Jake Uitti — The Monarch Review — Page 2
Talib Kweli On Freestyling, Reading, Black Star And Lauryn Hill
Tuesday, July 23, 2019 18:24 — 0 Comments
If you came of age in the 90s or early 2000s, backpack or underground hip-hop was likely a large part of the music in your favorite CD binder (and later your iPod). That being the case, one of your favorite rappers was likely Talib Kweli, the Brooklyn-based emcee who rose to fame with his brother-in-rap, Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey) and other fellow mic rippers like Common Sense and The Roots. Since those years, Kweli, who plays Nectar Lounge July 27, has solidified himself as an important voice when it comes to socially conscious ideas and practices. To preview his […]
TONY MILLIONAIRE’S JOURNEY FROM DISHWASHER TO NOTORIOUS CARTOONIST
Wednesday, July 17, 2019 15:19 — 0 Comments
Below is a story from the print-only BARE MAGAZINE, vol. 1 Before becoming a renowned cartoonist, Tony Millionaire struggled to find any work at all. But after quitting a middling dish washing job, he had an epiphany. He decided to go door-to-door in wealthy neighborhoods and draw the manicured mansions and sell the pictures to the people who lived there, earning a living one $25 piece at a time. In the winter, though, the drawing work dried up and Millionaire had to scramble to find new income, eventually landing a job as a demolition man. “The people who had money […]
UPPER HAND: THE MOST NOTORIOUS CARD COUNTER IN AMERICA
Wednesday, July 10, 2019 15:45 — 0 Comments
Below is a story from the print-only BARE MAGAZINE, vol. 1 Professional card counter, David Drury, began his career calculating odds and beating casinos because of a little “divine intervention.” Dury, a regular churchgoer, had picked up a few card counting tricks from books and was instantly hooked. Not long after, a friend from church started a high stakes blackjack team (“What are the chances?” Drury says). Dury joined and honed his skills and since, he’s flown the country, stayed in suites and bet thousands of dollars of other people’s money. For a time, he was even known as the […]
Inspiring Hoops In Seattle
Monday, July 1, 2019 13:53 — 0 Comments
Below is a story that appeared in Alaska Beyond magazine in July 2019 Seattle native and 19-year NBA veteran Jamal Crawford grew up with a basketball in his hands. By the time he was 8 years old, he says, he was already hitting reverse layups while other kids struggled with the basics. Yet the sport that shaped Crawford’s life might not have done so had it not been for an experience he had in a professional-amateur league in Seattle. To this day, the pro-am now led by Crawford and called The Crawsover allows Seattle-area fans to see top talent up […]
Former Portland Trailblazer Announcer Bill Schonely Talks The Team’s Early Years
Wednesday, June 26, 2019 16:05 — 0 Comments
Bill Schonely is the beloved former voice of Portland Trailblazer radio. Today, he speaks fondly of the team, of its first season and its championship season seven years later. I spoke with Bill (aka “Schonz”) for a story on the Blazers’ upcoming 50th for the Alaska Airlines in-flight magazine. The story will run in October. What was the team’s first season like for you in 1970? Of course, coming down from Seattle after doing the Seattle Pilots and AAA Baseball and Major League Baseball, it was quite a challenge for me. I’d been involved in so many other sports but […]
Ken Burns On His New Country Music Documentary
Wednesday, June 26, 2019 12:49 — 0 Comments
The documentarian, Ken Burns, is one of the most decorated and beloved filmmakers of all time. He and his team have chronicled many of the pillars of American history – from the Civil War to Jazz to Muhammad Ali to much more. I got to speak with Burns about his process and about his latest release, Country Music, a 16-hour masterpiece and ode to the American musical genre. I spoke with him for a story that will appear in Alaska Airlines’ in-flight magazine in September. Do you remember the first time you pointed a camera at something and captured real […]
Culinary Change Agent
Saturday, June 1, 2019 12:02 — 0 Comments
Below is a story that appeared in Alaska Beyond magazine in June 2019 For Los Angeles-based chef Roy Choi, who is often credited with spearheading the modern high-quality food truck movement, and who has dedicated his life to feeding people of all walks of life, real societal change happens with each basket of produce sold and each plate of food served. Choi’s TV show, Broken Bread, which launched in May, aims to prove this point. In the show, Choi, who was born in South Korea and grew up in the Los Angeles area, highlights restaurants and organizations that are implementing social progress through […]
A 30/30 Vision
Wednesday, May 1, 2019 12:03 — 0 Comments
Below is a story that appeared in Alaska Beyond magazine in May 2019 Seattle music producer Ryan Lewis, one half of the Grammy-winning rap duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, remembers telling his elementary school class that his mother was HIV-positive. Julie Lewis, now a 35-year survivor, contracted the virus in 1984 from a blood transfusion during the complicated birth of her first daughter, Teresa. Julie wasn’t diagnosed until 1990, after she had given birth to Ryan and a second daughter, Laura (both fortunate to be free of the virus). The disease has been a part of the Lewis family’s narrative […]
HUMP, SPLIFF, Love And Advice: A Conversation With Dan Savage
Friday, April 12, 2019 17:36 — 0 Comments
Dan Savage, bestselling author and nationally syndicated sex advice columnist, likes to laugh. The pleasant outbursts were sprinkled throughout our conversation. He laughs when praised and he laughs when asked to offer up his thoughts on a grand idea like love. His is a comforting laugh, not one of nervousness or deflection. Rather, it’s a laugh of largess and enjoyment. A laugh in response to the very real, very odd world looming all around us. I recently caught up with Savage to talk about his touring amateur pornography festival (HUMP), his new cannabis-inspired film festival (SPLIFF) and to ask, yes, […]
Lavender Country’s Patrick Haggerty On Music, Love And Life, Itself
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 19:19 — 0 Comments
I didn’t have the heart to tell Patrick Haggerty, front man and songwriter for Lavender Country, the first openly gay country band to release an “out” album, that I wasn’t gay, though he lovingly assumed I was during our conversation. But not telling Haggerty about my sexuality is beside the point, of course. As you’ll see in the interview, it doesn’t take sexual orientation to make for kinship. By the end we were saying “I love you” to one another. Haggerty’s is a story of artistic success devoid of financial gain. But, later in his life, after a series of […]
The answer isn't poetry, but rather language
- Richard Kenney
