It’s easy to call Donald Trump the [Comic Book Guy voice] worst. president. ever. But that would be incorrect: he’s only the worst living president.
C-SPAN asked 142 historians and professional observers of the presidency to rank every president of the United States of America in several categories, including Pursued Equal Justice For All, Economic Management, and Performance Within Context of Times. Trump’s best showing was in Public Persuasion, where he placed 32nd. Among all presidents in all categories, he finished #41 out of 44 (Joe Biden was not included and Grover Cleveland, who was elected to two nonconsecutive terms, only counts once).
Historians rate Trump as the worst president in history on two of 10 qualities, “moral authority” and “administrative skills.”
Since 2000, C-SPAN has taken the survey each time there has been a change in administrations. The public affairs network, known for its gavel-to-gavel coverage of the House and Senate, said that in this year’s survey, it significantly increased the number of historians participating and their diversity in race, gender, age, and philosophy.
The only presidents to rank lower than Trump are Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, and in last place, James Buchanan. Tough break for a terrible POTUS. He finished with a meager 227 points compared to 312 for Trump and 897 for Abraham Lincoln (#1). The rest of the top five goes George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, while Barack Obama ranked the highest among living presidents (#10) followed by Bill Clinton (#19), Jimmy Carter (#26), and George W. Bush (#29).
Meanwhile, the great-great-great-great-whatever grandkids of William Henry Harrison, who died 32 days into his term, can sleep easy tonight knowing that he finished one spot ahead of Trump.
After years of public court hearings about her legally-appointed conservatorship, Britney Spears made her first on-the-record comments about her situation last week. The singer called the conservatorship “abusive” and claimed that it is restricting a number of her personal freedoms, like being able to get married and remove her implanted birth control. In the past, Spears’ lawyers have claimed the singer has taken issue with her father being her co-conservator, and now, he has responded to Spears’ claims.
According to a report from TMZ, Spears’ father, Jamie, denies being the one who is control of her personal life decisions like being on birth control and having limited time with her boyfriend. Jamie says he’s responsible for the singer’s finances, and co-conservator Jodi Montgomery has been at the helm all of her day-to-day decisions for nearly two years.
TMZ’s report notes that Jamie says he hasn’t spoken directly to Spears in a long time since “he has been cut off from communicating with her.” Jamie allegedly blames Montgomery for Spears’ discontent, and alleges the court never found her unfit to make medical decisions for herself. In other words, Jamie claims that Spears is legally allowed to make the decision remove her birth control independently from Montgomery. TMZ includes a line from legal documents that allege: “Ms. Montgomery has been fully in charge of Ms. Spears’ day-to-day personal care and medical treatment, and Ms. Montgomery has made all decisions related to those matters.”
Jamie’s lawyer reportedly claims that he actually called for the court to investigated the claims his daughter made about her conservatorship last week:
“Mr. Spears believes it is important for the integrity of the conservatorship proceedings and in the best interests of Ms. Spears for the Court to order an investigation into the issues and claims raised by [Britney] at the June 23, 2021 status hearing. […] Either the allegations will be shown to be true, in which case corrective action must be taken, or they will be shown to be false, in which case the conservatorship can continue its course. It is not acceptable for Conservators or the Court to do nothing in response to Ms. Spears’ testimony.”
After Spears went public about her conservatorship last week, there has been an outpouring of support for her. Her sister Jamie Lynn made a statement of support, and celebrities like Christina Aguilera and even Stephen Colbert shared similar sentiments.
In a wide-ranging interview ahead of her work in five films for the Cannes Film Festival, Tilda Swinton addressed the “hot, sticky, gnarly moment” that occurred when her casting as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange stirred up criticism of whitewashing for the Marvel movie. While Swinton feels that the incident was “necessary for the industry to move forward,” she now admits that her handling of the situation was not the best, particularly the way she reached out to comedian Margaret Cho and asked her for help in understanding the situation, which Cho found “weird” at the time.
“I made a questionable decision to reach out to somebody in a certain way, which was naive and clearly confusing, because their misunderstanding came about because of it,” Swinton told Variety. “I was embarrassed that I had maybe gone up a blind alley in starting the correspondence in the first place — maybe I had confused matters — but beyond that, I have zero regrets.”
Back in December 2016, Cho famously revealed the details of the call with Swinton, who asked that she not tell anyone about the conversation. Instead, Cho aired her thoughts on the Bobby Lee’s TigerBelly podcast, and the details were not great. Via Vulture:
“It was a long fight about why the part should not have gone to her. That’s what I thought: The part should not have gone to her,” said Cho. “We’d fight about it and basically it ended with her saying, ‘Well I’m producing a movie and Steven Yeun is starring.’” (This is no doubt a reference to Bong Joon-ho’s upcoming film Okja in which Swinton stars with Yeun.)
“Oh, like I have a black friend,” Lee joked.
“It was weird because I felt like a house Asian, like I’m her servant,” Cho said.
As Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness began production, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige recently addressed the Ancient One controversy, and he, too, admits it could have been handled better.
“We’re not going to do the cliché of the wizened, old, wise Asian man,” Feige explained to Men’s Health. “But it was a wake-up call to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, is there any other way to figure it out? Is there any other way to both not fall into the cliché and cast an Asian actor?’ And the answer to that, of course, is yes.”
LeBron James is keeping himself busy following a rare early exit from the NBA playoffs. With the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy coming up in July, he’s doing everything he can to promote the movie. One such way is to enter into the world of gaming — James has multiple gaming-related partnerships coming, such as an arcade beat’em up and a recently-announced collaboration with Candy Crush.
One of the most popular mobile games ever, Candy Crush is a simple but highly addictive: Match three candies together to crush them and earn points, and create combos so those candies will be crushed for higher points. Now, players will be able to, for a short time, play Candy Crush with LeBron James, Bugs Bunny, and all their favorite Space Jam heroes. Also, some of the candies are now basketballs, which is a very nice touch.
YouTube
This may sound a little weird to some, but one-time events like this are really common in long-running games, especially in the mobile market. It’s a way to not only bring in some new players, but to also keep longtime players interested in seeing what new events will be popping up as they play the game. Kids will love it and people who are fans of LeBron might give the game a try because of it, making this a win for everyone.
There’s a lot going on in Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Even aside from the story itself (based upon the theme park ride), the biggest showpiece here is the cast, all with larger-than-life performances. Heck, the last trailer had Emily Blunt punching The Rock and Jesse Plemons firing a torpedo at The Rock after brandishing a German accent and shouting, “Hallöchen!” Well, The Rock (sort-of) gets his revenge with this newest trailer, which introduces The Skipper, who’s guiding people down the river in his ramshackle vessel through all sorts of life-threatening obstacles. And we’ve got Paul Giamatti doing his own brand of very huge accent work while pointing toward either a white parrot or a cockatoo. Does it matter which one is more accurate here? Nope, because these actors are all putting on the biggest performances possible, and it’s a welcome sight during a time where we’ve missed movies.
Naturally, The Rock had to go full-on The Rock in the intro by trolling his leading lady and pretending not to know her name. It’s a joke that threatens to run thin, but since this entire production is so campy, we’ll let him roll with it. Also, Emily Blunt’s the one who’s having a real moment these days with the so-tense-it-makes-your-stomach-hurtA Quiet Place 2, and this movie that’s guaranteed to (at least) run well on Disney+ with a decent theatrical take, too. Big actors, big roles, big set pieces. Check, check, and check.
From the film’s synopsis, which refers to Blunt’s professor character:
Lily is determined to uncover an ancient tree with unparalleled healing abilities — possessing the power to change the future of medicine. Thrust on this epic quest together, the unlikely duo encounters innumerable dangers and supernatural forces, all lurking in the deceptive beauty of the lush rainforest. But as the secrets of the lost tree unfold, the stakes reach even higher for Lily and Frank and their fate—and mankind’s — hangs in the balance.
Disney’s Jungle Cruise also stars Edgar Ramírez and Jack Whitehall. The film releases in U.S. theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access on July 30, 2021.
Megan Thee Stallion is giving away a million bucks — but there’s a catch. In her new #CashAppForHotties campaign, Megan has partnered with Cash App to give away $1 million worth of stock to increase investing awareness and encourage participation in the stock market.
In an accompanying video explaining the campaign, Megan says, “Me and my thriving empire, Hot Girl Enterprises, have teamed up with Cash App to teach you everything I learned on the way up about money and how you can build your own empire.” She breaks down such concepts as fractional shares and diversification, reassuring viewers that “buying stocks isn’t only for the big players.”
“Buying stocks seems complicated, but really it’s a pretty simple process,” she continues. “The more you educate yourself the more equipped you’ll be to navigate investing. With my knowledge and your hustle, you’ll have your own empire in no time.”
The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow, and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.
In a moment of disarming nonchalance, venerable punk drummer Bill Stevenson wants to make sure that he won’t be on camera for our Zoom interview. Otherwise, he would have to do what he calls a nya – a method of grooming wherein you yell the word “nya” while pulling out a nose hair to prevent yourself from crying. Milo Aukerman, vocalist and cartoon mascot for legendary punk band The Descendents, laughs and nods along. We’re here to talk about the band’s new album 9th & Walnut. Well, actually, the album isn’t really new. It’s technically new but it’s also older than any Descendents release ever. Does that make sense?
Named after the band’s first-ever practice space, the tracks on 9th & Walnut were penned nearly 40 years ago, but “by the time we kind of got competent as players, and by the time we figured out who we were and what we wanted to sound like, we were sort of sick of all those songs and we had written new ones,” remembers Stevenson, who joined the band alongside principal songwriters Frank Navetta and Tony Lombardo in the late 1970s. Thus, the tracks were shelved for nearly 25 years, only to be unearthed when the band’s original members came together in 2002 to jam out their first-ever songs and finally put them to tape.
After those sessions, the tapes remained on a shelf for another twenty years while Descendents went their separate ways, during which time Navetta passed away in 2008 after slipping into a diabetic coma. The tragic loss kept the songs shelved for even longer, until Stevenson had a lightbulb moment during the pandemic. The band was already working on new music, and Stevenson decided to revisit the songs as a way to honor his friend and showcase the earliest days of the band. “We were sitting on it, and then it’s like, ‘Wait, why haven’t we released this?’”
Aukerman was the last piece of the puzzle to guide the songs to completion, and he was already primed and ready to go. “I had written a bunch of new songs and recorded those and I wanted to just keep recording,” he explains. “I was like, ‘Obviously we’re not playing shows. Let’s keep the ball rolling. Let’s record more.’” So Stevenson sent the tracks over with guide vocals for Aukerman to record over for the first time, 40 years after they originally pieced them together.
“It sounds cheesy,” Stevenson admits. “I’m always suspicious when movies have a prequel. I feel like they made it up. I feel like it wasn’t really supposed to be that way. I hope people don’t think that about us, like Star Wars one through three.”
But as with most things Descendents, 9th & Walnut brings with it a sense of unabashed earnestness that enables this exercise in preservation to fit in perfectly with the rest of the band’s lengthy catalogue. It’s a feat that most other bands would struggle to accomplish, let alone a band that’s been playing together nearly 40 years. Descendents have been underdogs from the beginning, and they’ve always beaten the odds. 9th & Walnut is no exception.
My conversation with Aukerman and Stevenson has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
So much time has obviously passed since the songs were written. What would you say were your main influences at the time that these songs were coming together in the first place?
Milo Aukerman: Well, these were all written by Frank and Tony, and so it was kind of a culmination of their influences. Frank was a huge fan of this band called The Last, and that’s a band that we all kind of worshiped back in that day. They were right from our neighborhood, in Hermosa Beach. So if you listen to The Last and then listen to some of Frank’s early stuff, you can definitely see there’s a throughway there. Tony was just a big fan of new wave and just early punk. And I think a lot of his early stuff has almost, to me, it has even a Devo sound because it’s very kind of, you know, bobby and herky jerky kind of stuff.
Bill Stevenson: Linear and angular.
M.A.: Yeah, yeah. That kind of stuff. So, yeah, I think the combination of the two of their writing styles really worked well, because you could get these different flavors together in one. And that’s why, when I joined, it hit the sweet spot for me, because I just felt like each of the things they brought to the table was such an important kind of musical element to me. So I just really dug it all.
So Bill, how involved were you in the writing of these songs? Did you come in afterward or were you part of those writing session?
B.S.: No, these were before I… before I knew how to really play a guitar. I mean, not long after it, I wrote “Myage” and “Bikeage.” Once I dug that bass out of the trashcan, from my neighbor’s trashcan, I wrote “Myage” and “Bikeage.” But no, I hadn’t written any songs.
So since these songs are from such a different era of the band, with you guys releasing them now, do you feel like this is kind of a separate standalone grouping of songs than what started with Milo Goes To College? Or do you feel like it’s a natural progression?
M.A.: It actually takes what used to be the standalone part of “Ride The Wild”/”Hectic World,” which really was standalone, and that’s no longer standalone because now you’ve got these songs to bridge.
B.S: I think the way I look at it is, if you go from “Ride The Wild” to 9th & Walnut to Milo Goes To College, in that order, it sounds like a very logical progression. But the anomaly was the Fat EP, because we were just on so much coffee on Bonus Cups, and Frank was taking all that speed, and now the songs are just ridiculous, you know? That’s what it was. So I think the Fat EP is the odd man out.
M.A.: Well, the other way to think about it is, on the one extreme, you’ve got “Ride The Wild,” and on the other extreme, you’ve got the Fat EP. We were testing the sideboards.
B.S.: We’ve never been gnarlier than Fat EP. That’s the gnarliest we’ve ever been. So you’re right. It was like we tested the sideboards and then we figured out what we sounded like. That’s a good one, Milo. I never thought of that.
So the last few Descendents releases have kind of dealt with a lot more adult themes. And now you’re releasing this music that’s the group’s absolute youngest form of songwriting.
B.S.: Completely juvenile.
How does it feel to be singing those songs now that you’re adults, going back so far?
M.A.: What it allows me to do is get back into that state of mind that I was in when I first joined the band. I would hear some of Frank songs and just be like, “Yeah, this guy, he’s really punk.” I was getting into punk rock, but I think when I heard Frank’s stuff, it kind of, for me, crystallized a particular punk attitude. Misanthropic, I guess, is the way you’d put it. When I re-look at that stuff now, I kind of realize how we were as people back then. We were all kind of loners at our school and we were all, I would say, fairly bitter about how our lives were going. Maybe even just from a social standpoint. We were all just kind of outcasts. And I think that’s the way I view it. When I sing those songs, it brings me back to a particular period where we were all just struggling to try to fit in, but also at the same time, didn’t care about fitting in either. It’s just kind of a weird period. We were all very young and trying to figure all this out. And that’s what I get out of his songs, for sure.
B.S.: Misdirected hormones combined with a pretty big chip on each of our shoulders.
What would you say now to the kids who wrote these songs?
B.S.: You kick ass.
M.A.: I’d say to Frank, “Man, you were ahead of your time.” Also, I mean, if you look at the songs, some of them are just really vitriolic, but then some of his songs are very kind of romantic as well. I think he captured both of those sides, and those are both sides that I was feeling at the same time. I’m struggling with being someone who could fit in, but also someone who is starting to recognize girls or just kind of think that girls existed at that point.
It’s an interesting line to toe, between wanting to be a punk rocker and set yourself apart from the group, but also, you’re still in high school and want to have friends.
M.A.: Yeah. If you’re that person in high school who just can’t find his crew, and is maybe on your own, a loner, you have a couple different choices. But I think one of the choices is just to kind of rail against the people who are kind of precluding your involvement.
I often feel like I missed out on the height of the best eras of punk music, whether it be New York City in the seventies, or Seattle in the early nineties, or whatever it was. Did I actually miss out on all of this stuff or is it just another instance of, “The grass is always greener on the other side?”
B.S.: I feel like you’ve missed out on one wave of it, but there have been thousands of great bands since then. But it was pretty bitchin’ to be 15 and be able to go out, and, in one show, see Fear, The Screamers, X, and The Weirdos, like all at one show. And then go another night and see The Go-Go’s, The Flesh Eaters, and The Cramps, or just whatever, for five bucks or however much it was in these little clubs. It was pretty, pretty cool to be there for that, but then there have been a million bands since then that have taken that and kind of produced something that was more than what they inherited.
What are some bands that are going right now at the height of their power that you think invoke that similar type of sensibility?
B.S.: Milo.
M.A.: What?
B.S.: You’re supposed to help.
M.A.: Oh.
B.S.: You fall asleep, Milo? No, I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.
M.A.: I mean, I’ve really liked this band, The Pairs. I guess they’re just called Pairs. I feel like they maybe kind of mined a lot of the same area we did, in terms of, we want to play really fast and aggressive, but we want to have melodies and stuff in there. So that’s how I’d describe them. I feel like they’re doing something similar.
B.S.: Yeah. Or Wilhelm Scream. Audio Karate, Propagandhi. I’m saying, even after that first wave, just to go back not quite that far, I mean, the third wave was Nomeansno and Fugazi and stuff. There have been tons of cool bands, man, all along the way.
M.A.: The thing, too, is that you go into Spotify and you’re inundated by just way too much choice. Picking the needle out of the haystack has got to be difficult. You could spend days listening to a genre and try to figure out for yourself which ones you like and which ones you don’t, but that’s maybe one of the problems. But it’s also one of the great things at the same time. There’s so much music out there, but because there’s so much music out there, you got to listen to a lot of it to find what you really like too.
Is this album an exercise in nostalgia, or rather an exercise in preservation of history? I think those are two distinct things.
B.S.: It’s maybe more completing a task that had been long left uncompleted. It was kind of like, “Wait, why didn’t we record all those?” They’re good songs. Just because we got sick of them, that doesn’t mean that they should just go forever without anyone… Oh, so maybe the latter one you said. Not nostalgia, but the like, “Hey. People would enjoy knowing what the very first things we ever played together. People would love that.”
M.A.: It becomes a way of getting in touch with who we were as people, then. And especially who Frank was. He’s not around anymore to complete his legacy and this whole thing, but this was a way of kind of commuting with that part of our lives and with those people as they were then.
To me, the track “When I Get Old” is kind of like Descendents’ version of The Beatles’ “When I’m 64.” So my question is: Do you still hop on your bike and ride around town?
M.A.: [Laughs] If I could, I would. I can hop on my bike and ride on trails. That’s the closest I can do. A lot of the stuff in that song is actually a way of staying young through your actions. Because we’re all going to age, but it’s your actions that can keep you from really feeling older, and maybe aging too much. I mean, for me, just being in a band is a great way that I can just be like, “I want to stay young.” And that’s part of why I do it… What are you doing, Bill? You’re singing a song.
B.S.: [Singing] 13, 14. 15, 16… You don’t know the song, Milo?
M.A.: No, I don’t! What record is it on? Which of The Beach Boys’ record is it on? I’ll look it up. I’ll find it.
B.S.: Oh, it’s so cool. You’re going to love it, Milo. You’re going to love it. But then you’re going to know. You’re going to know the secret.
Follow-up question: Do you still hate cops?
M.A.: Well, right now, the cops are really… They’re misbehaving. The cops need to kind of clean up their act, is what they need.
B.S.: Well, I hate the system whereby the rich people are who elect the politicians, and the politicians are who pay the policemen’s salary, therefore the policemen work for the rich people. You could say, “Well, there’s good cops and bad cops,” but that basic thing is still true, regardless. That they are paid to enforce the goals of the rich people. To keep the bums off the grass, so to speak. So yeah, I don’t dig that.
M.A.: I hate the cops for what they’ve done in terms of race relations in this country. They’ve just really taken us back years and years. And that’s not just from last year; it’s from long ago. So yeah, there’s a very valid reason to hate the cops right there.
The Descendents’ earlier music was very apolitical in a punk scene where politics were very important. The songs were more about girls and having good farts. But recently, a lot of the newer material songs have been more about social issues. There were even some songs about Trump. What do you think caused that shift in what you were writing about?
M.A.: Well, that’s my fault, really. I can’t really say that it’s something I’m looking forward to kind of pursuing anymore. I think one thing that’s true in all of our music is that we always just write about how we’re feeling at that moment. In our younger years, we were feeling strongly about getting a chili dog. And then last year, or last few years, I’ve been feeling really strongly just about just how fucked up… There was no calculation involved. I can only ever write about what gets my dander up, and it turns out that that’s been this political situation that we’re in. And that’s where those songs came from. But I don’t feel like it necessarily redefines us as a band. What really defines us as a band is we just write about whatever we want to write about based upon our most extreme feelings, if you want to put it that way. It’s not going to be these political screeds from now until the end of time. I’ve kind of committed myself to not being that guy.
B.S.: In true Descendents form, my coolest two new [songs]… One is about my wiener dog named Slinky. And one is about my son, Miles. I’m not trying to think about those partisan politics and all that shit. It’s weird no matter who gets in there. They get old and they get old and they don’t get anything done. The whole system is fucking stupid. Wasting 30 seconds of my time talking about a big pile of shit like that is not interesting to me.
You said you’re working on new music. Do you have any idea when we can expect a truly new Descendents album?
M.A.: Well, Milo’s and Stephen’s are all done. We’ve recorded like 20 of theirs already.
B.S.: Karl’s coming over this week and I’m helping him demo his. I can’t finish songs. It’s always been that way. Do you look at how many songs I’ve written since I started the band? It’s like one per year. It’s so lame. 9th & Walnut served as a good stop-gap. It buys me some more time to finish my songs without anybody knowing. Milo’s and Stephen’s ones are kick-ass, their new ones. They wrote a bunch of really good ones.
M.A.: I think the good thing about these most recent songs, which is kind of a novel thing, is that Stephen came in with a whole bunch of music and just said, “Hey, I don’t have any words.” And I just wrote a ton of words for a lot of his music, and that’s just a new collaboration that we hadn’t really taken advantage of too much in the past. That kind of supercharged me to plow through a lot of it, because it was just such a new creative way of writing songs for me. Because a lot of times when we write songs, we all come in with our songs fully formed. It’s one dude’s song. And this was a good way of having the guitar player and the vocalist put their heads together. So that, to me, was a lot of fun. To kind of learn a new way to write.
9th & Walnut is out July 23 on Epitaph. Pre-order it here.
You’ve clicked on this tequila article for one of two reasons:
You’re genuinely curious if Kendall Jenner’s foray into the tequila world is worthy of the hype (and price tag).
You’re a hardcore Kardashian/Jenner hater (or tequila snob) who has come to complain in the comments about how a tequila from Jenner couldn’t possibly be good because… she has money? She’s from the Valley?
Either way, welcome. But if you’re a hater who has come to hate but you haven’t actually tried 818, kindly shut the f*ck up for a few minutes. Because we’re here to talk about the quality of the product, first and foremost, and — spoiler warning — all three bottles are good-to-great. Take it from someone who rated the blanco expression blind (and would have been more than happy to hate on it).
Jenner’s recent foray into the tequila space has launched a thousand think-pieces (here’s a shorter one), and some of the conversations regarding 818 are definitely important and worth having. But many of those think-pieces were crafted solely for clicks, piggybacking on Jenner’s celebrity status to create online engagement while ignoring scores of other entries in the crowded world of famous (non-Mexican) tequila entrepreneurs. So they often read as bad-faith arguments aimed at a mega-famous young woman rather than, say, the Breaking Bad guys, who also own a celebrity white label brand.
If you’re tired of having conversations about Jenner’s tequila (I know I am!), and just want to know whether or not it’s good, please, feel free to skip ahead to the section titled “The Tequila.” But as I mentioned before, some of these conversations are vital, so let’s wade into them briefly.
Is Kendall Jenner’s Tequila Cultural Appropriation?
I said “briefly” because this is actually a pretty complicated subject and there is no easy answer. The Oxford dictionary defines cultural appropriation as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people of society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” Keep in mind this is just one definition of cultural appropriation (see what I mean about complicated?), but already you can see that this definition doesn’t 100% apply to Jenner’s brand. I can say this with confidence because we know this is a tequila, which means it was produced in a very specific region in Mexico, so you can’t exactly say it’s not acknowledging the origin and tradition of the product in question, even despite the name, which pays reference to Jenner’s Calabasas, California area code of 818.
Then you get to that part about dominance. Jenner certainly has more notoriety than the underpaid Mexican farmers who actually work the fields and extract the agave to make Tequila 818. But so do the rich distillery owners, the boards of the publicly held mega-brands, and every celebrity that ever dabbles in the tequila game, from George Clooney to Nick Jonas to Guy Fieri to the Rock. So if you have a problem with Jenner’s tequila, which is fine, you also have a problem with every single corporate or celebrity-owned brand (or, at the very least, non-Mexican corporate or celebrity-owned brand).
That’s also fine, by the way! We’re just advocating even-handedness when approaching this issue.
At the end of the day, there is a Mexican-owned distillery and Mexican farmers making money from the existence of 818. Perhaps not as much as they should be making, but that’s more of a problem with the rampantly extractive nature of late-stage capitalism. On the flip side, 818’s very existence is making it harder for lesser-known brands to garner the same level of attention, and pulling the exhausted agave resources away from brands that can’t afford to keep up with Jenner’s massive wealth, which may cause them to fold. That would definitely put some people out of jobs — especially brands owned by local Mexican families who have a deep, historical, and personal connection to tequila that Jenner might not have. It’s not wrong to be deeply concerned by that. But remember that, when viewed through this prism, all celebrities entering the tequila space are gobbling up precious and limited agave resources and jeopardizing the fate of smaller labels. Though they’re also building a pipeline of new aficionados, so there’s room for some nuance here — do you believe in the phrase “a rising tide lifts all ships” or not?
As we said, it’s a thorny issue. Wherever you land on it, please do absolutely vote with your dollars. If you feel like Jenner’s tequila is cultural appropriation, we implore you: don’t buy it. It’s not like it’s lightyears ahead of anything on the market. In fact, I have a piece coming next week all about non-celebrity, non-corporate tequilas that will help you navigate lesser-known brands.
In the meantime…
The Tequila
Tequila 818 comes from the La Cofradia distillery in Jalisco. La Cofradia is a pretty divisive distillery amongst tequila snobs, as it’s a contract distillery that is currently home to over 60 brands of tequila. That doesn’t automatically make tequila from La Cofradia “bad,” as some self-described tequila aficionados will tell you. Plenty of well-respected brands that have scored highly at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition come from this distillery — including Storywood and Hiatus — so the idea that a good tequila can’t come from this distillery is a little ridiculous. Having said that, the distillery is certainly no Fortaleza or Alteña, two smaller, family-owned distilleries that live up to their well-deserved hype.
The tequila itself is produced from Blue Weber agave harvested at peak maturity (seven years) by jimadores local to the Los Valles region of Tequila. The agave is then cooked in brick ovens for 40 hours, before being subjected to the tahona extraction method, a traditional extraction process adapted from the Aztecs that relies on a large stone wheel that crushes the agave. It’s a very labor-intensive process, so Kendall’s brand certainly can’t be accused of cutting any corners.
The juice is then fermented for 70 hours and twice distilled in alembic pot stills. All in all, the process is pretty solid. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that people keep saying this stuff is actually good.
The Blanco presents itself with a sort of shimmery silver glow that looks great in the glass. On the nose you get a bouquet of fresh lemongrass, juicy fruit and, I kid you not, spit. On the palate, this expression is highly vegetal, with notes of lemon-lime citrus, asparagus, agave, and the slightest pinch of almond. There’s a smooth finish that makes this remarkably sippable.
The Bottom Line
Incredibly smooth with lots of refreshing tropical notes, that nose is rough stuff though. For the price it’s not even close to the best blanco you can find in this range.
Very subtle whiffs of honey on the nose, the 818 Reposado presents itself with a light straw color and reveals notes of vanilla, fresh asparagus, and bright citrus on the palate, with gentle echoes of floral hibiscus. The finish is supremely smooth with a baked caramel quality that settles on the tongue nicely between sips. There is a sweet dessert quality to this tequila, but it’s not overly sweet in a distracting way. Overall a great expression.
The Bottom Line
818’s tequila reposado strikes a nice balance between bright and vegetal qualities and something with a deeper complexity.
818’s Añejo, the label’s most expensive expression, features a beautifully rich amber glow. On the nose, it presents strong notes of rich milk chocolate and toffee. The smell is so sweet that you’re going to want to sit with it for a while, just breathing it in. Go for it, everyone around you will think your nuts, but it’ll deepen your experience. Across the palate, those brown sugar dessert-like qualities intensify, revealing breakfast-like flavors of honey, maple, with a pronounced oak finish resulting in 818’s smoothest expression.
The Bottom Line
The dessert-like qualities teased in the 818 Reposado are in full force here. It’s rich and a pleasure to drink, and while I miss some of the bright vegetal qualities of the other two expressions, this is likely my favorite overall.
Final Thoughts
All three expressions of Jenner’s 818 are very solid, with the repo and añejo being full-on great, but if you’re looking for an answer on whether or not they’re worth it, that’s going to come down to just how much you want to spend. For me, given what these bottles offer, I’d say all three are priced a little higher than I’d like them to be personally, you can easily find bottles just as good if not better that are nearly $15 cheaper. El Tesoro and Herradura instantly come to mind, but the inflated price of 818 is what happens when you opt for a celebrity brand over the tequilas that don’t have a famous face or name attached to them. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that these come accompanied with a heftier price tag, but from what I’ve tasted from other celebrity tequilas like Teremana and Casamigos, this is the best I’ve had.
Of the three I have to hand it to the 818 Añejo, it has the best flavor profile overall, but at just shy of $75 per bottle (average retail) I can’t see myself reaching for this over some of my current favorite añejos. For that reason, I’m going to say if you want to pick up a bottle of 818 your best bet is the 818 Reposado for its versatility and great flavor. It has some of the delectable dessert qualities of the añejo, balanced out with the bright agave-focused notes of the blanco, providing you with a great bottle of tequila to sip, shoot, or mix in the drinks. At $60 a bottle, it hits the Goldilocks zone for me. It’ll be interesting to see how it elevates a cocktail compared to similarly priced bottles.
As a Disney Channel star, a No. 1 artist, and awards show performer, Olivia Rodrigo is not a typical teenager. However, the singer wanted a way for her and her friends a way to live out the ultimate teenage experience by sharing her concert film Sour Prom.
Directed by Kimberly Stuckwisch and Toby L, the Sour Prom film kicks off with Rodrigo being picked up from her house and ushered into a stretched limo. She begins to deliver a few lines from her song “Deja Vu” before arriving at the event, checking in with a few friends, and heading to the dance floor. The singer performs the rest of her amid twinkling lights and slow-dancing teens before closing out the film with a raucous rendition of “Good For U” on the school’s football field with the help of the marching band.
Rodrigo drummed up excitement about the film ahead of its release by showing up to some fans’ homes and asking them to prom. The promotion paid off as Sour Prom was streamed over 3.6 million times on YouTube in just 12 hours, becoming the platform’s No. 1 trending video.
However, not all the attention around Rodrigo’s Sour Prom was positive. Courtney Love slammed the singer for paying homage to Hole’s Live Through This cover art in Rodrigo’s promotional photos for the film. “Stealing an original idea and not asking permission is rude,” Love wrote. “There’s no way to be elegant about it. I’m not angry. It happens all the time to me. And really I’m very gracious or say nothing. But this was bad form.”
The 2021 NBA Playoffs have seen new contenders rise to the top of the East and West, as the four teams left in the conference finals have combined for two championships, most recently the Bucks in 1971. That has also opened the door for some new stars to emerge on a grander stage, most notably Atlanta’s Trae Young and Phoenix’s Devin Booker, while the Clippers’ Paul George has rewritten his own narrative with sensational play.
With some of the injuries we’ve seen to key players, this postseason has also thrust others into a larger role, offering an opportunity to prove what they can do on the biggest stage. Some have been younger players getting an expanded role for the first time, while others are veterans proving they still have plenty in the tank to provide to a contender. Showing that is always important, but never more than when you’re about to enter a free agent summer. There have been a number of upcoming 2021 free agents who have taken advantage of this postseason to showcase what they can bring to the table for a top team, and are set to cash in on their performance this summer.
Reggie Jackson (Clippers, UFA): The most talked about player in terms of who has made himself the most money in the playoffs is Reggie Jackson. The Clippers guard is set to go from making the vet minimum to another substantial, multi-year deal thanks to his performance for L.A., stepping up to help carry the offensive load alongside Paul George in the absence of Kawhi Leonard. Jackson has made more threes than any player in the 2021 Playoffs and is averaging 18.1 points, 3.2 assists, and 3.1 rebounds per game on 49.2/41.5/86.8 shooting splits in 18 games. It hasn’t just been a hot series for Jackson, but a sustained performance and that matters in securing him a big contract this summer from someone.
John Collins (Hawks, RFA): So much of the conversation is, rightfully, about Trae Young, but John Collins has consistently been their second best player. With Bogdan Bogdanovic being hampered by a right knee injury, the Hawks have needed someone to step up as a secondary scorer and Collins has been that guy against Milwaukee so far. His averages aren’t gaudy — 13.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game — but he’s been efficient (55.4 percent shooting from the field and 34 percent from three) and he’s shown versatility playing some small-ball five and some big-ball three around his typical stints at power forward. The Hawks weren’t ready to pay Collins what he wanted before the season, but his playoff performance is going to apply plenty of pressure to give him a big time deal this summer.
Cam Payne (Suns, UFA): Payne was good for the Suns all season, but the playoffs have been where he’s really shined. He set a new career-high for points scored in any game earlier this postseason and is averaging 10.3 points and 3.5 assists per game (with just 1.2 turnovers) on solid efficiency (42/35.8/93.8 splits). Payne has been vital to Phoenix’s success, particularly early in the Clippers series with Chris Paul out, and for someone who was out of the league and playing in China two years ago before getting picked up as a late pre-Bubble addition by the Suns, he has more than made the most of his opportunity and proven he belongs in the NBA.
Tim Hardaway Jr. (Mavs, UFA): Hardaway was the Mavs’ second-best player in the Clippers series, and while he wasn’t quite as consistent as he maybe would like, I think he still earns a spot on this list. He was always going to command some serious money this offseason, but he showed how valuable he is to Dallas and why they can’t risk seeing him walk this summer, so expect the Mavs to have to pony up big time to keep their best perimeter threat alongside Luka Doncic.
Norman Powell (Blazers, UFA): Powell was only out there for six games this postseason, but he was terrific for Portland, particularly in some games where they desperately needed a pick up offensively. He didn’t need a “prove it” performance in the same way as Payne or Jackson, but his effort certainly endeared him to the Portland faithful and showed why they dealt for him at the deadline in order to secure his Bird rights. Whether he stays or not is among the bigger questions facing the Blazers in a very important offseason, and they’ll have plenty of competition for a wing of Powell’s caliber on the market.
Blake Griffin (Nets, UFA): After he got bought out by Detroit and landed in Brooklyn, Griffin was expected to look solid in a reduced role that would only ask him to do what he’s best at, but few expected him to look as good as he did in the postseason. He was simply terrific for the Nets, giving them quality minutes on both ends. What he does this offseason will be fascinating. It would make a lot of sense for him to stay in Brooklyn and continue in a role that clearly suits him, but that would need to be on a minimum deal or a small exception. It’s possible bigger money is out there for Blake, but after how things went in Detroit, he’ll surely be thinking about fit and title contention first, which might lead him right back to the Nets.
Derrick Rose (Knicks, UFA): Rose was the Knicks’ best player in their first round series with the Hawks, which, in fairness, is partly why they were bounced in five games. He’s not a player capable of dragging teams to win by himself at this point in his career, but he showed that there’s still plenty left in the tank, particularly on the offensive end. Rose has said he enjoys being in New York, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a contender comes calling with a two-year mid-level type deal.
Bobby Portis (Bucks, UFA): Portis was one of Milwaukee’s offseason additions last summer in their scramble to put together a squad after the Bogdan Bogdanovic debacle, and while there were questions at the time about whether he’d bring them what they needed come playoff time, he has answered those and then some this postseason. Portis has been, alongside Pat Connaughton, Milwaukee’s best and most consistent bench contributor, and his energy has been a needed jolt for the Bucks second unit. He has embraced his role in Milwaukee, taking fewer shots but being a willing scorer when the opportunity presents itself, and he’s bought in fully to what the Bucks do defensively to help alleviate a huge drop off when Brook Lopez is on the bench by being a switchable option to shake up the looks they can show opponents compared to Lopez’s drop coverage. He’s going to have plenty of offers to consider this offseason, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back on the Bucks, as, similar to Griffin, he’s likely learned the value of fit after numerous stops elsewhere.
Nic Batum (Clippers, UFA): Batum’s resurgence this season with the Clippers on a vet minimum will open up some doors to go elsewhere in the offseason. He’s still a quality corner three shooter and he’s proven to be an extremely valuable small-ball big as the Clippers have morphed into this postseason’s best small team, at times out of necessity rather than will. Like a number of guys on this list, Batum will likely be seeking chances to win and fit over money, but the offers might be more significant even accounting for that thanks to his play this postseason.
Torrey Craig (Suns, UFA): This is more of a “I still belong in the league” situation as Craig hasn’t been out of his mind or anything, but he has been a helpful rotation piece on a Finals contender in Phoenix. That’s important for Craig, who couldn’t crack the Bucks rotation this season (after falling out of favor in Denver at the end of last season) and was a literal throwaway in the PJ Tucker trade that the Suns wisely scooped up for free. He has always been a willing and capable defender, and has bolstered his stock with some terrific and timely three point shooting (both in the regular season at north of 36 percent and jumped to 44 percent in the playoffs). He’ll have some real offers to consider this offseason as a quality role player.
DeMarcus Cousins (Clippers, UFA): Similarly, DeMarcus Cousins has gotten his chance to prove he still can be a helpful offensive player in the right role. Ty Lue has helped him out by deploying him against opposing small-ball lineups and letting him feast at the rim, proving that in the right situation, Boogie can still do Boogie things. He is not the same explosive athlete he once was, but he still has his back to the basket craft and knows how to use his immense size to bully his way to the basket and score once he gets there. He’s still likely to find himself on vet minimums going forward, but for someone who had injuries push him near the brink of being out of the league, that’s a welcome improvement.
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