Ethan here,
Before we get into the launch of this newsletter, we have to address the killing of Black folks in the United States by the police (or, in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, just two white men). As white people ourselves, we think it’s best to amplify some of the Black voices we’ve heard, provide some links where you can financially support both protestors and the fight against the police and mass incarceration, and pull up some pieces that we feel showcase the ongoing violence perpetrated by the police on a national scale. Please see the following links.
First, here is musician and filmmaker Boots Riley on how capitalism relies on oppression. Read the whole thread.
This article by Vox weekend editor Sean Collins is also a good place for folks who don’t understand the long-simmering discrimination that led to the current protests. A quote: “This disparity is such that in eight US cities — including Reno, Nevada; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Scottsdale, Arizona — the rate at which police killed black men was higher than the US murder rate.” Let that sink in.
If you have the means to do, so please consider donating to a Black or BIPOC-led organization such as Color of Change or Law for Black Lives.
Additionally, in New York City, Free Them All For Public Health is facilitating donations for bail and medical funding, and the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund is accepting and distributing financial support for bail in NYC, as well as collaborating with the National Bail Fund Network to distribute funds nationwide.
Finally, I recommend getting involved to some degree with local organizers. My own politics are aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America. If you’re interested, the organization’s Upcoming Events page is a good place to start.
If you’re somehow unconvinced of the power of the police to abuse citizens without consequence in the United States, here are some great pieces covering the subject.
What If Your Abusive Husband is a Cop? - The New Yorker
With all that said, here we go.
Hi Folks,
Alex and Ethan coming to you not-so-live from Bushwick—or at least Ethan is. Alex is currently holed up in Sacramento with his family. Ethan remains in Bushwick, where he checks daily to see if the Three Diamond Door has opened again. As things develop, we might be doing a little bit of coverage from quarantine in Sac Town.
We’ve got some great things for you this week. A few items will be from the Before Time because we miss it.
On the street, we found some excellent books, including an advanced readers copy of David Chang’s new memoir. Plus, this issue features an interview with local musician Amelia Bushnell, where we talk about how she came to New York, Catholicism, and making choices as an artist.
We hope you enjoy.
Dispatch from the West
By Alex Baldonado
First off, I’m soft. I left NYC for CA, like other privileged folks who had the means and capabilities to escape. Taking shelter in Sacra-fucking-Mento isn’t necessarily the same as taking shelter in your 5,000 sq foot “vacation house” in East Hampton, but I digress.
The people of Sacramento are a conflicting bunch: a mix of the “coastal elite” from the Bay or in government, Central Valley farmers, and those in the foothills of the Sierras who enjoy their guns and “liberty.” We are a microcosm of the nationwide debate of masks/no masks, to reopen or not to reopen, government control vs. individual freedoms.
I had an antibody test earlier this week. Fortunately, a walk-in urgent care facility up the street had tests available for both the virus itself and for the presence of antibodies. I showed up in a mask and gloves, with hand sanitizer ready to go. To my surprise, no one else was there to receive COVID-19 related testing, and, most notably, not one of the nurses wore masks and gloves. Pretty surprising for a facility offering testing FOR THOSE WITH THE VIRUS. I was asked about my symptoms, had my blood drawn, and had my lungs checked—all in a few minutes. The staff was nonchalant to a disturbing degree, but I am thankful to have had the test done. In March, I experienced a dry cough, feverish sleep, and lost sense of taste & smell. My suspicions were proven correct, as my antibody test came back positive.
This experience is indicative of the attitude in Sacramento: the city will offer expansive testing (which I am grateful for) and appear to take it seriously, but most people are just not that concerned.
Street Finds
By Tumble Weed Staff
What would quarantine be without our government-approved, time-limited daily walks? Since moving to New York, we’ve taken to gathering discarded items from stoops and trash spots around our neighborhood—sometimes going so far as to carry a whole bookshelf five blocks and up the stairs our third-floor walk-up. Here’s a round-up of some of our favorite finds since we arrived.
This life-preserver, complete with rope:
This print of “Sunday Rest,” which is a copy of an intaglio print based on a photograph by George Wright:
And, as promised, an advanced reader’s copy of chef and food media personality David Chang’s memoir, “Eat a Peach.” The book will be available to the public on 8 September 2020. Check back here for a review around that time.
We’re big fans of his Instagram cooking. Give him a follow @davidchang.
Local Profile: Music, Magic, and Moving Forward with Amelia Bushnell
By Ethan Beberness
Amelia Bushnell has a theory. One day, she will be sitting on an airplane. Her soulmate will sit down next to her and they will meet for the first time.
“I’m into that sort of magical, happenstance sort of thing,” she told me, shifting in her chair at a hip coffee shop in the north end of Bushwick.
While that day may not have yet arrived, Bushnell has experienced a similarly serendipitous arrival and rise in the Bushwick music scene.
She moved to New York after applying – and being accepted – to the New School in Manhattan on a whim, encouraged by a now ex-boyfriend. (His application was not as successful). While still an undergraduate contemporary music student, Bushnell made a Craigslist post in search of a local band seeking a drummer.
She received a response from a man named Brian and began to play shows in and around Bushwick’s DIY scene. While playing those shows, Bushnell devoted her time to exploring the scene and making the connections that would prove invaluable to her continued growth as a musician. Once she had been introduced to the scene, she couldn’t stay away.
“We’d go out on school nights, get really, really drunk, and meet people and sleep two hours and go to class the next morning,” she told me, sitting in a leather chair in a coffee shop in North Brooklyn – not far from the studio space where she would be recording new demos with one of her three ongoing projects. “It was really just going out to all the venues and meeting people.”
As her involvement in Brooklyn’s independent music scene grew, Bushnell began to isolate herself at school, locking herself in practice rooms and churning out songs about love and heartbreak. She started to play open mic events and join friends’ tickets before starting to book her own shows.
Soon, Bushnell found herself involved in multiple musical projects—including her three current bands, the punk group Grim Streaker, an ongoing songwriting project with Thomas Servidone called Belle Mare, and her new indie-pop solo project, Extra Special. The sound of the second two groups couldn’t be more different from the first, but Bushnell believes that the acting chops she developed in high school allow her to fully engage with these two versions of musical expression.
“The person I portray when I’m Grim Streaker on stage is kind of the goal I’ve always had as an actress – to be so sucked into the role that you don’t even feel like you’re playing a role,” she says of the raucous, all-consuming stage persona she uses when performing with Grim Streaker. “I have the opportunity to indulge in this part of myself and it doesn’t matter because it can be seen as just acting, but it really is a part of me.”
In contrast to the violence of a Grim Streaker mosh pit, Extra Special allows Bushnell to explore a softer side of musical expression with a great deal of control. Their current live act calls more for a slow, swaying dance rather than headbanging. Still, Bushnell exudes energy onstage.
Bushnell first began writing music with her brother when she was fifteen. They sat across from each other on the family couch while she sang melodies to him and he attempted to translate her requests into functioning chord progressions. (Bushnell now plays for herself when she writes for her projects). Soon, however, she left her home in Vancouver, B.C. to study film at the Idlewild Arts Academy in the mountains outside Palm Springs, California.
Her voice reflects her varied living experience. When she speaks or sings, some sentences will have the pacing and language of British English while, at the same time, single words have a tinge of Californian vocal fry. On stage, Bushnell occasionally pulls out what sounds nearly like a southern drawl, as if she were a Texan trying to disguise her natural twang to better fit the pop music sound.
It has been two years since Grim Streaker has recorded new music, and things have changed for Bushnell. She seeks more introspective lyrics as she matures and spends more time contemplating her life goals and purpose.
Bushnell credits the introspective nature of her more recent songwriting to the journal entries she produced while following the practices outlined in “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. The spiritual nature of the book resonated with her Catholic upbringing and allowed her to dig deeper into her own psyche to draw out untapped lyrical themes.
“I was coming out with things – stuff that I had thought about but never really put into words,” Bushnell says.
Though she is no longer a practicing Catholic, Bushnell still loves the ritual of Lent – the 40 day period before Easter when many Catholics abstain from something they typically indulge in. This year, she gave up alcohol. Her decision to refrain from drinking was partially motivated by a desire to force a change in perspective. After all, she’s been making music for a while. What’s going to come next?
Like any yet-to-breakthrough artist, Bushnell is left debating the merit of spending her life devoted to her craft. To continue on her current trajectory, she says she’ll need to find label support and begin playing on ever-more-impressive tickets. Bushnell says she is also considering pursuing commercial songwriting. If she can continue building on the skills that she has demonstrated through the crooning, heartbroken tunes on the soon-to-be-released (and now slightly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic) first EP from Extra Special, the pop world will certainly be in for a treat. The five tracks on the EP are a standout group of soothing, softly bouncing pop songs drawn from the influence of major female pop acts like Maggie Rogers, King Princess, and Caroline Polachek.
Perhaps it’s better that Bushnell hasn’t yet met her airplane soulmate. If a broken heart is what keeps her producing such sentimental, fun music, we’d all benefit from that day taking its time to arrive.
One Last Thing:
Worried about running out of toilet paper during your post-meal poop? Ichiran Ramen (located on Johnson Ave between Bogart and Morgan in Bushwick) has you covered. This is their set up:
