One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 55 By Laurence Lerman / New York City With the warm reds, yellows and browns of autumn currently transforming the landscape, it’s high time I take a look at some of the more colorful vintage animation that’s making the rounds. That there hasn’t been a Reel Streaming feature devoted to the animated sector in more than 18 months of weekly columns is quite an embarrassment on my part, but one that’s being amended right now. While computer-generated animation remains the biggest theatrical draw to a generation of millennial parents and their progeny—this year’s Paw Patrol: The Movie and The Boss Baby: Family Business are prime examples—it’s still traditionally drawn animation that works for me. Call them cartoons, if you’d like. They’re just so appealing and real, as if I could see artists’ fingerprints on the animation cels. Proof of the made-by-actual-people genuineness of the article, if you will. Here are three recent animation Blu-ray releases (they’ll be available for streaming any day now, as well) that made it over my transom and into the Blu-ray player. Two are remastered, reissued vintage pieces and the third is a traditionally animated new film that’s actually a remake of a classic live-action feature. Leading the pack by a long shot is the latest installment in Warner’s Tex Avery Screwball Classics series, a compilation of the seminal Golden Age animator-director’s toons from the Forties and Fifties. Steering away from the strictly family-friendly and sentimental fare of the Disney Studios, the Texas-born Avery’s characters were as appealing to adults as they were to children. Sarcasm, irreverence and irony were the flavors of his frenetic, sight gag-filled shorts, enacted by such legendary characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd, all of whom he played a major role in creating. Volume 3 in the series focuses on the work Avery did at MGM following his groundbreaking time spent with the Warner Bros. animation unit. Such irresistible if lesser-known characters as Droopy Dog, Screwball Squirrel and Red Hot Riding Hood are featured here, with Droopy at his most jowly and lethargic as he portrays a bullfighter, a Western deputy and a Mountie in various shorts. At the front of the pack, though, is the fascinating 1942 short Blitz Wolf (not to be confused with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer). Avery’s first short for MGM, Blitz Wolf is a propaganda piece that parodies the “Three Little Pigs” from a World War II perspective. The uniformed Adolf Wolf attempts to invade a trio of porcine domiciles in the land of Pigmania. Ending with Adolf Wolf being blown to Hell (literally) by an artillery shell filled with U.S. Defense Bonds, it’s a clever, biting, funny and appropriately pro-American delight. Not surprisingly, Blitz Wolf was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Short Subject. Ironically, it lost to another anti-Nazi propaganda production, Der Fuehrer’s Face featuring Donald Duck. Jumping ahead three decades to 1972, Fritz the Cat is the first film from Israeli-born American filmmaker-animator Ralph Bakshi. It tells the tale of the frisky Fritz (voiced by Skip Hinnant), an anthropomorphized feline cavorting about New York City circa 1968. Dropping out of college, the womanizing, weed-smoking Fritz encounters all manner of NYC denizens as he gets involved in a race riot, becomes a counter-culture revolutionary and swears up a storm. With all the film’s profanity and sex and drugs and race-baiting, it became the first American animated film to receive an X rating from the Motion Picture Association, which launched it into the box office stratosphere as the most successful animated independent picture of all time. Bakshi’s debut first feature in a career that has thus far yielded ten of them, Fritz is based on the comic strip by R. Crumb, which Bakshi’s reportedly came across while browsing in a book store on St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan’s East Village. The film’s satirical take on the era is definitely of its time but still coarsely effective, as is its fine animation, which frequently features watercolor backgrounds based on tracings from photographs. It was a new technique at the which gave the film a stylishly realistic look (particularly in the Harlem and Washington Square Park sequences). Very representative of the anarchic, off-color work of Bakshi’s early independent period (which also includes such adult-oriented features as 1973’s Heavy Traffic and 1975’s Coonskin), Fritz still has the ability to raise eyebrows 50 years on. Let’s end with a zombie attack. As a public domain film, George Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead is fair game to just about anyone who wants to do something with it—they can reissue it, remake it or reimagine it.. And the industry has sure as hell taken advantage of that status: Living Dead been remade a number of times over the past 30 years, notably in 1990 by special effects titan Tom Savini. Based on the original screenplay but pumped up to graphic extremes in the gore department, Savini’s “official” remake wasn’t anything special—certainly not when compared to the landmark film that inspired it. But it remains the best of all the remakes that came after it, so you can only imagine what the others are like. The most recent of these is the just-released-to-Blu-ray Night of the Animated Dead, which is–you guessed it–an animated version of the original directed by John Axinn that’s essentially an animated shot-for-shot remake of you-know-what. It immediately reminded me of Gus Van Sant’s 1998 remake of Hitchcock’s Psycho in that it lifts the same story, the same camerawork and the same basic editing that was seen in the original. The only visual differences between the Animated Dead and the Living Dead are that the original was shot in unnerving black-and-white, while its animated descendant is in vibrant color, all the better for the film’s gore and cannibalism sequences. And the animation, while crisply and colorfully rendered, is still unexceptional, giving one the impression that the voice cast featuring Josh Duhamel, Dule Hill and Jimmy Simpson may have been the most the costly line item of the production. Meanwhile, thematically, the subtle racial and social commentary that Romero injected into the original doesn’t really carry much weight in the new version. So, just as critics and audiences asked of Van Sant’s Psycho, the question here is “Why?” Is there a reason for Night of the Animated Dead outside of it being blatant, modestly-budgeted money grab? I don’t want to look too closely for an answer. If you’ve somehow never seen Night of the Living Dead over the past half-century because you’re afraid the forebearer of zombie cinema may be too cheesy or maybe because you’re adverse to black-and-white (perish the thought), put your apprehensions aside and check it out. You can always say you were inspired to see the original when you learned there was an animated remake stalking the Blu-ray shelf. After the live action zombies, have some fun with one of these vintage animated releases. The zombie apocalypse may be upon us, as box office and streaming reports regularly inform us, but with a steady stream of fresh releases and remastered favorites in the Blu-ray and streaming pipelines, the animation revolution is just beginning. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

FRED PLOTKIN is one of America’s foremost experts on opera and has distinguished himself in many fields as a writer, speaker, consultant and as a compelling teacher. He is an expert on everything Italian, the person other so-called Italy experts turn to for definitive information.  Fred discovered the concept of "The Renaissance Man" as a small child and has devoted himself to pursuing that ideal as the central role of his life. In a “Public Lives” profile in The New York Times on August 30, 2002, Plotkin was described as "one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the food of Italy." In the same publication, on May 11, 2006, it was written that "Fred is a New Yorker, but has the soul of an Italian."

By Robin Cohen / Herndon, Va. Once again, political posters pepper the lawns of Virginia.  This time, it’s a close gubernatorial race:  Terry McAuliffe versus Glen Youngkin.  McAuliffe, a Democrat, is a seasoned politician with a history of political successes including a term as Governor of Virginia from 2014-2018.  Youngkin, a Republican, is a wealthy businessman making his first stab at politics, aiming high for governor of our Commonwealth.  He is a slavish supporter of Donald Trump and will try to enact similar distasteful policies. The race is being watched around the country as it may serve as a prediction of the 2022 midterm elections.  The stakes are high. Issues such as vaccine mandates, school curriculum, and abortion rights are on the line. When the race started several months ago, I felt confident that McAuliffe would win.  Virginia has gone blue in the presidential elections since 2008 with a significant lead for Joe Biden in the last election.  But the voter turnout for a gubernatorial election is traditionally much lower than a presidential one. This puts the Democrats at a disadvantage. Youngkin’s deep pockets have funded a very costly campaign.  This has resulted in an onslaught of TV political ads the likes of which I have never seen other than in a presidential election year. The ads (on both sides) are typical political ads, short sound bites with no substance and lots of misinformation.  Sadly, that seems to work. Both sides are doing their best to tear down the opponent without saying anything about what they themselves would do for the voters. Once again, I find myself in a position of disbelief as I drive around Northern Virginia and see so many Youngkin posters.  The polls have shifted from a healthy lead for McAuliffe to a very narrow margin.   It will come down to getting voters to the polls on Tuesday, November 2nd.  I’m holding my breath! Robin Cohen has been married to Insider Neil Cohen for 42 years, with two grown sons, Daniel and Steven. Robin and her husband live in Herndon, Virginia where she works as a clinical social worker specializing in couples’ therapy. She has been selected twice by the Washingtonian Magazine as “Top Couples Therapist.” Cohen was a former adjunct faculty at Virginia Tech’s Marriage and Family Therapy Program where she worked as a clinical supervisor and was part of two research teams. Her favorite quote comes from the British psychiatrist, John Bowlby. “All behavior makes sense given its context.” When not working, Robin enjoys playing the piano, reading, traveling and ballroom dancing with Neil.

By Naomi Serviss / New York City Manhattan scaffolding gives me the willies. Ubiquitous urban eyesores scar block after block of the Upper West Side with threatening overhead wood platforms and crisscrossing metal beams. The facades of apartments, drug stores, supermarkets and medical office buildings are forever being altered. Added to. Improved upon. Urban infrastructure for the infrastructure! My nervous reflexes get pumped dodging dangerous sidewalk bikers, skateboarders, strollers with babies and dogs, not to mention unbagged dog detritus. Mostly I worry stuff will fall on my head. Pre-pandemic pedestrians threaded through scaffolding detours and midtown tourist swarms like running backs sprinting for touchdown. People have trod around carved up sidewalks and makeshift walking lanes five inches from oncoming traffic. Dodging delivery dollies teeming with boxes of online shopping is my terrifying daily dance with death. That is not an exaggeration. Scaffolding can be up for years. One Upper West Side neighborhood contingent of tenants recently conducted a mock 15th (!) anniversary for a sidewalk shed. They chanted in unison: “15 years is way too long No excuse, it’s just plain wrong!” Local politicians offered their two cents plain. The shed remains. These omnipresent, shaky hazards have triggered me for the past 11 years. It’s not really about the scaffolding. I was a fearful and worried kid. Not of bugs or monsters under the bed. But of the world collapsing. Everything falling apart. Not your typical kid concern. My single mother of five moved us in and out of shoddy apartments seven or eight times within the fancy Elkins Park suburb of Philadelphia throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. Sometimes at night. Reasons for the mysterious moves were vaguely money-related. As in, she didn’t have enough for the month’s rent. But always had color television. Priorities! My mother expertly tap-danced her way out of bill collector phone calls. Or had one of us kids do it for pity points. One time she coerced me into speaking with the county sheriff, pleading not to evict us. I broke down in tears after hanging up. Packing and moving so often unmoored me. My mother would joke: “We’re wandering Jews, right?” It was never funny. Abandonment worries were seeded by experience. Like the time I was seven and attended free summer day camp at Wall Park. Every weekday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Underprivileged Elkins Park kids gathered in an expansive playground field near the Yorktown movie theater. All the art supplies I’d ever dreamed of were available. Clay, markers, watercolors, plaster of Paris for red rubber molds that would dry in the July sun. The playground had swings near the creek and a towering metal slide that burned hot in the blazing sun. Tennis courts beckoned and I learned how to play. Sometimes a bus drove us to Cheltenham High School’s indoor swimming pool, where I learned how to swim. The Friday my sister forgot to get me is a technicolor memory. One by one my campmates were collected. After an hour, I walked home. I was seven. Crossing a busy four-way intersection at Old York Road spooked me. I nearly lost my balance, but made it home taking pride in my accomplishment. Never fully trusted my sister again. I tried not to get attached to neighborhood friends, but that was against my gregarious nature. So close ties were fleeting until school established a coveted routine. Until the next move and a different school. When we lived in Colonial Apartments, across from the Elkins Park train station, I was about eight. The homely three-story brick structure seemed out of place in a neighborhood of obvious wealth. Houses had massive porches and lush landscaping. The front door of Colonial Apartments opened onto a cramped and pungent entryway. Mailboxes lined the right side of the hall. A built-in dumbwaiter hid behind a squeaky wooden door. It was hand-operated by pulling hard on a thick rope. Simultaneously mysterious and frightening. Our apartment was a flight up. The sprawling two-bedroom had a front hallway that was long, dark and cheaply carpeted. Walls were so thin, I could almost smell the alcoholic breath of the violent middle-aged raging alcoholics next door. Sometimes we had no heat. My mother would turn on the gas oven and open its door for the warmth. My sister and I shared a bedroom off another long hallway. A shelf above my bed held mysterious boxes. They always worried me. One night I startled awake, pulse racing and heart beating fast, convinced the overweight shelf would collapse on me while I was asleep. I was inconsolable until my sister said nothing bad would happen if I slept the other way around. My feet would be under the shelf, not my head. That’s where my habit of sleeping curled up like a cat began. I was a thumbsucker until I hit double digits. I worried about the planet and all the animals, then as now. Stability was not a given in my family. My mother’s latest boyfriend, Tony, was a barber who played guitar. His side hustle was hypnosis. One time he read me a bedtime story. Gnawing consistently was a gut feeling the world was going to end in fiery flame. The world was going to implode. My first panic attack! Fortunately, my coping skills have improved across the board. I’ve conquered my inner Chicken Little and can reflect on negative memories without feeling emotional. The scaffolding doesn’t threaten me anymore. Naomi Serviss is a New York-based award-winning journalist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Highroads (AAA magazine), in-flight publications, spa and travel magazines and websites, including BroadwayWorld.com

By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area Lucky me, and I say that often. Last weekend, I was invited to a grape harvesting party. My first thought was Lucy and Ethel stomping grapes in that hilarious episode of I Love Lucy in 1956. Living in the Bay area offers all kinds of opportunities I wasn’t privy to back in Michigan. I try to take advantage of all of them. My new neighbor, Marie, encouraged me to tag along to help her friend harvest his grapes. I would be rewarded with a Mexican garden lunch afterward. I never pass up a meal prepared by someone else! It was a typically gorgeous October morning, clear skies, low humidity, in the 60s. I drove up a winding road to a sprawling hacienda-style home, surrounded by rows and rows of grapes. On the outdoor table were coffee and assorted pastries, as well as gloves and vine snippers. I gulped down some coffee and had a bite of banana bread, donned the gloves, grabbed the snippers and headed out back to the vineyard to meet the other harvesters. The experience was an absolute joy for me. I loved being outdoors, in an agricultural setting, particularly a vineyard, working as part of a team to get the Cabernet grapes into buckets to load onto a truck. Over many years of being in wine country in Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, New York State, and Napa Valley, I always wanted to be a part of the harvest. Here was my chance, in my own backyard! The vineyard is owned by Humberto Rincon, a retired product design engineer. He came to the U.S, from Mexico when he was eight years old, along with his brothers and father. They were farm workers in the Imperial Valley, Calif.,until he attended the University of California, Davis. Besides cabs, he grows Petit Syrah, Petit Verdeau, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec grapes. Quite a list! The Rincons planted the vines in spring, 2015. The way Humberto tells it, he planted the grapes along with 27 fruit trees and five planter boxes of vegetables (all organic) because he enjoys farming and enhancing his property. “Most importantly,” he says, “ it’s to introduce our grandkids to the process of planting and growing food.” Humberto has his wine made nearby. He says, “The blends are a way of artistic expression as well as experimenting with the various grape combinations.” Hacienda HR Rincon Vineyards grows six tons of grapes on 2.5 acres annually, which yield 4,500 bottles of wine a year. Family and friends have been picking the Rincon’s grapes for several years. Picking grapes is easier than picking berries, where you need to bend down, or tree fruit, where you need to reach overhead. Grapes are at waist level and require very few calisthenics to harvest. Keep in mind, though, I only participated for a couple of hours. I’m sure it’s very hard work for people who do this for a living. After the last bucket was dumped in the truck and a group photo was taken, everyone headed up to the shaded patio in front of the house for lunch. Humberto’s lovely wife Geri and niece Martha prepared a classic pot of pozole, served with traditional rolled and fried corn tortillas. Pozole is a traditional Mexican pork stew with hominy and red chiles served in a rich broth. Typical garnishes are sliced radishes, shredded green cabbage, fresh lime wedges, chopped cilantro and diced avocados. I would imagine there are many variations and subtle differences as one goes from region to region or even house to house. My recipe was inspired by Geri Rincon. She always adds chicken pieces, in order to have another layer of flavor. One could make this with all pork or all chicken. My version has more hominy than most, as I really enjoy its texture and taste. Pozole takes a few hours to make, but not that much constant attention. Plan to make it on a Sunday afternoon when you can cook a little, relax, stir a little, and relax a little more. I am so grateful that I had this wonderfuI experience with the Rincons. I hope they will include me again next harvest! Pozole Yield: 10 Servings 3 Tbs. vegetable oil 1 1/2 lb. pork shoulder, cut into 2” cubes 1 lg. onion, diced 5 garlic cloves, sliced thin 1 Tbs. mild California chili powder 1 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. oregano 1/4 tsp. cloves 1 bay leaf 5 c. chicken stock 3 guajillo chiles, stems and seeds discarded 3 ancho chiles, stems and seeds discarded 4 skinless chicken thighs, @ 1 1/2 lb. 1-2 lg. cans hominy, drained 1 tsp. salt Garnishes: sliced radishes sliced jalapeño peppers shredded green cabbage lime wedges diced avocados chopped fresh cilantro Heat the oil in a large skillet or brasier over moderately high heat. Add half of the pork. Season well with salt and pepper. Brown in the pan, about 5-7 minutes. Place in a large soup pot. Repeat with remaining pork. Turn heat down to medium. Add a little oil if needed. Add the onions and garlic to the pan along with the chili powder, cumin, oregano, cloves, and bay leaf. Sauté the vegetables until translucent and nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of stock, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom. Add to the soup pot along with the remaining stock. Bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer, cover, and cook for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, put the dried guajillo and ancho chiles in a bowl. Cover with 2 cups boiling water. Allow to soften, about 30 minutes. When cool enough to handle, break up the chiles into pieces and place in a blender with 1/2 cup soaking liquid. Puree. Reserve. Add the chicken thighs, hominy, and chile puree to the pot. If you don’t want the pozole that spicy, use only half of the puree. Cover. Continue to cook for another 1 1/2 hours. Remove the chicken. When cool enough to handle, pull the chicken off the bone and break into 1-2” pieces. Put back in the stew with the salt. Adjust the seasoning. Serve with garnishes on the side. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

Going out on the road on a cross-country tour is the dream of many young musicians, and the Detroit-based group Summer Like the Season is no different. The three-member indie art rock band just returned home on October 3 from a five-week, 22-city tour promoting their well-received new album Hum. There were highs, like the rhapsodic review from Basement Sports and Entertainment (below). But this being the pandemic, there were also complications. We caught up with the multi-talented founder of the group, Summer Krinsky, a few days after she returned to Detroit: FRIDAY (OCTOBER 8) The Insider: Hi Summer! How are you? Summer Krinsky: I'm doing okay! Woke up with the sniffles, otherwise feel fine, and out of an abundance of caution went to get a Covid rapid test and it was positive. So this morning has been me canceling upcoming work and informing anyone I've been in contact with. The Insider: On, no! That’s awful! Are you okay? Summer Krinsky: Yep! ! feel totally fine. I was going to work sound for a wedding tomorrow and because i had sniffles decided it was best to get checked before i was around anyone. The Insider: I’m so glad you did! Summer Krinsky: It could still be a false positive but i canceled everything either way and i’m going back for a PCR later today to confirm. The Insider: When did you start feeling sick? Summer Krinsky: I had a light cough yesterday but it went away by the evening, I felt a bit off before bed and then woke up with a stuffy nose. The Insider: Have you had any other health scares on your tour, you or your bandmates? Summer Krinsky: I was vaccinated with Moderna and I would say that if this is a breakthrough case, it is still very much an endorsement to get the vaccine because i don’t feel very ill and lessening of hospitalization or death is a key point that people seem to be missing about vaccination. We did get food poisoning on tour, which was a huge ordeal for a few days. That was a different kind of gross (laughs). Also, pressure headaches when going in and out of the mountains had us a little concerned at times. The Insider: No one else has had Covid or a Covid test? Summer Krinsky: Not that we know of but now they'll both get tested since I've seen them in the last two days. We were all vaccinated and would definitely not have planned this tour pre-vaccine. One of my bandmates literally bought a cabin in the woods, and for the last year and a half, he saw no one but his dogs and occasionally me. He isolated there until there was a vaccine. I'd say we were all extremely careful and then took a look at the statistics for serious illness post-vax and decided, came to similar conclusions on acceptable risk. The Insider: So this has been a long-running concern about live touring, right? Summer Krinsky: Oh yes! I was supposed to leave on four months of tour in March of 2020. And when i am not touring, I do sound for live shows. Everything i typically do has been halted and pre-vaccine i absolutely supported that pause. The Insider: What was your degree of physical closeness on the tour? Were you traveling in a bus? Eating together? Where were you sleeping? Summer Krinsky: We travel in my van and do just about everything together as a pod--eating, sleeping, sometimes camping, sometimes staying at friend's houses. The Insider: Tell me about your band. What are your bandmate’s names and instruments? Summer Krinsky: On the recordings, i play everything but the violin, but live, i play drums and sing lead, Scott Murphy plays keyboard, bass, MPC (which triggers electronics) and electric violin, and Liam McNitt plays guitar and backup vocals. The Insider: Wow! What instruments do you play on the recordings? Summer Krinsky: On the recording, i play drums, guitar, piano, bass, sing and program a lot of wild sampled sounds, electronics and synth textures. The Insider: Not bad! How old are you, and how old are the Scott and Liam? Summer Krinsky: We range in ages. Scott is 32, i am 28, Liam is 23. He is our powerful Zoomer; his back isn't quite as broken as ours yet. He is Gen Z, so he's young and spry. The Insider: Are you all Detroiters? Do you live together there? Summer Krinsky: We are all Detroiters! We don't live together now though Liam and i lived together for a year or two before he was in the band. Liam lives in Southwest, Scott in North Corktown and I’m in Dexter-Linwood, so we still are all pretty close to each other. The Insider: How long has the band been together? Summer Krinsky: Summer Like the Season started as a solo project in 2013 and became a live band in 2016 so about five years now. The Insider: The same people since 2016? Summer Krinsky: Scott Murphy has been in the band since then, but we have had a rotating cast of other members, Liam just got added this spring. The Insider: What date did this tour start? Summer Krinsky: The tour started on September 2nd and ended October 2nd.i got home on October 3rd.. The Insider: How many cities did you go to? Summer Krinsky: 22 cities. [The list is below.] 13 of them are places we also played pre-Covid. The Insider: What do you mean by “pre-Covid”? Summer Krinsky: Places we played on past tours before the pandemic The Insider: Oh! That’s great that you didn’t get sick during the tour! It’s great that you’ll be able to quarantine at home if you really have Covid. Did you have to notify the last place you played that you are sick? Summer Krinsky: First notified everyone I’ve seen in the past few days which is when i would be at highest shed most likely. I’m not sure how seriously the last place we played would take my warning based on some of the sentiments expressed in conversations. Four of the five people I’ve been around all tested negative today--the fifth hasn’t been tested yet--so I’m wondering more and more about false positives as the day goes on. The Insider: You were really careful to make sure this didn’t happen. Summer Krinsky: I feel really lucky that I—possibly--got it post vaccine and didn't have to find out how my body would react with only natural defenses. One of my housemates had Covid in March of 2020. I didn’t live here yet but everyone was really scared. They all lived upstairs and she stayed downstairs and no one else got it The Insider: What month were you last vaccinated? Summer Krinsky: Second dose end of March, 2021. The Insider: What kinds of Covid precautions did you take while you were traveling? Summer Krinsky: We wore masks when places encouraged it, but some places had very loose regulations and almost frowned upon masks, if you can believe that. At this point, I feel those who want to protect themselves against serious illness got the vaccine and those who don't want the vaccine for whatever reasons do not want me to worry about them. I'm not wishing them il--i have friends who are anti-vaxx whom I argue with but love. i just refuse to continue to pause everything Icare about for people who do not want me to pause in the first place. When venues wanted to do vaccine requirements, we were all about that, but also we were open to playing in establishments that didn't have requirements. The Insider: Were you playing in clubs? Summer Krinsky: Yes. The Insider: You were classically trained. What is your reaction to the club scene? Summer Krinsky: I was classically trained from before i can remember but I’ve also played in rock bands since i was 13. I've always felt somewhat at home in the club scene. Crowds tend to desire a raw performance and not something that is flawless like in the classical world. The Insider: You have been involved with music for a long time! Tell me about your musical life before this album. Summer Krinsky: I grew up with two musician parents and started playing classical piano at a very young age Around age 12, I became very interested in learning the guitar, and that quickly turned into an obsession with playing in bands and recording and composing my own music. And from guitar, I naturally learned bass as well. I was extremely interested in writing my own songs and composing for my band and I wanted to be able to share these songs with other people who weren't coming to live shows. They were on the other side of the country. I wanted to be able to put demos on the Internet. So, I really got into learning how to record and mix and produce and this led to what I ended up majoring in in college in the Performing Arts Technology program at the University of Michigan. In that, I focused on composition, recording, engineering, mixing, mastering production, and also got pretty into programming novel music controllers and sound installations while I was in college. While I was in college, I interned at Electrical Lady Studios in New York. I also interned in Germany in Munich at ECM Records, which is a jazz and classical label. And after graduation, I moved to Detroit and I began to teach myself how to play drums. Then, that grew into a very intense interest in learning drums. I began studying with Skeeto Valdez, who's a Detroit musician. In college, I started putting out music under the name Summer Like The Season. I released an EP and a single and music video when I was in college, and after graduating and moving to Detroit, I released a new EP and another single and began performing and touring with Summer Like The Season. The Insider: You've been a pioneer in the recent creative renaissance of Detroit. Can you talk about what it was like to move into the city and what your experience has been? Summer Krinsky: I've always had a fascination with Detroit as a musically inspiring town – from Motown to techno to J Dilla. The city is a very inspiring musical place, and I moved here with the thought that it was a small enough community that I could have an effect by being an active member in the music scene. But it was also a large enough city and full of so many people that are interested in different genres and exploring new music, that I would have a wide range of audiences to engage with. The Insider: Has it been satisfactory? Summer Krinsky: Yes! I love Detroit. There are obviously benefits and drawbacks to every place. I travel the country now, so I have been to a lot of cities. For the moment, I am very engaged in the music scene of every city in America. But Detroit is my favorite in that I feel like it matches my vibe and my desire to explore new sounds. To me, there's opportunity that is very unique to Detroit. Detroit is large enough to live in a big historic city that deeply matters in the world, but small enough to have a local impact that truly matters in the community. The Insider: Of course, it's also a poor city and it can be a dangerous city. What about those aspects of it? Summer Krinsky: I think those aspects, actually, are what has bred the most important music scenes in American history in the past. When we reminisce about New York, we're thinking about the Patti Smith days and the Chelsea Hotel. New York was incredibly dangerous then and incredibly poor. So, I see it as having similar conditions. You know the saying – "A diamond is only made under pressure." The Insider: What inspires you as a songwriter? Summer Krinsky: I like to make music that sounds unique, and i think what makes each life unique is the place and time period that you live through. So I am very inspired by modern technology and how humans of today have this cyborg-like relationship with existence, tied to our phones, splintered identities that are just as invested in online personas as they are in physical reality. I like to make music about that, and robots, and relationships, and many more topics. The Insider: What’s it like to perform in front of a crowd? Do you ever get stage fright? Summer Krinsky: I don’t get stage fright performing with a band, but I very much do when i perform solo. I think it gives me flashbacks to the high-stress environment of piano competitions (laughs), so i really love performing as a group. The Insider: Do you have any musical favorites who inspire you? Summer Krinsky: Yes! tUnE-yArDs, St. Vincent, Bjork, Prokofiev, Radiohead would be a short list, I could go on for too long! The Beatles are also a major inspiration. The Insider: What’s your favorite Beatles song? Summer Krinsky: “I'm Looking Through You,” “Tomorrow Never Knows” musically is also a favorite but I don’t know what it is about. “I’m Looking Through You”... I love it! The Insider: Even the Beatles famously broke up after a while because of the stress of working collaboratively. Do you and your bandmates ever squabble? Summer Krinsky: We do but mainly about frequencies, like i want more 300hz in the bass or something. They're very specific, detailed, nitpicking arguments. But we respect each other's opinions and usually the final product is better as a result of a disagreement. Plus we can typically settle any argument with "let's go get Indian food." Calms us down (laughs). The Insider: I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the “business” in music business. Without asking amounts, I’m curious about the financial part of having b band now. When you play at a venue, do you take a percentage of the gate, or a set fee? Do you sell merchandise at your performances or online? Is it possible to make money from selling music online? Summer Krinsky: Depends on what venue. Some places do a door split, some give artists all of the door, others have a set fee. We always retain 100% of merchandise sales in person but for online sales, Bandcamp takes a percentage. While we sell merchandise online and in person, we sell significantly more at shows. You definitely can make some money from selling music online but if that is your only plan without merchandise and touring, you won't be paying rent from it. But with merchandise and touring, you can make money in music. It's not what it used to be, i actually think crypto is going to alter things in the future. No one likes streaming services, not major labels, not artists. They have destroyed the industry. I Heart Radio just invested heavily in Tezos, an alt-coin. I am really interested to see what the music industry looks like in 20 years. The Insider: Thinking ahead, how do you think this Covid experience, real or mistaken, will change your touring plans? Will you be nervous to go out there again? Summer Krinsky: Well luckily, there aren't any immediate shows so nothing to cancel. But the only thing that would change my future touring plans would be a variant that has an unsatisfactory risk level for hospitalization or death in vaccinated people. Now that's a hard statistic to gather because it's impossible to know how many vaccinated people were exposed. But you can basically estimate risk around the average flu season death rate which society was willing to accept. I listen to a podcast called “This Week in Virology” and that really helps me have a pulse on up-to-date news from actual scientists. My whole stance is this: I believe in science. My belief in science is the reason i was fine with everything shutting down that I love for a year and a half. My belief in science is also what makes me go on tour once I am vaccinated. UPDATE: SATURDAY (OCTOBER 9) The Insider: Hi Summer--How are you feeling?? Summer Krinsky: Almost totally back to normal, sniffles went away. I am pretty sure it is Covid though because i realized that I can't smell anything. [Her test results were later positive, establishing that.] The Insider: Yikes! I’m glad, of course, that you’re feeling better. Can you taste anything? Summer Krinsky: Definitely can still taste some, not sure if it's off a little because smell contributes a lot to taste- you know what Imean? I thought my coffee tasted weird this morning but didn’t think that much on it and then I realized it's probably because I couldn't smell it. Once iI realized that, i went to sniff spices, flowers, hand lotion, etc. and got nada. But I can still taste chocolate but not smell it-–so i think the main thing that's off is the smell The Insider: Are you feeling any other symptoms? Summer Krinsky: Not really, A bit of a scratchy throat. The Insider: How has quarantining at home worked? Summer Krinsky: It's been fine, just spent the day hanging out with my dog (laughs). Spent a lot of time out in our yard, which is giant. The one person who lives on the same floor as me, Ian, was just wearing an N95 in common spaces for the time being The Insider: Are your roommates nervous? Summer Krinsky: Nah, they are all vaccinated. One of them uses her room as an art space, not for living, so she is just staying away until I i get past the window of infectiousness. Another one is gone for the month on tour. The other three aren't so worried–one had it in March of 2020. The Insider: I think people who are older are more worried about getting Covid. How are you getting your food? Summer Krinsky: I was mainly really worried that it could have spread to the housemate that is on tour because we hung out a lot right before he left. That would mess up his tour. But he has taken two rapids that have been negative and is waiting on a PCR. In the meantime, he is isolating from the rest of the band and crew just to be safe until the PCR comes back The Insider: Are you bummed out about having it, or philosophical that it just comes with the touring? Summer Krinsky: Don’t get me wrong. i was extremely worried about getting Covid pre-vaccine. But a breakthrough case turning into hospitalization or death is sooooo unlikely, though it becomes slightly more likely if you are over 60 and if you are male. Everyone in my house is like 25 to 33. I am really grateful that it happened either at the very end of tour or when i got home instead of during it. The Insider: You can go outside for walks so you don’t go stir crazy, right? Yes, i went on a really long walk with my dog, Whiskey. Just wore a mask and stayed far from people which is pretty easy to do in my neighborhood. UPDATE: SUNDAY (OCTOBER 10) The Insider: Hi Summer! How are you doing health-wise today? Summer Krinsky: Feeling 100% other than a total loss of smell. The Insider: That must feel unusual! Summer Krinsky: It's actually a really fascinating sensation because I'm getting a strange opportunity to separate taste and smell. Certain things taste normal while others taste completely off without the smell The Insider: I’m very interested in hearing more about the attitudes regarding Coivd of people who you know who are in their 20s and early 30s, It’s my impression that the younger people are, the less they worry about getting it. Summer Krinsky: Well I think everyone is less worried about getting it yes, but it's not out of pandemic-fatigue it's out of fact-based reasoning. If you are vaccinated, whether you are young or old, your chance of s breakthrough case resulting in hospitalization or death is minuscule. Getting sick is a normal part of existence and everything we do on a day-to-day basis involves some risk analysis. I think a lot of healthy people in their 20s and 30s who had a fairly low risk of hospitalization or death to begin with were willing to pause their entire lives for two years out of concern for their community as a whole. But at this point, with the vaccine widely available and there being no other "end game" scenario, it seems like Covid is here to stay and we'll all get it at some point. If you want a vaccine to be protected against serious illness, hooray, If you don't, hooray, but I'm not going to wait for everyone to decide they want one and I’m not going to force them to protect themselves. At least in my cohort, Ii think that's the general feeling The Insider: What would you say to an ant-vaxxer who said, “You got it anyways. Who cares about vaccines?” Summer Krinsky: I'd say, my biggest concern this morning was that my coffee tasted a little weird without being able to smell it and someone I know who’s the same age and just as fit as me got Covid before vaccines were available and spent over a month in the hospital. Now would I have had a very mild reaction without the vaccine? Impossible to know, but again, statistically it’s far more likely to have this reaction if you have the vaccine. It's all about the odds being in your favor. The Insider: Describe the most Covid-reckless place you played on your tour. Summer Krinsky: I think most shows are Covid-reckless, because it's a bunch of people gathering in a confined space. The people that chose to go to shows right now aren't very worried about Covid, whether that's because they have protected themselves or because they think it's all some wacky conspiracy. The Insider: Last question; as you’re sitting at home quarantining, I’m sure you’re deciding what your pandemic lifestyle will be like after Covid. Do you expect to change your behavior as a result of this? And if you get a good club offer, will you go back on the road? Summer Krinsky: My immunity will be stellar with natural antibodies combined with the vaccine. I definitely would accept a club gig and I'll go right back to work at the venues doing live sound after quarantine. A variant that does worse against the vaccine is my only concern. That could change everything. The Insider: Thanks for being such a good sport about doing this interview while you are going through all of this! We wish you all the best and good health! Summer Krinsky: Thanks! Just want to add that I hope I don't come off as uncompassionate to antivaxxers because I think there is a very good reason to have a healthy distrust of mainstream media and institutional power. And I think it's very difficult to find alternative sources that are remotely unbiased. It's a hard time to be making decisions which is why I keep trying to emphasize cold statistics because numbers have no agenda.

By Andy Borowitz October 12, 2021 PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump will skip the 2024 campaign and go straight to claiming that he won, the former reality-show host has confirmed. Speaking to reporters, Trump said that campaigning in 2024 would be “a waste of time, quite frankly, because I have already won that election.” Asked how he could have won an election that is not scheduled to occur for another three years, he said, “People are saying that it already did happen. A lot of very smart people are calling me and saying that.” Trump said that, although he already won the 2024 election, “there was fraud and corruption like you wouldn’t believe.” “The 2024 election was so stolen it makes the 2020 election look not stolen,” he said. “The fact that I won in 2024 even though it was stolen from me is amazing, and, quite frankly, fantastic.” Trump lashed out at a reporter who asked if he planned to run yet again in 2028. “I already won in 2028,” he said. “That’s a stupid question and you’re a disgrace.” Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. Just four days before the Supreme Court’s current term began on October 4, Justice Samuel Alito went on the attack. During a speech at Notre Dame University, he decried the media for generating the view that “a dangerous cabal is deciding important issues in a novel, secretive, improper way in the middle of the night, hidden from public view.” He added, “This portrayal feeds unprecedented efforts to intimidate the court and to damage it as an independent institution.” Alito expressed special resentment of the media using the term “shadow docket” to refer to orders issued by the Court without hearing argument or explaining its reasoning. He argued that the correct term would be “emergency docket,” and that rulings on emergency applications without full court opinions are not new. But if Alito doesn’t want the public to perceive the court as a partisan cabal issuing secretive decisions in the middle of the night, then he and the rest of the majority on the Court should not, in cowardly fashion, have issued an anonymous, unsigned order at midnight on September 1, leaving in place a new Texas law banning almost all abortions–although women have an established constitutional right to abortion–with no discussion of the majority’s reasoning. No portrayal by the media could do more damage to the Court’s reputation as an independent institution than this right-wing partisan majority has already done to itself. As for the term “shadow docket,” that did not originate with the media but is the term Justice Elena Kagan used in her dissent. (The apt term was originally coined by University of Chicago Law professor William Baude in 2015.) Pointing out that the majority’s unsigned order was issued “without full briefing or argument, and after less than 72 hours’ thought,” Kagan wrote that the order “illustrates just how far the court’s ‘shadow docket’ decisions may depart from the usual principles of the appellate process.” Mincing no words, Kagan added that the majority decision was: “emblematic of too much of the Court’s shadow-docket decision making—which every day becomes more unreasoned, inconsistent, and impossible to defend.” On September 13, prior to Alito’s attack on the media, Justice Amy Coney Barrett tried to defend the Court’s alleged independence, stating, “My goal today is to convince you that this court is not comprised of a bunch of partisan hacks.” But tellingly, Barrett made this statement at the University of Louisville’s McConnell Center, after an introduction by Senator Mitch McConnell, the man who both helped found the Center and infamously rushed Barrett’s confirmation through the Senate a mere eight days before the 2020 election. That, of course, was despite the fact McConnell refused to permit even consideration of Merrick Garland, nominated by President Obama in March 2016, on the grounds it was an election year. It’s hard to decide whether Barrett’s declaration—as well as where and in whose company she chose to make it—is laughable, insulting to our intelligence, or both. On September 16, another member of that partisan majority, Justice Clarence Thomas, also speaking at Notre Dame University, claimed the justices do not make their rulings based on personal preferences. However, as is often the case, Thomas’ actions belie his words. According to the Atlantic, in January 2008, Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia attended a political retreat run by the Koch brothers. The two justices’ votes in the subsequent ruling in the Citizens United campaign finance case reportedly benefited the Koch brothers’ political activities. Furthermore, Thomas refused to recuse himself from any ruling on the Affordable Care Act despite the fact his wife is a conservative lobbyist actively working to repeal that act. These actions constitute conflicts of interest that have brought the Court’s claim to impartiality into disrepute even before the latest, flagrant displays of partisanship. Why are Alito, Barrett, and Thomas suddenly making these defensive public statements? Is it because the Court’s approval rating in a September Gallup Poll dropped to a shameful 40 percent? Or is it because in this term, the Court will render decisions on the extremely controversial issues of whether abortion, handgun restrictions, and restrictions on using taxpayer dollars for religious schools will remain constitutional? Do they fear—as NPR has put it—that their “chipping away, hacking away, or outright overruling nearly 50 years’ worth of abortion decisions…or expanding…those protecting gun rights and religious rights” will be seen for what they are—the partisan work of political hacks? Or perhaps these justices fear that more justices will be added to the Supreme Court in order to counter their right-wing partisan agenda? The Constitution sets no specific number of Supreme Court justices, and the number has varied over the course of our history. A current proposal to expand the size of the Court has been under consideration by a presidential commission since last April. That commission may also be considering a number of other proposals such as limiting the court’s ability to strike down acts of Congress and its ability to resolve important matters without first hearing arguments and full briefings. What are the proposal’s chances? Historically, the most similar situation occurred during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration. FDR’s So-Called Court-Packing Proposal: President Roosevelt was elected in 1932, in the midst of the Great Depression, and immediately was faced with the worst economic crisis in our history. His administration developed a number of programs entitled his New Deal to alleviate the country’s economic hardship. But beginning in 1935, the Supreme Court began striking down a number of these laws on the grounds that the legislative branch was illegitimately giving away some of its powers to the executive branch. Roosevelt’s view was that the Court’s majority was favoring property over people. His Secretary of the Interior, Harold Ickes, echoed this sentiment: “The present majority of the Supreme Court have ‘tortured’ the Constitution, reading into it their own personal predilections. Such a condition of affairs is intolerable in a democracy.” Roosevelt was not able to appoint even one justice during his first four years in office. But relying on perceived public backing based on his landslide reelection victory in 1936, FDR proposed a judiciary reform bill that would allow the president to appoint an additional justice for every sitting justice who turned 70 and declined to retire (retirement remained voluntary). Up to six such new justices could be appointed to the Supreme Court for a possible total of 15, if no one retired or died. Since there were two liberals on the Court, this would ensure Roosevelt a liberal majority. It’s not clear whether this legislation would have passed in Congress since at that time—as opposed to now—the Supreme Court as an institution was held in high esteem. Some Democrats in Roosevelt’s party opposed the change, concerned that the Republicans would just add to the Court’s membership to advance their agenda when they regained power, thus utterly eviscerating the Court’s independence as a separate branch of government. The Senate Judiciary Committee gave a negative recommendation to the full Senate. Nevertheless, Roosevelt’s threat to pack the Court apparently had an effect. Before the bill came to a vote in Congress, two Supreme Court justices changed to pro-New Deal positions, upholding as constitutional the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act (dubbed “the switch in time that saved nine”), making the court-packing legislation unnecessary. And Roosevelt ultimately appointed eight of nine justices over the course of his 12 years in office. Should We Expand the Court? Like FDR, President Biden has been faced with numerous crises upon taking office. And like FDR, he has advanced a large, far-reaching program, the Build Back Better plan, to relieve the U.S.’ various hardships and to aid the country in moving forward. But unlike FDR, Biden must deal with razor thin majorities in Congress, and a Senate minority determined to obstruct without compromise any legislation the Democrats advance, in addition to an activist right wing Supreme Court. As a practical matter, Biden currently does not have the votes to pass legislation permitting him to add justices. Senator Joe Manchin, the Republican wolf in Democratic clothing, surely will not permit any change in the filibuster rule that would stop Mitch McConnell and the Republican minority from blocking any legislation that increased the size of the Supreme Court, let alone vote for it himself. But if, at some point, Biden can get such legislation passed—should he? If these were ordinary times—before the Republican Party was engaged in open, nonstop efforts to overthrow a legitimate election, or when we could be assured the conservative majority on the Supreme Court was not aligned with that goal—one might reasonably suggest that we must consider the long-term effect on the Court’s status as an independent branch of the government. But these are not ordinary times. Those who complain that adding justices would politicize the court ignore the fact that McConnell’s holding up Merrick Garland’s nomination until a Republican president could pack the Court with three right-wing political partisans has already politicized the Court. Under these circumstances, if given the chance to change the composition of the Court, we cannot afford to ignore the ongoing attack on democracy that is in front of us here and now because we fear what the Republican response will be when they are in power. Such an approach is a recipe for putting them in power and in position to solidify a dictatorship. Democracy has its back up against the wall, and though a concerned citizen ordinarily might not favor court-packing, there doesn’t seem to be another solution in sight. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

FRED PLOTKIN is one of America’s foremost experts on opera and has distinguished himself in many fields as a writer, speaker, consultant and as a compelling teacher. He is an expert on everything Italian, the person other so-called Italy experts turn to for definitive information.  Fred discovered the concept of "The Renaissance Man" as a small child and has devoted himself to pursuing that ideal as the central role of his life. In a “Public Lives” profile in The New York Times on August 30, 2002, Plotkin was described as "one of those New York word-of-mouth legends, known by the cognoscenti for his renaissance mastery of two seemingly separate disciplines: music and the food of Italy." In the same publication, on May 11, 2006, it was written that "Fred is a New Yorker, but has the soul of an Italian."

By Andy Borowitz October 7, 2021 AUSTIN (The Borowitz Report)—In a judicial decision that has stirred controversy in the Lone Star State, Texas has been temporarily forced to recognize women as humans. The incendiary decision, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman, enables women to “come out of the shadows” and be granted rights similar to those enjoyed by other humans in Texas. In an emotional press conference, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, called the judge’s decision to confer human status on women “a dark day in the history of our great state.” He warned that the state could face mass immigration from women “once word gets out that Texas considers them equivalent to human beings.” “The voters of Texas did not put me in office to allow women to be treated as humans,” he said, choking back tears. “As long as I can draw a breath, this will not stand.” Andy Borowitz is a Times best-selling author and a comedian who has written for The New Yorker since 1998. He writes The Borowitz Report, a satirical column on the news.

By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area It’s college football season and I’m completely pumped. Many of my newer friends don’t know this about me: I’m a rabid Michigan Wolverines fan, have been my whole life and try never to miss a game on TV. October used to be our travel month before Covid hit, smack dab in the middle of football time. Bob and I would watch from wherever we were: a Michigan sports bar on Union Street in San Francisco, a golf resort in Tennessee, and even from an apartment in Antibes, France. I’m hardcore. The fandom comes by way of my family naturally as with many families and their legacies. My dad and his three brothers are the only four brothers in the history of the University of Michigan who all earned varsity letters in sports. Needless to say, most of their offspring attended Michigan to follow in their footsteps. Only two male descendants played sports: my cousin Steve was a basketball guard in the late ‘60s and my son, Ben, was a walk-on sprinter on the track team in 2000. My dad was given four seats in the Varsity Club section of the Big House (the U- M. football stadium), on the 45-yard line. I inherited those seats and attended many games during my college days in the early 70s and then when Ben was a student. I even bought a house in Ann Arbor near the stadium for my kids to live in while attending school, close enough to offer paid parking for fans on game day. Tailgating has been a uniquely American social event for more than a century. According to American Heritage magazine, the first tailgate was for the Rutgers-Princeton football game in 1869. The advent of the automobile and particularly the station wagon in post-WWII created today’s style of tailgating. Back in the old days, people would pull up their pickup trucks to the edge of the football field, flip down the back, put out a hearty array of food and drink, and sit on the tailgate to eat and visit. Things really busted open in the ‘80s and ‘90s with the rise of portable grills, coolers on wheels, collapsible banquet tables, pop-up tents, and generators. These events now take place in the area surrounding the stadiums and have taken on a life of their own. One of the most fun parts about pregame is walking through the parking lots of stadiums across the country. Have any of you done this lately? Boy, some people go all out with the grilling, serving, and drink selections. Not only are there hot dogs and hamburgers, there are BBQ ribs, grilled shrimp, grilled chicken breasts, a huge variety of side salads, chips, dips, cookies, and cupcakes. Certainly the allure of the party is a major aspect of games these days. I’ve tried to carry the tailgate experience throughout my life, most often at home, not at a game. When my dad was wheelchair-bound in his declining years, I would create a tailgate experience for him at the independent living facility where he resided. Every Saturday, I would pick up his favorite foods and put out a spread for the game. A few times, Elmer, his lifetime college friend and baseball teammate, (my dad was the pitcher and Elmer was his catcher) would visit from Connecticut. My sisters, my cousin, Steve, and I would decorate the dining hall with Michigan paraphernalia, then bring their favorite sandwiches from the deli nearby. Seeing these two deeply connected friends reminiscence and feeling that sense of nostalgia and belonging even for just a few hours during the game was a beautiful thing. It’s game day and I’m once again hosting a tailgate experience for the Fishman Family Compound and our neighbors here in the Bay area. A quintessential tailgate dish to serve is chili. If you’re actually transporting chili to a game, it’s easy enough to transport in a crockpot. Instead of serving it in bowls or mugs. I like to make Frito Pie out of it. I learned of this unusual preparation on a trip to Sante Fe, N. M. back in 1986. We heard that you must try one at the Woolworth’s Five-and-Dime lunch counter at Sante Fe Plaza. They cut open the long side of a 1 oz bag of Fritos, ladled in the hot chili and topped it with shredded cheese, chopped onions, sour cream and/or hot sauce. If you hold it in a napkin and eat it with a spoon, it is totally portable. At home, I usually stick to large bowls and offer all the fixings for guests to create their own concoctions. My chili recipe is made with ground beef but feel free to change it up to a combo of beef, turkey, or pork. All are delicious. I usually don’t make mine too spicy because you may not know your audience. Diners can always add hot sauce themselves if so desired. Lastly, if you have some chili left over, it makes a great meal piled on a large baked potato, stuffed into a quesadilla, or on top of an omelet. Chili is certainly a crowd pleaser and can be made for any festive occasion. When might you choose to serve your own pot of chili? Is it on game day, as a post-hike meal, or just for a casual Sunday gathering? Let us know at The Insider–we’d love to hear from you. Go Blue! Meat Chili With Beans Yield: 10 servings 3 Tbs. vegetable oil 2 lb. ground beef 1 lg. onion, diced small 1 poblaño or pasilla pepper, seeded, diced small 1 red bell pepper, seeded, diced small 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded, diced small 3 garlic cloves, diced small 2 Tbs. chili powder 1 Tbs. cumin 1 Tbs. oregano 2 tsp. coriander 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. cocoa powder 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice 2 15 oz. cans kidney beans and their liquid 2 tsp. salt 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro In a large sauté pan or brasier, brown the ground meat in the oil over moderately high heat, breaking up with a spoon. Cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 5-8 minutes. Add the diced onion, peppers, and garlic. Turn heat down to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the seasonings. Blend in well. Continue cooking until the vegetables are softened, about 8 more minutes. Add the tomatoes, beans, and can juices. Stir well. Bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, for about an hour, stirring occasionally. Blend in the salt, chopped cilantro, and fresh ground black pepper. Adjust the seasoning. Serve with any or all of these garnishes: shredded, cheese, chopped onions, chopped cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, hot sauce. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.