Whitney Houston: Who Cares?
Posted by: Keith Meatto on: February 23, 2012
- In: Music | Original Works
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[Singer-songwriter Alex Nackman discusses the death of Whitney Houston]
Let’s cut the bullshit for just a second. The death of Whitney Houston is irrelevant to anyone outside of her immediate family and close friends. Obviously 24-hour news cycles are now clamoring for all the details and all the rumors of what led to her death and are just foaming at the mouth that some new “news” has finally been released for them to harp on, over analyze, speculate on, dramatize, and journalistically masturbate to, but in reality, this type of thing was so inevitable, and honestly, so incredibly unimportant in the scheme of real meaningful news and issues.
I am not saying that the death of Whitney Houston does not matter in any way. It matters to her friends, to her support team, and to her family, especially a daughter, who now will live without a mother. But, let’s just back up for a second and admit that for the rest of us, who gives a shit? Whitney Houston was not a philanthropist, not a humanitarian, not a hero of war or struggle or a cause greater than herself, not a diplomat, not a fighter, and not a leader of any kind. Furthermore, she had not even been a relevant musician, touring act, singer, producer, or songwriter in the current day music business. I personally cannot even remember hearing her name mentioned in the news in a single capacity beyond the tidbits of information that leaked of her post-marital problems with Bobby Brown and her own struggles with substance abuse. That was truly the extent of her publicity over the past decade. I’m not sure if Whitney or her publicist should be blamed for that.
So, what on earth are we really talking and lamenting about here? Every single day there is a soldier killed in Afghanistan, an activist killed in Damascus, children killed by their psychotic father in a house explosion outside of Seattle, WA, a family killed in an apartment fire in Brooklyn, NY. Those events are the real tragedies. Those events are examples of the real struggles, both common and exceptional, in this world on which we should be focusing. The death of Whitney Houston is sad, but it is not important in a worldly sense or even a national sense. And, if they would admit it, I would argue that the vast majority of Whitney Houston’s fans probably did not even have the name “Whitney Houston” in their minds or on their iPods at all prior to hearing about her death (a true example of “out of sight, out of mind”). Yet, as soon as her death came over the AP wire, the clamoring of “news breaks” and tearful “this just in” segments flowed as if a leader and a caregiver for humanity had finally met his or her match, and was in route towards martyrdom. Yet, no martyr (or even a social hero) was born from this event.
Whitney Houston was a talented, yet troubled, entertainer with constant and incessant issues that she could not overcome. The world had not heard a single piece of news relevant to her music in years. Like Amy Winehouse, losing talented and troubled people is sad, but should not be treated as a monumental unexpected world loss worthy of a “Piers Morgan Special Edition” (though to be fair to CNN, Piers has trouble filling an hour with content on an average night with his tepid, silly, and vacuous interviews, so this probably felt like an open lay-up).
This all may sound insanely insensitive, but back away from Whitney for a moment and think about all this and think about what truly matters. We should save the melodrama and street shrines for those who give something bigger than themselves or at the absolute very least, appear to be remotely relevant in respect to their craft and what they do as people (musicians should make new music or tour, actors should release new movies, writers should release new novels). Must we continually fall to our knees for those whose lives are caught in a Groundhog Day cliché? All too often we focus on those individuals who continually and inevitably get into the same sordid situations in Hollywood hotel rooms.
Now, I know it sounds difficult and may feel unnatural, but those who look outside themselves and dare to do better, dare to change their outlook on the world and on the challenges they face, and dare to unite for the good (no matter the size of the cause) are the individuals for which our tears are truly worth shedding.
Alex Nackman is a songwriter, producer, composer, and artist who lives in Brooklyn. He’s written music for HBO, NBC, The CW, among others in the U.S. and UK. He’s been an MTV Buzzworthy Artist and toured alongside Buddy Guy, Norah Jones, and The Roots. This post originally appeared on his tumblr.
Film Projections: The Best Films of 2011
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: February 22, 2012
In anticipation of next week’s Academy Awards, FP film critic Franklin Laviola shares his final thoughts on film in 2011 over the next few days. Today, he gives us his favorite films of 2011. (Read the rest of Laviola’s work for Frontier Psychiatrist here.)
10. Essential Killing, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski & Aurora, directed by Cristi Puiu (tie)
Skolimowski’s previous film, Four Nights with Anna (2008), a masterpiece, still has not been picked up for any kind of distribution in the US. His latest was relegated to a poorly-advertised VOD release, beginning last summer. Vincent Gallo plays Mohammed, a suspected Taliban member, who is captured by American special forces in Afghanistan and transported to a secret detention center in Eastern Europe, where he is tortured. Mohammed manages to escape and soon finds himself pursued by an entire army, through harsh, unfamiliar terrain. Clocking in at only 80 minutes, this is a lean and brutal survivalist action film with some of the year’s most hallucinatory imagery. From the barren canyons and caves of Afghanistan to the frozen, snow-covered forests of Eastern Europe, Skolimowski demonstrates his painter’s eye for natural landscapes. As you would expect from the director of the classic Deep End (1970), surreal humor also abounds here — perhaps best represented by a scene, in which a famished Gallo holds a breastfeeding woman at gunpoint to steal a helping of milk! Gallo’s expressive and amazingly physical work, as Mohammed, is the real silent film performance of the year.
Game Changer: Cake
Posted by: freyabellin on: February 22, 2012
Frankly, I don’t love cake. And no, I don’t even love cupcakes (sacrilege for a female 20-something in NYC). I’d much sooner order ice cream or pie or a chocolate croissant before I’d opt for a piece of cake. I’ve even replaced cake with pancakes as my birthday tradition. (Hellooo, pancake month at Clinton Street Baking Co.! Bring on the fresh coconut pancakes, with kumquat syrup, and bruleed bananas!)
Point being, it’s hard to wow me with a cake. And chocolate cake? Forget it. I absolutely adore chocolate, but I’d rather have a piece of real chocolate or maybe a truffle. But this weekend I met my match, the chocolate cake that stole my heart away. It was light and fluffy like cheesecake, cloaked in deep, dark ganache frosting, and rich enough for just a sliver to suffice. And the best part? I made it myself! Normally I’m not one to toot my own horn, but this cake was killer.
If you’ve been following my column, you’ll know that I hardly ever bake. The way I see it, there are two types of cooks in the world (and maybe even people, if you want to extend the metaphor): the chefs and the pastry chefs. Pastry chef-ery requires meticulous attention to detail, and by nature makes it pretty much impossible to “undo” if you mess up. Added too much flour? One too many eggs? Sorry! Ya can’t fix it, and you may not even know something’s wrong until it comes out of the oven caved in and soggy. Whereas with most savory cooking I do, you can taste as you go and adjust for mistakes. Sometimes you even discover something magnificent by way of error. But baking is a science, and bakers are chemists. Chemistry was my only C in college. Let’s move on.
There comes, however, a point in every chef’s life when the barrier to baking must be transgressed. Perhaps you’ve found yourself a contestant on Top Chef, and you know Padma and Tom will think you’re a total wimp if you don’t at least TRY for a dessert course. Or maybe you requested an electric hand mixer for the holidays and want to test it out. Or maybe it’s your fiancé’s dad’s birthday, and chocolate cake is truly the way to his heart. Or maybe some combination of those last two? Yes, that sounds about right.
With these motivators in play, I decided to try my hand at baking once again, this time with a close ally (read: 1.2 pounds of chocolate) on my side. There was some splashing of buttermilk, and some rising and falling plumes of cocoa powder, but in the end, the two layers of this cake were born, along with a bowl of dense, luscious ganache frosting, destined to become the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had.
Some things I learned from my dabbles in pastry:
- When they tell you to grease the pans, use a whole lot of butter. No, more butter than that
- If you are asked to line the pan with rounds of wax paper, you need to actually cut circles the size of the pan (don’t ask what I actually thought this meant)
- Add powder to spinning mixing blades and they will throw it right back at you
- How do you get one layer of a layer cake onto the other? Very gently lift and plop
- If you live in New York, you have access to baking mecca
- For someone with quite lovely handwriting, my icing-writing legibility is subpar
- Everyone loves (and simultaneously hates) a baker
It was most certainly a success with the future in-laws, and now that I have established myself as a cake rookie, I think you should feel pretty secure in your abilities to recreate this chocolate wonder. Just cut small slices and invite over lots of friends for a BYOM (milk, obvi) party.
Double Chocolate Layer Cake
From Gourmet magazine, 1999
For cake layers
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
For ganache frosting
1 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
Special equipment
two 10- by 2-inch round cake pans
Make cake layers:
1. Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.
2. Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.
3. Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.
4. Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.
5. Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.
Make frosting:
1. Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.
2. Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). I found that stirring this over a bowl of ice water did a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly.
3. Spread frosting between cake layers and over top and sides. Cake keeps, covered and chilled, 3 days. Bring cake to room temperature before serving.
Freya Bellin writes alternate Wednesdays for Frontier Psychiatrist. Her recent FP recipes include Rooted in Winter, The Ultimate Roasted Chicken, and Coffee Roasting 101.
All She Can: Sharon Van Etten @ Lincoln Hall
Posted by: Peter Lillis on: February 21, 2012
- In: Music | Band Profiles | Concerts
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Sharon Van Etten is a very serious songwriter; no one would argue that. Her three albums are narratives of self-aware heartbreak, with a rare glimmer of hope or positivity. Track after track, Van Etten pines over lost love and mistakes made, always with taste. So, naturally, she’s my kind of girl. In person, however, she is very different.
I had the opportunity to see Van Etten on a mild Thursday evening in Chicago at Lincoln Hall, near DePaul University. A clean and high profile venue, Lincoln Hall is for sure one of the most comfortable places to see a show in Chicago. A nice, not too large floor offers great sight lines and even better sound. Opening act Shearwater—not to be mistaken with Stillwater of Almost Famous—successfully mixed noise and psych rock elements with a downhome folk sound, but failed to engage the crowd. We all knew why we were there, and it wasn’t for them.
Fountain of Youth: A Review of Punch Brothers, Who’s Feeling Young Now?
Posted by: Peter Lillis on: February 20, 2012
- In: Band Profiles | Music | Record Reviews
- 1 Comment
Chris Thile is a monster of modern music. A rare talent, Thile is known for his constant progress, taking his skills and voice into new territories with every endeavor. The mandolin virtuoso has released 19 full-lengths in the last 19 years, while working with renowned artists like Yo Yo Ma, Béla Fleck, Dolly Parton, Jack White and Steve Martin, among many others. In 2009, he debut his mandolin concerto Ad astra per alas porci with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, later to be played in as many as 10 high-profile orchestras across the country. He released two highly acclaimed albums in 2011: the traditional, hot-blooded Sleep With One Eye Open with Michael Daves (our #8 album of the year), and the neo-classical Goat Rodeo Sessions. He is also set to star in How To Grow A Band, a documentary about the writing and marketing of his first chamber piece “The Blind Leaving the Blind”, directed by Mark Meatto, my cousin. Oh yeah, and today he turns 31.
Finding a perfect balance between effortless pop bluegrass songwriting and awe-inspiring technical skill has long been a mission of Chris Thile, and his most recent regular outfit, Punch Brothers. Who’s Feeling Young Now?, their third release (fourth if you count How To Grow a Woman From the Ground, which you probably should) find the virtuosic five-piece balancing their extreme technical skills with their songwriting expertise better than just about anyone.
Frontier Psychiatrist Monthly Mixtape: February 2012, Side A
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: February 17, 2012
And now, for your enjoyment, Side A of our February mixtape. If you missed our January tape, stream sides A & B or download the whole thing from our Tumblr.
4. Kendrick Lamar – “Cartoon & Cereal”
5. Dustin Wong – “Pink Diamond”
7. Julia Holter & Linda Perhacs – “Delicious Descant”
8. Curren$y feat. Tradema – “Conference Call”
10. The-Drum – “Night Driving”
11. Chromatics – “Into The Black” (Neil Young Cover)
12. Cities Aviv – “Flex Your Gold”
13. oOoOO feat. Butterclock – “NoWayBack”
Film Projections: The Worst Films of 2011
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: February 17, 2012
In anticipation of next week’s Academy Awards, FP film critic Franklin Laviola shares his final thoughts on film in 2011 over the next few days. Today, he begins with his least favorite films of 2011. Come back Monday for his best films of 2011. (Read the rest of Laviola’s work for Frontier Psychiatrist here.)
10. Bridesmaids, directed by Paul Feig
Clocking in at an unbearable 125 minutes, this drab-looking gag fest seems to exist for no other reason, than to hit filmgoers over the head with the idea that girls can be just as obnoxious and vulgar as guys, when it comes to big screen comedies. Just like in the worst sketch comedy, scenes are stretched to interminable length, basic comic timing is rendered irrelevant, and broad scatology rules the day. The pop exuberance of Wedding Crashers is nowhere to be found here. Melissa McCarthy deserves a Razzie for defecating in that sink — not an Oscar nomination.
A Review of Houellebecq’s The Map and the Territory
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: February 16, 2012
- In: Book Reviews | Books
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Admittedly, I knew very little about Michel Houellebecq (pronounced “well-beck”) before I read this novel. I knew he was the main inspiration for Iggy Pop’s underrated 2009 album Preliminaires. I knew he has been criticized for being an intense misogynist and racist. But then again, so was Henry Miller, so I let that slide. I heard of his writing being particularly vulgar, solipsistic, but nonetheless brilliant. At the center of The Map and the Territory is Jed Martin, an artist in the present day. Despite a few throwaway thoughts of a wandering mind, Martin doesn’t seem to carry any of the characteristic tendencies of a Houellebecqian main character, but rather offers a more introverted and reflective presence. Martin is rather cold and distant, but not entirely outside of society. He does live in Paris after all, but he carries the defeatist and fatalistic outlook akin to Camus’ Mersault. “They don’t really amount to much, anyway, human relationships,” he thinks to himself while having Christmas dinner with his father.
When Jed was on his way to the funeral of his grandmother, he was struck by a new artistic inspiration, not in the form of any existential crisis or questions of meaning often associated with the death of a loved one (or at the least of a relation), but rather with the sublimity of a simple Michelin road map. He launches an exhibition of photographs of these maps and serendipitously acquaints himself with a beautiful Russian woman who works for the company. They begin a romantic relationship, as well as a commercial one, and Martin’s stock as an artist rises. Eventually, his gallerist suggests he contact a writer named Michel Houellebecq to write the catalog for his newest exhibition. The narrative tactic of an author placing himself in the story has become a bit trendy over the past few years and perhaps that is why Houellebecq decided to do it, almost mocking the connection of author and story. He doesn’t paint a positive picture of himself, as an alcoholic recluse in Ireland. But Martin and him become quick friends, surprising considering both of their isolationist tendencies.
A major theme of the novel is not just the acceptance of mortality, but the anticipation of one’s own death. This becomes abundantly clear when Jed’s father develops cancer and they have the most open and honest conversation of their lives during their annual Christmas dinner. Further, Houellebecq drives the point home with the third part of the novel involving a murder, of which the biggest concern for Detective Jasselin is what the biggest criminal motivation is: sex or money? This is the third in a set of conflicting, albeit not complete opposite dynamics as shown previously with art and love (the latter being fleeting in Jed’s eyes), and fathers and sons.
What doesn’t show itself entirely clear but is something to consider is the implications of the title of the novel. The quote that inspired it is “the map is not the territory,” the meaning of which can be likened to Magritte’s painting of a pipe with the text “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” (“this is not a pipe”). While the representation may have similarities with the object it is meant to represent, it does not encapsulate entirely what the thing is. The title of the Martin’s map exhibit is “The map is more interesting than the territory.” It doesn’t seem too much of an extrapolation (although Houellebecq never mentions this explicitly) to apply this train of thought to those of us who are always “connected.” Certainly by this point in life, if you haven’t been criticized by someone for updating a status, tweeting, or posting a picture of something while you’re doing it, you’ve done the criticizing yourself. Our culture (and apparently the global one at that) has become plugged in to the point of ignoring objects while embracing the representation of those objects ignored. This view is often lamented as the demise of [language / experience / relationships] but the title of this exhibition says otherwise, that perhaps the abstract is actually more meaningful than the concrete.
Fiction is a simulacrum of reality. The sequence of events in this or any work of fiction never happened, even if parts of it may have been inspired by empirical reality. Therefore, stories are just a representation of reality and in which we find just as much, if not more, truth in. Because if we didn’t, I would have no reason to review this novel. And you would have no reason to be reading it. I would be writing about current events and what not. Alas, here I am, wrapping up this review, more enveloped in a representation than the objects that surround me outside this 269 page exploration into a fabricated world, of which I know never happened, but still commit energy and time to deconstructing. Houellebecq (the author) offers honesty and imagination. We have to wonder why he inserts Houellebecq (the character) into the novel, and what the relationship between the two of them are, the map to his territory.
Andrew Hertzberg is a Chicago music blogger for Windy City Rock, a deep dish pizza slinger, and a night-time bike riding enthusiast. This is his first book review for Frontier Psychiatrist.
American Excess: The Seduction of Royal Baths’ Better Luck Next Life
Posted by: Peter Lillis on: February 15, 2012
- In: Band Profiles | Music | Record Reviews
- 1 Comment
In an effort to fortify my resume and to combat the boredom resulting from hours of watching British sitcoms on Netflix Instant, I recently joined a program at my school pairing international students with American guides. I was paired with a Chinese student, and like a good American, I have spent my time with her extolling the virtues of Mexican food and Chai lattes at restaurants and coffee shops around town. Naturally, at one point our conversation turned to music. She told me that she particularly likes American country music, her favorite artist being Taylor Swift. She then asked me why Americans like rock and roll so much, surprised that people who live such laid back lives would want to listen to such loud and boisterous music.
I had this question in the back of my mind as I listened through Royal Bath’s powerful new Better Luck Next Life, out now on Kanine Records. Royal Baths are the latest from the burgeoning Brooklyn via San Francisco psychedelic garage rock scene. It’s an album drenched in violent lust and strung out on speed. The scene is always a seedy one, evoking images of back alley drug deals and ravaged motel rooms. The subject matter is undeniably dark, as singer Jigmae Baer details vampiric sex scenes and murder fantasies with an icy detachment that makes the album feel that much steamier. On occasion, Cox’s withdrawn persona crumbles and the man sounds positively demonic. Think Al Pacino in Devil’s Advocate without Keanu Reeves ruining everything.
The Top 5 Music Videos of January 2012
Posted by: L.V. Lopez on: February 14, 2012
Every 30 days we bring you our five favorite music videos of the month gone by; if you missed any of last year’s entries, click here. The music video is off to great start in 2012, and there were many fantastic entries that could not find room on the list. If you take a look at some of them, head over to our tumblr where we have posted several (and where we frequently post new music and videos). In the meantime, enjoy the months’ best, featuring shadow puppets, action figures, dangerous car stunts, and gay porn stars. Read the rest of this entry »
