Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 70
Ranch Water inventor dies, what happened to Eric Clapton?, wild international politics, what Micah made for Thanksgiving, Recipe Corner, and more.
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Now, on to the newsletter…
RIP Kevin Williamson, Inventor of the Ranch Water
Four months ago we featured the story of the Ranch Water cocktail in this space. This week came some sad news. The man widely credited with creating the drink died at 59.
"The Texas sky will shine a little dimmer tonight," said a post on the Facebook page of Ranch 616, announcing Williamson's passing. "His larger-than-life life was truly a celebration of the best of life — with a distinctly Texan point of view."
In 1998, he opened Ranch 616, the iconic South-Texas-style ice house in downtown Austin — with a signature tequila-and-water cocktail called Ranch Water, presented as a classic margarita with a bottle of Topo Chico sparkling water on the side.
Williamson further expanded Ranch Water from Austin cult item into Texas-wide phenomenon by introducing it at the Gage Hotel in West Texas in 2010.
"If you follow the Ranch Water's chain of custody, one name keeps popping up: Kevin Williamson, owner of Ranch 616 restaurant in Austin," said a story by Thrillist author Kevin Gray.
Rest in peace. Pour one this weekend and toast to Kevin.
What happened to Eric Clapton?
The guitar legend has long been inscrutable, but his covid turn has friends and fans puzzled like never before.
This piece floored me.
In an increasingly polarized world, Clapton stayed out of politics. He was never one to pop up at rallies or marches. So it’s been more than a departure to hear him questioning scientists on anti-vaccine websites.
“He’s the anti-Bono,” says Bill Oakes, who managed Clapton’s label throughout the 1970s. “He is the epitome of someone who is there for the music, and he’s never rubbed shoulders with world leaders and never wanted to.”
“Nobody I’ve talked to that knows Eric has an answer,” says drummer Jim Keltner, who has known Clapton for 51 years. “We’re all in the same boat. We’re all going, ‘I can’t figure it out.’ ”
This recent change of heart has people asking questions and searching for answers in Clapton’s past.
He really had only one cause at the time: Wooing Pattie Boyd, a model who just happened to be married to his best friend, former Beatle George Harrison. “Layla,” the centerpiece of the Derek and the Dominos record, would be a plaintive plea for her love and remains a staple of Clapton’s concert repertoire.
“There’s an obsessive part, the same thing that made him really sit down and learn to play the guitar the way he did,” says Chris O’Dell, who served as an assistant for Harrison and then Clapton during that era. “He went after Pattie maybe the same way. Maybe obsessed is the wrong word, but you’re mono focused. You have only one thing in your mind, and that’s all you can really concentrate on.”
This has emerged as the main theory as to why Clapton has responded so strongly to covid shutdowns. At 76 and with a long list of health problems — from nerve issues in his hands and legs to hearing loss — he can feel the clock ticking and is desperate to squeeze in as much playing as he can.
“That’s what he lives for,” Keltner says. “You can’t take [his] gigs away. It’s like breathing for him.”
Ok, so the story about stealing his best friend’s wife is well-known (and fucking wild). However, the anti-lockdown campaign has also brought forth other previous incidents.
In October, Rolling Stone magazine, which had featured him eight times on its cover in largely glowing terms in the past, produced a searing attack that not only called him out for his pandemic behavior, but spotlighted a 45-year-old incident that remains an inescapable bruise on his career.
The racist rant during a concert in Birmingham, England, in 1976 was not something newly surfaced. Clapton addressed it in 2017’s “Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars” documentary, and it’s been used regularly as ammunition against him online. As #BlackLivesMatter surged last year, acclaimed songwriter Phoebe Bridgers slammed Clapton in an interview as making “extremely mediocre music” and being “a famous racist.”
Clapton’s remarks came during a surge of immigration in the 1970s and a campaign on the far right to stop the flow of South Africans into Britain. Onstage, Clapton told his audience that it was important to “keep England White” and that “the Black wogs and coons and Arabs and f---ing Jamaicans don’t belong here.” In “12 Bars,” Clapton apologized and said he was ashamed about what he said. He blamed it on a drinking problem so severe he often contemplated suicide.
OK, so Clapton said some terrible things. Maybe he’s an evil bigot. Or a reformed alcoholic. Or maybe he’s just an asshole who doesn’t get it, never has, and never will.
Though Clapton studied the music of the blues, he seems to have not read up on what drove the work of many of his heroes. In a 1999 interview on “60 Minutes” with Ed Bradley, Clapton talks of what it was like to hear the blues on the radio as a teenager in Ripley, a White, working-class town north of London.
“To me, it sounded like they were in a fantasy land,” Clapton said. “For you, perhaps, Ed, the plantation and the cotton fields would have been places of abject misery and hardship. For me, it was paradise. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather be doing than picking cotton and hearing that music all around me.”
Others, who did not get along with him, also find his behavior baffling. Jim McCarty, the Yardbirds drummer, said that even in the early days, Clapton remained a mystery.
“You ever met people like that? That really never really fit anywhere and you can’t quite understand what they’re thinking or what they do?” he says.
So here’s where the story gets really sad. Just replace the name “Eric Clapton” with someone you know (and like) who posts on Facebook or Instagram. It could be a buddy from college, or an old co-worker, or a friend’s husband. Think about how those posts have affected your relationship with that person.
One of Clapton’s relationships appears unfixable. That’s the one with guitarist Robert Cray.
Clapton organized Cray’s bachelor party at Royal Albert Hall back in 1990. That same year, the pair shared tragedy, playing with Stevie Ray Vaughan only hours before the Texas bluesman died in a helicopter crash.
But Cray says that Clapton has changed over the years. He rarely mingles anymore. Once known for his pranks, he has lost his sense of humor.
“I’ve told myself, I don’t need to have a conversation,” Cray says. “I’d just rather not associate with somebody who’s on the extreme and being so selfish. We started playing a music that wasn’t particularly popular to start off with at the time we started playing. We’ve gained some notoriety, and I’m fine with that, but I surely don’t need to hang out with Eric Clapton for that to continue.”
All the divisive shit in our world is destroying countless relationships. And I have no idea how we recover.
Wild International Political Headline of the Week
This is from a couple of weeks back, but I had to share.
A spokeswoman confirmed the younger Duterte’s candidacy for vice president on Saturday. Shortly afterward, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the son of a dictator who ruled the country for two decades, posted that his party would adopt and endorse her — which would effectively make her his running mate.
Her father is likely to tandem with his former aide, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, and analysts say both Duterte-Carpio or Go would be likely to shield the older Duterte from an investigation and possible trial at the International Criminal Court.
Wait, so the daughter is endorsed by some dude named “Bongbong.” And dad is running with some dude named “Bong.” That sounds hilarious. Well, maybe not for the people of the Philippines.
“The son of a former dictator and daughter of a wannabe dictator are now poised to continue the dark legacies of their fathers,” said Neri Colemnares, an opposition congressman running for senator. “This can only bode ill for the vast majority of Filipinos, many of whom suffered under the corrupt and brutal regimes of their fathers.”
“This is Philippine politics,” Marcos told reporters at the time. “Everything is possible. Even up to the last absolute minute.”
Maybe things aren’t so bad here after all.
Podcast Promotion of the Week
Brad Kee and I break down everything that happened in a wild college football weekend on Back Door Cover. Subscribe and listen here on iTunes and here on Spotify. You’ll enjoy it.
This week on Mind of Micah, we share an incredible True Crime story about a Houston socialite and her murdered husband. It’s wild. Subscribe and listen here on iTunes and Spotify.
Last week on Mind of Micah, I shared what I’m thankful for. I also gave my recipe for sweet potatoes.
Here’s a picture of the sweet potatoes I made for Thanksgiving
Yes, they are burnt. It was my fault. I apologize for failing my family. They tasted ok, but I blew it. I will try and avenge this error in the future.
Recipe Corner
Celery and Pork Stir-Fry
After a weekend of turkey, fixings, and desserts, let’s lighten up for a little bit. Here’s a simple and healthy weeknight meal with a bunch of things that you probably have in the fridge already.
SAUCE
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon Chinkiang black vinegar (may substitute balsamic vinegar)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
STIR-FRY
1 tablespoon canola oil
4 dried red chiles, crumbled (seeds discarded if you prefer less spicy heat)
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
5 medium ribs celery, sliced on the diagonal
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
One 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
6 scallions, sliced, white and green parts divided
8 ounces ground pork (or other ground meat)
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
Fine salt
Make the sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk together the water, sugar, Chinkiang vinegar, soy sauce, cornstarch and toasted sesame oil.
Make the stir-fry: In a wok or large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until shimmering (this will happen very fast if using a wok). Add the dried chiles and Sichuan peppercorns and stir-fry until the chiles darken slightly, about 1 minute, .
Add the celery and bell pepper, and stir-fry until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and white parts of the scallion, and stir-fry until fragrant, another 1 minute. Transfer to a plate.
Add the pork to the skillet and cook, breaking up the meat as you stir-fry, until browned, about 5 minutes. Return the celery mixture to the pan and stir to combine. Re-whisk the sauce, add it to the skillet and stir to coat everything. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with the peanuts and green scallion slices over the top, and season lightly with salt.
Serve right away.
Whole Wheat Cranberry Sauce Muffins
Don’t throw that half-eaten can of cranberry sauce away. Use it in these muffins.
1/3 cup (80 milliliters) grapeseed, safflower or another neutral oil, plus more for brushing pan
1 cup (120 grams) whole-wheat pastry flour, or 1/2 cup (63 grams) each all-purpose and regular whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup (60 grams) almond flour
3/4 cup (110 grams) date sugar or light brown sugar (see NOTE)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (275 grams) prepared whole fruit cranberry sauce
1/2 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
3/4 cup (180 milliliters) whole or reduced-fat milk
1/2 cup (60 grams) chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees. Brush the wells of a 12-cup muffin pan with oil.
In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, almond flour, date sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda until combined. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil and eggs until combined, then whisk in the cranberry sauce and orange zest until combined.
Mix the dry ingredients into the wet in two batches, alternating with half the milk at a time, until just combined. Stir in the nuts, if using.
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan and bake for 18 to 21 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean and they are golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack in the pan for 15 minutes, then run a knife or offset spatula around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
More Micah
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