Pucker Up, America: Beers Are Going Sour

Hold Your Horses: The main flavor of a sour beer is tartness, like a strawberry or lemon. But many sours also have a "funky" taste that some say smells like a horse blanket or a barnyard. Credit: Morgan Walker

Move over, bitter IPAs and chocolaty stouts. There's a new kid on the craft brewing block, and it's going to knock your salivary glands into action.

It's called "sour beer." When you take a sip, it's like biting into a Granny Smith apple that's soaked in a French red wine: crisp, refreshing and a bit odd.

Look for descriptors like tart, funky, wild, barrel-aged and spontaneous fermentation at bars and restaurants. These beers will very likely be sour. Here are a few bottles to look for in wine and beer shops or even Whole Foods Markets. Just be ready to shell out at least $10 for a 750-ml bottle.

American Sour Ales

Belgian Sour Beers

Do you think you can handle the sour side of beer?

Courtesy of The Bruery

Sour beers are probably the oldest style of brew in the world, but they're just starting to get popular in the States. They were all the buzz at this year's Great American Beer Festival. And with hundreds of brewers now dabbling in sours, it's easier than ever to find them at a local bar or grocery store.

Most sour beers have few or no hops. So they're a good option to try if you don't like bitter beers or you're a wine lover who prefers a pinot noir to a Pilsner, says New Belgium's CEO, Kim Jordan of Fort Collins, Colo.

New Belgium, which produces the ubiquitous Fat Tire Ale, has started a whole series of sour beers called Lips of Faith — one of the most widely available lines of sour.

So what in the heck are these strange brews?

Sours beers are to the adult beverage world what yogurt is to dairy. Its beer that's been intentionally spoiled by bacteria — the good bacteria.

"We use the same microbes that make yogurt, miso and salami," says Alex Wallash, who co-founded The Rare Barrel, in Berkeley, Calif., one of the few breweries in the U.S. devoted solely to making sour beers.

Bacteria gobble up sugars in the beer and convert them into acids, like the ones in Granny Smith apples and lemons. The microcritters also churn out a smorgasbord of flavors and aromas. The result is a brew that has all the complexity of a wine and the zing of a Sour Patch Kid.

"Sour beers are tart like a raspberry or strawberry, but a lot of them are dry, like Champagne," Wallash says. So their taste sits somewhere between an ale, wine and cider, he says. "It will definitely change your expectation about what a beer tastes like. It's a new flavor experience all together."

And one that you might not like right away.

"When I first tried a sour, I was shocked," says Patrick Rue of The Bruery in Placentia, Calif. "I thought it had spoiled, and I threw the rest of the beer down the drain."

But it was too late for Rue. He had been bitten by the sour bug and went on to make some of the first sour beers in Southern California, including the popular Tart of Darkness.

In traditional beer-making, yeast is added to boiled grains to ferment the sugars into alcohol. Then the brew is ready for bottling.

But for sour beers, the process doesn't stop there. Brewers also add the bacteria Lactobacillus and Pediococcus. Sometimes they'll include a dash of Brettanomyces, a type of wild yeast that makes cherry, mango and pineapple flavors as well as an earthy aroma that some call funky, horsey or leathery.

Most sour beers are moved to oak barrels for aging, which can be a messy business. Now how would Homer Simpson handle this situation?

Courtesy of The Rare Barrel

Most sour beers are moved to oak barrels for aging, which can be a messy business. Now how would Homer Simpson handle this situation?

Courtesy of The Rare Barrel

The alternative approach for brewing sours is to go old-school and just let all the wild yeast and bacteria in the air drop into the beer naturally. It's risky but — when done right — can produce magnificent beer.

That's the strategy Ron Jeffries at Jolly Pumpkin in Dexter, Mich., uses. He's a pioneer of the sour movement in America, and he made some of the first commercial sours way back in 2004.

"There's wild yeast and bacteria everywhere, especially if there are orchards nearby," Jeffries tells The Salt. "When you make a happy home for them in your barrels, they just show up and spontaneously ferment — and sour — a beer."

"For thousands of years, all beer had sour notes to it," Jeffries says. "It was refreshing and crisp because people didn't understand how to keep things clean.

"Then with pasteurization, refrigeration and an understanding of how to keep cultures free of bacteria, beers started to become nonsour," he says.

A handful of breweries in Belgium continued to produce sour beers, known as lambics, Flanders ales and guezes. But it's craft breweries in America that are making them fashionable again.

"They're taking the beer style in crazy directions, just like they did with IPAs and porters," Jeffries says. "The reason why you're seeing sour beers gaining popularity is because they taste great, but also because of the creativity of American brewers."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/10/15/234914933/pucker-up-america-beers-are-going-sour?ft=1&f=1007
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“None of You [Reporters] Were Math Majors, Were You?” (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/334345106?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt Explain Their "SpeidiShow" Prank

Years before Miley Cyrus got creative with a foam finger or Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham opted into the porn industry, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt shocked fans of The Hills with their own off-the-wall antics. From Montag's 10 plastic surgery procedures in one day to Pratt's crystal worshipping, the pair always aimed to shock and surprise. 

PHOTOS: Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt's most over-the-top moments

Their latest venture, however, may be their most bizarre yet. One glance at the couple's Twitter feed and fans can see that they're invested in a new reality show they've dubbed SpeidiShow. It's their attempt to reinvent reality television they say. The only problem? The show doesn't actually exist. 

Us Weekly spoke exclusively with Montag, 27, and husband Pratt, 30, about their hoax and why they decided to invent the SpeidiShow. 

PHOTOS: The Hills stars: Then and now

"SpeidiShow is just as real as [people's] image of us," Pratt told Us. "People have tried little Twitter tricks, but this is bigger. It's a whole interactive world -- the show, the backstory, the on and offscreen drama, made out of a a huge online collaborative improv game."

The couple relies heavily on social media and their pseudo-show's webpage to garner interest in the faux project. Tons of fans have already told the stars that they love the show, despite the fact that it doesn't exist. 

PHOTOS: Heidi Montag's plastic bikini body

And for the notorious duo, this prank is validation after years of public criticism and judgement. 

"For years, we basically have been stuck playing the characters they wrote for us on The Hills," Montag tells Us. "Now fans can help us create new versions of Speidi."

For those still confused by Speidi's trick, Pratt has some wisdom to impart. 

"If you get hung up asking is the show real or not, don't bother playing," he said. "It's as real as we collectively say it is."

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/heidi-montag-spencer-pratt-explain-their-speidishow-prank-20131410
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A Poster of Every Star Wars Character from Just the Good Movies

So you want a Star Wars poster featuring all the characters, but Jar Jar Binks and kid-Anakin keep polluting the scene? I feel your pain. But a new print by artist Max Dalton and put out by Spoke Art has you covered. It has all your favorite heroes...from episodes IV-VI and nothing else.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/4hxzK2uzcck/a-poster-of-every-star-wars-character-from-just-the-goo-1448446848
Tags: trent richardson   Hiroshi Yamauchi   boardwalk empire   Allegiant Air   BBC  

Pusha T On A Tribe Called Quest, His Frustrations And Pharrell (Part 2)

Courtesy of Def Jam Records

Pusha T.

Courtesy of Def Jam Records

In the second part of an interview with Pusha T, Microphone Check co-host Ali Shaheed Muhammad is dragged into a public battle over which A Tribe Called Quest album is better — Low End Theory or Midnight Marauders. Pusha details his frustrations with the music industry in general, and one fashion company in particular, and says his dream for hip-hop is for legacy acts to tour like The Eagles. "I don't think I will ever put any other music before it, so I need to see it all the way through. I need to see it in all of its splendor," he says. When co-host Frannie Kelley tries to end their conversation on a high note, Pusha recalls the making of the last song on his new album, a song that comes from a hard truth: "I don't necessarily want to hear rap anymore that doesn't give me — if we're talking about the streets — we can't just glorify it. We have to tell the whole story."

ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD: When you say, "All praise to the most high on both sides / I pray to God, I pray for hard," what does that means?

PUSHA T: Man. Wow. It's a very terrible statement. But it's all praise to the most high, meaning God. And meaning that I've prayed for, you know, drugs. Hoping it comes through and me — you know what I'm saying, selling them and so on and so forth.

MUHAMMAD: That's real.

PUSHA: Totally. And that's a prime example of just feeling the beat. I don't even know why. When I can't explain it, I'm like, "That has to stay." When I can't explain why — "All praise to the most high!" — comes out, then that's it. After that, then I just start writing.

MUHAMMAD: Bob Dylan says the most important thing to a song is the first line. The first line is the most important.

PUSHA: I believe it.

MUHAMMAD: A lot of people don't really, they just write to write or just don't really capture that feeling.

PUSHA: Right.

MUHAMMAD: Like, you know it. "I don't know why and it just has to stay."

PUSHA: That feeling is everything, man. I'm telling you! And some people can dial in a whole verse. I feel like my true greatness will be when I can dial in my whole verse off of a feeling. I think Tupac probably was like, that great at that. It sounds like he was. I mean, I don't know. But it feels like that. Jimmy Iovine told me one time, "Tupac couldn't write a verse; he could only write a hook."

MUHAMMAD: That's crazy. I didn't know that.

PUSHA: That's what Jimmy Iovine called all of his verses, actually. He was like, "Man, all of his verses were truly just hooks. He could not write a verse."

MUHAMMAD: Yo, that's flipping amazing.

FRANNIE KELLEY: No, that makes sense because it's so long.

PUSHA: But then when you hear them, and then when you just mimic and you don't know the words and you just hear the melodies and all of Pac's bars, it's like, "Wow, wait a minute! That might be right."

MUHAMMAD: I'm just thinking about it, I'm kinda like messed up. I'm like, "Holy..."

PUSHA: But he was dialed into the feeling. That's what I mean. He's dialed into the feeling.

KELLEY: First of all, I noted the Tribe shout-out on "Pain."

PUSHA: Oh, did you?

KELLEY: Ali did not.

PUSHA: Aw man, what? Ahh, come on!

MUHAMMAD: Yeah, sorry. She had to point it out.

PUSHA: That is incredible!

MUHAMMAD: I'm so sorry. Yo, it's a lot of distractions this week.

PUSHA: Oh my ... man!

MUHAMMAD: Damn, Frannie.

KELLEY: I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

PUSHA: Come on! Ahh!

MUHAMMAD: Yeah, it was a lot of distractions.

PUSHA: Aw man.

MUHAMMAD: So, so many. I'm so sorry. It's a lot of distractions this week.

KELLEY: Oh man, I feel guilty. I feel real guilty right now. What is Tribe; what is Tribe for you?

PUSHA: It opened up the colors of hip-hop to me. I was very one-track minded, with hip-hop. Very. I'm G Rap, I'm Rakim, you know. I could only see it one way. Tribe just opened up the colors and let me know like, "Wait a minute, man. This is fresh." You know what I'm saying? It let me know that, like, I didn't have to listen to it in just that capacity, just a street capacity. It was still fly. It was the first, like — man, I remember the Polo Hi Tech jackets. Like, come on, man. It was so many things to me. Tribe was so many things to me. And it really opened up, like, the horizons of hip-hop to me.

KELLEY: There's something about the cleanliness of the sound that I hear on this album that I can also hear in Low End Theory, in particular, and Midnight Marauders. But then also, there's the visuals around Low End Theory, the simplicity. The decisions, and they stick to the decision. That's there, too.

PUSHA: Are you familiar with the big Twitter argument that we had?

MUHAMMAD: No.

PUSHA: Oh my gosh. It was the Low End Theory — I have to ask you!

MUHAMMAD: Uh-oh.

PUSHA: Low End Theory versus Midnight Marauders.

KELLEY: Oh, there it is. The eternal question.

MUHAMMAD: Daggone.

PUSHA: Hold on: It started at a Complex photo shoot. Me, Common, Tip, everybody. I mean, everybody. It spilled over to a phone call — Pharrell, Busta. It spilled into Twitter.

MUHAMMAD: No, I didn't hear about this.

PUSHA: Oh, man!

MUHAMMAD: So, what was the verdict?

PUSHA: I mean, I rolled with Marauders. I rolled with Marauders, Common rolled with Low End Theory, then came back and said, "I think you might have been right with Marauders." Listen. He ain't admit that, though. Not in a open forum. I said, "Well, you gotta do it on Twitter! You gotta talk it." I think Busta rolled with Low End Theory, man.

MUHAMMAD: I could see that.

PUSHA: But then he started naming — wait a minute: He tried to put "Scenario (Remix)" on. You can't do that!

MUHAMMAD: You can't do that.

PUSHA: My point to you is, you can't add a record that wasn't on the album to your discography.

MUHAMMAD: Yeah. That was way later, sorry.

PUSHA: Like, chill! But alright, I'm sorry.

KELLEY: I feel like I go Low End when I was younger, but now I would go Midnight.

MUHAMMAD: I'm happy to be in the room. What can I say?

PUSHA: Oh really? You're not gonna answer?

KELLEY: You're not gonna choose between your children?

PUSHA: Wow!

MUHAMMAD: Come on! I'm like, why are you asking me that?

KELLEY: Because he asked Tip!

PUSHA: I asked everybody! And Tip went Low End on me, too.

KELLEY: Whoa.

PUSHA: He went Low End Theory, I was like ...

MUHAMMAD: He did? He answered that question?

PUSHA: Yes, he did! I mean, we pulled up tracks. I'm like, "so you're saying that ..."

MUHAMMAD: I know why. I'll just say because Low End was like — man, we're not here to talk about that. We're here to talk about My Name Is My Name.

KELLEY: We're here to talk about hip-hop.

“ I feel like a manicured, timely, grass-roots campaign can work for me just like the $2 million that they may spend on your project, marketing it.

PUSHA: This is true.

MUHAMMAD: I'll just say I understand why he said that because that was like the open, that was — how do I explain this? I don't know if I can put words to the feeling of finally —

PUSHA: Do you agree with him?

MUHAMMAD: He's like, "Yo, cut to the chase."

PUSHA: I just want to know, do you agree with him?

MUHAMMAD: I cannot answer that question. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. It really is, because there were so many different things happening on that.

KELLEY: This leads into a question for me, actually. You talk about you make music for hip-hop culture, for this hip-hop s—-. What is that? What is that now?

PUSHA: Man. I think the culture is everything that us as the youth that came up on "The Message" and so on and so forth. Everything we're into. It's the music, it's the breakin', it's the fashion. It's everything. It's the slang, it's the lingo. I make music to keep that going.

As an artist right now, my biggest thing is a) I want to see hip-hop become one of the genres that tour like The Eagles. That's my biggest thing. Like, me being in hip-hop for 11 years? I want to see who's gonna be the first touring act and the first act that I'm going to see on the back of USA Today and say, "This year's biggest earners for touring." I want to see that. That's my biggest thing. And I feel like by being in the know and being a part of the culture and being a part of growing with hip-hop — this is going to be one of the first years that I feel like — and I sort of feel like Jay Z is sort of starting that — where you can see the older hip-hop veterans don't look down upon what's coming up, what's new. You know what I'm saying?

MUHAMMAD: Yeah, yeah.

PUSHA: And I feel like that's why all my favorites from back in the day left the game, why they got out the game. Because they were like, "Oh, I don't like where this is going. That's it. I'm off it." I feel like we're seeing that it doesn't have to be that. We can grow with it.

MUHAMMAD: It's like having a vasectomy.

PUSHA: Yo, come on!

MUHAMMAD: I'm just saying, in terms of the way that the older generation — they treat what comes after is like, "Well, have a vasectomy." Because it's like you're killing the lifeline of what preceded before you, which is so important. And that's just so damaging. It's so damaging because then the next generation has to pretty much figure things out for themselves. And that's what it becomes, and then you become even more upset because there was no one before —

PUSHA: There was no guidance.

MUHAMMAD: Exactly — to help me figure it out. I think it's the worst thing you can do in any position as a human being. You gotta be able to look beyond yourself.

PUSHA: Yes. I'm just gonna add to that by saying I feel like lyricism and lyric-driven hip-hop — that does not go out of style. So I feel like I'm gonna do my part because I'm gonna keep those fundamentals in play, with every year that hip-hop grows. I don't care what the new trend is. As long as I can incorporate that, man, I feel like I'm doing my job.

MUHAMMAD: In terms of the fashion aspect of hip-hop, you have a store. Is that true?

PUSHA: Yeah. I got two stores, and a clothing line, for the past five years.

MUHAMMAD: What inspired that?

PUSHA: Well, the clothing line is called Play Cloths. And it honestly was inspired by the We Got It 4 Cheap mixtape era, with the Re-Up Gang. We were going through a terrible time with the record label. We had just been moved over to Jive, we were arguing back and forth. We weren't putting out any music — this is before Hell Hath No Fury — and we put out those mixtapes.

And luckily, early on, the Clipse were embraced by Nigo, from A Bathing Ape and that streetwear line. So, I would go do these shows. It would be 500 kids, man. We Got It 4 Cheap is just Internet frenzy, college frenzy. 500 kids in there and I walk in and they'd be like, "Wait a minute, you got on the General jacket — 101 Varsity!" Or whatever. Now mind you, I'm just getting this stuff free. I wasn't into it like that, you know what I'm saying? I liked the clothes, but I wasn't into the Hypebeast-ness of it.

KELLEY: It was just what you were wearing.

PUSHA: Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And we had been embraced early on by him, so it was all good. That birthed BBC. Mind you, all of these people are just this close to us. So it's not real, I'm supporting my homeboy.

Once I saw the kids taking notice like that, I was like, "Man, I should really start a line." And what happened was there's a warehouse in Virginia. These kids, they were responsible for a couple of lines: Azurem, and Shmack, which was a streetwear/skate line. And the owners would let me come to their warehouse after work and keep all the staff. And with that, I would bring all my clothes. We'd make a whole mood board of just clothes, pictures. I remember playing, I think it was either "Heaven & Hell" or "Can It All Be So Simple," showing them the Snow Beach era of Polo, you know, just things like that.

“ I said, "No, that's a terrible song." [Pharrell] was like, "No. It may be a terrible song, but it's a true song and you know what happens when you write those type of records.

These kids are young, graphic kids. Just brought all that together and we decided to do a line. It was great because these guys were used to doing commercial chain stores, and we built it out on a boutique level, my line out on a boutique level. And it was good for them to just see that aspect, and the owners to see that aspect of the culture and see where it was going. And now, they're like, "Wait a minute. This is what it's about."

The stores were built two years after that. One is called Cream, it's in Norfolk, Va., and one is in the mall. And that is more just streetwear, the origins of streetwear: Stussy, The Hundreds, Ice Cream, things like that. The other one's called Creme as well, spelled C-R-E-M-E, and that is high-end: Versace, Marcelo Burlon, MCM, the Tier Zero Nike account. Things like that.

MUHAMMAD: Is that as challenging of a business as the music industry? Or do you find it easier to direct?

PUSHA: It's easier to direct. It is. The only problem is acquiring accounts sometimes. And that's when you're dealing with the higher end stuff, because some accounts don't want to be next to other accounts. And I found myself taking it very personal. Like, I was denied for a Givenchy account.

MUHAMMAD: Really?

PUSHA: Like, now.

KELLEY: That seems strange.

PUSHA: Those who know, know — the type of support that they've gotten from me.

KELLEY: The number of times you've mentioned them on track.

MUHAMMAD: Does that make you go, "Alright, F you." And now we're going to do our —

PUSHA: I just sold all of it. I did. I did.

MUHAMMAD: Was there an attempt to have a conversation to kind of like, fix their way of thinking? Or was it just kind of like, "Oh word? Alright, cool."

PUSHA: No. They sent me this really nice email that said, "No." And I was like, "This can't be. No." I couldn't take that. I couldn't accept that. I wasn't asking for anything. I have other brands that are top-tier, too. You know?

KELLEY: Didn't seem crazy.

PUSHA: Yeah, I wasn't asking to like, take your brand and put it — my brand isn't in the store that I was asking them to be a part of. My brand isn't even in there, at all. So yeah, I took it personal. Maybe I shouldn't have. But I definitely did.

KELLEY: What kind of frustrations do you have? I mean, I think a lot of people probably look at your life and be like, "You get to travel all the time."

PUSHA: I don't like traveling.

KELLEY: OK, so that's a frustration.

PUSHA: I don't. I actually don't.

KELLEY: Or say, "You get to meet famous people and get free drinks backstage and stuff."

PUSHA: I'm trying to stop drinking, actually.

KELLEY: OK.

PUSHA: I don't have — my frustrations, they all come from just being an artist. And they come from dealing with the politics of the record business. I've been in this game for so long now that I feel like it's not even about spending all the money on my marketing and so on and so forth. I think we all just have to come to an understanding about how to roll out a project. I feel like people are afraid to speak open and honestly. And with that, things get lost in this game. And I'm not that type of person. Like, with how things work today, virally and the lack of video shows, all of that. I feel like a manicured, timely, grass-roots campaign can work for me just like the $2 million that they may spend on your project, marketing it.

KELLEY: I can tell you from the journalists' side of things, all the different things that people try out and the different iterations of the various premiere plans or packaging or whatever, it makes my life harder. And it means I don't get to pay as much attention to a smaller, worthy project. I'm not sure really what people are trying to say all the time, either.

PUSHA: It's a bit much. I mean, that's the frustrating side to me. Like, we're in an age where information and everything is so obtainable. It's so accessible, man. And I think it's just moreso about just locking in and sticking with a plan and sticking with your core and your base. It's not too many of us that are really trying to do that.

MUHAMMAD: Yeah, it's interesting to hear at this stage — what is this, like your seventh record?

PUSHA: No. Three records as the Clipse. I mean, we got numerous mixtapes; a crew album on Koch; another street album that was done through Decon for myself, solo-wise. So yeah, I've been around.

MUHAMMAD: Yeah, and you've been successful. And to hear that, still — that this is the conversation that you're having — it's disheartening. And I say that because Tribe used to go through the same thing. You would hear it in our records, our frustration. After proving yourself, you go around the world and you help people make millions of dollars and you still continue to establish yourself. And acknowledging your ground, your base, all the time, and making sure that you service the people who are going to be there every time. And you pay so much attention to that, which continues to show what the campaign is about, when you focus on it wholly, and you still don't get that faith from the backers.

PUSHA: Yeah, 100 percent.

MUHAMMAD: It's frustrating hearing that that's what you're dealing with at this stage.

PUSHA: Very, very frustrating. And it still happens, man. You still go through these things.

“ I do dream to make it in this industry to the point where I can help others and begin to really carve out where I feel like hip-hop should be.

MUHAMMAD: So what drives you, then? And motivates you to keep making music?

PUSHA: My music helps so many people. I mean, just in my circle, family, the fans themselves. Man. I love writing. I love performing. I love seeing people, you know what I'm saying? As much as I hate getting on planes every day, when I get there, when I get on stage and get to be in front of my fans, it all goes away. And I'm talking about my frustrations for the whole day go away.

So I don't complain about it because this business serves its purpose for me. You gotta find other outlets to keep things moving so you don't go crazy. That's why I love my stores, I love Play Cloths. And it's just other ventures. I'm about to take tennis lessons, yo.

MUHAMMAD: That's pretty dope. Let me know if you want to play, I keep my racket in the trunk of my car.

PUSHA: Really?

MUHAMMAD: I'm not that good. It's just a good exercise.

KELLEY: No, stop. Where is this gonna happen? Because I am gonna send a videographer.

MUHAMMAD: We can go to Fort Greene Park, that's where I play in the summertime.

KELLEY: OK, perfect.

PUSHA: As an artist, don't let the business make you bitter or anything like that. Then you have to leave, because you don't want to sit with that right here. You don't want to sit with that on your heart, man. You gotta leave it alone.

MUHAMMAD: Did you dream of becoming an MC as a kid?

PUSHA: Not at all.

MUHAMMAD: Word.

PUSHA: Not at all. Like, I had no desire.

KELLEY: Did you want to be Teddy Riley?

PUSHA: I just wanted to be his friend. His friends had MPVs, I wanted a MPV! Purple ones, with TVs! I tell everybody, I wasn't rapping at all. I wasn't rapping at all. My brother was a rapper. He was known for rapping, around the area. His DJ and producer was Timbaland, at the time. And this is middle school, 8th, 9th grade. So, I'm in 4th grade. As he gets older and Tim starts branching out — I think he went to work with Jodeci, that whole camp — me and my homegirl, my childhood friend, she introduces me to Pharrell. Pharrell likes her. I'm not rapping at all. Me and Pharrell just start hanging out. He likes her and starts hanging out with her best friend.

KELLEY: That makes sense.

PUSHA: You know what I'm saying? Then weeks later, he says, "Yo, wait a minute.Your brother's Gene? Rapping Gene from the Beach?" And I was like, "Yeah." And he's like, "Yo, you gotta get him to come to the studio!" And I'm like, "Nah, man. My brother, he works with dude." And he's like, "No, but I know, you just gotta get him to come!" And this is all over a course of years, but I still wasn't rapping. Always around it, though. So then when I did hook them up and they got in the studio, that was just the everyday occurrence. I was like, "Man, I'mma write me a verse. Watch." And it happened just like that.

KELLEY: Classic little brother moves.

PUSHA: Yeah, totally. Totally. I never took the initiative to write. He took the initiative to just recently write a book. I would never take the initiative to do things like that. Like, "Write raps? Why?" It's being around him and being the little brother — that's where the rules came from. "Okay, that's wack, that's not wack." I learned all of that. Then you get in the studio with my brother and these other guys who produce, and they're showing you structure.

MUHAMMAD: So you didn't have a dream to become an MC?

PUSHA: No.

MUHAMMAD: Do you have a dream now?

PUSHA: Wow. That's a very tough question. I do dream to make it in this industry to the point where I can help others and begin to really carve out where I feel like hip-hop should be. I truly want to see hip-hop be — I feel like it's the youngest genre. Is that correct?

MUHAMMAD: Yeah.

PUSHA: Yeah. I mean, with it being the youngest genre, I want to see it be as big as all these other genres that are praised. I will never — my generation — I don't think I will ever put any other music before it, so I need to see it all the way through. I need to see it in all of its splendor. I see rock bands — I just saw Foreigner on Queen Latifah today. And I'm just like, "Man."

MUHAMMAD: A lot of people, actually, they're not around. The crazy thing — some of these pioneers, they're no longer here. Which, I don't know what that says about the challenges; this is our culture, it's our lifestyle. And it came from not having opportunity and oppression and city government legislatures. All these things that just made it impossible for us to take the next step from what our parents and our grandparents were trying to build. We took a dive. So we created an artform where we're talking about it, but at the same time, we become victims of the very thing that gave us the spirit. So there's a lot of pioneers, they not here because the lifestyle, the culture, just sucked 'em up.

PUSHA: Took 'em under.


MUHAMMAD: Yeah, so I think that may be one of the reasons. And there wasn't any organization like it is now. Like, you can really see what can happen. Look at what Jay's doing, what Kanye's doing. I guess it's evolving to becoming stablized and empowered.

PUSHA: It is, but it bothers me that I think — hip-hop has been here for 40 years. I feel like we're only at the second level of moguls. I feel like I'm Russell, Lyor, Rick Rubin. And then after that? It's like, Jay Z and Puff.

MUHAMMAD: Right. And that's it.

PUSHA: That's it. It stops. That can't be. You know what I'm saying? And I want to be a part of the growth of that. So then there's another set. Not to discredit the indie CEOs and so on and so forth that sold numerous records and the Master P eras, and even Cash Money with Baby and Slim. But I feel like that's still not the level that I'm talking.

MUHAMMAD: I feel you.

PUSHA: I feel like I want to see more Rubin, Lyor, Russell, Puffy, Jay Z era. We need to keep those, but I don't want just those two just to be the only ones. We need more.

MUHAMMAD: I like your dream. I like your dream. I like it.

KELLEY: Grow the industry.

PUSHA: I'm really good friends with Tony Draper from Suave House Records. He's a very, very insightful individual. And with all that he's been around, that he's seen, the ups and the downs of the industry, it's always been built and the foundation of it was always a grass-roots thing, for even his success. I feel like that. I feel like it should be that way. And then it just grows and builds, and as longs as those steps are being made, it will ultimately explode at the top, or whatever. But it's like, we gotta keep pushing that. We have to keep pushing that.

KELLEY: It is hard. It just is. But there's enough people that love it, and there's enough people that respond to high-quality, undeniable-level quality. And that's what builds it, I think, these days.

PUSHA: I'm watching it and I think the cycle's coming back around.

MUHAMMAD: Yeah. When you said that, I was like, "Man. We just took a major hit for a decade, at least."

PUSHA: Yeah. But look at it, it's coming back around.

MUHAMMAD: Even you said, "There's no music to roll your windows down and bump it to." So yeah, it's an interesting cycle.

KELLEY: I want to go out on a slightly higher note. So maybe you could tell us the story of one of the songs on My Name Is My Name. What's your favorite?

MUHAMMAD: Take that, talking about favorites.

PUSHA: Wow, you said a higher note. I think I would have to say that my favorite record on the album is called "S.N.I.T.C.H."

KELLEY: The Pharrell joint.

PUSHA: The acronym "S.N.I.T.C.H." Which stands for, "Sorry, N-word, I'm Tryna Come Home." It's the truest story on the album. Essentially, I got a phone call from a friend of mine in jail telling me that it would be our last time speaking because he made the decision to cooperate with the police. And he couldn't take being in jail and doing time anymore, you know? "I'm just telling you we not gon' speak because I know how you feel and I can't do it no more." So, there goes your higher note.

KELLEY: But that's how you end the album, right?

PUSHA: Right.

KELLEY: That was your move. It's a big move.

PUSHA: Yeah. I got the call and I actually called Pharrell and I was like, "Listen. Tell me am I analyzing this right." And I told him the conversation, and he was like, "Yeah, that's his gift. That's his gift to you, but it's a song." And I said, "No, that's a terrible song." He was like, "No. It may be a terrible song, but it's a true song and you know what happens when you write those type of records. It's gon' be that pain, it's gon' be amazing."

So, he was like, "Well, listen. Just think about it." And at the time I was asking him, I said, "Listen. The only thing I'm missing on my album is a 'Long Kiss Goodnight' or a 'You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)' type of beat.

KELLEY: Damn.

PUSHA: So he was like, "I'mma just work on the beat and you just think about it, because you need one of those stories anyway, from what you told me." I said, "OK."

He calls me two weeks later and I'm at SXSW on the street. He was like, "Sorry, N-word, I'm Tryna Come Home." I was like, "What you mean?" He was like, "No, that's the title of it." I was like, "OK, OK. I like it, I like it." He was like, "Nah, you don't feel me." He said, "It's the acronym for 'snitch', man." I was like, "Oh, yeah. You the G.O.A.T. You are the G.O.A.T." He was like, "Am I the G.O.A.T.?" "You are the G.O.A.T.! You the G.O.A.T.!"

It's my favorite record. My favorite record. The story records aren't usually my favorite records, but this was one of them. It really hit home. I've been saying to people, I don't necessarily want to hear rap anymore that doesn't give me — if we're talking about the streets — we can't just glorify it. We have to tell the whole story.

And I'm saying I can't listen to raps that don't acknowledge that cooperating and informants are — like your crew that you've told me so many jewels and diamonds and Ferraris and so on and so forth about, nobody went to jail and nobody cooperated? I can't listen to that anymore. It hits home too much.

So, the third verse of it, I was talking to everybody. All rappers, all boys who be out here, you know, everybody glorifies the lifestyle. And it's like, everybody glorifies it, but nobody has ever put themselves that close to their man, or admitting, my man who can call me, and to tell me he's never gonna call me again, and I gotta do what I gotta do and that's just it.

MUHAMMAD: Raise the bar on honesty.

PUSHA: Yeah. We got to. You have to know that story. You have to.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/MicrophoneCheck/2013/10/16/235395978/pusha-t-on-a-tribe-called-quest-his-frustrations-and-pharrell-part-2?ft=1&f=1039
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Wynton Marsalis Goes Back To Church For 'Abyssinian Mass'

Damien Sneed assembled his 70-member Chorale Le Chateau to perform Wynton Marsalis Abyssinian Mass with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Frank Stewart/Jazz at Lincoln Center

Damien Sneed assembled his 70-member Chorale Le Chateau to perform Wynton Marsalis Abyssinian Mass with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Frank Stewart/Jazz at Lincoln Center

Wynton Marsalis is sipping hot tea in a church conference room before the evening's performance. His custom-made Monette Raja trumpet — with its built-in mouthpiece and black opal inlays — sits by his side. He's riffing on one of his favorite subjects: the universality of rhythm.

"That rolling 6/8 rhythm is in African religious music, it's in Anglican religious music," he says, humming a complicated pattern and tapping his fingers on his notebook. "In a slower tempo it would be 'Greensleeves.'" He scats the melody. "Now stay in that time, here's the African 6/8 ... now let's go into the jazz shuffle." More tapping. "It's the same rhythm."

"So all the musics are related," he concludes.

Marsalis is going back to church. The 52-year-old Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning trumpeter, the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, has created a sprawling work called Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration. The piece, which amalgamates secular and sacred music, is currently on a 16-city tour.

"All the musics are related." That's a good way to get into the Abyssinian Mass — nearly two-and-a-half hours long, with intermission. This composition digs deeply into what Marsalis would call "the soil" of the black church: its shouts, its dirges, its spirituals, its hymns of praise. With this work, he celebrates the seminal influence the church has had on the music of black Americans, and the continuing pull it exerts on his own artistic and spiritual life.

Marsalis used the joyful stylings of the African-American gospel tradition to deliver a musical message of universal humanity. He says he tried to put it all in there: God and Allah, exultation and the blues, Saturday night and Sunday morning.

"The Abyssinian Mass tries to cover a lot of different types of music and put them together and show how they come from one expression," he says, "as the mass itself is about everyone has a place in the house of God."

Back In Church

Marsalis was commissioned to write this piece for the 2008 bicentennial celebration of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.

YouTube

A clip from the 2008 performance of Abyssinian: A Gospel Celebration.

His composition follows the progression of a Roman Catholic service. When he was growing up in New Orleans, his mother, Delores, would take him to St. Francis Catholic Church, where he remembers the order of the mass from the Devotional through the Gloria Patri to the Benediction.

"I love the form of the Mass because when I was younger I was always wondering when would it be over?" he says. "I started to notice the form — 'OK, when they get to this part, it's almost over.' "

Every section of Marsalis' musical mass, like the Catholic Mass, is distinct from the other parts. His lithe, 15-piece band charges into the spaces in between, playing complex sectional counterpoint — horns against reeds — that would make Duke Ellington smile down from heaven.

The musicians say Marsalis' creations are challenging. They always contain at least one passage that requires virtuosic playing.

"We're so used to playing Wynton's extended works we're always looking for that in the music," says Vincent Gardner, the trombone section leader. He has played with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra for 13 years. "So when we get a new piece, the first thing we do is flip through it and find the part that has all the notes. Because you know it's in there somewhere. It's just a matter of finding it and getting it under your fingers and then you can play it."

'The Breath Of God'

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — regarded as one of the world's best big bands — is surrounded onstage by the 70-voice Chorale Le Chateau. It takes its name from Damien LeChateau Sneed, the 34-year-old choir director and conductor of the mass. Sneed is a producer, arranger, conductor, teacher, keyboardist and sought-after gospel music director. He handpicked 70 of the top gospel and opera singers in the country — ranging in age from 21 to 70 — just for this tour. He says he plans to re-assemble this dream team for future projects.

"The choir brings the fire and the choir brings the truth to the Abyssinian Mass," he says. "The choir brings the spirit, it's like the haaaaaa, the breath of God."

YouTube

Wynton Marsalis and Damien Sneed discuss the Abyssinian Mass.

One evening concert in Charlotte, N.C., took place in an African-American mega-church, the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. That made it special for many of the singers and players, whose first exposure to music was in a church pew. Sneed, for instance, grew up in the Baptist church in Augusta, Ga.

"I think every note, every phrase, every rest, every chord will have more meaning just because of the fact that we are allowed to express ourselves, not just in a performance hall, but in a place of worship," Sneed says.

The choristers, in their burgundy robes, sing a capella hymns in lush seven- and eight-part harmonies one minute; the next minute they're swaying and hand-clapping to a swinging gospel number while the trombones growl in assent.

"The piece just has so many parts to it," says mezzo soprano Patricia Eaton. "It was an extraordinary experience, it is an extraordinary experience. I'm excited and yet I am lifted to another place as a religious experience."

The Abyssinian Mass sold out all 3,500 seats in the sanctuary of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. The audience was also a congregation. They amen-ed and shouted encouragement and interrupted the performance with standing ovations.

After it was over, Dr. Clifford Jones, longtime senior minister at the church, searched for words big enough to express his reactions.

"Exhilarating, powerful, inspirational, affirming of both religion and culture," he said, beaming.

An elderly African-American woman, who did not give her name, when asked what she thought of jazz and blues being played in her church, answered simply: "This is where it started, so it's good to have it back home."

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/19/237141507/wynton-marsalis-goes-back-to-church?ft=1&f=1039
Category: jennifer lawrence   Richard Sherman   beyonce   Disney Infinity   usher  

In Deep Blue New Jersey, A Tea Party Show Of Strength

New Jersey will choose a new U.S. Senator Wednesday. Pundits thought Newark Mayor Cory Booker would win it easily, but the Democratic Party's rising star is facing a tougher than expected challenge from Tea Party Republican Steve Lonegan — a sign of the Tea Party's growing stature in deep blue New Jersey.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NprProgramsATC/~3/TbfiAxTzqxk/story.php
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Obama presents Afghan war vet with Medal of Honor

WASHINGTON (AP) — Four years after risking his life in Afghanistan, William D. Swenson solemnly received the Medal of Honor on Tuesday in a case of battlefield bravery with some odd twists: The young Army captain questioned the judgment of his superiors, and the paperwork nominating him for the award was lost. He left the military two years ago but wants to return to active duty, a rare move for a medal recipient.

The nation's highest military honor — a sky blue ribbon and medal — was clasped around Swenson's neck by President Barack Obama at the White House. The president described how Swenson repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to recover fallen comrades and help save others during a battle against Taliban insurgents in the Ganjgal valley near the Pakistan border on Sept. 8, 2009. The fight claimed five Americans, 10 Afghan army troops and an interpreter.

Swenson is the second Medal of Honor recipient from that fight, just the second time in half a century that the medal has been awarded to two survivors of the same battle, Obama said. Two years ago, Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Marine Cpl. Dakota Meyer for heroic actions in the 2009 fight.

Obama noted that although America's highest military honor has been bestowed nearly 3,500 times, never before had the public been able to see any of the bravery it was designed to recognize. Video taken by the medevac crew's helmet cameras shows Swenson delivering a severely wounded soldier to the helicopter and kissing him on the head before returning to the heat of battle.

"A simple act of compassion and loyalty to a brother in arms," Obama said at the East Room ceremony attended by Swenson's parents, Julia and Carl, along with Vice President Joe Biden, first lady Michelle Obama, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and others.

Swenson also invited some of the Army soldiers and Marines who fought alongside him, and survivors of the five Americans.

Swenson, 34, of Seattle has been unemployed since leaving the military in February 2011. He has requested to return to active duty, rare for a Medal of Honor recipient, and his request is being reviewed, Army spokesman George Wright said.

A sober Swenson said the medal didn't belong to him alone. "This award was earned with a team, a team of our finest. This medal represents them. It represents us," he said in a brief statement afterward. He declined to answer questions.

Swenson was a trainer and adviser embedded with the Afghan Border Police Mentor Team in support of 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division when dozens of Taliban insurgents ambushed him and his team that September morning as they headed on foot to meet with village elders in rural Ganjgal in Kunar Province in northeastern Afghanistan.

Under a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and mortar and machine-gun fire, Swenson returned fire before risking his life to help evacuate a wounded comrade, Army Sgt. Kenneth W. Westbrook, 41, of Shiprock, N.M. Westbrook later died from his wounds.

Swenson then made several trips to pick up injured Afghan soldiers and the fallen Americans, first by driving an unarmored Ford Ranger truck into battle and then grabbing a Humvee when the pickup gave out. He finally climbed into a second Humvee with a crew that included Meyer to retrieve the other fallen Americans.

Obama said Swenson is a "pretty low key guy" who would prefer a Pacific Northwest mountain trail surrounded by cedar trees to White House pomp. But, perhaps alluding to the partisan budget dispute gripping Washington, he said: "I think our nation needs this ceremony today."

Swenson complained to military leaders after the fight that many of his calls for help were rejected by superior officers. After an investigation, two Army officers were reprimanded for being "inadequate and ineffective" and for "contributing directly to the loss of life."

Swenson was first nominated for the award in 2009 but the paperwork was lost. It was resubmitted in 2011.

Swenson is the sixth living recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan, and the first army officer so decorated since the Vietnam War, the Army said. Swenson's previous military honors include a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal.

___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Swenson Medal of Honor: http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/swenson

Helmet video of Swenson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1ZHMANDkg

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-presents-afghan-war-vet-medal-honor-183607537--politics.html
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Senator-To-Be Booker To Perform NJ Gay Weddings

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — U.S. Sen.-elect Cory Booker says he will officiate at weddings of both gay and heterosexual couples as the mayor of Newark now that New Jersey is allowing same-sex marriage.

Booker said in a statement Friday that he is excited to marry couples at City Hall starting at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

On Friday, New Jersey's highest court ruled unanimously to uphold an order that gay weddings must start Monday and to deny a delay sought by Gov. Chris Christie's administration.

The Newark mayor was elected Wednesday to the U.S. Senate and has been a strong supporter of gay rights. He says he has refused all requests to officiate marriages for the past seven years on principle.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=237213428&ft=1&f=
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Eastern Michigan football player found slain

This undated photo provided by Eastern Michigan University athletics department shows college football player Demarius Reed. Reed was found shot to death early Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, and authorities have launched an off-campus homicide investigation. Ypsilanti Police Sgt. Thomas Eberts tells the Ann Arbor News that a man's body was found in the hallway of an apartment complex about 7:15 a.m. by his roommate. The victim appeared to have been shot to death. (AP Photo/Eastern Michigan University Athletics Department)

This undated photo provided by Eastern Michigan University athletics department shows college football player Demarius Reed. Reed was found shot to death early Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, and authorities have launched an off-campus homicide investigation. Ypsilanti Police Sgt. Thomas Eberts tells the Ann Arbor News that a man's body was found in the hallway of an apartment complex about 7:15 a.m. by his roommate. The victim appeared to have been shot to death. (AP Photo/Eastern Michigan University Athletics Department)

YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) — A 20-year-old Eastern Michigan football player was found shot to death Friday in an off-campus apartment building in what authorities said was a homicide.

Police were investigating the slaying of junior wide receiver Demarius Reed, which was discovered a day before a home game against Ohio University that will be played as scheduled.

"The circumstances involving his death remain under investigation at this time by the Ypsilanti Police Department," school President Susan Martin said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, and his teammates on the football team."

Grief counselors met Friday with Reed's teammates, other students and faculty. The campus community was to receive updates on the slaying Friday afternoon during a forum at the Student Center Auditorium, the school said.

Eastern Michigan public safety officials are in close contact with Ypsilanti police on the case, Martin said.

Reed's body was found by his roommate about 7:15 a.m. in a hallway of the apartment building, police Sgt. Thomas Eberts told the Ann Arbor News.

Reed went to Simeon Academy in Chicago, perhaps best known as the high school of NBA star Derrick Rose. Reed majored in Communication, Media and Theatre Arts at the school, about 30 miles southwest of Detroit.

The 5-foot-10-inch, 161-pound receiver played in six games this season, catching 15 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. He made 18 receptions for 171 yards and scored a touchdown in nine games last season.

"The EMU family has suffered an unbelievable loss today," said Heather Lyke, vice president and athletic director at the school "Demarius was an influential leader who thrived in the classroom and on the field. Everyone gravitated to him and often described him as the 'life of the locker room.'"

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-10-18-FBC-E-Michigan-Player-Slain/id-15805c6745b142838f1df7e1dc1d0eba
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Kim Kardashian, Kate Middleton Show Off Impressive Post-Baby Bodies Months After Giving Birth!

Whoa baby! Kim Kardashian and Kate Middleton had the world buzzing over their dual pregnancies this summer, and now, just months after giving birth in June and July, the first-time moms (who originally had the same due date for kids George and North) are ready to show off their impressive post-baby bodies.

On Friday, Oct. 18, Middleton revealed a slender figure while out at a SportsAid Athlete Workshop at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where she showed off her volleyball skills -- and a flash of her bare, flat post-baby tummy. 

PHOTOS: Kim's post-baby body evolution

The Duchess, 31, wore a striped black-and-white top, navy-blue military blazer and cropped J Brand jeggings as she made her way across the court, spiking the ball and gamely smiling for the cameras as she wore (and jumped around in) impressively tall wedges.

"She was a natural," 18-year-old Toby French, a volleyball player from Chelmsford, told Us Weekly of Middleton (she gave birth to son George on July 22). "You can tell she's sporty. She said she's played a little before."

PHOTOS: Hollywood's hottest post-baby bodies

A Middleton family source told Us that the mom has "hardly done anything to lose the weight … she looks incredible."

"Kate's still breastfeeding and the small weight she gained while pregnant has just melted off," the source continued. "She's not dieting. After giving birth, she did continue with her yoga."

Kardashian, meanwhile, made her much-talked about body reveal just two days earlier, sharing a glimpse of her post-baby curves in a very revealing white one-piece swimsuit selfie.

PHOTOS: Kate Middleton's body evolution

In the shot, the 32-year-old reality star flaunts her famous booty and plenty of side-boob while glancing seductively over her left shoulder. (Though both Kardashian and Middleton have been out and about since giving birth, these are their most revealing photos to date.)

"She is eating lots of lean proteins, healthy fats like nuts and avocado, carbs, fruits, veggies and cheese," a rep for Atkins told Us. "She wanted to be a healthy, nursing mom and not toxify her milk with her diet or lose weight too quickly."

Kardashian welcomed her daughter with boyfriend Kanye West, 36, on June 15.

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-moms/news/kim-kardashian-kate-middleton-show-off-impressive-post-baby-bodies-months-after-giving-birth-20131810
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Graham Elliot Talks 'Covert Kitchens,' Pop-up Restaurants and Judging 'MasterChef Junior' Kids

Courtesy of Spike TV/Shine America

Graham Elliot

Chef Graham Elliot has a full plate.

He's not only judging Fox's MasterChef Junior but also gearing up for the debut of his new Spike TV special, Covert Kitchens, and the return of MasterChef.

PHOTOS: Hollywood Power Players Choose Their Favorite Chefs

In Covert Kitchens, he gives chefs 36 hours and $3.600 to come up with a pop-up restaurant from scratch -- in such unconventional locations as an auto body shop. Elliot serves as a mentor to the aspiring chefs, guiding them through their menu and concept and taste-testing everything along the way, while chefs Nancy Silverton, Michael Voltaggio and John Shook serve as judges.

Elliot recently gave The Hollywood Reporter a preview of what's to come on all of his shows.

What can you tell us about Covert Kitchens?

The idea is giving an up-and-coming chef an opportunity to show what they can do by kind of going off the grid and, with 3,600 bucks and 36 hours, transform a space into a fully functioning restaurant. In the end, they have to cook a multicourse menu for 50 or so people -- bloggers and who's who in the city and chefs who can help their career. It's an exciting and fun show; I don't think anything is on TV like it now. What happens is one of the chefs or two of chef or three will be able to offer the team a job and with that help them on their culinary journey.

What kind of locations will these chefs be dealing with?

The first one is in an auto body shop in East L.A. You'll be seeing someone cook on the hood of a Camaro and using blow torches. We also could do a tattoo parlor or an abandoned railroad car.

How popular are these pop-up restaurants?

[Many] chefs are not able to invest a million dollars into a bricks-and-mortar restaurant. This is how they can show everything they can do, and do it on the fly and cheap. These pop-up places exist for one night only. The word gets out via social media and people show up on the spot. From food trucks to pop-up restaurants to covert-style kitchens, this is a rebellious way to cook. As people are [getting into] cooking younger and younger, it's very similar to music -- you're going to see a lot of people going this route.

Have you done one of these yourself?

We've done certain things where we put up a restaurant for two or three days. You're dealing with all kinds of things, like maybe the water doesn't work or you think it will be this many [patrons] and it's double that amount. It's exciting but it makes you pull your hair out. You really do only have that much money to design [the space] and pay for the staff and get food and ingredients.

STORY: CBS Dramas, 'MasterChef Junior' and 'Shark Tank' Top Friday

What happens if a chef can't meet the 36-hour deadline?

I haven't run into that issue, but I'd still find a way to encourage them to stick with cooking and find a way to get better next time.

What's your role on the show?

I’m not telling them what to do, but what I'd do in a situation. "Don't be too ambitious; [create] soup instead." I'm giving guidance, so I'm focused probably a little more -- not stern, but focused on pushing them to get it done. I still get to be myself, but it's a lot more pressure, so I'm pushing them to make things happen.

How does this role differ than what you do on MasterChef?

I think in MasterChef, there's more time to critique and go over how to make things better. In this show, the clock is constantly ticking.

How has it been working with the kids on MasterChef Junior?

The kids are awesome. They are super inspiring. Kids are open-minded and innocent and haven't been conditioned to cook a certain way, if their mom or grandmother did things a certain way. They try new things and are excited instead of being scared or intimidated.

How did you changing your judging style to work with the kids?

Between [fellow judges] Joe [Bastianich], Gordon [Ramsay] and I, we have 10 kids of our own. We went into this looking to be coaches and mentors and push the kids along no matter what. [To encourage them to] stick with cooking as a creative outlet. No yelling but a lot of laughing and show how food is a universal language.

What can you reveal about what's ahead the rest of the season?

The most important thing is the restaurant takeover. You'll see these kids cooking for a dining room full of patrons. In the end, they get to see who's cooking, and people are tearing up and just can't believe that it's kids doing good food. It's really emotional.

Why do you think cooking shows are so popular?

Because it's something that everybody does. Lots of people are cooking. [There's also] this kind of hipsterization of food, where people put photos on Twitter and Instagram. They show the different things they are making. It's very in vogue right now.

Do you think there is a limit to how many cooking shows can be on TV at any one time?

Yeah, but in the end, the viewers are the ones that dictate it. Crappy food shows get booted, and the ones they like grow and continue. I'm glad to be part of one that resonates with viewers.

Covert Kitchens airs at 11 p.m. ET on Sunday on Spike TV, while MasterChef Junior airs at 8 p.m. Fridays on Fox. Meanwhile, casting for MasterChef is under way, hitting Chicago on Saturday. All three series are produced by Shine America.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/television/~3/ESoQJtTQ-UY/story01.htm
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Fla. bullying case: girls aged 12 and 14 charged

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) — After 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick committed suicide last month, one of her tormenters continued to make comments about her online, even bragging about the bullying, a sheriff said Tuesday.

The especially callous remark hastened the arrest of a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl who were primarily responsible for bullying Rebecca, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. They were charged with stalking and released to their parents.

"'Yes, I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself but I don't give a ...' and you can add the last word yourself," the sheriff said, quoting a Facebook post the older girl made Saturday.

Police in central Florida said Rebecca was tormented online and at school by as many as 15 girls before she climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant and hurled herself to her death Sept. 9. She is one of at least a dozen or so suicides in the past three years that were attributed at least in part to cyberbullying.

The sheriff said they were still investigating the girls, and trying to decide whether the parents should be charged.

"I'm aggravated that the parents aren't doing what parents should do," the sheriff said. "Responsible parents take disciplinary action."

About a year ago, the older girl threatened to fight Rebecca while they were sixth-graders at Crystal Lake Middle School and told her "to drink bleach and die," the sheriff said. She also convinced the younger girl to bully Rebecca, even though they had been best friends.

The girls repeatedly intimidated Rebecca and called her names, the sheriff said, and at one point, the younger girl even beat up Rebecca at school.

Both girls were charged as juveniles with third-degree felony aggravated stalking. If convicted, it's not clear how much time, if any at all, the girls would spend in juvenile detention because they did not have any previous criminal history, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office identified the two girls, but The Associated Press generally does not name juveniles charged with crimes.

The bullying began after the 14-year-old girl started dating a boy Rebecca had been seeing, the sheriff said.

A man who answered the phone at the 14-year-old's Lakeland home said he was her father and told The Associated Press "none of it's true."

"My daughter's a good girl and I'm 100 percent sure that whatever they're saying about my daughter is not true," he said.

At their mobile home, a barking pit bull stood guard and no one came outside despite shouts from reporters for an interview.

Neighbor George Colom said he had never interacted with the girl but noticed her playing roughly with other children on the street.

"Kids getting beat up, kids crying," Colom said. "The kids hang loose unsupervised all the time."

A telephone message left at the 12-year-old girl's home was not immediately returned and no one answered the door.

Orlando attorney David Hill said detectives may be able to pursue contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge for the parents, if they knew their daughters' were bullying Rebecca yet did nothing about it.

But it "will be easy to defend since the parents are going to say, 'We didn't know anything about it,'" said Hill, who is not involved in the case.

Perry Aftab, a New Jersey-based lawyer, told AP last month that it is difficult to bring charges against someone accused of driving a person to suicide, in part because of free-speech laws.

The case has illustrated, once more, the ways in which youngsters are using the Internet to torment others.

In a review of news articles last month, AP found about a dozen suicides in the U.S. since October 2010 that were attributed at least in part to cyberbullying. Aftab said she thought the number was at least twice that.

Before her death, Rebecca changed one of her online screen names to "That Dead Girl" and she messaged a boy in North Carolina: "I'm jumping." Detectives found some of her diaries at her home, and she talked of how depressed she was about the situation.

Last December, Rebecca was hospitalized for three days after cutting her wrists because of what she said was bullying, according to the sheriff. Later, after Rebecca complained that she had been pushed in the hallway and that another girl wanted to fight her, Rebecca's mother began home-schooling her in Lakeland, a city of about 100,000 midway between Tampa and Orlando, Judd said.

This fall, Rebecca started at a new school, but the bullying continued online, authorities said.

"Rebecca's mother went above and beyond to create interventions. The one issue that Rebecca's mom said to us was, 'I just didn't want to have her not like me, so I wanted to give her access to her cell phone so she could talk to her friends,'" Judd said. "Rebecca's family is absolutely devastated by this. Quite frankly, we're all devastated by this."

___

Kay reported from Miami.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fla-bullying-case-girls-aged-12-14-charged-221950204.html
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Booker wins Senate seat in NJ, must campaign soon

Newark Mayor Cory Booker talks to supporters during an election night victory party after winning a special election for the U.S. Senate, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan faced off to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker talks to supporters during an election night victory party after winning a special election for the U.S. Senate, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan faced off to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker talks to supporters during an election night victory party after winning a special election for the U.S. Senate, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan faced off to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, top left, hugs his mother Carolyn Booker after giving his victory speech during an election night party, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, in Newark, N.J. Booker and Republican Steve Lonegan faced off during a special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Republican senate candidate Steve Lonegan and wife Lorraine Rossi Lonegan, wave during his concession speech in Bridgewater, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, after Democrat Cory Booker was declared winner. Lonegan and Booker were vying to fill the Senate seat left vacant after the death of Frank Lautenberg. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Democrat Cory Booker has won a special election to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Senate through next year, but the rising political star will have to return to the campaign trail almost immediately to run for a full term.

Booker, 44, defeated conservative Steve Lonegan on Wednesday after an aggressive two month race to finish the term of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died in office in June at age 89.

The Newark mayor takes to Washington a national profile — boosted by a strong social media presence, frequent television appearances and his status as an Obama surrogate during the president's 2012 re-election campaign — just as the federal government begins functioning again after a 16-day shutdown.

"That's why I'm going to Washington — to take back that sense of pride," Booker said in his victory speech. "Not to play shallow politics that's used to attack and divide but to engage in the kind of hard, humble service that reaches out to others."

Booker, a supporter of gay marriage in a state where the issue is the subject of a court and legislative battle, talked about needing to improve America's schools and making the Senate "more accessible to all of us."

"If you voted for me, I will make you proud," he said. "If you didn't vote for me I will work every single day to earn your trust."

Booker, who has begun raising money to run for a full six-year term, would be on the ballot again in November 2014.

Lonegan, 57, told The Associated Press he has no plans to run again or return to Americans for Prosperity, the conservative, anti-tax group he quit to enter the race. He said he intends to start a business.

A feisty campaigner who unsuccessfully challenged Chris Christie for the Republican nomination for governor in 2009, Lonegan brought this race closer than many expected in a state that leans Democratic.

With nearly all precincts reporting, Booker had 55 percent of the vote to Lonegan's 44 percent. The first reaction from the social-media savvy victor came, of course, on Twitter: "Thank you so much, New Jersey, I'm proud to be your Senator-elect."

Booker, who will soon be sworn in as the first black senator from New Jersey, will arrive in Washington from the state's largest city with an unusual political resume.

He was raised in suburban Harington Park as the son of two of the first black IBM executives, graduated from Stanford and law school at Yale with a stint in between as a Rhodes Scholar before moving to one of Newark's toughest neighborhoods with the intent of doing good.

He's been an unconventional politician, a vegetarian with a Twitter following of 1.4 million — or five times the population of the city he governs. With state funding dwindling, he has used private fundraising, including a $100 million pledge from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to run programs in Newark, a strategy that has brought him both fame and criticism.

Former state Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa had been appointed by Christie to temporarily replace Lautenberg. The governor scheduled the special election for just 20 days before Christie himself is on the ballot seeking re-election. Democrats said Christie was afraid of appearing on the same ballot as the popular Booker, but courts upheld the election schedule.

Before Lautenberg died, Booker passed up a chance to run against Christie this year, saying he was eyeing Lautenberg's seat in 2014, in part so he could complete a full term as mayor — something he won't do now.

Booker does not expect to be sworn in until close to the end of the month, an aide said, noting the results still need to be certified by the state. Newark's council will be able to appoint an interim mayor when he steps down.

___

Delli Santi reported from Trenton. Associated Press reporters Geoff Mulvihill in Trenton and Bruce Shipkowski in Bridgewater contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-17-NJ%20Senate/id-1acb05a068c742c08737412fda4b78e1
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