feeling like a blogebrity

Cass surprised me with this t-shirt yesterday.

Thanks, Cass!

overheard at liars this friday

To be fair, we were several rounds in when this exchange took place:

Josh: Yeah, you know ... that tall, white guy was in the movie.
Josh's cousin Kenny: Wesley Snipes?
The entire table: Yeah, cause he's tall and white.

the end of the fourth estate?

I can't say that I buy it. But I do agree that we need to consider the implications for privacy and democracy.
YouTube - EPIC 2015

what would eliot ness say?

A friend of mine always brings back some 'shine when he visits his relatives up north. I wonder if his people have considered selling the fire water.

Artisan distilleries find a niche
Small companies discover market for hand-crafted whiskey and other spirits
July 15, 2007
GARDINER, N.Y. - Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee keep a still in the barn to make whiskey.

No, the two are not backwoods bootleggers filling jugs with “XXX” on the side. Their shiny copper kettle cooks up whiskey that can run $40 for a half-sized bottle and vodka distilled from local Hudson Valley apples, all under the high-end Tuthilltown Spirits label.

Erenzo claims they make the first (legal) whiskey in New York since Prohibition. But they already face competition from dozens of “craft” distilleries around the country catering to consumers’ appetite for artisan and local products.

People who pay more for hand-crafted cheese, bread, beer and wine are showing a willingness to do likewise for the hard stuff. Tiny Tuthilltown — which makes bourbon, rye, corn whiskey and vodka — is selling faster than it can bottle.

“Whiskey is what people are screaming about,” Erenzo said midway through distilling a batch of rye. A clear stream of spirits flowed from the still on the barn’s spacious second floor as he talked.

Erenzo and Lee seem to be unlikely spirit makers. Erenzo ran a climbing gym in Manhattan. Lee was a broadcast engineer. Neither business partner drinks except to taste their products. Lee jokes that his previous experience with fermenting was confined to making cinnamon buns with his kids.

But the pair display entrepreneurship typical of the new breed.

Erenzo and his wife bought the land on the Wallkill River, about 70 miles north of New York City, with plans to open a ranch for climbers visiting the famous Shawangunk Ridge nearby. After opposition foiled the ranch plan, he met Lee, who initially came to Gardiner to look at Erenzo’s 18th century grist mill (since sold). With Lee as a partner, Erenzo decided instead to satisfy his “innate curiosity about spirits.”

They saw their chance in 2002, when New York introduced a new class of distilling license for small producers that carries a fee of $1,450, as opposed to $50,800 for the old license.

They created a wholesale liquor business from scratch. Until they landed a distributor this year, Erenzo loaded up his trunk and made the rounds to retailers from New York City to Albany.

Lee, meanwhile, learned the nuances of fermenting — things like how to retain notes of vanilla in the final product. And he relied heavily on his mechanical aptitude to install the 125-gallon still in the barn’s second floor. The unit — with its bell-shaped kettle, gauges, vapor columns, valves and pipes — looks like a science experiment, which it was.

“It took us about 2½ years from a dead stop knowing nothing about it until ’We can turn this thing on and make alcohol,”’ Erenzo said.

Lee said they mostly break even, with profits going back into the business. Each man has a wife with a steady job.

While vodka is essentially ready to go right out of the still, whiskey is aged in charred oak barrels stored in the barn. After bottling, Erenzo applies labels, dips the bottle tops in wax (heated in a crock pot) and boxes them up.

Small-scale distilleries like this were common in America before Prohibition wiped the slate clean. New York, for instance, now has only 16 licensed distillers, including some larger operations in New York City and wineries that specialize in fruit-based spirits like brandy and grappa.

Problems can be legion for startup distillers, ranging from Byzantine state laws to high state licensing fees. And as Erenzo and Lee can attest, there are no rule books.

“It’s hard as heck to open a distillery,” said Guy Rehorst, owner of Great Lakes Distillery in Milwaukee. “Frankly, it’s kind of a headache.”

Still, Rehorst has had enough success selling craft vodka in Wisconsin that he’s branching out to gin. From Virginia, Rick Wasmund crafts and sends out his Wasmund’s Single Malt Whiskey to nine states. They are among some 90 craft distillers active nationwide, according to Bill Owens of the American Distilling Institute.

Craft spirits remain a tiny niche in the U.S. spirits industry, which rings up $58 billion a year in sales. Owens estimates that an average craft distiller might produce 6,000 cases a year.

But the little distillers have the wind at their backs. Not only are artisan products popular, but the spirit industry is growing with the help of high-end products. Sales of so-called super-premium products, like Grey Goose vodka and Johnnie Walker Blue, grew 72 percent from 2002 to 2006, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.

Drinkers used to spending $30 for a bottle of Absolut Vodka or Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 are less likely to be fazed by craft prices.

Rehorst’s vodka and gin runs about $30 a bottle, Wasmund’s Single Malt Whiskey ranges from $35-$40. A wine and spirit store nearby advertises Tuthilltown Manhattan Rye Whiskey for $39.99 for a 375 milliliter bottle and same-sized bottle of Tuthilltown’s Heart of the Hudson vodka for $31.99.

Erenzo said Tuthilltown has sold 6,000 bottles since going on sale in April 2006. They are awaiting delivery of a second, 250-gallon still that will allow them to speed up production. And they’ve already distilled some rum, which is aging in barrels, made with molasses from Louisiana.

Tuthilltown also rides the wave of the “buy local” movement. Their vodkas are made from local apples — Erenzo stresses that it's not apple-flavored vodka, but rather vodka made from apples. Heart of the Hudson vodka retains a ghost of apple flavor going down. That’s less true for Spirit of the Hudson vodka, which is distilled three times.

It’s harder to buy local ingredients for grain-based whiskeys (the Hudson Valley is not big on wheat production), although Lee said they have a line on local heirloom corn.

“That’s my Holy Grail,” Lee said, “to get a whiskey that is wonderful and unique based entirely on New York products.”

good god

I wonder who would win a Jesus vs. Samson smackdown.

Retailer Wal-Mart gets religious — toys, that is
By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY
Wal-Mart (WMT) is about to bring religion to the toy aisle.

Early next month, 425 Wal-Mart stores nationwide will begin carrying faith-based toys from One2believe that target parents who would rather that their kids play with a Samson action figure than a Spider-Man action figure.

PHOTOS: Wal-Mart adds Bible action figures

It's the first time the world's largest retailer has carried a full line of religious toys. "We're seeing interest from parents in faith-enriching toys," says Melissa O'Brien, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.

Religious products have become a multibillion-dollar business, and the toy move comes as it targets a younger audience. Fox recently created FoxFaith, a 20th Century Fox unit to distribute family movies with Christian themes. In January, Universal Pictures will release The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything — A VeggieTales Movie, based on the spiritual characters by Big Idea.

But until now, most faith-based toys have sold successfully only in specialty religious stores, not at mass-market retailers, warns Jim Silver, editor of Toy Wishes magazine. "Once children turn 4, parents tend to get them what they want. And right now, kids are asking for Transformers."

About one-sixth of Wal-Mart's 3,300 stores will carry the One2believe line, which will get 2 feet of toy aisle shelf space, says O'Brien.

One way Wal-Mart decided where to carry them, she says: Stores that sell a lot of Bibles will carry the new line.

"We view this as an opportunity to reach that audience," she says.

But one religious leader does not consider Wal-Mart in the fold.

"They'll carry anything that sells," says David Croyle, president of FamilyLife, a non-denominational ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. "This simply signals intelligent buying within Wal-Mart."

For David Socha, CEO of One2believe, it's a dream come true. "Our goal is to give the faith-based community an alternative to Bratz dolls and Spider-Man," he says.

The toys are based on biblical stories. For example, there's a set of 3-inch figures based on Daniel in the lion's den for about $7. A 12-inch talking Jesus doll is about $15. And 14-inch Samson or Goliath action figures are about $20.

The toys target kids from pre-school to age 12, he says, and also are sold online at one2believe.com.

Since 9/11, there's been a surge in faith-based products, says Bob Starnes, vice president of licensing at Big Idea, the firm behind VeggieTales. That's because most Americans have a "faith perspective," he says.

Laurie Schacht, president of The Toy Book, a toy industry publication, says some parents also are dissatisfied with toys from conventional toymakers: "There are a lot of wild things out there. Parents want to give kids wholesomeness."

the c-word

The American Cancer Society estimates that one in two men and one in three women will develop cancer in their lifetime.

I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or if statistics are just playing out, but cancer seems to be rampant in my world right now.

• On Wednesday, my former roommate and college friend was told that she has breast cancer. It's too early to know things like staging yet, but she'll have a mastectomy and reconstruction, chemo, and radiation in the coming months.
• A colleague who's battling cancer got crushing news last week — his cancer isn't responding to the chemotherapy drugs and has now moved into another organ. I've never heard him sound so discouraged.
  
• A colleague's wife is battling breast cancer.

The truth is, I'm having a hard time with the cumulative effect of this news. (And I'm just on the sidelines, very much removed from the day-to-day of what these people are facing.)

savory sundays

The past two Sundays, Leo and I have made a point to cook a nice meal for dinner. And to make several different entrees to enjoy for lunch during the week.

Today, we made:

• Roasted beets and carrots with cumin vinaigrette (to eat with mixed baby salad greens)
• Green beans for a champagne pear vinaigrette salad with gorgonzola
• Tomatillo salsa, served with chicken breasts and lime cilantro sweet potatoes
• Rotelli with chicken, spinach, and feta sausage; sun-dried tomatoes; broccoli; and feta
• Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes with bacon drippings and fresh sage and oregano
• Banana bread
  

The plan was inspired by a few facts:

• I'm out of school for 6 weeks and (for the first time since Leo's known me) have plenty of free time on weekends.
• Both of our freezers, refrigerators, and pantries are way overstocked.
• We're both trying to eat more sensible, flavorful, healthy meals.
• We're both short on time during the week.
• It costs a hell of a lot less to bring your lunch than it does to eat out five days a week.
  

It turns out that we're not the only ones who spend Sundays this way. I'd love it if Google came up with a way to track your recipes, and convert those into a shopping list. I'd also be cool with Leo's suggestion of a shopping list that lets you make 5 fabulous (different) meals with the same seasonal ingredients.

Mom Puts Family on Her Meal Plan
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: July 11, 2007

FOR the past 10 years, I have starred in my own reality series: “Working Mom Cooks Weeknight Dinner.” Think of it as “Survivor” meets “Iron Chef” with a bit of “Deal or No Deal.”

In the show’s long-running history there have been stretches in which the entire tribe was forced to subsist on scrambled eggs, tuna sandwiches and reheated Chinese food. But together we have overcome obstacles, gained wisdom and reached a point where my husband and I and our two boys eat balanced and even inventive home-cooked meals most nights.

This achievement is a bit of a wonder to my peers. So many of them struggle to eat dinner together, often waiting until the last minute to boil pasta and toss it with store-bought sauce or, more likely, dining on the leftover macaroni and cheese the babysitter fed the children. Some friends, otherwise civilized and professional, confess they resort to cold cereal.

The pitfalls of the modern family meal are well chronicled: the varying schedules, the demanding diets (low carb, no wheat, no meat) and the fact that all too often the dinner so proudly displayed is greeted by a cheerful “Oh, that looks disgusting.” For most working parents, even a 30-minute meal seems like a June Cleaver-era indulgence. By the time I walk in the door at 7:30 my children are off-the-wall hungry, even having had snacks. Ideally, dinner will take 15 minutes or less to put on the table.

But despite the challenges, I tell you it can be done. I committed to cooking a family meal when my first son was born, in 1997, not because of any psychology study about the well-being of children, but because it gave me comfort.

Every working mother has to draw the line somewhere. Maybe my children would take their first steps with a babysitter, or perform in school plays with only their grandparents in attendance. But mom would cook their dinners.

At first I rotated the dozen recipes I kept in my head over and over. But if my family grew tired of endless reiterations of chicken piccata, sloppy Joes and pasta puttanesca, they held their tongues.

Over time I developed a routine that allowed for more variation and less last-minute cooking. The key to long-term success is not so much the food but the pacing and organization of the meals. Recipes are important, of course, and I am ever vigilant about finding high-impact, low-labor inventions. But that is the easy part. These days there is no shortage of outlets that offer menu planners and ideas that are clever and quick.

I am not offering a shopping list but rather a game plan, tried and true. These are the rules of play; follow one or two each week and you will never have to eat Cheerios after 5 p.m.

Sunday Is Not a Day of Rest

If you are going to cook dinner every day of the week, you will have to do most of your shopping and some preparing ahead of time. This is particularly the case, if, like me, you live someplace that does not have a market for last-minute supplies nearby.

Yes, this means planning menus for the week. Don’t wince. This is good. It means freedom from the painfully frequent question, “What are we going to eat tonight?” By Sunday, you will know.

Getting some meals ready ahead of time makes sense for people who like to cook, because weekend preparation can be as languorous as you allow.

In spring and summer, when my boys dog me to pitch baseballs and my herb garden calls for fussing, I keep it simple. Advance work might include buying the ingredients for a composed salad and chopping and roasting whatever can be done ahead of time without sacrificing freshness. I might use the most basic techniques: steaming artichokes, for example, instead of braising them.

In winter, depending on my mood, I could make a chuck roast in wine and herbs (10 minutes of browning and stirring, three hours in the oven) instead of concocting a stew that demands that the meat be cubed, floured and browned and copious vegetables be diced. Or, I could do just the reverse.

As often as not, I don’t cook the food right away but prepare it for the moment it is to be popped into the oven. For food that looks great and entices children, I find it is easy to stuff a flank steak or chicken breasts ahead of time, secure them with twine, wrap them well and just roast them when I walk in the door.

Whatever the season, my habit is to get at least two meals done on Sunday. For at least one of these meals I make a double portion and freeze half to serve a week from the coming Tuesday. Among my standbys are chili (vegetable, chicken and white bean, or beef), Bolognese sauce, fish cakes, pesto (in ice cube trays) and soups, especially split pea, minestrone and carrot-orange.

If you are disciplined, shopping and cooking (not including time in the oven) can be kept to two hours on Sunday, setting you up for dinners through Tuesday.

The Foods of My Mother

The kitchen of the Greenwich Village apartment that I grew up in was long and narrow and had but one window, facing north. Still, in my mind’s eye it is a particularly warm room, often full of teenagers draped on counters or stools and eating everything in sight. When I was young I attributed our popularity to the fact that I was one of three gregarious female siblings. But in retrospect it seems possible my mother’s pot roast was the real magnet.

There was always a leftover roast chicken, meatloaf or pot roast in our refrigerator. Always. The reliability of these offerings was something of a joke among my friends, but they did end up in my kitchen stuffing themselves after every school event. Who could blame them? Even today few foods are more satisfying than my father’s warmed brisket sandwich on rye with mayonnaise and chili sauce.

Naturally, when I began to cook I disdained such pedestrian offerings or reconfigured them to epicurean standards. My mother’s meatloaf consisted of Lipton onion soup mix and white bread soaked in milk. Mine had to have diced vegetables, sautéed and cooled; three kinds of meat (I ground my own sausage); and spices like cumin and nutmeg.

I have now come full circle, and appreciate the genius of my mother’s approach. I have four core dishes: meatloaf, pot roast, roast chicken and meatballs. I prepare the most basic, pared-down version of each dish. By now it is reflexive. I could do it in my sleep. Perhaps I have. My basic roast chicken is covered in oil and sprinkled with kosher salt and paprika, and that’s that.

Every week I make at least one of those dishes and leave it in the back of the fridge to do emergency duty, as in: “I am not eating anything stuffed with spinach. That’s disgusting.” And like a great friend, it never fails me in a crisis. It can be reheated as a meal, sliced for sandwiches, diced for a pasta sauce and used with cheese to fill a tortilla or a twice-baked potato.

And there is always hearty food at the ready for children: mine, yours, whoever drops by.

Incredible Disassembling Meals

When my first son was little, I fed him puréed chunks of whatever my husband and I had for dinner. I congratulated myself when he showed a precocious affection for capers. The trick, I explained to friends who were amazed at his willingness to eat chopped broccolini, was to resist the child’s capricious demands for separate meals. Fortitude, I counseled.

Then, of course, came No. 2.

My second son has stubbornly adhered to a diet of mostly white foods for nearly six years: pasta, rice, cheese, bread, potatoes, chicken. He also eats red meat, baby carrots and chocolate. Recently, in what is being regarded as a green revolution, he has added edamame and string beans.

I refuse to cook to suit him, yet I cannot not feed him. What we have learned together is that no meal is greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, I plan each meal with the thought that it will be consumed in pieces. Some of every pot of pasta never gets sauce. Mushrooms or pickled things are added at the table and only for volunteers.

If everybody eats something, I call it a victory.

Take a recent night when I cooked a household favorite, meatball “pizzas” on whole-wheat pitas. My husband and I indulged in the works: two cheeses (fresh but grated by the store), meatballs (which I shaped and browned over the weekend), thinly sliced red onion and tomato, red pepper flakes and mint from the garden. Assembly took five minutes, the time under the broiler seven. (We paired this with a plain green romaine salad.)

My older son, Sam, 9, ate the salad and pita with a light covering of mozzarella. Joe, who is 6, ate meatballs with ketchup in the pita and baby carrots for his vegetable.

The next night we had lamb cooked on the grill, couscous with olives and lemon and okra pickle. My husband and I ate everything (and drank a nice zinfandel); Sam had lamb and couscous; Joe had couscous, cottage cheese and baby carrots. Needless to say, no child touched the okra.

Quick Fixes

Perhaps by now you have noticed we are not all the way through the week. I’ve helped you plan Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If you’ve done your job well, Friday will be leftovers night. On Saturday everybody’s out and about. But what about Wednesday and Thursday?

This is why you must memorize five or six dishes that can be prepared in a snap. If you use only one a week, say on Wednesday, they will not get old or tired.

As someone who watches carbs, I make here a painful admission: pasta is the best bet (ask your babysitter or children to have the water boiling by the time you get home). Goat cheese mixed with a little hot water makes an easy, tangy dressing. I serve it over fusilli and mix in vegetables. Olives, sautéed red peppers and onions are favorite additions. My older son is partial to pasta carbonara with turkey bacon and eggs. In fact, he has learned to cook it himself.

Quickly seared meats like lamb chops and thin steaks are satisfying (cooked with little more than olive oil and sea salt) and just right over spicy prewashed greens and served with bread. (Children may omit greens and go straight for the baby carrots.) The trick for flavor here is a salad dressing with an extra twist, like puréed sun-dried tomatoes or chipotle peppers. The dressing, of course, can be made ahead.

Stir-fries are immensely popular with children but require planning if they are to hit the table in 15 minutes. I slice steak, chicken and vegetables in the morning and store them separately. It makes assembly in the evening easy. Teach the children or the babysitter to make rice or it will delay the meal.

Pan-grilled sandwiches with a mix of meat and cheese, and pickled onions and sweet pickles as condiments, are also popular. The adults can add red onion and tomatoes.

Fast vegetables are also important. Asparagus can be sprayed with olive oil and roasted in seven minutes. Prewashed baby spinach can be tossed in the wok and on the table in about as much time. Shredded cole slaw from bags can be assembled in under five.

What About Thursday?

Thursday is takeout night! You’ve earned every mouthful.

lime cilantro sweet potatoes

I hate cilantro. (It tastes like soap.)

That's why I almost vetoed this recipe when Leo presented several sweet potato recipes earlier today. That would've been criminal, because it's officially my new favorite sweet potato recipe.

I loved this dish — the lime and chili offset the sweetness of the potatoes and were actually refreshing and light on a hot summer night.

Lime Cilantro Sweet Potatoes
Active time: 15 min
Start to finish: 40 min
Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients
2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation
Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 425°F.

Toss sweet potatoes with 2 tablespoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a shallow baking pan. Arrange potatoes in 1 layer and roast, stirring halfway through roasting, until tender, about 25 minutes total. Stir together cayenne, zest, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Whisk together lime juice and remaining tablespoon oil in a medium bowl, then add potatoes. Sprinkle with cayenne mixture and cilantro, stirring gently to combine.

Gourmet, May 2004
Via epicurious.com

nanny's mandelbrot

Mandelbrot is a traditional Jewish cookie that resembles biscotti but isn't quite as hard.

Nanny's are the stuff of legend in my ex's family. (She once put Eric and Ben on a plane with a shoebox full of Mandelbrot for their dad and the two boys ate the whole thing on a 4-hour flight.) Although her grandson Eric and I are no longer married, she and I still speak on the phone once a week.

I called her and asked for the recipe for a fourth of July party this year. They disappeared immediately, with one guest saying that they were really a chocolate, raisin, and nut delivery mechanism.

Active time: 20 min
Start to finish: 2 hr

Makes about 40 cookies.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups and 4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I prefer pecans, Nanny uses walnuts)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup raisins

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together eggs, butter, and vanilla in another bowl until combined, then stir wet mixture into dry mixture until combined well. (Dough will be crumbly.) Stir in nuts, chocolate chips, and raisins. Wet hands, then transfer mixture to a lightly floured surface and knead until a dough forms.

Split dough and firmly press each piece into two 10-by 2-inch logs. Arrange logs 2 inches apart on a greased and floured large baking sheet.

Bake in middle of oven until golden, about 30 minutes. Leave oven on.

Loosen logs from baking sheet with a metal spatula, then transfer to a cutting board and cool 5 minutes. Cut logs crosswise with a large heavy knife into 1/2-inch-wide slices and arrange on baking sheet, standing upright, 1/4 inch apart.

Notes:

• For crisp, biscotti-esque texture, bake cookies again in middle of oven until golden all over with firm centers, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. (Cookies will crisp as they cool.)
• Cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature 2 weeks.
• I'm considering making a variant with dried cranberries, toasted pistachios, and dark chocolate mini chips. Other recipes: Claire's Mandelbrot; Orange, Chocolate, and Hazelnut Mandelbrot

mc do takes paris

In honor of le quatorze, aka Bastille Day, here's an article about how the French are changing McDonald's worldwide.

McDonald's Takes Paris
Le Big Mac Booms in the Land of Haute Cuisine
BY JACOB GERSHMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 2, 2007
PARIS — After devouring a Big Mac, a royal cheese, and paprika-flavored potato wedges dipped in mayonnaise, Romain Bertucca, a shaggy-haired 22-year-old drama student wearing a beret and ripped jeans, explained why he eats McDonald's.

"It's quick. The food is hot. It's not like a sandwich. It's McDonald's," he said, sitting on a stool with a friend on Thursday afternoon, overlooking Avenue de Wagram, two blocks from the Arc de Triomphe.

Mr. Bertucca is not alone in his endorsement of McDonald's, or MAKdoeNAHLDS, as it's pronounced here. In this land of haute cuisine where American tourists are customarily greeted with Gallic scorn, the world's largest fast food company is more popular than ever.

Last year, McDonald's sales in France grew by 8%, almost doubling its growth in American sales, which have also rebounded in recent years. Every 12 months, one out of two French people visit McDonald's at least once. Annually, they consume 22 million McDonald's salads, 60,000 tons of French fries, 32,000 tons of beef patties, 12,000 tons of chicken, and 600 million buns.

"We hate it and go to it. It's our paradox," a journalist for the French magazine Challenges, Alice Mérieux, said. "We're very anti-American in principle, but individually, if you're going to the movies and have to eat in 10 minutes, you go to McDonald's."

After years of stagnant sales, McDonald's success also appears to be spreading throughout the rest of Europe, which posted first-quarter 2007 sales growth of 8.9%, outpacing growth in the American market. McDonald's is now one of the biggest private-sector employers on the continent, with a workforce approaching 300,000.

Even the harshest critics of McDonald's acknowledge that the burger company has its admirers. "French people are not against McDonald's. They are against the Bush administration," José Bové, the radical farmer and French presidential candidate, said in an interview.

Mr. Bové, who became a folk hero of the anti-globalization movement in 1999 when he and other protesters dismantled a McDonald's in the southern French town of Millau, said he doesn't personally know anybody who eats the food, which he calls la malbouffe, or junk food. He blamed the growth of McDonald's in his country on the incorrigible youth. "Maybe it's a new way of life. Maybe they believe this is modernity," he said.

To McDonald's executives, the triumph of the burger company in France and, increasingly, around Europe is not a paradox but the fruit of a grand strategy cooked up by a Frenchman named Denis Hennequin, a maverick in a company that made its fortune on standardization and duplication.

The idea of Mr. Hennequin, the first non-American to hold the job of president of McDonald's Europe since the company first arrived on the continent in 1971, was to re-imagine the entire McDonald's brand from a European perspective. It was an idea that was first received coolly by Oak Brook, Ill., executives, who now embrace Mr. Hennequin as a visionary.

"We truly became an international company," he said in an interview. "We were a global company, but I'm not sure we valued the experiences of other parts of the world. You can tell them yes, we are born in the USA, but we are made in France, made in Italy, made in Spain."

Mr. Hennequin, a compact man with a balding pate, wide eyes, and a prominent nose, embodies the concept. His hobbies are motorcycles and rock music. In his spare time, he and his wife and three children perform as a family band and play covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival and the Rolling Stones. His corporate role model is Apple's Steve Jobs. His favorite sandwich is the Big Mac, which, like most Europeans, he eats without a drop of ketchup.

When McDonald's first arrived in Europe in the early 1970s, the selling point was America. The American fast food experience — cheap, quick, sanitary — was an exotic import. By the 1990s, the novelty wore off, while scares over mad cow disease, increasing concerns about fatty diets, and growing anti-American sentiment turned off customers. McDonald's was aggressively expanding but sales were sluggish.

Europe, Mr. Hennequin says, has a love-hate relationship with America. "The problem comes when we are perceived as imposing a model," he said. McDonald's, he figured, needed a new model.

After investing heavily in market research, Mr. Hennequin overhauled the whole operation, upgrading the décor, tweaking recipes, using more organic ingredients, providing nutrition labeling, and countering criticism from Mr. Bové and others by opening its restaurants to scrutiny.

For an American observer, the most striking change is the design. The red and yellow kiddy template has been supplanted by more mature colors. Outside signage in urban areas is more discreet and blends into the neighborhood. Restaurants now have leather upholstery seating and some have gas fireplaces, candles, and hardwood floors. McDonald's has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to "re-image" about a third of its more than 6,300 restaurants in Europe and 70% of its branches in France.

"Brand expression is in the store more than anything else," Mr. Hennequin said. "McDonald's has ignored for too long the restaurant. When you enter the restaurant, you enter the brand."

Mr. Hennequin created a "design studio," overseen by architect Philippe Avanzi, which offers franchise owners a choice of 10 schemes. Each scheme is christened with a lofty name like "Eternity," which feature straight wall patterns inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, and "Origins," favored by operators in scenic and rustic settings. "Origins" is supposed to reproduce the ambience of a cozy chalet, with wrought-iron chandeliers and rough stone interior walls.

In a remodeled McDonald's in the shopping mall in La Défense business district, the walls are decorated with giant images of lettuce and actual beef grinders and other kitchen utensils, solemnly framed as if they belonged in a museum. Nutritional messages scroll along a teleprompter installed above large round benches wrapped in coffee- and vanilla-colored upholstery. Ronald McDonald is nowhere in sight.

Even the McDonald's play areas, called "Ronald Gym Club," have been given a face-lift and are now being equipped with bicycle simulators, basketball hoops with electronic scoreboards, and intricate obstacle courses.

"If you have the right surroundings, suddenly everything is upgraded," Mr. Hennequin said.

The food is still American but with European characteristics. The anchors of the menu, the French fries and one-tenth-of-a-pound hamburgers, taste almost the same as they do in America. McDonald's performs the same "sensory evaluations" on its food supplies as it does across the Atlantic. Buns, for example, are tested for "crown-seed coverage," "heel color," and shape and symmetry. But McDonald's is adding more and more "locally relevant" sandwiches and snacks.

In the United Kingdom, the company is introducing a hamburger called the "Limited Edition Deluxe" with bacon, served on a ciabatta roll, with "mature" cheddar, Batavia lettuce, grilled onions, tangy tomato relish, and garlic mayonnaise. "It's a much more complicated burger," said Chris Young, who showcased the company's summer European menu in a 12-course tasting meal for reporters last week at McDonald's modernist Germany head office in an upscale suburb of Munich.

In France, McDonald's is rolling out le p'tit moutarde, a smaller-sized hamburger on a ciabatta roll smothered with a "sophisticated" mustard sauce. To suit European tastes, the chicken filets in the European sandwiches have a "grilled profile," instead of the more American "roasted profile," Mr. Young said.

The expanding Starbucks-like McCafés, which are constructed inside the regular units and aimed at Europe's aging population, serve lemon tartelettes (a little pie dessert), flan nature (a custard dessert), and cappuccinos poured in ceramic mugs.

The result of all of these changes is that Europeans who eat at McDonald's have stopped associating the restaurant with America — just the way American consumers no longer have France in mind when they eat a cup of Dannon yogurt.

"The food is American, but if you say, ‘McDonald's,' I don't think America," said Jan Bastel, a 16-year-old German student eating at a refurbished McDonald's in Munich.

The branch occupies the first three floors of a neo-baroque building in front of a modern fountain in the middle of Karlsplatz, the historic old city entrance where hordes of shoppers, commuters, and tourists converge. It's busier than any McDonald's in America.

The whole place has an international feel. Green and yellow balloons festoon the spacious entranceways, which are decorated with white McDonald's signs in Arabic, Japanese, Russian, English, and German. Behind the counter, more than a dozen McDonald's employees ring up 9,000 customers a day from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m., serving them items like "Los Scharfos," a fried snack made with gooey cottage cheese and jalapenos, and "El Pikante," an oval beef patty in a pita dressed in picante sauce, and a "big bacon" burger topped with jalapenos. (McDonald's executives say Germans are fascinated by Mexican culture and love spicy foods, thus the jalapenos.)

On a recent afternoon, a middle-aged civil servant quietly ate a Filet O-Fish and sipped on a Coke during a 20-minute work break. On the second floor, a father was treating his son to chicken nuggets for his 12th birthday. On the third floor, two teenage girls sat on cushy armchairs and snacked on a hamburger and a chicken sandwich.

Around them, McDonald's employees from Afghanistan, Turkey, Bulgaria, and China swept and mopped the floors, while a Field Mob hip-hop video on a flat-screen television embedded in the wall provided the soundtrack. Music is a running motif in the restaurant, which is decorated with wall prints of David Bowie and jazz musicians and is equipped with teenager-targeted video kiosks for downloading music and burning CDs.

Mr. Hennequin anticipates that the new European McDonald's experience will become increasingly common in America. "The U.S. is kind of using us as a guinea pig," he said.

Already Oak Brook executives have borrowed a number of Mr. Hennequin's ideas. McDonald's in America has launched its own redesign plan for many of its franchises and has adopted his "open doors" policy of inviting customers to take tours of franchise kitchens and meet executives and suppliers. Mr. Hennequin started the policy after Mr. Bové destroyed the McDonald's eight years ago.

American executives have also taken notice of the more direct European style of message communication. For instance, McDonald's Europe launched a poster campaign at its United Kingdom outlets that sought to raise the commonly low opinion of a McDonald's entry-level job. "Over half of our executive team started in our restaurants. Not bad for a McJob," the posters said.

Mr. Hennequin has attracted criticism for his McPassport initiative, which allows employees to transfer to any restaurant in the European Union, with some accusing him of trying to make it easier for Western European managers to hire cheap labor. Mr. Hennequin said the policy responded to the wanderlust of younger employees.

"There is a tremendous amount of creative thinking that takes place in Europe and our system has benefited from it," Jack Daly, a spokesman for McDonald's, said.

Mr. Hennequin, who is in the running to someday succeed James Skinner and become McDonald's first CEO from Europe, has already envisioned what he could do for McDonald's in New York City.

"In New York, we have to change the image and design of the restaurants. I think the European design would fit very nicely in a city like New York," he said.
Via Leo

bappy birthday, susan g!

"Age is not important unless you're a cheese."
- Helen Hayes

harry potter spoiler

My Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom is: Severus Snape is turned into an ice cream cone by Hermione in the dining room, with the candlestick Get your Harry Potter Spoiler of Doom

iiiiiiiiiiinteresting

newsflash: alberto lied

I realize that this will come as a shock to many of you, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales lied to Congress when he testified he was unaware of any civil liberties abuses related to FBI National Security Letter (NSL) records demands.

Contrary to Gonzales's testimony, FBI documents show he was well aware of the abuses. In 2005 testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Gonzales and members of the administration claimed that no abuses of the Patriot Act's NSL provisions had ever occurred.

Now, four librarians are speaking out about the lies.

NSL Recipients and ACLU Clients Speak Out About Gonzales' Deceit
Wednesday, July 11, 2007

In light of the revelation that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales misled Congress about his knowledge of the FBI's abuse of National Security Letters (NSL) to make the case for reauthorization of the Patriot Act, four NSL recipients spoke out. George Christian, Janet Nocek, Barbara Bailey and Peter Chase — employees or officers of Library Connection, a consortium of libraries in Connecticut — were plaintiffs in Doe v. Gonzales, the ACLU's challenge to the Department of Justice's use of NSLs.

NSL Recipient George Christian Outraged AG Misled Congress

I am not surprised, but I am outraged that Attorney General Gonzales misled Congress when he claimed that he was not aware of any instances of civil liberties abuse. I am the recipient of a National Security Letter issued under the authority of the USA PATRIOT Act. Along with three colleagues and the ACLU, I won the right in Federal District Court to discuss that fact. To our knowledge every other recipient (estimates vary, but currently hover around 150,000 between 2003 and 2005) of an NSL is perpetually gagged and must take the secret of their experience with them to their graves. I believe their free speech rights have been violated — every federal court that has looked at this issue has concluded that a perpetual gag amounts to an unconstitutional prior restraint.

I know my free speech rights were violated. My colleagues and I wanted to inform Congress that our organization, a consortium of 27 libraries, had received a National Security Letter. We wanted to do this back when Congress was debating the renewal of those provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that were about to sunset. At this time the Justice Department was giving Congress the impression that the USA PATRIOT Act had not been and would not be used against libraries. At least four of the citizens who could refute such a claim were prevented from doing so. A few weeks after the USA PATRIOT Act was renewed, the Justice Department decided we no longer needed to be gagged.

What a remarkable coincidence.

A National Security Letter is in effect a demand for records issued by the FBI with no judicial approval, with no third party review for probable cause. Most letters request banking records or phone records or email records about people. So several multiples (10? 50? 100?) of 150,000 people have had their phone records or banking records or email activity turned over to the FBI in secret and with no showing of probable cause.

The crux of the problem is the government cannot be allowed to operate without oversight and without checks and balances. Under a blanket of secrecy — and the PATRIOT Act has many such blankets — human frailty and the need for expediency will always lead to abuse. Allowed to proceed unchecked, over time abuse becomes the rule rather than the exception.

Unless we insist on stringent and meaningful oversight, we are all in danger of losing all of our liberties in an expanding fog of national security claims. In addition to fighting our gag order, my colleagues and I resisted complying with the National Security Letter's request for patron information at one of our libraries. We did so on the grounds that there was no judicial review of the NSL — no evidence to us that an independent judiciary had found the request to be justified by probable cause.

Recently the Judiciary Committee asked the FBI for a tally of how many libraries have been served National Security Letters. Their answer? That the number of libraries served with National Security Letters is classified. A real number could lead to Congressional investigation and review. Over-classification and misleading statements from the Attorney General are the means this administration is using to get itself off the hook. We must stop the fog from spreading further. Congress should return oversight, return checks and balances, and save our imperiled civil liberties.

— George Christian, Executive Director, Library Connection

god save the BBC

You have to be kidding me.

BBC Apologizes for Causing Royal Pain
God save the BBC.

The British Broadcasting Corporation was forced to apologize Thursday for misleadingly portraying Queen Elizabeth II as a royal pain.

During a promotional event in London Wednesday, the Beeb screened a trailer for its highly anticipated five-part fall documentary, A Year with the Queen, to a group of British journalists.

The trailer featured a showdown between Her Majesty and photographer extraordinaire Annie Liebovitz during an official portrait sitting that seemingly ended with the queen storming out of the shoot.

The clip was notable for what appeared to be a rare public display of displeasure from the queen, who was shown exchanging terse words with Liebovitz about her outfit for the March shoot before apparently walking off.

In the footage, Liebovitz is heard talking to Queen Elizabeth about her choice of apparel, which consisted of acrown and official Order of the Garter robes.

"I think it will look better without the crown," the Vanity Fair lenser proffered to her royal subject. "Less dressy. The garter robe is so..."

But before she could summon the word "extraordinary," the monarch intervened.

"Less dressy?" she asked, pointing to her royal regalia. "What do you think this is?"

The clip then jumped to footage of Her Royal Highness making her way down one of Buckingham Palace's corridors, complaining to an aid that she is "not changing anything. I've had enough of dressing like this, thank you very much."

With headlines of the queen's tantrum spinning their way around the globe, the BBC on Thursday admitted that some creative editing was to blame. Officials said the footage of the quick-stepping queen complaining of her wardrobe was actually shot whle she was making her way to the portrait sitting, not storming out of it.

"In this trailer, there is a sequence that implies that the queen left a sitting prematurely," the BBC said in a statement. "This was not the case and the actual sequence of events was misrepresented.

"The BBC would like to apologize to both the queen and Annie Liebovitz for any upset this may have caused."

The network also said that the trailer, cut together from pieces of the five-part documentary, was "not intended to provide a full picture of what actually happened or of what will be shown in the final programme."

In addition to the BBC's apology, the monarch's behavior was defended by her minions.

"The queen doesn't storm," former Royal Press Officer Dickie Arbiter told the BBC. "The queen doesn't walk out of anything."

Liebovitz even came to the defense of Queen Elizabeth, and also clarified the timeline of events to the London Times.

"She entered the room at a surprisingly fast pace, as fast as the regalia would allow her and muttered, 'Why am I wearing these heavy robes in the middle of the day?' She doesn't really want to get dressed up any more. She just couldn't be bothered and I admire her for that."

Despite the apology, which was also issued to Buckingham Palace, the network's overlords in the BBC Trust have asked director general Mark Thompson to give the board a full explanation at a trustee meeting next week.

Not that the BBC itself is waiting that long. On Thursday evening, they issued another statement saying the footage was edited together by RDF Media, the production company behind documentary, several months ago and was shown by mistake Wednesday.

The network stressed that the faulty footage was never meant to be seen by members of the press or public and was accidentally sent to the launch party. Organizers "used the sequence in good faith without any knowledge that the error had been made," per the BBC.

A BBC spokesperson refused to say whether a complaint from the queen herself prompted Thursdays mea culpas.

The apparent non-incident went down in March during a portrait sitting meant to commemorate the queen's first state-sanctioned trip to the U.S. in 16 years.

Aside from the photo shoot, which, from the sounds of it, will likely be completely excised from the documentary, A Year With the Queen also depicts the monarch presiding over the opening of Parliament, the celebrating her 80th birthday and interacting with members of the royal family.

There are currently no plans for the special to air outside the U.K.

absolut-ly awesome

Absolut's new* ad is very clever. (Leave it to a Swedish Vodka company to hire an American ad firm to use a French song in a commercial filmed in Uruguay.)

Seriously, I love the use of Charles Trenet's "Boum" and the fact that it was filmed in Montevideo (the ending is a clear aerial shot of Plaza Independencia, with Palacio Salvo photoshopped out).

It would be great if we actually solved problems this way.

Check out other ads in the campaign ... especially the "Mulit" Bollywood one.

*(okay, I have been living under a rock/ being a grad student who doesn't watch TV. I was just informed that it came out in May.)

Absolut - Protest

Gracias, Javier

click and clack coming to a tv near you

I'm not so sure that this is a good idea.

NPR's 'Car Talk' Headed For PBS
THEY WERE A HIT ON NPR. Now they are coming to TV. Tom and Ray Magliozzi of 'Car Talk' are hitting the big screen--as an animated sitcom in the summer of 2008. The show will launch with 10 half-hour episodes. Fans are invited to submit title suggestions for the television show, which begins where the radio show ends.

the famous waiter

the famous waiter by comment dit-on

Chuck (an American econ prof blogging from Uruguay whom we do not know) recently blogged about a wacky waiter at a restaurant in Colonia:

... [we] enjoyed lunch at a small restaurant called the Viejo Barrio with a charismatic waiter who wore 6 different wacky hats during our meal

This is the waiter in question. (Our two-hour dinner there in February included several hat changes, as well.)

411 is so 1990

Google now offers 411, but it's better. The voice-activated service is free and means you don't have to write down the number — they will connect you or SMS you the info.

Google Voice Local Search (1-800-GOOG-411)

Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone.

Using this service, you can:

• Search for a local business by name or category. (Say "Giovanni's Pizzeria" or just "pizza".)
• Get connected to the business, free of charge.
• Get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone. (Just say "text message".)

It's free. Google doesn’t charge you a thing for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.

quotable

It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head.
-Sally Kempton

buster's school of magic tricks

No muggle left behind ...

Via Diana H.

daft hands

And I thought I liked Daft Punk. (Skip ahead about one minute into the video.)
Daft hands - Daft Punk

Via Edgar

hostage alan johnston released

I've been following this story for a few months now, thanks to my friend Tess. As I heard the news of his release on the BBC World Service last night, I was floored.

Each night when I heard about him on the World Service, I thought that he must have been murdered by his captors. I got goosebumps when he was interviewed yesterday and said that he had heard about the campaign to free him over the past four months on the World Service and knew that the world had not forgotten him. His ordeal highlights the dangers that journalists face.

The fact that Hamas' takeover of Gaza is why he's free (they're trying to show that they're about law-and-order in Gaza) is also quite interesting.

BBC's Gaza reporter released
BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been released by kidnappers in the Gaza Strip after 114 days in captivity.

Mr Johnston, 45, was handed over to armed men in Gaza City. He said his ordeal was like "being buried alive" but it was "fantastic" to be free.

Speaking live from Jerusalem later, he thanked those who had supported him, and vowed to return to "obscurity".

Rallies worldwide had called for Mr Johnston's release. An online petition was signed by some 200,000 people.

Mr Johnston's father Graham said he and his wife were "overjoyed" at their son's release.

"It's been 114 days of a living nightmare," he said.

Gordon Brown, in his first prime minister's questions session in the UK parliament, said: "The whole country will welcome the news that Alan Johnston, a fearless journalist whose voice was silenced for too long, is now free."

Mr Brown acknowledged the "crucial" role played by Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in securing Mr Johnston's release.

But a spokesman for Mr Brown said Britain's policy towards Hamas had not changed, and the movement was still expected to recognise Israel and show a commitment to non-violence.

The BBC reporter was handed over to officials of Hamas, which controls Gaza, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

He later appeared beside Ismail Haniya, the Hamas leader in Gaza, and thanked everyone who had worked for his release. Mr Johnston is now at the British Consulate in Jerusalem but is not expected to fly home on Wednesday.

Hamas gunmen overran Gaza last month, expelling their rivals from the Fatah faction and prompting its leader, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to sack Mr Haniya as prime minister.

Mr Haniya said the result "confirms [Hamas] is serious in imposing security and stability and maintaining law and order in this very dear part of our homeland".

He also said he hoped a deal could now be reached for the release of the Israeli corporal, Gilad Shalit, who has been held in Gaza since being seized in a border raid by three militant groups a year ago.

'Dreamt of freedom'
At the news conference, Mr Johnston thanked everyone who had worked towards his release.

He described his experience of captivity as "appalling" and "occasionally quite terrifying".

"It became quite hard to imagine normal life again," he said.

"The last 16 weeks have been the very worst of my life," he added. "I was in the hands of people who were dangerous and unpredictable.

"I literally dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room."

Mr Johnston said he was not tortured during captivity but he did fall ill from the food he was served.

He added that he had been kept in four different locations, two of them only briefly.

He was able to see the sun in the first month but was then kept in a shuttered room until a week before his release, he said.

Mr Johnston was kept in chains for 24 hours but was not harmed physically until the last half hour of his captivity, when his captors hit him "a bit".

He said Hamas's seizure of power in Gaza and its subsequent pledge to improve security in the territory had facilitated his release.

"The kidnappers seemed very comfortable and very secure in their operation until... a few weeks ago, when Hamas took charge of the security operation here," Mr Johnston said.

He said that he was told he was going home on Tuesday night.

"I thought at first 'They are moving me again', and I thought maybe they're handing me on to new kidnappers but then as we got deeper and deeper into Gaza City, I really began at last to believe that maybe we were finishing it," he said.

Radio contact
Mr Johnston was abducted on 12 March by the Army of Islam, a shadowy militant group dominated by Gaza's powerful Dugmush clan.

Just over a month after his capture, it was announced that he had been killed to send a "message" to the Palestinian authorities.

The group released three videos, two of which featured footage of the kidnapped correspondent.

It said it would kill its captive if its demands for the release of Muslim prisoners in British custody were not met.

But Mr Johnston said his abductors had also offered him freedom in exchange for making one of the videos.

Having worked in Gaza for the past three years, Mr Johnston said he was well aware of Palestinian traditions of hospitality and regarded his abductors as an "aberration".

He said he was looking forward to being re-united with his family, expressing sorrow that his "actions" had brought turmoil to their lives.

He had a brief conversation with his father over the telephone after being released.

Mr Johnston said he stayed aware of efforts to free him by listening to the BBC World Service on the radio.

News of global demonstrations in his support was a source of comfort to him, he said.

"There were demonstrations from Beijing to Buenos Aires, Beirut to London to Washington and you know I could feel how much the Palestinian people were feeling that this wasn't right and how much support there was for an end to my captivity," he said.

The BBC has issued a statement expressing relief and delight at its employee's release.

a chiropractic goldmine

I'm lucky enough to have a laptop. I schlep it back and forth to work and home because it's also my personal computer (I'm getting rid of my hulking desktop machine at home). And yes ... I'm considering using a wheelie bag because I don't think the laptop bag is good for my back.

Life’s Work: Your Briefcase Just Ran Over My Toe
By LISA BELKIN
June 28, 2007

DAN RAWLINGS — a sales executive, former football player and guy’s guy — loves his briefcase.

It’s the “color of coffee,” he says adoringly, and the photo he sent me of the case confirms the point. “Not dark brown, not black like everything else out there. Coffee.” His “workhorse” as he proudly calls it “can fit two laptops and 15 pounds of files.”

Then he adds: “I am secure in my masculinity. I don’t need to defend my bag to anyone.”

If Mr. Rawlings sounds just a tad defensive, it is because his beloved has ... wheels.

Not since women first laced clunky sneakers over pantyhose for the trek to work has an accessory brought out such strong feelings among the armies who drag pounds of papers between home and office. What one commuter sees as the answer to all aches and pains, the next one views as a hazard waiting to happen: what gets you through the subway station faster only gets in my way as I run for the train.

And then there are the aesthetics.

“Nerd-o-rama,” sniffed Mark Stevens, the chief executive of MSCO, a global marketing firm in Rye Brook, N.Y. “I would rather carry a baby grand on a broken back than swish around with a rolling bag. Dorothy Parker said, ‘Men never make passes at girls who wear glasses.’ That’s what women think of men with training wheels.”

“Chic,” responded a human resources executive named Karin, whose last name was lost in the din of Grand Central Terminal as she rolled briskly through. Commuters dodged her, but she insisted that she had never tripped anyone with her case. “I’m an expert wheeler,” she said.

Whatever you think of the wheeled briefcases, they are exploding in number. While no industrywide statistics exist, major manufacturers report a jump in demand. Tumi, the travel and accessories company, doubled its sales of the bags in 2006, compared with 2005. It added three rolling models to its line in the past few months, for a total of eight, including one designed to appeal to women.

“Rolling briefcases are one of those contradictory things,” said a Tumi spokeswoman who didn’t want her name attached to the words she said next. “They are hideous,” she said, adding, “our customers tell us they can’t live without them.”

There are lessons about the workplace, and about human vanity, in this love-hate relationship with a wheeled leather box. Its very existence is a measure of how work has changed.

That slim wisp of a briefcase that Robert Young’s character brought home from the office in “Father Knows Best”? Well, he didn’t carry a laptop. Or log a 70-hour week. Or lug around the 30 pounds that Mr. Rawlings, the executive vice president of sales and field operations for LogicalApps, shoves into his battered bag on an average day.

He certainly didn’t regularly fly to same-day meetings that might go until the next morning, requiring him to pack extra clothes in the coffee-colored bag to hedge his bets.

All that lugging — be it briefcase, messenger bag, pocketbook or backpack — takes a toll on the back. And the neck. And the shoulders. And even the wrists.

The American Medical Association warns that carrying more than 10 percent of your body weight can lead to injury, and the overnight appearance of low back pain led me to weigh my own workbag a few summers ago (back then, it was a satchel slung over one shoulder). It was about 25 pounds.

My choices were to either gain more than 100 pounds to reach the 10 percent threshold; to carry less, which seemed improbable; or to invest in some wheels, which I did. That switch (along with months of physical therapy for a herniated disc) stopped my back from hurting.

But wheeling my Targus case around makes me feel like a tourist. Or a grandma on her way home from the supermarket.

Those who are loath to wheel cite a few reasons. Rolling bags annoy other pedestrians. They are not worth the extra struggle on stairs. Not to mention that lifting a wheeled case — with the added weight of wheels and handle — onto a luggage rack is actually more of a strain on the back than lifting one without wheels.

But most freely admit that their choice is based not on practicality, but on ego.

“For sheer attractiveness — not a huge fan,” said Rachel Weingarten, whose book “Career and Corporate Cool” will be published by Wiley next month. She was on her way to a meeting, and was, she said via an e-mail message, “lugging an incredibly stunning (and very pricey) bag that will be filled with presentation materials, books and other goodies.”

“It looks incredible, and will impress my fashion-forward clients,” she continued, “but probably weighs more than my luggage does.”

Adults are not the only ones acting like status-conscious high schoolers. Actual high schoolers (and their younger siblings) are, too. When I suggested to my teenagers that they switch to backpacks with wheels, they looked at me as if I had suggested a return to Barney lunchboxes. And yet the American Occupational Therapy Association warns that 5,000 children each year are treated for injuries caused by overweight backpacks and that 60 percent of school-age children have experienced back pain because of what they carry.

The broader question, of course, is not how but why we are carrying all this stuff. What is in those cases, with and without wheels, that has to go back and forth from work to home nightly? Why did the state of California have to pass a law limiting the weight of student textbooks?

And why do preschoolers need Dora the Explorer backpacks anyway? What do they put inside? Their quarterly earnings reports?

Our overstuffed briefcases indicate either that we have too much work to do or that we find security in the possibility that if downtime strikes, we have work on hand to fill it.

“About half the time I actually do the work I bring home,” Denise Shade said as she and her wheels got off the 6:21 a.m. train at Grand Central from New Canaan, Conn. “The intent is there.” It reassures Ms. Shade, who is in charge of foreign exchange at KeyBank, to know that her work trails in her wake at all times.

Robert Lopata, a strategic marketing manager at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in Philadelphia, is one who sees deeper meaning in the wheels that pass by him each working day (and which he adamantly refuses to use).

Uglier than those wheels, he said, are the “workplace demands and neurotic tendencies that make people think that they need to cart around that much stuff. Wasn’t the information revolution supposed to make briefcases and paper, for that matter, obsolete?

“The rolling briefcase,” Mr. Lopata continued, “is a symptom of a much bigger problem. Ever notice that the most efficient people are the ones with the least amount of stuff?

“We hate the guy with the rolling briefcase because either literally or metaphorically, we are that guy.”

thurgood marshall must be rolling over in his grave

Call me cynical. Call me a historian. Call me a realist.

In this country, separate has never meant equal, especially when it comes to issues of race and education.

I'm dismayed. I'm disgusted. But I'm not surprised. This conservative-dominated Supreme Court is starting to show its true colors. What's frustrating is that those are black and white, and not the many nuanced shades of gray that I still expect from learned justices entrusted with interpreting our most sacred possession — the Constitution.

Editorial: Resegregation Now
Published: June 29, 2007

The Supreme Court ruled 53 years ago in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated education is inherently unequal, and it ordered the nation’s schools to integrate. Yesterday, the court switched sides and told two cities that they cannot take modest steps to bring public school students of different races together. It was a sad day for the court and for the ideal of racial equality.

Since 1954, the Supreme Court has been the nation’s driving force for integration. Its orders required segregated buses and public buildings, parks and playgrounds to open up to all Americans. It wasn’t always easy: governors, senators and angry mobs talked of massive resistance. But the court never wavered, and in many of the most important cases it spoke unanimously.

Yesterday, the court’s radical new majority turned its back on that proud tradition in a 5-4 ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts. It has been some time since the court, which has grown more conservative by the year, did much to compel local governments to promote racial integration. But now it is moving in reverse, broadly ordering the public schools to become more segregated.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who provided the majority’s fifth vote, reined in the ruling somewhat by signing only part of the majority opinion and writing separately to underscore that some limited programs that take race into account are still acceptable. But it is unclear how much room his analysis will leave, in practice, for school districts to promote integration. His unwillingness to uphold Seattle’s and Louisville’s relatively modest plans is certainly a discouraging sign.

In an eloquent dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer explained just how sharp a break the decision is with history. The Supreme Court has often ordered schools to use race-conscious remedies, and it has unanimously held that deciding to make assignments based on race “to prepare students to live in a pluralistic society” is “within the broad discretionary powers of school authorities.”

Chief Justice Roberts, who assured the Senate at his confirmation hearings that he respected precedent, and Brown in particular, eagerly set these precedents aside. The right wing of the court also tossed aside two other principles they claim to hold dear. Their campaign for “federalism,” or scaling back federal power so states and localities have more authority, argued for upholding the Seattle and Louisville, Ky., programs. So did their supposed opposition to “judicial activism.” This decision is the height of activism: federal judges relying on the Constitution to tell elected local officials what to do.

The nation is getting more diverse, but by many measures public schools are becoming more segregated. More than one in six black children now attend schools that are 99 to 100 percent minority. This resegregation is likely to get appreciably worse as a result of the court’s ruling.

There should be no mistaking just how radical this decision is. In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said it was his “firm conviction that no Member of the Court that I joined in 1975 would have agreed with today’s decision.” He also noted the “cruel irony” of the court relying on Brown v. Board of Education while robbing that landmark ruling of much of its force and spirit. The citizens of Louisville and Seattle, and the rest of the nation, can ponder the majority’s kind words about Brown as they get to work today making their schools, and their cities, more segregated.

reason #2498 i never want to live in florida

Seeing a headline about a one-eyed gator attacking a golfer immediately made me think of my friend Jason.

One-eyed gator pulls golfer into pond
VENICE, Florida (AP) -- A man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when a nearly 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in the water, authorities said.

Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball Monday from a pond on the sixth hole at the Lake Venice Golf Club.

The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Burger used his left arm to beat the reptile until it freed him.

"I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled" for help, said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.

Burger, from Lenoir City, Tennessee, was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.

It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.

The pond at the sixth hole has a "Beware of Alligator" sign.

"Unfortunately, that's part of Florida," course general manager Rod Parry said. "There's wildlife in these ponds."

$187,122.17

That's the amount raised for the American Cancer Society by this past weekend's 2007 Relay for Life in La Jolla! Thanks to everyone who donated time, money, and possessions to this amazing fundraising effort.

I participated in the 24-hour event, along with Cass, Regina, Melissa B., Heather, Norma, Jeff, and others. It was powerful to walk in the survivor's lap and well worth the sleep deprivation and blisters! It was beautiful to see the track lit up with luminarae (?) in honor of those who are still fighting for their lives, for survivors, and for those who have lost their battles. More than anything, it was empowering to do my small part to raise funds and awareness for an organization that serves so many and that has been so helpful in my life. Thanks, ACS.

b to the onna to the roo

Whether you call it Bonnaroo, Dustaroo, Sweataroo, Drugaroo, or Greenaroo, the four-day festival in Manchester, TN was awesome. Leo, Ash, James, Mary, Sabine, and I had a great time with 90,000 people on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

Here's my summary of the weekend:

1. I have never been a Tool fan. I get that it's good music, and that Maynard is a clever sonofabitch, and that 10,000,000 Tool fans can't be wrong. It's just not my aesthetic. But after seeing that show and all his crazy lasers and the energy that came out of that stage, I will seriously consider going to see them again if they're in town and I don't have to sell my firstborn into white slavery to afford a ticket. They were that good.
2. I loved the Decemberists show in spite of the Degrassi Junior High crowd that talked through the whole fucking show. The whole fucking show.
3. Gogol Bordello is a must-see if you are ever within 6 hours driving distance. Think Ukrainian folk music meets French punk meets crazy-with-an-eeeeeeeeeeee frontman who literally crowdsurfed on top of a ginormous bass drum while singing "think local, fuck global" for a good 5 minutes. Good times, man. Good times.
4. Ash is a damn good masseuse. She tenderized my airplane-and-camping-sore back so well on Friday that I was very upset to have missed her on Saturday night for round two.
5. It is possible to wash all parts of your body in privacy (if not comfort) with a Nalgene bottle, foaming Dial soap (big ups to Sabine for buying that instead of the regular soap), and a portapotty. I know because I did each day and was very glad that I did.
6. I set foot in a Wal-MART for the first time in 6 years, because I had no other shopping choices. I'm proud to report these pertinent facts:
• It was before 8 a.m.
• We bought a case of Miller Lite (no glass at the festival + shopping at WalMART = no good beer choices) and
• Two loaves of bread (we almost got wonder bread, but realized that that would mean eating wonder bread for the next three days and the joke just wasn't that funny)
• Sunscreen (the TSA's 3 oz limit on liquids + the fact that we don't check luggage on the way anywhere + hot, sunny days in the forecast made this mandatory)
• It was in Tennessee

(Yeah, that's all so surreal and effed up that no punchline is necessary.) Related redneck moment: I took a photo of a "no guns allowed" sticker on the way into the Chattanooga Airport as we were leaving. (No joke.)
7. I can't stop smiling every time I think of Michael Franti's "How you feelin'?" set. If you haven't seen him and Spearhead live, then you don't know what good music is, period.
8. Ash & co. got the best campsite ever. It was literally 4 minutes from our tent to the front gate. Amazing.
9. If you go next year, bring a bandanna and coughdrops. The downside to no rain is that bonnaroo becomes dustaroo. Fun things to learn on NPR as you're driving to the festival on the Al Gore, Sr. Memorial Highway: Tennessee is experiencing the driest year on record -- they started keeping track 117 years ago. No wonder favorite son Al Jr. has got his knickers in a twist.
10. I made it out of the state for the second time without going to a Waffle House. I'm still conflicted, as I feel I need to experience it to understand Bill Hicks' whole Waffle House/ waitress reading schtick.

Meanwhile, here's Leo's dispatch, if you haven't already seen it ...

tool fucking rocks. that's all i have to say. and maynard is my boyfriend. great show, smallish crowd because all the hardcore hippy jam band types high-tailed it to their campgrounds, lasers and prog metal, what more can you ask for? you want more? how about tom morello sitting in for a jam?

top two maynard quotes: "i smell patchouuuuuuuuliiiiii" right before the first song, and "i just took a shower... (pause) jealous?" in the middle of the set.

john paul jones is a total slut. he flew in for the superjam, then sat in with everyone and their mother. i'm pretty sure he was the "also special MF guest" at our campsite breakfast on saturday. seriously, i heard "ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the legendary john paul jones" at least three times, and i know i missed some. and yet wolfmother, which was almost embarrassingly zeppelin-like, did not feature him at all. hmmm...

my favorite find last year was balkan beatbox. because of them, i blew regina spektor off to go see gogol bordello saturday afternoon. i still think i might hate their music on CD, but live they are freakin' amazing. like BBB, their energy is off the charts. loudest crowd all weekend.

i still don't know how to describe the police show, mainly because it's kind of a jukebox kind of thing. they don't have any new music, they're not going to give you a crazy jam, they're too big to do covers... so you basically kinda go for the kick of seeing them up close, and to hear the songs you love performed live (sort of like putting money into a jukebox and listening to your favorite songs on it). plus, having never seen them live during their heyday, it's impossible to tell you how good they are compared to that. so i will make some observations:

- i had a great time, which must be said before i start nitpicking. sting and copeland are in great shape music-wise, obviously i expected that from stewart because i saw him last year with oysterhead, but sting surprised me. very little rust if any at all (again, it's hard to compare because i have no other data points). both way into it, relaxed, looking like they were having fun. andy summers did a very good job, but he looked like he was in labor out there, very serious, no interplay with the crowd at all, almost like he couldn't afford to let loose, but i asked happy and she told me he was a smug prick back in the day, too. : )

- as far as the setlist, again, they played all the songs they had to play, except for "don't stand so close to me." (WTF?) no surprises, which is kind of a letdown when you're in the middle of seeing so many bands all trying to impress you with weird out there stuff, but it's the way these shows go. what were they gonna do? no sting songs, either. that was not at all a surprise. it's probably written into the contract. : )

- very tight set, no jammy meanderings, no extended solos, just the standard 15 second guitar solos. never really saw stewart break out and go crazy, which was a little disappointing, but again, i don't think of the police as a jammy band. the songs were sparse, mostly faithful to the original arrangements, and very tight. it didn't look like a band that split up for 25 years and just reformed 5 months ago.

- andy summers has not aged gracefully. sting is in fantastic shape. at one point i asked happy how old he was, and without taking her eyes off the stage she just said "old enough." not even joking. then, at the end, stewart told us sting was going to get naked for us, then stripped him from the waist up and they played a few more songs. at one point the big screens showed a shot of him from the side... um... the ladies very much enjoyed that one (he was wearing tight trousers). ash: "oh, that's nice." these are things i figure you need to know. : )

- my main complaint (other than not playing "don't stand"): the show was scheduled for two hours, and they were on stage for an hour 40, and that includes everyone running off two separate times and coming back for encores. i mean, they're older, they've not been together for all that long this time around, so it's understandable, but the whole crowd was like, "excuse me?" seriously, we all thought there was more and hung around until they started breaking everything down. i think if they had done "don't stand" we probably would have figured that was it, but because such a big song is missing and the show is short, you think "ha ha, ok, you got us, come out for the last encore."

- they did NOT fly puffy in for "every breath you take." i mean, they're not even trying. : )

right now, i have no idea what i saw. i need to go back to my t-shirt and reminisce (this is why every year i get the shirt with all the bands on it). my top shows were tool, gogol bordello, and probably the police, but there was a lot of other stuff. wilco was great, but it was sunday late afternoon and i was fried. it was perfect music to just lay on the grass and collect yourself. i really liked it, and i'd have a hard time telling you how good they were ...

the other shows i saw (i pulled up the schedule online):

white stripes - very tight, great music, but after 45 minutes you get tired of the one song. especially if it's sunday at sundown, you're exhausted, and there's dust everywhere.

ben harper (special guests JPJ and ziggy) - brotha was tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. never seen before, and that's a damn shame. his cover of "dazed and confused" with JPJ was amazing. his cover of "get up, stand up" with ziggy was also very, very good. our group did not have a joint ready for "burn one down." i don't think we'll be allowed in next year. : )

lily allen - caught about 20 minutes to half an hour because of conflicts. great fun. she's like the female equivalent of The Streets last year, the token white british trash-talking poppy rapper, except she didn't hit on people's girlfriends during the show. the equivalent of streets' "don't you wish your boyfriend ate your p**** like me" was a song about men with short dicks. gotta love the brits. : )

michael franti and spearhead - typically upbeat, hopeful, "i'm not the same michael franti who wrote hole in a bucket and dream team" type stuff. loved it as always, and still i wish he'd remember the hip hop roots. it's not like i'm asking for "television, the drug of the nation" here, people. like some guy wrote in the bonnaroo saturday paper, it's not bonnaroo until you hear michael franti yell "how you feelin'?" you know, except for last year, when he didn't show. : P

girl talk-gov't mule-flaming lips-galactic - happy and i decided to meander during saturday's midnight to 3am slot to avoid falling asleep at any one show. girl talk: liked the music, but not for a concert. definitely worth checking out for home listening. mule: we listened to three songs and headed over to check out the lips, and we never made it back. probably my biggest regret all weekend, other than completely spacing out on tom morello's acoustic set (i forgot he was the nightwatchman). they had it going the fuck on. the lips: i didn't like them before bonnaroo, and i still don't see what the big deal is. got there, listened to yoshimi and one other song, and left to check out galactic. heard the vaseline song as we walked away. i guess it's just not my thing. i was also very tired during this whole meander. people raved about the show the next morning, but no one mentioned the music at all. it was all about wayne coming down from heaven on a spaceship in a bubble. galactic: they were awesome, but after 3-4 songs we were just ready for bed. heard them jamming alone, plus mr lif and chali 2na. apparently gift of gab, lyrics born, and a couple of other rappers were also there. probably JPJ as well. : P from the campsite, sasha and digweed sounded awesome (did i mention the sweet ass camp ash and them got for us?)

apparently, rodrigo and gabriela were a-mazing on thursday, just so you know. we got in friday morning. which reminds me: if we do this again next year, i am flying into chattanooga on wednesday and getting my proper rest. seriously, friday was a struggle.

panic - we only saw the first half hour or so, and then we were ready to get back to civilization. it was panic.

manu chao - this was good, i forget why we left a little early, but it wasn't for lack of a good time. it was much more high-energy than i was expecting, even the slower songs on the records they amped up into some sort of punky-ska frenzy (like "desaparecido" and such). definitely want to check out again.

the decemberists - oh my god, you will never believe who sarah is going out with, mike. nuh-huh. uh-huh! no way. yes! and she's totally letting him get to second base. what a slut. nuh-huh! uh-huh! you're not serious. i am too so serious! on and on and on. this year's winner of the radiohead memorial "i wonder how mad all the people around me would really get if i threw a beer at that fucking 13-year old." i think this was a great show. just not loud enough. nowhere near loud enough. definitely checking them out when they come to san diego. anyone who wears a full seersucker suit on stage with 95 degrees and 156% humidity has my undying admiration.

bob weir and ratdog - i left after the decemberists finished, walked over to where bob was, listened to three songs (including "come together") and high-tailed it back to where happy was saving a shady spot for the white stripes. it just was too hot and i was afraid of sunburn, i could feel my right arm heating up. i wanted to stay though. he was rocking. on my way back, i stopped at a portapotty, and there were these three kids in front of me, probably about 18-21, full-on hippie jam band gear on (the beard, the bandanna, the tie dye, everything), talking about the schedule, and one of them goes "so who's on now" and the girl says "bob wire... and... (looks at the schedule)... ratdog." most depressing bonnaroo moment so far. even worse than getting "sir'd" at sasha last year. and no, i didn't mispell weir, she said "wire."

franz ferdinand - happy went, i stayed at the main stage to watch the end of ben harper because he was just smoking (kinda like the oysterhead-death cab conundrum last year). aparently a good show.

damien rice - very mellow, i thought he was really good, but we were kinda at the back of the crowd and he was getting drowned out by fountains of wayne. those guys sounded like they were rocking.

kings of leon - the typical leo comment would be "i liked them better when they were called the black crowes," but you know what? they were awesome. they had speaker issues, a power outage, a freak rainstorm, and they still rocked. i actually think i like them better than the crowes. they are very similar though, down to the lead singer's voice and the fact that it's a family band. apparently, though, they seem to get along fine and no one's married to kate hudson.

wolfmother - i liked them better when they were called led zeppelin. still a good show, but the similarities were a little embarrassing. does it make sense if i say they're 97% zep and 3% europe? am i even allowed to say that?

DJ shadow - awwwwwwww yeah. next year, start on time, and skip the 15-minute speech at the beginning about how you're not in this for the money and neither are 90% of all bands. just get on stage, shout "lars ulrich is an a-hole" into the microphone, and start spinning. once he got started he was on.

pete yorn - a great way to start out our sunday. great afternoon show. i blew john butler off to go to this, because i've seen john 4 times in the past two years. did not regret this at all.

STS9 - typically solid STS9 show while we were there. spent most of the first half of this late night show enjoying the company of the other folks in our party. left early to check out shadow. i hear the ending was wild...

cold war kids - first show we went to friday. spent the first 20 minutes trying to make it past security at the gate, then either listened for a couple of songs, or maybe we just listened while we were at the gate and decided that was enough. unremarkable. we chose to leave early to stake out a good spot for...

brazillian girls - seriously, what are these guys on? and where are they from? the US? brazil? didn't the lead singer say she was german? her accent sounded german. spent the rest of the weekend trying to get their lyrics out of my head so i wouldn't be singing them at work today, especially the one that goes "p**** p**** p**** marijuana" over and over. ah, shit, there it goes again. happy and i skipped paolo nuttini to hear the end of their set and make it to the main stage in time for KOL. someday i may listen to paolo and regret that, but so far i'm happy with that decision.

history made: for the first time in six years, no les claypool in one form or another. : ( though apparently the movie theater tent (don't ask) was showing a movie of his he sent along.

greenaroo

Bonnaroo is an incredibly well choreographed event. The festival logistics boggle my mind. That the organizers added the extra challenge of making it a green festival re: their staging is admirable and in keeping with the roots of this hippie festival.

Bonnaroo's Good Vibrations
The country's biggest outdoor festival does its part to save the planet
By Kate Sheppard

Every June, 90,000 music and comedy lovers from all over the country take over a 700-acre farm in rural Tennessee, where they spend four days eating, drinking, sleeping and, of course, rocking out. Huge outdoor summer festivals are a fan's dream and an environmentalist's nightmare, but the organizers of Bonnaroo, the crown jewel of summer festivals, have worked tirelessly to make sure their event left as little impact on the planet as possible.

This was the sixth year for the concert, and each year the organizers have improved the event’s environmental impact, says Richard Goodstone, head of Superfly Productions, the group behind Bonnaroo.

"I think we've always been conscious in general of our impact at the festival, but certainly as the interest has raised nationally and internationally, it's become more of a priority for us," says Goodstone.

From the beginning, the festival has offered recycling and composting options through a partnership with Clean Vibes, a company dedicated to managing and reducing solid waste at outdoor events. In just five years, the partnership has successfully diverted 500 tons of recyclable or compostable waste from landfills, and in 2006 alone it recycled 56 percent of all the waste generated at the festival.

This year, the Superfly team members have taken it to a whole new level. They bought 30,000 gallons of ethanol that powered the generators of all of the non-music stages, and another stage was powered entirely by solar energy. This year they also used 10 electric golf carts so organizers and stars could get around with zero emissions, and they used a fuel cell to power one of the Wi-Fi towers, thanks to a partnership with the Southern Fuel Cell Coalition.

Superfly also planned to keep more than 250 tons of waste out of landfills by recycling and composting, and all the food and beverage vendors used 100-percent compostable wraps, plates, cups and cutlery. The concert shirts were printed on organic cotton, and all the programs were printed on 30-percent post-consumer recycled paper. Even the toilet paper was made from post-consumer recycled paper.

And for the places where Superfly couldn't reduce its impact directly, they bought carbon offsets with the help of the Bonneville Environmental Foundation and Clif Bar. Clif Bar also helped fans purchase "Cool Tags," or renewable energy credits, in order to offset the emissions created getting to the concert.

Festival planners are also constantly on the lookout for new ways to green the festival. They recently purchased the land where the festival is held each year, and they plan to put in a permanent, renewable power source on site to provide all their energy needs. They also hope to add more electric golf carts to their fleet in the years to come.

For Goodstone and the rest of the folks at Superfly, minimizing the environmental impact is a top priority not just for the event itself, but also as a means to educate concert-goers and spread awareness to everyone involved.

"We've got an incredible platform to make a difference, and what we need right now are a lot of people making a difference, because of what a large issue global warming is," Goodstone says. "We want to be a leader, not just to be a leader, but so that other people can learn from us and say, 'Hey, we can do this. We can make a difference.' Hopefully that will be absorbed by our patrons and our artists."

Between the green goodness and the phenomenal lineup of artists —including the Police, Wilco, Damien Rice, Ziggy Marley and Demetri Martin — the festival was a crowd-pleaser.