Fort Worth Weekly // February 10-16, 2021

February 10-16, 2021 FREE fwweekly.com

Just two years out of college, artist Mariell Guzman already has a formidable reputation in North Texas.

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METROPOLIS Some JPS workers say they’ve been forced to work while ill.

BY DAN MALONE

EATS & DRINKS From java to booze, brunch to lunch, Ascension Coffee’s got you covered.

BY EDWARD BROWN

E D W A R D

MUSIC Ben Harper’s label wants to release The Cush’s new album essentially as is.

BY PAT R I C K H I G G I N S

B R O W N

HEARSAY The Polydogs will celebrate the release of two new singles and a video with a show at Tulips Saturday.

BY ANTHONY MARIANI

SAY IT WITH LOVE Wild Cold Water Lobster Tails 4-5 OZ.

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Saturday, March 20, 2021 8–11 A.M.

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! p Registration opens Feb. 15 U n Sig FortWorthTexas.gov/CowtownCleanup

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Febr uar y 10-16, 2021

INSIDE

STAFF Anthony Mariani, Editor Lee Newquist, Publisher

Working Stiff

Bob Niehoff, General Manager

Was JPS forcing employees to work while ill?

Jim Erickson, Circulation Director Edward Brown, Staff Writer Taylor Provost, Proofreader

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Michael Newquist, Regional Sales Director Jennifer Bovee, Marketing Director Stacey Hammons, Senior Account Executive

Lege Back in Session

Julie Strehl, Account Executive Tony Diaz, Account Executive Wyatt Newquist, Digital Coordinator

Austin is about to get busy with some controversial issues.

In the WestBend development, Ascension Coffee is slinging tasty treats of all sorts.

By Edward Brown

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Cush-y Treatment Local psych-rock band signs to Ben Harper’s label.

By Patrick Higgins

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Edward Brown

All the Way to Heaven

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Static . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Static 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Big Ticket . . . . . . . . . . . 9 ATE DAY8 a week . . . 16

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Cover photo by Edward Brown.

Art by Mariell Guzman.

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By Edward Brown

Clintastic, Brand Ambassador

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Ryan Burger, Art Director

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Some frontline health care employees say they’re being forced to work despite illness.

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As if working the front lines in the battle against COVID-19 isn’t stressful enough, some employees at John Peter Smith Hospital (JPS) say their bosses are making their situations worse.

Three workers, who asked not to be identified by name or job description for fear of retaliation, told me in interviews they’ve been pressured by hospital officials to work while sick, work with inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), and sometimes to take personal time when sick instead of sick leave.

Static Already overloaded criminal courts across the country have come to a near standstill as a precaution against spreading COVID-19.

The backlog means innocent men and women will have to wait years to fight their charges and break the yolk of probation and pretrial charges that can easily drain hundreds of dollars per month from the pockets of America’s poor. In Harris County alone, the backlog reached nearly 50,000 defendants in November.

A thread of 2020 emails from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office shows how quickly the possibility of early release can be dashed.

A June email titled “Review for Early Release” describes a middle-aged male who allegedly burglarized a home several years ago. Sentenced to more than 100 months of supervised probation, the alleged perpetrator had paid his fines in full, completed 240 hours of community service, reported as directed “without issue,” completed a Project Safe Neighborhood program, and scored a “low” risk of recidivism, according to the DA. The DA document went on to note that the victim of the burglary was in support of early release for the alleged perpetrator.

“I don’t think he should be on probation to begin with,” one assistant district attorney replied, meaning that she believed the compliant defendant should be incarcerated. “I object to early termination.”

As with most of the country, the number of criminal cases accepted by the local DA’s

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Breaking Systems of Oppression

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In an email exchange, JPS spokesperson Diana Brodeur disputed the allegations.

“For COVID-related illness, JPS has followed guidance from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] closely throughout the course of the pandemic,” she wrote. “The medical professionals who evaluate the health of our team members do so with the utmost care for the health of our employees, their families, and patients.”

Brodeur also disputed the assertion that employees have been required to take personal days off when sick.

“Employees do not have separate sick and personal days,” she said. “They earn days off based on hours worked, and those days can be used for personal time, sick time, or anything else.”

The employees who spoke to me believe they are being taken advantage of.

“We all agree what’s going on isn’t right,” one employee said. And if their bosses at JPS found out about communications with a reporter, the worker said, “I could lose my job.”

The same employee said two co-workers “got COVID, and they were required to take personal days off ” instead of sick days.

“Instead of working with us and trying to help us, it’s always,” ‘You’ll be fired,’ ” the employee continued. “They want to turn us against each other. Be sure to rat out your fellow workers. … We are on our own. Management is not here for us.”

The problems are not new.

“I started having fever, fatigue, and a headache in November,” another worker alleged.

Yet another employee said, “I’ve had a lot of coworkers come in not feeling well and scared they’ll be fired if they didn’t. I’m pretty sure if that was happening in my department, it was happening hospital-wide.”

JPS also was slow to ramp up acquiring PPE, a worker said.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, we had to wear the same mask for I don’t know how long,” the worker said. “I was wearing the same one month after month.

Brodeur responded that “PPE is available at all times, and we have a supply of all products. Masks and eye protection are available at screening stations, and the rest is available at PPE supply rooms.”

On Feb. 1, JPS rolled out a new policy on

office has swelled over the past decades: 1960 (3), 1970 (549), 1980 (15,516), 1990 (33,659), 2000 (36,766), 2010 (39,637), and 2019 (48,945), according to the county. That final figure means that roughly the combined populations of Benbrook, Crowley, and White Settlement face new criminal charges every year in Tarrant County alone. The American criminal justice system holds around 2.3 million people in jails and prisons, according to the nonpartisan think tank Prison Policy Initiative. One TCU professor recently told us that American’s obsession with jailing the poor is largely the result of a failure to address poverty and systemic racism.

Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, federal services that addressed poverty began being replaced with increased policing, both in Fort Worth and across the county, said Max Krochmal, associate professor of history at TCU and author.

“What was happening was a war against the expanding rights of African Americans and other people of color,” he said. “It was a counterinsurgency designed to contain the liberation struggles and to preserve the unequal status quo of the 1960s.”

The growth in spending on policing, prosecuting, and incarcerating largely Black, largely poor men and women has led to a local system where roughly one-third of Fort Worth’s general fund is allotted to the Fort Worth police department while the lawyers at the DA gobble up $28,411,757 in county funds per year. Tarrant County’s highest-paid employee isn’t the county judge or the county public health director. It’s DA Sharen Wilson. The beneficiaries of that largess aren’t afraid to remind us that the criminal justice system is here to protect us from knifewielding psychopaths and the like. A pro-bail

bond group recently sent us this press release.

“Melanie absolutely adored [her daughter] Caitlynne. Suddenly, tragedy struck in the form of domestic violence and Melanie’s worst nightmare occurred — leaving her to plan her daughter’s funeral, rather than a celebration.”

The press release went on to describe the dangers of “bail reform” because Caitlynne’s husband-turned-murderer was out of jail on bail. The very real tragedy of one family and the very real failure of the criminal justice system to prevent one murder does not justify a monetary bail system that criminalizes poverty and devastates Black and brown communities here and across the country.

The idea behind bail (either as a cash deposit or loan paid as a condition of release from jail) is that men and women will return for their court dates because they do not want to lose that money. Critics of the system note that many poor people cannot pay their bail and languish in county jails instead of being able to return home to tend to their family and prepare for court.

Los Angeles’ new DA George Gascón recently abolished monetary bond in the country’s largest prosecutor’s office.

Around 44% of detainees in county jails are pretrial, meaning they have been charged with a crime but not convicted, according to a report by the UCLA School of Law. “Declarations from individuals incarcerated in the county show that 94% of pretrial declarants do not anticipate that they will be able to afford bail,” the report found.

The inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris (a former DA herself) has given many hope that criminal justice reformers finally

attendance and punctuality that assigns numerical scores to various infractions — from 0.5 for “early departure” to 4.5 for “no call, no show.” Full-time employees who rack up a total score of nine or higher during a year can be fired, according to the policy. An employee shared it with me recently.

“This is recent,” the employee said.

“Again, not ‘thank you for putting yourself and your family at risk.’ ” One of the workers said JPS executives are working “tucked away in their offices, not at the bedside being exposed to patients.”

And one worker who had COVID said, “JPS never called to see how I was doing.”

The employees aren’t sure what lies ahead or what recourse, if any, they may have.

“We’ve had several whose kids tested positive recently, and they’re still making then come to work,” one said. “It’s been like that since the beginning.”

And they feel helpless. “We feel like there’s nothing we can do,” another employee said, “and we fear retaliation.”

For the hospital’s latest COVID info, call 817-702-9500. Information is updated daily at 10 a.m.

Edward Brown

Sick Workers at JPS?

METROPOLIS

Kamala Harris: “Let’s get rid of mandatory minimum” sentences, she said. “Let us decriminalize marijuana and expunge the record of people who have been convicted for marijuana offenses.”

have an ally at the top. Biden has vowed to end privatized prisons, and he recently ordered the Justice Department to not renew contracts with for-profit prisons. Those changes may amount to a paltry reshuffling from private to government prisons that account for around 90% of the overall U.S. inmate population. Harris had a stronger reform message during an October visit to Fort Worth.

“Let’s get rid of mandatory minimum” sentences, she said. “Let us decriminalize marijuana and expunge the record of people who have been convicted for marijuana offenses. Let’s shut down the private prisons.

Let’s get rid of monetary bail. People are sitting in jail for weeks and months and years because they can’t afford to get out, which makes it an economic justice issue as much as a criminal justice issue.”

If Harris makes criminal justice reform a central mandate of her term, as many believe she will, the country may have the first presidential administration in generations that is willing and able to enact meaningful criminal justice reforms.

B R O W N

“Texans, as we gather tonight, I can tell you the state of our state is brimming with promise,” said an upbeat Gov. Greg Abbott during the annual State of the State address recently.

Amid a largely uncontrolled pandemic that has caused the deaths of nearly 40,000 Texans and continues to batter the local economies for travel, hospitality, and service, Abbott unveiled five emergency items for the 2021 Texas Legislative Session that began Jan. 12 and ends May 31.

Every two years, state representatives, senators, and other state officials convene to draft, revise, and ultimately pass legislation that governs life for Texans.

The governor’s priorities include expanding broadband internet access, changing the monetary bail system, ensuring “election integrity,” protecting businesses from civil suits if those establishments operated during the pandemic, and protecting police departments from what Abbott has called “police defunding.”

Expanded Broadband Access

“We are also closing the digital divide for Texas students,” Abbott said. “The state partnered with school districts to provide internet connectivity and e-learning devices for schools and for students. Investments like these are a victory — a victory for teachers, for students, and for parents as we provide our children with a quality education, regardless of their ZIP code.”

The lack of access to the internet, known as the digital divide, has compounded educational inequities in Fort Worth. During the early weeks of the pandemic in March and April, school leadership focused on providing Wi-Fi hotspots to underserved communities that did not have access to the internet. The nonprofit think tank Rand Corporation found that “30% of teachers in high-poverty schools reported that all or nearly all of their students had access to the internet at home, compared with 83% of teachers in lowpoverty schools.”

No district was prepared to deploy technology to all of their students in such a short timeframe last year, said Steven Poole, executive director at the United Educators Association (UEA), the union that represents North Texas teachers.

“Every school district, including Fort Worth’s, was scrambling to find tablets and hotspots,” he said. “There was a limited supply. That hamstrung school districts

Greg Abbott: “We are also closing the digital divide for Texas students.”

from the get-go. Teachers saw four or five siblings having to share one computer or hotspot. For those families, the scheduling involved was a nightmare. Parents did their best to have that homeschool experience while they are trying to work themselves. If we are going to say that internet access is a vital part of work and school, then it should become a public commodity and not a private utility.”

Election Integrity

“The governed consent should never be in doubt,” Abbott said. “That is why the integrity of elections is so essential to our democracy. One thing that all of us should agree on, whether you are a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent, is that we must have trust and confidence in the outcome of our elections.”

Abbott was referring to voter fraud, which, according to the law and policy institute Brennan Center for Justice, remains “infinitesimally small” in the United States.

Indicted State Attorney General Ken Paxton (who currently faces multiple felony charges, an ongoing FBI investigation, and a lawsuit that alleges he retaliated against AG whistleblowers) has long trumped up the supposed dangers of voter fraud. Paxton told a crowd of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6 to never “quit fighting” the landslide victory of President Joe Biden. Many Trump supporters continue to believe that voter fraud led to Trump’s electoral defeat, despite the absence of evidence to support that claim.

Members of that large crowd subsequently breeched the United States Capitol and murdered Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

“We see little to no evidence of voter fraud or any of the associated arguments that partisan conspiracy theorists [like Paxton] whip up,” said Charlie Bonner, communications director for the nonpartisan grassroots group MOVE Texas. “When they make those arguments, real people do get hurt when real voters lose rights. We have to push back on that.”

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It’s politics as usual as the 2021 Texas Legislative Session pits conservative priorities against progressive reforms.

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Following the Lege

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“Public safety is also at risk because of a broken bail system,” Abbot said. “A broken bail system that recklessly allows dangerous criminals back out onto our streets.”

In January, Abbott acknowledged that there are poor people who are stuck in jail for low-level crimes “simply because they have no money” for bail. Once someone has been arrested, most counties in Texas require that bail be posted as a condition of release.

Bail is basically a deposit paid in full by the defendant (cash bail) or by a bail bond company (typically for a 10% fee) that motivates defendants to return for their respective court dates. Bail bond companies represent a $14 billion industry in this country.

Lawsuits have recently forced Dallas and Harris counties to address longstanding problems with their bail systems, and Tarrant County may be next. The average bail set in Tarrant County is $4,785.09, according to the county, meaning the current system may violate equal protection clauses set out by the U.S. Constitution (“Criminalizing Poverty or Ensuring Justice?” July 2020).

Last summer, a spokesperson for the trade group Professional Bondsmen of Texas told us that the problem is not with the bond and bail system but rather the “process of moving large numbers of peo-

Static First off, we’d like to say congratulations to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) for finding out what the rest of Fort Worth has known for months. One glance inside Varsity Tavern any weekend since Gov. Greg Abbott allowed bars to reopen this summer would have told you all you needed to know. Varsity Tavern just don’t give a shit. The 30-day suspension of the West 7th bar’s liquor license is great but about half a year too late.

It’s to be expected, though. Here’s how the logic works all over the country but especially here: Most Fort Worth cops, Code Compliance officers, and TABC agents — like authority figures all over the country — are pro-“law and order,” pro-Fox News, pro-Trump.

They probably thought COVID-19 was a liberal hoax (“no worse than the flu!”) and were willing to sacrifice Grandma and Grandpa to keep the economy humming. Not anymore. The worse the economy does and the more people who die from the novel coronavirus, the worse it’s going to look for Uncle Joe Biden, because saving lives doesn’t matter. Staying in (white) power is all that does.

At least Abbott can say he tried his best despite efforts by disgraced former president Donald Trump to allow everyone to be killed. With hardly any federal guidelines, the governor responded reasonably well, ordering a mask man-

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Varsity Shut Down

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ple efficiently and cost-effectively through the jails of our largest counties without taking advantage or losing track of anyone, including poor people. Therefore, we need to set up procedures that will address the problem and at the same time protect the rights of the poor.”

Protections for Private Businesses

“I am asking the legislature to quickly get a bill to my desk that provides civil liability protections for individuals, businesses, and health-care providers that operated safely during the pandemic,” Abbott said.

Under Abbott’s leadership, Texas was one of the first states to reopen. The governor directed retail stores to reopen in late April and provided steps for reopening the rest of the economy soon after. The resulting spikes in COVID-19 infections and deaths caused the governor to backtrack parts of his reopening plans, but Texas effectively remained one of the most open states throughout 2020.

Texas Restaurant Association CEO Emily Knight said, “COVID-19 has devastated the restaurant industry, but with tools like liability protections, we can work together to ensure the Texas economy recovers stronger than ever.”

The National Federation of Independent Business similarly supports the date and shutting down businesses for a long stretch of time. Every bar I’ve been to since restrictions were partly lifted has looked … pretty much the same but with social distancing in place and lots of masks. Granted, I’m not Varsity Tavern’s clientele. I’m (well) above the age of 25, for one thing, and for another, I don’t do techno, any non-local rap created after 2007, or any country under any circumstances. I’m more of a Baby Boomer Bullshit guy averse to crowds anyway but especially now. I’m happy parking it at Lola’s Trailer Park or Liberty Lounge or Tarantula Tiki Lounge.

And that’s where I’ll be parking it for the foreseeable future. Their managers, and the managers at quite a few other spots around town which I haven’t been to in a while but have heard about, are sharp, and the customers know their masked, socially distanced place.

In a Star-Telegram story, Varsity could not be reached for comment. I can only imagine what they would say.

Young. People. Are. Assholes. You can’t corral them! As the father of a 9-yearold who keeps playfully whacking me on the ass despite stern warnings to the contrary and also despite retaliatory playful whacks, I know how unruly young people can be. Still, Varsity’s door guys should have known better.

When there’s 9 million people in your club, maybe letting in another million isn’t the right play, especially if you know every customer is more interested in making out than masking up.

Noncompliance with social distancing and masks is the reason TABC gives for slapping that suspension on Varsity

governor’s proposed protections for small businesses.

The National Restaurant Association said food-service sales were $240 billion below 2020 pre-pandemic forecasts and more than 110,000 restaurants and bars were temporarily or permanently closed due to the pandemic.

cannot ignore the need to improve policing. It helps our law enforcement officers do a better job. It makes our communities safer. In this session, we must provide law enforcement with the tools and the training they need to ensure the safety that their communities deserve.”

Punishing Cities that “Defund the Police”

Speaking on behalf of Democratic state legislators, State Rep. Chris Turner, whose District 101 represents much of Tarrant County, said the governor should not be in the business of defunding cities that reallocate police funding.

“We shouldn’t be in the business of trying to make budget decisions for the city of Austin or any other city in the state of Texas,” he said. “That’s what we have city councils for. The legislature only meets every other year, so we have a lot to do in a short period of time. One of the most pressing priorities facing Texas, and this pandemic has really exposed it, is a lack of access to health care for too many Texans. We have the highest rate of uninsured of any state in the nation and the highest number of uninsured of any state in the nation. We’re elected to deal with issues for the entire state, and we have a lot of those issues to deal with: public education, higher education, health care, the economy, [and] criminal justice issues.” l

Speaking at Fort Worth’s Bob Bolen Public Safety Complex Administration in April, Abbott unveiled a plan that has become an emergency legislative item.

“Any city in the state of Texas that defunds law enforcement will have their property tax revenue frozen as of that time,” Abbott said at the press briefing.

The stern warning came days after Austin City Council voted to reallocate 34% of police funds toward social services and to reorganize existing police services. Abbott’s efforts to redistribute police funds are seen as an attack on public safety. Fort Worth police department’s 2020 budget was $352,893,268, and a growing number of locals of all political persuasions are questioning if allocating one-third of the city’s general budget to policing makes fiscal or ethical sense.

Without mentioning his specific plans to combat “police defunding” during the State of the State address, Abbott said, “We

Cour tesy of Facebook.com

Changing the Monetary Bail System

Masks don’t work unless they’re covering your nose, too.

Tavern. TABC agents observed “overcrowding” on Thursday along with a lack of social distancing and mask wearing. Thursday. Anyone with social media or who lives in the area knows “overcrowding” has been happening at Varsity for months. The scary part is that it’s not just the customers being dumbasses. Employees were also caught going maskless, according to the TABC. And they’re serving drinks?!

Democratic Party Response

“State officials determined that the continued operation of the Fort Worth business would constitute a threat to the public welfare,” the Star-T said. And it’s true. Nearly 2,400 Tarrant County residents, 39,000 Texans, and more than 464,000 Americans have been killed by the virus. I feel now is as good a time as any to underline the fact that we would not be in this position if the former presidential administration had taken the virus seriously from the start. The only “miracle” is that we now have a president who respects science and is working toward eradicating the illness while demanding vigilance from us.

Mask up, jerks.

Don’t misunderstand me. I was young once, too. I thought I was invincible. I was so angry after 9/11 that I did not care that we were taking out our aggression on the wrong nations. I just wanted retribution.

But I’m older now, much calmer and much less inclined to believe the first thing I hear on TV or read. Gotdawg, I would have loved Varsity Tavern as a college student. Get dressed up, drink your face off, and meet other dressed-up singles? Count me in. All we can do is hope that all of those countless maskless nights haven’t been superspreader events, because even when I was young, all those decades ago, I still had grandparents I gave a shit about. — Anthony Mariani The Weekly welcomes submissions from all political persuasions. Contact Editor Anthony Mariani at anthony@fwweekly. com.

K R I S T I A N

L I N

Want to know why George Floyd’s murder last summer at the hands of cops caused protests all over the world? It’s because police brutality toward people of color isn’t just an American thing. Take a look at France, where filmmaker Ladj Ly filmed a police beating as a teen and used that as the basis for his thriller Les Misérables.

More recently, French cops were caught on tape assaulting African refugees in a camp and a Parisian music producer in his studio. Each time, white authorities proclaimed their shock that officers of the law would express their racial prejudice so violently, and each time, Black and Arab French people were like, “Pffft!”

Into this environment steps Lupin, a French TV series where the main character is Black, which is rare enough in itself, but he is also one who is racially profiled at every turn by openly racist gendarmes and has to work against them.

Like the Japanese manga series of the same name, Lupin takes its title from the pulpy adventure stories written by Maurice Leblanc at the start of the 20th century about a gentleman cat burglar named

Emmanuel Guimier

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Omar Sy is dressed to steal at a charity auction at the Louvre in Lupin.

Arsène Lupin. Senegalese immigrant Assane Diop (Omar Sy) is a devoted reader of those stories in the present day. Back in 1995, his father (Fargass Assandé) worked as a chauffeur for a rich white family named Pellegrini. After being scapegoated following the theft of a diamond necklace on their property, he committed suicide in prison. Now Assane executes a series of bloodless crimes inspired by Lupin’s capers to provide for his teenage son (Etan Simon), possibly win back his ex-wife (Ludivine Sagnier — how I’ve missed watching her act), and uncover the real culprits from the long-ago jewel heist.

Omar Sy is best known in France for starring in the feel-good comedy The Intouchables, though you’re more likely to recognize him from his English-language

roles in Jurassic World and X-Men: Days of Future Past. He and series creator George Kay make Assane into an engrossing action hero, a big man who can fight but prefers to operate by stealth, as well as a social chameleon who acts and dresses to blend in whether he’s with street thugs in the banlieues or celebrities at glitzy cocktail parties. He uses social media to bamboozle people in high places, and his facility with technology reaches frightening levels when he blackmails a crooked cop (Vincent Garanger) by making a deepfake video of the detective bragging about raping little boys. The role here gives Sy a chance to show nimbleness and agility (especially when he plants a stolen jewelry item during a violent struggle) as well as project the serene confidence of a man

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This French Netflix caper series is both escapist and groundbreaking.

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Thief Robs Thief

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who gets himself sent to prison knowing that he can easily break out whenever he wishes.

The first three episodes are directed

by Louis Leterrier. I’ve always found him to be a hack as a film director (Now You See Me, The Incredible Hulk), but he’s perfectly equipped to supply what the show requires, which is action sequences with a high degree of visual gloss. The first episode takes place in the Louvre, where Assane goes undercover as a janitor and then as a VIP guest. Leterrier doesn’t waste the location, with Assane’s braindead conspirators crashing a getaway car through the museum’s glass pyramid entrance. Along with the direction, the lush orchestral music by Mathieu Lamboley is enough to convince us that we’re watching a Black James Bond in action.

For all the show’s vibe of poofy escapism, it has points to make about racism in France, as Assane frequently slips beneath people’s notice by posing as servants, waiters, and other workers anonymous to the higher-ups. He trades places with an African prison inmate (Athaya Monkozi) whom he does not resemble in the least, and the only ones who notice are the other Black prisoners.

The Pellegrinis are a formidable enemy, led by a patriarch (Hervé Pierre) who buys off cops and uses the mainstream media outlets that he owns to suppress Assane’s discoveries. The only police detective who’s worth anything is an Arab guy (Soufiane Guerrab).

The initial season consists of 10 episodes, but Netflix leaves off after the fifth one, with Assane and his ex-wife frantically searching for their son after he’s abducted at the Needle of Étretat, a pilgrimage site for Lupin fans. How this resolves remains to be seen whenever Netflix releases the last installments or by contacting your TV-watching friends in France. I could stand to see Assane do more damage to the Pellegrinis than he has so far. Regardless, Lupin is not only an enjoyable show but also a sign that French entertainment is becoming a less white and more interesting place. l

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BIG TICKET

Al-paca my bags and head to Royce City. (Sorry. I’ll see myself out.)

By Jennifer Bovee

F R I D AY

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$65 per person and a virtual Valentine’s Day Dinner for $125 per couple.

Local domestic cats and dogs sometimes need a little help as well.

That is where Don’t Forget to Feed Me (5825 E Rosedale St, 817-334-0727) comes in. This nonprofit solely focused on assisting pet owners with pet food has its annual Who Do You Love? Pet Food Drive now thru Sun, Feb 28. The goal is 10,000 pounds of donated pet food, which can provide over 25,000 pet meals. Donate food in person or online at DF2FM.org.

Want to get away? Urban Alpaca Ranch in Royce City (18492 FM 2755, Royce City, 214-478-7087) is doing 45-minute Valentine’s tours for $30 per couple. After learning about these creatures and how their fiber is harvested, you’ll be able to feed the alpacas by hand. The farm’s store has dryer balls, handmade scarves, and other items perfect for gift-giving.

Are you not feeling the love at all this year? If you are recently single, broken-hearted, and mad as hell, embrace that anger and do something animal-friendly with it. For $5, you can purchase a Valentine Cockroach from the New York Zoo. It will be named after your ex, and then a zookeeper will feed it to one of the zoo’s hungry residents.

I’m not even kidding. For details, visit ZooNewYork.org/Product/ValentinesDay-Cockroach.

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Humans. We are a plague on this planet.

Animals? We do not deserve them. For those who sometimes prefer our furry friends’ companionship rather than the bi-peds we deal with daily, Valentine’s 2021 offers exciting activities. From aardvarks to zebras, here are a few to consider.

If you’re thinking of adopting a dog, head to Bar 2909 (2909 Morton St, 817-332-2909) for its Looking for Love Adoption Event on Sun from 1 to 5pm.

Marleigh’s Friends Rescue will be on the patio for meet-and-greets with the doggos.

Along with live music and food specials, there are $5 drink specials, a $6 beer/shot combo, and $10 mimosa carafes.

Want to do a test run before adopting? Fort Worth Animal Care & Services is doing its annual Shelter Dog Slumber Party. From Fri thru Sun, you could be cuddling on the couch with a cute companion. You get all the snuggles, and the pup gets a night away from the shelter to destress, which makes them more adoptable. Participation is free.

For registration instructions, go to Facebook.com/FortWorthACC/Events.

You can also live life on the wild side and “adopt” any number of creatures at the Fort Worth Zoo (1989 Colonial Pkwy, 817-759-7555) at FortWorthZoo. org/Valentines-Adoption. The money benefits the zoo, and you receive a stuffed animal in return. There is also a virtual Galentine’s Party on Fri for

SUNDAY

FEB 14 5PM-8PM

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Animal Magnetism

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C o u r t e s y G a y l o r d Te x a n . c o m

NIGHT&DAY

The Pack is at the Gaylord Texan this weekend.

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POWER OF GRATITUDE Entrepreneur Hao Tran has a Desire to Inspire Others Hao Tran is a chemistry teacher and coach with a lot of passion projects. She exemplifies the Blue Zones Power 9® principle of Purpose – focusing on something worthwhile to bring meaning to her life and her community. In Tran’s case, her Purpose is sharing food from diverse places and cultures. She shares what she has, and what she knows, with love.

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Tran grew up in Arlington, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants. Her family fled the fall of Saigon in April 1975.

“Catholic Charities sponsored us here in Arlington,” she said.

Her family’s attitude of gratitude at safely landing in America has inspired Tran’s many projects.

She was in the leadership class Steer Fort Worth and participated on its education committee where she helped devise a Blue Zones-tailored menu for better eating habits at De Zavala Elementary. Even small changes, like “moving cookies and chips away from the end of the line” help students make healthier choices.

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Tran credits her parents with instilling a love of cooking and eating with a Plant Slant. “Growing up, we didn’t eat a lot of animal protein,” she said. Whether it was creating the French-influenced cuisine of her mother’s South Vietnamese home cooking or the spicy flavors of her father’s recipes from Hue, Tran has always been passionate about sharing food. “Vegetarian Pho is super easy to make,” Tran said. She’s even adapted her late father’s spicier Pho recipe to incorporate firm tofu instead of beef.

Tran’s love of her family recipes and desire to inspire helped further her Purpose. She created a blog, Lost in the Sauce, where she shared recipes and conducted pop-up workshops making dumplings. That connected her to Chef Dena Peterson Shaskan and her husband Trent, and nutritionist-foodie Dixya Bhattarai. The four compose part of Tran’s Right Tribe, another Power 9 principle, and they launched The Table Market + Culinary Studio in September 2019. When the local economy shut down in March, The Table’s grocery arm was able to remain open. “Pivoting to on-line ordering in literally days saved us,” Tran said. While she was unable to teach people how to make her famous dumplings in person, she was still able to freeze and sell them.

Most importantly, Tran says, The Table is about “locality and sustainability.” Here, “you are buying organic good food that’s produced sustainably.” Tran said. “That helps longevity.”

Find a More POWERful You at LiveLongFortWorth.com

Enjoy the music of two American icons. Bennet & Babs: The Songs of Thursday Tony Bennet and Barbara Streisand plays nightly thru Sun at 7:30pm by singers Jacki Burns and Joe Cassidy at the Reid Cabaret at Casa Mañana (3101 W Lancaster Av, 817-332-2272). Expect to hear tunes like “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “The Way We Were,” and more. Burns is best known for holding the title of Broadway’s longestrunning Elphaba in WICKED, as well as being the face of the brand. Cassidy most recently played Cal in Waitress on Broadway and has been seen in various TV roles, including Blue Bloods, The Good Fight, and Law & Order. Tickets start at $65 at CasaManana.org/Attraction/Bennett-Babs.

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From 9pm to 10:30pm today and Sat as part of WinterFest, see a tribute Friday to the legendary “Rat Pack” at Gaylord Texan Hotel (1501 Gaylord Trl, Grapevine, 817-778-1000).

The Pack: A Tribute to Frank, Dean, and Sammy performs a special Valentine’s weekend event and promises a night of romance and music for you and your significant other. Tickets are $40-60 at GaylordTexanTickets.com.

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From TJ Hooker on Fri and Don Diego on Sun, Jim Aust in On lin e . c om Saturday presents a full weekend of Valentine’s shows at The Warehouse (1125 E Berry St, 817-923-9305), including tonight. At 8pm (doors 6pm), see the DFW Metroplex Jazz and Sophisticated Lady Productions’ Triple Threat, which features violinist Gina Payne, saxophonist Theresa Grayson, and trombonist Yo Jonesy. Tickets are $35-45 on Eventbrite.com.

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Today thru Sun, walk past the Arts 5th Avenue building (1628 5th Av, Sunday 817-923-9500) for its second annual Walk by Gallery and see more than 100 windows filled with art and

words of love from neighborhood artists, friends, parents, and students. This year’s themes are “What the World Needs Now Is Love” and “Love Will Keep Us Together.”

This installation is free to attend.

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From 7pm to 9:30pm, VinoVida Wines of Life hosts a six-course Winter Monday Pop-Up Dinner at Fixture Kitchen & Social Lounge (401 W Magnolia Av, 817-708-2663), featuring food pairings with wines from the VinoVida portfolio. Bottles of the featured wines will be available for purchase with special event pricing and complimentary local shipping.

The first course is fire-roasted bruschetta with Lost Ruby Ranch goat cheese espuma and crostini, and it gets even better from there. Tickets are $95 on Eventbrite.com.

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Some want to do it up big for Fat Tuesday. Those people should check out Tuesday our ATE DAY8 A WEEK column back in Eats & Drinks. For others, this time of year is a test to their sobriety.

Every Tue from 6:30pm to 8:30pm, The Life Church Arlington (2001 Brown Blvd, 817-635-0110) hosts a Celebrate Recovery meeting. This 12-step program is for anyone struggling with addiction and interested in a Christian program. If you prefer to attend a virtual meeting, Fort Worth Alcoholics Anonymous has them listed by city at FortWorthAA.org.

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Every Wed at 6pm, In the Bucket Disc Golf does a Putt Night at Lola’s Trailer Wednesday Park (2735 W 5th St, 817759-9100). Due to COVID-19, you need to bring your own putters (you know, the Frisbee-I-mean-disc things). You can also buy putters and other disc golf merchandise on-site. The games are set up as bracket-style heads-up matches, with winners being the first to 10 points with double elimination in effect. The buy-in is $10, and there is a cash payout for the top three winners. For more details, visit IntheBucketDiscGolf.com.

By Jennifer Bovee

Promotional support provided by

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The exhibition is organized by the Museo Egizio, Turin, and StArt, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum.

It is supported by the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Fort Worth Tourism Public Improvement District, and the Consulate General of Italy in Houston.

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December 6, 2020--March 14, 2021

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ART In Bloom

Just two years out of college, artist Mariell Guzman already has a formidable reputation in North Texas.

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Cour tesy the ar tist

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Mariell Guzman has accomplished more in two years than many young artists could hope to achieve in 10. The 26-yearold has more commissions and projects than she can schedule, she said, and (for the first time in two years) she’s cautious about which projects she accepts.

“I thought this wouldn’t happen until I was in my 30s,” the mixed-media artist said. “It can get very overwhelming.

For the first year and a half, I would take anything. Putting work out there was more important than money” at first.

Many of Guzman’s vibrant works are inspired by nature, she said. Forests, seas, and deserts have a way of adapting to changing environments, and the young artist sees a connection between those continual changes and her own life. The native from Michoacán, Mexico, moved to the United States with her family when she was 10. After graduating high school in Allen, Texas, Guzman earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art from the University of Texas at Austin. The young artist graduated in 2018 and initially considered careers as an illustrator or art director.

Two years ago, Katie Murray, the artist and co-founder of Art Room, a nonprofit art space on the Near Southside, reached out to Guzman via Instagram and offered the college grad the opportunity to intern at M2G Ventures, the Foundry District-based commercial real estate company that has commissioned numerous large murals over the past few years. The internship effectively launched Guzman’s current career.

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The final mural (painted with the help of Guzman’s mother, who is also an accomplished painter) is an outburst of overlapping patterns and colors, like a two-dimensional collage.

“That was insane, to get a paid internship that soon,” she said.

Guzman was tasked with painting the west wall of the Grand Berry Theater.

“They said, ‘Here’s this wall. You can paint as much as you want or sections,’ ” Guzman said. “I did the entire thing.”

Beyond being a young artist who wanted to impress her new clients, Guzman said she wanted to step up her efforts when creating the Foundry District mural because of the maledominated nature of the mural painting industry.

“I figured I’d like to do something big” that covered the entire wall, she said.

The final mural (painted with the help of Guzman’s mother, who is also an accomplished painter) is an outburst of overlapping patterns and colors, like a two-dimensional collage. The work took one month to complete and evolved from an intuitive creative process, Guzman said.

The mural was made with spontaneous elements, she said. “It became this huge abstract ecosystem that was vibrant and dynamic. Since then, I

have to be more meticulous. That mural taught me a lot, like how to develop a more structured creative process.”

Guzman cites abstract impressionism and impressionism as the two movements that have most influenced her style.

Nature and marine biology are also pervasive themes, she said.

In August, Guzman collaborated with another rising young artist, Juan Velazquez, to create the mural of slain Army specialist Vanessa Guillen (“Creating Hope,” Aug. 2020). Velazquez had already created the “Fort Worth for Vanessa” mural the month prior, and, after Guzman offered to help with the second project, Velazquez quickly accepted the offer of help.

“We met the day” of the mural painting, Guzman recalled. “I was following the story of Vanessa. Everyone was emotional about it.”

During a blazing hot August afternoon, Guzman painted vibrant flowers as the backdrop to Velazquez’ portrait of Guillen. The fast-paced effort was planned and executed within one day, and Guzman was surprised how well the event went. More recently, Guzman

was selected to paint a mural outside a Dallas 7-Eleven as part of the chain’s new “evolution” concept that aims to target young customers.

This past fall and leading up to the Nov. 3 elections, Guzman was hired

by Dickies to design a vinyl mural for the store’s retail store on West Vickery Boulevard. The one-word message, framed by leaves of green, blue, pink, and red, was simple: “Vote!” Guzman said the staffers with the iconic clothing brand are planning to unveil a permanent mural, painted by Guzman, in March.

The past two years have been hectic, she said.

“I would do it all over again,” she said. “I’m thankful I was busy. I’ve learned how important collaboration is — always supporting artists and supporting others. I’ve met artists who are successful but have huge egos. I feel we should all grow together and create beautiful things.”

You can follow Guzman on Instagram @MariellGuzman l

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EATS & Drinks

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EATS & drinks

A WestBend newcomer covers the spread, from sammies and wine to beer and superlative java.

Ascension Coffee, 1751 River Run, Ste 151, FW. 817-865-3829. 6:30am-5pm Sun, 6:30am-5pm Mon-Thu, 6:30am-9pm Fri-Sat. All major credit cards accepted.

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For all the great coffee shops Fort Worth now has to offer, few allow the option of transitioning from a cup of joe to beer or wine in the evening. Ascension Coffee offers a chill spot to mingle or work over a wide range of drink and food options.

Coffee brewing equipment abounds inside the restaurant. Two steampunkesque devices near the counter ever-soslowly drip a dense, rich cold brew called Doki Doki. The 2-foot-tall contraptions rely on gravity to lull rich, mildly bitter, earthy coffee notes (and a helluva lot of caffeine) from cylinders of densely ground beans. Beyond dozens of tea and craft coffee offerings are ample adult beverages, including wine, draft craft beer, and brunch-friendly cocktails.

The menu, which leans heavily on breakfast and brunch options, offers far more than your typical diner fare. One

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Edward Brown

Ascendent Coffee

The three-cheese melt was a creative take on a popular children’s dish.

breakfast sammie, the Aussie bacon and egg roll, could have tided me over until dinner. I sprung for the “downunder double” upgrade, which added another fried egg and a second layer of thick, maple-infused bacon, for good measure.

Supremely filling as it was, nothing struck me as overly memorable about the brioche bun/egg/bacon combo, but the Australian barbecue sauce, which is fruit-forward, added a lovely and welcome complexity and sweetness to the belt buster.

My second breakfast entree, the Poached Egg and Hippie Toast, was

Ascension Coffee Latin chicken and rice bowl ................ $10.00 Poached Eggs and Hippie Toast ......... $8.00 Aussie bacon and egg roll ................... $7.00 Doki Doki .............................................. $4.50 Pane Aria Benedict .............................. $10.00 Three-cheese melt ............................... $8.00

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groovy. The whole-grain toast (served with butter and a rich raspberry jam) was thick, perfectly toasted, and filling. The thickly sliced bacon was cooked to a perfect consistency, that porky sweet spot between limp and brittle. The poached eggs were soft yet firm enough to hold their shape.

Thickly diced baked squares of potato and sweet potatoes rounded out the delectable experience.

Decadent doesn’t begin to fully describe the Pane Aria Benedict. In lieu of English muffins, Ascension Coffee’s variant uses a thick slice of baguette that’s topped with black forest ham, Swiss cheese, a slice of tomato, microgreens, and a poached egg. The buttery Hollandaise sauce had a bit of heat and elevated the dish into something truly rich and delicious. The microgreens were drenched in a sauce that was too acidic, though, and had to be scooped away from the otherwise perfect delicacy.

The three-cheese melt was a creative take on a popular child’s dish. The toasted white bread was thick and had a hefty crunch. The nutty and mildly tart manchego cheese (accompanied by sharp cheddar and Monterey jack) was a delight.

The accompanying mixed green salad, with its acidic balsamic vinegar and hints of mustard, was the perfect accomplice to the savory entree.

Several menu options are keto- and/ or paleo-friendly. Ascension Coffee offers several specialty salads that are loaded with dark, leafy greens and proteins. I ordered the Latin chicken and rice bowl: a dense mix of ancient grains (including what looked like barley and quinoa), juicy cuts of chicken, avocado, roasted corn, kale, and roasted peppers, all of which was doused in a guajillo-lime vinaigrette. The results were a flavor-packed and texturally nuanced salad that now tops my reasons to revisit this WestBend standout. l

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FIRST BLUE ZONES

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New Orleans may have canceled their annual parade because of the pandemic, but just like the intrepid folks in Looziana, we Texans are celebrating Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday in creative, socially distanced ways. From crawdads to house floats, there’s a lot to enjoy for Mardi Gras 2021.

Here are eight, alphabetized by business name, not the (clever) headline.

It’s Mardi Paw Time

Having relocated from Louisiana’s oilfields to Fort Worth in 2009, Daniel Demaline, who owns Acadia Parish Crawfish (7914 Camp Bowie West, 318-433-0650), knows a thing or two about boiling crawfish.

Over the last 25 years, he’s perfected his technique and his blend of seasonings.

When stopping by the storefront, come early in the day as they sell out of crawfish daily. The Acadia trailer has a capacity of over 1,500 pounds of boiled crawfish, which is impressive. Book them soon while there is space on the calendar.

From Wed thru Tue, Feb 16, MUTT’s Canine Cantina has specials on fried crawfish and hurricanes at the locations in Fort Worth (5317 Clearfork Main St, 817377-0151) and Dallas (2889 CityPlace West Blvd, 214-377-8728). The big Mardi Paw celebration with beads for you and your pups is on Fat Tuesday. Anyone can enjoy food and drinks with their dogs on the onleash patio, but you can also go off-leash with a membership to MUTT’s dog park.

Take Your Main Squeeze to Cowtown If you’re not ready to get out and party yet, Cowtown Brewing Company (1301 E Belknap St, 817-489-5800) has a great to-go food menu and four-packs of all its beers available for purchase. Both are available for curbside pickup. If you are ready to boogie down, head there for the Mardi Gras Party 2021 on Sat from 6pm to 9pm with live music by the Squeezebox Bandits.

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Beyond the crawfish that are so in demand right now, Blue Cajun (4045 E Belknap St, Ste 5, Haltom City, 682-250-5455) has an extensive boiled menu that also includes colossal headless shrimp and snow crab clusters. For a bit of everything, order the Blue Cajun Slam, which is all three proteins plus corn, potato, and sausage for $28.

Just Another Saturday at Landmark

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Six more weeks of crawfish!

Acadia Has the Scoop on Crawdads

Slammin’ in Haltom City

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Cour tesy FlyingFishInThe.Net

Mardi Gras Madness

Landmark Bar & Kitchen (3008 Bledsoe St, 817-984-1166) is spreading the mudbug fun throughout the first quarter with its Tails & Taters Crawfish/Seafood Boil from noon to 10pm — or when the food runs out — every Sat thru Mar 27.

The crawfish are $10 per pound, and the sides include andouille sausage ($2.50 per link), corn on the cob (50 cents each), and potatoes (50 cents each). Plus, add a blast of flavor with Cajun, lemon pepper, or spicy kinds of butter.

Everyone Loves a (Walking) Parade The River East Fort Worth business association invites you to wander the block at the Race Street Mardi Gras Walking Parade at 2900 Race St on Sat from 11am to 5pm. Race Street merchants will feature Mardi Gras-themed food and fun, and there will be an artisan market, costume contest, and street performers. The street is blocked off for foot traffic only. Masks are required. The event is free to attend.

Fat Tuesday at Tulane’s Daily, you can enjoy barrel-aged cocktails and infused spirits in a comfortable New Orleans-inspired bar called Tulane’s (2708 Weisenberger St, 817-615-9980) in the Foundry District. So, naturally, this is a destination for Mardi Gras as well. On Feb 16, stop in for Fat Tuesday and partake in happy hour drink specials from 3pm to 7pm. Food is available from 6pm to 2am.

Yardi Gras in Oak Cliff In the Winnetka Heights neighborhood of Oak Cliff, there is traditionally a Mardi Gras Oak Cliff parade with award-winning floats. It’s kind of a big deal. This year, homeowners in WH are decorating their houses as “home floats,” and visitors can walk the neighborhood to see it all. Many decorations are already up now, but things will be in full “Yardi Gras” effect by Sat. For the map of participating houses, visit OakCliffMardiGras.com.

By Jennifer Bovee

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H I G G I N S

Life is strange and tends to move at its own unforgiving pace. It’s difficult, in the moment, to recognize when the first few steps down a new path are being taken, especially when the strides can take decades to reach their ultimate destination. The relationships you make along the way may see players shift in and out over the years, only to have them suddenly solidify and take on a new significance. Such is the case with the Fort Worth psych-rock outfit The Cush.

A friendship that began nearly 20 years ago has led to the band’s recent signing with Mad Bunny Records, the new label by Grammywinning singer-songwriter Ben Harper.

HearSay Polydogs Singles Release

At 6pm Saturday, the Polydogs will celebrate the release of two newish singles and a video for one of them with a performance at Tulips (112 St. Louis Av, 817-367-9798). Tickets are $10 in advance or $13 at the door with a $5 minor fee and are available at Prekindle. Social distancing and masks are required, and seating will be limited.

Saturday will mark the blues-rocking Polydogs’ first show of 2021 and their return to the place where they played on the roof in September as part of a 12-hour tour of 10 local venues in support of Save Our Stages, the national campaign that recently resulted in $15 billion (with a “b”) of federal funds for independent venues across the nation.

The singles, “Blue Buddy” and “Daddy,” and a third track, released earlier this year, “Let Me Live,” were recorded a

few months ago at AudioStyles outside of Austin with producer Taylor Tatsch (Maren Morris, Cut Throat Finches, Shadows of Jets), who also recorded the band’s eponymous debut album. The video, for “Blue Buddy,” was produced by local artist Conor Dardis, a.k.a. Thirst and Company.

“We planned on releasing [the songs] a lot sooner,” said bassist Kris Luther, “but as things continued to be shut down, it never happened. It came to a point we were like, ‘Fuck it. We gotta put it out.’ ” The three songs are different from the material on the album in that they feature the contributions of newest member Nick Tittle on guitar and vocals with frontman/ founder/lead guitarist Matt Tedder.

Drummer Matt Mabe rounds out the quartet.

“It’s the baby steps, the beginning,” Luther said. “It’s the first things we have recorded with all four members. I’m very proud of them. We’re all very proud of them because it’s honestly, like, I’m a little

knew I could do it behind me. It was just so special. I just wanted to do it justice.”

“Haters” was released last week with an accompanying video shot by Austin director Justin Wilson. In the video, the band solemnly strums amid the barren landscape surrounding the old Ellis Pecan Co. building. The craggy rocky terrain and the cloud-filled sky expertly evoke the song’s haunting cowboy ballad feel.

Sadly, the pandemic has put a pause on touring for Riders, but The Cush have plans for another music video as well as the release of a live set recorded from their rehearsal space ready to go to help support the album.

Though the development with Mad Bunny has been in the works since last summer, the Douglases are still in awe about it.

“In some ways, I’m surprised this is the album that got anyone’s attention,” Burette said. “In some ways, it’s our least accessible album. We’ve been doing this a long time, and I don’t want to say you get jaded, but at some point, the magic kind of gets taken out of it. But you just keep doing it because you can’t stop doing it. This whole thing is just still kind of surreal.” l “We have other things in the works, and, I dunno, we’re very excited to finally put out these tracks that are representative of what we are as a band as of a year ago.

We’ve progressed a lot since then and have new songs we’re sitting on that aren’t fully tracked and release-able yet.”

With their bluesy, grungy sound, the Polydogs are the kind of band you have to see live to fully appreciate, anyway.

“Tulips is a super-awesome place,” Luther said. “Dude, it’s awesome. They have an amazing staff. I’ve been there so many times now, it’s ridiculous. Blake Barker is running sound and is the head of the front of the house, and he’s just been an astronaut. He’s wonderful. They offer sandwiches. They have a deli. The sandwiches are amazing.”

But is a hot “dog” a sandwich? I don’t know. (No one does.) Search Prekindle for tix. — Anthony Mariani

tired of them because we recorded them a year ago, but then the world shut down, so we’ve been trying to figure out when to release them, but we just put them out there because people should hear them rather than not be able to hear them.”

Luther believes the singles are a good reflection of the band, despite or because Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com. of their vintage.

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P A T R I C K

“Haters” as the first single. Though it was originally written and sung by Burette, Harper wondered what the track would sound like if Gabby sang it instead.

The couple have always shared songwriting and singing duties, but each mostly took the lead only on their own songs.

“We had never really considered it,” Burette said. “Most of the time, we just sing the songs we write, but I was like, ‘Dude, we’ll try anything. We’re open to ideas.’ We tried it, and it was amazing. I really think it’s better. It’s a good song, and I like the old version fine, but I think it’s presented as it should be now.”

Burette wrote “Haters” about the effect of society’s pervasive division and negativity and how it can be alienating, how it can make you seek someone to hide away from it all with. In this respect, it’s in part a love song to Gabby, a sentiment that took special significance with her as she developed her take on the track.

“It was very special and humbling,” Gabby said of re-recording the song meant to be, at least partially, about her. “I was nervous [about it], but I’m very fortunate.

I have a lot of very supportive people who

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Burette Douglas: “We’ve been doing this a long time, and I don’t want to say you get jaded, but at some point, the magic kind of gets taken out of it. But you just keep doing it because you can’t stop doing it.”

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The veteran psych-rock quartet signs with Ben Harper’s Mad Bunny Records and drops a new single from an upcoming full-length.

Ben Garrett

The Cush Ride Above the Hate

Thirst and Company

MUSIC

“There’s just something about the random people you meet in life while doing what you love,” said bassist/singer Gabby Douglas, hinting at some of the serendipity that culminated in the signing.

Almost two decades ago, at a rooftop party in Brooklyn, Douglas and her husband/bandmate Burette Douglas, met a PR rep named Elizabeth Freund. The couple and Freund hit it off, becoming friends.

They stayed in touch over the years, with the Douglases sending Freund whatever musical products The Cush was creating at any given time. Fast-forward to January of last year, and The Cush had a new album in the can, not really knowing what they were going to do with it. Knowing that Freund was entering as a silent partner in Harper’s new label venture, they sent her the new record.

Then one day shortly after, they received an almost unthinkable phone call.

“I got a phone call from [Freund] one day that said, ‘Ben Harper went down The Cush wormhole, and he loves your music and he wants to talk to you guys,’ ” Gabby said.

The Douglases had been fans of Harper’s for years, and they said to hear something like that was pretty bizarre.

“It almost feels unreal,” Burette said of the experience. “You have people all the time say that they’re going to listen to your music.

You might think, ‘Oh, well. That’s a nice thought,’ but you don’t really think anything of it, but when we got that message back that said, ‘He loves, loves, loves your band and wants to work with you,’ it’s like, ‘What?!’ ” Mad Bunny is set to release The Cush’s upcoming Riders in the Stardust Gold, the quartet’s sixth release, on April 23. Recorded and mixed locally at Empire Sound Studio and Eagle Audio over a year ago, the record entranced Harper so much that he’s decided to release it basically as is, with one notable exception. The label really saw the song

17

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