As Delta variant case numbers continue to tick upwards in the wake of packed outdoor music festivals (such as Lollapalooza), Jason Isbell is putting his foot down. Last week, he announced that his shows at Austin’s Moody Theatre and Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom would require proof of vaccinations or a negative test within 72 hours. Now, the country singer/songwriter has followed up that all of his upcoming fall dates would require proof of vaccine or a negative COVID test.
Appearing on MSNBC to discuss the decision, he told host Stephanie Ruhle, “People who work at the venues and who work in the music business understand. From everything I’ve heard so far all the response I’ve gotten from people in the business has been positive because they understand that we could go back to not working at all. A lot of these smaller venues, they’re not going to be able to reopen if they go through another round of shutdowns.
We’re now requiring proof of vaccination or a current negative test to attend all our shows, indoors or out. If the venue won’t allow that, we won’t play. https://t.co/KSYmsT5qAl
“They’re just getting so much pushback from some of the governors of certain states who want to kowtow to their political base and try to make people think their freedom is being encroached upon,” Isbell continued. “I’m all for freedom, but if you’re dead, you don’t have any freedoms at all. It’s probably important to stay alive before you start questioning your liberty.”
Though it sounds like a perfectly reasonable request, and falls in line with what a lot of other artists are requesting for their upcoming dates, Isbell did get into it on Twitter last week with singer/songwriter Marc Broussard, who wrote, “‘The unclean may not attend. The poor may not attend. The ignorant may not attend.’ Who knew Jason was so bourgois? Thought he was a blue collar type of guy. Never met him so I can’t say for sure but yeah, this is some elitist ish here, fella.”
“The unclean may not attend. The poor may not attend. The ignorant may not attend.” Who knew Jason was so bourgois? Thought he was a blue collar type of guy. Never met him so I can’t say for sure but yeah, this is some elitist ish here, fella. https://t.co/dJvP5bVDA7
Isbell, though, was not having it, replying, “This one does piss me off, I have to admit. How many kids are in the hospital in Louisiana right now, the place you love so much, @MarcBroussard? How many of our heroes died in the last year and a half? You seriously need to rethink some sh*t.”
This one does piss me off, I have to admit. How many kids are in the hospital in Louisiana right now, the place you love so much, @MarcBroussard? How many of our heroes died in the last year and a half? You seriously need to rethink some shit.
Jeopardy! was largely trying to avoid controversy with its long string of guest hosts in an attempt to find a replacement for the late Alex Trebek. But the reported selection of Mike Richards as host, however, is exactly what the show’s leadership was trying to avoid and has forced Richards to address the subsequent controversy directly this week.
Last week, Richards, who serves as an executive producer on the show, was reported to be in advanced talks to become the next permanent host of Jeopardy! One of the earlier guest hosts in the show’s long run of spot starts, Richards performed well and got higher ratings than everyone but Jeopardy! GOAT Ken Jennings’ turn at the podium. But controversy followed word of his selection, starting with outcry from anyone who thought one of the other guest hosts (like Jennings or LeVar Burton and definitely not Dr. Oz) deserved the spot more.
Later, though, a more substantial controversy followed after reports reemerged about Richards’ alleged involvement in workplace disputes while on the set of another game show. As the LA Times detailed, Richards became involved in multiple lawsuits alleging workplace discrimination (including accusations involving one employee’s pregnancy) during his time working (as a co-executive producer and executive producer) on The Price Is Rightnearly a decade ago:
According to the Hollywood Reporter, in 2010 model Shane Stirling sued producers for wrongful termination, alleging that she was improperly let go in 2008 after she returned from pregnancy leave. That case was dismissed in 2012 after Stirling had trouble bringing sufficient evidence to prove her claims and the judge decided that the statute of limitations had run out.
Also in 2010, model Brandi Cochran sued for wrongful termination, alleging that she got less work after telling producers she was pregnant with twins. She said she hadn’t wanted to reveal her pregnancy because she was afraid she’d be fired. One of her twins died in miscarriage while the other was born three months premature and had health issues. Cochran said producers sent her mixed signals about whether she could return to work; then she found out she’d been fired.
There are other factors in the suits, which also involved another producer on the show and included some serious allegations and workplace misconduct. And as those lawsuits were brought back into the public eye with no official word about his status as Jeopardy! host, Richards apparently addressed the situation to Jeopardy! staff on Monday, as revealed on Twitter by The Ringer’s Claire McNear:
First and foremost, Richards said that he was not responsible for the decision to actually pick him despite his leadership role on the show. He also confirmed that he was approached for the full-time role, and while he’s “humbled and deeply honored,” nothing is finalized yet. He also addressed the “complicated employment issues” from his time on The Price Is Right.
“I want you all to know that the way in which my comments and actions have been characterized in these complaints does not reflect the reality of who I am or how we worked together on The Price Is Right,” Richards wrote. “I know firsthand how special it is to be a parent. It is the most important thing in the world to me. I would not say anything to disrespect anyone’s pregnancy and have always supported my colleagues on their parenting journeys.”
The note stressed he looked forward to working on the new season, but doesn’t answer any questions about what’s next for the show to say the least. Whether Richards will get a deal finalized to host or the controversy will nix those plans remains to be seen, but it’s clear that he was their pick regardless of the reaction the report caused. All of this stands aside from a lengthy guest-hosting process following his already long career on TV before being brought on board Jeopardy! as Alex Trebek’s career was very publicly winding down. Even before Trebek’s cancer diagnosis, speculation about who would host next had circulated for years, and Richards’ hiring was possibly part of that process.
In other words, that Richards’ messy legal history — which was widely reported and publicly known — either wasn’t considered or wasn’t viewed as damaging enough to take him out of the running for the permanent hosting job. If public outcry about that messy past does make the show’s leadership change their minds, it will make an already messy process that much more complicated.
Before neighborhood friends Herson Escobar, Jason Valcarcel, and Luis Arroyo had their own recording studio to call home, they were simply dreamers. Growing up in a rough neighborhood in Chicago, the boys that would go on to create independent hip hop label Private Stock grew up being told what they couldn’t do and what they would never have.
“I remember my teacher making me and my cousin stand up in the middle of the class and pointing at me and saying I was going to be a gang banger,” says Arroyo, “Nobody thought we were going to open up a studio and do what we were doing.”
“When we started the company we didn’t get a bank loan or whatnot, we didn’t seek professional help. I learned a lot of skill sets to hold the team down. Web design, anything creative. Whatever I needed to learn to pick us up I did.” Adds Valcarcel.
Through sheer force of will, the trio that became Private Stock turned themselves from a back porch pipe dream to a full-blown business. And then they rose from the ashes after things took a calamitous turn, demonstrating their fighting spirit.
Watch the video to learn more about Private Stock’s journey in this latest episode from our Salud to Summer series, created in partnership with Modelo.
The best new hip-hop this week includes albums, videos, and songs from Kanye West, Lil Tecca, Nas, and more.
At the time of this writing, there’s no telling whether Kanye will actually put out his new album or not, but we’ll proceed as if his next surprise is turning a post Pablo project in on time. In case he doesn’t, though, there will still be plenty of new projects from Nas and Queen Key to fill our time.
Here is the best of hip-hop this week ending August 6, 2021.
Albums/EPs/Mixtapes
Kanye West — Donda
Kanye West
Whether or not Kanye actually drops this album, it’s become one of the most anticipated projects of the year. With features from rising stars like Baby Keem, it could be the first glimpse at the state of hip-hop to come.
Nas — King’s Disease 2
Nas
Returning to the well for a second time, Nas doubles down on the well received chemistry between himself and California beat maker Hit-Boy. Pulling in the first ever feature from Eminem and even more young talent such as A Boogie and Blxst, it seems the Queens king has finally found a formula that works for him and his fans.
Queen Key — Your Highness 3
Queen Key
The mischievous Chicago wordplay connoisseur comes with 25 tracks on her third (that’s right, third) release of 2021. I suppose her new productivity is a result of the inactivity of the pandemic year, but fortunately, she doesn’t sacrifice quality for quantity.
Singles/Videos
Doechii — “Girls”
The Tampa TikTok breakout shined on Isaiah Rashad’s new album, and now she’s poised to become a standout in her own right as TDE’s latest signing – and first female rapper.
Lil Tecca — “Repeat It” Feat. Gunna
This kid’s no one hit wonder. Tecca has shown plenty of growth since his breakout with “Ransom” and he’s been hungry to show he can run with the big dogs.
Rexx Life Raj — “HIM”
Another week, another Rexx Life production — like clockwork. The Berkeley rapper remains as consistent as ever on his latest but no matter how smooth the production and delivery, his groovy real world ruminations never get stale.
TOBi — “Off The Drugs” Feat. Mick Jenkins
TOBi’s made noise as an independent artist out of Canada over the past few years, and steadily made inroads to the American scene. This woozy collaboration with Chicago favorite Mick Jenkins should be a helpful next step in that direction.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
After some time away from the spotlight, Lizzo is returning this week. “Rumors,” her first single since 2019, is set to drop this week, and it turns out she’s not going about her comeback alone: Today, she revealed that the song features Cardi B.
In the video, Lizzo has a FaceTime call with a contact named “‘RUMORS’ Feat….” When the person answers, it’s Cardi, who Lizzo greets with a happy, “Good morning, motherf*cka.” She then declares, “That’s who is featuring, y’all, period.” The video trails off as Cardi complains about being called so early.
Cardi also shared a promotional image in the same style as Lizzo’s previous teases, as it shows a close-up of Cardi and Lizzo holding fingers, with extremely long nails, to their mouths.
She recently indicated that Mark Ronson is working on her next album, saying in a TikTok video in response to a fan question, “A album? Absolutely not, I’m not making no f*ckin’ album! I’m not in a studio. This isn’t Mark Ronson. This isn’t a whole board. I’m not hanging out with songwriters like [Philip Lawrence of Bruno Mars songwriting/production team The Smeezingtons]. [laughs] I’m not making a f*ckin’ album! Where you get that from?”
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
If you’re new to whiskey, you might not know the term “non-chill filtered.” Widely popular in single malt Scotch, the term is also closely associated with high-proof bourbon. You see, when whiskey is dumped from the barrel, it doesn’t necessarily look the way you imagine a perfect bottle of whiskey looks. There’s sediment, esters, and other things that might make it look slightly murky or hazy, especially when cooled.
Chill-filtration simply lowers the temperature of the whiskey slightly below freezing to make the extra sediment meld together into larger clumps. It’s then filtered to trap the extra compounds and sediment and stop them from making their way into your bottle. Most non-chill filtered whiskeys are higher proof (usually past 46 percent or 92 proof). This doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, to many drinkers it is.
Avid whiskey drinkers look for bourbons that are non-chill filtered because, while the process removes any hazy sediment and esters, it also removes things that actually make the whiskey taste good. Chill-filtration removes good flavors as well and compounds that might give it a creamy, mellow mouthfeel or that note of, say, dark nougat you’re craving.
Bartenders, like many drinkers, enjoy whiskey the way it should be, cloudiness, sediment, whatever. If it tastes good, they’ll drink it. They were kind enough to tell us some of their favorite non-chill filtered whiskeys they drink. Check them all out below and click on the prices if any of them sound good to you.
Frey Ranch is non-chill filtered, 90 proof bourbon from Nevada. Earthy, woodsy, and leathery notes come through on this slow-grown four-grain bourbon with vanilla, caramel, and cedar lingering on the finish.
Blanton’s Single Barrel
Blanton
David Ortiz, corporate beverage manager at Rocco’s Tacos in Orlando
My favorite non-chilled single barrel bourbon is Blanton’s produced at the Buffalo Trace Distillery. It’s sweet, oaky, and filled with caramel and candied orange peel flavors.
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof
Elijah Craig
Anton Kinloch, owner of Fuchsia Tiki in New Paltz, New York
Elijah Craig Barrel Proof is hands down one of our favorite non-chill filtered bourbons (and one of my favorites overall). Stone fruit on the nose, caramel, and burnt orange on the palate. This bourbon gives your tongue a hug that lingers. It’s best with a little water to open it up.
Weller Full Proof is a fine example. Aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, wood from the barrel, and flavors of exotic fruits, spice, and cask notes come together to round everything into a wonderful drinking experience.
So, the best non-chill filtered bourbon is definitely George T. Stagg (from the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection). It has toffee sweetness and dark chocolate with hints of vanilla, notes of tobacco, dark berries with a bit of coffee. It’s perfect with a nice cigar.
Four Roses Small Batch Select
Four Roses
Brian McDonough, food and beverage manager at The Tides Inn in Irvington, Virginia
Four Roses Small Batch Select is my favorite non-chill filtered bourbon. Perhaps it is my love for wine that takes me to non-chill filtered bourbons. By non-chill filtering the bourbon, you leave all the tannins and other particulates that come naturally from making bourbon. This is much like having a non-filtered wine. It is somewhat more natural and allows the wine — or bourbon in this case — to be more of a living thing, with depths of flavor from the production process that you do not get when it’s filtered. While this is a higher-rye mash, you still get a bright red berry flavor to go with the spices that you expect from the rye in the whiskey.
Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel
Wild Turkey
Ryan Pines, beverage director at Ukiah in Asheville, North Carolina
You don’t hear non-chill filter as much in the bourbon world as you do in the Scotch world. However, if I had to choose a bourbon that was non-chill filtered, I would have to go with Russell’s Reserve Single Barrel. I really love non-chill filtered whiskeys because you really get a sense of all the fatty acids and lipids that come from new oak barrels that make bourbon taste so smooth and unique.
Booker’s is an iconic brand that people may know. It’s bottled at barrel proof, so its ABVs are always high, usually in the low 60 percent. Try this one with a little water to cool it down because right out of the bottle it is a bit hot. It also makes an outstanding mint julep.
Filibuster Single Estate
Filibuster
Deke Dunne, master mixologist from Allegory DC in Washington, DC
The bourbon that I am currently most into is Filibuster’s Single Estate Straight Bourbon out of Virginia. There’s a lot of love about this bourbon and Filibuster in general. When developing their whiskey, they try to make the entire process as natural as possible, and that includes using a non-chill filtered method. All of their grain for the mash bill comes from a single farm, hence the name single estate, which has the perfect coverage to create a combination of both ample sun and shade for the grain. They then distill the grains as naturally as possible. Once they are done with distillation, they age the bourbon in both American and French oak casks.
Now, this bourbon comes in at a fairly high proof, but it sips like a 90-proof whiskey. It has a silky-smooth body, the benefit from being non-chill filtered, and has a deep, complex profile of cake, baking spices, orange peels, and delicious caramel. You can really tell the craftsmanship in every sip.
This bourbon only runs around $50 currently, but drinks like a $100 whiskey. Definitely my new current favorite non-chill filtered bourbon.
Town Branch Single Barrel
Town Branch
Sharfiq Cosby, bartender at Revival 1869 in Clayton, North Carolina
Non-chill filtered bourbons have that extra kick in flavor and texture. It’s almost like cooking bacon in a cast iron then cooking eggs or veggies with that fat for that extra deliciousness. Currently, my go-to for non-chill filtered bourbon is Town Branch Bourbon. What I love about Town Branch is the mouthfeel and the legs of the bourbon, you can usually tell a non-chill by those two alone. The mouthfeel is somewhat oily, silky, and a bit savory in flavor (rye spice, rosemary, oregano, etc.) which makes for a great sipper and a pretty cool fortifier in a cocktail, so the spirit doesn’t get lost. Proof and ice are also to be considered, Town Branch is 90 proof so a small 1-inch clear cube for this one is enough to open up and taste those wonderful flavors of a non-chill filtered bourbon, delicious.
While Booker’s gets most of the press when it comes to Jim Beam’s small batch collection, my favorite is actually Baker’s. Its 7-year-old version is reasonably priced, sits at a potent 107 proof, is non-chill filtered, and filled with notes of dried fruits, butterscotch, vanilla beans, and a subtle spice that works well neat or on the rocks.
As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.
On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 23,903 new coronavirus cases in Florida, the highest-single day total in the state since the beginning of the pandemic. A “fifth of all new U.S. infections and current hospitalizations” come from the Sunshine State, the Washington Post reports, but Republican governor Ron DeSantis is doing everything in his power to prevent mask mandates, even for kids returning to school. “We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state and I can tell you, Florida, we’re a free state,” he said last week.
Florida might be a “free state” but it’s a “free state” with nearly 40,000 deaths from COVID led by a “piece of sh*t” governor. That’s according to comedian Bill Burr, who unloaded on DeSantis during Monday’s episode of the Monday Morning Podcast.
“DeSantis, whoever this guy is — and they have the most grumpiest looking photo ever — this guy is starting to build stature in 2024 and he says he disagrees on mask mandates,” Burr said. “The amount of people who not only don’t even own a microscope or even have a pair of scrubs — you know, unless they went to some Halloween party — who are literally questioning doctors… At this point, it’s just hilarious.” The Mandalorian actor continued, “These f*cking piece of sh*t politicians! He knows that that’s what his fanbase wants him to do so that’s what the f*ck he’s gonna do. Unbelievable.”
Burr previously went after anti-vaxxers for being “full of sh*t… I’ll tell you right now, if they came out with a shot that gave you a flat stomach and abs, all of these same people that ‘you ain’t f*ckin’ with my freedom,’ they’d be right down there getting that f*cking thing.” You can listen to the Monday Morning Podcast episode below.
It’s been eight long years since we last got a new college football game. The NCAA Football series was shuttered due to the NCAA’s refusal to pay its athletes, but there is hope on the horizon for a new college football game in the near future. EA Sports College Football, the spiritual successor to the series, is on the way and we’ll hopefully be able to get our hands on it sometime around 2023.
While the video game has laid dormant, there has still been incredible football taking place on the field in that timespan. We’ve seen some all-time great college football players come and go without an opportunity to play as them in the virtual world with their college teams. That’s been an incredible disappointment, but there is a possible way to rectify this in the future. A feature in a lot of the old games was the ability to play as some of the classic teams from the earlier days of college football.
This means, as long as the developers can find a way to pay the players involved, we can play as some of these teams we missed out on. Of course, with 130 teams to choose from, picking who should be in won’t be easy. So we’ve decided to break it down year by year, with a handful of honorable mentions, on which teams we missed out on should be in the follow-up.
The teams picked for the list were chosen for the following reasons:
Pick up and playability – These are teams that theoretically you could fire up the game, sit down with a friend, and go at it with one another. Anyone can go into Dynasty and turn UMass or Bowling Green into a title contender after hours and hours of play, but we want teams that would have been a popular pick in college dorms across the country.
Fun factor – What counts as fun in a college football game can vary, but most of us have a pretty good idea of what teams and stars would not be fun to play as; if your favorite team was coached by Will Muschamp then you can safely assume they did not make this list.
Impact on the sport – Some teams are easy to pick up, others had a fun gimmick, but a handful of teams on this list had far too much of a historical impact to not be included.
Fun players – While real players were never “officially” in the game we all remember playing as some of college football’s greatest athletes in the old games. Having an awesome player we missed out on the chance to play is a good chance to at least end up as an honorable mention.
2014 – Ohio State
Unfortunately, we never got to experience the College Football Playoff in the video game world and that also means we didn’t get to use its first-ever champion. The 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes, led by third-string quarterback Cardale Jones, controversially snuck in as the four seed over undefeated TCU and Baylor. They proceeded to quiet any doubters about how much they belonged there by going through Alabama and Oregon to win the title. Turns out Ezekiel Elliot, Curtis Samuel, and one of the fastest offenses in the country made them a pretty good football team. All that speed would have made them an absolute blast to use in the games and we could have made some really weird playbooks utilizing their three starting-caliber quarterbacks.
Honorable Mention: 2014 Ole Miss – This team was led by fan favorite Bo “Dr. Bo.” Wallace. This Ole Miss team thrived on chaos and managed to upset Alabama in 2014.
2015 – Stanford
While everyone else would have been picking Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, or maybe even Ole Miss the true NCAA nerds would have been frustrating everyone with Stanford. Nothing in these games was more frustrating to deal with than an accurate quarterback and a running back who could catch the football. Unfortunately for anyone not using them, this team had Kevin Hogan and Christian McCaffrey to do exactly that. McCaffrey’s speed and versatility would have made a video game version of him unstoppable. There’s a reason this Stanford team finished the year ranked No. 3 in the AP poll.
Honorable Mention: 2015 Clemson – Deshaun Watson to Mike Williams would have been a cheat code.
2016 – USF
The Gulf Coast offense is what eventually would get Willie Taggart a job at Oregon, then Florida State, but it would have never worked without one of the most dynamic backfields we’d ever seen. Quinton Flowers and Marlon Mack were two of the most dominant runners in the game and their ability to get out in space and make plays happen made this one of the most exciting teams in college football, in 2016. One of the greatest crimes of the NCAA football series is that we never got to use these two together in the video game world because they would have broken the game. The read option was already a powerful tool at this point and the Flowers-Mack combo probably would have forced a few broken controllers with how unstoppable they would have been running it. No matter what decision the defense made it would have been the wrong one.
Honorable Mention: 2016 Penn State – Trace McSorley and Saquon Barkley would have been an incredible video game duo. This was the year they made the Rose Bowl and played in an all-timer against USC.
2017 – Louisville
This might not be when Lamar Jackson won the Heisman, but he was arguably better in his final year in school anyway. There were serious Madden 2004 Michael Vick vibes when watching Jackson’s ability to not only make magic happen with his legs, but his ability to hit the deep ball made him a true dual threat. The team around him at Louisville was good, not great, but Jackson’s one of those individual players that would have been able to overcome this on the virtual field. It’s a shame we never got to experience that.
Honorable Mention: 2017 UCF – The only undefeated team in the country in 2017 made a claim to the national title, and they were also a pretty fun team on top of that.
2018 – Clemson
Of all the Clemson teams that have gone to the Playoff, this was probably the most complete one. Trevor Lawrence was just a freshman, but he already looked like one of the best QB’s in college football as he helped them cruise to an undefeated championship campaign. With weapons like Travis Etienne and Tee Higgins to work with, there’s no way this team wouldn’t have been an auto pick for most players. The only thing holding them back is they might have been too good to be considered fun to play, but it’s hard to leave Lawerence off this list.
Honorable Mention: 2018 Army – Using the triple option in video games can be a real fun time and this Army team was one of the best to ever do it.
2019 – LSU
Being arguably the greatest team in college football history makes this LSU team an auto-lock. Joe Burrow, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Ja’Marr Chase, and Justin Jefferson were an unstoppable group of athletes. Throw in K’Lavon Chaisson on the edge with Patrick Queen manning the linebackers and the defense would have made scoring impossible. This would have been auto-ban in any dorm room outside of Baton Rouge because they were that unfair.
Honorable Mention: 2019 Kentucky – This Kentucky team wasn’t very good, but their entire offense was telling Lynn Bowden to go be an athlete and that’s the kind of gimmick that will thrive in video games.
2020 – Alabama
While not quite the same level of dominance as 2019 LSU, this Alabama team was just as stacked. Devonta Smith, the eventual winner of the Heisman, was arguably the second best receiver on the team behind an injured Jaylen Waddle. Well in video games Waddle is going to be healthy and they’ll have Mac Jones throwing them the ball. With Najee Harris in the backfield next to Jones this is a team that would have dominated virtual fields through a dynamic passing attack. Let’s pair up this group against 2019 LSU in a virtual showdown to see who comes out on top.
Honorable Mention: 2020 Ohio State – A virtual Justin Fields throwing to Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson would have just felt unfair.
Anna Bediones lives and breathes sneakers. Aside from being a fan of all things basketball since childhood, Bediones has built her life around sneakers. She started out working in retail before starting to write about sneakers and sneaker culture which lead to content creating and influencing — Bediones has one of the best sneakerhead Instagram accounts with over 40k followers.
Now, Bediones is the new Director of Women’s strategy at SoleSavy, a sneaker-obsessed community-driven platform that tasks itself with helping sneakerheads buy sneakers at a fair price without having to deal with aftermarket resale vultures.
I’ve you spent any time in sneakerhead forums or in the comments section of your favorite fashion website (or you’re just a woman who loves sneakers), you’re probably well aware that the sneaker community can be full of assholes who try to tell you what you should and shouldn’t like. Since the community is the one thing SoleSavy values above, you know, sneakers, the platform has brought Bediones on board to lead the strategy for the platform’s new woman’s-only community.
“It’s important for us to facilitate a community that allows women to enjoy sneakers without external judgment or disruption,” Bediones tells me over the phone. “One of the big complaints that women have about the sneaker community, as a whole, is that it’s quite gatekeep-y. It’s almost like women are put to a higher standard of what a sneakerhead should look and be like”
Bediones continues, “We just want to have a space for women to feel comfortable to share whatever they want about sneakers and network with other community members and sneaker lovers without anybody else injecting themselves into these conversations.”
I linked up with Bediones to get her take on the current sneaker climate, the efforts that brands are now making to better cater to women (and how they can still do better), and the value of community in the sneaker space. She also ran us through her favorite shoes of the year so far, and the pairs that have alluded her grasp. Let’s dive in!
Photo Courtesy Of Anna Bediones
I’ve noticed brands like Nike are really trying to bump up efforts to cater to women. Women’s size exclusives, or the Aleali May, AMBUSH collaborations come to mind, how else can the big brands step it up?
There are a lot of opportunities for brands to support women. Collaborating with more women is an amazing way to start, and we have Aleali and Melody Ehsani and AMBUSH, and a lot of other women who are starting to have more long terms relationships with these brands. But having women internally making decisions is also something else they can incorporate. This way when you’re creating products for women you actually have real women making the decisions behind whatever products are coming out and whatever initiatives are happening.
There is also the issue of accessibility for women. We saw Jordan Brand and A Ma Maniere do an amazing roll-out back in April, and I think that sets a new standard of how women’s products can be rolled out and how women can be prioritized in women’s exclusive sneakers. Accessibility is a huge issue across the board, the biggest thing is when you’re making products for women and women can’t even access them, something needs to change there.
Having more women internally is one of the biggest things they can change so that we can properly make decisions to make sure women are prioritized and being spoken to appropriately.
You touched on the gatekeep-y aspects of sneaker culture, for anyone that has been turned off by that aspect of the community, what’s so rewarding about being part of a community where you can freely talk about shoes?
What we always say is that people join SoleSavy to learn about how to buy sneakers, but stay for the community. I myself joined the community late last year, and my role started four months ago. But for the last six months, I’ve been observing how the community looks out for each other. It’s so encouraging, a lot of it goes well beyond just sneakers. A member recently had a job interview and because they had created such a bond with other members, they received an incredible amount of support for that. We encourage members to share their personal projects, we have members who start podcasts or fashion blogs or want to start writing.
The internet can be such a mean place, but in the SoleSavy community, everyone is people first. People assist on sneaker releases, on top of all that, we have an assist channel to facilitate this. I think this is a community you can’t really create anywhere else because it’s also heavily vetted. You have to apply for membership. So, you’re vetted before you’re admitted into our SoleSavy community. Then just to make sure you’re not a reseller, we have dedicated community leaders who are constantly monitoring all of our channels. There’s a no-tolerance policy for bullying or harassment. We have a very dedicated team ensuring this community is safe, even more so in our women’s space.
Buying shoes on a markup is obviously a very familiar scenario for sneakerheads. With women’s sneakers, it’s almost impossible to get women’s sneakers at retail price. Why does that disparity exist so strongly?
That goes back to my point earlier about having more women internally. Allocation is a big component of the accessibility of women’s products. Because the quantity is often lower in smaller sizes, the markup is even higher on the aftermarket because there is scarcity to it. There’s just not as much product allocated to the smaller sizes, and people who wear general men’s sizes now also have to compete with men purchasing the product. When I look at our monitors (monitors are part of our SoleSavy technology), we can see stock on a lot of the shops we monitor and you can see the disparity between how many size fives there are vs how many size tens there are. I think that’s also not really insider knowledge, in any buying scenario the large often tend to have the most allocation vs the smallest sizing.
There’s a dismissive quality when it comes to sizing, a lot of sneaker dudes will say “just size up or size down.” As someone who has bought sneakers for his partner, this doesn’t always work out. If you’re a women’s 7 1/2, that doesn’t mean you always wear a men’s size 6, why is this an imperfect way of sizing for sneakers?
Because every brand and every model varies in sizing and how it fits in certain markets. We’ve created a guide that’s ever-growing and based on community input, on how to convert your size from men’s to women’s and vice versa. “1.5” is a good baseline to start with, but we all know that different shoes fit differently. A Jordan 1 fits differently than an Air Force 1, or a Yeezy Foam Runner, or a New Balance sneaker. A lot of that information is crowdsourced in SoleSavy, a lot of people who have already had these pairs can weigh in on how a sneaker fits. It’s a good baseline to start with, but the brands don’t work off of one standard sizing model. Just like you would wear a different size in any other brand, that would also apply to converting your men’s and women’s shoes.
What’s your personal sneaker story, how did you get into the culture to where you’re at now?
I grew up in a basketball household and my dad loved to put me in sneakers. We watched a lot of basketball. He put me into basketball at eight years old. I guess I wanted to be just like my dad. That basketball interest also affected my style inspiration. Anything that fit within the basketball culture and also translated into music is what I gravitated towards. My idols were Michael Jordan, Kobe Byrant, Allen Iverson, and any woman that I saw in pop culture that also embodied that style of sneakers, streetwear, baggy clothing, TLC, Aaliyah, Sporty Spice, all of that really impacted the way that I dressed and the things that I liked. I would say basketball is the root of it and my interest just kept continuously growing through the ’90s and 2000s.
What are some of your all-time favorite sneaker drops and why?
I really like the Jordan 3 A Ma Maniere. That’s the front runner for my favorite sneaker this year. Not only was it designed for women, but the storytelling behind it was also incredible. The rollout was near perfect. It was new and so well done, the way they prioritized women. I also really liked the Jordan 4 Union release from last year because it gave sneaker consumers a fair shot at buying the sneakers. Amazing bot protection, which also set a standard last year for how sneakers can be released, and A Ma Maniere pulled pieces of that for their own drop.
Shoe-wise, my favorite shoes are the Air Jordan 1 Court Purple. It wasn’t originally a women’s shoes. That’s my personal favorite shoe this year. I love the Kobe 6 Grinches as well, not roll out wise but as a shoe. That was a really hard shoe to get, and why I joined SoleSavy the day that I did.
If you had to choose a favorite sneaker silhouette what would it be?
Air Jordan 4. It’s just the easiest to wear I think it’s more elevated, nothing against the Air Force 1, but the four shows my personality more because not as many people wear it. It also came out the year I was born, which I also love.
What are the craziest lengths you’ve gone to cop a pair of sneakers?
I’ve camped out overnight. Not my favorite thing to do, it’s winter, and winter here in Toronto is very cold. It was for the Jordan 1 BRED. I can’t remember the year. I want to say 2013? I camped out overnight for those and drove an hour out of the city and I met a lot of friends in line.
Before that, I would go early to buy sneakers, like five hours before the mall opened and that’s never been fun because I’m almost always the only girl or have been historically. And buying resale, which I hate more than anything, but sometimes you just have to.
Is there a pair of sneakers that has eluded your grasp?
For the longest time, it was the Kobe 6 Grinches. I wanted them when they first came out but I was in college and I couldn’t afford to have that many pairs of basketball sneakers. Plus, I had torn my ACL that year. So I was like, ‘alright, I don’t need shoes this year.’ But for the last five years, I’ve been telling myself I’m going to do it. But $2,500 bucks for a pair of sneakers is just insane to me.
What’s your take on Crocs?
I use to be very anti-Croc. Very. Now, I’m slowly getting ready to buy myself a pair because I fell in love with the Foam Runners when they dropped. I love them so much, so now I’m thinking maybe I’ll like Crocs too. And like I mentioned, a lot of NBA players influence my style. Seeing NBA players wearing them, I’m finally warming up to Crocs. So I no longer have an anti-Croc opinion.
I feel like that’s the case with a lot of people. People are softening up to the idea. What do you love about the Foam Runners?
I just think they’re so comfortable. They’re so easy to wear. Plus, I’m a Kanye fan. I grew up being a fanatic, he’s one of my idols in the 2000s and 2010s. I think they’re just so interesting and I know they’re funny looking, but the shape is just so unique and so streamlined and aesthetically pleasing that I wear them every single day. So I don’t know if Crocs can replace those, but I’m going to try!
When WarnerMedia made the decision to simultaneously release its entire 2021 film slate on HBO Max and in theaters, it was a controversial decision that angered filmmakers like Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, even with the pandemic raging at its highest levels at the time. However, with some time between the HBO Max decision and The Suicide Squad‘s release, director James Gunn makes the case for why the dual release strategy isn’t that big of a deal, and he makes a very compelling argument about how the theater isn’t where films become classics. Via Variety:
I don’t really care that much. I really just care about whatever the project is in front of me. “The Suicide Squad” is made to be seen first and foremost on a big screen. I think it’s gonna work just fine on television. Listen, movies don’t last because they’re seen on the big screen. Movies last because they’re seen on television. “Jaws” isn’t still a classic because people are watching it in theaters. I’ve never seen “Jaws” in a movie theater. It’s one of my favorite movies.
While Gunn fully admits that making the Peacemaker series for HBO Max softened his views on The Suicide Squad‘s streaming release, he definitely doesn’t want to see the theatrical experience “die.” Although, Gunn fully admits theaters are in trouble right now, and he doesn’t hold back on who’s to blame.
“We’ve still got COVID, because people won’t get vaccinated, which, you know, they should,” Gunn told Variety. “Hopefully — hopefully — that will not be a big deal to us in a year. And if that’s the case, what’s going to happen? We don’t know.”
For the record, Gunn’s Variety interview took place before The Suicide Squad struggled in theaters as the Delta variant continued to spike cases in the US. However, the movie reportedly performed well on HBO Max, so it’ll be interesting to hear his thoughts on the ongoing streaming release debate with that information in the mix.
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