a nice chat. We started by talking about something that Menchaca had promised, but not followed through on – a local office in Red Hook.

Have you thought about your Red Hook presence?

CZ: I certainly want to commit to exploring, whether it’s with one of the non-profits, or in some other way, a presence of an office in the neighborhood, particularly because back in 2014, when I did an extensive amount of outreach in the Red Hook Houses, I saw that it’s a disgrace that people live in those conditions – they have a lot of needs, and they need proximity to local government. If you are creating barriers to having access to your local government representative – that speaks volumes about your commitment to really serving at the local level.

I keep reminding people – I’m running for Council member – that requires a real intentionality about staying super hyper-local, focusing on the issues that may not be sexy, may not being headline grabbing, but it’s what you are getting elected to do.

What committees would you be interested in joining at the Council?

Well, my professional work is early childhood education – that’s what I’ve done for the past two decades. I have a real passion for that, and I have some really bold ideas around how to leverage that space to address a lot of the social justice issues that we’ve all been debating as of late. Some of the equity issues

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in education, some of the social determinants of health – we know that people who are underserved have health outcomes that are a direct relationship with their social mobility. So the education committee is a top priority.

I also am interested in serving on finance. A big part of the job that you are elected to do is to bring home the bacon – bring home needed services. The Finance committee puts me at the table around conversations related to budgets.

Having conversations is a big part of the job. For example, Department of Transportation funding of courses stretches outside of each district, in many cases. Thinking of things holistically is very important. For example, trucks – obviously, a big problem – is bigger than one district. The problem doesn’t end at the district line. The truck route problem extends out into other districts. The idea that if you can just fix the truck situation in my district will magically solve the truck problem is not the right way of thinking about it.

Maybe we will have to bring into the conversation Districts 39 and 40 and work together as a team to say, ok, this is what we need for all our districts.

Have you done some of this at the community board level?

Why yes – as an example I can tell you that DOT (Dept of Transportation) is proposing to make Seventh and Eighth Avenue one-way. We’ve (CB7) has taken it upon ourselves to get to the table with Community Boards Ten and Twelve, and jointly talk about a strategy for asking DOT to take the feedback of all of the areas. For example, the west side of Eighth Avenue is CB 7, and the east side is CB 10, while 12 gets part of the Avenue of both sides. I told my District Manager that we can’t sit at the table with DOT arguing about our piece of the Avenues, because that’s short-sighted. That’s how we lose battles, by not being united with our neighbors. The agency will divide and conquer. But if we all sit together, we have a better chance at a better outcome for all of us.

Red Hook will soon have three new Amazon warehouses – two of them on the water. Don’t you think they should consider easing some of the truck traffic using that geographical advantage?

huge amounts of new traffic. Third Avenue is a mess, Hamilton Avenue is a mess, there’s no doubt about it.

Launching headstrong about new developments on the water without thinking about traffic is for me, a nonstarter. We talk a lot about the waterfront, about improving the waterfront, building it out, really building the underlying infrastructure to deal with some of these traffic issues. The conversation that is not given enough attention though, is the waterway. How can we use the actual water to help mitigate some of the transit problems that we are having on land.

We need to really explore ways of moving goods in and out of the district using the water. There are some really good examples in other places, where the water is actually utilized in a much more intentional way. I’m not an expert, but I’ve read about places where you are using as the water as much as possible to move goods in and out of the area.

Right now the model is that everything comes into the district by land, sorted and distributed, and everything goes out by land.

The history of Red Hook is shipping by water and it makes sense for it to be the future as well. What kind of influence could a City Councilman have in this?

That’s a great question. For one thing, local government doesn’t operate in

"I will continue to say that the waterfront is this district's most valuable asset. We need someone to go in and make sure that we maximize the benefit of that asset for the local community."

Well, the idea of the last mile brings

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Would you then be dealing with our local State reps in the Assembly and Senate?

Absolutely. Part of my style of leadership is convening people to have conversations.

How do you feel about the new Assemblymember - Marcella Mitaynes?

I respect her tremendously. I believe in her ideas, the work that she's done on behalf of tenants. I'm on record as saying that one of the solutions, not the only solution, but one of the solutions to the affordable housing crisis is to have more Marcellas on the ground where, you know, this is a woman who who's made a life out of educating tenants about their rights, really counseling them and really taking on some of these, like really awful landlords.

On another topic, what do you think about density in Red Hook. A lot of us like it the way it is, but others equate high density buildings with social justice.

We already have density. The Red Hook Houses is the second largest NYCHA development in the city, is it not? To pile luxury waterfront housing on top of that is a non-starter. That's not going to happen under my watch.

We also can't be building out the IBZ for housing purposes. It's not sustainable, it's not smart I will continue to be on the record to say that the waterfront is this district's most valuable asset. We need someone to go in and make sure that we maximize the benefit of that asset for the local community, and if we are really smart about it, to really serve the region.

For me, the only way we can do that, and I can't stress this enough, is that we codify the 197A plans through some sort of legislative process to ensure that both the Red Hook and Sunset Park waterfronts will always remain industrial, working waterfronts, along with recreational use.

There are plenty of models throughout the world where these uses are tremendous economic engines for not just the local community but for their entire region.

I think that's the kind of vision that we need to have for the waterfront. Do we have to have a conversation about what industrial jobs are? Of course, and that will always be a continuing discussion.

April 2021, Page 5

ANTI-CANCEL CULTURE IS REALLY JUST ANTI BLACKNESS...AGAIN

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or the better part of the last decade, America has experienced a snowball of pushback against customs that were once considered social norms, but now acknowledged to be inappropriate.

Social media continues to play a major role in a particular kind of public and social accountability, also known as ‘cancelling.’ In recent months we’ve seen comedians, politicians, and other public figures debate and disparage this sometimes effective accountability/shaming tool – cancel culture. So, what exactly is cancel culture and why is the movement against it anti-Black?

The origins of cancel culture trace back to Black Twitter. Black Twitter is the space of the platform where Black users retweet and discuss ideas about entertaining or trending stories.

Around 2014, the phrase ‘you’re canceled’ began appearing. The phrase was simply a tweet or hashtag used to call out current or past wrongdoings by public figures. Today, it’s being referred to as a culture and a movement.

However, like many of Black folk’s creations, the hijacking and misrepresentation of this so-called movement was sure to follow.

In mid-2020, a bevy of non-Black critics of BLM protests began speaking out against what they saw as cancel culture. The critics ranged from wellknown Youtubers to obscure Instagramers, but eventually reached the realm of politics and daytime TV. Critics like Meghan McCain, Ted Cruz, and even Barack Obama have weighed in on the movement, albeit with some distinct points of view, respectively (Obama). There are observable patterns with mainstream anti-cancel culture warriors, they are usually white, and often conservative.

With growing criticism of the movement, several conservatives have used cancel culture as a way to reframe their unfavorable sentiments on ‘po-

Page 6 Red Hook Star-Revue

by Roderick Thomas

litical correctness’ and accountability.

Interestingly, the earliest critiques of cancel culture actually came from the Black community. However, those critics did not attempt to do away with the idea of accountability. Early critics discussed the need to affirm rehabilitation and personal growth of individuals, pivoting away from the sometimes unforgiving shaming tool that is canceling.

Yet, despite diverging sentiments among Black social media, cancel culture helped hold R. Kelly accountable, for example. Cancel culture and the Me Too movement also called for accountability from folks like Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Matt Lauer and many more. So, how can holding sexual predators and bigots accountable be a bad thing?

Well, for those who oppose the ‘movement,’ canceling probes spotlights the issues a bit too much. Moreover, in an era where most conservatives supported an alleged sexual predator and racist (and still do), Donald Trump, anti-cancel culture was/is the answer —a convenient and pithy retort for those who don’t want to think about the complexities of social inequality and injustice.

Anti-cancelers are the bad spin-off no one asked for. Simply, what most anticancelers want is no consequences.

Instead, like public figures Senator Ted Cruz, and Fox news opinionist Tucker Carlson, anti-cancelers appeal to white American’s fatigue with confronting inequality and racism.

Earlier this year when Dr. Suess enterprises decided to stop printing six of its books containing blatantly racist imagery (Africans depicted as monkeys, and Asians being called China men), both Carlson and Cruz reacted publicly, by blaming cancel culture.

Critics of the discontinuation of these books, simply ignored the racist imagery, succumbing to their ‘childhood

nostalgia.’ During a recent airing of his show, Tucker Carlson went on to say, “The liberals have a problem with mid-century American culture, that’s the problem with wokeism.”

Carlson yet again misrepresenting yet another Black colloquialism, woke. To add, mid-century American culture most certainly had no problem with Black people being depicted as monkeys and apparently, neither does Tucker Carlson.

At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), anti- cancel culture was highlighted. Speakers like Ted Cruz prioritized spreading the message of anti- cancel culture, or what I call, racist spinoff.

Racist spinoff is the repackaging of any social justice tool, to communicate or defend racist ideas. Therefore, anti-cancel culture is indeed antiBlack, because it takes a Black social justice term or movement, and repurposes it in defense of racism. Also, racist spinoff is profitable, Cruz was recently selling signed Dr. Seuss books for sixty dollars, attempting to ‘fight’ cancel culture.

Anti-cancel warriors prioritize ignoring the experiences of marginalized groups and recycling manifest destiny dreams of white America. Moreover, anti-cancel warriors don’t seem to care that much when Black people like Bill Cosby, or liberal figures are being canceled.

Usually, their outrage is piqued when white American nostalgia is critiqued, and marginalized groups speak loudly about social issues.

Again, it seems what anti-cancelers truly want is complete freedom from accountability and consequences–– storming the nation’s Capitol and expecting no charges or prison time.

When we look back at American history there are many things to learn from. Part of learning from history is identifying a problem and setting a

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new standard. I believe in reform and the ability for people to change, but first, the problem must be acknowledged and yes, canceled. Honestly, a lot of so-called canceled celebs don’t actually suffer any long-term financial or social loss. Many public figures reemerge a few months later. They simply wait out the backlash, issue an apology letter on social media, or stay silent. In reality, cancel culture’s effectiveness varies.

As the anti-cancel culture movement grows, we can expect to see it used as a right-wing campaign tactic for the 2022 and 2024 elections. And yes, performative activism and the increasing amount of viral moment addicts posing as intellectuals is annoying.

However, systemic injustices are far more ‘annoying’ and quite frequently deadly, so cancel away, please. In other words may the consequences for one’s actions apply.

Byline: Roderick Thomas is an NYC based writer, filmmaker, and Host of Hippie By Accident Podcast.

(Instagram: @Hippiebyaccident,

"Cruz was recently selling signed Dr. Seuss books for sixty dollars, attempting to ‘fight’ cancel culture."

April 2021

Day 3: Thursday 2/25:

My Quarantine Journal,

by Brian Abate

Day 1: Tuesday 2/23: I found out that someone I had been in contact with tested positive. Urgent Care told me I should quarantine at home and get tested five days after exposure, which for me will be Saturday.

It was a pretty calm night. I watched basketball in my room and wore a mask outside the room. I’ve been watching the Knicks and Nets more often this season since both teams are doing really well. The Knicks have been a pleasant surprise.

Day 2: Wednesday 2/24: Today was an uneventful day. I don’t think I have any symptoms yet, but now that it’s on my mind every time I sneeze or clear my throat it makes me wonder. I took our family dog for a few walks to get some fresh air. I tried to pay attention to everyone else I saw and most people were wearing masks.

The last time I had to quarantine, which was about a year ago, there were fewer people wearing masks but also fewer people going outside.

Yesterday the whole thing was like a shock, but it has sunk in now and I’m getting used to staying in my room.

I got some terrible news early this morning. A close family friend and his wife both died of coronavirus yesterday. They were ok and then they felt a little sick and then they were gone.

It definitely serves as a reminder for everyone to get medical help if you’re feeling sick. It’s also a reminder for me to take some time to stay in touch with people during the pandemic even though I can’t visit anyone right now.

Day 4: Friday 2/26: After the tough day yesterday, I decided to be proactive and get a rapid test.

Quarantining can get a little bit boring and it’s not like I had much else to do.

I got the result back about 15 minutes and it was negative. It doesn’t clear me yet but it’s a good sign. I’ve been looking out my window more often nd life seems somewhat normal out there.

It was a nice day so there were lots of people walking their dogs or jogging and kids playing ball. It just still looks weird seeing everyone wearing a mask. I don’t feel sick at all so today feels like a step in the right direction.

Day 5: Saturday 2/27: The restlessness of quarantining during the pandemic is beginning to set in for me. I’ve been reading Agatha Christie books, which has helped make the time go by faster. So far I’ve finished “And Then There Were None” and “Murder on the Orient Express.”

I just started “Death on the Nile.” I’ve been spending my time reading, writing and watching sports. I got antsy so I did some home exercises to keep me busy. It was nice to move around again but I really miss playing sports.

Day 6: Sunday 2/28: I put off getting my PCR coronavirus test one more day so it would be five

and a half days since I was exposed to it instead of four and a half. Today ended up being a pretty lazy day and I didn’t do too much. I looked up coronavirus statistics and saw that about 15% of the U.S. population has gotten at least partially vaccinated so we’re getting closer to herd immunity. Things seem to be heading in the right direction. I also watched some basketball. I’ve been following Maryland’s team all season (I went to the University of Maryland) and they got a big win over Michigan State. I watched the game with some friends from college on a zoom call.

while it was very unlikely I'll get sick, I should quarantine for the full 10 days to be sure. Other than that it was another day of writing, reading, playing chess online and watching sports.

Day 7: Monday 3/1:

Day 11: Friday 3/5:

Today was the big day. I finally did the test but I won’t find out the results for a few days. I went to an Urgent Care on Court St. and the line took awhile but the actual test was really easy and quick. I was a little worried about going to an Urgent Care because there’s a chance that some of the patients have coronavirus so I stayed careful about not touching my face while I was there and used hand sanitizer as soon as I got out. The rest of the day was pretty relaxing and I ended up watching a lot more basketball games.

Day 8: Tuesday 3/2: February was a rough month so I’m glad to be in March. I watched the movie “Searching for Bobby Fischer.”

That got me interested in chess so I looked up all of the rules and ended up playing online for an hour. It was fun and it helped pass the time. I don’t have any symptoms so far but I’m still waiting on the test results.

Day 9: Wednesday 3/3: I got the good news that my test came back negative. I took the test after less than a week so the doctor said that

Day 10: Thursday 3/4: I’m avoiding going inside of stores until I’ve finished 10 days, but I’ve been able to go outside and get fresh air. I took the dog for a long walk in Brooklyn Bridge Park. He’s a blonde cockapoo who loves other dogs but is terrified of people. He’s really sweet and a lot of fun and has helped keep my spirits up during the pandemic.

I woke up with a bad stomach. I get that occasionally, so I’m not worried that it’s a sign of coronavirus. Restaurants are able to have indoor dining with partial capacity again. It’s probably helping restaurants get through the cold weather but I didn’t see too many people inside.

Between that and fans being allowed back at sporting events, things are starting to look a bit more normal. I’m holding off on going to games until I’ve gotten the vaccine. Seeing fans on television reminded me how much I miss going to games. It’s been more than a year since I’ve been to one.

Day 12: Saturday 3/6: Today has been easygoing. There isn’t a ton to do while quarantining but getting some fresh air always makes time go by quicker for me. I did some home exercises to keep from getting too antsy then played chess online again to pass the time. I also got another rapid test which came back negative (I waited a couple of extra days to be sure) so I’m officially cleared and healthy.

What a relief!

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Visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 877-VAX-4NYC to make an appointment at a City-run vaccination site.

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April 2021, Page 7

As tourism starts up again, so do the attractions

by Erin DeGregorio

T

he Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum reopened to the public on March 25 after more than a year of closure.

Ashley Allen, the museum’s public relations director, said they felt encouraged by the enthusiastic response to its reopening particularly on March 27, when the weather was beautiful for its first Saturday in operation.

“As spring weather rolls in and vaccinations continue to increase, we are optimistic that there is an appetite among New Yorkers to venture back out into cultural spaces, especially those with large outdoor spaces like ours,” Allen said.

A vast amount of history remains both inside and outside the World War IIera ship as health and safety regulations are in place.

“Intrepid is also an educational facility with lots of programming for fellow New Yorkers, visitors from elsewhere, and New York City school children,” Dave Winters, the museum’s executive vice president, told the Red Hook Star-Revue in reference to the museum’s reopening and well as the steps the City is taking to reopen its staple industries. “[The children] need that education and extra learning, and we want to be part of that because it’s important.”

New and Restored Experiences As part of an ongoing commitment to open spaces inside the ship, Intrepid’s pilot escalator has been restored and made available to the public for the first time in decades. The Navy installed escalators on aircraft carriers to help pilots quickly move from their ready rooms deep in the ship to the outdoor flight deck. Intrepid’s escalator, which was installed in the 1950's, is no longer operational. But now, vis-

itors can walk up the escalator from the hangar deck to the flight deck and learn about its mechanics and role during service.

Visitors can also take a look into one of Intrepid’s bomb elevators. From 1943 to 1974, the ship’s airplanes carried a changing array of bombs, torpedoes, rockets and missiles, which weighed as much as 2,000 pounds.

These heavy-duty elevators transported weapons from their armored protected spaces to other parts of the ship where they were assembled, armed and loaded onto airplanes.

Beginning in mid-May, visitors will be able to experience a recreated photo lab. The ship’s photographers developed and printed black-and-white (and later color film) in the photo lab, which serves as a reminder of the days of analog photography. Visitors learn about the crew whose job included documenting everything from enemy aircraft and operational accidents to daily life on board to ports of call.

These experiences are enhanced by firsthand accounts from crew members who served on the Intrepid.

“They’re important because they show and add another story of what it was like on Intrepid,” Winters added.

A Sneak Peek for Visitors For foodies, there’s two interesting exhibits that dive into the history of food aboard Intrepid.

On the third deck – also known as the mess deck – visitors can see where enlisted sailors ate their meals every day through glass walls. For example, one grouping of tables has red-and-white checkered tablecloths and a planter of plastic ferns, representing how the mess looked in the early 1960s – “making it look a little like an Italian restaurant.”

There’s also a special exhibit on the hangar deck called “Navy Decks: A Slice of History.” Though it was supposed to close in October 2020, the pandemic has extended its viewing time through 2021. The exhibit showcases what kinds of cakes were baked onboard Intrepid and Growler and the hard work of the sailors who created them. Visitors can gaze upon original recipes cards, photos, and artifacts, as

An arts and play space for children with disabilities and their families.

A family visiting the Intrepid Space Museum. (photo by Erin DeGregorio)

well as listen to oral histories that tell the fascinating stories of the elaborate confections.

For those interested in submarines, there is the “A View from the Deep: The Submarine Growler & The Cold War” exhibition. Though the former USS Growler submarine is no longer open to the public due to the pandemic, the adjacent exhibit explores the history of Growler in the context of the Cold War. And, on certain days, visitors can also speak with Mike Burns, former submariner on the USS Darter.

Burns returned to Manhattan on March 27 for the first time in more than a year. He travels from Philadelphia once a month to talk about Growler, which is similar to the submarine he worked on from 1983 to 1987. Growler, which was in service from 1958 to 1964, was one of the Navy’s early guided missile submarines.

“I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve,” Burns told The Red Hook StarRevue about what it was like to come back. “I was so excited. I couldn’t sleep last night.”

Burns has been volunteering with the museum for the last five years because he enjoys sharing stories and information with tourist, locals, and submarine enthusiasts. Before the pandemic struck, visitors would climb inside Growler and Burns would talk with them inside the submarine’s control room. Now, he’s able to stand outside Growler on Pier 86 as people pass by or exit from the “A View from the Deep” exhibition on Pier 86.

“I’d only come up once a month because it started out as an excuse to visit my son, who lived across the river in New Jersey and worked in the city,” Burns explained. “But, when he moved to the West Coast a couple of years ago, I just had to keep coming back [to the museum] because I really liked talking about it.”

“It’s nice to talk about things people really want to hear and learn about,” he added, noting that one of his favorite moments was meeting and speaking with a former submarine captain from India. “I’m really glad to be back and love working here. Everybody’s very friendly and helpful, and the variety of people you get to meet is amazing.”

“Be it a museum like Intrepid, Broadway theaters, or restaurants and businesses, we all have a part to play in bringing New York back,” Winters said. “New York can come back and New York will come back.”

He continued, “That will be accelerated by us getting all these things that people love about New York up and going again.”

How to Visit The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, located on Pier 86 (West 46th Street and 12th Avenue) in Manhattan, is operating on a limited schedule until further notice (Thursdays to Sundays, 10 am to 5 pm). For more information, including how to purchase tickets, visit IntrepidMuseum.org.

"Visitors can gaze upon original recipes cards, photos, and artifacts, as well as listen to oral histories that tell the fascinating stories of the elaborate confections baked onboard."

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April 2021

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April 2021, Page 9

New Yorkers:

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April 2021

The Shroud of Turin once graced Savoia’s Royal Palace

by Dario Pio Muccilli

I

f there’s something that strikes foreigners coming to Europe more, that surely is the huge glazed royal palaces that span across the continent’s most remarkable cities.

Turin, a remarkable west of Milan, lays its foundation in Savoia’s Royal Palace, a Baroque style building that housed the Savoia dynasty. The dynasty ruled from 1561, heading only a Duchy based mostly in south-eastern-France), to 1865, four years after the current Head of the Dynasty was crowned King of Italy, whose capital was switched from Turin to Florence, waiting for Rome, at that time under the control of the Pope.

Nowadays the palace, alongside with the Savoyard Art Gallery, the Royal Armoury, Library and Garden, the near Chiablese palace, the Antiquity Museum and the Holy Shroud’s Chapel, is part of a single museum pole, whose director, Enrica Pagella, guided me through all these different areas that belong to the same enormous building complex.

“In these rooms the Savoia’s history, rooted in the early decades of the second millennium, is everywhere. Here we can fathom all the dynastic and political relationships of a noble house who claimed to be international important, thanks to kinships with the richest and most titled families of France, like the Bourgognes”, states Pagella.

“Thence the Royal Palace had to satisfy all the fashion standards the in-

ternational diplomatic scene required in order to be a perfect showcase for people from all around the world.

That’s why even if the tastes of a King were different from the widespread ones, the Palace had to follow the latter, as it happened for King Charles Albert who, in the 19th century had to promote a neoclassical renovation of his house, despite being a neogothic style lover,” Pagella continued.

The nucleus of the structure is made up of royal apartments, whose organization through a series of rooms and anterooms (housing armed cuirassiers and serving pageboys) echoed France's Versaille.

That French connection went on “in good and bad luck”, to such an extent that every time the sister country experienced a revolutionary uprising, the Savoia did as well.

That happened both in the 1789 French revolution and in 1848, when the Turin’s dynasty, then ruling only a kingdom with lands in south-eastern France, Piedmont, Liguria and the Isle of Sardinia, was obliged to offer a constitution called Albertine Statute after the already mentioned King Charles Albert, echoing the French Revolution, which resulted in the Second Republic.

He had never fully accepted the democratical evolution that was going on since years before 1848. In 1830 Charles built a Throne’s room which in that period was actually anachronistic by then. The Throne symbol-

ized the ancient belief in Monarchy based on divine will, whose credibility was totally undermined during the 1789 French Revolution.

“The Savoia had pursued for decades after the revolution the idea of being chosen by God” points out the knowledgable Ms. Pagella.

During the entire tour I saw her passion incredibly alive, despite the fact that she works there almost everyday.

Indeed when we came into the Holy Shroud’s Chapel, which had once the famous linen cloth bearing the negative image of a man thought by Catholics to be of Jesus, she exuded a deep interest and depth of feeling.

The chapel effectively is an architectural masterpiece, completed in 1694 and based on the projects of the architect and mathematician Guarino Guarini. The high dome made up of many arches intertwined all together conveys God's majesty. And so we can more easily understand, thanks to the high importance devoted by the Savoia to this relic, why they thought to be chosen and designated by God– He left them the presumed evidence of his son’s passage on earth.

That honor was then celebrated with a huge investment in the chapel, where you can even see symbols of the dynasty and its genealogical heritage, used then as tools to underline their role as custodians of the relic.

Savoians then were clever enough to understand the value of symbols and art, despite being often portrayed as a more rude and warlike dynasty. “Instead their taste was superfine” declared the director while showing us the huge collection of paintings the

family conveyed into the Savoyard Gallery, a collection housing many painters from the near France but long active in Piedmont, like Antoine de Lonhy (15th century), who influenced and forged the Piedmontese figurative art, and Defendente Ferrari, the iconoclastic Piedmont-born 16th century painter. His style indeed, visible in his many altarpieces, has guaranteed him the favour of many US collectors and museums.

At the time of my visit, a special exhibition of the photographs of Robert Capa was on display. Capa was a Hungarian war photographer who generally shot in black and white - these were his color photos.

In some way the original will of the Savoia to be aligned with the world and its cultural evolutions are still exerting an influence that, although an ancient palace in the middle of the city, is for the latter a gateway to new art movements and people and so new cultures.

Thence, mingling past heritage and future ambitions, I’m proud to say that the Royal Palace of Turin is the perfect portrait of what the Italian artistic heritage is and will hopefully continue to be.

Closeup of Guarini's intricate dome

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April 2021, Page 11

Gratitude is like Vitamins for Your Soul

I

first put Ernie Paniccioli’s name to his face when I saw Juan Carlos Pinto’s portrait of him hanging up at OYE Studios in Brooklyn. There are always many artworks on display at Pinto’s studio. Some are completed projects; some are works in progress. But this portrait really spoke to me. The hint of a smile, but yet the face wasn’t smiling. The eyes looked welled up with tears, but they weren’t crying. Pinto managed to express a living essence behind the eyes in this portrait.

“Who’s that,” I asked.

“Where you’ve been? Living under a rock, bro?” he said, laughing. Then he told me it was Ernie Paniccioli, or Brother Ernie, as he’s also known.

Ernie was born in Brooklyn, of Cree Native and Italian American parents, and grew up in a tough section of Bedford Stuyvesant. Because he looked Native, he was called “spic” and “Geroninmo.” He was once chased after and beaten until he had blood dripping down his face. Discovered on the ground in this state by members of the Bishops, a local gang, he was promptly asked to join them.

Ernie soon found his way out of this world, moving to Greenwich Village where he discovered a whole new universe of art and culture. It was in Greenwich Village that Ernie became friends with, Richie Havens, who at the time was mainly a painter.

Then, in 1965, Ernie joined the U.S. Navy. After leaving the navy, he began experimenting with photography on the streets of New York and documenting the beginnings of Hip Hop culture. By the 1980s, Ernie was a sought-after photographer in the music industry. In 1987 he became the principal photographer for Word Up! and Rap Masters magazines, and his work began appearing regularly in publications such as Vibe, The Source, Rolling Stone, and The Village Voice. His photographs tell the story of Hip Hop culture’s evolution from the 1980s through the mid-2000s, and have been the subject of numerous gallery shows, along with the books Who Shot Ya?: Three Decades of Hip Hop Photography (2002) and Hip-Hop at the End of the World: The Photography of Brother Ernie (2018).

With Ernie’s blessing, Cornell University compiled an archive of Ernie’s photographs and made them available to the public. How often does an artist like Ernie make his art available to the world for free?

I had the pleasure of speaking to Ernie on a Saturday afternoon in February 2021.

“In Hip-Hop at the End of the World you wrote that graffiti wasn’t always pleasant for regular hardworking people who rode the subways.

Sometimes they couldn’t see their stop because the windows were marked up.”

“Let’s face it, not all graffiti artists were Dondi.

There was some beautiful work, but a lot of it was shit, too.”

I told Ernie that, when I was a kid growing up in the Ravenswood Projects in Queens, some of the guys I knew that did graffiti seemed to have a death wish.

I remember Mike Ferrone climbing up the grating on the Scalamandre edifice in Long Island City. He made crazy faces and, dangling fifty feet in the air

Page 12 Red Hook Star-Revue

by Mike Fiorito

with one hand holding on the grating, he sprayed WC (Wild Child) on the Scalamandre bricks with the other. Then there was NESS, who hung upside down in impossible positions, tagging building walls, and subway platforms. Most people couldn’t understand how someone could tag a piece without using scaffolding, or something to stand on.

They were miracle acts. We looked up, as if to the heavens, to see their art. And when the train cars whooshed by with their names, we were all proud to see their works. Doing graffiti was about being seen.

Your work moved on trains around the city. Standing out above them all, in our circle, was Louie (KR. ONE) Gasparro. Coming from the artistic traditions of Dondi and Don1, Louie’s work was visionary.

I told Ernie that I wasn’t an expert on Hip Hop and or rap, though Ravenswood was just up the block from Queensbridge, one of its epicenters. We talked about some of the rap artists that we both really admired, like Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest and Nas. “Those guys had a message,” said Ernie. “And the fact is, the government was scared shit of them.

They called out injustice. And their lyrics were brilliant. They poked fun at the idea that African American artists were just supposed to make happy music and not shine a light on the struggle of racism and oppression.

“What do you think happened to rap?”

“I think the violence and glorification of guns fucked it up. When the lyrics went from depicting injustice and oppression to expressing bravado and talking about violence for violence sake, the music lost something.”

“What do you listen to now?”

“The truth is I mostly listen to jazz: Coltrane, Miles, Sun Ra, and Ornette. And I recently rediscovered Pharaoh Sanders. Man, that cat doesn’t get enough credit.”

“You’ve mentioned that now you’re a Zen Buddhist.”

“My interest in Zen stems from my interest in martial arts. The Buddhist monks learned martial arts to de-escalate attacks on them. When I was a kid, I studied Soo Bahk Do, Korean Karate, which is more about blocking than striking; that said, the blocks are also strikes.”

I could see how Ernie’s combination of experiences enabled him to gain trust with rap, Hip-Hop and other artists. Many of these performers were from the streets. They weren’t going to let just anybody take pictures of them. It had to be someone that knew where they came from. And you can see Ernie’s inner humanity in the photos he took, capturing not just the celebrity of rappers like LL Cool J, Naughty by Nature, Public Enemy, and 50 Cent, but their essence, too.

“I really love some of the jazz elements in early rap,” I said.

“You kiddin’ me? That’s my favorite. You have to include Guru with his Jazzmatazz albums. Of course, there is a Tribe Called Quest. It’s funny, Q-Tip told me that some cats thought the original jazz artists that he sampled had stolen the parts he sampled from them. I laughed.”

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“Q-Tip was providing an education to people. I’m sure a lot of people went back and checked out the original jazz recordings,” I said.

“Q-Tip is one of those people who transcends his art and tries to offer something to the world. This is what I relate to most.”

“How did you learn about your Cree ancestry?”

“My mother was Cree. But by the time I came around, so much of our history was lost.”

“Was there a point when you had a revelation about your Cree origins?”

“It didn’t mean anything to me. As a kid I only knew Mohawks; there were a lot of Mohawks in New York City. They worked on the rigs, building the skyscrapers. Looking Native has always defined my life. It meant something in a way to me that’s hard to describe. Like it’s in my bones. Then, in 2009, I was brought up to Canada for an event.

When I arrived, there were fifty Cree people at the airport to greet me.” Ernie paused and took a breath. “They were grateful that a Cree had done so much. That meant a lot to me.”

“One thing that really comes across, Ernie, is that you have so much love in your heart. Where did you get that from?”

“That comes from my mother. Maybe this is the Cree heritage she passed on to me. She taught me to approach people with love. I try to alter their perspectives. Once they understand who they are they understand who I am. It just feels right to be right and do to right. I always feel dirty after conflicts. Also, studying Zen has taught me things.

Zen gets into the essence of balancing everything out. What’s relevant. What’s real. What’s magical."

I could tell by talking to Ernie and what I’ve read about his life that he learned his big love from knowing pain. No doubt his stories of growing up as an outsider, getting his ass kicked in tough neighborhoods taught him that no one should feel that kind of pain. Not all people that come from tough situations come out of it with love. But when they do it’s called wisdom. When you look at the eyes on the portrait that Pinto did of Ernie, you can see something of the life that he’s lived. That portrait is a window into Ernie’s big soul.

Ernie Paniccioli: https://www.erniepaniccioli. com/OYE Studios http://oyestudios.com/

Ernie Paniccioli above, at top of the page with Lou Reed, Steve Van Zandt, LL Cool Jay and Public Enemy

April 2021

On Film: "Chasing Childhood" Opens a Conversation About the State of Growing Up

T

he New York that Margaret Munzer Loeb and Eden Wurmfeld grew up in was very different from the one their kids know: more crime and less technology, greater danger and fewer options for parental surveillance. Yet they had a freedom — to move around the city, to hang out with friends, to play — that their children, like so many in America, might find inconceivable. Today, kids’ lives are overscheduled and overly proscribed, with each day dedicated to a sport or extracurricular activity. And that’s on top of the demands of school, which have intensified as families compete for spots at highly selective universities. The result is a generation of young people who display signs of burnout in kindergarten, struggle with addiction and self-harm in high school, and are unable to cope once they’re on their own.

“Eden and I were nostalgically looking back at our own childhood and simultaneously talking about parenting, kind of like, ‘Wait, we’re parenting differently than the way we were raised,’” Munzer Loeb says. That realization led the friends and veteran filmmakers to investigate this radical shift in how kids experience the world — and what parents can do to better support their children’s development — in Chasing Childhood, an excellent and challenging documentary currently on the festival circuit.

The hyperproffesionaliztion of adolescence is too large for any one film to handle. But over the course of 80 minutes, Munzer Loeb and Wurmfeld tug on enough threads to get viewers talking and keep them thinking well after the credits roll. They also introduce us to experts and scientists — like Lenore Skenazy, president of Let Grow and author of Free Range Kids, and Peter Gray, an evolutionary psychologist and author of Free to Learn — working to create a new paradigm, and, crucially, kids, parents, and schools who bravely allow the filmmakers to document their struggles and breakthroughs.

Munzer Loeb and Wurmfeld spoke with the Star-Revue about Chasing Childhood, the ways making the film impacted them as parents, and how the pandemic may have created openings for real change.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

What was the genesis of Chasing Childhood?

Margaret Munzer Loeb: When Eden and I were nostalgically looking back at our own childhood and talking about parenting, we were very focused on the kind of autonomy that one could have in a pedestrian city like New York and we have this shared experience, and yet we’re frowned upon if we let our kids, at age 10, for instance, take public transportation, walk to stores. That was the jumping off point that got us into: What happened? What has changed? And is this a New York story?

We started it as one but came to the realization that this is so much bigger than just New York and what’s happened here and people’s thoughts about crime in the city.

This is a bigger story about parenting.

Red Hook Star-Revue

by Dante A. Ciampaglia About a third of the film is set in NYC, and the rest takes place in Wilton, Connecticut, and Patchogue, Long Island.

How did you come to those locations?

Eden Wurmfeld: Lenore Skenazy was the first person we interviewed, and we were probing her for where people were also thinking about these issues. She led us both to Patchogue, where she had been doing workshops and had already worked with the school district, and to Wilton. We also knew that Peter Gray had given a talk in the Wilton area. It really impacted the community and they decided to start the Free Play Task Force as a result of having heard Peter speak and realizing they didn’t want to just have that experience of hearing someone speak and feeling like, “Oh, my God, we’re screwing up,” or “Maybe we’re screwing up, but there’s nothing to do about it.” They felt like something really needed to change in their community. On the high school level, they brought in a psychologist who works in schools because they felt, anecdotally, that their kids were not well, but they wanted more data. And the results of the psychologist’s study at Wilton High School were really alarming.

In fact, things were not well.

As parents, what did you learn in the course of making Chasing Childhood that surprised you or were unexpected?

MML: One thing I learned — and we had some hunches about it — was this idea of when kids should be able to reach certain milestones in their life was being pushed in the United States. It’s not just anecdotal. that it We had been introduced to some researchers who are not in the film but who emboldened what we were following, which is really that in the United States in particular the milestones kids normally needed to meet — when they tied their shoes, when they started doing chores, when they walked to school — had been very delayed. But one thing stayed the same: when kids turned 18, they’re still expected to go off to college, certainly if they’re from a certain socioeconomic level.

So kids are then leaving to go 3,000 miles away, potentially, and they are reaching crisis at a lower threshold than a generation before. I feel like it was eye opening for me. And I continue as a parent to be on this idea of what it means to be aiming for something versus having things that really ground you in the present, like play. I don’t think I valued that before this film and we went on this journey ourselves. When you see your kids out there just making stuff in the yard… Doing this is valuable. It is not just frivolous. And I think society really got us away from that.

EW: I would also say that making this film freed me to give my kids a little more of the kind of experience that many of us had growing up, which was a little less adult supervision, not always an organized activity that someone had sanctioned, but just putting my kids in situations, whether they like them or not. I feel like my parents were basically like, “Unless there’s blood or vomit involved, we don’t want to hear from you,” you know what I mean? Just go do your thing. I feel like my kids could use a little more of that, frankly, where it’s not always on their terms with their friends in situations that they want to be in. I think they gain resilience and they gain these qualities that are essential for being healthy, functional adults. And I think a lot of that has been removed from the culture of childhood in the United States today.

I got a lot of mommy shaming for letting

my kids do things at a younger age than was culturally normal. And I realized in the course of making this film I’m not going to be quiet about it anymore. I’m going to say, “Yes, I let my kid do that. He is developmentally ready for it. And I believe it is safe and I think it’s fine and I’d love to engage about it.” Before, I had gone underground. I was trying to hide it because I thought my kids’ friends’ parents wouldn’t let them come over to our house or they would think it would be unsafe or they would think I was a bad parent. So I feel like the research we did and the people we came in contact with ultimately made me feel emboldened.

Does the pandemic change any of the outcomes or takeaways you present in the film?

MML: We’ve struggled at times with, “Has everything changed because now kids are so under-scheduled? Can people relate to this?” and going outside is scary for different reasons. I think one of the things the pandemic has done, and I’ve heard this from educators — I have three kids who did remote school and Eden has two — is that a lot of people don’t want to go back to the way things were. The day is long enough. Maybe kids shouldn’t be in things until 7:30 at night and coming home and then doing homework and then going to sleep. There’s some perspective on that. We want more structure than we have and we want our kids out of that house, but maybe that was too much. For some people, depending on where they are, but I certainly saw this in the park in New York City — I’ve never seen so many kids just playing.

It was a mass, but outside is good and so many structured activities were canceled that it allowed for just this organic play.

And responsibility. Maybe people weren’t letting their kids go to the store, but the pandemic has been a really long chunk of time and kids started chipping in and doing chores around the house in a way they never did before because, frankly, everyone was home. So I think in some ways, as we ramp back up, I think people are going to be open to having conversations about what this should look like, what’s actually healthy.

EW: I’ve heard more play in the street, with my window open while at my desk, in the last year than I ever have before in my adult life. I find that really a COVID silver lining. And all these streets in the neighborhoods that have been closed off to cars so that kids can play, I really hope a lot of those will carry forward and not be restored to traffic jams but left for kids to make their own fun on without fear of being hit by a car. Frankly that’s always my biggest fear as a parent in New York City, is my kid being hit by a car. It’s not my kid being abducted or anything like that.

How do we as parents ensure that that spirit of free play and autonomy not only remains but is encouraged? How do we ensure it’s seen as normal and not some pandemic one-off?

EW: We understand that parents are busy and people need their kids to be somewhere that they feel is safe after school if they can’t afford childcare. One of the things Let Grow has been trying to institute in schools is something called a play club. Instead of having an organized activity that’s very specific and more narrow, whether it’s chess or soccer or stop-motion animation class, it’s a time when kids can hang out and the schoolyard is open and there are games and materials around and there are adults there monitoring but they’re not telling kids what to do.

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We hope things like that will start to be instituted so people don’t feel like they have to overschedule their kids in things where adults are telling them what to engage in and how to do it but they’ll still be somewhere safe and parents can pick them up when their workday ends.

MML: One of the things I keep saying is the whole idea that there’s one right way to parent or one path that kids take really sets people up to feel bad and feel like failures and is not a great way to live in the world, to make mistakes, to grow. One of the first things that has to happen is parents have to be less judgmental of each other; that has to be part of the conversation. We have to be less judgmental of ourselves. There’s a lot of data out there that needs some pulling together and that we want to explore more.

Certainly this topic of sports specialization comes up a lot, which in some ways Eden has more experience with. But I’ve had this with my daughters and dance. They’re like, “I just want to dance a couple days a week.”

But once you start, it’s like, OK, next year it’s four days, then it’s five days. I know all these kids who make it to 15 and say, “Oh, I don’t dance anymore.” And the parents feel like they’ve invested all that time and money and the kid didn’t do anything else. There’s a zillion of those things. If people start to realize they don’t have to get on a certain train that’s not going to end up getting them where they want to go anyway... One of the reasons why we want to do this in a very grassroots way is because if people have more ability to see that there’s alternatives, they might choose them. There’s nothing worse than aiming for something, and then when you don’t get there you look back and there were all these things you could have done along the way that you missed.

EW: I like that. It’s so well said. What we observed a lot in the making of the film was kids burning out. You’re aiming for something, and whether the kid thinks he or she wants it or the parents want it for them, we saw so many kids across the board where, by the time they hit a certain age, they’re like, “I’m done.” They were kind of coming apart at the seams, where they were done with that activity. They were like, “All I’ve done is play chess for nine years, every weekend, tournaments — I don’t want to do that anymore.”

MML: Or I don’t want to do it, and only my parent wants me to do it and I don’t want to let my parent down. I feel like we heard this a lot. I’ve watched this in my own children. That’s kind of scary, and I catch myself: Should I push them? I don’t think any of these moments are easy.

But kids start thinking that if they don’t continue this activity, they’re going to let down their family. I’m not saying you get to choose all the time. But it’s hard.

Chasing Childhood will screen as part of the Harlem International Film Festival, taking place May 6-9. More information about the film, including resources for parents, is available at chasingchildhooddoc.com.

April 2021, Page 13

Jazz by Grella

Jazz on the Screen

By George Grella

Rahsaan Roland Kirk's music punctuates the soundtrack of Judas and the Black Messiah

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wo movies about important Black individuals in American history came out this past winter, one looked at the political persecution of a prominent public figure, the other was a movie about, in an important way, the presence of jazz in American life. I’m talking, of course, about The United States vs. Billie Holiday and Judas And The Black Messiah, and it’s the latter that’s the jazz movie.

I don’t mean to be glib, or make light of this powerful film. Rather, I want to look at how jazz is used in the movie to help create the impact it ultimately has.

Because the effect the movie had on me was triggered by hearing the excerpt of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s “The Inflated Tear” on the soundtrack. That needledrop comes in early, to frame the anguish of William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), the Judas to Fred Hampton’s (Daniel Kaluuya) Black Messiah.

Even more, the music frames the whole movie. Director Shaka King chose the Kirk recording (from the

classic Atlantic album of the same title), and then composer Mark Isham transcribed it for strings, slowing it down and stretching it out. That music is heard at the opening and is stitched throughout the film in the classic Wagnerian leitmotif concept. By the conclusion, it has been set once again in juxtaposition with Kirk’s original—”The Inflated Tear” begins with Kirk playing the opening idea and harmonies, solo, on three reed instruments in real time, something he was known for and a non-gimmicky, sincere expression of his profound musicality—and heard this way, its connection to the source is clear, as is its somber beauty and the weight of history that it helps the film bear.

There’s period music worked into Judas And The Black Messiah, something I subliminally expected (The Black Panthers, of which Hampton was a vital part, had their own band, a fascinating piece of musical and social history that Rickey Vincent covers in his book, Party Music: The Inside Story of the Black Panthers’ Band and How Black Power Transformed Soul Music. Music was essential to the Black political movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and you can read about that story in Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power, 1965-1975, by Pat Thomas, and listen to the companion 2-CD set of the same title from Light in the Attic records), and Kirk, as unique and compelling as he was, is not the first name that comes to mind in jazz. Nor even does the expectation that jazz will ever be an important dramatic element in any movie; it’s just not how most people, even film directors, hear things. So the gorgeous and abrading scream and cry of Kirk’s reeds was startling. It softens you up and opens a trap door beneath; you fall into the depths of the story. When heard again, the riff has not only changed the movie but been changed by it, and the moment bookends the tragedy for which Kirk’s wailing has previously set the stage. Music expresses what words cannot, and Kirk’s work, via King and Isham, is a calling out from the soul.

That’s not the only jazz in the movie, either.

There is a fleeting bit of Duke Ellington playing “Fleurette Africaine” on the piano, from the album Money Jungle he made for Blue Note, with Charles Mingus and Max Roach. It underlines a delicate, sunny, joyful moment that is, essentially, just ordinary. But that’s what Hampton was fighting for, the possibility that Blacks could live ordinary lives, unmolested by the power of the state, in the way that whites in America alway have. That could have been the linchpin in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, but instead that movie not only wastes the story of the great

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Lady Day, but also wastes all the great music that is inseparable from her life and legacy.

The main musical element in the movie is not pure music, but music as a plot point—will Holiday sing the anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit,” one of the few masterpieces of American political music, and will the FBI be able to stop her (the FBI is the element that binds the two movies together). The movie takes place in the 1940s and 1950s, roughly (the story telling is so confused that it’s hard to sort out any real time line), and the plot can barely handle the strained idea of the FBI trying to stop a song that had already been recorded and released, to acclaim, in 1939.

Despite the emphasis on “Strange Fruit,” the movie is really about the government’s war on drugs, via the story of Holiday. That means that by the time Andra Day (who is amazing as the singer) takes the stage to sing it, the song doesn’t really matter anymore. Chalk that up in part to how confusing and aimless the movie making is, but also to what comes off as director Lee Daniels’ contempt for jazz (which also comes through in the feeling that for him, Holiday is just an object upon whom he can toss his dramatic clichés).

The composer and pianist Kris Bowers has soundtrack credits for the movie, which, because it’s Billie Holiday, means that he was tasked with reworking and rearranging the standards that the singer made her own, like “All of Me” and “Then There Eyes.” As enviable as it may seem to be a film composers, most often the work boils down to giving a director what they ask for, no matter how dull or dumb that might be. And the sound of the music in the movie shows that Daniels wanted it pretty dull and dumb. Holiday sang classics and she made classics. With her phrasing and her incredible communication, she made the slightest novelties, like “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” into songs you want to hear again and again. “All of Me” is one of the great standards, and Holiday’s singing in it has never been bettered. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be ruined, and that’s what happens in the movie.

Songs like “All of Me” work because they fit together words and their meaning, melodies, and harmonies so that they tell a story that feels better and hits deeper than just a narration. Hearing great songs again and again sets up expectations and satisfactions, hearing a line and waiting for that new chord to come in just so. What the movie does with this song, and others, is to rework the harmonies in incomprehensible ways; the arrangements make the songs both more complicated and weaker, the music thwarts expectations and doesn’t replace them with anything worthwhile.

Gussying up older music with new instrumentation and beats, in order to appeal to contemporary listeners, is pretty standard, but replacing excellent harmonies with wan, unsatisfying ones is bizarre. One of the pleasures of the standards is hearing those cadences go by and, crucially, hearing how they move the music forward. But what The United States vs Billie Holiday does is make the music flighty, irrelevant, irritating.

The FBI never did as much damage to Billie Holiday as Lee Daniels now has.

"That music is heard at the opening and is stitched throughout the film in the classic Wagnerian leitmotif concept."

April 2021

Books by Quinn 325 Square Feet of America Review of Growing Up Bank Street by Donna Florio

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orn in 1955, Donna Florio lives in the same “barbell”-shaped West Village apartment she grew up in. Her new book, Growing Up Bank Street, recounts her bohemian childhood and coming of age, as well as the history of the neighborhood, stories from some of its longtime residents, and notable celebrity encounters, including John Lennon (whom she sprinkled while watering her flowers), social activist Bella Abzug (with whom Florio’s father tussled), and the “stork tall and emaciated” punk rock musician Sid Vicious, newly sober and just out of jail after the murder of longtime girlfriend Nancy Spungen.

During Florio’s girlhood, Greenwich Village was a mix of “painters, social activists, writers, longshoremen, actors, postmen, musicians, trust-fund bohemians, and office workers. Some were born here; others came because our street let them live and think as they liked,” Florio writes.

That latter group included Florio’s parents, Anne and Larry, opera buffs who fall in love on the “cheap seats” tickets line at the Metropolitan Opera. Marriage and little Donna arrive in short order, and the young couple discovers that “bohemia and a squalling baby were a bad mix.” They give up their room for the crib and sleep in the living room on a pullout couch.

While Anne continues to pursue her singing dreams on the stage of the nearby Amato Opera, Larry’s forced to find more traditional employment in order to support his new wife and daughter, who, at age four, makes her own stage debut in Madame Butterfly. Mother and daughter then join the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera: more prestigious, but a lot less fun, especially when Donna’s repeatedly told by her father, “‘You ruined my life by begin born!’”

Kind-hearted neighbors, another pair of opera singers with a young daughter, provide refuge for Donna from her parents’ fighting. The building’s extended family includes an eccentric old actor who roams the hallways naked, working on crossword puzzles; a vaudeville dancer; and an alcoholic hoarder. Marion Tanner, “the real-life aunt of the author Patrick Dennis, who wrote the best-selling novel Auntie Mame, which would spawn a Broadway play, a Hollywood movie, and a Broadway musical,” lives down the street and acts an impromptu babysitter, housing many of the neighborhood’s unwanted misfits. “Strange, I knew, was not always dangerous,” Florio writes, having been hardened by encounters with the street’s perverts, criminals, and eccentrics. “‘We weren’t brought up in the Village. We were yanked up,’” a childhood friend points out.

Growing Up Bank Street is most compelling when it focuses on the specifics of Florio’s childhood, as well

as her adult relationships with some of the building’s longtime residents, such as her older neighbor Al, who over forty years “became increasingly like an uncle who lived next door…We knocked on each other’s doors to borrow brandy, negotiate vacation mail pick-ups, or figure out a new gadget together.”

Less successful are the oral biographies Florio shares, having “used my leverage as a native of Bank Street to coax stories from my neighbors: whom they’d loved, where they worked, whether they’d fulfilled their dreams.” Plunked down as they are, and disconnected from Florio’s personal narrative, they feel like filler, perhaps to account for the many years when Florio lived elsewhere, whether in Boston for college or the many years she later spent overseas.

John Kemmerer, “my elusive neighbor, the grayhaired loner in the hall,” is made central. Florio shares excerpts from his journals, praising his gifts as a writer as a way to air out her own lifelong insecurities in that arena. For the reader, it’s a bit like arriving hungry after being invited for dinner, and having your hostess explain, while setting the table, that she isn’t much of a cook.

Unfortunately, that inexperience as a writer sometimes shows through. Rather than follow a straightforward chronology, Florio’s chosen to arrange her material by theme. Time periods and their associated memories tend to repeat themselves to diminishing effect. The book starts off strong, then sputters and meanders. Florio’s obviously done her research about the neighborhood’s history, but trying to encompass so much was likely overwhelming. “This building of mine, I came to realize, this 63 Bank Street, holds the stories of America,” she writes. It’s like she realized she was sitting on a goldmine, but shortchanged herself.

see it through a child’s eyes. A kind of willful naiveté reigns supreme. Much of the book’s material is viewed through rose-colored glasses.

Florio was a girlhood friend of Mary Jacobs, whose mother, Jane, wrote the seminal work The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which made (according to Florio) “compelling arguments for the vibrancy and social cohesion of communities with a wide mix of classes and ethnicities, along with small shops and residential buildings that encourage neighbors to form ties with one another.” Evidencing the unique kinds of lives that cities can foster, Florio’s heartfelt work is like a valentine marking a place in that book’s pages, dedicated to a way of life that’s largely vanished, even as it’s still being lived. Review by Michael Quinn

I wish Florio would’ve trusted the power of her own story to stand central, rather than squeeze it to its margins. We see her as a child, a teenager, and as a woman, but we don’t witness the transitions. These crucial changes all happen off the page. Likewise, multiple marriages are referred to only in passing.

It would’ve been interesting for Florio to reflect on a romantic relationship within the same walls that her parents’ unfolded.

Her perspective on their relationship likely changed as she aged, but we only

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April 2021, Page 15

Music page: Kurt Gottschalk A Brief Nightmare with Alpha Maid I’m not sure where Alpha Maid comes from, but it seems like a scary place. Reports say South London, although Godard’s Alphaville seems more likely. I might also have guessed Bristol, where producer/rapper Tricky comes from, but that might be an overgeneralization. Like Tricky, though, or at least Tricky at his best, Alpha Maid make disturbing mixes, putting unadorned vocals over unsupportive, glitched-out tracks, like a dystopian dancefloor, like a post-human world where human pain remains.

CHUCKLE (out digitally from C.A.N.V.A.S. March 19, with a vinyl release to come at some unspecified date) is the trio’s second EP. Like 2019’s Spy, it runs barely a quarter of an hour—all the time they need to set a mood and leave you with it. The tracks grind and jitter, heavy but sparse, unstable. Lopsided glitches and trumpet spurts, plodding bass and distorted guitar seem pasted over beats that come off as almost accidental. Melodies arise only occasionally, as if to make some sardonic point. Leisha Thomas’s voice is filtered and coated in reverb, words eroded into core attitude.

It’s a remarkable little record, streaming in full on Bandcamp. If it doesn’t unnerve you, you just don’t have nerves.

It’s Birthday Ass’s Party, We Just Live in It

Vocalist Priya Carlberg formed Birthday Ass five years ago when she was a student at the New England Conservatory, but the band members’ backgrounds in jazz and improvisation shouldn’t be cause for concern. The sextet has sufficient attitude to back its name, as evidenced by the Bandcamp bundles for their new album which include purple vinyl and band logo undergarments (panties and boxers).

And Carlberg is dexterous enough of a singer to realize her quirky ideas: Annie Ross cleverness to levels of sass worthy of Akron legends the Waitresses work their way into her hyperkinetic songs. The band includes saxophonist Raef Sengupta, who released an album of heady compositions by boundary-pusher Anthony Braxton with the group Tropos while still at NEC, and guitarist Andres Abenante, who has recorded with Latin jazz legend Eddie Palmieri. But despite the chops, they’re still a pop band.

Head of the Household (out April 23 on Ramp Local) is Birthday Ass’s second album, following the 2019 cassette/download Baby Syndrome. “Every day I don’t know how but my feet don’t ever leave the ground,” Carlberg sings on the opening track (and lead off video) “Blah,” her lyrics punctuated by repetitions and vocalese permutations of the title. The fast freneticism continues apace, with her la-la’s and plubbage-blubbages bubbling up through another eight tightly crafted, slightly crazed tunes, bouncing joyously across a slightly nervous, 32 minutes with moments of mariachi, surf and marching band and no end of memorable melodies.

While it’s not an album about spotlighting showmanship, the band isn’t above pushing themselves to impressive limits. Again and again, they push tempos to points that should cause them to dissolve into mayhem, but they stay on point and snap back. Even when they do break meter, they keep a firm grip on the through line. Birthday Ass is a band, not just a group of soloists, and the complexities and intricacies work in service to Carlberg’s odd, endearing songs. All told, Birthday Ass isn’t exactly a party. It’s more like the soufflé fell and there’s no rum left for the cake, but somehow it’s still a good time.

Dry, clean, postpunk wit from South London

The Gang of Four revivalism of the early naughts got one thing terribly wrong. Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand and their ilk did a reasonable enough job at aping the angular punk-funk sound, but lacked the rigidity. They weren’t fierce. They weren’t disciplined. They seemed to want to have a good time.

A generation later, London’s Dry Cleaning is out to reclaim the terrain. The band made a quick splash over in Blighty in 2018 with their first single, “Magic of Meghan.” Florence Prince’s lyrics, written the day she and her partner broke up and Prince Harry announced his engagement to Meghan Markle, may have proven more prophetic than she imagined at the time: “Messages from the public: Thank you for all you’re doing, we love you,” she intoned over an angular groove. “You’re just what England needs, you’re going to change us.”

After a couple of self-released EPs the following year, the band found a fitting home at 4AD—the British label behind albums by the likes of Blonde Redhead, Gang Gang Dance and St. Vincent—and a perfect producer in the form of longtime PJ Harvey producer and bandmate John Parish.

The result in New Long Leg. The band’s first full-length (out April 2 on vinyl, CD and download) is a propulsive 42 minutes with the knife-edge guitar of Tom Dowse slicing through the tight rhythm section of bassist Lewis Maynard and drummer Nick Buxton. But Shaw is always at center, deadly serious, reciting texts—as much monologues as they are verses—that manage to be focused and specific yet oddly ambiguous. “Do everything and feel nothing,” she repeats in lead single and lead track “Scratchcard Lanyard,” then, “I’ve come here to make a ceramic shoe and I’ve come to smash what you made / I’ve come to learn how to mingle / I’ve come to learn how to dance / I’ve come to join the knitting circle,” in a monotone like every day is doomsday, like she doesn’t care if you believe her. It isn’t until the album’s seventh song, “More Big Birds,” that she sings anything, and then it’s just a wordless sequence of “da da da” before returning to a soliloquy about being on top of household chores while feeling like her brain is no longer her own. It would almost feel as if she were mocking you for expecting her to sing a song just because she’s in a band, but it’s more like she doesn’t even notice you’re in the room. New Long Leg is a big, loud shiver.

Forty-two years ago, Gang of Four put distorted guitar over driving beats and sang about feeling alienated at the discotheque, feeling like a tourist at home. Dry Cleaning isn’t any more likely just to go out and have a good time, but they might be a bit more resigned to the dire inevitability of other people.

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The Wisdom of Lonnie Holley

inger and seer Lonnie Holley has a remarkable way of playing off of others while never seeming to quite change his act. The Alabama native first gained attention as a sculptor and visual artist working with found materials in what might be labeled “folk” or “outsider” idioms. He found his way into music and performance, first accompanying himself on a Casio keyboard and eventually working with other accompanists. Through it all, Holley has spoken a kind of unschooled wisdom that resonates so deeply it can be hard to face straight on.

Broken Mirror, A Selfie Reflection (CD, LP and download out April 9 on Spacebomb Records) has the biggest number of musicians to back Holley on record—eight of them in all, as opposed to his usual one or two, heavy on keyboards and effects and led by singer/songwriter Matthew E. White—making

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Holley’s biggest sounding record to date. He didn’t exactly work with the backing band, however. White made the backing tapes back in 2018, during a series of guided improvisations intended to shake up his own music. The recordings sat on a shelf until he played a gig with Holley in his Richmond hometown and the tapes found their destiny. The five tracks on the album (running from four to 10 minutes in length) are Holley’s first takes, improvising from his notebook, over the prerecorded tracks.

Holley fits White and company’s music like a hand in a glove. He clearly draws energy and inspiration from his collaborators, whether live or on tape. The lyrics, as always, are pleas for simplicity, for not relying too much on technology, for self-betterment and preserving the natural world, but Holley intuitively molds his texts to the ambling grooves of the band. The philoso-

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phies and truths are delivered in his same, slow drawl, floating above the music somewhere between a song and a prayer, but the music dictates the direction. As with his visual art, a lack of training doesn’t belie a deep, expressive sensibility.

Holley’s work might not be for everyone. It can feel directionless, even without melody. There’s repeated phrases but no real verse/chorus structure. It’s a shame that such things might keep people away, because while it might not be for everyone, everyone should hear it.

April 2021