New York Mag 15-28 Aug

BOBBY SHMURDA

28, East Flatbush

— @

PRESALE FOR CITI CARDMEMBERS

Mon Aug 15 at 10 AM — Fri Aug 19 at 10 AM
For tickets, visit citientertainment.com/nycf2022

Select shows only. Ticket limits vary by show.
© 2022, Citibank, N.A. Citi, Citi and Arc Design and other marks used herein are service marks
of Citigroup Inc. or its affiliates, used and registered throughout the world.

STRATEGIST

. . . the look book goes to a governors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . island spa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the city’s best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . secondhand stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

best bets ➸ in a crash, any bike helmet made with expanded polystyrene foam will cushion its wearer’s head upon impact.
But foam does little to stabilize the neck and cranium, which is why helmet-makers tend to include “rotational-motion
An system” technologies to add another layer of safety. One of these is WaveCel, a honeycomblike structure that, according
Unbeatable to Alex Strickland, former editor-in-chief of Adventure Cyclist, only recently became available in helmets in the $100
price range. The Bontrager Starvos WaveCel helmet ($105) comes equipped with the technology and was highly
Bike recommended for its efficacy, comfort, and surprisingly inoffensive aesthetic. For more on this and eight others, including
Helmet a tortoiseshell-brimmed one and psychotherapist Esther Perel’s favorite collapsible model, visit thestrategist.com.

Photograph by Marcus McDonald august 15–28, 2022 | new york 51

best bets

ATool Guide forThoseWho
HaveNever TouchedaTool

by lesley arfin

i’m in no way a professional handyperson nor would I even claim to be To read more and find
“good at fixing things.” I’m just a frugal fellow who doesn’t like to rely the products mentioned here,
on others to address the basic household bugaboo. [She’s also a TV writer,
responsible for Love on Netflix.] Maybe it’s the punk DIY-er in me, or maybe scan the QR code.
I inherited my grandfather’s deep belief that everyone was trying to rip him off.
Either way, I don’t really know how to use tools properly, and after perusing this
guide, you won’t either. But at least you won’t be scared to try.

I USED TO THINK THAT POWER DeWalt Cordless what looks better: PHOTOGRAPHS: KAITLIN PARRY (ARFIN); COURTESY OF THE VENDORS (REMAINING)
DRILLS WERE FOR SERIOUS TOOL Drill, $169 one random screwdriver lying on

PEOPLE, A.K.A. MEN. Harita 8-in-1 your desk or this delightful
Screwdriver Set, $10 little kit placed on a bookshelf?
Then I moved to L.A. My roommate at the time,
a blonde wisp of a thing who brushed her teeth with Edward Tools I find myself reaching for this collection more often
Dr. Bronner’s and drank chicken broth before it was Harden Hammer, $9 than I do just one regular screwdriver because it’s easier
a thing, changed my opinion on this after witnessing my to store and more pleasing to the eye. If you’re asking,
clumsy attempt to hang curtain rods (I was trying Horusdy Allen “When will I need a screwdriver, much less one with
to do it with a screwdriver). She went to her room, got Wrench & Hex Key eight different tips?” My answer is “I don’t know. I’m
her drill, and quickly got the job done. That’s when not you.” But even for the once-in-a-blue-moon, rarest
I found out that you don’t have to be strong or own Set, $20 of occasions in which you do need a screwdriver, no
paint-spattered Carhartts to use a power tool. All you other tool will suffice. That’s what I love about tools in
have to do is watch a friend use it first. And if you have Stanley 10-Ounce general but specifically the Phillips-head screwdriver.
no friends, watch a YouTube video. There are cheaper Hammer, $6 Some other tools you can sort of work your way around
ones and pinker ones, but I’m a DeWalt girl, mainly not having (no hammer? Use a hard shoe. No flat-head
because I think it sounds and looks the toughest. screwdriver? Use a coin!), but if a regular old cross-top
screw is the problem, the Phillips-head is the solution.
Here’s a cute little Plus this kit is inexpensive. I got mine at Daiso, but you
lightweight hammer. can also find it at most hardware stores.

I like to hang things on my walls. Ideally, I could Personally, I enjoy owning anything
always just use a thumbtack, but as we all know, that involves the word “hex.”
thumbtacks aren’t as great as they think they are.
Instead, tap some very thin nails into the wall Hex keys are meant for screws with hexagonal sockets.
with this really light hammer and voilà—you have Ikea uses hexagonal screws, and so do lots of other
a sturdy spot to hang a necklace! brands, like World Market, so it’s good to have one of
these around along with a screwdriver.

AND HERE’S A HEAVIER HAMMER. Karen Kay Buckley The rumors are true:
6-Inch Perfect I’m a scissors whore.
With a more weighty hammer, you can go to town on Scissors, $30
tougher-to-penetrate surfaces like hardwood. Fun fact: Scissors are my most-often-used tool, and I need to
Need more holes in that too-small leather belt? Use have a pair in every room. There are many I enjoy
a hammer and a nail. You are now a certified cobbler. using for different reasons (long sharp ones for cutting

52 new york | august 15–28, 2022

T-shirts into tank tops, long semi-dull ones for wrapping Garrett Wade INVEST IN A
paper), but my Karen Kay’s are multi-genre. They’re WWII-Style Ammo STEEL BOX.
small enough for any detailed work you’ve got going on
(collage, textile art, sewing) and sharp enough to cut Box, $58 Did you know that house fires can start from
the hem of your jeans. One thing you won’t want to incorrectly storing or discarding oily rags? If you
cut with these is anything metal. This will damage the DIYSELF Utility-Knife thought you could just throw out that towel covered in
blade immediately, and you’ll have to toss them. If you Box Cutter, (leather, furniture, wood, or bacon) grease, think again!
need to cut paper clips, soda cans, wires—i.e., anything $13 My neighbor’s house literally burned down because she
made of metal—use Mr. Pen wire cutters ($6). was adding stain to her outdoor shower and threw an
Dykes Needle-Nose oily rag in the garbage can, which then spontaneously
what else have you been opening Pliers, $10 combusted. Luckily, no one was home, but considering
your amazon packages my level of (un)employment, I’m not sure I’d be so
lucky. I have two steel boxes for just this purpose: One
with—keys? amateur hour much? is a medium-size toolbox; the other is my husband’s
enter the box cutter. childhood He-Man lunch box. They’re where I put
anything that says caution: highly flammable on
She makes the hardest (to open) packages her bitch. the label (wood finish, Odie’s Oil, Boos Block Mystery
The blade is easily retractable but not so easily that Oil, paint mediums) along with a few rags I end up
your toddler will mess with it. Just don’t bring it reusing. Ideally, these metal boxes would be stored in
on a plane and you’ll be fine. I like this one because an outdoor shed, but we don’t have one of those.
it’s cheap and comes in fun colors.

WHAT ARE PLIERS EVEN FOR? Elmer’s X-Treme Glue And some adhesives
NO ONE REALLY KNOWS,YET I FIND MYSELF Stick, $9 to hold you down.

REACHING FOR MINE ALMOST DAILY. Mod Podge, $7 For a parent, a hobbyist, or just a bored
teenager looking to get high.
My brain likes to think of pliers as a less precious pair Gorilla Dual Temp
of tweezers. Pliers are the perfect tool for all the things Mini Glue-Gun Kit, Elmer’s X-Treme Glue Stick
for which there is no perfect tool. For example, if you
need to get a Jibbitz out of a Croc and don’t feel like $20 It’s like a normal glue stick, but it can also snowboard.
crying? Pliers. Or if the little poke-y wires fall out of an
old speaker and you can’t fit them back in because now Mod Podge
they’re all bent and frayed? Pliers. Or if your daughter
is sad because the spoke of her Calico Critters dollhouse For découpage, for adding a glossy (or satiny
bike came off and you want to fix it without getting or matte) finish to furniture, or for nearly anything
E6000 glue on your fingers? Pliers! You can glue with
one hand and use pliers to hold the object. These Dykes you want to glue. It will dry without being tacky
needle-noses will do the job. or sticky or depressing looking.

An intense flashlight Hot Glue
is good to have.
Once you’ve purchased a hot-glue gun, there’s no
When I lived on the Lower East Side, I was never in Anker going back. Welcome to my world—a world in
fear of a home invasion. Maybe it’s because NYC sort Rechargeable Bolder which holidays are no longer reasons for family
of feels like one giant house and if you scream at the
top of your lungs, it’s a guarantee that at least 55 people Flashlight, $30 get-togethers but opportunities to showcase your
will hear it. Or maybe it’s just because I lived there in Halloween wreath with real candy attached! Never
my 20s. Regardless, as soon as I moved to L.A., I was Colored Duct
suddenly terrified of everything. At night, if I’m walking Tape, $6 heard of a Hanukkah bush? Neither had I until
my dog and there’s someone else on the street, they’re I walked out of a Jo-Ann’s armed with a hot-glue
automatically a member of the “New” Manson Family. Velcro Mounting gun and a dozen sacks of candy gelt. With hot glue,
A baseball bat next to my pillow seemed like a great call Squares, $17 you can stick anything on anything. Ever think your
until someone told me that it’s easy for an intruder to kids’ old puzzle pieces would make great refrigerator
just grab the bat and use it against you. Then my friend
Glen told me about the Anker. Its beam is military- magnets? You thought right. The only things
grade hard-core, so when you point it at Sadie Mae I wouldn’t use hot glue for: plastic on plastic
Glutz, it will essentially blind her, giving you enough
time to both call 911 and kick her in the stomach. Also, (it could melt) or anything too delicate.
it has a bright SOS pulse light that is impossible to
ignore (good for if you’re getting Funny Games’d). Duck Tape Colored Duct Tape

It’s like regular duct tape but comes in pink, purple,
blue, and other cheerful shades.

Velcro Mounting Squares

Use these to attach your remote control to your
coffee table (if you are constantly losing it), affix
strips of lights above cabinets, and force down that

one rug corner that keeps popping up.

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 53

best of new york By Mackenzie Wagoner

a woman,” Gardner says. “I was A$AP Rocky wore a bootleg Gucci
like, ‘Hell yeah, I want to feel that.’” T-shirt from the store in the
“Arya” music video. Carly Mark,
The Best For Y2K-Era co-owner of the clothing line Pup-
Gucci and Moschino pets and Puppets, confirms the
VINTAGE shop’s reputation. She started fre-
FOR JAMES VELORIA, 75 East Broadway, quenting Metropolis in 2006 and
WOMEN No. 225; jamesveloria.com says she has bought “countless”
tees from its “big unpretentious
 to find the best stores for both high- vogue fashion writer Liana collection” for between $50 and
Satenstein first heard about James $100 (though rare items, like
end and wearable vintage, we polled dozens Veloria when a former colleague, a 1990 Grace Jones shirt, can
of stylish and savvy New Yorkers—fashion stylist Monica Kim, sent her to the cost up to $2,450). Mark’s favorite
designers, talent agents, and comedians among shop to pick up a Tom Ford–era purchase so far is a tee featuring
them. For more obsessively sourced recommenda- Gucci silk button-down ($250). a naked woman with breasts
tions, including the best homeware stores, mold Since then, she has regularly that look like “twin demons mak-
experts, and acupuncturists, visit curbed.com. returned to the Chinatown shop— ing out.” If you’re looking for
“Like basically 99 percent of something not satanic, Metropolis
fashion people in, and out, of New stocks an improbably niche
York,” she says—for pieces like a inventory that’s organized with
Chloé baseball tee from 1999 with encyclopedic precision. “There’s
a hummingbird graphic ($240) a Marvel category, an alien cate-
and a “violently sexy” pair of Plein gory, and a Bugs Bunny category,”
Sud orange leopard-print booties Mark says. “Every band has its
($160) and to flip through the own spot on the rack. If you
racks of Jean Paul Gaultier mesh, walked in and were like, ‘I want
Vivienne Westwood corsets, and a Space Jam T-shirt,’ they’d take
Issey Miyake pleats. Satenstein you to the Space Jam section.”
adds that even amid the recent
reprise of late-’90s–early-aughts For Pieces Worthy
style, James Veloria’s prices remain
fair, as evidenced by a Gucci belt of the Met
she recently bought for $120.
“Dealers in Los Angeles would DESERT VINTAGE, 34 Orchard St.;
have sold it for $750, easy.” desertvintage.com

For Every Category for years, vintage obses-
of T-shirt sives had to go to Tucson to shop
at Desert Vintage, which is
For Channeling (the Chanel and Balmain labels METROPOLIS, 803 Broadway; known for its mint-condition mix
help) and for matching the right metropolisvintageonline.com of Jazz Age dresses, American
Fran Drescher garment to the customer: Gard- sportswear, and Edwardian lace.
ner bought the tulle dress ($365) metropolis is known for That changed this spring when
LE GRAND STRIP, 197 Grand St., after McGurr asked her to picture selling the city’s most robust Salima Boufelfel and Roberto
Williamsburg; legrandstrip.com “the girl who wore this and selection of vintage T-shirts and, Cowan opened a New York out-
how good she must have felt on as such, has seen visits from Kanye post of their shop on the Lower
last year, comedian Heidi the verge of blossoming into West, Chloë Sevigny, members of East Side with interiors by Green
Gardner wore a frothy pink tulle the Strokes, and Iggy Pop; recently, River Project. “It’s a romantic and
dress for the season finale of SNL beautiful labor of love,” says
and a faux-leopard-fur coat to a there are ten Housing Works Angela Goding, senior director
taping of The Drew Barrymore thrift shops in the city, and clothing at the nonprofit YoungArts, who
Show. Gardner found both pieces appreciates Desert Vintage’s
at Le Grand Strip, which she first FOR designer Batsheva Hay says the outpost researched inventory of lesser-
heard about from her hairdresser, known designers, adding that
Teddi Cranford, who owns the UPTOWN at 96th Street and Broadway is Boufelfel and Cowan “are well
downtown salon White Rose the least trafficked—and, therefore, versed in fashion history.” That
Collective. “It’s fully transportive,” means exaggerated suits from
says Gardner of the Williamsburg CASTOFFS the most bountiful. “Like any of these Romeo Gigli (Bianca Jagger was
store and its Nanny Fine–level multilocation chains, it’s a different a fan) hang next to mid-century
collection of quilted Chanel bags velvet bags from Roberta di
(from $1,450) and neon-print HOUSING WORKS store depending on where it is,” says Camerino, and silk moiré slippers
silk. Over glasses of Lambrusco, Hay, pointing out that each Housing (found in a dancer’s trunk from
shoppers can browse miniskirts 2569 Broadway; Works reflects the history of its neigh- the early-20th century) sit near
from the 1960s, patterned bell- housingworks.org bors. On the UWS, near Hay’s apart- ’80s loungewear from Bill Tice.
bottoms, and ’80s-era cabochon- “It’s all immensely wearable,”
gem and door-knocker earrings. ment, that means “people who are adds Goding, who bought a ILLUSTRATION BY PETE GAMLEN
Store owner CC McGurr has beaded Tice kimono coat ($398)
a knack for sourcing statement involved in the arts and have all sorts of taste, whether they’re an on her first visit and has since
pieces that avoid feeling outré worn it to both the opera and to
opera singer or a professor” and “items owners have collected and pick up dumplings.

loved but no longer use,” like a wool-crêpe Valentino couture suit that

Hay bought for $45 and a vintage embroidered silk Lanvin robe she

found for $50. “No one shopping there is competing with you,” Hay

says. “It’s not in a cool neighborhood, so some local woman’s amazing

vintage Sonia Rykiel blazer or Blumarine dress just sits there.”

54 new york | august 15–28, 2022

the look book goes to 55

A Governors
Island Spa

On a recent sweltering Wednesday
afternoon, we chatted with visitors to
the newly opened QC NY.
interviews by kelsie schrader
and jenna milliner-waddell

REGINA ANDERSON

Private chef,
Windsor Terrace
How long have you been
a chef? Seventeen years.
In 2012, I was on the
show Chopped and won.
I don’t remember what
ingredients I had, but I do
remember struggling
with a Champagne bottle
and it exploding all over
the camera guy.
What brings you here?
My sister got me a gift
card for my 40th
birthday. I have two
older sisters, and two of
us have birthdays in July.
So the other sister got us
both all-day spa passes.
You don’t look 40.
Oh, thanks. Zoom in on
my eyes and you might
change your mind. But
I’m a teetotaler for sure.
Always have been, even
when I used to model.
My friends would call me
up and be like, “Hey, the
Red Hot Chili Peppers
are in town. You should
come out.” And I’d be,
“No, I’m tired. I just came
home from Tahiti. I need
to get my beauty rest.”
I think about that now,
and am like, I was a fool.
I was a poop.

Photographs by DeSean McClinton-Holland

the look book: governors island spagoers

How did you hear

about this place?
My sister found it on
TikTok, and it looked
luxurious. I was like,
“Yes, I’m a broke
college student. Let
me go be rich for a
day.” I didn’t know
what to expect. I’ve
never been to a spa
or anything fancy
looking. I was just
like, Whoa, I can
finally be like the
people on TikTok or
like the people who
have money.

LARRY RICCI FRANCIS KENNEDY ALANDA CHERESTAL

Union funds director, Seaport District Construction project manager, Midtown Student, East New York

Are you a

lifeguard here?
Yes. I used to
work at a pool
in Brooklyn by
North Street,
but my friend is
a manager at this
spa. It’s very easy
to get a job as a
lifeguard right
now. But I don’t
think anyone is
paying enough.
The spa raised me
up a couple bucks
from my old job,
so that’s exciting.

JENELL GREENIDGE ROOSEVELT LUPERON RYAN KELLY

Underwriter and bartender, Uniondale Lifeguard, University Heights Sales manager, Plymouth, Massachusetts

Are you here to

escape anything?
Oh, yes. My firstborn
son is going to
Howard University,
and move-in day is
next Tuesday. We’re
all feeling anxious
for his safety,
between COVID
and monkeypox and
crime. I was like,
All right, I just need
a moment with my
girls before this life-
changing event
happens.

CLARE PALO MAURI SOLAGES PEYTON WORLEY

Content strategist, Fort Greene Social impact manager, Maplewood, New Jersey Attorney, Murray Hill

56 new york | august 15–28, 2022

Did you get

a massage?
Yes. And let me tell
you: I’ve been to
the Aire baths in
Chelsea, SoJo Spa
Club in Jersey, and
Bathhouse in
Williamsburg,
and this was the
most comfortable
massage table
I’ve ever been on.
So pillowy, and as
a big lady, I didn’t
for a moment feel
like it was going
to creak.

ALYSE HORN EUDYS REYES KATE BORST

Executive assistant, Upper West Side Lifeguard, South Bronx Software engineer, Park Slope

WOODY WINMILL RACHEL GRIM VICKI WARIVONCHIK

Attorney, Park Slope Business owner, Clinton Hill Producer, Hamilton Heights

How did you MEGAN FLEMING

find out about Middle-school teacher, Midtown East
the spa? My
Italian friend august 15–28, 2022 | new york 57
actually went to
the QC location in
Italy. I’m for sure
going to come
back whenever
I have a boyfriend,
because I thought
it was very
romantic. Pray for
me: I need to date
a good man soon.

SHALANA FRANCKLIN ANAHIS BARRIE

Student, Powder Springs, Georgia Real-estate agent, Upper East Side

design hunting

Making Things Work

Artist Austin Lee’s quirky, happy

58 new york | august 15–28, 2022

in Greenpoint

home. by wendy goodman

The Dining Room
Lee’s copy of

Matisse’s Dance
dominates one wall

of his dining area.
He uncovered

the wood beams
when fixing a sag in

the ceiling from
an old leak. The
table was a gift
from his contractor.

Photographs by Seth Caplan

design hunting

I wasn’t looking for anything specific—or anything,” The Pink Wall (Dining Area)
says artist Austin Lee of this 1899 house he bought three “This was the first painting I made in grad
years ago in Greenpoint after a brief stint living in a rather school. It’s called Back on the Saddle Again,”
boring new condo, and he has been tinkering with it ever Lee says. The stools are his design.
since. “I think that is the kind of vibe of the house: making “I call them stumps. They’re a cross between
things work.” a seat and a stool. I made them in virtual
Lee is a native of Las Vegas and spent his 20s in Philadel- reality, so it’s a special crossover between
phia. He got his M.F.A. at Yale in 2013 and started working my digital world and physical. A design firm
with gallerist Jeffrey Deitch five years later. He spent a decade called Case Studyo produced them for me.”
renting a house in Long Island City similar to this one, along
with a separate studio. But after a six-month stint in Berlin, unusual dining table. “I’m usually into strange objects,” Lee
he gave up that place. And condo life wasn’t for him. says, “but this one is classic and timeless and works with every-
thing else really well, too.”
When you walk into the Brooklyn house, you are dazzled by
walls of bright color, along with his own paintings and sculp- A large canvas of Lee’s interpretation of Matisse’s 1910 paint-
tures and those of his friends, including Jordan Casteel and ing Dance faces the dining table and opposite wall. “I first made
Peter Schuyff, and surprised by the staid furniture mixed in— a little sculpture based on the Dance painting and then the
his dining table and chairs are oddly normal. With the help of painting came after,” Lee says. “It’s nice to live with artwork you
contractor Nick Leone (“Amazing guy who has worked with a love, so I’ll sometimes make a copy of something if it’s not pos-
lot of artists in the past, so he totally understood some of the sible to have the original. It also helps me understand the work
unusual ways I was thinking about everything”), he turned the better.” An original work he does own is one of Jordan Casteel’s
basement into his studio. It was Leone who gave Lee the not-

60 new york | august 15–28, 2022

The Art Studio The Bedroom
Lee in his basement workspace. The Lee removed all the doors
boxers on the left are part of a painting- in the house to make it feel
and-video installation now in South more open. But “it turns out
Korea. “I have been using the computer it’s nice to have some doors,
to make my paintings for a while,” Lee actually, to hide a messy
explains, “and have recently been using closet.” So he turned sheets
motion capture to capture realistic into a curtain. The painting
body language.” The blue painting on is by Dena Winter.
the right is called Me and My Dad.

paintings—actually two, if you count a work he gave Casteel and
that she then gave back, having painted over it. There is also a tiny
sculpture on the wall of a falling figure that Lee made as a self-
portrait based on a drawing by Marc Chagall.

In the kitchen, Lee made the wood counters, and he says that
although they are not perfect, “it makes it a little more special but
also less precious.” The metal table is from a restaurant-supply
store. “My brother is a chef and used to work at a nice restaurant
called Wallflower in the West Village. It’s closed now, but I loved
that place. It was super-small, and the kitchen was really tiny—

design hunting

barely enough room for two people in it. When I would see him cook there, I real- The Art Wall (Dining Room)
From left: a green and orange grid
ized everything was within arm’s length for him and thought that is kind of a nice painting by Peter Schuyff, a picture of
a small head that was a collaboration
idea to try for. I kept that thinking in mind when I set up everything in the with Jordan Casteel, two wall sculptures
by Lee, a white horse head by Ambera
kitchen. Trying to make it so everything is next to you so it’s all within reach.” Wellmann, a small painting of a pill
bottle by Casteel, a head with an X on
He made the mosaic over the stove. “I found a bunch of old tiles in the back- the cheek by Nina Chanel Abney, and an
abstract painting by Lou Fratino below.
yard when I moved in and was cleaning up the yard,” Lee says. “They were all
The Kitchen
covered in dirt and kind of buried in the ground. It seemed crazy to throw them The blue and red shelving in the kitchen
is a product called Wall Control. “It’s
away, so I cleaned them all up and decided to use them to make a mosaic tile basically just painted metal pegboards,”
Lee says. “I think it’s more for organiz-
on the wall.” He taught himself how to do it from YouTube. “It was way easier ing a garage or studio situation. I was
looking at it with the studio in mind but
than I was expecting, actually, and super-fun. Hoping to do more in different realized it would be an easy way to put
shelves up in the kitchen and I could
areas of the house eventually.” hang utensils and pots on it too.”

His main gallerist, Deitch, tells me that “there is an entire Austin Lee

vocabulary that you instantly, whether it is a sculpture, a painting, or a kinetic

piece, know it’s him,” pointing out how he works in digital, airbrush, and 3-D

printing, among other contemporary mediums, and experiments with motion-

capture technology and virtual reality. “I also appreciate the exuberance and

optimism of the work.”

“I think sometimes I will unconsciously paint things that I want or am lacking

in my life,” Lee says. “So happy paintings are sometimes more about the desire

of happiness rather than the actual direct reflection of my day-to-day.” ■

62 new york | august 15–28, 2022



food

the year i ate new york

Can Breakfast Be
Important Again?

Our late-rising diner-at-large checks
in on some new hotel spreads.

by tammie teclemariam

I t’s been just about two months since chef Ignacio Mattos’s inside the Chatwal hotel (130 W. 44th St.), was something of a club-
Corner Bar opened on the first floor of the new Nine Orchard house for the midtown set before the pandemic, and it remains
hotel (9 Orchard St.), and already in this restaurant’s short life, relatively insulated from the noise of the city outside, owing to its
it has become clear that morning is the time to go. Corner Bar’s windowless walls and soft red banquettes. What’s new is the chef:
oeuf à la coque is a photo-ready soft-boiled beauty that requires Michael White, who previously ran the kitchens within the Alta-
two hands to eat: one to steady the egg in its porcelain cradle and marea empire and who seems focused here on turning out exem-
another to dunk batons of fried bread into the smooth yolk. (Shiny plary versions of breakfast staples. “These are so good, Dad!”
demitasse spoons are given to guests so they may scoop the soft-set exclaimed a toddler toward the back of the room as a plate of re-
white away from the shell.) Pastries are baked in-house, and they
are all worth ordering; there’s a kouign-amann that deserves special
attention for its crackly crust and tender interior.

“We’re technically a French restaurant, but the ham is Italian and
seasoned with herbs,” replied our server when I asked about a plat-
ter I saw on a nearby table. I would later learn the ham is actually
from an Italian producer based in California, but whatever the
country of origin, it is excellent when laid atop the house scones
with butter and some fresh raspberry jam.

As someone who tends to sleep in, it takes a lot to get me over
the bridge and into Manhattan, let alone Dimes Square, before
11 a.m., which is when Corner Bar ends its morning service on
weekdays, but lately I’ve been energized: The hotel breakfast, long
relegated to buffet status and having vanished when tourists dis-
appeared from the city, has awoken once more. Brand-name chefs
and restaurateurs are applying their particular sensibilities to the
so-called most important meal of the day, which is good news both
for travelers and for anyone who might want to delay their return
to the office by even a few hours.

Then again, you may not get to the office at all. At least, that’s
what I thought when I dropped into The Lambs Club in Times
Square—a location I overheard one tourist describe as the corner
of “42nd and Boardwalk”—and saw a few AirPods-wearing solo
eaters tapping away on their laptops. The restaurant itself, which is

The 6 Best Things I’ve Eaten Lately

1 2 3 4 5 6

CALIFORNIA BURRITOS CHARBROILED OYSTERS TRES LECHES CAKE AT THE PRETZEL AT LOUKANIKO CHICKEN ON KETSI
AT EL PASO AT BONGOS EL CHARRO BAKERY GOTTSCHEER HALL AT BZ GRILL AT TONÉ CAFÉ
85 Orchard St.; 1429 Myrtle Ave., Bushwick; 657 Fairview Ave., Ridgewood; 27-02 Astoria Blvd.,
MEXICAN GRILL bongosnyc.com 718-452-1401 Astoria; bzgrill.com 265 Neptune Ave., Brighton
1610 Newkirk Ave., Flatbush; gottscheerhall.com Beach; 718-332-8082
elpasomexicangrillbrooklyn.com This LES party spot is best Fluffy, moist, and not too Bring friends so you
known for handing sweet. The bakery can These soft pretzels are can try the pork gyro platter The bird is roasted in
Burritos filled with French a little lighter than the a bantam-size clay pot.
fries are so good that out free cigarettes, but customize it, too—a friend traditional Bavarian model. and the snappy loukaniko The skin is so crispy and
its Pecorino-spiked oysters got one that looks like the Treat them like bread and sausage flavored the inside is so tender
I ordered them twice for should be equally iconic. new Bad Bunny album cover. ask for a side of butter. that it feels like a treat.
lunch in the same week. with leeks and citrus.

64 new york | august 15–28, 2022

Breakfast at
Corner Bar.

spectably tall lemon-ricotta pancakes landed on the table. Dad “olive-oil pancakes,” I imagined they’d be as fresh and crispy as the
agreed: “So good.” He probably would have been equally happy with dining room itself. Sadly, the flapjacks were so evenly beige and
White’s version of eggs Benedict, which comes out with thick-cut chewy that I was reminded of the pre-warmed pancakes you might
bacon (not Canadian bacon) and fluffy hollandaise, as well as a side find at a business-center hotel’s Continental breakfast. (I’d also ad-
of lightly dressed lettuce and crunchy fingerling potatoes—fancy vise against ordering the $75 “El Camino” eggs, which are topped
and fussy and something you probably shouldn’t order during an with caviar and nasturtium leaves, among other bits; they’re upsell
actual morning meeting because it is impossible to eat gracefully. bait for big spenders, and they taste like regular fried eggs.)

Hollandaise sauce is absolutely nowhere to be found on the menu I next tried to check out “culinary director” Gabriel Kreuther’s
at ElectricLemon, Stephen Starr’s 24th-floor dining room inside the Baccarat Hotel (28 W. 53rd St.) menu but was informed in no un-
Equinox Hotel (33 Hudson Yards), which arrived before covid and certain terms that breakfast is reserved for hotel guests only. (New
has carried on through the pandemic. The crowd (an obvious girls’ York’s accountants declined my request to book the cheapest room
trip, a couple in matching Lululemon, one guy whose watch was so I found: $1,265 per night.) Much more welcoming is the somewhat
big that I could tell the time from two tables over) is about what new Ace Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn (252 Schermerhorn St.),
you’d expect, but despite its name, my Beauty Bowl—a serving of where the wood-paneled café, As You Are, was filled with out-of-
apples, “beet yogurt” the color of TikTok pink sauce, and bee pol- towners writing emails on their phones, young tourists who looked
len—was a surprisingly nice start to the day, as were the flaxseed to be from Austin or possibly Denver, and neighbors from the nearby
pancakes. Then again, how hard is it to make decent pancakes? condo towers stopping in to grab a pastry or two. My own strawberry
brioche, with the fresh fruit baked on top and a smear of thick pastry
Kinda hard, it turns out. I had been excited to try Zaytinya, the cream, made a strong argument—not for waking up early but for
glassed-in José Andrés restaurant on the first floor of a shiny new starting the day with a glorified piece of strawberry shortcake. ■
Ritz-Carlton in Nomad (25 W. 28th St.), and when I ordered the

Photograph by Dina Litovsky august 15–28, 2022 | new york 65



With a Little
Help From
Her Friends

Backstage with Sharon Van Etten,

Angel Olsen, and Julien Baker

on their triple-headlining tour.

By Justin Curto

Photographs by Bill McCullough august 15–28, 2022 | new york 67

The CULTURE PAGES

Julien Baker

Sharon Van Etten

sharon van etten and Angel Olsen have forgotten about album to lush country on the next. And
Baker’s music is among the most evocative
the guitar between them. It’s the afternoon before their July and visceral of her peers’ with her lyrics on
depression, addiction, and self-acceptance
25 show in Austin, Texas, and the two musicians are sitting delivered in a piercing cry.

backstage in a dimly lit room marked shared band hang zone. They The Wild Hearts Tour was born from
“Like I Used To,” a triumphant 2021 duet
have been trying out covers—Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go by Van Etten and Olsen. The two had
admired each other for years but didn’t
Breaking My Heart,” the Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”—but are soon meet until Van Etten asked Olsen if she
wanted to collaborate. “Angel’s been my
reminded of a Paul McCartney song on the soundtrack to the 2006 film favorite songwriter for ten years, and
I finally had the courage to ask her to
The Lake House, which then prompts them to start dreaming about work together,” Van Etten says. “I thought,
I’m 41 years old! Why do I still feel like a
retiring to the woods. After hearing about her fellow singer-songwriter’s schoolkid?” The friendship grew quickly,
and their teams began planning a tour.
planned time off after this tour, Olsen admits she’s wary of overtouring When they wanted to make it more
special with a third headliner, Van Etten
her latest record, Big Time, which she released in June. Van Etten feels suggested Baker. The two had met after
Baker released her first solo album, 2015’s
the same way; she doesn’t want her son to grow up with her on the road. Sprained Ankle, when Van Etten intro-
duced herself on social media and took
“I want to sustain where I’m at,” she tells Olsen. Baker to lunch in New York. “She knew
that I was younger,” Baker says, “and going
Despite the decades of touring experi- co-performers can relate. “This lifestyle is through some of the things that maybe she
ence between them, the pair agree that not normal,” Van Etten says later. had gone through: becoming an artist and
they’re still figuring it out: how to manage navigating that difficult, scary place.”
their band members’ emotions and keep up The 23-date, triple-headlined Wild
personal relationships, all under the pres- Hearts Tour is a rare chance to see three
sure of traveling daily and satisfying fans of indie rock’s most acclaimed performers,
nightly. But this time, as Olsen puts it to each at the peak of her powers. There’s Van
Van Etten, “we get to share our weird shit.” Etten, who has influenced a generation of
It’s not just them—the two are on tour with musicians with raw yet profound writing
Julien Baker, who has known Van Etten for about love, worry, and sorrow. Olsen
years. Baker’s in her greenroom next door, skillfully balances unbridled passion and
skipping the day’s jam session to rest. Her sophistication as a performer, even as she
shifts from hook-heavy jangle-pop on one

68 new york | august 15–28, 2022

Angel Olsen

The musicians and their tour manag- petitiveness.” In Austin, those differences ing the performance of togetherness and
ers like to compare the Wild Hearts Tour will become clear as the show moves from
to pulling off a mini-festival: They are Baker’s muscular rock to Van Etten’s dark, unification, they are actually living it in
traveling with three buses and a semi- though tender, synth-pop to Olsen’s sunny
truck’s worth of equipment along with country-politan stylings. caring for me,” Baker says. All three look
the more than 40 people in their com-
bined teams (a group that includes their The plan had been for the show to cul- forward to rehearsing a cover on the road
opener, the indie-pop musician Quinn minate with Olsen and Van Etten singing
Christopherson). Tonight’s show in Austin “Like I Used To” in the encore, then Baker instead and hope to perform together for
is at the 5,000-capacity Moody Amphi- joining the pair for a cover—the ultimate
act of fan service. But before the tour, their final dates in New York at the end

of August.

During Baker’s set in Austin, the best

moments come when she turns to face

her band, like when she cracks a smile at

her bassist while thrashing on her guitar

during her closer, “Ziptie.” Then Van Etten

takes the stage, performing with more

“If I had done this at the beginning of keys and synthesizers than ever to match
my career, I would’ve worried that people
the sound of her latest release, We’ve Been
thought we were exactly the same.”
Going About This All Wrong. After her

last song, Van Etten—holding a coconut

water from the greenroom—returns side-

stage to watch Olsen bring Big Time to

rousing life alongside her six-piece band.

theater, a venue that none of them could Baker asked to pull out of the cover perfor- Once Olsen finishes, she leads her band
headline on their own but that will be filled mance: She was on the heels of a grueling
thanks to the overlap of their fan bases. “If I seven-week European tour in the spring back out for the encore and introduces
had done this at the beginning of my career, and dealing with undisclosed personal
I would’ve worried that people thought we issues, and she couldn’t dedicate herself Van Etten to run through “Like I Used
were exactly the same,” Olsen says. “But to group rehearsals in time for the first
now I’m like, We have really different songs. tour date. Van Etten and Olsen imme- To” and a cover of “Without You” (Harry
There’s not anything to fear as far as com- diately understood. “Instead of prioritiz-
Nilsson, not Mariah Carey). “It’s just nice

to come up there and see you in all your

glory,” Van Etten tells Olsen later. “I feel

like a proud sister.” ■

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 69

The CULTURE PAGES

The Cult of A24

70 new york | august 15–28, 2022 Illustration by Ari Liloan

Since emerging in 2012, the iconoclastic studio has bred
superfans, dropped swag, and perfected a singular house style.

It’s also teetering on the verge of self-parody. By Nate Jones

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 71

The CULTURE PAGES Breakers as well as brainy genre fare like Ex Breakers (“I got shorts, every fuckin’ color.
Machina and The Witch. Its films felt like I got designer T-shirts … That ain’t a
last summer, an Austin- something new, harder-edged than the typi- fuckin’ bed, that’s a fuckin’ art piece”) to
based graphic designer named cal art-house film of the aughts and more Oscar Isaac’s Ex Machina dance to Adam
Lauren Robinson threw her- nakedly expressionistic. Hipper, too: “Pre- Sandler’s manic grin in Uncut Gems, its
self a 24th-birthday party. She A24, film culture was a guy wearing a flan- movies seemed at times almost purpose-
and her friends from the University of nel shirt with a Clint Eastwood T-shirt built for the gristmill of internet ephemera.
Texas love a theme, and since they had underneath it at the New Beverly in L.A.,”
spent the early part of the pandemic mara- Rothweiler says. By 2016, the studio had developed a rep-
thoning art-house movies, they latched utation as the film-industry version of an
onto the idea of ringing in 24 with an A24 Not everything it put out was great. In the underground record label. “I think of Sub
party—held, appropriately, near the city’s wake of Spring Breakers, it released a bad Pop or 4AD,” says Mike Sherrill, COO of the
Lady Bird Lake. A couple friends showed Gus Van Sant movie (The Sea of Trees), a bad Alamo Drafthouse theater chain, where
up dressed as the skaters from Mid90s, Gillian Flynn adaptation (Dark Places), and Sherrill says A24 films gross comparably to
another as The Last Black Man in San not one but two bad Atom Egoyan movies efforts from far larger studios. “You knew
Francisco; two different people came as the (The Captive and Remember). But the magic they were going to have a take on the artists
ghost from A Ghost Story. Robinson of the brand is that over time it has been able they selected. They had that sense of, If
dressed up as Florence Pugh’s May Queen to sell the idea of A24 as synonymous with I follow these guys, maybe I can be the cool
from Midsommar, a costume she created originality, idiosyncrasy, and prestige. Not a guy at the record store.” Knowing the same
out of headbands, an old shirt, and $20 movie but a film. distributor was behind The Bling Ring,
worth of fake flowers from the dollar store. Under the Skin, and The Lobster was a
On TikTok, where Robinson had docu- The world of independent film is a place mark of cinéaste knowledge—a phenom-
mented the party, someone commented, ambitious new companies go to die. The enon the company would soon capitalize on
“It’s a movie production company. Not a start-up costs are high, the financial re- through concerted self-branding efforts.
personality trait.” Robinson thought they wards slim. If a company is lucky, it staves
were making too big a deal. What drew her off bankruptcy long enough to get bought Most important of these was the merch.
and her friends to A24, she says, was the by a major corporation; if not, it joins labels From the beginning, A24 demonstrated an
“rawness.” A film like The Florida Project like FilmDistrict and Virtual Studios in a ability to transmute its sense of taste into
could transport her to a world far away crowded graveyard. The founding premise physical objects: As head of acquisitions
from her own, while Eighth Grade could of A24 was to avoid this fate by spending Noah Sacco told GQ, the studio wooed
make her cringe in recognition of her own
teenage awkwardness. “They’re not just “A24 became a bridge, merging the
these feel-good, rom-com-esque movies. mood-board, influencer Zeitgeist with
There’s a deeper element.” art-house movies made by real directors.”
Robinson and her friends are far from
alone in their devotion to the A24 far less on traditional advertising like bill- Spring Breakers producer Megan Ellison
brand. The r/A24 sub-Reddit has over boards and TV spots and focus instead on with a gift basket of custom-made gun-
71,000 subscribers, making it larger turning films into viral sensations. (The shaped bongs engraved with the film’s
than the one dedicated to the Chicago seed capital was provided by Guggenheim logo. As its standing grew, A24 merchan-
Cubs. The company’s T-shirts regularly Partners, where co-founder Daniel Katz dise became the company’s most visible
resell for more than $100 on fashion had previously worked.) For The Witch, means of brand extension. It could be
sites like Grailed. And in plugged-in A24 made a Twitter account for the satanic cheeky: When people began calling it “A-
corners of social media, the “A24 super- goat Black Phillip, which strengthened his two-four,” the studio released a sweatshirt
fan” has become a recognizable stereo- memetic power to the point where fans emblazoned with a twenty-four. It could
type. As the writer Willy Staley once were clamoring for him to win an Oscar. be provocative, as in the butt-plug-shaped
joked, “A24 is short for ‘A 24-year-old Essentially, it was doing Brand Twitter be- candles it released to celebrate Everything
guy will think this is the best movie ever fore Brand Twitter, and it’s telling that, as Everywhere All at Once. And, crucially, it
made.’ ” people started finding this type of engage- could be exclusive. Employing the hype-
What’s notable about all of this is that ment cheesy, A24 largely phased it out. building techniques of the fashion indus-
A24 is not a filmmaker or an arts collective. try, A24 embraced limited-edition drops,
For its first four years, it was merely a dis- A24 had the good fortune to emerge in often in collaboration with buzzy labels
tributor that didn’t have a hand in any of the early ’10s, the moment social media like Online Ceramics. The quality, cost,
the films it released. It’s an independent was transitioning from a text culture to an and availability of the product is a frequent
film studio, and studios don’t usually have image culture of Instagram posts, Reddit topic of discussion on the r/A24 sub-
fans. People may love Atonement and memes, and reaction gifs. Over the Reddit, where one user recalled spending
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but course of the decade, it became easy for a $170 on Hereditary tie-ins. “If they ever
as KJ Rothweiler, one-half of social-media film to morph into a social-media fetish drop another Midsommar line I will prob-
gadfly duo the Ion Pack, tells me, “No one’s object, especially if it featured meticulous ably buy everything … I’m ready to spend
rocking a Focus Features hoodie.” art direction and cinematography, as so 700 bucks on merch lol.”
In its ten years of existence, A24 has re- many A24 films did. More so than its
leased more than 100 films in nearly every competitors, A24 operated with one eye It was through these efforts that, around
genre imaginable, from psychological toward online hype. From James Franco’s 2017, the tenor of A24 fandom shifted, and
thrillers set in 1890s lighthouses to slap- “Look at my shit” monologue in Spring the brand began to carry legitimate cul-
stick romps about intergenerational
trauma. In the early years, the brand was
built on hype-baiting films like Spring

72 new york | august 15–28, 2022

tropes

10 Signs You’re Watching
an A24 Movie

“Everyone says, ‘I know what an A24 film is, but no A24 film is like any other,’” Barry Jenkins once claimed.
With apologies to Jenkins, that’s absolutely untrue—A24 is one of the most identifiable studios out there. Just look for

these signs and assume there’s merch available.

STILLS: COURTESY OF A24 1. 6.

There’s So Much Neon White Kids Are
Rapping in a Car …
From the fluorescence of Spring
Breakers to the reveries of It happens in The Bling Ring.
Moonlight, A24’s signature look It happens in Zola. At least an
deploys more neon than the back hour of American Honey’s
of a Hot Topic. The chief 162-minute run time is set in a
exception to this is the studio’s van filled with white kids rapping.
horror films, which tend to have a Spring Breakers is the exception—
more dour palette. that time it’s EDM.

2. 7.

Robert Pattinson … In Florida, on a Bridge
or Riley Keough
Is in the Movie … It is a rule that if you’re going to
set your A24 movie in Florida, as
Thanks to Good Time, The many of the studio’s directors do,
Lighthouse, American Honey, and the characters must be shown
Zola, they have become the faces driving across a bridge. One
of A24: Pattinson as a leading man bridge even appears twice:
teetering on the edge, Keough as Tampa’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge
an avatar of corrosive femininity. in Spring Breakers and Zola.

3. 8.

… Or It’s Full of Nonactors You’re Being Threatened
by a Bird
Casting is easy: Get one famous
person, then surround that Robert Eggers gave us a creepy
person with a bunch of first-time bird picking at a breast in The
actors playing versions of Witch. Ari Aster turned a headless
themselves. That’s the M.O. of the pigeon into a keepsake in
Safdie brothers, Sean Baker, and Hereditary. Joel Coen added
Lulu Wang, who cast her own hundreds of crows to The Tragedy
great-aunt in The Farewell. of Macbeth. It’s a thing.

4. 9.

You’re Being Forced to People Are Mucking
Notice the Aspect Ratio About in the Woods

First Reformed traps Ethan Forest scenes pop up in Under the
Hawke in a 4:3 frame. In The Skin, Slow West, Ex Machina, The
Lighthouse, the image is nearly Witch, Green Room, The Lobster,
square. Trey Edward Shults Swiss Army Man, The Sea of
gradually narrowed the frame Trees—the list goes on. You might
of It Comes at Night and used call it “atmosphere”; I call it “a
five different shapes in Waves. good way to save money on sets.”

5. 10.

It Runs on Vibes, Not Story It’s Got One of These Plots

You don’t remember an A24 • True Happiness Is Found
movie for its narrative— Through Satan (or His
you remember it for the mood Pagan Equivalent)
it creates, especially in horror
ilms like The Blackcoat’s Daughter. • Let’s Survey the Wreckage
Last year’s Lamb is an ostensible of the American Empire
horror film that basically dispenses
with scares altogether. • A Middle-aged Woman
Is Going Through It

• Actually, It’s a Metaphor

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 73

The CULTURE PAGES sense any stylistic
embellishment might have
tural capital. This was the era of Good the hierarchy distracted director Paul
Schrader from the big
Time, the cult hit that cemented the stu- 3 Paths for the moral questions he’s
A24 Movie posing. Ethan Hawke stars
dio’s association with the downtown as the Reverend Toller, a
Since 2012, A24 has released 112 fictional feature films. Some fit the pastor called to minister
streetwear scene (Pete Davidson was a reputation A24 has acquired: auteur driven, visually stunning. to an environmental
activist who’s convinced it’s
huge fan), and the year after the Lower Some are absolutely terrible. And some are mediocre but rigorously wrong to have a child with
on-brand. A brief guide to the good, the bad, and the vibe-y. climate disaster looming.
East Side opening of art-house-cinema hot Initially opposed to
despair, Toller soon finds it
spot the Metrograph, where A24 directors contagious.

like Ari Aster were seen hobnobbing at the Hereditary

upstairs cantina. The Ion Pack, which has (2018) At first, Ari Aster’s
debut feature seems like
built a podcast empire skewering the cine- it’s going to be the story of
a grieving mother (Toni
phile culture A24 represents, pinpoints Collette) and her creepy
kid, until that scene
this as the moment when A24-branded happens and we realize
the filmmaker intends to
hats and hoodies began popping up in burrow deep into the pit
of human misery. It turns
places like Soho House. “It’s mood-board 1. out Hereditary’s real
The A24 Canon subject is the wounds
culture,” says Curtis Everett Pawley, the A24 produced in-house, families can’t help but
A proper A24 film—brash, visceral, Moonlight was a bet on inflict on one another.
other half of the duo. “A lot of ‘creatives’ unexpected— just hits different. Jenkins. It paid off: To date,
this is the studio’s only Best Eighth Grade
love to find obvious art-film references to Picture winner.
(2018) Plenty of filmmakers
put on a mood board for fashion videos The Florida Project have tackled the hurdles
of growing up in the
and album campaigns. A24 became a Spring Breakers about a programmer (2017) Sean Baker’s Instagram age, but the
(Domhnall Gleeson) sent neorealist gem is set on the genius of Eighth Grade
bridge, merging this mood-board, influ- (2013) This one introduced by a tech CEO (Oscar Isaac) outskirts of Disney World is in never condescending
the public to what an A24 to test the consciousness of and follows Moonee (the to its teenage heroine,
encer, pop-culture Zeitgeist with art-house movie would be—bold and a sexy lady robot (Alicia exuberant Brooklynn Kayla (Elsie Fisher). The
aiming for maximum Vikander). The film Prince), a 6-year-old who movie’s multitude of cringe
movies made by real directors.” You might impact. Harmony Korine’s ultimately doesn’t have spends her days moments brings youthful
film, about four college much to say about AI, but tormenting a kindly hotel mortification rushing back
say it was here that the A24 brand began girls who head south on as a techno-noir about a manager (Willem Dafoe). to vivid life.
spring break and enter a patsy who gets in over his Baker matches her
to represent not movies but vibes—in the world of gleeful hedonism, head, it’s a cracker. boundless imagination Midsommar
marked the point where with cinematography as
words of philosopher Robin James, a way indie kids threw away their The Witch colorful as an ice-cream (2019) In his second
cardigans. Every sundae. feature, Aster puts poor
to “connect status-laden people to status- subsequent A24 scene of (2016) Robert Eggers’s Florence Pugh through
white kids misbehaving Puritan thriller is so Lady Bird the wringer: a murder-
laden cultural objects and practices.” should pay royalties. exhaustively researched suicide, an uncaring
that every character talks (2017) Unapologetically boyfriend, a soul-crushing
The writer Will Harrison, who used to Under the Skin in nigh-incomprehensible basic. Greta Gerwig’s breakdown. A grief-
period diction. The Witch solo debut takes us stricken Pugh then tags
work at the Metrograph, calls 2019 the year (2014) Jonathan Glazer’s set the mold for much of through a whirlwind year in along on a bro’s trip to a
spartan sci-fi transports a the studio’s subsequent the life of a high-schooler Swedish folk festival,
“that memeable A24 thing crystallized, to glamorous alien, played by genre output, from the (Saoirse Ronan) who longs where Aster indulges his
Scarlett Johansson, to gray, general (esoteric settings), to escape her suburban grisliest impulses.
me at least,” he says. That was the year of gritty Glasgow, where she to the specific (pagan cults, Sacramento life. Like any
picks up random men, then creepy birds), to the meta teen, she’s self-obsessed
Midsommar, The Lighthouse, and Uncut traps them in a featureless (turning the malevolent and performative, but
black void. The gulf goat Black Phillip into a Gerwig takes Lady Bird’s
Gems: three of the studio’s biggest viral hits, between film stars and Twitter sensation). ambition seriously, if not
regular people has never literally.
all released within a six-month span. “And felt wider. Moonlight
First Reformed
then you have covid. Culture was fully stag- Ex Machina (2016) The pinnacle of A24
house style—pure, uncut
nant. All we had was parsing over shit and Expressionism delivered
with unrivaled intimacy.
canonizing it.” As cultural life moved online, Barry Jenkins’s film is in
some ways a throwback to
A24 fandom filtered down to the digital the melodramas of yore:
A young gay Black man
middle classes through spaces like Letter- falls in love, is betrayed,
and finally finds self-
boxd and online-dating profiles, at which acceptance. The first film

point it followed a familiar pattern: What

once was trendy became first a stereotype,

then a punch line. As Fast Company put it,

“What if Miramax, but also Supreme?”.

Earlier this year, A24 fandom entered

its next phase: the era of the loyalty pro-

gram. Spring heralded the arrival of A24

All Access, or AAA24 for short. For $5 a

month, A24 superfans can receive the

studio’s in-house zine, exclusive tickets to

its digital screening room, first dibs on

limited-edition merch, and, best of all, an

induction into A24’s “close friends” list on

Instagram. Few of these benefits have

anything to do with the actual films,

though the studio has promised that

more will be revealed. POSTERS: COURTESY OF A24

Is this the beginning of the end, the mo-

ment the A24 fan becomes the next Disney

adult but with sleeve tattoos? Or perhaps it

is merely a reflection of something we’ve

known since the studio’s very first hit—that

there’s no more powerful imperative than (2015) Alex Garland’s (2018) As austere as a
directorial debut is a thriller church pew. You get the
“Look at my shit.” ■

74 n e w y o r k | a u g u s t 1 5 – 2 8 , 2 0 2 2

POSTERS: COURTESY OF A24 The Farewell Everything Everywhere Woodshock (2019) David Robert (2012) Few A24 movies are The Adderall Diaries
All at Once Mitchell’s film attempts worse than its very first one.
(2019) How does The (2017) The directorial debut to do for 21st-century hip- Roman Coppola’s film is a (2016) A cursed production
Farewell swerve around all (2022) Welcome to the of Rodarte designers Kate sterdom what Blue Velvet listless slog through the in which James Franco
the clichés of the “Snow- multiverse, where the fate and Laura Mulleavy is did for postwar suburbia, overactive imagination of a plays author Stephen
ball Lie” plot? Probably by of human existence has filled with gorgeously and the script’s mix of Pyn- graphic designer (Charlie Elliott, a bad-boy
basing it on a true story: come down to Evelyn trippy visuals, but my chonian paranoia, Reddit Sheen) mourning his ex by memoirist who fabricated
When director Lulu Wang (Michelle Yeoh), goodness is it slooow. fan theorizing, and Old retreating into fantasies elements of his best-
Wang’s grandmother got a middle-aged laundromat Their friend Kirsten Dunst Hollywood macabre must about the crazy broads he selling debut and
cancer, the family really owner who regrets all the puts on an acting have been irresistible. But can’t help but love. The complains that he doesn’t
did hide the diagnosis paths her life didn’t take. showcase as a grieving Mitchell doesn’t deliver on effect is like sitting in on a actually want to write the
from her. In Wang’s film, Directing duo Daniels’ woman slowly losing the premise, and A24 bur- 90-minute therapy session new book he’s just been
that deception sets up a merger of surrealist humor touch with reality, but the ied it on VOD. for an unpleasant bore. paid handsomely for.
culture clash between with the therapeutic Mulleavys are much better The star is outacted by
Billi (Awkwafina) and her language of the millennial at summoning a vibe than Waves Tusk Timothée Chalamet, who
Chinese family, who see internet proved more knitting scenes together plays teenage Elliott in
concealing the truth as an winning than anyone into a compelling story. (2019) Waves marks the (2014) Kevin Smith’s self- brief flashbacks.
act of love. expected: EEAAO ranks point where the brand be- consciously schlocky hor-
as A24’s all-time box-office Mid90s came so strong that some- ror-comedy follows an ass- The Sea of Trees
The Lighthouse champion. one could self-consciously hole podcaster (Justin
(2018) Jonah Hill’s debut as set out to make “an A24 Long) who takes a trip to (2016) Matthew
(2019) Two turn-of-the- 2. a director exemplifies the movie”: Just add misbe- Manitoba, interviews an McConaughey’s mid-
century lighthouse keepers Vibes Only worst habits of a certain having teens, numbing old sailor (Michael Parks), career renaissance ended
(Robert Pattinson and kind of A24 film: It’s a hip-hop, and enough neon and winds up getting with this notorious bomb
Willem Dafoe) go insane Are they good? Are leaden drama about a pint- to light Times Square. turned into a walrus. Tusk directed by Gus Van Sant.
after being cut off from they bad? Neither— size skateboarder (Sunny Director Trey Edward starts silly and self-indul- The Sea of Trees has
civilization. That sounds they’re just very A24. Suljic) that coasts on Shults makes the down- gent and only gets more so McConaughey playing an
like a setup for a horror received notions of ward spiral of a star athlete when Johnny Depp shows academic who’s traipsing
movie, but eldritch terror is The Bling Ring authenticity. It’s hard to an overwhelming sensory up in a fake nose. around Aokigahara,
just one element in a screw up skating scenes, experience with a roving Japan’s “suicide forest,”
psychodrama that includes (2013) Sofia Coppola’s and Hill doesn’t. The rest camera that recalls That Revenge of after his marriage to
odd-couple comedy, salty ripped-from-the-headlines oscillates between ’70s Show, but his efforts the Green Dragons Naomi Watts ends. The
sea lore, and male sexual satire of L.A. teens who adolescent wish-fulfillment are overheated to the movie’s combination of
dysfunction. Robert Eggers rob celebrity homes is best and after-school special. point of parody. (2014) A Chinese American domestic drama, survival
shoots it in a style enjoyed as a portrait of GoodFellas based on a New adventure, and woo-woo
reminiscent of German the recent past—in this High Life Zola Yorker story, co-directed by mysticism goes together
silent films, though it’s case 2009, when bangs Infernal Affairs’s Andrew like ketchup, salad, and
likely Conrad Veidt didn’t flopped, phones flipped, (2019) In the first English- (2021) Zola could have Lau, and produced by dog shit.
have to put up with nearly and every A-lister had a language film from Claire been created by an Martin Scorsese? This
as many farts. spray tan. Although Emma Denis, Robert Pattinson engagement-juicing AI: movie should be much The Vanishing of
Watson has a ball as the plays a convict aboard Co-written by Jeremy O. better than the slo-mo- Sidney Hall
Uncut Gems most vapid member of the a doomed spaceship—the Harris, it’s an adaptation of ridden cheesefest it is. Not
gang, the film suffers from last remnant of a A’Ziah King’s viral 2015 even Ray Liotta serving up (2018) It’s hard to know
(2019) A24 turned Josh and its lack of a powerhouse biological experiment that Twitter thread with a sup- a plateful of ham as an FBI where to begin with
Benny Safdie’s 2017 film central performance. involves Juliette Binoche porting turn from Succes- agent can raise the film this feature-length testa-
Good Time into a cult hit, harvesting semen. Just as sion’s Cousin Greg. But from its malaise. ment to the delusions of
then got into the Safdie A Ghost Story Pattinson’s character there’s no algorithmic the male ego. Is it the mov-
business full time by prefers “abstinence over smoothness to director Barely Lethal ie’s conviction that literary
producing their follow-up. (2017) A drama about indulgence,” so too does Janicza Bravo’s film, a gen- wunderkind Sidney (Logan
Gems plays like Good Time unseen forces connecting his director: This is a uinely off-putting, blunt- (2015) A teen action- Lerman) is a charming
squared: higher stakes, a events across space-time? withholding film that force depiction of King’s comedy in which Hailee iconoclast, when in reality
more frenetic pace, and a A random drunk guy never quite reaches the traumatic experience. Steinfeld plays an assassin he’s an insufferable twerp?
bigger star. As Howard giving a monologue about heights you’d expect. hiding out at a normal Or maybe it’s the baffling
Ratner, Adam Sandler the inevitable heat death 3. American high school, ways multiple characters
proved to be the brothers’ of the universe? Sign me Under the Silver Lake The Bottom Barely Lethal is a ludicrous die or the fractured narra-
ideal leading man. up. Still, David Lowery’s of the Barrel film that sidesteps the tive that skips around three
film is a tough sit: It’s got many horrifying different time periods—in-
Casey Affleck standing When Johnny implications of its premise. cluding one where our hero
around in a bedsheet for Depp appears With production values is a bearded recluse burn-
90 minutes. in prosthetics, it’s only slightly above those of ing his own books.
best to look away. a Disney Channel original
movie, this is the cinematic
A Glimpse Inside the equivalent of a glass of
Mind of Charles Swan III lukewarm water.

au g u s t 1 5 – 2 8 , 2 0 2 2 | n e w y o r k 75

music / architecture / movies

The CULTURE PAGES

CRITICS

Craig Jenkins on Beyoncé … Justin Davidson on the semi-imaginary New York of
Westworld … Bilge Ebiri on Bullet Train.

MUSIC / CRAIG JENKINS the U.S. government dragged its feet, and
far too many Americans wondered whether
Beyoncé Is Her Own Category this was divine retribution for going against
Renaissance wears its muses like a sequined biblical wisdom.
revolution honoring Black queer imagination.
Divas are beloved in queer spaces because
nile rodgers got a million-dollar inkling in 1979 when he stepped into the bath- they exude and inspire magnificence, radi-
ating a transferable confidence. We live
room at the Gilded Grape, the legendary mob-owned drag bar on Eighth Avenue in vicariously through their elegance; our
enthusiasm drives them all the more. It’s an
Manhattan, home to a colorful cast of regulars including Andy Warhol. The place, Rodgers electrical circuit, but the current is powering
a futuristic sonic architecture. Rodgers liked
would later recall in his 2011 autobiography, Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, to pop into the Gilded Grape for music that
hadn’t washed down into the mainstream
Disco, and Destiny, was packed with Diana Ross impersonators. “Suddenly it dawned on me consciousness yet. It’s a time-tested play.
Anyone who needs to push the dials on the
that Diana was an iconic figure in the gay community,” wrote Rodgers, who had just agreed Zeitgeist knows to come to the bleeding
edge, to bask in the richness of the Black
to write and produce Ross’s next album. He met with his Chic bandmate Bernard Edwards queer imagination, where, by nature of a PHOTOGRAPH: MASON POOLE
tense relationship with the wider straight
and hatched a plan “to have Diana talk to her gay fans in a slightly coded language.” Nearly world and a fluid experience of gender,
sounds and words and fashions take on
ten years into her solo career, the ex-Supreme was searching for a team exciting new forms. Beyoncé’s Renaissance
succeeds masterfully at this.
to tailor songs to her lived experiences after years of vocalizing her song-
Her seventh solo album (the first of three
writers’ stories. Calling Rodgers and Edwards yielded “Upside Down,” RENAISSANCE acts) is simultaneously a dense, impressive
her first No. 1 hit in four years, and “I’m Coming Out,” in which Ross
signals artistic rebirth while blessing the Gilded Grape girls with a mes- BEYONCÉ.
PARKWOOD
ENTERTAINMENT/
COLUMBIA RECORDS.

sage of pride and power that girded the community through a decade

of death and disenfranchisement as the aids crisis claimed gay men,

76 new york | august 15–28, 2022

DJ set and an intensive musicology lesson. Actual Drake and “Best I Ever Had” and the same way the ones in “Naughty Girl” do,
Renaissance revels in its dualities, pep- “God’s Plan” producer Boi-1da), queering swooping up and whirring dizzyingly, like
pering modern sounds with references to his tough-lover-boy bit as Bey, in raucous planes in aerobatic competitions.
past classics, house music, and techno with commentator mode, pays tribute to her
trap and funk, spirituality with sensuality, Uncle Jonny. Renaissance isn’t just noting The vocals here are often stunning and
club-night exuberance with cloistered, key moments in the development of body always full of surprises, and their produc-
wedded bliss. Its inroads with queer audi- music, mirroring the flowering of house, tion honors every note. The halo of “ooh”s
ences come attached to assured, accom- techno, electro, Miami bass, freestyle, hip- floating over the verse in opener “I’m That
plished excursions into varying movements hop, and post-disco from the corpse of ’70s Girl” conjures the Old Hollywood elegance
in mainstream pop. Bey’s showing us our disco; it’s also putting on a virtuosic show of and drama of the pool scene from The
commonalities, how we all crave the same riffling through popular sounds. Great Muppet Caper. Skipping alongside
comforts, while expressing how closely Patrick Paige II’s bass in “Plastic Off the
related our musical traditions are; she’s “Cuff It” is, at once, an ostentatious spin Sofa,” Bey leans into the flutelike high
also maneuvering out of the prickly politi- through that lean funk-pop you hear in notes Joni Mitchell excels at. In “Heated,”
cal directness of her late-’10s work, getting Doja Cat and Calvin Harris hits, a subtle she delivers the octave-skipping audacity
good at conveying things without always salute to the big-band love songs of Teena Honestly, Nevermind lacked. The reserved
saying things, giving you spirit without Marie and a sister to “Get Lucky,” an and relaxed flow in “Thique” gives you
giving you “Spirit.” anthem about wanting to get swept off the Valee, and the bridge in “Cuff It” gives
dance floor; “Plastic Off the Sofa” coaxes you J.J. Fad, and the “Block, block, block”
“Church Girl” exemplifies Renaissance’s an exquisite Quiet Storm tune out of the / “Shot, shot, shot” lines in “Energy” give
resourceful slipperiness, as we’re dropped Internet’s Syd and Patrick; “Virgo’s Groove,” you rackety-rack-rack-racks like Nav, and
into gospel icons the Clark Sisters’ “Center a muscular update on the plush post-disco the verse from “Alien Superstar” in which
of Thy Will.” Beyoncé fills the sample out sounds Rod Temperton and Quincy Jones “haute couture” rhymes with “so obscure”
with rapturous harmonies that buck when regaled on Michael Jackson classics, feels gives you Shawn Corey Carter.
trap drums drop, and we jolt from Sunday equally indebted to the Pharrell and Daft
morning back to Saturday night as the The joy she gets from these chameleonic
Clark Sisters’ exaltations pierce through Renaissance is vocal exercises is especially apparent in “All
Louisiana bounce beats. We’re coming out a master class in Up in Your Mind,” the kind of performance
of a bad place in the second verse—“I’m catering to an you arrive at only after you’ve developed
finally on the other side / I finally found underappreciated close personal relationships with Culture
the urge to smile/Swimming through the corner of your fandom Beat’s “Mr. Vain,” La Bouche’s “Be My Lover,”
oceans of tears we cried”—and, in uplifting without bewildering or Snap!’s “Rhythm Is a Dancer,” the kind
single women doing the best they can with or abandoning of heat this artist used to strand on remix
what they’ve got, she touches both the lis- collections. She knows this stuff. You don’t
tener whose faith journey is complicated by the others. come around cartwheeling over “Show Me
church stances on same-sex attraction and Love” and “I Feel Love” without doing your
the Black women in the same spaces who Punk records that pull from Jackson and homework. Renaissance is a master class in
get treated like their worth resides in their the chunky, airy Tame Impala songs that Black music studies, in nonstop vocal excel-
usefulness to a future husband. What makes the powerhouse grooves in Daft Punk lence, and in catering to an underappreci-
Beyoncé Beyoncé is the knack for lines that records created space for. Like the robots’ ated corner of your fandom without bewil-
make several people in the same room feel 1997 song “Teachers,” in which Thomas dering or abandoning the others. It’s both a
she’s speaking to them directly. Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem- savvy follow-up to Lemonade (which felt like
Christo delivered an extensive list of their a career peak but may be dethroned when
Renaissance is a high-flying balancing inspirations, Renaissance leaves a bread- the dust settles) and a giant bear hug in a
act, full of billionaire business but also crumb trail, luring you into a finer under- tough year for the Black queer community.
calling back to the Beyoncé who sang standing of music.
“Jumpin’, Jumpin’” and “Bills, Bills, Bills.” While accepting the Vanguard Award at
She’s centering day-to-day desires, not the It’s equally self-inspired, replicating both the 2019 glaad Media Awards, Beyoncé
overarching struggle. She’s leaning into 4’s almost carnal intimacy and Beyoncé’s spoke about the value of “connecting peo-
jams like Johnny Kemp’s “Just Got Paid,” shockingly X-rated territory. “Church ple who, at first glance, seem to be worlds
Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall,” and Girl” and “Break My Soul” share the zest apart” and honored the Black gay uncle she
Curtis Mayfield’s “Diamond in the Back”— for a funk vamp and a dance instructional lost to aids-related illness who taught her
feel-good music that transcends informing earlier hits like the Austin Powers and her sister about music and fashion. The
pay brackets. in Goldmember heat rock “Work It Out” or win drew criticism from people questioning
B’Day’s “Get Me Bodied.” The trek from Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s history on queer issues,
Renaissance feels like a guided tour of house to Afrobeat to trap and back that hap- but her pledge to help steer “Black families
Black dance-music history, particularly pens in two minutes during “Energy” feels toward accepting queer Black and brown
in “Pure/Honey” and “Alien Superstar,” like The Gift in miniature. Elsewhere, we’re men and women around the world” is
where Beyoncé presides over productions revisiting the showy vocal gymnastics that newly relevant in the wake of Renaissance’s
juxtaposing the plastic sheen of ’80s radio helped to prove Bey’s mettle as a solo artist glitzy, sequined revolution. This album taps
pop, the brash beats and braggadocious across2003’s DangerouslyinLove.The runs the richness of expression of artists who had
commentation of ballroom culture, and just before the turn in “Move” overachieve to build a new confidence for themselves in
the rhythmic gymnastics of New York a country where every inch of respect is a
rap. “Thique” counterbalances menacing, fight. The boldness driving Renaissance
downtempo southern trap with zesty four- is descended from a scrappy, defensive
on-the-floor drums; “Move” and “Heated” glamour. When Beyoncé mentions “stolen
luxuriate in the low-register flirtations of Chanel” in “Heated,” she conjures unhoused
Drake tracks (the latter getting assists from queer youth fighting to get by. “Cozy” and

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 77

“Alien Superstar” take us inside ballroom and ’90s. Angry men are showing up out- human-built and AI-designed realms

competitions, whose wide range of cat- side drag shows; the bars that host them are adjoin. Production designer Jon Carlos’s

egories recognizes the beauty and talent in hurting. Renaissance is offering valuable challenge was to adapt an actual city to

people otherwise dismissed as derelicts. exposure—and, one would think, coin—to this universe. “Hale has a stunted version

Beyoncé’s love letter to queer innovators artists who deserve a boost. Collaborating of human growth,” he told me. “Under her

arrives at a precarious time for the commu- with Syd, Honey Dijon, and Big Freedia and control, the city is frozen in a moment of

nities whose creative contributions are lifted sampling Ts Madison, Moi Renee, MikeQ, time. She has no need to keep advancing

up throughout Renaissance. Homophobia and Kevin Aviance pushes the point: Build their human culture.” Conveniently, that

and transphobia are on the march. The U.S. bridges. Don’t just grab a CD and shirt or means Carlos and his team didn’t have to

government is once again taking a gamble bedazzled pasty set or crystal-embellished make up a future city from scratch. Hale’s

on the health and safety of men who have durag, sprinkle “cuntie”s and “huntie”s into city-state is so behind the future times that

sex with men; the wave of anti-trans legis- your vernacular, and call it a day. Defend it bristles with early-21st-century supertall

lation preys upon the same misinformed somebody. Give money to somebody. Love towers imported from a half-dozen other

fears the community faced in the ’70s, ’80s, on somebody. ■ major capitals (I thought I caught a glimpse

of the Shanghai World Financial Center in

midtown). There’s no need to dream up

what AI-powered architects would devise.

We already know: furry, foliated struc-

tures draped in greenery and gossamer

weaves, designs that look too warm and

whimsical—too human—for Westworld.

And so Carlos did what sci-fi designers

always have done: conflate the fantastical

with the extant. That’s how the sleekest

new architecture in the early 2080s turns

out to be … Hudson Yards. Cloud-colored

and asymmetric, angular and bulbous, it

evidently resonates with the artificial-city

planners of centuries hence. There’s no

better metaphor for a world of soulless

parahumans unable to distinguish life

from performance.

What’s it like to live there? Horrifying. It’s

a city populated by slender 35-ish-year-olds

in structured outfits of gray, silver, pewter,

and charcoal. They have both less and more

to worry about than we do. Muggers, rapists,

and lawless bikers are extinct. The streets

ARC HITECTURE / JUSTIN DAVIDSON are miraculously free of vendors, scaffolding,
traffic, public transit, old people, children,

Westworld on the West Side and the homeless. On the other hand, an
Present-day New York, with a few individual’s brain is a robot’s plaything.

digital additions, stands Westworld’s New York, like ours, is a
megalomaniac magnet. Hale’s nonhuman
superpowers give her a malevolent divinity

in for late-21st-century dystopia. that she unleashes on the stylish inno-
cents of Crosby Street in Soho. One blink

from her, and passersby freeze in place.

like so many dreamers there, you can make people do anything Another, and they start waltzing to a tune

before them, Westworld’s everywhere. she demands of a bloody-fingered busker.

synthetic-flesh-and-circuit creations There are 8 million stories in the A word, and three women fold themselves

have finally made it to Manhattan. Westworld city, and I have given up balletically into a human throne for her.

Perhaps it was inevitable that even the following them. I have lost track of That notion—a city full of quirky indi-

AI-powered soul-mining androids that who’s human and who’s synthetic, or viduals becomes a hive of drones—is a

broke out of their desert-fantasy resort who used to be one and then became perennial nightmare. The extras’ cos-

in season one would be drawn to this the other. I can’t remember who is tumes are unisex updates on the gray flan- PHOTOGRAPH: JOHN JOHNSON/HBO

maddeningly irrational city—to fix it, to legitimately alive, how many times nel suit worn by the Organization Man, a

own it, to remake it in their image. The they’ve died, whom (or what) they’ve phrase invented by the sociologist-urbanist

algorithmic creature-in-chief, Charlotte killed. I have, however, cot- William H. Whyte in 1956. “Man

Hale (Tessa Thompson), becomes a god- toned on to the show’s main exists as a unit of society. Of him-

dess in season four because moving here philosophical tenet: This WESTWORLD self, he is isolated, meaningless;
puts an entire populace within earshot world of ours isn’t real. Or only as he collaborates with others
of a single giant transmission tower that some of it is and some isn’t, HBO. SEASON-FOUR does he become worthwhile, for
FINALE AIRED
AUGUST 14.

deafens everyone into total obedience. but you can never tell which. by sublimating himself in the

If you can make people do anything New York is where the show’s group, he helps produce a whole

78 new york | august 15–28, 2022

that is greater than the sum of its parts,”
Whyte wrote. Hale could almost have
delivered that speech herself. In the 1970s
and in his 1980 book-and-film combo The
Social Life of Small Urban Spaces, Whyte
analyzed how urbanites conduct them-
selves in public and found that most of us,
believing we’re making individual decisions
about where to sit or linger, behave as pre-
dictably as ants. If the Crosby Street dance
scene seems at once surreal and plausible,
it’s because it takes the reality that Whyte
observed for a surreal spin.

Even in a regimented future, there will
always be New Yorkers with the stubborn-
ness or bad luck to perceive the workings
of the system in ways the rest of us can’t.
A Ratso Rizzo. A Travis Bickle. Westworld
has a High Line mutterer who sees an
invisible tower but never develops into a
character. And then there’s Dolores, the
shape-shifting unkillable host who evolves
from sweet li’l thing to mass slaughterer.
Now she has acquired a new identity as
Christina (Evan Rachel Wood), a full-time
copywriter at a game-design firm complete
with a Lucite cubicle, a smirking boss, and
a benefits package that includes four sick
days a year. It’s as if Bonnie and Clyde took
desk jobs at Dunder Mifflin. Except that
Christina’s office is on a high floor of the
KPF-designed tower at 55 Hudson Yards,
menacingly trimmed in gunmetal steel.
In this future New York, the subway still
doesn’t have elevators, and not even full-
time writers get to work from home. (In
the 60 years between our time and hers,
the city has developed according to the
same pre-pandemic market projections
for column-free high-rise office space that
are currently being used to justify upzoning
the area around Penn Station.)

Christina’s world is a constrained one.
Every day, she wakes up in her small
bedroom and presses a button to stow
the Murphy bed (which, since this is the
future, flips up with a metallic swoosh).
She lives on a low-rise block of what
might be the West Village (but exists
only on the Warner Bros. back lot), the
sort of pedestrian paradise that real-
life activists pine for. Instead of traffic,
parking, and garbage, there are strips of
flood-absorbent turf, motion-activated
lampposts every dozen feet, café tables,
street trees, bioswales, and greenery in
planters that double as benches. This is
how humans want to live, the set suggests,
so maybe Christina has come over to their
side. And now she’s the elect: the other-
wise ordinary one who pierces the scrim
to see where power really lies.

Her commute is short. She climbs the
stairs to the High Line at 30th Street and
strides downtown toward the irresistibly

sci-fi 520 West 28th Street, designed by

Zaha Hadid. She apparently reverses

direction between cuts because we

next catch sight of her heading uptown

from West 13th Street as Jeanne Gang’s

40 Tenth Avenue glimmers over her

shoulder, its concave façade like a cur-

tain encrusted with black diamonds. In

this context, these actual buildings look

fictional—and so do the birds that lie con-

cussed on the sidewalk outside Christina’s

office, a well-documented problem.

Floating just out of Christina’s con-

sciousness is an invisible Host City in the

harbor, an archipelago of white cubes

reachable via a long causeway. In real

life, the recently renovated Pier 34 starts

at the end of Canal Street. In the show, it

leads to the hosts’ HQ, digitally airlifted

from San José del Cabo: the Viceroy Los

Cabos resort, designed by Miguel Angel MOVIES / BILGE EBIRI

Aragonés in 2016. Although it was built as Run Me Over, Bullet Train
Who needs realism when you’ve got
a pleasure zone for humans, the pileup of
this much speed and intricacy?
white boxes hovering on the water makes

a convincing stand-in for an icy urban

habitat. The “nest,” as Carlos calls it, is the

robots’ Rosebud, the key to their primal

memories. Above it rises the Kane-like

seat of power: the sky-piercer so immense

and fearful, so unimaginably advanced bullet train feels like a Mexican assassin whose whole world

that it looks almost exactly … like the someone crossbred Kill Bill was wiped out when someone poisoned

Montjuïc telecommunications tower with a Final Destination movie. And the cake at his wedding, is, naturally, out

in Barcelona designed 30 years ago by at times, David Leitch’s film is almost for revenge. Then there’s Brad Pitt’s

Santiago Calatrava. If, in the 2080s, New as glorious as that description makes Ladybug (that’s a code name), who has

York is stitched together by whatever kind it sound—elaborate and ridiculous but been hired to snatch and grab the afore-

of cable comes after the kind that comes dedicated to making the elaborate and mentioned briefcase with zero idea of

after fiber-optic, why are they still using an the ridiculous seem, well, not plausible, what’s in it, from whom he’s stealing it,

overgrown broadcast antenna? exactly, but certainly compelling and or to whom it ultimately belongs. There

In episode seven, a new urban char- fun. Not to mention the film’s convic- is also a deadly snake on the loose. And

acter appears: Times Square. The hosts, tion that there is no level of baroque a big bouncing pink mascot for a popu-

being self-sufficient and apparently not narrative digression a modern audience lar children’s show. And more … but I’ve

acquisitive, have no use for advertising or will not tolerate. I took something like probably already said too much.

entertainment. They have vanquished capi- 50 pages of notes, and I still feel like Not unlike a Quentin Tarantino film

talism, which makes me wonder why New I caught about half of what happened. (and like any number of Tarantino imi-

York still exists and who put up all those To describe the plot in any detail tations, including some of Guy Ritchie’s

towers. And so, instead of a forest of garish would send one down more than a early work), Bullet Train constantly leaps

come-ons, Times Square’s billboards have dozen wormholes, but here’s a general back in time—in both full-bore digres-

become a forest. Greenery sways on every outline: The action takes place on a sions and brief flashbacks—to situate us

LED panel and curtain wall to a soundtrack train speeding from Tokyo to Morioka in the present and explain motivations

of digital chirps. (The effect is oddly remi- on which a number of criminals and relationships. Whereas Tarantino

niscent of today’s Rainforest Cafe.) The fac- have converged. Distraught gangster uses such jumps to create more absorbing

simile of wilderness isn’t soothing, though; Kimura (Andrew Koji) is there to track stories and add depth to his characters,

rather, it reinforces the atmosphere of stul- down (and presumably kill) whoever for director Leitch and screenwriter Zak

tifying tranquility. Only in the finale does recently pushed his young son off a roof. Olkewicz, adapting Kotaro Isaka’s 2010

the façade of fake nature start to fray, as the Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and novel, these flashbacks are as much

memories of old ads flicker just below the Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry), known stylistic elements as they are narrative

surface like the ghost signs that sometimes together as the Twins, are there to devices. They don’t explain so much PHOTOGRAPH: SCOTT GARFIELD

reappear in our New York when a building deliver to a mysterious and all-powerful as create a uniquely poppy dubstep

comes down. Those flickering images are Russian gangster his deadbeat rhythm to the film, as striking

signs of life, of will, of memory, at least in son (Logan Lerman) and a in its own way as the syncopated

the show’s gloomy outlook. After years of briefcase full of money. There BULLET TRAIN smashing, punching, kicking,
is the Prince (Joey King), a and bouncing of the fight scenes.
humans gradually devolving into androids, stuck-up teenage girl with DIRECTED BY
DAVID LEITCH. Very often what determines
we’re left to grasp at a wisp of independent SONY PICTURES. R.

thought: I used to shop, therefore maybe some murderous plans of her the outcome of a scene is not

I still am. ■ own. The Wolf (Bad Bunny), skill or purpose but chance

80 new york | august 15–28, 2022

and fate, working in all the Rube Gold-

berg ways that fate finds in the movies.

Ladybug laments his awful luck, but, of

course, we get to see just how incredibly

lucky he actually is. Not unlike the Final

Destination pictures, this movie contains

nothing particularly organic. It’s all manip-

ulation and extended cinematic sleight of

hand, but the film embraces its absurdly

colorful, noisy, gonzo artificiality. It doesn’t

take itself seriously, which helps a lot.

Plus it’s expertly made. To choreograph

all this, both on a story level and an action-

design level, and to make it make any kind

of sense is an impressive feat. Leitch, a

stunt coordinator who co-directed the

first John Wick movie and went on to pic-

tures like Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2,

understands how to stage action creatively,

and he makes fine use of the train’s geog-

raphy and design in his fights—everything

from seat belts to snack compartments

to catering carts. One marvelous beat-

down takes place in the quiet car, and it’s

filled with muffled gun-grabbing, throat-

punching, and window-slamming, all of

it punctuated with an occasional angry

“Shhh” from an annoyed passenger. It’s

the sort of thing that works wonderfully

if you’re on its wavelength—and boy, was

I—but will drive you crazy if you’re not

into it. The brazen intricacy is the point,

taking precedence over realism or nar-

rative purpose. Bullet Train carries you

along through sheer verve and audacity.

Through it all, some ideas do emerge,

hazily and lightly. Everybody is on the train

because, in some way, family led them

there. Some are there as relatives, others to

avenge their loved ones, still others to kill

the avengers. All of the film’s coincidences,

in other words, start to look like they were

fated. And the only person there without

any real connections, Ladybug himself,

is also the one who seems the most adrift.

He’s been reevaluating his violent ways

and is now more interested in conflict

resolution than he is in shooting people.

That makes for a few funny lines, but it

also presents us with a character whose

unmoored quality allows him, at least

for a lot of the film, to survive. It’s clever

casting, leaning into the hippie-dippie,

happy-go-lucky side of Pitt’s persona.

There’s also a moving conflict here between

a world of duty and responsibility and one

free of attachments. Amid all the shooting

and slicing and punching and stabbing,

we can almost make out the contours of

an interesting philosophical question: Is it

better to care and die or to have nothing to

live for and survive? But then someone’s

head accidentally blows up or they sud-

denly get run over by a truck, and it’s on to

the next thing. ■

4. 7.
22.
For more culture 18. continues probing at the boundary between com-
coverage and 19. edy and drama while also revealing whether Alli-
son will pull off her murderous plan.
streaming The CULTUR E PAGES
roxana hadadi
recommendations,

see vulture.com. MOVIES

To 7. See Breaking

A tragic true story.

In theaters August 26.

John Boyega gives a wrenching performance as
Brian Brown-Easley, a desperate former Marine
who held up an Atlanta bank in 2017—not as a
robbery but as an act of protest after failing to
receive the VA benefits he depended on.

alison willmore

CLASSICAL

8. Hear Sounds
of the Sea for
Chamber Orchestra

A little music at the end of the world.

Montauk Point Lighthouse, Montauk, August 20.

Twenty-five Plenty of classical music has been inspired by the
things to see,
hear, watch, sea, but few musicians try to compete with it. Per- PHOTOGRAPHS: COURTESY OF NETFLIX (MO, SEA BEAST ); DENNIS MONG (SPRUNG); JORDAN STRAUSS/PEACOCK (NYE); COURTESY OF BLEECKER STREET (BREAKING)
and read.
haps emboldened by Metropolitan Opera
AUGUST 17-31
Orchestra principal trombonist Demian Austin,

who’s used to making himself heard over every-

thing, an ensemble of his colleagues are bringing

titles. Its notorious theatrical-screening-only their turf to the surf, or at least a platform over-

TV looking the waves at Montauk Point, for a pro-

1. Watch House streak continues in this one-week engagement at gram of Bernstein, Poulenc, and other roaring
of the Dragon
the IFC Center. bilge ebiri composers. justin davidson
Back(story) to the Seven Kingdoms.
TV PODCASTS
HBO, August 21.
4. Watch Sprung 9. Listen to
All the frustration around the Game of Thrones Dashboard Diaries
finale probably won’t stop people from watching Warmhearted criminals.
the show’s much-hyped big-budget prequel, Take a tumble through Tumblr.
which—and you’re not going to believe this— Amazon Freevee, August 19.
focuses on a battle to inherit the Iron Throne. But Atypical Artists.
this battle, based on George R.R. Martin’s book In this new comedy, a group of incarcerated
Fire & Blood, takes place 200 years earlier than people who are unexpectedly released from The days when Tumblr was wild and free may
the Game of Thrones one. So: Totally different. prison during the pandemic become a chosen
family who use their crime skills for good. Stars largely be behind us, but it’s still home to pieces of
jen chaney Garret Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton will be
stealing hearts, among other things. seemingly every fandom under the sun. Using the

kathryn vanarendonk platform as their … platform, hosts Lauren Ship-

pen and Cherokee McAnelly offer listeners a con-

BOOKS MUSIC textualizing tour through that vast universe of

5. See Korn and vibrant fan communities for the committed and

2. Read Haven curious alike. nicholas quah

Evanescence MOVIES

Monk fishing. 10. See Last Year
at Marienbad
Little, Brown and Company, August 23. Dust off that secret Incubus T-shirt.
Surreal estate.
Spurred by a dream-vision, three monks sail to Jones Beach Theater, Wantagh, August 28.
Film Forum, August 18, 21, 23, and 25.
craggy, steep Skellig Michael without fully under- Korn changed the game when it gave a harrow-
Alain Resnais’s time-hopping, highly symbolic
standing how harsh life will be there—or the costs ing voice to disaffected ’90s teens and a guttural New Wave drama is one of those films that,
despite its classic status, still wildly divides critics
of their de facto leader’s fanaticism, which com- sound to a wave of angsty rap-rock acts. In the and historians and moviegoers. Is it a master-
piece? A whole bunch of incoherent hooey? See it
pels them to start by building a monastery rather early aughts, Evanescence lead Amy Lee fun- on the big screen and decide for yourself. b.e.

than practical things like gardens or shelters. This neled pain and theatricality through loud guitars TV

latest novel from Emma Donoghue has some of and wounded, personal lyrics. A tandem tour is

the claustrophobic qualities of her imprisonment a no-brainer. craig jenkins

tale Room, except Haven takes place in seventh- TV

century Ireland. emma alpern

MOVIES 6. Watch Kevin
Can F*** Himself
3. See Memoria 11. Watch Echoes
Bad marriage, good television.
Because you still can’t stream it. This ain’t Sweet Valley High.
AMC, August 22.
IFC Center, August 19 through 25. Netflix, August 19.
The first season of this genre-bending series fol-
Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s enig- lowed Allison, Annie Murphy’s long-suffering Michelle Monaghan pulls double duty as twins
matic drama, starring Tilda Swinton as a woman sitcom wife, as she decided to kill her selfish and Leni and Gina, who swap lives in this thriller
who becomes obsessed with a mysterious sound, negligent husband. This second and final season miniseries until one of them goes missing.
was one of last year’s most critically admired Monaghan has been a scene stealer in everything

82 new york | august 15–28, 2022

from Gone Baby Gone to the Mission: Impossible lywood underdogs by buying a low-ranked Welsh to Me or stories about women whose intriguing
football club. If they can manage to turn around
films, but what kind of meta trickery is it if she this team, then by gosh they might be able to and mysterious lives always seem to involve mur-
reverse the fortunes of this entire town. k.v.a.
steals scenes from herself? r.h. der. It also stars Eve Hewson, who appeared in

MUSIC intriguing-hot-woman-who-becomes-involved-

12. Listen to Bleed Out THEATER in-murder series Behind Her Eyes. k.v.a.

17. See Kinky Boots PODCASTS

Pondering the politics of Rambo. 21. Listen to

Merge Records, August 19. Fabulosity reshod.

California indie-folk veterans the Mountain Stage 42, ongoing. World Corrupt

Goats are beloved for their stately folk-rock Nearly a decade after it first premiered on Broad- The high cost of kicking a ball.

grooves and the bookish, reflective lyrics of John way, the Harvey Fierstein–Cyndi Lauper musical Crooked Media and Men in Blazers, August 26.

Darnielle, a singer-songwriter appreciated as about a shoe-factory owner teaming up with a As the World Cup in Qatar looms later this year,

much for his gutting honesty as for his flair for a drag queen is rebirthing itself Off Broadway in a Pod Save America’s Tommy Vietor and Men in

concept album. Bleed Out, the band’s 21st studio smaller setting, sequins still intact. j.m. Blazers’s Roger Bennett team up for a six-part

album, offers ruminations on the violent ven- TV miniseries that explores what it means to be a

geance of action films like Death Wish and First morally responsible fan of contemporary sports.

Blood with the fast rock riffs to match. c.j. 18. Watch Mo But when the actions of major sporting organiza-

THEATER The fight amid flight. tions are increasingly driven by dubious interests,

13. See Mr. Burns, Netflix, August 24. is that even possible? We’ll find out. n.q.

a Post-Electric Play Mo follows its titular character and his family as TV
they navigate America’s frustrating asylum pro-
Upstate, postapocalypse. cess from Houston and adapt to the unique chal- 22. Watch
lenges of life as refugees. Palestinian comedian The End Is Nye
Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Mo Amer plays a version of himself in this com-
through September 17. edy from producer Ramy Youssef, who has had The Science Guy helps you prep for the worst.
his own experiences adapting his life for TV. r.h.
Take the Metro-North to the fest’s new country- Peacock, August 25.

club home to see Anne Washburn’s strange and If you’re seeking TV comfort food as the world
falls apart, allow Bill Nye to walk you through
haunting story about survivors of world col- MOVIES some hypothetical disasters. Afterward, he’ll offer
science-y explanations of how humanity can sur-
lapse coming together to reenact an episode of 19. See The Sea Beast vive or even prevent them. It might make you feel
just a bit more equipped for the apocalypse. j.c.
The Simpsons. jackson mchenry

MUSIC A refreshing saltwater splash.

14. Listen to The Paris Theater, through August 30.
The Elephant
Man’s Bones Chris Williams’s animated seafaring monster THEATER

Roc Marciano and the Alchemist reunite. adventure is one of Netflix’s most visually sump-

Pimpire/ALC Records, August 26. tuous offerings in recent years, and luckily the 23. See Bottom
of the Ocean
Long Island’s own Roc Marciano has developed a Paris Theater will be offering matinee screenings
reputation for lurid narrative raps and haunting Into the depths of Bushwick and also the sea.
psychedelic production, cultivated during his ten- for the rest of the month. b.e.
ure in Busta Rhymes’s Flipmode Squad and his Gymnopedie, through November 6.
indie releases like 2018’s Behold a Dark Horse. TV
The Elephant Man’s Bones pairs him with the For those interested in the surreal and immersive
Alchemist, the West Coast polymath who worked 20. Watch Bad Sisters (meaning both participatory and underwater),
with Roc on 2011’s Greneberg. The forecast calls there’s this performance piece in which guides
for muted drums and ghoulish one-liners. c.j. Femmes fatale. lead visitors through mysterious ancient rites. A
big treat for fans of primordial deep cuts. j.m.
MOVIES Apple TV+, August 19.

An Irish comedy-thriller starring Sharon Horgan,
Bad Sisters will be interesting to any fans of Dead

MOVIES

THE 60-SECOND BOOK EXCERPT 24. See Obayashi’s
Anti-War Trilogy
15. See The Process My Government
Means to Kill Me The first New York release.

A trip through some NYC indie classics. By Rasheed Newson BAM, August 26 to September 1.

Metrograph, through August 21. he put his hands on the back of his Nobuhiko Obayashi’s House is a cult favorite;
waist and smirked at me. “Where you
The tail end of this series dedicated to the Young from, cutie-pie?” now, his long-awaited late-career trilogy—Cast-

brothers, Robert and Irwin, who were filmmakers “Indianapolis.” ing Blossoms to the Sky (2012), Hanagatami
“And you’re, what, twenty? In col-
and devoted supporters of independent artists. lege at NYU?” (2017), and Seven Weeks (2014)—offering a kalei-
“Eighteen, out of school.”
Included are gems like Charles Lane’s 1989 riff on “Ahh,” he cooed. “You missed all the doscopic look at Japan’s role in WWII and its
fun we had here in the 1970s. Infla-
Chaplin’s Sidewalk Stories and Smithereens, tion, heat waves, crime waves, serial aftermath, is here. a.w.
killers, and the city went broke. And
Susan Seidelman’s journey through the waning when the city went broke, paying the TV
rent was more than a lot of us could
days of the New York punk scene. a.w. manage.” The librarian sighed. “We 25. Watch
thought those were the worst of
TV times.” (Flatiron Books, August 23)

16. Watch Welcome The Patient
to Wrexham
Putting the “hell” in mental health.
Soccer daddies.
Hulu, August 30.
FX, August 24.
The duo behind The Americans, Joel Fields and
A docuseries cross between Ted Lasso and We
Bought a Zoo, Welcome to Wrexham is the story of Joe Weisberg, return with this intense series
two celebrities (Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reyn-
olds) who position themselves as aw-shucks Hol- about a therapist (Steve Carell) who gets taken

hostage by a patient (Domhnall Gleeson). Glee-

son’s lead is undercover, but not as a spy—it turns

out the patient is a serial killer. j.c.

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 83

games

Solutions to
Last Issue’s Puzzles

That Comes With Soup

B L T SME A R AH EM OHG I R L

OOH K A T I E S UMO N A E N A E

Esse Chaise II OR I G I NA L S I P HON TW I T T Y

liberator.com | Publicly traded under LUVU ME S A S UB I A R A T OO T

Get Lost N I L CH I L I CONC A R P HON E
in
S E APOR T S A EOL I AN
One Great Story
HA S TA S K CH I LOV E T A P
Every day, delivered right to
your inbox. sign up now UP HO L S T E R COUNT Y I R A T E

nymag.com/ogs BE EN D I A L SOCA L L I P

C H A D C R OW P A C I F I E S

QU E S E P HOR A S E P HOR A

UNDE R S E A B A R E S YNE

ROO MO R T S DOG E STAT

I MB U E T OOK A F A N C Y P HO T O

SEASTAR REN NOA H UMP

C I T AD E L S T UMP I E R

S E L E C T I ON P HOB I A S AG R

T RON A L A A DO SCRAP

A I R S A C J ORDAN P E E P HO L E

MCDUC K OV E N E A G E R U P S

P A S S E S B A I T S TOR Y P HO

The Brooklyn Puzzle

DE FY
F U S I ON
F LATBUSH
ALA SETFEE
P OM P R OWA N
OR EOS OP RY
P AWP AW I MA
L APDANCE
RE I NA S

TEES

The Diva Puzzle

EURAS I A
F UNNYG I R L
S UNDR E S S E S
I ND I E
AK I T A S HQ S
MOD L U B E U P

MON A E
MO V I E MA G I C
S PON S OR E D
T I NCANS

The Black & Yellow Puzzle

N A BOO T A T S

E L I A S A V OW

WI ZKHA L I F A

DD E L EDUP

OA T B R AN

AUS TR I A

ECARD UNC

MU L T I V E R S E

ME LO AMA T I

AS SN CF LAT

Find new puzzles daily at

nymag.com/games.

The Three Arrows Guys Who if that was the entire extent of misrepresen- hit; after all, the loan agreement stipulated
Couldn’t Shoot Straight tations here; that would be a pretty weird that Three Arrows notify the company if
coincidence. I strongly suspect that they it experienced an overall drawdown of at
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 made more.” least 4 percent. “Was not that big as part of
portfolio holdings anyway,” 3AC’s top trader,
sion to an exchange-traded fund, making it B ear markets in crypto tend to Edward Zhao, wrote back, according to
much more liquid and tradable and likely make any stock-market action look messages made public by Blockchain.com.
erasing the bitcoin price mismatch. (In like child’s play. The crashes are so A few hours later, Odell informed Zhao
June, the SEC rejected GBTC’s application.) severe that insiders call it “crypto that it would need to call back a significant
winter,” and the season can last years. That’s portion of its $270 million loan and would
By the spring of 2021, GBTC had fallen where Three Arrows Capital found itself take payment in dollars or stablecoins. Zhao
below the value of its bitcoins, and Three by the middle of January 2022, and it was appeared caught off guard. “Yo … uhh …
Arrows was now losing on what was likely its poorly equipped to weather it. The GBTC hmm,” he replied in their private chat.
biggest trade. Still, crypto enjoyed a bull run position ate an ever-larger hole in 3AC’s
that lasted into April, with bitcoin hitting balance sheet, and much of its capital was The next day, Odell reached out to Davies
a record above $60,000 and dogecoin, a tied up in restricted shares in smaller crypto directly, who tersely reassured him that
cryptocurrency started as a joke, rocketing projects. Other arbitrage opportunities had everything was fine. He sent Blockchain
off on an irrational Elon Musk–boosted dried up. In response, Three Arrows seems .com a simple, one-sentence letter with
rally. Zhu was bullish on dogecoin too. to have decided to ramp up the riskiness of no watermark, asserting that the firm had
Reports put 3AC’s assets at some $10 billion its investments in hopes of scoring big and $2.387 billion under management. Mean-
at the time, citing Nansen (though Nansen’s getting the firm back on a solid footing. while, Three Arrows was making similar
CEO now clarifies that much of the sum was “What made them change was just over- representations to at least half a dozen
likely borrowed). reaching for returns,” says a major lending lenders. Blockchain.com is “now doubtful
executive. “They were probably like, ‘What that this net asset value statement was accu-
In retrospect, Three Arrows seems if we just go long?’” rate,” according to its affidavit, which was
to have suffered a fateful loss later that included in a 1,157-page document released
summer—if of the human variety, rather In February, Three Arrows took one of by 3AC’s liquidators.
than the financial one. In August, two of the its biggest swings yet: It put $200 million
fund’s minority partners, who were based in into a buzzy token called luna, which was Rather than back down, a few days later
Hong Kong and routinely worked between founded by a brash, alluring South Korean Davies threatened to “boycott” Blockchain
80 and 100 hours a week managing much developer and Stanford dropout named Do .com if it called back 3AC’s loans. “Once that
of 3AC’s operations, simultaneously retired. Kwon, with whom Davies and Zhu had been happened, we knew something was wrong,”
That left the bulk of their work to Davies, hanging out in Singapore. says Lane Kasselman, chief business officer
Three Arrows’ chief risk officer, who seemed of Blockchain.com. Inside the Three Arrows
to take a more laid-back approach to looking Around the same time, Zhu and Davies office, the mood had changed. Zhu and
out for the firm’s downside. “I think their were making plans to abandon Singapore. Davies used to hold regular pitch meetings
risk management was a lot better before,” They’d already moved some of the fund’s on Zoom, but that month, they stopped
says the former friend. legal infrastructure to the British Virgin showing up, then managers stopped sched-
Islands, and in April, Three Arrows uling them altogether, according to a for-
Around that time, there were signs that announced it would move its headquarters mer employee.
Three Arrows was hitting a cash crunch. to Dubai. That same month, friends say,
When lenders asked for collateral for the Zhu and Davies purchased two villas for In late May, Zhu sent out a tweet that
fund’s margin trades, it often came back roughly $30 million combined, one next may as well be his epitaph: “Supercycle
pledging its equity in Deribit—a private to the other on Dubai’s Crystal Lagoon price thesis was regrettably wrong.” Still,
company—instead of an easily salable asset in District One, a manmade aquamarine he and Davies played it cool as they called
like bitcoin. Such illiquid assets aren’t ideal oasis larger than any other in the world. up seemingly every wealthy crypto inves-
collateral. But there was another snag: Showing photos of the side-by-side man- tor they knew, asking to borrow large
Three Arrows owned the Deribit stake with sions, Zhu told friends he had purchased quantities of bitcoin and offering the same
other investors, who refused to sign off on his new seven-bedroom property—a hefty interest rates the firm always had.
using their shares as collateral. 3AC, appar- 17,000-square-foot compound that looks “They were clearly pumping their prowess
ently, was attempting to pledge assets it like a fortress with hedge-lined fences as a crypto hedge fund after they already
didn’t have the rights to—and was trying to and imposing Roman columns—from the knew they were in trouble,” says someone
do so repeatedly, offering the same shares consul of Azerbaijan. close to one of the biggest lenders. In reality,
to various institutions, particularly after Three Arrows was scrounging for funds just
bitcoin started falling in late 2021. The firm Then in early May, luna suddenly col- to pay its other lenders back. “It was robbing
seems to have promised the same chunk of lapsed to near zero, wiping out more than Peter to pay Paul,” says Castle Island’s Walsh.
locked-up GBTC to several lenders as well. $40 billion in market cap in a matter of days. In the middle of June, a month after luna’s
“We suspect that Three Arrows attempted Its value was tied to an associated stablecoin collapse, Davies told Charles McGarraugh,
to pledge some pieces of collateral to many called terraUSD. When terraUSD failed to chief strategy officer at Blockchain.com, that
people at once,” says Bankman-Fried, the maintain its dollar peg, both currencies he was trying to get a 5,000 bitcoin loan—
CEO of FTX. “I would be pretty surprised collapsed. Three Arrows’ holdings in luna, then worth about $125 million—from
once roughly half a billion dollars, were Genesis to give to yet another lender to avoid
suddenly worth only $604, according to a liquidating its positions.
Singapore-based investor named Herbert
Sim who was tracking 3AC’s wallets. As the In practice, though, this kind of financial
death spiral unfolded, Scott Odell, a lending mess tends to create a whole lot of selling
executive at Blockchain.com, reached out to by everyone involved to raise cash in an
the firm to check in about the size of its luna effort to stay solvent. Three Arrows’ posi-
tion was so large that it effectively began

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 85

to tank the broader crypto markets: All the had maintained was the cornerstone of claimed she had lent the fund close to $66
scrambling to sell and meet margin calls, its strategy. “It’s very easy to do that,” says
by 3AC itself and other panicky investors, the major lending executive, “without any million. The only documentation they had
in turn pushed prices down lower, creating of the trading desks knowing you’re doing
a vicious cycle. The declines set off further that.” Investors and exchange executives to back up their claims were simple, self-
declines as lenders demanded even more now estimate that, by the end, 3AC was
collateral and sold positions when 3AC and leveraged around three times its assets, but attested statements that did not specify
others couldn’t post it, sending bitcoin and some suspect it could be magnitudes more.
its peers toward multiyear lows. The crash when the loans had been made or the pur-
generated headlines around the world as the Three Arrows seems to have kept all
overall value of the crypto markets made its the money in commingled accounts— pose of the funds. “That’s a total Mickey
way below $1 trillion from a peak of $3 tril- unbeknownst to the owners of those
lion in late 2021. McGarraugh says Davies funds—taking from every pot to pay back Mouse type of operation,” says Walsh.
told him that “if the crypto market con- lenders. “They were probably managing this
tinued to decline, 3AC would not be okay.” whole thing on an Excel sheet,” says Walsh. While insiders were unaware of Chen’s
That was the last time anyone at Blockchain That meant that when 3AC ignored mar-
.com spoke to Davies. After that, he and Zhu gin calls and ghosted lenders in mid-June, involvement in the firm, they believe she
stopped answering their lenders, partners, those lenders, including FTX and Genesis,
and friends. liquidated their accounts, not realizing must have been acting on Davies’s behalf;
they were also selling assets that belonged
Rumors that the firm was collapsing to 3AC’s partners and clients. (This seems her name appears on various firm enti-
seized Twitter, further fueling the larger to be what happened with 8 Blocks Capital,
crypto sell-off. On June 14, Zhu finally which complained on Twitter in June that ties, likely for tax reasons. Both Zhu’s and
acknowledged the trouble: “We are in the $1 million from its trading account with
process of communicating with relevant 3AC had suddenly disappeared.) Davies’s mothers have also filed claims,
parties and fully committed to working
this out,” he tweeted. A few days later, After the firm’s traders stopped according to people familiar with the situ-
Davies gave an interview to The Wall responding to messages, lenders tried
Street Journal in which he noted he and calling, emailing, and messaging them on ation. (Zhu later told Bloomberg News,
Zhu were still “believers in crypto” but every platform, even pinging their friends
admitted, “The terra-luna situation caught and stopping by their homes before liqui- “They’re gonna, you know, say that I
us very much off guard.” dating their collateral. Some peered
through the door of 3AC’s Singapore office, absconded funds during the last period,
Zhu started trying to get rid of at least where weeks of mail was piled up on the
one of his good-class bungalows; at the floor. People who had thought of Zhu and where I actually put more of my personal
same time, the firm started moving its Davies as close friends, and had lent them
money around. On June 14, the same day money—even $200,000 or more—just money back in.”)
Zhu posted his tweet, 3AC sent nearly $32 weeks earlier without hearing any mention
million in stablecoins to a crypto wallet of distress at the fund, felt outraged and Since the firm filed for bankruptcy, the
belonging to an affiliated shell company in betrayed. “They are certainly sociopaths,”
the Cayman Islands. “It was unclear where says one former friend. “The numbers liquidators hadn’t been able to get in touch
those funds subsequently went,” the liquid- they were reporting in May were very, very
ators wrote in their affidavit. But there is wrong,” says Kasselman. “We firmly believe with Zhu and Davies until just before press
a working theory. In Three Arrows’ final they committed fraud. There’s no other way
days, the partners reached out to every to state it—that’s fraud, they lied.” Genesis time and still don’t know where they are,
wealthy crypto whale they knew to borrow Global Trading had lent Three Arrows the
more bitcoin, and top crypto executives and most of any lender and has filed a $1.2 bil- according to people familiar with the situ-
investors—from the U.S. to the Caribbean lion claim. Others had lent them billions
to Europe to Singapore—believe 3AC more, much of it in bitcoin and ethereum. ation. Their lawyers said the co-founders
found willing lenders of last resort among So far, liquidators have recovered only $40
organized-crime figures. Owing such char- million in assets. “It became clear that they have received death threats. On an awk-
acters large sums of money could explain were insolvent but were continuing to bor-
why Zhu and Davies have gone into hiding. row, which really just looks like a classic ward July 8 Zoom call, participants with
These are also the kinds of lenders you want Ponzi scheme,” says Kasselman. “Compari-
to make whole before anyone else, but you sons between them and Bernie Madoff are Zhu’s and Davies’s usernames logged on
may have to route the money through the not far off.”
Caymans. Says the former trader and 3AC with their cameras off, refusing to unmute
business partner, “They paid the Mafia When Three Arrows Capital filed
back,” adding, “If you start borrowing from for Chapter 15 bankruptcy, the process themselves even as the pair of British
these guys, you must be really desperate.” for foreign companies, on July 1 in the
Southern District of New York, it was more Virgin Islands liquidators fired dozens of
A fter the collapse, execu- or less a formality. But the filing itself did
tives at crypto exchanges began contain some surprises. Even as creditors questions at their avatars.
comparing notes. They were sur- rushed to file their claims, 3AC’s founders
prised to learn that Three Arrows had already beaten them to it: The first The authorities are also taking a closer
had no short positions, which is to say it person in line was Zhu himself, who on
had stopped hedging—the very thing it June 26 filed a claim for $5 million, along look at Three Arrows. The Monetary
with Davies’s wife, Kelly Kaili Chen, who
Authority of Singapore—the country’s

equivalent of the SEC—is investigating

whether 3AC, which it already repri-

manded for providing “false or misleading”

information, committed “further breaches”

of its regulations. In the U.S., SEC enforce-

ment attorneys are now being copied on all

Three Arrows court filings.

On July 21, Zhu and Davies gave an

interview with Bloomberg “from an undis-

closed location.” The interview is extraordi-

nary for several reasons—Zhu protests the

headlines about his free-spending lifestyle

by noting that he bikes to work, doesn’t

go clubbing, and “only has two homes in

Singapore”—but also because the partners

blame 3AC’s implosion on their failure to

foresee that the crypto market could go

down. Neither says the word supercycle,

but the reference is clear enough. “We

positioned ourselves for a kind of market

that didn’t end up happening,” Zhu says,

while Davies adds, “In the good times we

did the best. And then in the bad times we

lost the most.”

The pair also told Bloomberg they were

planning to go to Dubai “soon.” Their

friends say they’re already there. The oasis

offers a particular advantage, say lawyers:

The country has no extradition treaty with

Singapore or the U.S. ■

86 new york | august 15–28, 2022

The Last, Lonely Days eries. She was terrified of the coronavirus. straps and really injured her hip,” said
of Ivana Trump She took seriously all the recommended Haskell. “Ivana was not one to ever com-
precautions and isolated herself inside her plain. She was afraid of doctors; she was an
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 Manhattan townhouse. She had always anti-doctor person. Ivana never had a Band-
declined personal security, even after her Aid in her house.” The hip hurt enough that
schemes to the end. He talked about build- ex was elected president. She ordered a lot she went for a cortisone shot, but the long
ing a pizza oven in a fire truck and run- of delivery from restaurants on her block needle terrified her, and even though the
ning a restaurant out of it, but he needed between Fifth and Madison, takeout cacio drug lessened the pain, she didn’t go back.
$200,000. Ivana told him she would pay e pepe or pappardelle pesto.
for it but only if he stopped smoking. A Gargia, who was supposed to dine with
Marlboro Red pack-a-day man, he did not When restrictions eased, she stepped out her in St.-Tropez the day after she was
give it up. Puffing away on the terrace at a little. The months of isolation and the new scheduled to arrive, couldn’t bring him-
Altesi, he didn’t even look sick. hip injury showed. Alisa Roever, a younger self to travel to the funeral. “Perhaps if she
Russian woman Ivana came to pal around had survived, she could be in much better
“Look, I can’t judge love,” Ivana’s attorney with in recent years, saw a distinct change. health in St.-Tropez, living a different life
Lyman said. “They had a continuing rela- “She was very active before covid, very and so on.”
tionship. As to the quality of that relation- organized and extremely disciplined, up at
ship, I don’t know any of us can judge. She six o’clock, on the treadmill reading all the the day before she died, Ivana was
was pretty distraught after he died.” newspapers before breakfast,” Roever said.
“The covid slowdown made her age. She the happiest she’d been since before Rubi-
Rubicondi died in October. Ivana grieved was still put together, still had the hair and
all winter and was still grieving when she nails, but the energy wasn’t the same.” condi’s death. She was primping for her
died. She put on a brave face with friends,
but some days she would turn up at Altesi She didn’t quite lose all her zest, though. first trip to Europe in three years. There
and sit alone nursing Pinot Grigio. She could flirt outrageously with younger
men and tell dirty jokes. “She would unbut- was a lot of maintenance to catch up on: a
On these days, the staff would take turns ton my shirt and say, ‘Darling, please, open
talking with her, trying to cheer her up. it up, the women will go crazy for you, you’re dental appointment and then to Frédéric
Once during this period, “she looked ter- so hot,’ ” recalled Hamptons restaurateur
rible,” remembered Alavian, and another Zach Erdem of his occasional customer. Fekkai on Madison Avenue to get her hair
customer snapped a picture of her. “I was “I knew that she liked young guys—who
extremely upset when she was disrespected. doesn’t like hot guys? We joked a lot.” done. She was scheduled to fly on Friday
But she always said, ‘Don’t react, forget
about it.’” One night, dining with Serota and the night from JFK to Nice, where a helicopter
actress Brenda Vaccaro at Fiorella, where
Finances were not an issue for her, Ivana had a regular booth, the topic turned would be waiting to take her to St.-Tropez.
according to her lawyer. She had assets and to sex and young men. “Do you want one
significant real-estate holdings and had rare or rarer? What am I talking about?” She was giddy.
received a “multi-seven-figure” advance for Ivana said. “A piece of steak? Nope. Rare or
her 2017 memoir, negotiated by her liter- rarer?” She gestured with her hands: short That afternoon, she called Serota to see
ary agent, Dan Strone, the CEO of Trident or long. Oh, they got it. She meant a penis.
Media Group. That book, Raising Trump, if she wanted to meet for an early supper at
was published in fall 2017. Sales were disap- as soon as Broadway reopened, Ivana
pointing. maga didn’t buy. Not much love masked up and, armed with sanitizer to Altesi. Serota was also preparing to travel
for those kids in other markets. swab on the seats, hit the Saturday mati-
nees. She favored shows with hot young to Europe the next day and declined. They
Her will is being probated privately in actors. With Serota, she saw Jersey Boys
Florida, and no further information was three times, and at Moulin Rouge, she agreed to meet in St.-Tropez.
available at press time. Despite her assets swooned over the actor Derek Klena.
and properties, some friends noticed signs The last people to see her alive were her
that she was perhaps not as wealthy as she The last paparazzi photo of Ivana was
had been. She told one friend she wanted snapped two weeks before her death. She housekeeper, Fabiana Carbo Chavez, and
to sell her Miami condo; perhaps she had is walking up Madison, looking chic in big
simply taken to economizing as older people sunglasses, black flats, and a black sweater Curry, the former nanny who now worked
sometimes do. Bouwer noticed that the last and slacks, nails manicured red, blonde hair
time he saw her preparing to leave her house tucked into the signature French twist, her as Ivana’s assistant. Around 6 p.m., Ivana
for St.-Tropez in 2017, her Louis Vuitton lug- back just slightly showing the beginning of
gage was repaired with duct tape. the dowager hump, and leaning heavily on asked Carbo Chavez to walk a hundred
the arm of her housekeeper.
The pandemic hit Ivana hard. No yards to buy some takeout soup. Back home,
more red-carpet posing at premieres, one “She could not walk. There was some-
Blahniked foot forward and turned out, thing wrong with her feet,” said New York the staff watched her climb that winding
catalogue-model style; no more holding Social Diary publisher David Patrick
court at “her table” at Upper East Side eat- Columbia, whose company took the pic- staircase and said good-bye for the night.
ture. “She looked very, very uncertain. She
was holding tightly on to a woman who was Serota was in the habit of calling Ivana
clearly an assistant.”
every day at 8:30 a.m. The next morning,
Her friends thought Ivana needed a hip
replacement since injuring herself falling Ivana didn’t answer. Serota chalked it up
at Avra. “She tripped over someone’s purse
to pre-trip preparations. At around nine,

Carbo Chavez arrived as usual. She found

the door locked from the inside. That was

odd. An early riser, Ivana normally undid

the inner lock before the housekeeper

arrived. The key didn’t work. She rang the

bell, and when no one answered, she called

Curry. Eventually, they rousted the house

handyman, who came over with tools to

open the door.

Ivana was on the floor in her pajamas

at the bottom of the stairs. Hysterical, the

two women called Eric Trump—Ivana’s

only child who still lived in the city—who

rushed over from his nearby apartment

and held his mother’s body until police

arrived. The NYPD clocked the emer-

gency call at 12:40 p.m. and pronounced

her dead on the scene.

Her Yorkie, Tiger Two—Tiger One had

died in 2017—was the only witness to what

had happened. ■

au g u s t 1 5 – 2 8 , 2 0 2 2 | n e w y o r k 87

Jayquan in New York City equipped with rap names River Park Towers or other rivals’ turf and
McKenley and iPhones than there are with record begging his opps to come out and confront
deals. Lifting rudimentary beats off YouTube him. The term of art for this is “spinning” a
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32 and releasing snippets of a song on social rival’s block.
media are enough to declare yourself a drill
Another #1 bites the dust .” rapper—or enough for the tabloids to deem The crews to which Bronx drill artists
Within hours, someone compiled this you one if you make the news for something claim loyalty tend not to be sophisticated
tragic. McKenley was somewhere in the criminal enterprises accused of traffick-
insult and others in a YouTube video middle: known mostly to online devotees ing guns or narcotics. They fight over real
that would eventually get about 60,000 but possessing more talent than many of territory but are mostly preoccupied with
views: “Sha Ek, Lee Drilly, Yus Gz and Opps his peers. Management companies began gaining clout on social media. The incen-
Dissing Chi Wvttz After Getting Killed!!!” posting in his Instagram comments, telling tive to respond to each insult is heightened
him they could make him famous. by its publicity. Things can escalate until, as
U ntil he was 10, McKenley lived Maino puts it, the disrespect reaches “a level
with his mom in the Bronx. His In late October, he was sent to Children’s you can’t swallow.” As McKenley rapped in
father, who spent part of his son’s Village, stalling his hip-hop career. There “Geeked”: “We see a notification, my niggas,
youth in prison, told me he was once was a recording studio on campus, and they ridin’/My niggas, they ready to spin.”
in a Blood-affiliated crew but moved down McKenley could try to shoot videos on home
South in his late 20s to escape gang life. In visits, but it seemed he mostly channeled his Police argue that this dynamic in particu-
2014, he brought McKenley to Henderson, drive into classwork and basketball during lar directly contributes to bloodshed in the
North Carolina, to join him. Williams told his time in the program. “He had a specific form of “on sight” shootings, in which rivals
me his intention was to keep his son from goal here that was separate from the life that target their opps as soon as they see them.
repeating his mistakes. After being sus- he had at that time,” said Anthony Colon, his “I have never seen so many investigations
pended for an incident with a razor, he said, basketball coach. “Okay, what can I make of where gunfire is met by opposing gunfire,
McKenley got his act together and made A’s this while I’m here? He didn’t like to waste by multiple guns, by both teams,” says Jason
in school while fishing, shooting hoops, and time a lot. He wasn’t a kid that was just kind Savino, commanding officer of the NYPD’s
rapping on the side. In 2018, McKenley’s of sitting around.” Gun Violence Suppression Division, which
mother wanted her son at home, so he went oversees major gang cases. (There have
back north. (Naomi McKenley did not Colon told me a bit about his athlete’s been 324 shooting victims in the Bronx as
respond to interview requests.) Ingramm quirks: He craved Twizzlers and loved of August 7 of this year, compared to 145
has claimed online that McKenley wasn’t ranch dressing and wore his warm-up through the same period in 2019.)
happy in North Carolina and that he once sweats tucked into his socks—an affecta-
tried to drive to New York on a dirt bike until tion he had picked up down South. He told In the course of investigating such
its tire popped on I-95. me McKenley’s energy on the floor was shootings, the cops wind up monitoring
infectious, that he took lots of bad shots but drill rappers the same way fans do: by
In January 2021, while attending high thrived in big moments. bingeing online content. I spoke with homi-
school in the Bronx, McKenley released cide detectives as well as higher-ups who
his first music video on YouTube, for a McKenley grew close with a teammate study not just the songs themselves but also
song called “Sanctioned,” in which he raps from the Bronx named Miguel Pena, who the cottage industry of mini-documentaries
over a spare piano riff. The video—he and jokingly insisted that he was the more tal- and reaction videos that flourishes on
his friends bouncing around an apartment ented of the two. But he conceded that Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram, giving
with a Christmas wreath hanging on the McKenley, the point guard, was the team- them deep familiarity with even the most
wall—features some of Bronx drill’s rising mate the other players looked to first. “I ain’t obscure artists.
stars, including Dougie B and Kay Flock, gonna lie, I was more like the co-captain,”
who within a year would be cutting songs Pena said. “He naturally had that leadership In the spring of 2022, following an inves-
with Fivio Foreign and Cardi B. ability in him.” tigation by Savino’s division, the Bronx
district attorney Darcel Clark indicted 23
That spring, McKenley joined Dougie B Pena was a day student and, unlike alleged members of RPT, a YGz-affiliated
and Camrin Williams, who performs under McKenley, was allowed to have his phone crew from the River Park Towers, on gang-
the name C Blu, in a Bronx studio to record on campus. During practices, Pena would conspiracy charges. She said several drill
a song called “Geeked.” Camrin told me lend it to him so he could text Ingramm. rappers in the group had bragged about
McKenley had an incredible work ethic. McKenley told him he drilled because it their crimes in their songs; the most seri-
“He liked to be in the studio a lot,” he said. was popular, but, Pena said, “he wanted ous allegations were murder and attempted
“He liked to make sure he had a long list to change it up, make love-type music like murder, though the livestreamed beating of
of songs done, not just one or two. He was R&B.” After he made it big, or if he didn’t a pigeon generated the most media atten-
prepared.” That day, Camrin said, McKenley end up making it at all, he wanted to start a tion. In a press conference, Clark urged
had come with his lyrics written out before- family and have a son. rappers to stop “using music to encour-
hand, ready to go. He put on a beat and told age shootings and use it to better the
them, “I need y’all to get on this song and B y all appearances, Kay Flock, community.”
make it go viral.” born Kevin Perez, has the career
McKenley wanted for himself. A Although the investigations began before
There are many more teenage drill artists year ago, the two of them were in Adams took office, their timing added
photos on Instagram together, showing off to a suspicion that law enforcement was
their outfits. Now Kay Flock has a deal with scapegoating rappers. The NYPD already
Capitol Records. has a “hip-hop surveillance unit,” officially
the Enterprise Operations Unit, which
Kay Flock is also tied up in the feud effectively muscles promoters into taking
between DOA and the YGz. There are certain artists off concert bills in New York
numerous videos of him on YouTube in by arguing that the threat of gun violence at
which he records himself marching to the the shows is too high to let them perform.

88 new york | august 15–28, 2022

(Pop Smoke, for this reason, never per- insisted he had no problem with drill itself ‘I got four more diss songs. After that, I’m
formed in his hometown.) Bobby Shmurda but doubled down on critiquing inflam-
spent several years in prison for crimes that matory lyrics. “When you looked at the not doing no more.’ They feel like that’s
he also rapped about, though prosecutors music of the early rappers, what you saw
didn’t explicitly mention his songs in the was that they were rapping about the reali- what people pay attention to. They look
indictment. In May, the State Senate passed ties of their lives. What you’re seeing here,
a bill, supported by Jay-Z, Meek Mill, and which is extremely dangerous in some at YouTube numbers.” The very existence
other stars, designed to limit the use of lyrics of the drill music, you are now calling
at trial. (It is still before the State Assembly.) out others to retaliate,” he said. “Black of Fivio Foreign’s recent hit “What’s My
music has always come under scrutiny—
Several weeks ago, the three detectives I don’t care if it was jazz, gospel, the blues. Name,” a romantic song that cheesily inter-
who led the investigation into RPT— And then during the mid-’80s, early ’90s,
Michael DelGardo, Patricann Caputo, and hip-hop artists, they had the hip-hop police.” polates a Destiny’s Child chorus, is a symbol
Brandon Ravelo—met me in an unmarked His own scrutiny of the music isn’t “here we
NYPD building in the North Bronx. I had go again,” he argued. “This is something of his newfound stature.
asked them to show me how they connected totally different.”
drill rap to gang violence. DelGardo picked Online, c-hii wvttz lives on. In Febru-
an example from a related case, an investi- Adams accused the social-media com-
gation of a gang called the G-Side/Drillys. panies of exploiting violent content for ary, the video for his song “Head Pop” was
In July 2020, he said, a 24-year-old named profit. “They know exactly what they’re
James Rivera, a.k.a. Lil Loc, was leaving his doing. They know what promotes clicks,” released on Kay Flock’s YouTube page,
girlfriend’s home on the corner of 209th he said. “So what we’re saying is use your
Street and Decatur Avenue in the Bronx algorithm, your artificial intelligence, to where it has gotten more than 3 million
when he ran into members of the Drillys identify key words, key actions, displaying
gang. DelGardo says Loc was a Crip and of guns—all of this is possible—and start views, dwarfing the exposure he received
that e Drillys are Bloods. A confrontation being socially responsible.” Adams said he’s
broke out and Loc was shot, dropping a in conversation with all the major platforms while he was alive. As his death faded from
knife, which DelGardo says one of the gang and meetings with them are forthcoming.
members picked up and used to try to stab When I asked whom he’d be sitting down the headlines, attempts to define his legacy
him. Loc died at the scene. with, he replied, “The ones we believe we’re
making traction with, we don’t want to also began to play out. “They took the wrong
In the course of the investigation into the release names and blow it up until we are
Drilly gang, the detectives began to take able to seal a deal.” person 18 years old ambitious young king
notice of a rapper named Lee Drilly, real
name Ali Doby, who had mentioned Lil Loc P olice have not yet arrested gone over the fiendish like craving we have
in a song called “Final Destination.” “He anyone in connection with
names about 25 individuals who were killed, McKenley’s death. Savino said for violence,” wrote Robert Ramaseur in a
assaulted,” DelGardo said, and includes the McKenley wasn’t even on his
line “Little Loc got put in a casket, spinned department’s radar until he was murdered. devastated remembrance he posted to his
with a knife, that nigga got blasted.” In “We found him because RPT was posting so
another song, “Bet,” Drilly mentions the much thereafter,” Savino told me. The inves- Instagram page. “I love you Jay.”
knife again. The detail about the dropped tigation is still open.
knife, caught on police surveillance video, Williams, McKenley’s father, cultivating
would not have been public knowledge. Del- Kay Flock, in the meantime, is await-
Gardo and his partners took another look at ing trial for murder on Rikers Island, an online identity as c-hii wvttz pops,
the tape and identified Drilly as an individu- following a December 2021 shooting in
al who picked up the knife and attempted to Harlem. He has pleaded not guilty and began posting unreleased tracks and trib-
stab Loc. He was charged with conspiracy to his lawyer has suggested he acted in self-
commit murder in the second degree. defense. In the music video for “Shake utes, including a shrine he made featur-
It,” Kay Flock’s blockbuster collaboration
DelGardo and his team are aware that with Cardi B, he is represented onscreen ing sneakers, basketballs, and a framed
mining hip-hop lyrics is a bad look for police. by a shot of a prison call on an iPhone.
They repeatedly stressed that they use the (“Bronx Rapper Kay Flock Arrested for proclamation in his honor from the State
music only as an investigative tool. “There Murder After FaceTiming on the Opps
is no district attorney in New York, probably Block,” a video analyzing the shooting, has of New York. Williams has also started
the country, that would allow a prosecution more than 700,000 views on YouTube;
off of a song,” he said. “Everything we do is “Shake It” has nearly 40 million.) managing a 15-year-old from Florida who
corroborated by further evidence.” Ravelo
added, “Some people think we just watch This summer, seemingly retaliatory has adopted drill’s sound but wants noth-
videos.” Doby’s attorney, Phillip Hamilton, attacks have continued: In June, Lil Tjay,
says evidence will show that his client “did a 21-year-old crossover drill star, was non- ing to do with gang life. “He might say,
not concoct a plan to harm anyone” and did fatally shot in the chest and neck in New
not try to stab Loc. Drill lyrics, he argues, are Jersey; in July, 14-year-old Notti Osama ‘If you come over here, I’ll do this to you,’
being taken too literally. “Anita Baker sings was fatally stabbed to death on a subway
about love and all these intimate emotions,” platform. DJ Drewski said the incentives but he never did none of that stuff,” Wil-
he says, “but for all I know, Anita Baker to release insult-laden tracks remain in
could be a sociopath.” place, even if some rappers have second liams tells me. “I deal with his mother and
thoughts: “Artists hit me up. They’re like,
When I spoke with Mayor Adams, he father; they don’t even allow that type of

stuff. He found something that keeps him

out of trouble.”

In July, Laura Gillespie, a humanities

teacher at Children’s Village, forwarded me

emails she and McKenley had exchanged

before his death. He told her he would be

going home in March. “That’s so great!”

she replied. “There are not many boys who

come and maintain good behavior their

entire stay. To be honest when you first

came I thought he can’t be this good, he’s

gonna act up soon. And you never did!!!”

He wrote back that he planned to

return to campus, telling her, “I came so

far its no reason to mess up now ima stay

as a day student so I can get my diploma.”

He added that he was disappointed his

classes wouldn’t be with her, as she had

been assigned to teach a different grade. “i

wish you could of stay with me ” Gillespie

sympathized, inviting McKenley to come

by her classroom anytime. “okay be safe,”

he replied.

At a school holiday party in December,

Gillespie took a photo of him: He looks

sheepish, a blue surgical mask pulled under

his chin, his short dreads covering his eyes.

“I told him to smile,” she said, “because

I was always going to remember him when

he got famous.” ■

august 15–28, 2022 | new york 89

GAM the new york crossword
ES
It’ll Cost You Down
August 15–28, 2022. VOL. 55, NO. 17. New York Magazine (ISSN 0028-7369) is published biweekly by Vox Media, LLC, 250 Vesey Street, New York, N.Y., 10281. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. Editorial and business offices: 212-508-0700. Postmaster: Send address
changes to New York Magazine, P.O. Box 37130, Boone, IA, 50037. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 40612608. Canada returns to be sent to The Mail Group, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON, N6C 6B2. Subscription rates in the United States andBy Matt Gaffney 1 Turns (away from)
possessions: 26 issues, $59.97. For subscription assistance, write to New York Magazine Subscription Department, P.O. Box 37130, Boone, IA, 50037, or call 800-678-0900. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright © 2022 by Vox Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. Founding 2 Collared collie’s controller
chairman, Bruce Wasserstein; chief executive officer, Jim Bankoff. New York Magazine is not responsible for the return or loss of unsolicited manuscripts. Any submission of a manuscript must be accompanied by an SASE.123456789 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 3 Verses written for a

18 19 20 21 destroyed piece of furniture?
(Poet’s fee: $3,000!)
22 23 24 25 4 Good-for-nothing type
5 Legitimate
26 27 28 29 30 6 Latin for “friend”
7 1990s Acura in a bright-
31 32 33 34 35 36 green shade? (Sticker
price: $32,000!)
37 38 39 40 41 8 Salon acquisition
9 Parisienne, e.g.
42 43 44 45 46 47 10 Related (to)
11 Band at a bar, say
48 49 50 51 52 12 Before
13 Law requiring positive energy
53 54 55 56 57 58 59 from citizens? (Lobbying
expenses: $12 million!)
60 61 62 63 64 65 66 14 Bar that Bart pranks
15 Wanted
67 68 69 70 71 72 16 Convenience store
17 ___ of limitations
73 74 75 76 77 78 19 Road crew’s gunk
27 Clear off
79 80 81 82 28 City where Bolívar is buried
30 Gary’s place
83 84 85 86 87 88 89 33 Language of Arizona
35 “Ur txt was ridic”
90 91 92 93 94 95 38 Where students learn to make
breakfast spreads? (Tuition:
96 97 98 99 100 $15,000 per semester!)
42 Muslim ascetics
101 102 103 104 105 106 107 43 Like some birds
44 Part of many stadiums?
108 109 110 111 112 113 46 Playground equipment
designed by a fashion house?
114 115 116 117 118 (Retail cost: $60,000!)
47 Region for Arizona and Florida
119 120 121 122 51 “Brutus, you traitor!”
54 Combination
123 124 125 126 56 “Not this again …”
58 How a ballerina may stand
Across 49 Do it wrong 89 “Hola, ___ amigos” 64 What something expensive is
50 More kind 90 Managed to tolerate said to cost—or what each of
1 Barbecue side dish 52 How Tom Hanks looked in 93 Extremely long time these expensive things contains
5 Massive 94 Joe who can throw 65 “___ or carry out?”
9 Rami with an Oscar “Cast Away” 96 Not online, for short 66 Ukrainian port
14 Word with single or soccer 53 Nut used in sodas 97 ___ & the Gang 69 Function
18 Mount Olympus queen 55 No longer worth discussing 98 Pond jumpers 71 When totaled up
19 Gulf Coast city 57 Prefix with sphere 100 Element in lights 74 Wilt, Shaq, or Kobe, e.g.
20 Cinéaste Kurosawa 59 Highway stop 101 Leader on Chinese bills 76 Soccer balls, say
21 “Gotcha, boss!” 60 Object 102 Like K–5 schools 83 Board game with bombs
22 Purina competitor 61 ___ nitrate 103 Instinctive action 84 Parfumerie products
23 Unfamiliar 62 Suffix with Kazakh 105 ___ operandi 86 The attic’s beneath it
24 Underwater explorer 63 Day after viernes 108 Clara Bow, e.g. 88 Hostile party
25 Mediterranean mountain 67 Latvia’s capital 110 Town near Santa Fe 90 Close
26 Uncommon knowledge 68 Seesaw or wheelbarrow, e.g. 112 Each, emphatically 91 Tool in a shed
28 Prop for Mr. Peanut 70 “Wait ___ Dark” 114 Give for a bit 92 Shady character?
29 Lousy tennis shot 72 Oklahoma city 115 Some noblemen 95 Words to a dawdler
31 Prepare 126-Across, one way 73 Danger near Charybdis 117 Negotiator, often 98 Finishes, as a cake
32 City next to Chapel Hill 75 They may clash 118 Inter ___ (among others) 99 Harsh, as punishment
34 Thespian Rickman 77 New Rochelle university 119 “Hoop Dreams” subject Arthur 104 Colorless gas
36 Big bird 78 Country road 120 Say “Hey!” to 106 Taking advantage of
37 Paper purchase 79 Wander (about) 121 Oft-mispronounced 107 RBI and GDP, say
39 Campfire creation 80 Site with stars 109 Inkling
40 Highly unfriendly 81 “Infinite ___” (1996 novel) sandwiches 111 Away from the wind
41 Snitch 82 Extremely, to Émilie 122 Festival structure 113 Some linemen, in football
42 Be down in the dumps 83 Fish feature 123 Parks or Salazar (abbr.)
45 Craft beer, often 85 “Gandhi” role for 124 Olympic weaponry 116 Painter Jean
46 Gardening or golfing, e.g. 125 Portentous sign 117 Long ___ (years back)
48 Chopper with a head Roshan Seth 126 Delicious dozen
87 All-vowel road maneuver

90 new york | august 15–28, 2022 The solutions to last week’s puzzles appear on page 84

the vulture 10x10

Across 22 Brand that makes THE ROAR PUZZLE Down 18 Game show
orangutan-shaped featuring
1 Substance bath bombs By Stella Zawistowski 1 “Sister Act” James Holzhauer,
smuggled in costume with “The”
“Midnight 25 Musician with an 1 234 56789
Express” upcoming album, 2 Italian actress Valli 19 BBC box
“ForeverAndEver 10 11 3 Apologetic song 20 Film shown
5 New movie whose NoMore”
title character is 12 13 title for Justin at Sundance
a 22-Down 26 Embedded design Bieber or Beyoncé 21 Gets the middle
28 Reddit abbr. 14 15 4 Fashion designer
10 Stuff in after-sun Slimane out of, as an apple
products, often before a synopsis 16 17 5 “Cake Boss” 22 Big cat with
29 Praiseful poet location
11 He played Jesse on 30 Saab who designs 18 19 20 21 6 Flap on a winter a mane
“Breaking Bad” cap 23 Ctrl-Z
dreamy wedding 22 23 24 25 7 Many a Meccan 24 Feature of
12 Sonny the Cuckoo dresses 8 Talk-show-set
or Toucan Sam, 31 “Duly ___ and 26 27 28 furniture, often Angelina Jolie’s
for example ignored” 9 Stuff Wile E. 2012 Oscars dress
32 Big features on a Coyote keeps 27 From Jan. 1 to now
13 Big name in boxed Powerpuff Girl foolishly ordering 28 “Tin Cup” prop,
mac and cheese from Acme in more ways
15 Kazuo Ishiguro than one
14 Star of 5-Across title?
16 Singer Swift, 29 30

familiarly 31 32
17 “Rosemary’s Baby”

author Levin
18 Crossword type

beloved of Stephen
Sondheim

Across 18 Ed Sheeran song THE MTV PUZZLE Down 16 She directed David
in “Selma”
1 One of Santa’s 1 World Series
of Poker item 17 Free-Range Kids
reindeer who’s up for a Video of By Stella Zawistowski advocate Skenazy
2 E pluribus ___
also a love god? the Year VMA 1 2345 678 3 Stuff that’s in 18 Dominique who
6 Stuff often 21 Doja Cat song up played Lolita
the “Weeds”?
analyzed on “CSI” for a Video of the 9 10 4 Dockworkers’ grp. 19 One of “The Girls
9 First name in Year VMA 5 1/200,000th of Next Door”

pricey shoes 22 Member of the 11 12 Jinkx Monsoon’s 20 Say without saying
10 In medias ___ Super Bowl LVI– prize on “RuPaul’s 22 “I got the eye of
Drag Race:
11 Olivia Rodrigo winning squad All-Stars” the tiger” Katy
6 Imbibed Perry bop
song up for 25 European peak 13 14 15 7 Ruth of “Agents 23 Role for Calista
of S.H.I.E.L.D.” from 1997 to 2002
a Video of the 26 Catcher Adley 8 ___ Martin 24 Either of two
(James Bond’s Spice Girls
Year VMA Rutschman, 16 17 favorite car) 27 One of MLK
9 Honor for Adele Jr.’s titles
12 Show with Sofia for one and Ed Sheeran 28 Makeup of many
(abbr.) a “Mario” level
Vergara on the 29 “How Far ___ Go” 18 19 20 15 Cooperative
project involving
judging panel, (“Moana” tune) NASA, JAXA,
and others
for short 30 Recent reason to 21 22 23 24

13 Genre for Skrillex get rid of your

and Calvin Harris Banana Boat 25 26 27 28

14 Language on hair spray

the job 31 Team on top of the 29 30
16 Senator Lisa AL East

Murkowski, 32 Partner of each 31 32
for one

Across 21 Heart or mind, THE DRAGON PUZZLE Down 19 Swimming
competition
1 The titular house in Chinese By Malaika Handa 1 Abbr. used to
in “House of describe 20 Chooses “WAP” at
the Dragon” philosophy 1 23456789 a relatable karaoke night, say
situation
10 Offerings at 23 Slogan you might 22 Don’t do it!
soup kitchens 2 Like the climate 23 Prefix meaning
have seen on 10 in Dorne
11 Website whose a T-shirt at the “three”
logo is a globe 3 Type in again 24 Half of Bennifer
made of puzzle “Eclipse” premiere 11 4 Company with 25 Measurement
pieces
26 Off-putting a spokeslizard on an AC
12 Mo. when Taylor 5 Band aid?
Swift was born 27 Classic breakup line 12 13 6 New Balance

13 Contact name for 14 15 competitor
your boyfriend, 7 When tripled, “You
maybe 16 17 18
get the idea”
14 Toy with which 19 20 21 22 8 Nobelist Wiesel
you can walk 9 Org. that once
the dog 23 24 25
employed
16 ___ out a victory 26 Reality Winner
(won by a hair) 15 People who
rarely disagree
19 “The Marvelous 17 Praise heavily
___ Maisel” 18 Risky

27

Find new puzzles daily at nymag.com/games. august 15–28, 2022 | new york 91

THE APPROVAL MATRIX Our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies.

compiled by dominique pariso and chris stanton
despicable
highbrow
PHOTOGRAPHS: WALLY GOBETZ (MAR-A-LAGO); EILEEN KANE/FLICKR (SINEMA); LORIE SHAULL/FLICKR (GRINER); JOAN MARCUS (DEVIL WEARS PRADA); RBS10025/FLICKR (MARCH); SEAN P ANDERSON/FLICKR (JONES ); HACHETTE BOOKS ( WEISS ); NIR ARIELI (BOFFO); BOSS TWEED/FLICKR (SERENA); JOAN MARCUS (KITE RUNNER); SENATE
D E M O C R AT S / F L I C K R ( S C H U M E R ) ; M I C H A E L W I L S O N ( M C D O N A L D) ; K E V I N CO N D O N ( M A H L E R ) ; B Á R B A R A WAG N E R & B E N J A M I N D E B U R C A . CO U R T E S Y O F F O R T E S D’A LO I A & G A B R I E L , S Ã O PA U LO / R I O D E J A N E I R O ( B R A Z I L ) ; E T I E N N E K L E I N / F L I C K R (C H O R I ZO) ; D R AW N A N D Q U A R T E R LY ( AC T I N G C L A S S ) ; A M C ( S A U L ) ; S TA R Z ( P-VA L L E Y ) ; H B OLaw-and-orderAccording to a newBárbara Wagner andA lively Death of
( WESTWORLD); ERNESTDUFFOO/FLICKR ( TV ); SIMON AND SCHUSTER (MCCURDY); JESSICA SPENGLER/FLICKR ( TOMATO); WARNER BROS. (BATGIRL); COURTESY OF HBO MAX (FLASH); NICK STEP/FLICKR (MILLER); BRIAN DOUGLAS/NETFLIX (FIRST KILL); MATTHEW BRITTON (PUFFINS); NICK BRIGGS/HBO (GAME OF THRONES); ALAMYTrumpersbook, Trump wantedBenjamin de Burca’sClassical’s Mahler at the
(DAVIDSON); A24 (BODIES); DALE CRUSE (NUNZIO’S)exquisitely humanCatacombs of Green-
suddenly want to know why his “Five Times Brazil” at
to “defund” the generals couldn’t be the New Museum. Wood Cemetery.
FBI over Mar-a- more like Hitler’s.

Lago raid. Arizona Republicans
want to elect
Kyrsten Sinema … While Senate Dems
election deniers defends actually pass
like Kari Lake.
hedge-funders legislation on climate,
There was a well- from a tax corporate taxes, and
thought-through increase …
strategy behind health care.
Nancy Pelosi’s going
to Taiwan, right? Nature is healing: Pro-choice …
Audra McDonald Kansas.
returns to Broadway
this fall in Ohio

State Murders.

Court finds that … And most
Alex Jones is important, he’ll be

knowingly a big held financially
fat liar … liable for it.

Russia sentences Between monkeypox and a As theaters drop mask The GOAT
Brittney Griner to possible polio resurgence, mandates, The Kite announces her
years in prison. it’s starting to feel like March triumphant
Runner designates Friday
2020 all over again. performances for retirement.

masked audiences only.

According to a new Who really thought Gary Weiss’s Retail It’s like Bushwick at brilliant
study, almost all the a Devil Wears Prada Gangster chronicles the Beach with the
rainwater on Earth the wild rise and fall Boffo Performance
is contaminated by musical without of New York scam
“forever chemicals.” Emily Blunt was artist Crazy Eddie. Festival on Fire
going to be any Island.

good?

City car owners are Nunzio’s, an 80-year- French physicist Nick Drnaso’s graphic Better Call Saul
reportedly finding old Staten Island trolls the internet novel Acting Class proves prequels
more rats nesting with an image of can be masterpieces.
under their hoods. slice mecca, goes to reads like it’s in direct Your move, House of
pizzeria heaven. a “distant star” conversation with
Kim K. and The satirical Bodies that was actually Nathan Fielder’s the Dragon.
Pete Davidson Bodies Bodies isn’t cringe-inducing P-Valley throws the
call it quits on as sharp as it chorizo. The Rehearsal.
their totally thinks it is. gay butt sex in
Forget Trader everybody’s faces,
real Joe’s. Brooklyn The Mets and they just have
relationship. somehow
is getting its to deal.
first Lidl. keep …
winning? It’s tomato season!
Netflix puts a iCarly star Jennette
Sean Bean, “Micropuffins” sound stake in season McCurdy releases
known for being cute, but they’re two of extra-gay her boldly titled
a by-product of horndog vampire memoir, I’m Glad
beheaded in climate change’s series First Kill. My Mom Died.
Game of Thrones, depriving Maine’s
puffins of food. Westworld season four
says intimacy confirms our suspicion
coordinators “spoil that Hudson Yards was
the spontaneity”
built for robots.
of sex scenes.

Ezra Miller adds Free Hot new trend:
a felony burglary Batgirl! antenna TV!
(Who can afford
charge to their lowbrow
ongoing reign all those
streamers?)
of terror …
… While Warner Bros.
insists its (still!)

forthcoming Miller-
starring Flash movie

is “terrific.”

92 n e w y o r k | au g u s t 1 5 – 2 8 , 2 0 2 2

Brains.
Heart.
Courage.

GERSHWIN THEATRE x WickedtheMusical.com SCAN HERE
TO BUY TICKETS
BUY NOW FOR THE BEST PRICES AND LEARN MORE