Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 57
RIP Charlie Watts, Eavesdropping on the Taliban, Micah Recommends, Penny Hardaway at Memphis, Recipe Corner, and much more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.
Check out the introduction post here and the entire archive of previous newsletters here.
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Heartbreaking TV News Story of the Week
The tweet below sets the scene, but this piece needs to be watched. We are living in very strange times.
Get vaccinated. Get a booster. Be well.
R.I.P. Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts died last week at 80. It’s a bummer. Tributes poured in.
From Charlie Watts: a rock’n’roll legend whose true love was jazz:
Everyone knew that Charlie Watts’s heart was always in jazz. Even when he grew his hair long and put on hippie garb while the Rolling Stones were going through their Satanic Majesties period, underneath he was still the cool bebopper who could see through the nonsense that surrounded his group and the rampaging egos at its heart.
Growing up in a postwar prefab in Wembley, Watts had saved money to buy 78s by Jelly Roll Morton and Johnny Dodds, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. When he was given his own first full kit, after getting a start by dismantling a banjo to use the body and the vellum as a makeshift drum, he painted the name “Chico” on the front head of what was known in those days as the bass drum.
From Questlove on the True Genius of Charlie Watts: ‘Only Real Drummers Know’:
He was the anti-drummer. He wasn’t performative to let you know how hard he was fucking working. He gave you the basic foundation.
A solid foundation, to me, is more important than the size of your drum set or how fast you drum or how loud you drum. And only real drummers know the value of Charlie Watts and the fact that he was the world’s greatest metronome. His serious drumming and stoic drumming was kind of my blueprint with the Roots. Because Charlie did less, that made him more.
Probably Charlie’s greatest trademark was the fact that he never hits the hi-hat when he hits the snare, which is very unusual, because drummers are programed to hit everything at the same time. I’ve never seen a drummer just individually hit them the way he does. His hi-hat hand never played when the snare hand played, and the same with how he applies his rolls and his kicks and what not. Like, again, a rare moment of him just rolling his ass off is the end of “Start Me Up,” which is sort of like, “Ooh, he’s getting loose tonight.” But I realize that that’s more mastery than it is not being advanced enough.
Rest in peace.
Micah Recommends
I know I’m a few weeks late on this one, but now is the time to watch McCartney 3, 2, 1 on Hulu. I hammered through the entire series in a weekend. Paul sits down with Rick Rubin and goes through highlights from his entire catalog. It’s a fascinating look inside the creative process of an absolute giant. There’s also a moment in episode 2 that will have you jumping out of the couch in sheer joy.
Tracking Shot of the Week
If for some reason you haven’t seen this yet, stop what you’re doing and watch it now.
Far and away the most interesting thing that’s happened on Hard Knocks this season.
What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban
I spent 600 hours listening in on the people who now run Afghanistan. It wasn’t until the end of my tour that I understood what they were telling me.
Ian Fritz served in the U.S. Air Force from 2008 to 2013. This is his story. And he can write.
No sales meeting, movie set, or locker room has ever seen the level of hyper-enthusiastic preparation that the Taliban demonstrated before, during, and after every battle. Maybe it was because they were well practiced, having been at war for the majority of their lives. Maybe it was because they genuinely believed in the sanctity of their mission. But the more I listened to them, the more I understood that this perpetual peacocking was something they had to do in order to keep fighting.
How else would they continue to battle an enemy that doesn’t think twice about using bombs designed for buildings against individual men? This isn’t an exaggeration. Days before my 22nd birthday, I watched fighter jets drop 500-pound bombs into the middle of a battle, turning 20 men into dust. As I took in the new landscape, full of craters instead of people, there was a lull in the noise, and I thought, Surely now we’ve killed enough of them. We hadn’t.
When they had 30-year-old AK-47s and we had $100 million war planes, they kept fighting. When we left a village, they took it back. No matter what we did, where we went, or how many of them we killed, they came back.
With the Taliban back in charge, things are obviously dire. And the author argues that we should have seen it coming.
What little gains have been achieved in women’s rights, education, and poverty will be systematically eradicated. Any semblance of democracy will be lost. And while there might be “peace,” it will come only after any remaining forces of opposition are overwhelmed or dead. The Taliban told us this. Or at least they told me.
They told me how they planned to keep killing Americans. They told me the details of these plans: what weapons they would use, where they would do it, how many they hoped to murder. Often, they told me these things while doing the killing. They told me that, God willing, the world would be made in their image. And they told me what so many others refused to hear, but what I finally understood: Afghanistan is ours.
With Emoni Bates aboard, Penny Hardaway is showing that Memphis can be a worthwhile springboard to NBA
On Wednesday, Emoni Bates, the heavily hyped 6-foot-8 star from Ypsilanti, Michigan, officially committed to play for the Tigers this year. Long considered the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2022, Bates reclassified to 2021, where Rivals.com ranked him fourth nationally, and will be eligible this winter.
This is a big deal. Head coach Penny Hardaway (yes, that Penny) may be on the cutting edge of a new program-building strategy.
Hardaway is trying to create a program at Memphis that bridges both worlds — it’s college ball with all the marketing might and rabid fandom that comes with it, but it’s unapologetically player-first and NBA-focused.
That includes a coaching staff that includes a four-time All-Star such as himself, Hall of Fame NBA coach Larry Brown, four-time All-Star Rasheed Wallace and Cody Toppert, who is renowned for player development work in the G League.
Memphis isn’t just trying to get a prospect to the NBA. It is bringing the NBA to the prospect.
What Hardaway is selling, recruits are eating up. And it is a modern pitch.
Don’t worry about conference affiliation (Memphis is in the AAC, not the ACC). Look at the big city's business community that surrounds a player as it is full of name, image and likeness possibilities.
Don’t worry about the number of national championship banners (none, despite a nice tradition of success there). Look at the coaches who are there to build up a player, not break him apart just for the sake of their ego.
This isn’t about offering a campus prettier than Duke or Carolina, it’s about offering a situation better than Team Ignite. It’s a balance. This isn’t some college town campus. This is the city’s team. Memphis plays in an NBA arena, but packs a college-passionate crowd.
Nike, FedEx, and whatever else about one million Memphians can drum up will take care of the money.
The NIL rules mean that the future is already here. It seems that Penny is ahead of everyone else. We’ll see.
Recipe Corner
Grilled Salmon Caesar With Asparagus and Charred Lemons
For the second week in a row, we’re back on that Caesar kick. It’s big salad szn, but you already knew that.
3 oil-packed anchovies, or more to taste
3 cloves garlic, or more to taste, smashed
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons), plus more to taste
3 tablespoons Dijon or spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup grapeseed or canola oil, plus more for brushing
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 (4 to 8-ounce) skin-on Alaskan salmon or arctic char fillets
2 to 4 thick slices crusty bread, such as ciabatta, sourdough or baguette
2 small heads romaine, trimmed and halved
12 ounces asparagus, preferably thick stalks, trimmed
1 or 2 lemons, halved
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish if desired
Using a small food processor, pulse the anchovies and garlic into a paste. Add the lemon juice, mustard and honey and process until smooth. With the processor running, slowly stream in the grapeseed or canola oil and the olive oil. Stop the machine and, using a leaf of romaine, taste the dressing, adding salt, pepper and more lemon juice as needed, pulsing for another second or two to combine. (This may also be done by hand: On a cutting board, using a chef’s knife, chop and crush the anchovies and garlic into a paste. Add them to a medium bowl and whisk in the lemon juice, mustard and honey. Whisk the oils into the dressing in a steady stream until it’s emulsified and thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.)
Heat the grill to about 350 degrees.
Spread 1 generous tablespoon of dressing over each salmon filet. Using a pastry brush, spread some dressing on both sides of each slice of bread. Very lightly brush the cut side of each romaine head with dressing, and season each one with a small pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Very lightly brush the asparagus and the cut side of each lemon half with oil.
Grill the romaine heads, cut side down, until lightly burnished, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip and grill for 1 more minute; the romaine should be charred but not limp. Using tongs, remove them from the grill and place onto a serving platter.
Using tongs, place the asparagus in a single, tight row perpendicular to the grill grates. Lay the salmon, skin side down, atop the asparagus. Place the bread and lemon halves, cut side down, near the cooler edges of the grill. Close the grill (or cover the grill pan) and cook, checking once to be sure the grill isn’t overheating, for 4 to 5 minutes, until the bread is lightly charred on one side.
Flip the bread, rotate the lemon halves, and then cover and cook for another 4 to 6 minutes, or until the fish has reached an internal temperature of at least 120 degrees, and the asparagus, bread and lemons are lightly charred.
Using tongs, layer the salmon, asparagus, lemons and grilled bread on the serving platter with the grilled romaine. Stir the Parmesan into the remainder of the dressing and drizzle some on the romaine, top with more grated cheese, if desired, and serve, with extra dressing on the side.
Vietnamese Tomato Salad
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup fish sauce (preferably Red Boat or Three Crabs)
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 small fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 Persian or kirby cucumber, halved lengthwise, sliced into half-moons
1 Hungarian wax, Jimmy Nardello, or green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, sliced
1 small shallot, thinly sliced
1½ lb. mixed heirloom tomatoes, halved if small, cut into wedges if large
2 cups coarsely chopped mixed tender herbs (such as dill, cilantro, and/or Thai basil)
Freshly ground black pepper
⅓ cup crushed salted dry-roasted peanuts
⅓ cup store-bought fried shallots
Place sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, and 1 Tbsp. water in a jar. Cover and shake dressing vigorously until combined and sugar is dissolved.
Combine fennel, cucumber, sweet pepper, raw shallot, tomatoes, and herbs in a large bowl; season generously with black pepper. Drizzle ½ cup dressing over and toss salad to combine. Taste and add more dressing if desired.
Transfer salad to a platter and top with peanuts and fried shallots.
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