GoneTrending

Steve Bannon is one shady dude. There was little doubt behind that description when he acted as President Trump’s advisor, and that status was further solidified when Bannon was charged with all kinds of white collar crimes (later to be pardoned by Trump) for allegedly ripping off supporters of the We Build The Wall campaign. Add in that whole fiasco where he called for Dr. Fauci’s head on a pike, and it’s safe to say that one doesn’t want to trust Steve Bannon, ever. Well, Bannon supposedly tried to pull some maneuvers on Trump and get him ejected from office.

According to 60 Minutes producer Ira Rosen, that’s what could have happened. Rosen appeared on the Skullduggery podcast to hash out this hot mess, and it’s worth noting that Rosen did so to discuss relevant excerpts from his book, Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes at 60 Minutes. Via the Daily Mail, Rosen included text messages from Bannon that discussed how “Trump repeats himself a lot, telling the same story minutes after he told it before.” One text message reportedly read (verbatim), “You need to do the 25th amendment piece… BTW brother I never steer u wrong.” Bannon also reportedly wished to organize the removal of Trump at a Sunday prayer meeting that would have been attended by Mike Pence and some cabinet officials.

Rosen told Skullduggery that Bannon resisted discussing the matter as it happened on 60 Minutes, but that he had grown frustated with Trump. Via RawStory:

“Trump was kind of throwing him under the bus a little,” he continued. “There was a Time magazine portrait of Bannon, of the person who got Trump secretly elected, and Trump took a lot of sh*t for that from his New York friends. He kind of turned on Bannon and Bannon was a little on the outs in this period of time.”

“Bannon realized that Trump was repeating the same stories over and over again… and Bannon wanted to do something about it,” Rosen explained, adding that Bannon believed he could take over the right-wing movement from Trump.

Things get real on the Skullduggery podcast at around the 16:30 mark. The revelations we are hearing about the inner workings of the Trump administration after the fact are pretty wild, and it feels like we haven’t heard the vast majority of it yet.

(Via Skullduggery podcast, Raw Story & Daily Mail)

I could write about pancakes for hours. I got hooked on them in grade school and I’ve loved them ever since. They’re my #2 sense memory food, just behind mac-n-cheese. And just like that dish, I eat pancakes at least once a week — no joke.

They’re a childhood favorite I’ve never even tried to grow out of. To this day, this is the vision I get in my head when I hear the word “pancakes.”

Look at those beauties! Piled high and steaming!

So when I convinced Zach Johnston and Vince Mancini to try a pancake battle, I assumed I’d get three riffs on the classic American pancake. Zach even bluffed me by sending some traditional pancake images to our group chat. But as you’ll see, neither of them stuck to the classic approach in the end.

For anyone who’s new here, note that we use your votes in the comments to decide whose dish is deemed “the best.” So read on (this is a short one!), roast us within an inch of our lives, then tell us the pancakes you prefer. All three dishes are drastically different and we all made a few unforced errors for you to mercilessly pick on.

— Steve Bramucci, Editorial Director, UPROXX LIFE

PAST 5 RESULTS (see full results here):

Oscar Movie Showdown w/Binging With Babish: 1) Steve 2) Vince 3) Zach
Meatball Showdown with Chef Tyler Anderson: 1) Vince 2) Steve 3) Zach
Diner Food Showdown with George Motz: 1) Zach 2) Vince 3) Steve
Vegetarian and Vegan Showdown: 1) Zach 2) Vince 3) Steve
Sweet Treet Showdown: 1) Vince 2) Zach 3) Steve

CURRENT SCORE:

We’re giving three points to the winner and one to second place for each round. All votes are counted equally. As it stands, the score is:

ZACH: 49
VINCE: 48
STEVE: 36

Vince’s Potato Pancakes

If you’ve ever read my many potato-related rants over the years, you might’ve noticed that I’m a bit of a potato piggy. It’s true, I can’t get enough of the damned things, especially fried. Thus, my favorite kind of pancake has long been potato. Who wants limp, empty carbs when you can have a little gordita made of french fries?

I realize, not all potato pancakes are created equal, but luckily I’ve been eating potato pancakes since before I knew that many people call them latkes. Over the years, I’ve developed what I like to think is a pretty damned tasty recipe. I know people with sugary palates (which I admit I pretty much don’t have at all — fat and rich and fried are what I crave) tend to love regular flour pancakes — presumably for their syrup-absorbing capabilities. But even my stepson, who hides Skittles under the pillow and thinks ice cream is a food group, always crushes a full plate of latkes whenever I make them.

Ingredients

Yes, I have some slightly unconventional choices in here but you could absolutely make this with just potatoes, eggs, and flour.

• 4 medium-sized Yukon gold potatoes (I use Yukons because I think they’re the best-tasting potatoes, but you could use just about anything. Russets fry up nice but are mealier and lacking in flavor, imo.)
• 2 cloves garlic (also optional, but I was raised Italian-American, after all)
• 1 handful (call it half a cup?) of shredded carrots
• 1 egg
• Onion powder
• About 1/8th cup of flour

Now, I use onion powder instead of grated onion here, which admittedly is a slight flavor sacrifice, because my goal is to have the final product as dry as possible. This is basically how I make gnocchis too — keep the mix as dry as possible so that I don’t need a ton of flour to bind it, which can make it dense. I like the shredded carrots because carrots are nice and dry and they bring some of the sweetness you get from the onion. Garlic is also semi-optional, but I like it because fuck yeah garlic.

First, peel your potatoes. Then grate them with a box grater over a mesh strainer (if that’s too annoying you can always do them on a cutting board and then grab them with some bench scrapers and put them in the strainer).

Now take those grated potatoes over the sink and run some cold water over them. This is going to wash off the excess starch so you can get them extra crispy without them turning gummy. I like my potatoes like I like my food battle competitors: washed.

Next spread out a dish towel or some cheesecloth on the counter and flip your washed potatoes onto it. Gather the corners and then put a wring on it, to get rid of all that excess liquid.

And yes, I absolutely learned this trick from Zach. Great artists steal. Add your potatoes to a mixing bowl:

Smash your garlic and give it a quick chop:

Add the garlic and carrots to the bowl. Now sprinkle with salt, pepper, and onion powder. I don’t put a specific amount of onion powder here because I do it sort of like I would an egg or a piece of meat. Just an even sprinkle over the whole mixture.

Once that’s done, sprinkle the flour over it. Kind of the same deal with the flour: I never measure it, I just try to add just enough flour to soak up any excess liquid.

Massage it all together. Once all the dry (ish) ingredients are mixed together, add your egg and mix everything together with a fork.

Now the batter is ready. I’m going to fry it up in my cast iron fry pan (any pan or skillet works, really). I want about a quarter-inch of oil at the bottom. This time I’m using peanut oil, which is light and has a high heat point because I happen to have it on hand, but yeah, you could use some lard or beef tallow or duck fat if you wanted, to make them extra tasty.

I take my biggest cereal spoon to grab some of the mix and just spoon it right into the pan, which should be medium hot.

Now I throw the lid on for the first minute or two, just to make sure my potatoes get soft.

Here’s a tip: I always cook my potatoes by smell. The potatoes smell a certain way when they get brown, and when you start to detect that “brown potato” aroma in the air, that’s usually a good indication that your potatoes are brown. I like them when the lightest part of the pancake is golden brown and the darkest part of it hasn’t turned black:

I let them drain any excess oil onto a wire rack, but a paper towel works okay too.

Now, for serving, the age-old question is “apple sauce or sour cream?” My answer? Either, neither, or both. I honestly don’t think it matters. I’ve had them every way and they’re all good. My only advice? Don’t put the apple sauce or sour cream ON TOP of the nice crispy potatoes. Why sog it up? Put a little dollop there on the plate and you can add your topping as you go. This is actually how I do my syrup for pancakes and waffles too. I know, I’m weird. But if I can convert just one person out there into being a fellow dunker maybe it will cease to be weird.

Consider the crunch! Think of the mouthfeel!

Honestly, I ate these straight off the damned rack without even plating because they were so good. I always think about that statistic about the Irish, that the average adult Irishman in 1844 ate 13 pounds of potatoes a day. Which is about 65 potatoes per day. It’s probably the most insane statistic I’ve ever heard. 13 pounds a day??? How is that even possible??

It still hurts my brain a little to think about, but the speed at which I can polish off three or four big potatoes in latke form in a single sitting does make it seem slightly more plausible. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered flour pancakes and not gotten tired of them before I was finished. Conversely, I don’t think I’ve ever made latkes and not finished every last one. Frankly, it could be a sickness.

Steve on Vince’s Pancakes:

It goes the same every round. I wanted to hate these and then I read through and felt at least semi-converted. These look like very tasty… pancakes. Are they pancakes? I saw a pan, but is there a cake element? The flour was nominal. No baking powder. They’re practically hashbrowns.

WOULD YOU ALSO ENTER THESE IN THE “FRITTER FACE OFF,” VINCE???

“Potato pancake” has a Wiki page and latke is Yiddish for “little pancake,” so I guess I’m clearly not seeding any doubt with this little jag. Instead, let me talk about the lack of spice. Would a little cayenne kill us? These seem like they’d smash next to a bloody mary if there was some heat. What about mustard powder?

You find diner-style pancakes boring? Well, these don’t exactly blow my brain out of my earholes, dog. Give me two and I’ll lick my fingers. Give me four and I’m eyeing other people’s plates.

And what about a little fresh element? Would a dusting of chives have killed you? You love chives! Your boy Jacques Pepin would have murdered those shits with chives.

Zach on Vince’s Pancakes:

Man, I love me a good potato pancake. Luckily, I live in Germany where they are a fried-in-lard staple year-round. I’m not sure about the addition of carrots in the mix. Is it there for crunch or sweetness or both? Why carrots though? Why not parsnip? Okay, I’m Monday morning quarterbacking here.

I really can’t find a whole lot to fault here besides the misshapen globs these turned out to be. Man, you have this photo of a beautiful puck of potato up there then the final product looks like something you let a toddler spit up into a pan to crisp up. Come on, Mancini! Think about your form!

Joking aside, these look really tasty in the end. The next time we hang, you better make these so I can stand in the kitchen and devour them with you. I’ll bring the beer (and I’ll do the dolloping into the pan so these are properly shaped).

Zach’s Buckwheat Crêpes Bretonne

I went back and forth a lot on what to do here. For a minute, I was going to go with classic diner flapjacks. Then I was thinking about Japanese souffle pancakes for a while. Finally, I remembered I’d made buckwheat blini the other week and I had leftover buckwheat flour on the shelf. I also wanted to steer away from sweet applications for pancakes.

That got me to Crêpes Bretonne — the fantastic thin buckwheat pancakes that are often filled with melty cheese, ham, and a runny egg. I’d found my pancake.

This feels like a home run. It’s cheesy ham and eggs with a savory, earthy, and thin pancake. It’s gluten-free thanks to buckwheat being a seed and not a grain. It’s both filling and light. It’s pretty much the perfect dish.

Ingredients:

You really don’t have to go all out on this dish. I’m using mostly French ingredients because I live in Europe. Good ham and cheese from your local deli are going to be great in this dish. I would argue that you need solid, fresh eggs. You want that bright orange yolk and those come from chickens that are treated well and eggs that don’t have to travel far.

Still, all of the ingredients featured should be easy to find and cheap at any grocery store or through a delivery service. FYI, this is a recipe that’ll make six crêpes.

For the batter:

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup tap water

For the crêpe:

• Thin slices of good quality ham (classic Blackforest is probably the best bet from the deli counter)
• Eggs
• Minced chives
• Shredded Gruyère
• Melted unsalted butter
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Neutral oil (Canola is fine)

Method:

You’re really going to have to dial in your crêpe game. I’m still pretty shitty at it. One, the batter needs to be super smooth and thin-ish. I use a food processor to achieve that.

Then, there’s the matter of making a nice thin crêpe. I have one of those wooden batter spreader thingies. But even with that, you have to work fast to get that batter spread all around before it starts to set.

For the batter:

• Add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor. Pulse until the batter is completely smooth with no lumps, maybe five or six good pulses.
• Pour the batter into a bowl and set aside. If you didn’t use a machine and have whisked everything together, cover the bowl and let rest for a few hours in the fridge to help the flour break down.
• In the meantime, shredded the gruyère, mince the chives, and slice the ham into long, thin pieces.

For the crêpe:

• Heat a non-stick pan on medium heat with a touch of neutral oil.
• Working quickly, use a ladle to scoop the batter into the pan and then use the bottom of the ladle or a wooden crêpe spreader to evenly spread the batter all the way around the pan.
• Use a brush to spread melted butter around the edges of the pan so that it helps crisp up the edges of the crêpe and loosen them.
• Cook for about one minute or until edges start to just come up. The batter should look completely set.
• Crack an egg over the center of the crêpe. Use a spoon to spread the egg white around the crêpe as thinly as possible without breaking the yolk then sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper.
• Add the cheese and ham around the egg yolk. The cheese should start to melt pretty quickly.
• Using a thin spatula, fold the sides of the crêpe just enough to create a square, leaving the egg yolk exposed.
• Brush the folded-over edges of the crêpe with melted butter. Let cook until the egg white is completely set but the yolk is still runny.
• Plate and sprinkle with chives.

Bottom Line:

Goddamn, this is delicious. It’s melted cheese with savory ham and a runny egg inside a thin buckwheat crêpe with both a buttery crunch and a soft earthiness. What more could you want?

This really was satisfying. My presentation isn’t great. But, you know, I don’t really care. As soon as I tucked in, all my cares drifted away. The slightly funky cheese mixed with the runny yolk next to the soft ham, all sopped up and mixed inside the light pancake was just … delicious.

I don’t know what else to say. This was good. I want to eat it every day. Etc.

I mean, look at that river of orange yolk flowing from the center of this glorious pancake!

Vince on Zach’s Pancakes:

First off, I’ll admit that I’m a philistine and don’t believe I’ve ever had buckwheat pancakes. My first thought when I hear “buckwheat” or any more rustic version of wheat is the awful hippie bread that my mom used to buy for my sandwiches growing up. I swear that shit had acorns and pine needles in it. I admit that could be the result of childhood trauma, but I have a knee-jerk “just use white flour damn you!” reaction in anything bread-related.

That being said, I’m very much a crepes-over-pancakes person. They maximize surface area and butter absorption and minimize the cakey bullshit in the middle. Is SEED flour going to absorb that butter? I don’t know. Meanwhile, the eggs and ham feels like CHEATING, but as a savory-daddy I can’t really find fault with it. You’re cheating but getting away with it. This is the Barry Bonds of pancake recipes.

I admit it, it looks pretty tasty. But — making pancakes with a scraper AND a pastry brush? Good Christ, how insufferably European of you. I hope you were wearing a beret and a turtleneck and garnishing with the ashes from the incredibly thin cigarette dangling from your mouth as you made this. I don’t know whether to eat it or just laugh Frenchly. OH HON HON HON HON.

Steve on Zach’s Pancakes:

For Chrissakes, you guys are trolling me now. Zach forgets to call this a pancake 90% of the time! Aren’t crepes just crêpes? I want to see the food family tree on this, because what I really see is an AM Crunchwrap. Albeit, a delicious-looking one.

If this is a pancake what else is a pancake? Popovers? Galettes? Souffle?

(Yes, I know those are all pancake variations. Yes, I’m grasping at straws. Yes, the pancake world contains multitudes.)

Anyway, I like your savory crepe. It looks tasty as shit and relatively easy. But since we’re talking about the vastness of the food world and how the combination of grain (or a seed, in this case) and a hot pan can create any number of results, tell me that my AM Crunchwrap idea doesn’t make this a little better?

I’m not out here trying to flip crepes and ruining 50 of them to make five. Give me a flour tortilla to sop up that yolk with and let’s call it a breakfast quesadilla. Pour on the hot sauce. God knows your dish could use a little spice.

Steve’s “Double Everything” Pancakes

Clearly, if you look at the burns above, my thinking is a little rigid on this whole pancake issue. I can work on that. Room for growth, etc. But you’d better believe, I set out with a simple goal: to make the perfect “classic American” flapjacks.

If that was the competition (dammit, I should have narrowed the parameters), I think I’d win in a walk. See, I’ve been making pancakes for a looooonnnnngggg time. And for literal decades, I’d tweak the recipe weekly. Dozens upon dozens of subtle shifts here and there. By the time I hit thirty, I had some Sunday morning standards — banana pancakes (mash and warm the bananas in butter, then add them to your batter), blueberry pancakes (use the tiny wild blueberries, not the big tart ones), and about five more.

This is the recipe that endures, though. It’s “the one” for me, and I’ve tried them all. My reps with this dish are just endless. Yes, I sometimes use sour cream in the batter over buttermilk. Yes, I occasionally add bacon grease in place of browned butter for a little smokiness. But this is the most popular recipe I’ve ever publically shared on IG and one of only a handful I’ve ever entered in this contest where I know you’ll be in perfect shape if you follow it to the letter.

Ingredients:

This is a classic recipe that “doubles everything” in that it takes a few elements two ways. That doesn’t add much work, I promise.

For the pancakes:

• Good butter.
• Vanilla bean.
• Vanilla extract.
• Brown sugar.
• Egg.
• Baking powder.
• AP or AA flour, organic.
• Salt.
• Baking powder.

For the syrup:

I have about 20 syrups I do that are all relatively similar. I’m not here to really focus on that, but here are the ingredients for the quick one I made, which I call “Cowboy syrup” because of the coffee, whiskey, and bacon.

• Vietnamese coffee.
• Mulholland whiskey.
• Vanilla sugar.
• Maple syrup.
• Brown sugar.
• Bacon grease.
• Vanilla husks.

Method:

The one thing I have to say about this recipe is that it is MINE. It’s similar to a few I’ve seen, but this is the one time ever where I’ve tracked the amounts of different things. Pancakes are a mixture of baking and cooking — with baking being a science (follow my amounts!) and cooking being an art (feel free to use less vanilla!).

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour. (This is rigid — go higher than this and you need another egg.)
• 3.5 tsp baking powder. (Use non-aluminum powder if you’re a supertaster who gets a metallic taste from this stuff.)
• 1/2 tsp salt. (The max you’d want, the buttermilk is salty enough.)
• 3 tbsp brown sugar. (Any more than that and the sugar in the batter will carmelize on the pan and brown unnaturally.)
• .75 cup buttermilk, room temp.
• 1 cup milk, room temp.
• 1 egg, room temp.
• 2 tbsp browned butter.
• 2 tsp regular butter, gently melted. (Do this by browning and filtering the first half of the butter and dropping the second half in it to melt. That gives you the grassy notes of unbrowned butter and the nutty notes of the browned stuff.)
• 3 tsp vanilla extract.
• 2 vanilla beans, sliced and scraped.
• 3 tsp almond extract.
• A light dusting of lemon rind, off the planer.

Mix thoroughly but don’t overmix. Less than a minute will do it. Because of altitude differences, you might need to add more milk. You want it to be the consistency of a McDonald’s shake, not a Wendy’s frostee. But also not watery.

There’s your final batter. Incredibly light because of all the baking powder. Vanilla beans just waiting to get awoken by a little heat.

A few pro tips:

• Grease the pan with your excess browned butter-melted butter mix.
• We don’t use the saying “first pancake” anymore, but it used to be a colloquialism about how the first one is never perfect and you have to throw it in the trash. I remember being devastated when I heard Katie Holmes’ character refer to herself as the “first pancake” in Pieces of April. Anyway, you need those first pancakes to get your griddle temp right. If you’re too hot, you will get a brownish-turning black pancake on one side — because it gets overdone before it’s sturdy enough to flip. I put my burner on 5. Medium skewing toward medium-low is the way to go.
• Pancakes are almost always too big. Make them smaller and stack them taller. Four to five pancakes that are exactly 1/4 cup of batter is the sweet spot.
• Regardless of temp, you want your batter to spread in a circle. No manipulation at all. And you want them no more than 1/8 inch on the spread — they’ll fluff on the flip.
• “Bubble, pop, bubble, pop, bubble, pop, bubble — NO POP!” That’s my kid telling you when your pancakes are ready (he’s three, so he’s not quite correct, but close). It’s when the first bubble on the back of the pancake pops but doesn’t reform. If all the bubbles pop and don’t reform, your pancake is gonna be dry. So watch the things.
• Once you flip the pancakes and they start to puff, give them two pats with the backside of your spatula. Any more and you’ll make them too dense. Any less and they’ll be unbalanced. There was a pancake scene that shows this in Dan In Real Life, which is a movie about a dude who literally steals his brother’s girl.
• Pancakes should cook for about 2/3 of their time on side A and 1/3 on side B. That will give you a pancake that’s stable enough to flip without overcooking.

These were my first. See how I had to turn the griddle down on the front half so that the batter wasn’t too loose for the next round? I actually turned it up a tiny bit on the back.

Come on. A food stylist would lose it over these. My syrup took two minutes but pancakes need to be eaten right away so make it first. I blended (yes, like a blender) my vanilla husks with 1/4 cup of whiskey, 1/8 cup of Vietnamese coffee, and 2 tsp of bacon grease.

I added 1/4 cup of maple syrup and 1/4 cup of brown sugar (I used Native Vanilla’s vanilla bean sugar, but I know that will be overload for most!) while the mix was reducing to syrup thickness. I added salt to taste, the pancakes aren’t overly sweet so try one before making a full-on salted caramel.

As much as I love pancakes, I dislike pure maple syrup. I was raised on the corn syrup fake varieties. So some sort of syrup is necessary.

Here’s your final.

There’s your sidecut. They hold form and don’t run but they aren’t dry. They’re airy and loose, like… the distance between me and the competition today. The syrup isn’t for everyone — cue Zach and Vince focusing only on it — but I like using my pods for something. I love the syrup because it hits all the notes I love at breakfast: black coffee, sweet vanilla, bacon smoke, touch of maple.

Bottom Line:

This is a unique recipe, executed with years of practice. If you have a tweak, that’s fine — but you can bet I’ve seen and tried it. I love the nuttiness of the browned butter and the almond extract. I love the brightness of the lemon rind (go so light!). I love…

These are my pancakes. Like really mine. Most recipes are experiments or “versions” and these feel like my actual dish. So I forgive me but I love all the aspects, to be honest.

Zach on Steve’s Pancakes:

This reminds me of that old Frasier line when Niles asks his overcompensating brother, “Didn’t someone say ‘less is more?’” To which Frasier tautly retorts, “Ah yes, but then imagine how much more more would be!”

Jesus, man. I feel like I could have gotten on a plane and flown to Los Angeles and back in the time it took to read about (and likely make) these pancakes. Yes, you put a lot of shit in there. But why? You need two types of melted butter? Two kinds of milk? There are four packages of vanilla in that photo. Really? You know people used to just use bourbon to get a vanilla flavor when they didn’t have access to the real stuff and worked out great for them. Again, I don’t see any benefit besides creating overly vanilla pancakes that’d be fluffier with less fat in them and benefit from more time resting to allow for natural fermentation to set it and leaven them.

As for that, ahem, syrup … it looks like someone took the coffee filter basket from a 7-Eleven drip machine, filled it with gutter water, and then Jackson Pollack’d that whole used coffee filter with the water and grounds all over your pancakes.

Also, why did you add a drawing of Trump stealing pancakes from a child?

Lastly, questioning whether crepes are pancakes is up there with thinking bourbon isn’t whiskey. Come on, man! You’ve got nothing.

All I can do is shake my head.

Vince on Steve’s Pancakes:

Oh my God, Steve. I laughed out loud at the picture of ingredients, when I saw that it had vanilla beans, vanilla powder, vanilla extract, and a fourth vanilla derivative whose label I can’t identify. If AIG was still around they would come to you to help design a vanilla-based financial instrument to back their credit swaps. What an ALL-AMERICAN recipe! I like to imagine you apoplectic at at a diner, screaming “you call this SYRUP? Where are the god damned VANILLA HUSKS!?” I hope that stuff tastes good, because it looks like the liquid that leaks out of the bottom of my barbecue when it rains.

That being said, those are beautiful pancakes. They’d better be with this Hannibal Lecter-ass pancake recipe. Which has, to recap, FOUR forms of dairy, two vanilla derivatives, two extracts, and a fruit zest. I enjoy the boudoir photograph you took of them, just sitting on a bed beckoning to come hither. They look like they’d taste great, but I’m not sure a “classic American pancake” should require two separate witch’s cauldrons to hold all the ingredients. Call it a solid B+.

Every state — from Texas and Colorado to Kentucky and Tennessee — has a whiskey scene all its own. Sure, there are similarities you’ll find in how a particular whiskey is distilled or common facets of a mash bill. But what makes the whiskey of each state distinct is its ability to highlight the best natural resources of the region.

And for Oregon it’s all about the water.

Most whiskey lovers know the importance of water quality in distilling the brown spirit. But Oregon distilleries take this idea to its furthest logical conclusion, talking about water with the same enthusiasm that they discuss their mash bills.

“I bet most distilleries here, especially in the Portland area, would say the quality of water we have access to for use in blending is the best in the world,” says Jason Ericson, Head Distiller of Eastside Distilling.

“The profile of the water has an enormous impact on the flavor of any spirit,” adds Alan Dietrich, CEO of Crater Lake Spirits. “And the water in Central Oregon, where we’re located, is spectacular for mellowing alcohol.”

Another feature of the state’s (rapidly increasing) whiskey output is (for those who make use of it) the renowned Oregon oak.

“Oregon oak, called Quercus garryana or Gary oak, is distinct to the Northwest,” explains Joe O’Sullivan, Head Distiller at Clear Creek Distillery. “To me, that is the terroir.”

Oregon oak only grows in a small sliver of the Pacific Northwest, so the casks are quite rare. And they’re not exactly easily made, either.

“Due to the tight-grain of this particular oak, it needs to be hand-cleaved in the old-world style coopers used for the finest French oak casks,” Ericson says. “It’s difficult to work with and only one cooperage here in Oregon — Oregon Barrel Works — uses Oregon oak for barrels.”

While Oregon’s climate also plays a part in what the final products taste like, the state’s weather varies so widely — from coastal rainforest to high desert — that the effects aren’t universal. What does seem to be a part of every Oregon whiskey is an almost-parody-level commitment to craft and staying local.

“Kentucky is certainly the motherland of where [bourbon] whiskey was birthed,” says Jill Kuehler, founder of one of the only women-owned and operated distilleries in the country, Freeland Spirits. “So it’s been cool to see the birth of all these craft distilleries over the last several years. It’s exciting to see the Oregon-grown concept come along.”

This month, I sat down with some of the best whiskeys Oregon has to offer. Check out my favorites below.

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt

ABV: 42.5%
Average Price: $50

The Whiskey:

“When we made the McCarthy’s single malt it wasn’t really to make something like Scotch,” O’Sullivan says. “But Steve McCarthy wanted to make something that was big, bold, and in line with the single malts he had when he was in Ireland and Scotland.”

So McCarthy produced this whiskey nearly 40 years ago, with the intention of highlighting that signature Scotch smokiness, while also featuring Oregon oak.

“At this moment, Oregon oak is actually kind of trendy,” O’Sullivan says. “It’s also incredibly hard to use and often overpowers spirits. You need that rich, heavy peat flavor to balance out the heavy, sawdusty oak.”

This Holstein pot-distilled single malt is 100 percent peat malted barley from Scotland and aged solely in Oregon oak for three years.

Tasting Notes:

Upon the first whiff, I was hit with peaty smoke like that of Scotch and wondered to myself, “Is this indeed Scotch?” In tune with the nose, the taste picks up honey that’s been set aflame and combined with smoky vanilla beans. The finish delivers quick, fleeting heat, but retains the subtle-sweet profile.

Bottom Line:

This is not your traditional single malt. I’m not usually into smokey libations, but this one struck a home run with my palate. This whiskey would pair nicely with BBQ (my Texas side is showing).

Black Butte Whiskey

ABV: 47%
Average Price: $85

The Whiskey:

This five-year-old malt whiskey is a partnership with the renowned, Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery. Bendistillery, Inc., the makers of Black Butte Whiskey, sought to collab with the brewery to produce a whiskey that reminds you of Deschutes’ iconic Black Butte Porter beer.

Tasting Notes:

The harmonious blend of cocoa and Porter fused with oaky notes teases your senses from nose to palate. The first sip gives you a velvety mouthfeel infused with hints of delicious dark chocolate and bold dark-roast coffee. The welcome dose of heat permeates the finish of what I found to be a highly enjoyable experience.

Bottom Line:

I love a good distillery and brewery partnership — especially when the outcome is this tasty.

Burnside Oregon Oaked Rye

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $43

The Whiskey:

Portland-based Eastside Distilling — the creators of Burnside — don’t distill any of the components of their blends onsite.

“We curate the best whiskey, rye, and bourbon that we can find from Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and even Montana,” Ericson says. “And create blends that we finish in Oregon oak casks — a process that’s specific to our company.”

Essentially, the distillery has taken “bourbons and ryes from back East with storied histories and merged them with old wine tradition in the form of Oregon oak barrels to create a new expression of familiar whiskeys.” Sounds interesting, right?

Tasting Notes:

This rye packs an alluring amalgamation of scents ranging from honeysuckle to the peel of citrusy orange. The creamy palate has the right amount of spice, in which subtle sweet flavors of chocolate and brown sugar shine through in a balanced way. The flavorful sip crescendos at the finish for a nice, long burn.

Bottom Line:

I’m a fan of this rye sipped chilled or in a spice drizzled Manhattan.

Freeland Spirits Bourbon Whiskey

ABV: 46%
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Distilled in Indiana, but finishes, proofed, and bottled at Portland’s Freeland Spirits distillery, this high rye bourbon is finished in Oregon-based Elk Cove Vineyards’ pinot noir barrels.

“A lot of what we do at Freeland is about partnerships with other brands to highlight other makers in Oregon,” Kuehler says. “The owners of Elk Cove are friends of ours. So, we wanted to highlight them and also add a unique finish to the bourbon.”

Tasting Notes:

The butterscotch and vanilla scent packs a serious punch without being too overwhelming. Caramel and warm berries deliver a flavorsome sip while adding a few drops of water reveals a buttery richness towards the end. The lingering finish encourages you to go back for more.

Bottom Line:

This whiskey shows that good, quality bourbon isn’t confined to Kentucky.

Oregon Spirit Distillers Straight American Wheat Whiskey

ABV: 47%
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

Based in Bend, Oregon, Oregon Spirit Distillers launched in 2009. This wheat whiskey consists of Oregon-grown winter wheat, rye, and malted barley. It is aged in new American white oak barrels for four years.

Tasting Notes:

Brown sugar and wheat toast charm their way from nose to palate. Bright, medium body with a creamy mouthfeel that’s made complete with ripe, crisp apple drizzled with warm caramel. Subtle spicy heat at the apex of the sipping experience with a short, yet sweet finish.

Bottom Line:

If this whiskey was made into a soap, I’d bathe in it. It’s just that good!

Oregon Spirit Distillers Straight American Bourbon

ABV: 47%
Average Price: $45

The Whiskey:

This whiskey is crafted by the same producers of the wheat spirit listed above, but this one is a four-grain bourbon made with corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley. It is matured for four years in new American white oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:

Hints of honeycomb and oak greet your senses before indulging in the first sip. Buttered sweet corn and warm, toasted bread makes for an unlikely pairing for the palate but is truly enjoyable. Slight heat on the finish is made perfect with fruity candy and cinnamon flavor notes.

Bottom Line:

Though I enjoyed this one neat, I’m game to try this in a spirit-forward cocktail such as a Brown Derby.

Westward American Single Malt Pinot Noir Cask

ABV: 45%
Average Price: $90

The Whiskey:

This whiskey pays homage to Oregon’s iconic Willamette Valley wine country. The original Westward American Single Malt is finished for up to two years in French oak wine casks from select winemakers of the region.

Tasting Notes:

The fragrance notes are a trifecta of sweet brown sugar, mouth-watering stone fruit, and chocolate. Berries and baking spices such as nutmeg and brown sugar (as smelled at the outset) really set the tone for the rest of the sipping experience. The finish is delectably sweet and flirts with your palate to go in for more.

Bottom Line:

For all you whiskey lovers hypnotized by sexy bottles, this one is for you. The best part is the juice inside the bottle though.

Despite not winning an Oscar for his frenetic role in Uncut Gems, it still seems like life is pretty good for Adam Sandler. He’s got a Netflix deal that lets him make basically whatever he wants, including bringing his pals to tropical locales to shoot movies, and occasionally he shows up on SNL to rapt applause.

He also gets to golf a lot, apparently, and on Tuesday, he showed that he still has the skills when it comes to another one of his most famous roles: the titular part in Happy Gilmore. Sandler posted a video of him on the golf course as he recreated one of his hockey-crazy golfer’s signature moves, a moving slap shot of a drive that powered Gilmore to glory in the 1996 film.

“It’s been 25 years since I’ve done this,” Sandler said after he started filming and headed over to the tee box. “Let’s see what happens.”

Despite saying he was “scared” he wound up and actually made good contact with a driver much bigger than the ones Gilmore and other golfers used back in the late ’90s. And though we can’t see where the ball goes, it sounded pretty clean and Sandler assures us he made good contact.

“And I’m not lying to you,” Sandler said. “That is smashed. Smashed.”

No word on whether he beat up an elderly game show host somewhere on the back nine, or whether his short game still needs work. But it’s nice to see he’s still got the magic more than two decades later.

Iconic filmmaker Martin Scorsese is back with a scorching hot take on the state of cinema, and no, it’s not about the Marvel movies this time. In a new essay celebrating the filmography of Italian director Federico Fellini, Scorsese fires a series of scathing criticisms at streaming services, which he believes are committing a cardinal sin. “The art of cinema is being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced to its lowest common denominator, ‘content,’” Scorsese writes.

While acknowledging that he’s benefitted from the current climate of streaming services that are eager for “content,” (See: The price tag Netflix forked over for The Irishman), Scorsese has concerns that good films are being unceremoniously buried when “content” now means “all moving images” from a Super Bowl commercial to a David McLean movie. Via Harper’s Bazaar:

On the one hand, this has been good for filmmakers, myself included. On the other hand, it has created a situation in which everything is presented to the viewer on a level playing field, which sounds democratic but isn’t. If further viewing is “suggested” by algorithms based on what you’ve already seen, and the suggestions are based only on subject matter or genre, then what does that do to the art of cinema?

After going long on his love for Fellini, Scorsese returned to his concerns about streaming services and cautioned filmmakers from assuming the “movie business” will take care of things. “The emphasis is always on the word ‘business,’ and value is always determined by the amount of money to be made from any given property,” Scorsese writes before presenting a bleak outlook on this new digital age. “In that sense, everything from Sunrise to La Strada to 2001 is now pretty much wrung dry and ready for the ‘Art Film’ swim lane on a streaming platform.”

(Via Harper’s Bazaar)

The 2021 Daytona 500 was a marathon affair, with the green flag dropping at 2:30 p.m. ET and the checkered flag waving just shy of 12:30 a.m. ET on Monday. In the 10 hours in between, there was a lengthy lightning and rain delay, two Big Ones, and a first-time winner on the Cup circuit taking home the sport’s biggest prize.

Michael McDowell wheeled the Love’s Travel Shops Ford Mustang to victory lane in what was the latest wild finish at the Daytona 500, picking up his first win in his 358th career Cup Series race. The veteran went from third to first in the final lap when the two fellow Fords in front of him, Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, wrecked in turn 3 after Logano tried to put a block on Keselowski’s run with McDowell pushing. As the 2 and 22 spun in opposite directions, the sea parted for McDowell, who held off Chase Elliott and Austin Dillon for the biggest moment of his driving career.

On Tuesday, we got to talk with McDowell about being a Daytona 500 champ, how the Fords all got themselves to the front, what that crazy last lap was like from his seat, and why he believes he can back up that win with a strong performance on Sunday when they are back at Daytona to run the road course in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 (3 p.m. ET on Fox).

Last time we talked was last March about iRacing, so a little bit has changed for you since then. What have the last 36 hours been like and what’s it like now to hear that introduction of “Daytona 500 winner” before your name?

Yeah, I mean, the last 36 hours has been crazy with just so much excitement and joy and just a range of emotions. It’s been quite the journey. And, you know, to hear that, to hear Daytona 500, winner and champion it brings a lot of emotion because of the journey and the work that it’s taken by so many people to get to this point. It definitely means a lot.

You mentioned the journey, I think something that not necessarily everybody considers is how big this is not just for you, but for Front Row Motorsports and everybody that’s put the time in the shop over the last four or five years in getting to this moment. What have been the conversations you’ve been able to have with the team, and what does this mean to the entire organization there?

Yeah, like you said, it’s not just a PR thing or cliche. This is 100 percent a team sport. And you have to have fast race cars, and it takes so many people to make a fast race car — and partners and it just goes down a huge list of hands that have touched this organization that’s allowed us to be a Daytona 500 winner. And so that part of it makes it special. It makes it very rewarding for everybody in the shop that’s a part of that, and for all our partners that are a part of that. So it’s a big moment. I mean, it’s a big moment for any team. I think it’s a lifetime achievement to be a Daytona 500 champion and winner as an organization, but for a team that hasn’t won a ton of races and isn’t probably talked about a lot as as contenders, to win the biggest race on the biggest stage, it’s going to last a lifetime.

After the race it seems everybody in the garage was just so happy to see that you were the guy that came out on top. Joey Logano coming out of the care center saying if he couldn’t win, he wouldn’t want to pick anybody other than you that to see win. What does it mean to you to get that kind of support from the garage and the other drivers and kind of validate, like you said, all that work that you’ve put in over your career?

Yeah, it does. It means a lot. I mean, to me that the part of it for me that’s probably the most rewarding is knowing that while so many years I was uncompetitive and grinding it out that people still respected me and saw me working hard. And to have those relationships and have people that genuinely are excited for you that you accomplished what you set out to accomplish, even your competitors, it does mean a lot. It’s not something that I took lightly for sure. I really feel like at the end of the day, relationships and people are what matter and to have support and to feel like you’re a part of that is awesome.

Just generally, what was the day like? You have that that first 14 laps and then you have the big wreck and then it’s a five or six hour rain delay. What was it like watching the weather reports and trying to have the conversation with your team about what you felt on the track in that brief period you’re out there and what you wanted to do going forward, and how did you make sure that you stayed engaged and stayed ready when you did eventually come back at 9 p.m.?

Yeah, it was it was a unique day for sure. And it was a long day, no doubt about it. In that first big accident that took out you know a lot of great cars, we actually got some damage. We weren’t too tore up too bad, but we did get some damage and then obviously with the lightning we had the the five and a half hour delay. And so during that delay we actually were working on the strategy. Drew Blickensderfer, my crew chief, and all my guys were figuring out “OK, what do we got to do to fix the damage?” You know, “what if this brace is broke,” and all those things that go into making sure that we can make these repair, still have a competitive car, not have too many men go over the wall, and not go beyond the caution clock that can take you out of the race when you have damage.

And so there was all these factors that we had to sort of balance and figure out how do we how do we execute this really well, where we don’t lose a lap and our car’s still competitive. And so a lot of that five and a half hours was just going through that and making sure that we all knew what we were going to do, and we’re ready to do it. And then when we went back racing, it was, for me, it was all about positioning. It was all about getting with my Ford teammates, and making sure that we could get ourselves into that position at the end when you needed it. So it’s a process and it’s a long one. And it always comes down to that last lap, but leading up to that every lap counts to put yourself in that position.

What were the conversations in that last stage when you guys in the Ford were able to get into the pits early and get yourselves connected up at the front? I mean, what all goes into that? What are the conversations that you’re having, your crew chiefs are having about timing and making sure you’re all on the same page so you can put yourself in that position?

It’s orchestrating a whole lot, for sure. Ford has done a great job of uniting the drivers and the teams, in particular at the superspeedways, and just making sure that we can communicate, and we all know when we’re going to pit and what we need to do. So that was executed really well. I mean, I think one of the things that, you know, I hate to say it, but that helped us do that were less Fords at the end of the race and there was at the beginning. And because of that, it was actually a little easier to organize, you know, four or five guys rather than ten. And so we were able to get to pit road really well, and we all did the same on our pit stops, and we all left pit road together, and we were connected leaving pit road, and we’re able to be organized early. And that gave us the race winning track position.

If it wasn’t gonna be me, that gets the victory lane, it was gonna be a Ford. I can almost guarantee you that just based on how we were positioned coming to the white flag having four cars leading the pack. You have four Fords leading coming to the white flag and that all came from that pitstop and that strategy and all of us working together and executing. We really controlled the race at that point, and it was ours to lose.

And then you get to that last lap. You got that big run behind Brad and what was going through your mind as you’re making that move? Because obviously you can feel that you’ve got a big run, and what was your expectation going into making that move? Were you thinking, “OK I’m probably going to push Brad to first, and then I might have to try to make a move? Then obviously, things change very quickly, when he and Joey start spinning.

Yeah, that was exactly my plan was to stay with Brad and push him. I knew Brad was going to try to make a move, and he was backing up and playing around with the runs, you know, a couple laps leading into it just to see how much of a gap he needed. And so I kind of, without it being communicated, because it wasn’t communicated, I knew what he was trying to do and what he was getting ready to do. And so when we came off of Turn 2 and he built a little bit of a gap, I knew that he was getting ready to make the run.

At that time, I had a push from [Chase Elliott] and was able to get a big run to get hooked up with Brad and when he and I had that momentum, he took it and tried to make a pass on Joey. And Joey blocks the pass and then they came together and I mean, it was just crazy. It’s not what we planned or what we hoped for. My plan was, like what you said, to stay connected to Brad. Let him make the move on Joey and when he made that move, and Joey went to block, they open up the hole and I take the hole.

Unfortunately what happened was Brad had a run, Joey blocked a run, and they make contact and both of those cars were crashed out. That wasn’t the plan but the seas parted and I drove through the middle and and had to block Chase Elliott, they had a big run, and Austin Dillon and we were able to hold those guys off and get a Ford to victory lane.

Can you even describe the chaos of that moment and — obviously you have to stay in the moment of like, “OK, I’m here on the final lap with a chance to win the Daytona 500” — but you see this wreck start and you’re trying to dodge those two guys, and then you have to think about those two cars behind you. I mean, kind of how does the adrenaline get go in that situation and can you even put into words how wild that half a lap is?

No, there’s no way to put it into words. Like, I couldn’t tell you one thing, my spotter said about what’s going on, because you’re just laser focused and you’re in the moment and everything’s happening so fast, especially at 200 miles an hour. When Brad and Joey spin, I didn’t think anything of it, I just drove right through the middle and immediately had to throw a block on the 9 car. Like, there was no hesitation, there was no thinking, there was no processing. It was just all happening in that moment, and you’re just reacting and responding and you only have time to process that you’re just doing it. And then when it all happens and it works out and you go back and you watch it, it’s just crazy to think you know, all the things that had to happen in that moment for you to be in that spot and to miss that wreck and to make that block and for the caution to fly when it did, and there’s a lot.

Now this week, you stay at Daytona and y’all are going to run the road course, and I know you’re a guy with plenty of road course experience. You get to come back to a track, obviously, it’s gonna be a very different race than than the 500, but you’re coming back and you get to run the same place that you just won, even on on the road course. How excited are you to try to back this up with another strong finish here?

Yeah, I think it’s awesome that we’re going to the Daytona Road Course. I’m always confident going into Daytona, but I’m ultra confident when it comes to the road courses and feel like, if anything, we have a better chance there. And so, to have two races that are really strong for us back to back is a lot of fun. And, also, we know that there’s going to be tracks where we’re not as competitive, right? I mean, we’re not trying to be — we know who we are. And we know that there’s going to be tough, tough weeks and great weeks. But to know that we can follow the Daytona 500 win up with a solid week is good [laughs].

It’s nice to know that we’re going to go to that road course with our Fr8Auctions Mustang and have a shot and run in the top five and run in the top 10 and be a contender. Rather than go to a track maybe where we struggle, and we go from winning the race to running 20th. That’s no fun. So, yeah, we’re looking forward to this weekend and I feel like we can keep that momentum going.

Y’all have seven road courses on the schedule this year. Do you like when you have a year like this, where there’s maybe going to be a little more diversity in the tracks you run? I know as a fan I like to watch when you guys go the road courses when you go to the short tracks and when there’s a little bit more variety. Do you feel that as a driver, too?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, selfishly, this schedule is incredible for me. I mean, I love road courses and new road courses, I think are an advantage for me. And Road America is where I got my Xfinity win, so when we looked at this schedule, it was exciting. We felt like this could be a great year for Front Row Motorsports and for the Love’s Travel Stop Ford Mustang. We really felt like, “Man, this could be the year where we get a win,” and to do it on week one, race one at the Daytona 500, to be locked in the playoffs. It’s just crazy. It’s just unbelievable.

And the schedule opens up for you. You’ll be in the All-Star Race, you know you’re headed to the playoffs. What does it do to settle you in and know this is gonna be a good season and just feeling that momentum that you get to build on?

I think it allows us to enjoy it more being locked in the playoffs and and having already won a race. It’s going to make the rough days a little less, and just allow us to enjoy the season and enjoy it longer than it would have if it had been later in the season or not happened at all. So for us to know that we’re locked in and to know that as a team, we’ve already in one week accomplished so much, everything else right now just feels like you know is a bonus. It doesn’t change our approach. We’re going to race hard. Every week counts, and we’re competitive. We want to run well, and we want to make it count and we have some momentum. But then we’re going to enjoy it because you just never know when the next one comes.

Mayans M.C. will be among the first batch of returning shows (after you-know-what slowed down the world) on March 16. A teaser has shown that there’s a rough time in the desert involved for all after a dead SAMCRO member must be disposed of, and there are fresh and returning personal demons for all to conquer. Given that J.D. Pardo was cool enough to give us a counseling session when things got personal for the club during Season 2, it only seems fitting that he’s helping to prepare viewers for the next ride.

Pardo did so in an Instagram post, where he speaks about the first Kurt Sutter-less season, which he is describing as the best one yet, despite all of the pandemic challenges faced by cast and crew:

I can’t express how proud I am of this season. The Cast, AMAZING Crew, Production, Studio, were able to come together and film this season despite all the changes and limitations on set and tell the absolute best Mayans MC story to date. I want to thank @elginnjames for his sacrifice, and his faith in me, the cast and the show. This season is cinematic, raw, unfiltered, touching your soul and breaking your heart at the same time. There’s nothing pretty or glamorous about the Mayans. We are wolves trying to survive and fighting for our lives. This is our story. I hope you tune in with me! March 16th on @fxnetworks and @hulu #mayansfx

At the end of last season, EZ got patched into the club, but that doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing. He’s probably got Dita’s death weighing heavy on his mind, along with the death of his mother way back when, which was surely stirred up by the Dita mess. And showrunner Elgin James previously suggested that the Mayans will succeed (at least at first) at covering up the unintended killing of the SAMCRO member, but you know that won’t last forever. Who is it, exactly? As our own Dustin Rowles noted, Clayton Cardenas (who portrays Angel) hypothesized that it could be Chibs or Happy, but it surely doesn’t make sense that Chibs (as the founding chapter’s president) could be dumped in the desert with success. It’s likely someone who decided to work with VM while leaving the Mayans unaware, and probably someone we’ve seen before on the spinoff. It makes the most sense for it to be Montez, since actor Jacob Vargas’ IMDb page lists him as being in this episode. However, he’s also listed as being in Season 3, so that complicates matters. Zombie biker? Sure, why not.

Mayans M.C. will ride again on March 16.

Young Rock (NBC, 8:00pm) — Dwayne Johnson’s gotten very real in interviews while discussing his difficult adolescence and young adulthood, but this show will take a comedic stance while focusing on how he hustled his way into wrestling superstardom. Soon enough, he became a household name and rollercoaster-ed toward Hollywood stardom and earned that Franchise Viagra nickname. This series will focus on all of that, but also! Expect to see exploration of The Rock’s presidential semi-ambitions when his character decides to run for office in 2032 with the help of Rosario Dawson and Randall Park.

Kenan (NBC, 8:30pm) — The longest-tenured cast member on SNL (and he’s not leaving) now breaks into the family comedy business where he plays a character named Kenan, who’s attempting to do what we all do: balance every aspect of life (and usually, to some degree, make a mess while doing it). Luckily for Kenan, he’s so much funnier than the rest of us. It’ll be something to watch him dodge an overbearing father-in-law while staying sane with his family and work, so this should be quite the stress-relieving watch for anyone who wants to see Kenan Thompson painting everyday experiences in an absurd light.

Feel free to brows our list of Must-See Shows For February, and here are the rest of tonight’s programming highlights:

Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr. (PBS, 8:00pm) — Pharrell Williams and Kasi Lemmons get down with their own respective roots, including accounts of their enslaved ancestors.

Mixed-Ish (ABC, 9:30pm) — Bow wants to go to church with friends, and her parents aren’t into it, while Santi and Jonah attempt to prepare for their own hell.

Black-Ish (ABC, 9:00pm) — After Dre catches Junior and Olivia smoking weed, he’s naturally hesitant about recreational use. Ruby then attempts to intervene while Bow wants everyone to lighten up.

Prodigal Son (FOX, 9:00pm) — A supposedly haunted hotel gets a renovation, and that doesn’t go so well for the architect, as the team investigates.

Two Sentence Horror Stories (CW, 8:00pm) — A dark force feeds on the vulnerable within a broken medical system, and an Indigenous man visits an Old West reenactment for their podcast and uncovers some unexpected history.

Trickster (CW, 9:00pm) — Jared realizes that only he can stop his father, and Jared is on the run with Maggie.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Bette Midler, Eiza González, Georgia Line

In case you missed these recent picks:

Map Of Tiny Perfect Things (Amazon Prime film) — Time loops somehow don’t get old, especially after Palm Springs and Russian Doll freshened-up the concept once more. In this film. two teens find themselves reliving the same day while inexplicably drawn together. It’s a love story, of course, where they weigh how and whether to escape their never-ending yet ultimately perfect day.

Into the Dark: Tentacles (Hulu film) — The monthly horror-movie series returns with a psychosexual horror-thriller about love, or love gone wrong at least, when a young Los Angeles couple falls deeply in love, only to find that their intimacy takes an enormously dark turn. Happy holiday of love, y’all.

Quaking vibrato, improvisational lyricism, grandiose gestures, punctuating ad-libs, hooping, hollering, calling back and forth to the crowd, and running around the stage dripping in sweat, as if you’re leading the audience in some sacred ritual. If you had to ask me what I consider a quintessential rock performance, I’d rattle off the list above.

I’ve felt magnetized to the freedom and expression of rock and roll for as long as I can remember. Even when my fellow Black classmates warned me it was “white music” or when I seemed to be one of the few non-white people in the crowd, there was something that reminded me of myself, a dull whisper under the humming of the guitars calling me home. It wasn’t until halfway through Maureen Mahon’s book Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll that I completely understood why.

Named after a line in a Betty Davis track, the book examines how gender, race, and genre play into the stories and careers of Black women who were inextricable and essential to rock and roll music but whose impact is either tragically underreported or unacknowledged. The book also clarified something I had never noticed about my connection to rock and roll: how much it was rooted in my upbringing as a Baptist minster’s daughter. I had previously realized my upbringing was what drew me to the live performance of music. However, I did not realize that the sonics and performance of gospel music were at the very root of rock and roll, and more than likely the reason that drew me to the genre in the first place

“It’s a great example because the gospel sound, particularly in vocals, is so crucial to the vocal sound of rock and roll,” Mahon grins over Zoom. “Not just literally through the vocal sound of African-American women who were background vocalists in the late sixties and early seventies, although that’s maybe the most obvious version of it. Historically gospel music and secular Black music are very closely intertwined. They’re borrowing from each other and building on each other. If you listen to rhythm and blues from the 1950s, they’re doing gospel quartet sounds. The girl group sound of the 1960s is coming out of that tradition as well. It’s very closely aligned with the history of African-American music. Why we don’t pay attention to it is another question.”

Mahon’s history of African American women in rock and roll between the 1950s and 1980s shifts trailblazing artists like LaVern Baker, the Shirelles, Labelle, Betty Davis, and Tina Turner back to the center of the conversation. Each chapter attempts to answer a singular question: Why are so many of these stories not shared in rock and roll histories? Mahon, who also serves as New York University Associate Professor of Music, notes that there are many different reasons for that.

“After the arrival of The Beatles in the 1960s, the British invasion starts in 1964, the whitening of rock really starts to happen at an accelerated pace,” she explains. “You had white artists performing rock and roll in the 1950s, people like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, and Carl Perkins, and they would have all acknowledged they were drawing on Black musical traditions.”

Mahon shares a quote from Presley in her chapter on the raucous rhythm and blues singer Big Mama Thornton.

“The colored folks have been singing it and playing it just like I’m doin’ now man for more years than I know,” Presley remarks. But, as we all know, the original version of “Hound Dog” performed by Big Mama Thornton is rarely referenced in pop culture canon outside of being the precursor of Presley’s hit.

As Mahon explains, America wanted to hear Black music. They just didn’t want to hear it from Black people.

“Because of the way we understand race in the United States,” she says, “It’s this binary understanding that if something is Black, that means it’s not white and if something is white, that means it’s not Black. So if you have a musical form like rock and roll, which is actually a very mixed miscegenation form, we can’t understand that complexity according to the racial narratives that we grow up with and that we internalize. So if we see a predominance of white people, you know, in the crowd and onstage, we say that’s a white form, and we’re going to stay over here with this other form, which is a Black form, predominantly African-American performers, predominantly African-American audiences. I think that’s why the connections get lost.”

That issue of connection proved fatal for the careers of Black women whose sounds fell “betwixt and between” the genre’s of pop and R&B. And, as Mahon shares, for marketing and societal reasons, rock and roll was a scene that “relied on Black sound but seemed resistant to the presence of Black people.” Or, as rocker Betty Davis put it a more roughly but no less eloquently, “One thing I found out about this business, they have to be able to categorize you, if they can’t bag you, you’re f*cked.”

In the chapter “Navigating Brown Sugar,” Mahon shares the stories of three paramours of rock’s heyday: Devon Wilson, Marsha Hunt, and Claudia Lennear. We could blame record labels excluding Black artists from the rock genre on marketing, a casualty of categorization, but why were these women’s stories not more prominent in rock folklore?

“You can say they were there. Jimi Hendrix was there, but you know, Jimi Hendrix wasn’t really, he wasn’t like a Black guy,” she continues, impersonating what I assume could be a white male rock historian. “‘He was just like this really amazing guitarist. And that’s what I want to talk about when I talk about Jimi Hendrix.’ And so you erase the racial identities, which were important to the people. They were quite aware of their Blackness. They also enjoy being in this alternative space. It was a refusal of these mainstream norms they just thought were stupid and constricting, but it didn’t mean they somehow left their race behind. It’s a really interesting kind of erasure that happens with those women.”

Like many Black contributors to the early rock scene, these women seemed to fall prey to that oft-heard refrain of “I don’t see color,” a clumsy attempt at inclusion and a disservice ultimately leading to erasure.

“If you keep extracting the people who are involved from Blackness,” Mahon notes, “It makes it really hard to recognize that Black people are involved in this music. You keep pushing them into this other category and ignoring both the history of the Black roots of the music, but also the reality that there are Black people involved.”

The last chapter of the book highlights the incomparable Tina Turner, the first Black woman to claim the (well-earned) title of stadium rockstar and answer to the moniker “Queen of Rock and Roll.” In the chapter, Mahon shares an excerpt of a Rolling Stone review written by Dave Marsh. In response to Turner performing songs by Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, Marsh laments, “This once-great singer pushing herself through a series of songs without desire or understanding” and concludes, with his preference for her to work within “an idiom [she] comprehends.”

But Turner was acutely aware of what she was doing, simply covering the artists who were covering her, if indirectly. As she shares in her memoir I, Tina. “It wasn’t like we planned it — ’Now we’re gonna start doing white rock ‘n’ roll songs.’ But those groups were interpreting Black music, to begin with.”

The majority of the book’s stories don’t end like Turners with accolades, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions, and Grammys. Mahon quotes a moment from Big Mama Thornton’s funeral in the epilogue where the minister preaches, “Don’t feel sorry for Big Mama. There’s no more illness. No more pain. No more suffering in a society where the color of skin was more important than the quality of your talent.”

Other heartbreaking moments in the book come by way of women like Lavern Baker. When she played passionate early rock performances in the segregated South, the audience would have “music tantrums” breaking the ropes separating them, coming together in a way she referred to as “gorgeous” despite white southerners’ condemnation of the temporary desegregation. Baker believed her music would speak for itself, so she didn’t rely on memoir or interviews to document her impact. However, as Mahon notes, “The fact that she was an African American woman worked against that contribution being fully acknowledged in histories of a genre that had developed a profile as the purview of white men.”

As I read each page of Black Diamond Queens, learning about the Black women who contributed to not only the sound but the ethos of rock and roll, I felt like I was also learning about myself. In the end, the stories felt less like a permission slip to feel at home in a genre I most resonate with, but a reminder that, like these women, I should never feel the need to ask for permission at all.

Larry Kudlow‘s Fox Business debut is off to a rocky start. During a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’ America Reports to promote, Kudlow, his new weekday show premiering that afternoon, the former economic advisor to Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic saying “bullsh*t” at multiple times while discussing Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent remarks on the previous administration’s COVID vaccine distribution plan, or more specifically, it’s lack thereof.

Harris had appeared on HBO’s Axios on Sunday where she claimed that the Biden administration is essentially starting from scratch when it comes to getting COVID vaccines to the American public. “There was no national strategy or plan for vaccinations. We were leaving it to the states and the local leaders to try and figure it out,” Harris said. Kudlow was clearly not a fan and let his feelings be known without realizing his mic was still on. Via Mediaite:

[Sandra] Smith claimed that Harris was making “false claims” about the Trump administration’s vaccine rollout, but she was drowned out by Kudlow, who was still mic’ed up and shouting “Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t! Bullsh*t!” The program tried to cut the audio at that point, even as Smith was heard reacting “that is Larry Kudlow weighing in… Wow.”

While Kudlow’s outburst seems like an unscripted moment, it actually lines up with an interview he gave earlier in the week to Variety to promote his upcoming Fox Business show. “I myself am not bashful about my own comments,” Kudlow said. “I have a few opinions.” Yeah, we know, Larry. We just heard you yelling them.

(Via Mediaite)