#and how he and lewis are the only ones to have debuted before 2010 wow....

[skitskatdacat63]

I am going to cry, thanks very much!

[goodnewsjamaica]

Joshua Henry has changed theater (and a few diapers)

New Post has been published on https://goodnewsjamaica.com/world-view/hes-changed-theater-and-a-few-diapers/

Joshua Henry has changed theater (and a few diapers)

Samson Peter Henry, his parents’ first child, made his debut on the cusp of spring, at around 9 o’clock one morning this March. For his mother, Cathryn Henry, a postpartum nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, it was a kind of Have Your Child at Work situation.

For his father, three-time Tony Award-nominated actor Joshua Henry — most recently for his lead performance as Billy Bigelow in Jack O’Brien’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel” — Samson’s birth had the advantage of exquisite timing.

“We were in the middle of previews, and like a good boy he came on the day off,” Henry, 33, said over lunch at a diner on the Upper West Side, near his apartment. He’d logged only 3 1/2, maybe four hours of sleep the night before, but he was energetic anyway. When he realized it had been exactly a month since his son was born, he high-fived the reporter across the table.

 It’s a bounteous time for Henry, who is toppling a boundary as the first Black actor to play Billy Bigelow on Broadway. Billy is Henry’s highest-profile stage role so far, while becoming a father is, he said, the biggest moment of his life. What’s strange, and powerfully serendipitous, is how perfectly that intersects with the biggest moment in Billy’s life, when he learns of his impending fatherhood.

“My boy, Bill,” Billy exults, envisioning a son in his famous song “Soliloquy.” When Henry performs that solo now — in what Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review, called “a heaven-rumbling voice” — he summons thoughts of his boy, Samson: his face, his strong little body, even his cry. Like Billy, he is awed and invigorated by what he owes to this tiny person in his life. In both men, actor and character, something has changed.

If, when he was 15, Henry had been given a glimpse of his future — the Broadway debut at 23 in “In the Heights”; his first Tony nomination, at 26, for “The Scottsboro Boys”; a second three years later, for “Violet” — it would have seemed foreign to him. The youngest of three children of Jamaican immigrants, who attended a small Christian school north of Miami where his father taught math, he’d always been musical. But he’d never seen professional theater and had no idea it could be a career.

“I had fully intended to work at an accounting firm like my mom,” he said.

Then came an intervention that Henry credits with everything good that came after. When he was 16, his choir teacher, Birgit Fioravante, urged him to audition for the school production of “The Music Man.” He ended up playing the male lead, Harold Hill.

“Afterward, she took me aside and she was crying,” Henry said. “She was like, ‘You can do this for a living.’ And I was like, ‘Do what?’”

In an interview, Fioravante said that she’d worried about encouraging a student to follow a path where the odds against success are so steep. “I’d never done it before,” she said, “and I haven’t done it since.”

For a year, she gave Henry free private voice lessons at her house. She prepared him for his audition at the University of Miami, where he was admitted into the musical theater program and met his wife, who lived across the hall. More recently, Fioravante helped to train him vocally for “Carousel.”

At college, he knew within a week that theater was something he could do for life. From 11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m., alone in a college studio, he would devote his nights to what he calls “Josh obsession time,” honing his skills.

“I would just be there with the mirrors,” he said, “and I would play cast album after cast album after cast album after cast album. And I would start to learn the directors, the music directors, what musical theater was — how it was constructed, how a show was made. While I was listening to music, I was practicing dance.”

He was also studying the careers of Black musical theater actors like Michael McElroy, Taye Diggs, Norm Lewis and Brian Stokes Mitchell. “I was like, if there’s a template for me out there, I have to know exactly what that is,” he said.

Yet even as he searched for that template, he didn’t want to be limited to roles written for Black men. And while he willed himself to believe that he would perform on Broadway within three years of graduation — a goal he wrote down in a planner he still keeps on his desk — he wasn’t sure that the theater, an overwhelmingly white industry, would welcome him.

But his timing, coinciding with the emergence of Lin-Manuel Miranda, turned out to be impeccable.

In the fall of 2006, Henry drove a Penske truck from Florida to New York and moved into a basement apartment in Washington Heights. Within weeks, he was cast in the original ensemble of Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ breakthrough off-Broadway musical “In the Heights.”

The show was “from a world I was from, from a vocabulary musically that was all about hip-hop, R&B, salsa and reggaeton,” Henry said, recalling the production’s first read-through, when musical director Alex Lacamoire sat at a piano and sang “96,000,” surrounded by a company of Latino and Black actors.

“I was having flashbacks of the nights at 3 in the morning, trying to find myself and my craft and wondering if there was a — not knowing if there was a — hoping,” Henry said, hitting that word hard, “that there was a place for me in this business. I lost it. I was crying so much in that read-through. A lot of us were.”

After he did that show, which transferred to Broadway in early 2008, “couldn’t nobody tell me anything about where I’m supposed to be,” he said.

It means something to him, then, to play a classic role like Billy Bigelow. Billy, though, is a dark-hearted carnival barker who beats his wife. Henry is so gentle-spirited that the director George C. Wolfe, who worked with him on “Shuffle Along,” remarks on the rare sweetness he exudes, while composer Jeanine Tesori, who worked with him on “Violet,” mentions his “radical kindness.” He didn’t have many ways, aside from fatherhood, to connect with Billy.

To Henry, playing this deeply flawed man in a show with a famously glorious score is “an opportunity to leave a bigger mark than just the notes and the scenes” — to expand younger Black actors’ notion of what they can hope to do onstage. He was cautious, though, when producer Scott Rudin floated the idea of the role. In a musical that’s controversial for its seeming indifference to domestic violence, casting a Black actor ran the risk of demonizing Black men.

“My first question to him, when he approached me about it,” Henry said, “was ‘How are you looking at this cast? Are you trying to use the fact that I am an African-American man to tell the story?’ That wasn’t his thought. He was like, ‘I want to get the best people to tell the story.’”

That is largely how his casting has been received, though Hilton Als, the most prominent Black critic in the American theater, found another dimension in it. He argued approvingly in The New Yorker that the production — which has a white Julie Jordan, played by Tony winner Jessie Mueller — offers a rare instance of colorblind casting in which thought has been given to a Black character’s presence in a largely white world.

Aside from his ensemble role in Green Day’s “American Idiot” in 2010, all of Henry’s Broadway roles until “Carousel” were written to be performed by men of color, often in stories about Black culture — most recently “Shuffle Along,” in 2016, about the first Black musical. After that, he spent 15 months playing Aaron Burr in “Hamilton,” in Chicago and then on tour, in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

He was playing Burr last summer when he and his wife found out she was pregnant. Suddenly “Dear Theodosia,” Burr’s tender pledge to his little girl, became a song that Henry was singing to his unborn child. A couple of times — on the lyric “I’ll do whatever it takes, I’ll make a million mistakes, I’ll make the world safe and sound for you” — his voice cracked with emotion onstage.

Early in the run of “Carousel,” he’d been singing to his unborn boy, too, tapping into his own anticipation to portray Billy’s in “Soliloquy.” As Samson’s due date approached, Henry’s castmates teased him, saying he’d never be able to sing it the same way again. The first time he had to perform it as a father, the day after the baby’s birth, he didn’t know how he would.

“I’d only gotten like two hours’ sleep,” he said. “You want to let go in the character, you want to let go emotionally, but I was concerned that if I did that, I would feel the actual feelings that I’m feeling in my….”

He broke off, paused a long moment, misted up, exhaled. “Um. And if I felt all those things, I still had to sing the song, this 7 1/2-minute mammoth of a song. There are certain technical things you have to do to just get through it. I don’t even remember that show. I thought I would.”

Mueller does. She gathered with some other actors to watch “Soliloquy” from the wings that night.

“Because it was a moment, you know?” she said. “I was thinking about him a lot, because I knew he has the most on his shoulders in this play. I was so surprised by how calm he seemed.”

O’Brien, their Tony-winning director, remembers, too. The change he saw in Henry’s “Soliloquy” was so profound that it altered the structure of the production. In the first weeks of previews, O’Brien recalled, he had often been moved “but not stunned” by what struck him as a concert-perfect, too-safe performance of the song.

“The weekend that the baby was born, it was like a dam burst inside him,” O’Brien said. “I didn’t say anything about it. He just started to relate, I think, to the depth of his own feelings, and wow. You know, there’s another scene in Act 1 as written, and we decided we were idiots to do it, because he was hitting the high point in the show, and what did you want to see after that? Nothing.”

So in this “Carousel,” that’s when the first-act curtain falls, with the company’s festive departure for the clambake cut from the show.

In Samson’s life, of course, the curtain has only just risen. And his father — brimming with plans as usual, including for a funk and soul album of mostly original songs that he hopes to drop in September — feels the effect this small person is having.

Henry had always been an ace at compartmentalizing, filing away for later anything he didn’t want to think about right then, keeping the personal firmly separate from the professional.

Samson, apparently, doesn’t play by those rules.

“It’s so weird,” Henry said. “He is rounding my edges a little bit. He’s making me see this is all one thing.”

By: Laura Collins-Hughes

Original Article Found Here

[crystalracing]

20. Josef Newgarden

After finishing runner-up in British Formula Ford in 2009, Newgarden had his fingers burnt in the inaugural GP3 series in 2010 when average results and a lack of funding left his F1 dream in tatters. A return Stateside in 2011 saw him crowned Indy Lights champion and, over the next decade, become a two-time IndyCar champion.

He’s never denied the strong allure of a switch to Formula 1: “I’d [still] like to do it,” he told the New York Times just 10 days ago. But with a plum seat his at Team Penske, we can’t see him taking the leap anytime soon.

19. Jamie Whincup

He's Australian Supercars' Michael Schumacher with seven championship titles and the most race wins in that championship's history, so the thought of Whincup in Formula 1 gets the blood pumping.

Fast, consistent and dependable, Whincup has only finished outside the top-three in the championship once since 2007. Even at 37, retirement supposedly looming, he's winning races and has a contract through 2021. The mind boggles at what Whincup, who started in single-seaters, might have achieved in open-wheel racing.

18. Davide Valsecchi

Known today as the most effervescent of racing pundits, if you could imagine taking that enthusiasm and manifesting it behind the wheel, that’s how he drove: Valsecchi was a joy to behold. His junior racing career yielded just one win, but when he arrived in GP2 he flourished and was crowned both GP2 and GP2 Asia champion.

Promoted to Lotus F1 reserve, his big break should have come when Kimi Raikkonen missed the final two races of 2013. Yet the team opted to call up the perceived safe hands of Heikki Kovalainen, who finished a disappointing and distant 14th in both races – most frustratingly at Abu Dhabi where Valsecchi held the record as the most successful driver at the circuit in GP2, scoring three wins and two P2s. His dream crushed, he hung up his helmet in 2016.

17. Antonio Felix Da Costa

As a member of the Red Bull junior programme, Portugal’s da Costa should, by rights, have slotted into the mix to partner Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso in 2014. He had wowed his bosses and the establishment with a sensational 2012 season, juggling multiple disciplines, winning Macau, and narrowly missing out on the GP3 crown.

After a slightly more frustrating 2013 for da Costa, Red Bull brass decided to promote Daniil Kvyat to Toro Rosso to replace the promoted Daniel Ricciardo. DTM came calling for da Costa and then Formula E, where he currently leads the championship.

READ MORE: What now for Hamilton, Vettel and co? How delaying 2021 rules will impact the driver market

16. Gonzalo Rodriguez

“Gonchi” was a racer whose star shone bright and burned out far too quickly. One of an old-school guard, he rocked up to Formula 3000 in the late '90s and left an immediate impression on anyone who had the pleasure of meeting him and watching him race. Physically and mentally strong, friendly and charming, he became a sparring partner and great friend of Juan Pablo Montoya.

The Uruguayan followed his friend back across the Atlantic to race in ChampCar, but he was tragically killed in practice for the 1999 Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca. Having already secured a seat for the 2000 season with Patrick Racing, there’s no telling what he might have achieved either Stateside or, should fate have allowed, in Formula 1.

15. Simona de Silvestro

Simona could and possibly should have been on the grid as Formula 1’s first female racer in a generation. A regular winner in Formula Atlantic, she was regarded by many in the Indycar paddock as a genuine talent.

In 2014 she took a gamble and walked away from Indycar to pursue a year in the Sauber F1 stable as an affiliate driver in training for a 2015 seat. The team was impressed from her very first laps in their car, with internal talk that she was at least on a par with their then driver Adrian Sutil. But as her backing faltered and with Sauber already on precarious financial ground, her seat and shot at Formula 1 never materialised.

14. Paul Tracy

Although Tracy’s big F1 chance came in the mid-'90s, thus outside our 20-year remit, he could also have made a switch in the 2000s. Testing for Benetton at Estoril in 1994, he lapped faster than both Jos Verstappen and JJ Lehto's qualifying times for that year's Grand Prix.

He was offered a seat, but after seeing how Formula 1 had chewed up the undeniable Indycar driver of the day, Michael Andretti, Tracy decided to keep his focus Stateside. His peak was yet to come and, given his ChampCar title came in 2003, an early 2000s Formula 1 career could have been on the cards. While some might argue that ChampCars suited Tracy’s style better than the F1 machinery of the day, Montoya's transition suggested that PT could have made the jump and shaken up the establishment in much the same way.

13. Colin McRae

Could it have happened? There was certainly talk, and there were definitely some chances. But were they all just sponsor bluster? McRae’s first Formula 1 laps came when he and Martin Brundle did a car swap at Silverstone in 1996. Although purely for promotional reasons, Colin didn’t exactly hang around in the Jordan 195 and lapped within a few seconds of the regular racer, setting a pace which would have been good enough to see him line up on the grid for that year’s Grand Prix.

While McRae returned to rallying and winning world championships, the prospect reared its head once again at the start of the 2000s. With the Scot now a Ford driver, there was talk he might switch to Jaguar's new F1 team. Though McRae called it PR chat, you can’t help but wonder how a switch to F1 would have played out.

READ MORE: Flavio Briatore on crashgate, Schumacher vs Alonso, and winning the title for ‘a t-shirt maker’

12. Robert Wickens

Robert Wickens always seemed to be just that half-step away from getting a full grip on his dream, and he had the talent to ascend to and compete in Formula 1. As part of the Red Bull programme he’d monstered Formula BMW USA and Formula ChampCar Atlantic before running A1GP, F3 and eventually F2 and GP3.

He came second in both the F2 and GP3 championships before taking a reserve driver role at the Virgin F1 Team and moving to World Series where he won the title, beating Jean-Eric Vergne in the process. Dropped by Red Bull, he moved to DTM where he bided his time with Mercedes.

With no F1 opportunities, he found immediate success and became a fan favourite in IndyCar with a pole on his debut and the podiums flowing. Then, he survived a sickening accident at Pocono, which left him paraplegic and one of the greatly missed aces of F1.

11. Gary Paffett

Few drivers have had as many near-misses with an F1 seat as Gary Paffett, but the stand-out DTM driver for over a decade never got the deserved opportunity. An F3 champion in the early 2000s, Paffett made DTM his home and was crowned champion in 2005 before being called up as McLaren's test driver.

In 2006, Juan Pablo Montoya left the team to race in NASCAR and Paffett believed the seat was his, but McLaren went instead for Pedro de la Rosa who had deputised for Montoya at the '05 Bahrain Grand Prix.

For 2007, McLaren had already lined up Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, and Paffett’s chance had gone. He stuck with DTM, becoming one of Mercedes’ most valued assets with another title in 2018.

READ PART 1: Will Buxton's top 20 drivers never to race in F1, #20 to #11

10. Jason Watt

Danish racer Jason Watt had the world at his feet: Danish karting champion, Formula Opel Lotus champion, Formula Ford champion, he was running in DTM against the likes of Dario Franchitti, Giancarlo Fisichella and Alex Wurz when a call came to race Formula 3000.

He leapt at it, finishing third in his debut 1997 season. In 1999, he took the title fight to the finale but Nick Heidfeld ultimately prevailed.

And then F1 came knocking, via the prospect of a shoot-out for Williams against the likes of Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, whom Watt had dispatched with ease in 3000, and an F3 rookie called Jenson Button.

Watt never joined them as a motorcycle accident in 1999 left him paralysed from the chest down and confined to a wheelchair. And that was Formula 1 done. He continued to race but Watt's F1 dream had been taken in a cruel twist of fate.

LISTEN: Jenson Button on his 2009 title, his toughest team mate and more, in Beyond The Grid

9. Adam Carroll

Impressive in everything he ever drove and gifted with the most natural flair and touch, Adam Carroll could get into anything and win.

A junior champion, he became one of the stand-outs of the early years of GP2, renowned for a racing hunger and heart that never wavered. He was the ultimate giant killer, yet he always struggled for budget and top-line drives.

Formula 1 was watching, however, and he was signed up by BAR-Honda as a test driver. He led a championship-winning assault on A1GP for team Ireland, which put him back in the spotlight for an F1 seat.

Campos (HRT) and Virgin came knocking, but Carroll was still lacking budget. Lola rated him so highly they would have given him a seat for nothing, but their 2010 entry was rejected. The frustrating thing is that he knew he had to make the most of every shot he was granted and that would have made Carroll one of the most tenacious F1 drivers of his generation.

8. Greg Moore

So revered in the racing world is the electrifying Greg Moore that even 20 years after his death, racers still put on red gloves to pay homage to the Canadian.

Moore seemed to toy with the monstrous beasts of Champ Car in a way that almost nobody else could. But as his star ascended in the States, could he have switched to F1?

It seemed very likely in the early 2000s when greats such as Jacques Villeneuve, Juan Pablo Montoya and Sebastien Bourdais all crossed over, and Moore could easily have followed.

Sir Jackie Stewart was interested, and it is rumoured that those red gloves would have found no happier a home than Maranello, where Greg was held in incredibly high regard. Sadly, we'll never know, as he was killed in a crash at the California Speedway in 1999.

7. Valentino Rossi

If ever there was a case of what might have been, it was the hugely publicised relationship between Ferrari and nine-time motorcycle racing champion Valentino Rossi.

His first running with the Scuderia came at a three-day test at Valencia in 2006 and by the end of it he was lapping within half a second of Michael Schumacher, a feat that left the German "incredulous", according to Ferrari engineer Luigi Mazzola.

READ MORE: What now for Hamilton, Vettel and co? How delaying 2021 rules will impact the driver market

We now know that Ferrari had made an offer to the Italian, which insisted he start as a test driver, move to a satellite team and only race for Ferrari should all those steps go well – but Rossi rejected it.

The shocked but impressed Schumacher was thus left somewhat saddened when Rossi decided to stay on two wheels.

As Rossi continued to test for the team through to 2010 and Ferrari looked at running a third car for him, the prospect lingered tantalisingly out of reach.

The desire clearly burned strong on both sides and, as Rossi’s recent swap with Lewis Hamilton reinforced, it’s a dream The Doctor never quite let go.

6. Jamie Green

It’s late 2004 and the GP2 Series is set to replace Formula 3000 as the feeder championship for Formula 1.

Based on the last few years of racing at this level, the plum seats are going to be at Arden – filled by Heikki Kovalainen and Nicholas Lapierre – and BCN Competicion.

Nico Rosberg is about to sign with BCN when a call comes through from Nicolas Todt and Fred Vasseur at the all new ART Grand Prix squad. The driver they’d hoped would sign with them, their reigning F3 EuroSeries champion, has decided to go to DTM. Would Nico be interested in the seat? The rest, as they say, is history.

ART was set to become the dominant force of GP2, launching not only Rosberg but Lewis Hamilton, Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg to F1 as champions in its first five years.

QUIZ: Who's missing from these classic F1 scenes?

But their first champion? That should by all accounts have been Jamie Green. A force in junior racing, phenomenal in Formula 3 and a racer who, at the time, was considered a better prospect than both Hamilton and Robert Kubica, Green has and continues to have a solid career in DTM.

But he could, and arguably should, have been battling Hamilton for Formula 1 glory for the past 15 years.

5. Scott Dixon

One of the most versatile and consistently competitive drivers of his generation, Scott Dixon is a great lost talent of modern F1.

As a five-time Indycar champion, it isn’t just his raw pace that has marked him out as the target man of the championship, it’s the fact he’s a threat no matter what he’s up against.

He’ll drive just about anything, too: A multiple champion at Daytona, he’ll just as happily tackle Le Mans as the Indy 500. And he’s respected by everyone who ever sat in a race car.

Dixon did have a trial in F1, however. After his early 2000s successes Stateside, he tested for Williams in 2004 on two separate occasions. But he failed to impress sufficiently without the time to fully embed himself in the team and on the narrow window of the grooved tyres of the day.

4. Sebastien Loeb

The greatest rally driver of all time very nearly made the jump to F1.

It all started with a promotional seat swap in 2007 where he got to try Kovalainen's Renault R27 at Circuit Paul Ricard. The very next year, Red Bull became the sponsor of his Citroen factory team in WRC and as a reward for winning the championship he tested Red Bull’s 2008 RB4 at both Silverstone and the post-season test at Barcelona where he was eighth-quickest.

READ MORE: Rivals on track, friends off it – 7 of F1’s greatest ever ‘bromances’

In 2009, he tested GP2 machinery to keep himself sharp. As Toro Rosso’s relationship with Bourdais was faltering, a plan was hatched to run Loeb at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, before a full F1 debut in 2010.

The reluctance to issue one of the most supremely gifted drivers on the planet a Superlicence scuppered all the plans for what would have been one of the most incredible crossovers of the modern era.

3. Jeff Gordon

The man responsible for making an entire generation of Americans fall in love with NASCAR, the 'Rainbow Warrior' never actually wanted to race stock cars.

He began his career in karts and quarter midgets, moving to sprint cars and winning the USAC Silver Crown at the age of 20. He dreamed of racing Indycar but couldn’t find the backing. Then came a call from someone who had seen him race. They wanted him to come to Europe and test F3. That someone was Sir Jackie Stewart.

With Gordon on the path towards stock car racing in the Busch Series – where he was crowned 1991's Rookie of the Year – the test never happened.

He very nearly made the switch at the end of the 1990s when BAR Honda tabled an offer to Gordon which would have seen him leave NASCAR and come to F1, but only after he’d run two seasons in ChampCar for Team Green. But Gordon wasn't swayed and, by 2003 he was a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

That year, mutual sponsors gave him the chance to swap a seat with Montoya for 15 laps of the Indianapolis road course and Gordon wound up half a second off the Colombian.

Those 15 laps were all that he got. A touted 2005 move to Williams never took place and F1 missed out on the most gifted American racer of his generation.

2. Dario Franchitti

Dario could have been an F1 driver, not just because he was a great talent of his or any generation, but because there were three chances.

Call it luck, judgement or simply fate, the cards never fell quite right. The Scot had his first taste of F1 courtesy of the McLaren Autosport Young Driver award.

He impressed McLaren so much that they offered him a test role alongside his Champ Car commitments Stateside, but with David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen at the team he sensed a chance was never there and turned Ron Dennis down.

His next opportunity came at the end of the '90s when he was approached to quit Champ Car's Team Green and move with BAR-Honda to F1. He didn't take the gamble.

Incredibly, Franchitti’s move to F1 would have freed up his Champ Car seat for Jeff Gordon as BAR and Team Green were linked back then by BAT sponsorship – so BAR-Honda may have had Franchitti and Gordon in F1 by 2002!

A final chance came in 2000 with a surprise test for Jaguar at Silverstone, but following the death of his best friend Greg Moore and serious injuries for Franchitti from a huge crash in testing at Homestead, he wasn't prepared.

Over the next 15 years, he would win three Indy 500s and four IndyCar titles to go down as one of the greatest racers to cross the Atlantic. We can’t help but wonder what he might have achieved in Formula 1.

1. Tom Kristensen

Mr Le Mans is widely regarded as one of the greatest racing drivers ever with a combination of humility, grace, uncompromising work ethic and a calm, assured style behind a wheel.

He's racked up plaudits, awards and success in the sport that is rivalled by few others.

He was German and Japanese F3 champion, won races in Formula 3000, Formula Nippon, the DTM and BTCC, and when the chance came with a last-minute call-up to race at Le Mans in 1997, he put in one of the most astonishing debut performances ever witnessed to help Joest take victory.

While his junior racing contemporaries Alex Zanardi and Mika Hakkinen went on to success in open-wheel racing, Kristensen made Le Mans his domain.

His real run of successes at La Sarthe began in the 2000s where he won six in a row, amassing nine total Le Mans victories, six Sebring 12 Hours and a World Endurance Championship.

There was always interest in Formula 1, both from him and from the sport. He tested for Minardi, Tyrrell and most notably Williams, where his work for Michelin was considered vital to the manufacturer’s understanding of the category.

He very nearly signed for Prost but the budget wasn't there and, arguably, F1's loss was the rest of motorsport's gain as Kristensen could have become a footnote racing for teams beneath his ability.

It's simply too sad a notion to think that we never witnessed him race in this category, such is Kristensen's skillset. Would he trade one Le Mans win for a year at the sharp end in Formula 1? Unlikely. But that would have been something to see.

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 12th May 2019 (Logic & Eminem, Shawn Mendes, Lewis Capaldi)

We have a bunch of new arrivals this week, most of which are big-name debuts within the top 20, so safe to say we have another busy week on our hands. Let’s get it.

Top 10

One of my biggest surprises on this chart is that the top five is still relatively stable, and Stormzy’s “Vossi Bop” is still at the number-one spot, even though I thought it’d collapse like Dave and Fredo’s “Funky Friday” did after it debuted at the top due to insane streaming. Despite my expectations, it’s fine. It’s still here. Speaking of...

“Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and later remixed by both Billy Ray Cyrus and Diplo, and possibly Young Thug(?), hasn’t moved from the runner-up spot from last week.

Lewis Capaldi had a good week here – even his single “Grace” that has been mostly stagnant increased three spaces elsewhere – but he places twice in the top 10. The first appearance here is for “Someone You Loved”, rebounding a singular position up to number-three.

His other appearance within the top 10 is right here, funnily enough, as he makes a consecutive appearance here at number-four, with the debut of “Hold Me While You Wait”, Capaldi’s third top 40 hit in the UK as well as his second top 10 and top five hit.

At number-five, up one spot from last week, is “bad guy” by Billie Eilish.

Meanwhile at number-six, we have MEDUZA and Goodboys with “Piece of Your Heart” down one space from last week.

I’m surprised at how Taylor Swift’s “ME!” with Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco essentially just collapsed entirely as it drops down four spaces to number-seven. Yes, it’s still in the top 10, but it’s worrying how quickly this is dropping down; The UK doesn’t count radio in its charts so I suppose it’s impressive that such a radio-targeted song is doing so well on sales and streaming, but I’d chalk that up to YouTube.

Meanwhile, at number-eight, “SOS” by the late Avicii featuring vocals from Aloe Blacc is down one spot from last week.

We have yet another top 10 debut as “If I Can’t Have You” by Shawn Mendes makes its chart premiere at number-nine (Noticeably lower than its #2 debut in the US), becoming his ninth UK Top 40 hit and his sixth to reach the top 10.

At #10, to round off the top 10, we have “Just You and I” by Tom Walker slowly making its way out down two spaces. It’ll probably have a bit of a comeback next week.

Climbers

Naturally, due to the nature of this week’s business, we don’t have many songs being able to make room for themselves on the charts – by that I mean we have one notable enough climb, and it’s “Sixteen” by Ellie Goulding up five spaces to #31.

Fallers

I would like to say these are a different story, but there are less than I expected. Going from the top, we have expected yet arguably slightly premature losses for Khalid and P!nk’s “Talk” and “Walk Me Home”, down six and five spaces respectively to #20 and #21. I think their runs have been long enough, although I expected “Walk Me Home” to smash considering the top 10 debut, but it’s since faded away and has just been fodder in the top 20 for a while. We also have consecutive losses for mediocre British hip-hop, as Digga D’s “No Diet” is down seven spaces to #27, right next to JAY1’s “Your Mrs” down five to #28. Otherwise, we have mostly continued losses, including “Don’t Call Me Up” by Mabel down five to #32, “i’m so tired...” by LAUV and Troye Sivan down seven to #33, “Boy with Luv” by BTS featuring Halsey down eight to #37 (I’m surprised it’s lasted this long), and sadly, “Disaster” by Dave featuring J Hus down seven to #40.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

First of all, I’d like to note “wish you were gay” by Billie Eilish has dropped out from #35 to not even in the top 75 due to streaming cuts. That’s how detrimental they can be to a song’s success over here, although that song was already on its way out. Anyways, we don’t have any returning entries, but we do have some drop-outs – quite a few – but all to be expected, really. “Let Nature Sing” by the RPSB is out from #18 but it’s a charity birdsong single, I’m just surprised it’s still at #63. We’ve just got three others, and those are quite literally last week’s bottom three. All of these dropping out from #38, #39 and #40, we have “Let Me Down Slowly” by Alec Benjamin featuring a duet with Alessia Cara, “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, and finally, “Wow.” by Post Malone. New arrivals time.

NEW ARRIVALS

#34 – “M.E.N. II” – Bugzy Malone

Produced by Zdot

Now for some brief backstory. This is a sequel track to Bugzy Malone’s 2015 track “M.E.N.” that directly interpolates the prior single to reflect on how far his career has changed from the year he released that single. Looking at the album charts, you can really tell as his last EP debuted at #4 in 2017 and his 2018 album at #8, but Bugzy Malone, despite being one of the key grime MCs to form the modern, trap-influenced style and become less commercially focused as they were in the early 2010s, has never made the top 40 until now. This is his first UK Top 40 hit, despite a few close calls and even an album bomb, in which none of the tracks touched the top 50. He has since built up a lot of hype, clearly, collaborating with the likes of Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, but is the music any good? Well, I’m not familiar with much of Bugzy at all, I’ve only heard a few singles here and there, but I’ve never been all too impressed, although I have been listening to the poppier, charting stuff. Maybe I would appreciate a return to its roots more, and you know what, to an extent, I do. The upbeat synth is quite cloudy but allows for a fun, bouncy flow over an admittedly stilted drum beat that feels very generic although definitely more fast-paced than what I’m used to hearing on the charts. I do appreciate Bugzy Malone’s introspective lyrical content, where he looks back on his come-up and has some very specific details in how he made it, with eerie synths shrouding his blunt vocal delivery in an odd mystery, which seems unfitting considering Bugzy Malone’s lyrics are quite hard-hitting; A lot of the instrumentation feels too sparse and spacey, in fact, for such a personal and intimate song talking about struggle with religious worship and beliefs, experience with cocaine since he observed his friends slowly suffer from the abuse of the drug, relationship issues where Bugzy feels like he needs to overly compensate for the lack of attention and speaking on how he wouldn’t mind dying and going out as a legend of Manchester if that’s what it takes for respect. With a beautifully-sang outro in what I’m assuming is Bugzy himself in a falsetto, it really should be more than what it is, but he struggles to stick to a topic at once sometimes and often the beat is less intense than it really should be. This is still good, but I’m not entirely sure if it’ll have any longevity.

#18 – “Guten Tag” – Hardy Caprio and DigDat

Produced by JT and CallMeTheKidd

Oh, hey, another relatively non-notable UK drill/trap song that debuts into the top 20 inexplicably, is expected to drop off quickly, sticks around for way too many weeks before it’s cut down by the streaming chart rules in the UK. This one is by two familiar faces though, Hardy Caprio and DigDat, who have both charted once or twice before and have both been incredibly uninteresting. This is Caprio’s fourth Top 40 hit and first Top 20, whilst it’s DigDat’s second of both – and this one might just be a tad weirder and a tad more unique than any other UK trap song that could have debuted this week. There’s no chorus at all, barely even anything resembling it other than how a refrain is kind of implemented into an intro and outro, and it takes only a couple bars for an odd Family Guy/The Cleveland Show reference to talk about the cocaine he’s trafficking, because, well, sure. The beat is fantastic, it has got a summery tropical vibe in its breezy synths and flutes but it’s immediately drowned out by the insanely dark and heavy 808s and sub-bass, which sound great. Caprio and DigDat flow well over it, and the slight tinge of guitars that appear throughout the beat are so cool, especially when they’re used to build up to the chorus in an otherwise menacing section of just bass and the skittering trap percussion and it can only be heard in the left channel. It really shows how any natural, lively instrumentation is distant from the intense and tragic lives of UK drill musicians, I suppose. This is really good, actually, I’m surprised. Sure, the lyrical content is nothing to speak of, ut that doesn’t matter when the beat is this interesting and the vocal inflections are this powerful. Check this out, I’d recommend it, even if just for that beautiful watery synth melody and the incredible flute in the outro.

#15 – “Homicide” – Logic featuring Eminem

Produced by Bregma and Shroom – Peaked at #4 in New Zealand and #5 in the US

God, where do I even start with this one? Okay, well, since none of the other singles from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind took off, Logic essentially put on Hot 100 Easy Mode and got an Eminem feature while rushing something at the beginning to make sure you knew it was a Logic song as well. Hence, he got the second biggest hit of his career. This is Logic’s third UK Top 40 and top 20 hit, and I’m not even going to count Eminem’s, he has way too many to even start trying at this point. Let’s just take this one step by step because there’s a lot to unravel here. First of all, we have Logic’s dad Smokey Hall telling an obviously scripted reverb-drowned joke with some fake laughter. If that’s really how Logic laughs, then I’m scared for his life. Logic’s dad REALLY sounds like Logic, though, like they’re nearly identical, especially when they both laugh in unison. The joke isn’t funny either, and it’s just kind of painful to sit through, especially with little drowning it out other than the beat warming up. The beat by itself is actually just kind of okay, but definitely is menacing when you hear the intimidating bells and pair them with Logic and Eminem’s rapid-fire flows. Logic’s verses sure are... Logic verses from 2019? They’re incredibly generic, although I do like the Eminem references and Logic’s flow and vocal delivery is on point, until...

(In a weird voice) When I rap like this, do I sound like s***? / Well, it don’t really matter, ‘cause I’m killin’ this s***

Uh, Eminem, you must have heard Logic’s verse, right? You admitted on “Not Afraid” that the use of the dumb accents on Relapse was pointless and unnecessary, so why are you letting Logic do them? His voice is even more nasal here, and I’m still baffled by how little self-awareness he seems to have here. No one is criticising Logic for rhyming words with themselves, they’re criticising his subject matter, so rhyming a phrase with itself four or five times isn’t a valid argument against these critics, because you don’t know their argument in the first place. Also, I’m not letting Logic anywhere near my baby, especially if it is in fact true that he does have rabies.

There’s nowhere to hide, we call this s*** genocide

No, you don’t. The song’s called “Homicide”.

We gon’ leave ‘em crucified, we call this s***...

Homicide.

...genocide

God damn it, Bobby, can’t you get anything right? Okay, well, the criticism of autotuned mumble rappers makes no sense considering how shallow his criticisms are and how he himself has focused on the exact subject matter he mocks for the past two years, and only that subject matter, as well as the extensive use of autotune on Bobby Tarantino II – the only hit single from the tape, “Everyday” with Marshmello, owes a lot to it. He then talks about how if he’s calling himself the greatest ever, he must come with the best raps, and then he repeats a couple words, has some filler, but honestly the monotonous droning of the sub bass and darker synth tones really add to the pure aggression of Logic’s distorted yelling by the end of his second verse.

Honestly, all of the lyrical content can be forgiven because at no point does the momentum of the track come to a halt, especially when Eminem comes in and feels like himself again. All these forced 2018 Slim Shadyisms aren’t there, or at least harder to spot, so it just feels like Eminem with Slim Shady-like vengeful tendencies but more importantly a passionate, violent rapper who loves what he’s doing and wants to prove himself as the best to ever do it, which is all I want from Eminem. His rhyme schemes are complex and insane, his baseball wordplay is fantastic and continues for a much longer time than I initially thought, which is impressive. He has some quotables about farm animals, specifically sheep and dogs, continuing the metaphor he started on Boogie’s “Rainy Days”, that he is the violent wolf or dog who leads a pack of sheep. I love Eminem’s verse and I’ll take anything I can get from Logic, so after Eminem talks about bringing the fingerless gloves back (Yeah, remember those?) he has a couple more bars before finally killing the song’s momentum by abruptly ending the beat and his verse entirely, because he’s too good for it. This is the Eminem I love, this is the Eminem I wanted out of Kamikaze but wasn’t treated to. Eminem on trap beats can work fantastically, and if anything, this just proves that Eminem still isn’t even on a comparative level to those he inspired. Oh, yeah, and the outro is a Chris D’Elia skit sampled from Twitter or something that mimics Eminem’s rhyme scheme. It’s funny for about 10 seconds, but not for nearly a whole bloody minute as that’s how long they keep it for. Yeah, okay, that was unnecessary, and does kill the momentum more than Logic ever could. I guess I’m revealing my inner Eminem fanatic here, but God, do I love his verse, and I feel with a better Logic verse (The hook is great by itself, and the beat is fitting enough), this could have been 10/10 territory, honestly, but even without that, his verse works in the most primal, violent way it could have possibly worked with, so I’m not complaining, in fact, this is probably the best new arrival here. Honestly, I’m just glad it’s not “Lemon Drop”. Now for some boring pop singers, I guess. Did you realise none of these new arrivals have been females? Yeah, none of them are. Three out of five are hip-hop as well. Interesting.

#9 – “If I Can’t Have You” – Shawn Mendes

Produced by Scott Harris, Mark Williams & Volta, Shawn Mendes, Nate Mercereau and Teddy Geiger – Peaked at #2 in the US

Apparently this song needs five producers. Okay, what is this, “SICKO MODE”, or did we really need five producers? Did all of these producers seriously contribute enough for a full credit and not a co- or additional production credit? Ah, well, that’s nitpicking. I’ve talked about the stats before, but this is Mendes’ highest-peaking song ever in the US and it seems to have just been a massive smash hit everywhere, and it will be even bigger once radio picks up on it. What have I heard about the track before peeping this new song? Well, I see that everyone loves it, and I understand why. It’s really upbeat and Mendes’ performance, albeit breathy, is really powerful and intense. The bassline is pumping and the guitars are nice and tropical, but I can’t feel like I would have found this more refreshing in 2016. What I’m saying is that this is bland and tasteless, and I now understand why there’s five producers. It’s overproduced to hell and back, or at least that’s how I see it. There’s reverb absolutely EVERYWHERE, as if it’s a Post Malone deep cut, and the vocals are in the front of the mix so the instrumentals in the back of the mix just end up piling into a pile of mush. The multi-tracking in the first chorus sounds like a choir of Shawn Mendes, but it ends up sounding like Shawn Mendes breaking the microphone. That freaking piano part as well, it’s so tackily added in, especially since the video uses it as a focal point. Has this had any actual arrangement before the CDs were burnt and the vinyl records were pressed (Yes, they made them, because that’s the only way this got #2 in the US)? My friend said this sounded like royalty-free vlog music, and yeah, that’s a pretty solid description, except there’s no ukulele... I pray to God an acoustic version of this song with a ukulele gets released. Yeah, this is just tepid, saccharine and uninspired, I don’t see the praise. Sorry.

#4 – “Hold Me While You Wait” – Lewis Capaldi

Produced by Lewis Capaldi, Edward Holloway, Nick Atkinson and TMS – Peaked at #1 in Scotland and Ireland

Speaking of the devil, here’s more pop that I’ll find embarrassingly dull and saccharine, except this time it’s going to be a gruelling piano ballad because that’s all Capaldi does. He’s not the first, we’re just feeling a lack of Ed Sheeran right now and when he comes back, this dude will be off the charts, hopefully forever. What a talentless, putrid hack. Okay, maybe he isn’t talentless, he can sing, sure. He doesn’t know where to sing, though, because he does borderline spoken word in this raspy voice over once again, just a boring piano melody like his last one, a freaking Zedd alarm clock ticking in the background, and Lewis Capaldi sounding like a frog sobbing over its grandfather that had just flatlined. He sounds strained and he just repeats that “My love”, it gets on my nerves. It’s not intense or intimate, it is aggravating and I never want to hear it again. This is borderline unlistenable to me and I can’t even figure out exactly why, I can’t pin-point it, but it’s just assault on my ears, with the incessant layers of background vocals haunting me as I try and find some solace in the strings, but the last note has to be Capaldi vomiting up his kale yogurt from the night before. Disgusting waste of studio time, and what an overbearing, sickeningly overproduced piece of gutter trash that even Sheeran would spit on and give to his cats. I hope to see this guy fall naturally out of public consciousness before I get much more repulsed of him than I already am.

Conclusion

Should be obvious here – Worst of the Week goes to Lewis Capaldi for whatever the hell that three minutes and 26 seconds was, with Dishonourable Mention going to Shawn Mendes for “If I Can’t Have You”. Logic and Eminem grab Best of the Week for “Homicide”, whilst Honourable Mention is going to Hardy Caprio and DigDat for “Guten Tag”. Yeah, I know, I’m surprised too. Follow me on Twitter @cactusinthebank for more pop music ramblings and Top 20 rankings, and I’ll see you next week!

[disappearingground]

Q&A: Jenny Lewis & Johnathan Rice

SPIN July 16, 2010

The Rilo Kiley singer and her Scot troubadour boyfriend, aka Jenny & Johnny, discuss their upcoming album.

By William Goodman

Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis and Scottish singer-songwriter Johnathan Rice, a couple for five years, know how to have a good time: They go on shopping sprees at estate sales, watch Jacques Cousteau films, and take long drives up the California coast in their vintage station wagons. It’s only fitting, then, that their debut album as Jenny & Johnny is called I’m Having Fun Now (out August 31).

Like its name implies, the record is a tasty pop confection: The first single, “Scissor Runner,” is a breezy power-pop duet about catching a red-eye flight home to see a lover (something these two know a lot about), while “Big Wave” is a surf-rock jam with Lewis cooing over a frothy chorus of guitar reverb. 

From their Los Angeles home, the duo dished about recording I’m Having Fun Now with Bright Eyes whiz Mike Mogis, their upcoming fall tour, and who would win in a tag-team wrestling match: Jenny & Johnny, She & Him, Matt & Kim, or Sonny & Cher.

Hey guys! How’s it going? Johnathan Rice: Great. Jenny’s on her way to pick up another phone. Jenny Lewis: Hello!

Wow. I’m impressed that you have two landlines in your house. JR: You’d be even more impressed if you saw the actual phones. JL: They’re rotary phones. I’m obsessed with old rotary phones. It started about three years ago with a beautiful peach-colored rotary phone that has a terrible crackle. I also have one really cool black rotary phone. But they’re really frustrating if you’re dealing with an automated service, like Time Warner Cable, because you can’t really participate. Where are all the people, man? Where they’d go?

Tell me how your new album came together. JR: We’ve been writing songs together since 2005. JL: Proximity led us to writing together. Johnathan would be working on a song in the living room and I’d be in the kitchen doing the dishes, so I’d sing along. We started singing together first and then writing together. With this particular batch of tunes we wanted to go into the studio with my friend Pierre* de Reeder [from Rilo Kiley] and record some demos. After seven days in the studio we’re like, “Whoa this is really fun. We’re playing all these instruments and having a great time, maybe we should take these songs out to Omaha and finish them up with Mike Mogis.” JR: Mike built a studio in Omaha and kept telling us, “I’d love to give you guys some studio time. Come see the new place.” Nebraska is kind of the center of our musical universe. I made my first record there. Jenny made her records there and we both worked with Mike. It’s a good excuse to spend some time with some our best friends. So we drove my station wagon from L.A. to Omaha.

I understand you two have an obsession with station wagons. JL: [Laughs] It’s true. There are actually two versions of Johnathan’s car. Two cars. They’re both station wagons, both a turquoise blue color. I didn’t have a car for many years living in L.A. and I drove the Rilo Kiley van around. I can parallel park pretty well — I’m a great driver. Finally I bought this shitty Ford, but Jonathan needed to buy a car so we went to an estate sale near our house. There was a 1977 Mazda station wagon for sale for $850 and we knew that Johnathan had to buy it. On the back of the car was a bumper sticker that said, “I’m having fun now.” We drove it around for a bit, but Jonathan ended up selling it to his friend. His friend got a bunch of tickets and the car was impounded and crushed into a cube. Cut to a couple months ago. We were driving around as we often do, and there was another turquoise station wagon for sale on the side of the road for $950. We knew at that point, having lost the other one, that we needed to buy the car and re-live the fantasy. We remade the bumper sticker and it became the title of our album!

Do you guys ever name your cars? JL: Yeah, the shitty ford. JR: We call it “The Salad.” JL: I bought it after Hurricane Katrina. I think it was one of those Katrina cars that was underwater and re-sold on e-Bay. JR: That’s a pretty controversial theory. But it certainly smells weird. JL: It’s a little mildew-y. It was definitely underwater at some point. JR: It could have been Lake Tahoe. JL: It could have been at the bottom of Lake Tahoe. Oh! We don’t know if this is true or not, but Jacques Cousteau may have dove to the bottom of Lake Tahoe before he passed away. Apparently he said, “The world is not ready for what’s at the bottom of Lake Tahoe.” There’s something terrible down there. JR: They say that because it such a mob town, and Al Capone and all these guys were vacationing there and investing in the casinos, that all the bodies from their hits, or murders, were dumped into the lake. Because it’s one of the deepest lakes in the United States and at the bottom it’s extremely cold, the rumor is that Cousteau saw a perfectly preserved army of the dead.

You two have been writing together for years, but how old are these particular songs? JR: They’re puppies. There’s a song on the record “Slave Driver” that’s only five months old. It was written just before we mastered the record. JL: Most of the songs were written together. A couple of them have been lying around for a while, like “Switchblade.” But others are just toddlers.

Your website promises darker themes on the album. JR: Well, there’s no death metal or anything. JL: But lyrically there are some darker themes on the record. But as hard as I try to sound tough and dark, I still sound cute. JR: Think of this record as like cooking a Thanksgiving turkey. You either want the white meat or dark meat. Actually, maybe I shouldn’t have called this album a turkey. JL: How about a Tofurky? JR: It’s definitely not a Tofurky.

What are some of the lyrical themes? JR: Snakes. JL: Lots of Ouroboros, it’s that image of the snake eating it’s own tail. You’ve seen it a million times. JR: We really like that image. There’s so many definitions of what it represents. To us, it represents unity and satisfaction because the snake is eating it’s own tail it can never be hungry and never want for anything. But I’m curious: does the snake ever run out itself to eat? Maybe not. JL: Well, the people that lived in this house before us were in their 90s and I’ve found that I have more in common with them than I do my peers. They left behind a lot of stuff, like a creepy old key with a skeleton key. I wonder what that goes to? But on the bookshelf was a book about Ouroboros and it sparked a bunch of strange dreams, which lead to a bunch of songs. JR: We both found ourselves dreaming about snakes, and then we’d be hiking in the mountains in L.A. and we would see a bunch of snakes on the trail.

Do you guys share vocals on each song? JR: Yep. JL: When we first went into the studio our best friend Morgan said, “You guys aren’t singing together enough.” So we really over-compensated when we went out to Omaha. JR: We wanted Jenny & Johnny to be a new band, so it had to sound different. Both vocals are front and center. We’re trying to make a new character almost. JL: Even with the band name, Jenny & Johnny, we wanted there to be a very distinct male and female presence.

Can we expect more music in the future, or is this a one-off project? JR: We didn’t put any thought into this record before we made it. [Laughs] What do we do next? It could be anything. JL: We don’t have any expectations. The songs that we write will determine what we do next. I’m working on a batch of songs and so is Johnathan, so we’ll see what happens.

Does writing, recording, and touring together ever put a strain on your relationship? JR: Our relationship was born out of traveling and touring. This album marks the most time either one of us have spent in the same place over the course of our entire relationship. We’ve toured all over the world together — it seems pretty normal to us. JL: It’s the best of both worlds!

You guys are touring this fall. What can fans expect live? JR: Two of our friends are going to join us. Jason Boesel, who played in Rilo Kiley and has played with both of us for years, and Tod Adrian Wisenbaker on guitar from Whispertown 2000, an L.A. band. JL: He’s a cool ass guitar player. JR: We’ll be opening for Pavement and Belle and Sebastian. JL: And Superchunk!

Pavement is one of your guys’ favorite bands! JR: Yeah, we’re not even going pretend to play it cool. JL: We’re going to play it super nerdy. I’ve never seen them live so I’m really looking forward to it. I love Wowee Zowee. That was the first Pavement record I bought. JR: I like Terror Twilight.

Who would win a tag team battle: Jenny & Johnny, She & Him, Matt & Kim, or Sonny & Cher? JR: Whew. I don’t know. Jenny and I and Zooey [Deschanel] and Ben [Gibbard] have dinner dates together all the time, so that’s a hard one. But I guess that’s not She and Him, that’s She & Ben. JL: Our answer is definitely She & Ben.

[itsjaybullme]

Dexter's Secrets

Dexter Jackson's greatness is a given, even as time marches on and younger competitors rise and fall. His beard is gray, his face is lined, but his physique refuses to age. In an effort to discover his secrets, we examine what makes the Blade so phenomenal, from A to Z. 

A IS FOR ARNOLD CLASSIC

No competitor is more associated with a contest than the Blade is with the Arnold. He holds every significant record: most wins (5), most entries (15), most top-five finishes (14). In addition, he’s won the Arnold Classic Australia and Arnold Classic Europe. With all due respect to the contest’s namesake, Jackson owns the A.C. (all stats are as of July 2016). 

B IS FOR BICEPS

He has two of the highest-caliber guns ever flexed on a stage, but if you’re looking for the key to bulbous biceps here, the secret is there is no secret. He does the same things most every other bodybuilder does for moderate volume and moderate reps. A typical routine consists of EZ-bar preacher curls, seated alternate dumbbell curls, and one-arm machine curls, all for four sets of 8-10 reps. “There are a lot of different ways to do a curl with free weights and machines,” he says. 

C IS FOR CHARLES GLASS

Around the time he turned 41 at the end of 2010, when it seemed his physique might actually be fading, Jackson enlisted trainer Charles Glass, even though it meant “commuting” from Florida to California. Glass, a master of hitting all the angles with modified exercises, has been Jackson’s trainer ever since, proving you can teach an old dog new tricks. 

D IS FOR DELTOIDS

At first glance, his shoulder routine seems elementary: an overhead press, a front raise, a lateral raise, and a rear lateral, four sets of each, 10-15 reps per set. What makes it unique is Glass and his bag of tricks. The master trainer is liable to come up with things like a one-arm Smith machine overhead press (sitting perpendicular to the bar) and an underhand EZ-bar front raise. The parameters stay the same, but even Jackson is surprised by the particulars of each workout. 

E IS FOR EATING

This is the part he doesn’t like—all those monotonous meals. “I’m not naturally a big eater,” he states. “When I retire, I’ll eat like a normal person and weigh less than 200 pounds.” For now, though, eating is a big part of his job. He makes the most of it by spicing up his off-season meals with things like mashed potatoes, turkey bacon, buttered lobster, and steak smothered in sauce. However, when the Blade brings out the cuts during his contest prep, he turns to the diet staples—tilapia, chicken breasts, and sauce-free steak. 

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F IS FOR FORTIES

After reaching the big 4-0, Ronnie Coleman won two Olympias (at 40 and 41) and was second in another (42), Chris Dickerson was runner-up twice (41, 42) before winning (43) and he won nine other pro shows, and Albert Beckles was second in the O (47) and won eight pro shows, the final one at 51. The Blade certainly has stiff competition, but with a second at the Olympia (45); two Arnold Classic titles (43, 45); and 10 other pro victories, his sustained excellence gives him the edge over Dickerson as the best over-40 bodybuilder of all time. And, as his New York Pro win in May (46) proves, he’s still on point. 

G IS FOR GALE ELIE

This former figure competitor is Dexter’s longtime girlfriend. 

H IS FOR HIGH DEFINITION

He’s been around so long it’s difficult to remember what he looked like more than a decade ago. Even his 2008 Mr. Olympia shape was not him in his peeled prime. He simply got too big to go ultra-HD. But from 1999-2006, he was consistently the crispest conditioned bodybuilder in pro contests. His waist was nearly invisible, and he sported deep detailing in even his lower back. In 1999, contest promoter Ed Pariso bestowed on him one of bodybuilding’s most iconic nicknames, “the Blade,” because he always delivered the cuts. 

I IS FOR INJURIES

The Blade’s remarkable longevity has only been possible because he’s avoided trauma. “I don’t do all those crazy, heavy, compound movements that I did when I was younger,” he says. “As I got older I changed my training. Guys like Ronnie [Coleman] and Dorian [Yates] kind of fell apart at the end because they didn’t change their training. I do more isolation and machine exercises now. It works for me, as long as I train hard with good form.” 

J IS FOR JACKSONVILLE

Appropriately, Jackson was born in this Florida city and still calls it home. Former IFBB Pro League bodybuilders Lee Labrada, Don Long, and Lee Banks also live here.” 

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K IS FOR KNOWLEDGE

The fact that the Blade, at 41 and with a Sandow on his mantel, turned his workouts over to Charles Glass speaks volumes on his willingness to learn. Even in his 18th pro year, he is continually accumulating knowledge on workout techniques, nutrition, and how his body responds to exercises and foods. 

L IS FOR LEGS

In his amateur days, Jackson’s legs lagged. He brought his quads up enough to rack up Arnold wins and a Sandow, but they were withering when he started working with Glass. With middle-age knees and hips, it becomes increasingly difficult to hoist enough heavy metal to maintain leg mass. But, through hard work and precise training, the Blade has made additions. Forget free-weight squats. He focuses on one-leg presses, superslow hack squats, and supersetting Smith machine front squats and leg extensions. 

M IS FOR MOST MUSCULAR

At a generous 235, Jackson is the lightest winner of the Mr. Olympia over the past 32 years, but unlike most giant killers he didn’t slay Goliaths by playing “small ball” and wowing with aesthetics. His best pose is the one most associated with mass monsters: the crab-style most muscular. Because of the incredible density in his arms, delts, traps, and pecs, he’s able to hold his own in comparisons with giants. 

N IS FOR NORTH AMERICA

After a light-heavy sixth at the 1996 Nationals, Jackson put his all into one final attempt to turn pro—the 1998 North Americans. With an outrageous V-taper and much-improved legs, the 28-year-old won the light-heavy and overall titles. “I had my family sleeping on the floor, and my girlfriend at the time was working two and three jobs so I could stay home, watch the kids, and train,” he remembers. “Had I not turned pro, I was done.” 

O IS FOR OLYMPIA

It takes most winners only two or three tries. Jay Cutler won on his sixth try, but he’d been second four times. This was Jackson’s ninth Olympia, and he’d never previously been runner-up. Even he didn’t envision himself as the world’s best bodybuilder. But at 38, he bested Cutler to win the 2008 Mr. Olympia. “Mr. Olympia. Come on, that’s crazy,” he said afterward. 

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P IS FOR PECTORALS

Jackson has long maintained one of the best chests in bodybuilding. He built it with the barbell and dumbbell standards, including plenty of bench pressing. Today, a typical routine consists of Smith machine incline presses, a seated machine press, incline flyes, and pec-deck flyes. 

Q IS FOR QUALITY

His workouts might include a few forced reps and perhaps some super-sets, but mostly he performs straight sets. The one constant is quality reps. He doesn’t cheat, and he knows exactly how to maximize the tension on the targeted muscles from stretch to contraction, rep after rep. 

R IS FOR RECORDS (as of 7/2016)

MOST ARNOLD CLASSICS | 15

MOST ARNOLD CLASSIC WINS | 5

MOST OLYMPIAS | 16

MOST PRO YEARS | 18

*He’s also narrow- ing in on most pro contests (he’s five behind Albert Beckles’ 81) and most pro wins (he’s one behind Ronnie Coleman’s 26). 

S IS FOR SHORT

Maybe it’s because there’s nothing squat about his stature, or maybe it’s because his remarkable size always has him battling giants and never the 212 guys, but we tend to for- get that he’s only 5'6"—the same height as Shawn Ray and merely an inch taller than Flex Lewis and Franco Columbu. Dexter Jackson is the best bodybuilder under 5'9" of all time. 

T IS FOR TRAPEZIUS

The five-time Arnold Classic champ has traps so high they seem at risk of impairing his hearing. To keep them from overshadowing his delts, he hasn’t shrugged for years. However, if you’re not sporting Olympia-worthy traps, he advises you to shrug away and also do some upright rowing. “Lots of guys have turned weak traps into a decent body part,” he states. “They usually grow pretty easily if you put the work in.” 

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U IS FOR UBIQUITY

Since making his pro debut at the Arnold Classic on March 6, 1999, Jack- son has been in seemingly every major contest, covering a span so long it’s encompassing a fifth presidential election. In this, his record 18th pro year, he’ll flex in his record 17th Olympia. He is bodybuilding’s all-time ironman. 

V IS FOR VENICE

“It’s the most famous gym in the world,” he says of Gold’s Gym Venice. “There’s so much history here you just can’t help but get up for each workout in the Mecca.” The flagship Gold’s Gym in Venice, CA, has been his workplace for the past six years. 

W IS FOR WINS

After this year’s New York Pro, Jackson’s 25 pro wins puts him only one behind Coleman’s record 26. The Blade’s tally includes two masters pro shows, but, even if we limit it to open contests, the all-time mark is within reach. 

X IS FOR X-FRAME

Most bodybuilders who are both short and hefty are built like boxes. Think Branch Warren. Because of a wispy waist beneath broad shoulders and above full quads, the Blade carries his superheavy mass like a light-heavyweight. His silhouette forms a distinctive X. 

Y IS FOR YOUTH

We rightfully celebrate his success as an elder statesman, but he was once a bodybuilding prodigy. After pursuing football, martial arts, and track and field in high school, Jackson, at age 20, entered his first bodybuilding contest, the 1990 Jacksonville Physique. Though he was a 137-pound bantamweight rookie, he took the overall title. Growing into classes, he progressed through the ranks. In 1995, at 25, he won the USA light-heavy class. 

Z IS FOR ZENITH

In a career with so many titles and records, it’s difficult to pinpoint a highlight. The 2008 Mr. Olympia is hard to top. But there are also the record five Arnold Classic victories. His ultimate achievement may be yet to come—the record for most IFBB pro wins. That could be Jackson’s this year or maybe next year. Or perhaps he’ll still be adding to his tally several years from now, as the Blade continues, against all odds, to confound his greatest rival—Father Time. 

 FLEX 

  from Bodybuilding Feed http://www.flexonline.com/training/dexters-secrets via http://www.rssmix.com/

[kanaruaizawa16]

Mental barriers, national identity, Nairo Quintana, and other ramble epically long random dramas

Probably with the lack of existence of a competitive ciclying fandom on tumblr, who can spam me of posts when Giro D’Italia or (especially) Le Tour (and in case of it having, I highly doubt to find someone who likes a fucking load Quintana and is not a Colombian, or Cal Banana Crutchlow who I think he likes everybody, or the random French citizen who married a Colombian woman and now he became a plot twist), probably nobody will understand my drama. But I have no regrets.

(long text ramble. Click on “read more if you wanna read it)

There are only six Colombian citizens I’ve ever drawn:

1. Me 2. A former friend who sadly was one of most stupid, negative and pretentious people I ever met in my life, and who I cut bounds with in 2010 3. A friend who actually works in fashion journalism and is fucking intelligent and cool 4. Another friend who is major in Psychology, intelligent and kind, and if it was not because she does not use Tumblr anymore, she would be the only person of Nairo Quintana fandom in Tumblr 5. Yonny Hernández, the first Colombian on going to MotoGP (2012-2016) and who will go back to Moto2 this year, and strangely, I like him because he gave me a funny advice without even asking him: “Don’t worry so much”... and the guy is not even known at all not even in Colombia XD 6. Nairo Quintana, one of most interesting people of international competitive ciclying. 2014 winner of Giro D’Italia and 2016 winner of Vuelta a España, among other things. And the reason of the text I am writing:

It’s truth I speak openly I am from Colombia. And also that I am from the Triple Border Peru-Colombia-Brazil from Amazon Forest. Most exactly from the most southeast city of Colombia, Leticia. But this does not mean necessarily I am that comfortable with being from this country. I am not particularly comfortable with my “national identity”. I even sometimes feel more comfortable with being from Amazon area rather than to be from this country because the way the Colombian of the big cities is so mean with the ones of little towns. And for average Colombian of big city, the ones who shaped the conception of being from this country, the identities of Amazonia region are... honestly, a “zero on the left”.

To be from Colombian Amazon shaped some things. The most relevant on here, t’s that It shaped my relationship with the people of the “interior”, where is most concentrated the power. It also shaped how much I dislike the attitude of average Colombians of being so self-centered and thinking everything is like on here.

And in motorsports, as a fandom who shaped most of who I am, it shaped several things, who affect also how I see any sport. Colombia has no motorsports tradition. The only properly succesful person on this is Juan Pablo Montoya, and for most Colombian people, his time in F1 was a “fluke”. He became just an anecdote and someone like a Takuma Sato for most people internationally. Only on Champcar (1999 champion) and Indycar he is really loved. This, in United States. I owe JPM to follow F1. I knew this thanks to the F1-boom on here of 2001-2004. And most importantly: I owe him that I found someone who I would truly love because of being amazing no matter the part of the world: Ayrton Senna. It’s highly known Montoya was a Senna fan. I knew about Senna because an old cheap journal talked about him, about how he was the idol of Montoya and about, of course, the epicfail shit of Imola 94. Of course the way I am a fan of Senna ended up shaped by my regional identity (because of my close contact due knowing Portuguese with how Brazilian people sees him) and the tensions it has with other things of me.

But...

The fluke of Montoya and the way he was dumped of McLaren in 2006 was one of reasons who shaped a thing of me: I became cold like ice with my fellows because I don’t like to get disappointed. In fact it’s one of reasons I see so badly that in Spain Fernando Alonso became so loved and some idiots because of it began to hate Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton. It’s the same insulting narrative for what Brazilian fans of Ayrton Senna who do not even care really about F1 are so jerks with Alain Prost or Michael Schumacher. But at least Alonso or Senna were/are succesful. Very succesful, with titles and all. At least Alonso, before of fluke, got two titles. Montoya... nope.

The most popular sport in Colombia, is football. In detriment of other sports. But Colombian football players have it hard for get in the same leagues of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina in levels of tradition and recognizement inside Latin America. And with exception of some cases, rarely become recognized on international football. If you are a foreigner fan of Real Madrid, you will laugh, but here the national media is doing a fucking drama, a fucking soap opera over the situation of James Rodriguez and putting him as a victim of Zidane. But I have the feeling that nobody cares about him really, and some merengues see his contratation as part of the bad habit of the team of contract loads of people for later let them dumped. I saw it coming.

Time learned me something hard and dark: Nobody, regarding pop culture, nobody cares outside Colombia, of Colombian issues. Sad, cruel, but truth. I learned Shakira is seen as “another random pop celeb” (She is seen in Colombia or as a goddess or as a “betrayer” due her tendence to adopt the accents of her romantic partners of other countries. And I was a fan of her). And when my fellows in sport become succesful, if it’s a famous sport, they do not get international fandom.

The 90% of the hype with the gold medals of Mariana Pajón in BMX were from.... Colombians. Ibargüen in triple jump on Rio 2016? COLOMBIAN HYPE ALL TIME. And I do not trust my own fellows even with deserved, objective success. I do not trust my fellows, I do not even trust myself. I hate to feel “Colombian bias”. For me it’s bad, and stupid.

I feel so sad. I see guys of other countries getting fans of all the world. I see Messi, I see the Ronaldo’s, Romário, Neymar, having fans of everywhere. I see in motorsports how everybody has fans everywhere regardless of from where the person is. I can see it in F1. Even the most loser ones (except Haryanto XD, Indonesia is a similar case like Colombia). Even fucking Takuma Sato has international fans, not only in Japan. MotoGP? Despite of the pathetic overpatriotic attitude of some Spaniards with their own fellows (let’s be honest: The only Spaniards who are internationally famous are Márquez, Lorenzo, Pedrosa, Viñales, Pol Espargaró, and... maybe the leader of the commitee of homage to deceased riders, JULITOOOOO SIMÓN), I can see how many people has fans of everywhere. When Ranka-san drew Yonny Hernández, I admit I felt warm in my heart and I wanted to cry. I could not imagine he would get a birthday drawing of someone who is not Colombian. And so well done.

I went used to unrecognizement and disappointment and I saw it as normal. “Colombia is not a cool country. We do not care to anybody, and it does not help at all how attention seekers and self-centered are some of us”.

It reflected the most when I saw first time a prize award ceremony of Tour De France, in 2013. It was the debut attempt of Nairo Quintana. I was reading twistah at same time. He got second general place, and mountain winner of that year, and best rookie. I felt sad with the discrepance of the idiocies of Colombian media, putting the situation as if everybody on ALL THE FUCKING WORLD was happy with him... and what I was seeing on twistah, especially speakers of anything but Spanish Language. Everybody noticed more Froome (of course) and Sagan. This was a nasty eye-opener. People only cared for Nairo because he was from Colombia. I felt angry. And sad. And more distrustful of liking my fellows. As if it will never work. I even fear to support my fellows for later seeing disappointment and seeing “things will be always the same”. And blaming myself for softening my rules.

Call it exitism, or hating for my own country. Or an obsessive hiperrationality that gets exaggerated when identity issues are coming along.

Then, Quintana gets the Giro in 2014. It was first time I felt: “Wow, maybe Quintana will become something greater and someone who will truly be worldwide recognized and loved and spammed and fandomed and memeable by everybody”. And some time later, in 2015, I saw the precious video of the “plot twist” of the French guy who went to meet Quintana, with even a shirt of Colombian Football National Team (!!), and a Colombian flag around (!!!!), tried to talk him with a funny Spanish and get his sign and tell him he named his son after Nairo. I only felt that French guy was not that impressive anymore when he said “My wife is Colombian”. The “plot twist” comment I did was because I never expect people of Europe liking my fellows.

And in my country happened a FUCKING LOT OF HYPE after of the Vuelta a España. And look that now a generation of badasses coming from our piece of Andes mountain chain (where Quintana is da boss) is coming all around. Urán, Pantano (who I heard via radio, with my beloved father, his first victory on Tour De France in 2016), Dayer the lil bro of Nairo, Chaves, Aacona (the glasses guy)... but this was another level of ohmaifuckinggods. And even me I can feel the dimensions of this.

I will tell you something: Ciclying had been historically, more relevant of the construction of the idea of contemporary Colombian than football. Everybody, even me (this is not my fandom), know a lil bit of it. I even heard something: “the real national sport of Colombia is ciclying”, and with the flow of time, I believe it more. We have our own thing of national going for all country competence, the Vuelta a Colombia. Since 50s. Ciclying is followed for loads of people in all the country thanks to radio. Of all the ages and social positions. Especially in rural areas.

Do you know from where come Quintana brothers? Boyacá, in the central area of Colombia, from where come my father and all my late grandparents with exception of mother-side grandpa. There are a good load of mountains due Andes. Most cities are in high areas. It’s cold, fucking cold (Tunja makes look the weather of Bogotá like a joke). And they are fucking hard. And guess what, most rural people had used bicycle as transportation. Everyday, to school or for working. Everybody. Of course in case of the ones who become competitive, maybe there are differential of initial talent and of course getting better training conditions, but for begin with, to get the Andes is so normal for so many.

And, I wanted to draw Quintana for years since that 2013. But the feeling of that maybe I would fail with my feelings stopped me. I had fear of expose my feelings and ideas about this. Like “come on Kanaru, this is not your fandom” or “people will point to you one day”. I have no credibility. I will be so easy of point out as following a trend or being biased, he same way I am so harsh with everybody and especially with myself. I began to attempt drawings of him, portraits, sketches, but it was so hard. I felt ashamed and guilty initially. But secretely I read stuff about him. He happened to be impressive, cool and interesting, for real. And, an authentic icy who can keep calm no matter what. To the point of that I believe the reason Nairo, such a serious and icy guy, has in my country too many overhyped, cheesy fans, is because of Universal Balance.

The drawing was so simple in colouring, and shapes. I could get cool on getting a proper expression on him. But I think that’s not the most important. I think the interesting was.. it was I could draw him. Get the perfect expression, the cool aura. Making him recognizable. It was the thing I could break off in my mind. An art block I carried from mid 2016. Some insecurities, and worries.

Probably it’s his success who also is helping me to get the best of me. Getting some impossible and unexpected things. Or maybe that it is getting too tiresome the excessive control I put on myself.

I suspect this fanart affected me. In a way, Nairo Quintana did “plot twist” me. And probably to a lot of people. He already caused me a strange effect I tried to negate for these three years and a half. Now I find myself complaining on twistah because I could not send him a proper Birthday message with this drawing. He had a hashtag and I did nor know until now.

I feel that the fact I did draw him twisted me even more. The last time I felt so twisted was in early 2009, when I decided to draw properly and in computer to Ayrton Senna for very first time. (Actually it was mixed between handmade and computer who did not look very well, especially because I had no tablet at the time). It was an illustration for a old story. Of course Quintana-san and Senna-san are very different people. Beginning with that Ayrton is not anymore on this world. And the dramas linked to them in my life are different.

But there is something in common: I’ve broke mental barriers and doing such drawings did something very strong in my brain.

Right no I am about to write Quintana-san. I hope to don’t be cheesy and mellow. Even though it means to ruin the equilibrium of the world. Now you know, if the world ends, it’s my fault for sending something cool to Quintana-san. LOL