There have never been as many plant-based sausages on the market as there are today.

With the much-hyped Game Changers documentary inspiring people to cut down on meat and try a vegetarian or vegan diet, all the new choices on the market couldn't come at a better time.

But working out which is your favourite could be a time consuming and expensive effort. So we're cutting that out, by trying them for you.

I have caused waves with my opinion on the Beyond Sausage in the office. It appears to be a love it or hate it situation.

Heres the thing, after the Beyond Burger, which is absolutely cracking (have you tried it in Byron Burgers The Truffler?), I found the sausage equivalent a bit of a let down.

Read more | What's really in your veggie burger?

Okay, so its not made with soya protein like the majority on this list, but despite smearing it in ketchup, mustard and gherkins, I could not fool myself into thinking I was chowing down on even the cheapest of hotdogs. Not to mention, they come in a two-pack and are super expensive compared the rest of the market.

Price: 5

Rating: 1.5/5

Richmonds pork sausages are a mere 42% pork (plus 10% pork fat). So, a vegan sausage may not have been the most gargantuan of leaps for them.

Whats best, it tastes just like a proper Richmond sausage from your youth, although the casing does have a tendency to slip off. It goes brilliantly in a sausage sarnie, even better dipped in baked beans. It hardly makes for the most refined of meals, but I didnt care for a second.

Price: 2.50

Rating: 4.5/5

These are great. Rather than trying to emulate your everyday banger, these are herbed and spiced to bring the flavour of more upmarket Cumberland and Lincolnshire sausages. They do it so well.

The texture is on point, and they hold together well in a stew or for a classy sausage and mash dish. Unfortunately, being made by Quorn, they contain egg so arent accessible to vegans.

Price: 2.50

Rating: 4/5

They resemble a sausage in look alone. Otherwise, theyre dry and have a slightly artificial taste to them, which I do not appreciate. Maybe its the taste of pea protein?

After the first half a sausage, I gave up. Continuing to eat them seemed like a form of self-hate. No thanks.

Price: 2.50

Rating: 1/5

No red onion and rosemary here. The point of this search is to veganise the full English breakfast. Think the kind you get in Wetherspoons, a greasy spoon, almost any restaurant along the seafront of the Costa Del Sol. So, trying Lindas plain vegetarian sausages was a revelation. They taste great; the closest Id come in a long time to a proper sausage.

Read more | Lewis Hamilton opens a vegan burger joint

If Id been writing this before the launch of Richmonds veggie sausage, Id give them full marks, but the outer texture of the Richmond trumps Lindas. Sorry.

Price: 2

Rating: 4/5

Theyre fine.

Were they ahead of their time? Sure. Are they vegan? No.

As such, will they keep up with the slew of competition and exciting new brands? To be honest, probably - theyve got a giant marketing budget. But it will become more difficult in the face of increased competition.

I would give Quorn a 3/5 for its Best of British sausages alone, but its cocktail sausages are super moreish. An all-round superior sausage, deserving of an extra point.

Price: 2.50 for Best of British Sausages and 1.75 for its cocktail sausages

Rating: 4/5

Very much a middle of the road sausage. Its got a decent, uniform texture and takes on other flavours pretty well when popped into a sauce or a casserole. But this is not a breakfast sausage and probably needs a lot of condiment support if youre relying on it to carry its own on a plate.

Price: 2

Rating: 2/5

Frys has been around for a while, and in my humble opinion, it is hugely underrated.

It took a while to get hold of their sausages because I couldnt find them in store. In the end, I opted for the Smoked Hot Dogs over the Traditional Vegan Sausages but we should take a second to appreciate the level of choice on offer here. Its not many brands who are offering a sausage roll, hot dog

Not the best product in the Frys range, but by no means a bad sausage.

Price: 2.75

Rating: 3/5

You couldnt fool a sausage that these were meat. Very much a sausage for people looking to avoid replicating meat, Hecks range of brightly coloured bangers are packed full of flavour. Albeit a not particularly meaty flavour profile, theyre certainly among the most interesting on the market right now.

Great names like Bollywood Bangers, The Beet Goes On and Super Green add to a quirky charm.

Price: 2.50

Rating 3.5/5

Made by the same group that make Richmonds vegan sausage, I was expecting a lot from my Naked Glory sausage, despite the pitiful attempt at an attention-grabbing brand name.

Oh boy did they deliver on taste, though. A posh cousin to the Richmond banger, there is a strong herb combination in these that drove me to eat the whole pack. Great for barbecue season, I reckon.

Price: 2.75

Rating: 5/5

This is a frankfurter to end all frankfurters. Not a soya protein isolate in sight, and it is far and away the most realistic sausage on this list.

The colour, texture and flavour are perfect. More to the point, you cant go wrong with a near foot-long sausage. Its feeding time.

Price: Starting from 10 at restaurant Unity Diner.

Rating: 5/5

Original post:

What are the best vegan and vegetarian sausages? - Euronews

Matt DiSanto | Onward State

Nosh Cafe & Grill appears to have closed its doors after a short eight-month stint on Beaver Avenue, according to a note posted inside the stores front door.

The letter let customers know that a new vegan/vegetarian cafe will be coming soon the Noshs former location.

No Nosh employees or managers appeared to be inside the store to reach for comment, and the cafes front door was locked as well. Its former OPEN sign was unplugged and sitting at the bottom of the window display earlier this afternoon.

Located at 115 E. Beaver Ave., Nosh first opened last spring and offered a vast menu that included everything from flatbreads to soup to mac n cheese bites. It took the place of Cafe Verve, a vegan cafe, and it only seems right that a vegan/vegetarian cafe will open in its place in the future.

Currently, its unclear whether Nosh will rework its menu into a vegan-vegetarian style or if an entirely new franchise, perhaps even a return of Verve, will open in its place.

Well update this post as more information on Noshs closure becomes available.

Please choose an option below.

OR

Matt is a sophomore majoring in journalism and is Onward State's copy editor and interim social media manager. He's a huge Philadelphia sports fan, fantasy football aficionado, and sudoku whiz hailing from Collegeville, Pa. The quickest way to his heart is Margherita pizza. Follow him on Twitter @mattdisanto_ for bad sports takes or email him at [emailprotected]

See more here:

Vegan Cafe To Open In Location Of Nosh Cafe & Grill - Onward State

Twelve-year-old vegan activist Genesis Butler will feature in Marvel Studios upcoming documentary series, Marvel Hero Project.

Marvel Hero Project is an unscripted series that shares the positive impact several young, real life heroes are making in their own communities across the country.Every youth leader featured in the show will also be the star of their own comic book.

It is such a huge honor to be part of the Marvel Universe, Butler told LIVEKINDLY in an email. She was shocked that one of the worlds biggest franchises chose her to talk about veganism.

Butler believes that being on the show is a great opportunity for veganism.It makes me so happy because I am going to be able to share why we should have compassion for all animals and when we have compassion for all animals, we are also showing compassion to the planet and to each other, she continued.

She filmed her activism lobbying for animals at the State Capitol and at New Life Animal Sanctuary in Lake Elsinore, California. Butler added that learning that getting her own Marvel comic where shes an animal ally was a complete surprise.

According to her website, Butler went vegan at age six after learning that milk comes from mother cows. Now 12, Butler is a real-life superhero to the animals. She is known for her 2017 TEDx talk A 10-year olds vision for healing the planet. Additionally, Butler is also the youngest person to deliver a TEDx Talk.

Butler has since given talks across the U.S. and Canada. Last February, she joined the Million Dollar Vegan campaign in urging Pope Francis to go vegan for Lent in exchange for a $1 million donation to a charity of his choice.

Butler has received numerous awards for her activism, including Animal Hero Kids Sir Paul McCartney Young Veg Advocate award, PETAs Youth Activist of the Year, and the Lisa Shapiro Youth Activist award. She appeared in the 2019 documentary The Invisible Vegan, directed by Jasmine and Kenny Leyva. The independent documentary explores unhealthy dietary patterns in the African-American community and highlights activists leading the modern vegan movement.

Last October, the Harvard C-CHANGE (Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health) Instagram featured Butler for her activism. She is the founder of the nonprofit, Genesis for the Animals, which raises money for animal sanctuaries around the world.

Marvel Hero Project premieres on Tuesday, November 12 on the Walt Disney Companys upcoming streaming platform, Disney+.

Summary

Article Name

Vegan Activist Genesis Butler Is Now a Marvel Hero

Description

Vegan youth activist Genesis Butler will feature in Marvel Studios' new series, "Marvel Hero Project." Butler is the youngest person to give a TEDx talk.

Author

Kat Smith

Publisher Name

LIVEKINDLY

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Marvel Just Turned This 12-Year-Old Vegan Activist Into a Superhero - LIVEKINDLY

Stratbeans, a leading Learning Management Solutions provider introduces Chatbot-based learning leveraging the power of AI to help upskill employees in the corporate world. High attrition industries such as Healthcare, IT, Telecom, Finance, E-commerce, and Retail are some of the early adopters of new-age technology. The solution will help enterprises to reduce resource costs, improve employee learning curve and drive productivity.

Employee training plays an integral role in driving the growth of an organization. However, with the limited time and availability of the L&D team, it could become a daunting task for some businesses. With the introduction of Chatbots-based learning, Stratbeans empowers employees with a knowledgeable and personalised assistant at no further resource cost. With its expertise, Stratbeans will make a huge difference by allowing employees to connect with all the information sources and pool data in such a way that critical tasks can be performed with the help of chatbots.

Prasoon Nigam, CTO & Co-founder, Stratbeans stated, Chatbot has become the new UI for modern interaction, as people are getting comfortable with numerous chatbots and voicebots like Alexa. Chatbot can cover various L&D scenarios much better than traditional ways. It is being used for providing personalized microlearning, to giving out interactive assessments, to providing the right set of information to an employee as he performs a task. These are initial days, but we are certain to see more prolific chatbot scenarios in the near future. In fact, we are working on some advanced chatbot offerings to solve complex challenges in eLearning

Commenting on the development, Pradeip Agarwal, VP Marketing & Co-founder, Stratbeans, stated, Poor communication within organizations is a major cause of losses in productivity and performance. Chatbot-based learning will open up a world of better communication, possessing the capability to deliver personalized and utility-based content, bots help in the segregation of information and, consequently, cater to the needs of the employees.

According to a recent Forrester survey, about 85 percent of customer interactions within an enterprise will be with software robots in five years time and 87 percent of CEOs are looking to expand their AI workforce using AI bots.

Chatbots are a great way to reinforce training in the workplace. Besides being more engaging than emails, workbooks, and other traditional reinforcement tools, Chatbots offer the following key benefits:

Established in 2008 by Sameer Nigam, Prasoon Nigam, and Pradeip Agarwal, Stratbeans has achieved milestone success working with large organisations like TATA, Genpact, EXL, Aviva, HDFC, ASPEN Pharma, among others. With companies increasingly investing in upskilling their employees, Stratbeans is helping corporations ensure their workforce stays relevant.

The companys mission is to empower its clients through advanced digital learning and performance support solutions for enhanced employee performance and customer engagement.

About Stratbeans:

Stratbeans provides technology platforms for driving customer success through Digital Transformation. Founded by Sameer Nigam, Prasoon Nigam & Pradeip Agarwal, Stratbeans provides enterprises with a 360-degree approach in Digital Transformation where it enables individuals and their teams to learn together to perform better for business growth and profitability.

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Original post:
Stratbeans Introduces Chatbot-Based Learning To Revolutionize Employee Performance With Virtual Personal Assistant - IndianWeb2.com

NME spoke to emotional fans who were desperate to get their hands on a piece of music history

The personal belongings ofThe ProdigysKeith Flint, who was found dead at his Essex home in March this year at the age of 49, went under the hammer at an auction in Cambridge yesterday (November 7).

Read more:Keith Flint, 1969-2019: the twisted face of rave, the beating heart of The Prodigy

Fetching a total of347,750 across 171 lots,items up for sale included several of Flints gold discs, his NME Awards, a lavish custom-made bed, a two-handed sword, his record collection, motorcycle leathers and various pieces of jewellery.

Advertised asThe Keith Flint Collectionby auction house Cheffins, other items listed included a collection of baseball caps, various pieces of furniture, art pieces and an archive of recordings and artwork from Flints solo projects, after he worked under the Flint and Clever Brains Fryin moniker.

Some shots of Keith Flint that were up for auction. (Credit: NME)

NME were invited along to the auction to see the event unfold and speak to some of the fans.

When asked what particular items they were interested in, fan Tameem Antonades said it was all about Flints jewellery.I like the rings and the chains, he said. Similarly, Mark Cutter, who was sporting a similar hairstyle to the one Keith Flint had in the Firestarter video, expressed a desire to own one of the late frontmans rings, but added Im just hoping I can afford it.

Id like the belts, the denims, said Darren Starling of Haverhill ahead of the auction. Ive been online trying to get one of the discs. Ive been outbid already but well see how we go on the night.

After we tried and failed miserably to engage a person dressed in a giant fox head in a conversation, a super fan from Portsmouth picked up the slack.

Keith Flint, man! He was like my idol growing up, Mike Stephens told NME. Back in the early 90s, during the prime of my teenage years, when I was trying to find out what I was and wasnt into, The Prodigy Experience came out on XL Recordings and that was it, it ticked all my boxes.

He was a couple of years older than me and if ever you wanted an older brother which I didnt have that would be the older brother figure.

Going on to list some of the items he was hoping to land, Stephens said: A couple of the presentation discs in particular would certainly mean a lot to me. It would be cool to have one of those, but to be fair I would be cool to go with anything.

In one of his many outfits, Lord Granger of the Prodigy Warriors was at the auction house all day celebrating the life of Keith Flint and taking pictures with fans. (Credit: NME)

Due to start at 6pm, the auction was forced to start 20 minutes late after Cheffins website crashed due to the high number of online bidders vying to get a place in line to bid on Flints belongings.

The first lot up for grabs was a collection of Music For the Jilted Generation picture discs that sold for 5,000. Following that, a piece of art by Doug Murphy (AKA PlasticGod) depicting The Prodigy frontman as a Lego figure went for 1,600.

The most expensive items on the night were three MTV Music Awards, that went for 16,000. The lot comprised of the 1997 MTV Networks Europe Viewers Choice Award given to The Prodigy for Breathe, another 1997Viewers Choice Award, also for Breathe, and the 1997/1998 Best Dance Video Award for The Prodigys Smack My Bitch Up.

Other big sellers includedtwo Experience presentation discs (13,000), a collection of The Fat Of the Land presentation discs (8,000) and a John Parkin signed canvas (4,400).

Elsewhere, a collection of printed Keith Flint memorabilia, comprising of several framed items, including an NME cover from May 6, 1995, sold for 2,200.

Two NME Awards given to Flint, one for Best Dance Act for The Prodigy in 1997, the other for Best Video for Firestarter, sold for 8,000.

Keith Flints NME Awards. (Credit: NME)

Kenny Barnes, from Romford in Essex, secured the winning bid on some of Flints horse riding equipment, mostly comprised of boots and clothing. Barnes, a keen rider himself, is also a snowboarding fan, which is where he met The Prodigy frontman on occasion.

The Prodigy used to practice at Brentwood dry slope and we met them over there a couple of times, he recalled. All of them were brilliant, and Keith was just well, Keith.

He just seemed so nice and so genuine and he always had time for his fans.

Some in attendance expressed a genuine concern for the way certain bidders were sitting and leaning on items, a sentiment shared byauctioneer Martin Millard who made it a point to ask if people would kindly respect the items on display.

Commenting on the auction and its sensitive nature, Matt Wilkinson, a fan who purchased a couple of items on the night, admitted that being at the auction was a bit weird but that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Its a warehouse full of somebodys stuff, he said. Youre able to touch garments that somebody wore. Theres jeans on a bench, there are people sat on his couch, and part of me feels uncomfortable with that but another part of me feels like this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and once its gone its gone.

Ive never been to an auction before, this is my first, he continued. Im definitely here because its Keiths stuff and I wanted to feel like I had a part of that history as a keepsake.

One of the biggest pick ups (literally) of The Keith Flint Collection was a large welded aluminium and steel model ant. When The Prodigy performed at the Milton Keynes Bowl in 2010, artist Obediar Madziva was commissioned to produce three large ant sculptures, based on the The Prodigys logo, for the stage. Each band member received one as a gift after the event.

Selling for 8,000, the buyer, who asked to remain anonymous, attended the auction specifically for the giant ant as she had been looking for something similar for her garden.

One of The Prodigys giant ants from their 2010 Milton Keynes Bowl performance sold for 8,000. (Credit: NME)

Ive been wanting something for the garden for a few years now and so Ive been looking at garden structures but could never decide on anything, she told NME.

She continued: Ive been a Prodigy fan since the early 90s, been to a lot of their gigs and when the auction came up I wanted to come and get something so when I saw that it just felt like the right thing to get.

While fans travelled far and wide from all over the UK, there were some who came even further.

Demonstrating just how far the love for Flint and The Prodigy goes, Andre Legenhausen flew from Germany especially for the auction but its not the first time hes travelled for the band.

I have been to many Prodigy concerts in Great Britain and Europe. I also flew over for Keiths funeral earlier this year, Legenhausen told NME. Ive been listening to their music for the past 20 years. Their music has always been a part of my life, through the good times and the bad.

Winning a bid on one of Flints leather motorcycle uniforms,Legenhausen said he was happy he managed to get his hands on something to remember the late frontman by. I know that its in good hands and I will hold it in honour of Keith until the end of my life.

Keith Flints Steve Liddard custom built oak and steel bed. (Credit: NME)

The final item up for sale on the night was a Steve Liddard custom built oak and steel bed. A unique item that Cheffins auctioneer Martin Millar said would appeal to a limited market, the bed is supported at each corner by entwined thorns and accessed via steps supported on the back of a crouching, winged mythical beast. According to Cheffins, it is understood that Flint worked closely with Steve Liddard on the design of the bed.

Expected to attract a large figure, the bed ended up selling for 8,500. It was sold to a local hotel owner, who wasnt a follower of Flint or The Prodigy, but was impressed with the craftsmanship of the bed.

Its very nicely made, he told NME, before comparing its stature to that of the Great Bed of Ware. This can now be the Great Bed of Cambridge.

Adding that he got the bed at a bargain price, he said he would have bid higher had it been required.

A painted wooden head study of Keith Flint at last nights auction. (Credit: NME)

Talking to NME after the auction ended, auctioneer Martin Millard said he was very pleased with how things went. Were delighted. I dont think it could have gone any better. I think it surpassed all expectations yet we had no real sense of how it was going to do.

Speaking on the huge number of people who chose to bid in person at Cheffins auction house in Cambridge as opposed to online, Millard added: It was an event, it wasnt just a disposal of assets. It was a chance to see all of Keiths personal possessions, to sit amongst them, to watch them be sold. It was a one-off. It was really great to see the number of people who came out and who had been queuing all day to be a part of history.

All 171 lots ofThe Keith Flint Collectionsold for a grand total of347,750, which will be passed on toKeith Flints estate. To see the full list of everything that went under the hammer and exactly how much it sold for, you can visit theCheffins website.

Read the rest here:
I will hold it in honour of Keith Flint until the end of my life: Inside the auction of The Prodigy frontmans personal items - NME Live

Jim Scott began his career in record production nearly 40 years ago; starting as a go-fer, and steadily climbing each rung of the ladder, eventually becoming a Grammy-winning engineer in 1995 for Tom Pettys Wildflowers. His vast experience working with some of the industrys heavyweights- from the Rolling Stones and Red Hot Chili Peppers to Sting and Santana- eventually motivated Scott to open his own PLYRZ recording studio, away from the crowded concrete of Los Angeles, in the quieter, mountainside city of Santa Clarita, California. There, as a producer, Scott has worked on several Grammy-winning efforts, including the debut album for Tedeschi Trucks Band, as well as acclaimed releases by Wilco and Robert Randolph. The seven-time Grammy winner also had a longtime professional and personal connection with the late Neal Casal. This past summer, Casal and his band, Circles Around the Sun, were recording at PLYRZ, working on their third LP. In late August, Casal committed suicide. Just a few weeks following the tragic event, Scott spoke from his studio about Casal, his creative relationships with artists, and getting the best performances on the record.

Tell me about yourrelationship with Neal Casal.

I love Neal Casal.Id known him for a really, really long time. I met him in the early 90s; maybe 91 or92. I did some of his very first demoswith him. Those demos led to him gettinga publishing deal and then a record deal.Then, I made his first record, and made his third record, parts of otherrecords, and I was with him a couple of days before he died, at the studiomaking whats going to be his last record with Circles Around the Sun.

It must have been ashock.

Its shocking and its crushing and its sad. Its bewildering. I feel guilty of not seeing something in Nealthat I couldve talked to him about.Every picture of us together hes smiling, and laughing, and playingguitar. Through the years it all justseemed so good. He was a travelingman. He got in a lot of amazing bands,did a lot of hard work, wrote a lot of amazing songs. He became everybodys go-to guy; everybodysright-hand man. It seemed like thingswere golden. Im really depressed andsad about him giving up the fight.

As a producer do youwelcome a personal relationship with an artist, guard against it, or do youjust act according to whatever develops naturally?

Theres certainly no plan for that. Artists are traveling people. Most of the time artists come in and youspend an intense amount of time working on something that is very personal tothem. And, you get in and do a lot ofwork, and spend way more time with them in a short period of time than you dowith your family and your other close friends.Its intense: you have to have eye contact; tell the truth. Its pretty real. Some of those relationships becomefriendships. Some stay professional witha certain dose of friendship involved.Thats if you are lucky enough to have them come back again and againand do more work. Theres not a bowling leaguewhere we can all get together and hang out.(Once) they finish the record they start their (tour) cycle.

Is it safe to sayyour relationship with Neal was an exception?

Neal was an exception.Neal was a friend. He stayed atmy house. I lent him my car for awhile. I hired him to play on dozens ofrecords. He was definitely in my lifemore than just a guy who played guitar and sang.

When you are working,is the closeness an asset or do you have to detach from that?

Closeness is more about trust. When people reach out to me wanting to worktogether, or send me songs, or even in a conversation before I hear the music,they may have 15 or so songs to ultimately choose the nine or ten to make analbum. The quickest way for me to get tothe bottom of the whole dance is to carefully listen to those songs, makenotes, and get ideas. And when I getthem I on the phone I say, Ill go first.Here are the songs I want to work on because I think these are thebest. I give them my A-list. Take it for whats its worth.

Typically, howaccepting is the artist when you give them that initial feedback?

Most of the time they take it really well. But, also, they want to ask about a song thatwasnt picked. Thats when you have tostart having conversations. You cantfake it. You have to something(thoughtful) to say about something that is important to them, and to me,too. You have to get right in there withthe truth. I do try to give affirmationof the good part without criticizing the bad part too much. Not everything everyone sings and plays isgood. You have to be encouraging whileyou are delivering the bad.

You talk about nineor ten songs being an album. That seemsto recall the era of vinyl LPs, rather than the CD or download era when thereis the potential for much more.

For those artists fortunate enough to make vinyl, its afantastic medium that can only take about ten songs, depending, obviously, onthe length of each song. So, four orfive a side. Anything more than that andyou risk sacrificing quality for length; or you sacrifice the money it costs toput out a double-disc- with three songs per side, and really wide grooves, andit sounds amazing. I know on the lastTedeschi Trucks Band album (Signs),we had three sides of music and a fourth side with a fantastic etching- apicture- you can look at, which is cool.

The effect of analbum being , basically, ten songs still means something to you, then?

Albums are still important to me and I feel like ten songsis an album. You can sequence like analbum: theres a rise and a fall. Youstart with one and end with one.Somewhere in the middle you build it up, then let it back down, thenbuild it up again. Theres still thatflow.

Does the destinationmatter to you- whether its for vinyl, CD, digital?

Not at all. Iconcentrate on making things sound like a record, as fast as I possiblycan. The record will reveal itselfpretty quickly if you allow it. Itshard enough getting things to sound generally good if not great. I dont have the knowledge to do something(differently) if an artist says its only for an iTunes release or something.

Lately, I see a lotof reissues on digital making an effort to revert back to the mix and/ormastering of the original vinyl release.It seems like the medium is looking backwards instead of forward.

Before we had CDs, mastering an album was a really bigdeal. See, the digital medium will takejust about anything you throw at it.Thats sort of the good news and really bad news. With vinyl, theres a limitation. So, the mastering engineers who cut vinyl-these guys were geniuses. They reallylistened. They really did amazing things.

How do you know whenyouve got a done take?

Its just my experience for all the years of doing it. I have a better handle on why someone wouldwant to listen to this song right now. Iwork until Im satisfied. I go throughall the stuff that listeners dont care about but as a record producer, arecord maker, an engineer, I am responsible for. It should sound good. It should be right. I have to believe that when I think itsright, everyone will think its right. Ifeel I try to act boldly; record boldly.Ive always loved loud things popping out. Its exciting to have loud tom-toms everyonce in a while. Just listen to an EltonJohn record. The Beatles records areawesome; stuff comes in so loud. No onewould ever remix Beatles records to make them calmer.

Saying it should beright, you are talking about the feel of the performance rather than whetheror not its perfect in a technical sense, yes?

Around here, its 100% performance-based. I dont spend any time looking at music on ascreen. I spend all my timelistening. For me, its by the seat ofmy pants. If it isnt in my groove, itsnot going to be in anybodys groove. Mygroove might be wider than others who are more precise. Music shouldnt be precise. Its emotional. Things dont have to be perfect. They just have to groove. I call it the rocking chair. If I can get in the rocking chair and staythere for the whole song- that is a take.

What about when youare working with a large ensemble like the 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band?

Tedeschi Trucks Band is a leviathan; a giant. Theyre so much fun, and not even hard torecord because they are so good. Thehard part is resisting taking the first take or two and saying that it cant bebetter. You have to dig a littledeeper. Honestly, with them, itsgetting better and better. I wish therewas a way for them to play all their new songs out on the road before we go into record them, but you cant do that these days because everyone has a cellphone. The record would (end up) outthere online the live versions- before you recorded the album.

You talked aboutworking with Neal and Circles Around the Sun- another band known for stronglive performances. I would imagine youprefer recording live in the studio if you can.

Mike Campbell (TomPetty) once said to me, Ive never heard five guys playing good soundbad. I think about that all thetime. It shouldnt be thatmysterious. It shouldnt be that hard. If people have to struggle to get through afour-minute song, they are not ready to record it.

Because a performanceis subjective- whether or not it was a great take- I can imagine you hearingsomething and thinking it can be better, and an artist hearing the same takeand thinking its the one. Orvice-versa. Who wins that debate?

I never win. Its notmy job to be that guy. Im not amusician. I have one mans humbleopinion. Their fans love them; theydont love me. I always defer to theartist. Its never going to say vocalsby Jim Scott anywhere on the record.

Read more:
Jim Scott on the "Rocking Chair," TTB and Neal Casal - jambands.com

Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski plowed her way through an hourlong Capitol Hill Block Party set with none of the frantic hype or endless appeals to the audience that characterize most festival acts. Her oeuvre is difficult to describe: at once a restrained, controlled masterclass in storytelling and a howling maelstrom of emotion, she moves from indie rock about the Asian-American diaspora experience (Your Best American Girl) to dance-pop about loneliness (Nobody, her biggest hit to date). A quick scan of critical pieces about her reveals the tendency on the part of her audience to read her work as autobiographical and project their private griefs onto it. She told Pitchfork: I was always bothered when people say, I cry to your music, it sounds like a diary, it sounds so personal. Yes, it is personal. But thats so gendered. Theres no feeling of, Oh, maybe shes a songwriter and she wrote this as a piece of art.

Her set played with the tension between performance and emotion and between audience projection and artists privacy. Unlike the other artists I saw at the Block Party, Mitski got on stage half an hour before her set, checking her equipment and putting tape on the ground. She joked with technicians and band members but is a consummate professional. Although her setup is not part of her set, it establishes for the audience that her performance is her job: not an organic outflow of emotion but a calculated and choreographed ritual. Mitski stands on stage in a uniform: white shirt, black pants or shorts, and kneepads the last of which hammer home the athletic nature of her work and the toll performing takes on her body.

Mitski dances through her entire set. Her motions are at times balletic, at times mime-like, telegraphing the artifice of the familiar movements of club dancing and yoga and all the other ways in which womens bodies are presented to and consumed by the public. During Liquid Smooth she positions herself like a butterfly pinned. Wailing and haunting, it is the most explicit song in her repertoire and yet the farthest possible thing from slow R&B song or a club banger I am an organism / Im chemical, thats all that is all, she sings, and feel my skin is plump and full of life, Im in my prime.As she gyrated and sang, I watched the security guard in the front turn away from the stage and fix his eyes on the ground. I felt the same discomfort, an awareness of a hungry voyeurism that thoughtlessly and endlessly consumes. Shes aware of the jarring effect of the obvious calculation of her movements juxtaposed against the normal laissez-faire throwing-around of the body that characterizes festival audiences and artists alike. Halfway through her set, she stops churning out the music to acknowledge the crowd and notes their confusion. This is it! she says. If you dont know me, this is what the whole set is like.

Other than that as well as the flippant Im Mitski. Bye. that closes out the set she doesnt acknowledge the audience. Mitski doesnt crowdsurf or jump into the pit. She looks not at, but through the crowd. A man beside me keeps reaching out to her, shouting her name; she doesnt reach back. All this negation of the parasocial relationship of the audiences desire to connect with her creates something else entirely new. The audiences relationship with her pain, her deliberate constructed onstage vulnerability, her moment with herself, feels intimate because it is their own mirror image. The stillness of the water, if you will, is not breached; you are free to project yourself entirely onto the artistic experience she has created.

Other critics have commented that Mitskis most dedicated fans are by and large young Asian-American women and gay men. I, a young Asian-American woman, staked out a front-row spot to the left of another Asian woman who made room for me as the moment the previous act finished up. To my right a young man texted his boyfriend, trying to find him in the crowd. Further back, the latecomers begin to look more and more like the majority-white demographic of the festival at large; they also look more and more confused by whats going on onstage. Mitskis appeal to young Asian women seems obvious, as she has acknowledged the influence of Asian-American identity on her music. Most notably, Your Best American Girl is an ode to an American boy whose mother wouldnt approve / of how my mother raised me / but I do, I finally do. Mitski disapproves of the public reaction to it, which focused on the songs uniqueness in the overwhelmingly white world of indie rock. On Facebook, she wrote: I wasnt trying to send a message. I was in love. The assumption that her lyrics are entirely personal and the assumption that they are inherently political, although seemingly opposite, both represent a refusal to think of the marginalized artists as capable of producing on multiple levels, a refusal to treat their work as worth inquiring into.

Indeed, its common to hear from her fans that Mitskis appeal is not in her explicit political statements, but something more abstract: she just gets it. She pins down a kaleidoscope of very specific experiences. If you need to be mean, be mean to me / I can take it and put it inside of me is perhaps a familiar feeling to many, but silent suffering holds a specific meaning for Asian women, who are too used to being its vessels. The cultural expectation that Asian women are willing to undergo duress in order to preserve social harmony or personal relationships is insidious. Mitski captures our perverse pride in our ability to suffer. In Brand New she sings, If I gave up on being pretty, I wouldnt know how to be alive / I should move to a brand new city, and teach myself how to die might sound dramatic to the casual listener, but for her young female Asian fans the line might capture exactly the experience of wasting your teen years trying to look beautiful the way the white majority wants you to. I spent all my teen-age years being obsessed with beauty, and Im very resentful about it, she told Jillian Mapes. Its a timely message in an age where influencers act like the bare requisite of beauty is ten steps of skincare routine at night and an hour of hair and makeup in the morning.

Her most recent album, Be The Cowboy, is an ode to the mythical American cowboy ethos of freedom, of doing what you want. Implicitly, it claims that ethos for people who have never had it before. For me, Why Didnt You Stop Me (I know that I ended it, but / why didnt you chase after me / You know me better than I do so / why didnt you stop me) is her most cowboy-ish song on the album: for once, the onus of vulnerability, owning up to mistakes and loss, sacrificing your pride to save a relationship is not on her.

Remember My Name captures a complicated relationship between public performance and private, intimate self: cause I need somebody to remember my name / after all that I can do for them is done. As an artist, she is expected to strip herself bare for public enjoyment. I gave too much of myself tonight, she sings, and then turns around to ask for more: Can you come to where Im staying and / make some extra love / that I can save for tomorrows show. The truth about the cowboy ethos is that it means being allowed to be selfish, to demand love, to stop giving yourself. As Zoe Hu put it for BuzzFeed News, Mitskis music is imbued with a self-centeredness that, for any oft-effaced Asian listener, can border on the revolutionary. Its a far cry from Puberty 2s evocation of trapped desire: I wanna see the whole world / I dont know how Im gonna pay rent / I wanna see the whole world / would you kill me, Jerusalem? she howls on My Bodys Made of Crushed Little Stars.

I came alone to her set, so did half the other people in the front row. We shared an experience so personal that none of us wanted to invite anyone else in our lives to it, and we get the sense that Mitski has too. Ive tried sharing and Ive tried caring and Ive tried putting out / but the boys, boys, boys keep coming back for more, more, more, she sings in Townie. Watching her up onstage, I wished I could be what she was: closed off, fully in control of what she gives out and what her viewers take from her. Asian women in America are expected to be obedient, passive, vulnerable, giving, endlessly grateful for scraps; female artists are expected to be open, authentic, raw, personal. Mitski refuses.

Image Credit: Unsplash/BrunoCervera

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Mitski and the Art of Vulnerability - Harvard Political Review

DETROIT (WXYZ) Hit rock band TOOL is playing at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday, and if you're going to the show, make sure you keep your phone in your pocket.

In the concert listing, 313 Presents said that no cameras, or audio/video recorders (INCLUDING cell phone photo or video) will be permitted inside Little Caesars Arena.

In all caps and bold, 313 Presents said, "ANY CAMERA OR CELL PHONE TAKEN OUT FOR PHOTOGRAPHS OR VIDEO INSIDE OF THE ARENA BOWL WILL BE SUBJECT TO PATRON EJECTION."

In a post on Reddit with a screenshot of a reminder for the band's show in Cleveland, it said, "We respectfully request that you please watch and listen to the show, not your phone. You will be ejected from the show without the opportunity to return and without a refund if you violate this simple request and elect to take photos during the performance. In the event of a personal emergency, phone use may occur on the concourse away from the performance area."

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If you take photos or videos at the TOOL show in Detroit, you could be ejected - WXYZ

Da de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a Mexican tradition that spans from Nov. 1 to 2 every year. It is a time to remember loved ones who have passed away.

People dont celebrate their loved ones by being sad, but rather it is a moment of remembrance and honorance of their loved ones legacies.

The Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies at San Diego State commemorates the Day of the Dead with their annual altar at the Chicano and Chicana Collection in the Love Library.

In the Love Library, students, professors and community members created and decorated this altar.

On Nov. 1, the room was filled with not only students and faculty, but also alumni, family members and Chicano/a activists who came to honor those whose photos were put up the altar.

Every year the department creates a theme, and this year the altar is dedicated to the activist leaders, faculty and students who have helped form the Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies over the last 50 years.

The altar also pays tribute to the Central Americans and Mexicans who lost their lives migrating to the U.S.

Professor Norma Iglesias-Prieto and her students assembled the altar to honor the dead and to make a political statement. They named the commemoration, Those Who Have Came Before: Stolen and Offered Lives.

Something that is affecting our community today are the kids who have been separated from their families, who are in cages and that some have died in the hands of immigration authorities, Iglesias-Prieto said. So we dont want to lose this opportunity to remember those children who have died and are linked to our hearts.

The altar was made for the community to learn more about more than just the cultural side of this tradition. The Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies wants those who attend the commemoration and visit the altar to learn about those who have lost their lives fighting for Chicano/a community.

It is more than just a tradition, it is about the people we are honoring, Iglesias-Prieto said. We want people to remember their legacy and to know that the lifestyle we have today is thanks to those who fight for us before.

The altar has been Iglesias-Prietos tradition for the last 15 years, and this is the first year it has been held in the Love Library, making it the biggest it has ever been to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies at SDSU.

Iglesias-Prieto said it took her, her students and 30 volunteers over 1,000 hours to make this altar possible.

Grandmothers and mothers of the students and department faculty formed part of the volunteers who helped create the items on the ofrenda (altar), making it more than just a school project, but giving it a family feel as well.

Every item on the ofrenda was handmade and has been in the making since May 2019.

Each of the altars seven colorful steps have traditional foods, marigolds, candles and several other items to offer to those who have been put on the ofrenda.

The altar has the photos of 27 Chicano activists, leaders and educators. The Chicano department also wanted to commemorate the lives of five children who have died in the hands of immigration authorities.

Chicano and Chicana studies senior Mnica Van Deerlin Murillois, one of the students who worked on this project for the last seven months, said it was more than just an experience of cultural and indigenous significance. She said it was to bring awareness to the several children who have died caged up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.

We know there has been a lot of children that have died in ICE detention centers and border captivity, so this is why we also included photos of children that have been killed in hands of ICE and immigration law enforcement as well, Murillo said.

Chicano and Chicana studies senior Ana Miguel is one of eight students who worked countless hours on campus and in Iglesias-Prietos garage to make the altar. She said it is important to know there is a political meaning to this altar and hopes that the audience leaves with more awareness of what is happening in the Chicano/a community today.

I feel like a lot of people are coming in just thinking it is pretty, but it is more than that, Miguel said. There is a history behind Da de los Muertos and its not just full of color. It is where we connect with our ancestors, it is where they come back to us and we are also recognizing the Chicano activists for the work that they did.

Musicians received visitors.

The community was received with live music by La Rondalla Amerindia de Aztln, a band formed by former professors and alumni of SDSU, a music performance by department Professor Coral Mcfarland Thuet, speeches from professors of the department and traditional Pan de Muerto, Bread of the Dead, with coffee.

The altar includes handmade biography books to explain who is on the ofrenda, and will be open to the public until Nov. 15.

The Day of the Dead is a personal but also a community celebration, so the other goal of our celebration is to help form a community, Iglesias-Prieto said. We need to be together, especially in difficult times.

See original here:
Day of the Dead takes on political issues - Daily Aztec

Youre in college now. Your parents no longer supply you with food they bought at the grocery store. Now, you have no choice but to make your own choices surrounding food.

Youve heard in one of your classes or through some news article that food production is linked to climate change. Indeed, conventional farming techniques are harmful to the environment due to their use of carbon-emitting agricultural machinery, irresponsible consumption of water, overuse of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as a multitude of other offenses. As an environmentally conscious individual, you want to play your part in the sustainable food movement. So, in Kroger, you move toward the organic section.

The USDA Organic sticker must mean that this food is sustainable, right? Not necessarily.

Its true that organically produced food can be a better alternative to food that was grown on industrial farms. For example, organic farming omits the use of synthetic fertilizers that leach nitrogen into our waterways and strip the oxygen from waterbodies (a dual process called eutrophication and hypoxia).

Additionally, many organic farms engage in no-till farming techniques, which protect the soil by ensuring that nutrients are returned to the soil for future plant uptake. No till also reduces the amount of carbon dioxide lost from excessively disturbing the soil.

It is important, however, to remember that many harmful farming techniques are still used in organic farming. For example, large-scale deforestation to make room for agriculture removes treesone of our most important carbon sinksfrom the earth. In addition, many organic foods are produced thousands of miles away from where they are sold, meaning that they must be transported long distances to reach the grocery store. This of course releases a great deal of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect.

Keep in mind that many of our most popular organic brands, such as Cascadian Farms and Horizon Organic, are in fact owned by large corporations. These corporations also control the production of conventionally produced foods, and this is problematic because your money is being given to the same corporation whether you buy organic or conventional food, and they probably dont care whether theyre acting sustainably.

Another problem with organic food is that it is much more expensive than conventionally produced food. It targets middle-class Americans who can afford to buy these products and excludes low-income individuals. This creates a gentrification of the food system and makes it much more difficultif not impossiblefor low-income Americans to have access to alternative food choices. And for what?

As I have already explained, organic isnt necessarily sustainable. If you have the money to buy organic, odds are that you have the money to buy locally. Local is often a much more sustainable option, although the two terms definitely arent interchangeable. Depending on the farming techniques implemented, locally produced foods offer a sustainable alternative because they avoid long-distance transport, large-scale farming and (oftentimes) are still organically produced. Additionally, when you buy local, you support your local farmers rather than buying into large-scale corporations.

Ultimately, as you begin your journey into sustainable food consumption as an autonomous consumer, do not be blinded by fancy green stickers with images of rolling hills displayed on them. Instead, consider the methods through which that food was produced. Ask questions, do your research and be wary of greenwashing practices.

To be quite candid, its hard to be completely sustainable in your food consumption choices; there are always trade-offs that must be made. However, in a rapidly changing world reaching a critical point in climate change, questions about food production are important to consider. Sustainable food production should be our goal, and it is up to usthe consumersto get us there.

See more here:

Organic food is not always the sustainable option - Kykernel.com