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NY is on a Journey of Love and Healing: The Orchid Book Conversation with co-authors Rocio Aquino, Angel Orengo
Learn to Love Yourself: The Orchid Book Conversation with co-authors Rocio Aquino, Angel Orengo
Rocio Aquino and Angel Orengo, co-authors of “The Orchid” are, as their website shares partners in life and spirit, wanderers who found home in each other’s hearts.
Their journey together has been filled with a myriad of cultures, beliefs, and encounters with both the ordinary and extraordinary.
The Orchid: The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses
The Orchid: The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses
The story focuses on five of these women, each wrestling with unique life challenges such as closeted sexuality, career pressures, spousal abandonment, sexual abuse, eating disorders, and manipulative behavior.
As they engage with the program’s curriculum, they peel away layers of self-deception, pain, and societal conditioning, discovering that the love and solutions they seek already reside within them.
The Orchid serves as both the setting and the metaphor for their collective journey toward self-realization and empowerment.
Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit FlavRReport’s YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
We’re talking about The Orchid: The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses.
I go to a lot of book events, and a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, I went to The Orchid’s book signing. What I was amazed by was there was so much emotion in the audience. Big smiles, happy tears.
What are we missing in our lives that your book, The Orchid, helps us recognize?
Rocio Aquino:
How beautiful [of a] question. I think, to be honest, that we are perfect already. And we forgot.
Angel Orengo:
Yeah, I think we forget that at the core life doesn’t need to be that difficult. It’s not that complicated that we allow ourselves to be complicated by the things around us, by the things that we’re told, by the way we think our lives need to be, by the number of houses, clothing, shoes – everything right that we need to have.
The moment you bring it down to the basics and you’re like, yeah, life should be simple. We are okay. We’re just learning here. We’re back. We’re like in a school and the teacher wasn’t angry because we got it wrong. On the contrary, it was just like, Oh, don’t worry. I’ll teach you.
Joe Winger:
So what I’m interpreting is, people are having these emotional realizations because they’re remembering your message that they’re perfect already?
What do you think it is about that audience interaction that your book is giving?
Rocio Aquino:
I was in the front, so I was not as intimate like you and your perspective. But what resonates with me and what I see that can resonate for someone else is that they know and they understand that they are not alone on this journey.
The struggles they are feeling are real. They feel the difficulty. Everyone at some point is [feeling] who here has a difficult path? Everyone is like me. That connection is not superficial, but it’s more in a deep way when you are in a group setting after being so disconnected really to talk about the important things that matters in life has another connection.
Angel Orengo:
We’ve gotten large amounts of feedback by now. Some people are touched by the fact that someone has written a book selflessly to help them. I know there were people that were touched very much by that.
I think you understand what that means really, it was all about how do we help the reader get to a different place, right?
Go from point A to point B, right? There are people that for the first time find themselves in an environment where they can treat themselves with some kindness, where maybe they haven’t stopped to think about that before. Because we try to block it.
It’s easier to numb pain than to experience it and let it go.
Other people are [having the realization that] it’s not that complicated. I’m just so happy that I found this now. I think it’s just all of that energy.
The energy in the room that day was really powerful. When you’re in the presence of that energy and by presence, the collective – it wasn’t us. It’s we – emotions come to the surface, and that’s how we clear emotions, and that’s how we clear energy.
Thank you for sharing that because I didn’t realize that was happening.
Rocio Aquino:
We didn’t have any idea and remember, we have two teenage daughters. They bring us back to reality really quickly at our house.
Joe Winger:
Going to the actual book itself between the characters, the descriptions, their backgrounds.
What’s real? What’s fiction? And for fiction, what inspired it?
Rocio Aquino:
Everything happened, everything is real, but never happened all together.
Angel Orengo: And not to those people.
Rocio Aquino: We know that some of the places exist and all the situations exist.
The fiction is today there is not a place that you can go for free to heal in this way. But we hope that someone will open it. Let’s hope we can do it..
Angel Orengo:
Yeah, the characters, the book is absolutely real.
Every single thing that happens there has either happened to us or happened to someone we know, or we’ve read it in the news.
The story about the model and the sexual abuse that’s real, right? It’s happening in the modeling industry now where they have gone through their own “Me too” movement.
There is a scene in which “Olivia” is doing a silent walk and she has a vision of her mother near her. [to Rocio] That’s something that has happened to you, about your own mom who passed away.
There’s a scene in which “Olivia” is speaking to her father. It was a difficult relationship and her father wasn’t the best version of a father that he could have been.
That a lot of it is after my own experience with my own father, who I met three times in my life. One of which, the longest, was five hours. So we took pieces and through the help of everyone who collaborated in the book to construct these characters that brought together all these experiences.
We wanted to write the story of Rocio, who morphed into “Sophia”, and then we realized that we wanted to tell more that we needed that in order to be of service to the people who would be reading the book, we needed to tell more stories because there are so many things happening to women out there that we don’t hear about that we wanted to do justice by representing as many of them.
That’s where it all comes from.
Rocio Aquino:
The same happened to us when we were reading, not writing the book. We were crying constantly. At one point I put it down, we were crying [so much]. Then we did it first in English and after in Spanish and then we were crying in Spanish so was like, “Okay I’m continue to heal.”
The process for us was really intense
Angel Orengo:
The experience that you’re having [the audience and reader’s emotion], everyone is sharing similar things. It’s simple, but as I’m going, I find myself thinking about things that I’ve never thought about in my own life.
I need to put them down. Sometimes it takes me a little bit before I pick it up again. So it’s like peaks and valleys of intensity.
Joe Winger:
As authors, how are you feeling now knowing that so many people are having such extreme feelings and discoveries from your pages?
Rocio Aquino:
You never know how your work is going to be received, to be honest.
Even though we have a very strict culture of not judging anyone, being totally neutral, we are going to make suggestions.
Now that people are seeing the book, it’s a pleasure, it is humbling.
Angel Orengo:
There was intentionality in what we were writing. The book came after our first year of deep introspection into who we were and how we wanted to change our lives. [We studied] a lot of self help books. At the time that we started writing, it was about how do we share this with people who normally don’t have access to information
Also for people who don’t have resources to go and spend time in a retreat for a weekend or spend $5,000 or even $500. [We thought] we should do television because this is our background. But let’s own the intellectual property, the story behind it.
[We thought] we should do television [series], but let’s own the story behind it.
So when we sit down with the people who are going to help us craft the TV show, we have a say in how it’s made. Right now what ends up happening is that people don’t think that love is powerful enough to deal with the issues that you have around you.
We think that we have to combat anger with anger or force. That’s what we’ve been raised to believe. We’ve gotten to a point where love really does conquer all, but not in the way in which we were taught.
So when we approached a book, it was, “Let’s do it with a lot of love,” we said, and if we can help one person, it’ll have been worth it.
Everyone who we are connecting with is having similar reactions so it’s humbling. We’re filled with gratitude beyond belief that we were chosen, selected, inspired to write what we wrote and to put it forth.
Not just write it, but really now be the face of it and take it to as many places as we can.
Rocio Aquino:
That’s the main point. When someone says “Thank you”, because now that means I can continue to share with more people. If more people feel better about themself, that is incredible. That’s our main point to invite everyone to our party.
If more people feel better about themself, that is incredible.
And the part is really, if you are feeling better about yourself? Great! So it’s about that.
Joe Winger:
During your book event introduction, you mentioned one of your goals is to bring The Orchid to real life. Where are we today with that goal? How can the audience help you?
Angel Orengo:
Everything in your life begins with an intention. Waking up in the morning, getting off your bed, right?
Everything is intention after intention. The first and most important thing that we want is for people to truly enjoy the book because through the enjoyment of the book, there is a transformation that’s taking place.
We now understand that the way to change the world, and even though this is not the ultimate intention is the indirect intention, we can make this place a better place to be for all of us.
It begins by me feeling better about myself, and you feeling better about yourself. And it begins by all of the things that we create.
All these things these women are experiencing in The Orchid.
To your question, the first thing is for people – and it’s happening already – to say, wouldn’t it be awesome if this place really did exist and these transformations were taking place. If one person says it, it’s a big deal.
If a million people begin to think that way, or a billion people begin to think that way. Wow. It is about the power of what we have to manifest.
In terms of The Orchid as a retreat center, I think there are versions of it throughout the world already. There are many places that exist. I think those places will be inspired when they read our book to go to a different level. We can do more to expand the way we’re doing this.
There are podcasts down the line. There are television shows that we’ve mentioned. There’s a digital community that we would like to work on and develop. There is a nonprofit because there are going to be issues that will require that approach.
We’re going to continue building this community that ultimately is going to want to continue conversations as to how I deal with this.
Even though we attempted to do a very complete seven day experience at this retreat center, the truth is that the experiences can vary greatly.
There’s so much more out there.
We only depicted a number of healers. The number of healers and healing modalities out there are endless. I believe it will happen.
We have had initial conversations with certain people about it, but I would say it’s in early stages.
I would much rather encourage everybody who is already well advanced into a retreat center to look at themselves and see if there’s anything that can be learned from ours and create their own orchid so that we can help more people around the world.
Rocio Aquino:
Yes. Take the lessons, what you learn and it really is, “How I can begin to have a conversation with someone.”
Joe Winger:
As authors, can you talk a bit about what your writing process was like? What was the timeline going from idea to finished, published book?
Angel Orengo:
We began our process for the book at the end of 2021. So it took us about two and a half years.
We’ve come across a lot of people who say, ”Wow, that’s fantastic.” It took them nine years or 10 years and so on.
We were doing this 24 hours a day for two and a half years.
We relinquished everything else that we were doing and we dedicated ourselves to our growth, our personal growth and introspection, which in itself was the core of what’s at the book and to crafting putting on paper as many of the thoughts and ideas that we had.
The first step was Rocio and I basically went back and forth. We started thinking about which things worked. At first she was the guinea pig. She was experiencing things, a lot of healing practices.
Rocio Aquino:
It’s a process. Experiencing different things, and at the beginning you don’t have it very clear, but you begin, “Okay, this was my story.”
The main thing was to teach the lessons in a very original way. When you are relaxed, when you are in your house watching TV or reading.
You begin to question, is this serving me or not? The process of putting our learnings on paper.
Everyone is a creator. We can create and create.
No one is going to have our perspective. Angel was very clear [about] what he likes in life and has never spoken bad about anyone.
In my mind, I was not like that. I was speaking bad about people. But then I learned the power that [kind of speaking] represents and now I don’t want to do it.
But it’s those lessons that you begin to learn [from]. I grew up with that different paradigm, and now that I know another one, I prefer the new one.
Because it gives me more freedom, creativity, and everything.
We put everything in place. We worked hard to make this happen because our motivation was to do a book for [the younger version of] me 32 years ago when I tried to kill myself and I didn’t have the tools and I didn’t have anything.
So this is a book that I wish my mom had before she passed away 32 years ago.
The motivation was really to spread that another way of thinking was available. So we were in a hurry, like this needs to be available for those Rocio’s, for those Pepitas who were out there, who are out there and need to have something that they can grab quick, and they can begin to see a change.
Angel Orengo:
I would add, the process of writing the book was truly experiential. It wasn’t just spitting it out, we were living certain things.
There were times we stopped the book to have an exercise of releasing energy.
What we realized as we were writing, there were things inside of us that needed to be addressed.
Whether it was an experience that happened when you were a child…
I can’t tell you the times where we were crying, deeply moved by what we were writing and reading and how that was cleaning us inside and how that was changing us.
We went through different hurdles.
For example, we realized at an early stage that the book could not be judgmental about anything. if we were going to connect with readers, right?
We had no idea that we needed to ensure that the people at the Orchid, Mary and her staff. [They] never looked at anybody and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry.” It’s more, “We know we’ve been there. You too can heal from that.”
And so all of those things emerged as we were writing.
There was intentionality and some clear ideas as to how we wanted to proceed. The truth is that we were experiencing and adjusting as we went.
Rocio Aquino:
With a lot of respect.
Angel Orengo:
With a lot of respect for each other, the people we were collaborating with, and the reader.
Joe Winger:
The book is called The Orchid: the Secret Code of Modern Goddesses.
The color scheme, it’s primarily female names, from a traditional or direct point of view, it’s geared more toward a female audience.
As the authors, trying to get a guy in a woman’s life to read it. What would you encourage them to say to get a guy to read it?
Rocio Aquino:
#1, I’ve been a woman and reading many books about guys, written by guys and I love it.
So maybe it’s time for a guy to be open minded. I can do this and I can read a book about women.
#2, it’s incredible to go in the deepest way of thinking of women. So try to understand how they work and what they are thinking. This is a fantastic opportunity. It has so many good sides because you want to have a better understanding of your mom, of your sister, your girlfriend, your wife, your daughters.
Then you’ll have a better way of how women relate to each other, but how do they relate to themselves, and how you can be an ally in their process.
Angel Orengo:
Recently I was writing a brief article for a fraternity that I belong to and I was very active when I was in college.
Essentially the article is to inspire them to read this book. The issues that we talk about, whether it’s sexuality, limiting beliefs, the power of forgiveness, the power of gratitude or any of the other issues that the women who are there are speaking of, they’re universal.
They’re not gender based, right?
So any opportunity that you have or that you give yourself to relate to those issues, it’s an opportunity to grow.
I think for men for far too long, we’ve defined masculinity as “the absence of emotion” or perhaps the “existence of physical strength.”
More and more we’re finding out about emotional intelligence, right?
That emotions in general and our ability to share them to be vulnerable is powerful and can only enhance the people that we are.
I would say be open minded. The issues are truly for everybody. You can learn a thing or two, not just about yourself, but about the women in your life.
It’s and it could be really powerful. Plus let’s face it, the better we communicate with one another, the better we relate to one another across genders the better our community is going to be, and we need more community in the world.
I think if anything has shown us, and this is true at any time, right?
Every person you speak to, we’re all longing for community. We need connection. We need to connect more with each other.
Rocio Acquino:
Deep connection, not superficial.
Joe Winger:
The book is called The Orchid, The Secret Code of Modern Goddesses.
Wrapping up, for people out there who want to buy the book after hearing about it, Whether it’s websites, social media, how can we follow you? How can we buy the book?
Rocio Aquino:
There are so many ways right now. We have a website: TheOrchidBook.com
You can find the book in English and Spanish.You can buy it on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble, Apple, and we have the audiobook too.
And the exercise, if you want to do a book club with your friends, you can do some exercise that are on the website.
Instagram, Facebook YouTube, TikTok. All @TheOrchidBook_
NY FlavR
NYC: When You have a Higher Calling and Need Media Attention, Reach to Publicity For Good, CEO Heather Holmes explains
When You have a Higher Calling and Need Media Attention, Reach to Publicity For Good, CEO Heather Holmes explains
Publicity for Good is a millennial run communications firm that provides high-level disruptive, publicity and social media services for wide array of purpose driven clients in the food beverage and beauty industry.
In 2016 by Heather Holmes former miss Ohio international celebrated publicist and Forbes 30 under 30 nominee publicity for good has built a reputation as the countries number one PR agency for CPG brands that have social causes built into their DNA.
Publicity For Food CEO Heather Holmes
Today’s conversation with Heather Homes from PublicityForGood.com has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
Heather Holmes from PublicityForGood.com. I’m a big fan because you’ve helped us facilitate a lot of previous conversations about food and drink and nutrition and all the things we like talking about.
What’s the most important thing that you want to share with the audience today?
Heather Holmes:
I really want to take away the unknown or worry about getting in the media. I want to make it more accessible to amazing brands and people.
So I definitely want to share tactical advice that if someone is reading this, they have a good story in business, they have the confidence that their story is good enough and they could absolutely make an impact and grow their business by getting in the media.
Joe Winger:
Starting with the basics, let’s pretend I have a company, I think I want public attention. I want to reach out to someone like you.
So what should I be thinking about? What do I present to you as a step one?
Heather Holmes:
Step one is really the intentionality of why you want to get in the media. What’s your goal? Are you wanting to reach more people? Are you wanting to get your story out there?
Are you wanting more sales and more people to buy your product?
You really need to know. Where you’re going first, and if you don’t know where you’re going, or you don’t have a vision, then it’s really hard to help you.
But if you have clarity there, then we can really pull back and help you identify your story, how you’re different, your why, and why your product and or company, would be really great to be in the media.
The PublicityForGood Team
Joe Winger:
Now, looking at the grand scheme of the campaign, what kind of a campaign should we be looking for: expectations, results?
Heather Holmes:
After we know our outcome that we’re wanting to get more sales, more backlinks, or name in the media, then what I like to do first is work with every entrepreneur, and even if you have a product, to really reflect in “why your story matters”
Why does your product matter?
If you’ve never been in the media before, I take people for an exercise where I have them draw on a piece of paper, them as a baby, to where they are now.
I have them write the key pivotal moments that have happened in their life that have made them start that company, because those little components are absolutely a part of your story.
I’ve been in the media 700 plus times: Inside Edition, Fox News, The New York Coast, incredible media, but it hasn’t always been about being a publicist, right?
Yes. I’m the founder of Publicity For Good, but a lot of that has been my story or building a seven figure company from an airstream.
Now I have almost two under two with a third on the way.
So you need to have your key pivotal moments because those are things you can talk about in the media.
Then we need to look at what’s going on in the news and how we bridge the gap between your product. Relevancy.
Joe Winger:
People may not know you are a former Miss Ohio International. Can you tell us a lesson you learned from being a former Miss Ohio International that you’re using in today’s work?
Heather Holmes:
It’s really all about your platform and reaching new audiences.
When I was building my company I decided I wanted to get into pageants. I wanted to meet a community of like minded people that wanted to make a difference in the world.
It was a way for me to have a platform because at the time I was talking about why you absolutely can build a profitable business. But also make a difference in your community and make a difference amongst your team. And really just build an incredible legacy.
So that was why I did the pageants.
I did a bunch of publicity and again, it made me relevant and timely because that was what got me in the media because I was Miss Ohio and I was only Miss Ohio International for a period of time.
So it gave me that relevancy. So you have to be relevant.
You have to bridge the gap between what’s happening in the news, or we often use Awareness Days, National Nutrition Month, National Social Media Day, and you have to position your product or yourself as the solution.
[For example], we were talking about an incredible juice brand, but most pitches I see are very promotional, right? It needs to be how you or your product simplifies people’s lives. How are you adding value? Or you don’t have a product you need to inspire people.
Joe Winger:
You’re growing a 7- figure business. What’s it like growing a huge business while you’re taking care of your kids and for a while you were living out of your Airstream
Heather Holmes:
We lived out of a 23 foot airstream for 3 1/2 years. I went from dating to engaged, to married to [my first child] Rose, who’s almost two, who lived in our airstream with us.
The year the pandemic [hit] was our first million dollar year.
I think a lot of the reason why it was that year is because when March hit, everyone was so scared that we lost about 40% of our business, number one.
Number two, we had to hustle and grit to make it. There was no choice of failing. All the distractions were gone.
When you’re in an Airstream, all you have is your laptop, but we had no external distractions, and then everything else was closed.
So the only focus we could do was our business and we had to scale out of necessity because we didn’t want to lose what we had put so much time in.
Fast forward, we now have 22 acres where we live and we have two under two, we have one on the way, we’re a full time team of 40, and it’s not easy.
I say transparently, it’s a hot mess. There are so many miracles that happen every day, but life is one, right? I can’t turn off my founder hat and publicist hat and then “Oh, I’m a mom”. It’s all one.
So yes, I might have Rose [my daughter] on a call with me from time to time, but I’ve learned that the more you step in and embrace your life, who you are and the realness, sometimes people opt out and that’s okay.
And this is my legacy.
I like these missions that we’re doing good work to us is way more than a business. We want to grow your brand and mission and we take it so seriously.
So it’s not perfect. It’s not perfectly scheduled. I’m a full time mom, all the time on the weekends when the kids are sleeping, we’re working.
We know where we want to go, and these clients and ambitions that we’re aligned with and supporting are helping people with their health.
Joe Winger:
What an incredible story to share.
Heather Holmes: I have so much to share. Like I was adopted when I was a week old to having two under two and another one on the way and building a business and building a homestead.
It’s so crazy. Austin, who’s my husband, the first week we were dating, we’re all about intentionality. I have the journal and we mapped everything out.
This year, we were going to get engaged then married. Austin and I,l we will have been together almost five years.
We’ve had a kid every year. Rose will be two in June.
We want to build a business. We want to impact our clients, brands, and scale their business. We want our team to get better and flourish in their personal lives too.
This is our mission and I’ve seen so many miracles happen from getting in the media on a personal level.
I was talking to [a business owner client] and her business grew by 40% from getting in the media.
One of my favorite cookie brands, a mom had an incredible heart story. She went on our local news and she brought in $12,000 worth of sales, just the local people wanting to support her.
On the flip side, when people Google my name, it’s like my social currency, there’s all these articles. So I have so much peace in that. Our kids will see the good work we’re doing.
Joe Winger:
You’re talking to an audience of foodies. What is your favorite meal?
Heather Holmes:
We just had Indian food last night that my husband made and it was so good.
We used to live in San Diego and I think San Diego has the best food. It’s all fresh. We’ve traveled a lot. We’ve been to Bali, their food is pretty incredible too. Where we live [now] we’re right outside of Asheville and Charlotte. So they have some good restaurants, but like I’m not in the phase right now where I’m the foodie like I used to be.
[At our house] we have chickens and we have fresh eggs. So I’m obsessed with fresh eggs every morning. You’re living a good life when you can go get your eggs and have them at home with some goat cheese.
And honestly, I love Livermuth. Crazy. So I’d say some Livermuth fried in a cast iron with some eggs and goat cheese. It’s the simple things that I really do love.
Joe Winger:
Heather Holmes with Publicity for Good. As we wrap up, whether it’s a potential client, a potential vendor, someone wanting your help with publicity, what are the best ways to find, follow you, websites, social media, etc?
Heather Holmes:
You can go to PublicityForGood.com You can find me on social media as well.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherdesantis
https://www.instagram.com/heatherdesantis
“Exhilarating and Breathtaking” Eve Bushman Covers Riesling in Germany’s Mosel Region
“Exhilarating and Breathtaking” Eve Bushman Covers Riesling in Germany’s Mosel Region
I found myself describing the experience as both exhilarating and breathtaking, and these two words have now taken on a new meaning for me, probably forever. Raimund added to my thoughts when he said that here, we “always sit in the green.”
Middle Mosel, aka Mittelmosel, wine region of Germany / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
Have you been to the Middle Mosel, aka Mittelmosel, wine region of Germany? I had learned about the area, saw photos of the steep vineyards and their ancient stone sundials dating back hundreds of years, during a tasting with Raimund Prum from S.A. Pruem many years ago. Fast forward to this year, and we planned our first trip there, where we stayed at the S.A. Pruem guesthouse and visited with Raimund again! We also toured and tasted with Eifel-Pfieffer, C.A. Immich-Batterieberg, Villa Huesgen and Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler.
A sundial in their vineyards / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
Know before you go: Rieslings are not all sweet! They range from bone dry to sweet. And though “Riesling is King” in the Mosel we enjoyed sparkling wines and rose, as well as Pinot Noir during our tastings. Not all wineries are in Bernkastel-Kues, many are in towns all roughly within 30 minutes of each other.
Wineries to Tour and Taste
S.A. Pruem: We must start with this winery as they are the reason we traveled to the Mosel for wine. I had met Raimund Prum in 2013 when he led a class for Ian Blackburn of Learn About Wine. Fast forward to this past May 2024, when I finally got to see Raimund again – this time at his home and winery. Raimund inherited the 800-year-old family winery in 1971 and has “expanded from 8.6 acres to 27.9 acres.”
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His family had used money that they made from their apple farms to fund their wine growing business. Back in those days 100% of the people living in the area worked in the wine industry according to Raimund. Nowadays young people may leave, but they come back.
Raimund is a busy man, representing the winery almost all over the world. But he doesn’t do this alone. Raimund’s wife Pirjo, a WSET Diploma graduate, represents the brand in U.S. and Finland. Saskia, their oldest daughter, took over as the owner in 2017.
They produce many still and sparkling wines, from dry to sweet Rieslings to Rose of Pinot Noir, Pinot Noir, and sparkling wines. I had the opportunity to try most and had a hard time not finishing every sample that was offered. And though other places in the world make Riesling, Raimund said that the “character of the wine is different here” which began over 2,000 years ago by the Romans. (Many Roman pressing stations have been found along the Mosel.)
Weingut Eifel-Pfeiffer / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
During the days we visited we had many opportunities to talk, but at our appointed time for our interview Raimund took us on a drive to the top of one of his vineyards, and it happened to be the oldest one that also is famous for its sundial. His tallest vineyards are 336 meters high, and the Mosel River is at 136. The ground is a combination of lush earth, wildflowers, and different types of slate rock – the rock in particular adds to the minerality found in the wines.
Mother and daughter Tanja Gorgen-Eifel and Mia-Katharina Gorgen from award-winning Weingut Eifel-Pfeiffer. Photo credit: Ed Bushman
Eifel-Pfieffer: Did you know that award-winning Weingut Eifel-Pfeiffer has been in the same family since 1642, and is currently worked by three generations? We had a fabulous tour and tasting with mother and daughter Tanja Gorgen-Eifel and Mia-Katharina Gorgen.
We also learned that they only produce Riesling wines, have the coveted 1A rating which means that some of their vineyards are considered the best in the area, motivated Romanians work the steep vineyards, rainfall can’t always be counted on as it changes from year to year, and they have a total of 10 hectares over 30 kilometers in the Middle Mosel.
Their low-alcohol, not-overly-sweet, fresh, and mildly acidic wines are made from single vineyards – and also a blend of different vineyards that are only from the same area. Riesling “show character of each vineyard that you can really taste in the wine…the structure, minerality and acid” according to mother and daughter.
There are less winemakers now than there used to be: several of the smaller wineries have been absorbed by the larger ones as it’s been noted over time that it’s too cost prohibitive to run a small one-hectare winery.
2021 Mia from Trittenheimer Altarchen / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
These Rieslings pair well with all types of food – German, Indian, Chinese to name a few – and China just might be the largest importer of Eifel-Pfieffer wines. I was super impressed with all of their wines, from dry to sweet, but must give a special nod to a 1990 vintage from Trittenheimer Apotheke and the 2021 Mia (made by Mia while she finishes up winemaking school) from Trittenheimer Altarchen.
Immich Batterieberg wine roster / photo credit: Ed Bushamn
Immich-Batterieberg: This time we had the opportunity to sit down and taste with winemaker Gernot Kollmann while learning all about Immich Batterieberg. Let me just start by saying we liked every wine that Gernot opened for us. Most were very dry, all are organic, and 96% of the wines that they make are Rieslings.
Immich-Batterieberg where we were able to sit down with winemaker Gernot Kollmann / photo credit: Ed Bushman
What makes them special: they are the largest owner of old and ungrafted vineyards in the Mosel, all rocky and steep, and the winery dates back to 1425.
Seventy-eight percent of the 80k bottles they produce a year is exported to Japan, Italy, U.S., Switzerland, and the U.K. They receive top scores from Suckling and Parker, and those top-scoring wines sell out quickly.
The wines are a perfect example of the trend toward dry white wines (which means not sweet) and the continual production of lower alcohol wines.
Pic credit: Ed Bushman
Villa Huesgen: If you are looking for a grand tasting experience, Villa Huesgen is it. Of course, if you have the opportunity to be charmed by Adolph Huesgen VIII himself, then it’s even more special. Adolph’s wine curriculum vitae is almost as interesting as the winery alone! He regaled us in stories of his many collaborations (from Australia to South Africa), work in wineries in California (he started his career at Robert Mondavi as the European sales director with Michael Mondavi) and what he and his family have currently achieved (sparkling, still, rose in the original blue bottles Riesling were first made in) at Villa Huesgen.
Adolph Huesgen VIII / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
The Huesgen family established the vineyard nine generations before, in 1735. The art nouveau-styled estate was built in 1904. They grow Riesling and Burgundy grapes, currently have their first block of Chardonnay in barrels and make more dry than sweet wines. They import to 35 countries.
We tasted ten wines, one of which recently was listed as one of the top nine Rieslings in the world by the Robb Report April 2024. We would have a hard time not liking any Villa Huesgen wines.
Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
Dr. Pauly-Bergweiler: This estate is right in the popular part of Bernkastel-Kues, and just adds to the beautiful Mosel landscape. We were greeted by Stefan Pauly, who led us on a tour of the building and the many tasting areas for their guests. As this was the last tour of our trip, we “drank it up” for the history, and of course, the wines. We tasted many Rieslings, and even a beautifully made Eiswein, and were thrilled to discover that our local Total Wine stores has the exclusive label, Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler, and it’s very reasonably priced though it sells out every year. (Made a mental note to go there as soon as we get home!)
Dr. Heidemanns-Bergweiler // Photo credit: Ed Bushman
We learned that the winery was founded in 1556, they own 22 kilometers of vineyard along the Mosel, and they even offer an alcohol-free wine. One of the tasting areas we saw had a slight walkable ramp and was large enough to “seat a whole boat” of tourists that preferred not to climb up or down ancient steps for a wine tasting.
Stefan Pauly for Dr. Pauly Bergweiler wine estate / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
When to Visit
We happened to be in Bernkastel-Kues area of the Middle Mosel during Open Wine Cellar Days, which this year began on Germany’s Father’s Day. The holiday and the multi-day event brought many German tourists to the area, which added to the trip for us to “pick up some local color” so to speak. The event shows off many wineries not just during the day for tastings but also for night for tastings, meals, and live music. We chose to stay at the guest house at one winery, S.A. Preum, which made it even more convenient to walk over each night. We have been told that there are always wine festivals, so I highly recommend that you look at the calendar for these before planning your trip.
Raimund Pruem from Weingut S.A. Pruem / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
We got to Bernkastel-Kues from the Frankfurt airport, we rented a car and enjoyed the easy freeway routes and arrived just under two hours. We went in May, as we tend to pick times of the year when tourist areas are less crowded with summer travelers.
Bernkastel-Kues area / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
Besides wine tasting many tourists rent bicycles and e-bikes, tour on motorcycles, rowboat, parasail, take a boat tour and hike the vineyards. It’s a very walkable area in town with many wine bars, brew pubs, restaurants, and shops along the cobblestone streets. In other parts of the Mosel River, you can find sandy beaches and even water skiing.
Gastehaus at Prum / Photo credit: Ed Bushman
There are many hotels along the Mosel River, we chose to stay in a suite at the Gastehaus at Prum and we would definitely return. Beautiful accommodations, locally sourced breakfast, and of course wine!
Find on Instagram: @VisitMosel @EifelPfieffer @ImmichBatterieberg @VillaHuesgen1735 @Weingut_PaulyBergweiler @S.A.Pruem
Eve Bushman has a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET), a “certification in the first globally-recognized course” as an American Wine Specialist ® from the North American Sommelier Association (NASA), Level 1 Sake Award from WSET, was the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video (over 16k views), authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and has served as a judge for the Proof Awards, Cellarmasters, LA Wine Competition, Long Beach Grand Cru and the Global Wine Awards. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits.
NYC’s Next Flight to Saigon: Tracie May Vietnamese Publicist and Foodie Shines Global Spotlight on Asian Flavor
NYC’s Next Flight to Saigon: Tracie May Vietnamese Publicist and Foodie Shines Global Spotlight on Asian Flavor
Tracie May made a name for herself in Los Angeles for 25 years as a luxury publicist and event planner leading hundreds of Opening Night parties, events and red carpets.
Then in an “Eat, Pray, Love” – inspired move, she decided to take a leap and move across the world.
FlavRReport.com on Youtube
In 2020, she relocated to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and became the Senior Editor of Epicure Vietnam Magazine, the most prestigious culinary and hospitality publication in Asia.
Today we catch up with Tracie to talk about life in Vietnam. The people, the culture, and of course the food.
Tracie May Vietnamese Publicist Foodie Indulges in Delicious at her role with Epicure Vietnam Magazine
Joe Winger:
What’s the most important thing that you want to share during this conversation?
Tracie May:
Don’t be afraid to take the leap of faith. Honestly, I took a massive leap of faith, uprooting my entire life.
I had a big life in LA. I was there for 25 years, and to take that leap of faith to relocate to Vietnam. It was never even on my radar.
People thought that I was insane when I said I was doing this. It was not supposed to be for the long term. But the whole point is, you never know where opportunity is going to come. You don’t know what your future looks like, until you write your own story.
I am proof positive that anything is possible if you just take a risk for yourself and your happiness, because the energy or the universe will provide for you if you’re truthful, connected and really get specific about what you want.
Tracie May with Chef Eden Daus of Lesung, holding Epicure Vietnam Magazine
Joe Winger:
You are now the senior editor of Epicure Vietnam Magazine. Tell me a bit about the magazine and your role.
Tracie May:
It’s a really beautiful, glossy print publication. They also have online and social [media presence].
It’s available in every VIP lounge, every business lounge at every major hotel, airline and club lounge. It has a lot of subscribers.
Focuses on culinary, luxury travel, hospitality, wine, chef profiles. [Food and beverage] business profiles as well as features on certain resort properties.
I was really lucky to [connect with] the publisher. I sent her a bunch of my writing samples. I joined the magazine about 17 months ago.
My main focuses are editing content, making sure the English is perfect, and dealing with editorial and the marketing teams.
But my favorite part is running the news section. [It’s] basically my curation of what’s hot in [food & beverage] in Saigon and all over the world.
I get to eat the best food all the time.
The majority of the restaurants that we cover are very high-end, gorgeous, [food and beverage] in town. So I get to eat a lot of amazing food which is awesome.
The food in Vietnam is extraordinary.
Joe Winger:
As a USA foodie, what’s a lesson you’ve learned about Vietnamese cuisine that you want the world to know about?
Tracie May:
The biggest lesson that I’ve learned, and it is evident in my extreme weight loss of 75 pounds in 2 ½ years, is it’s whole real food.
They are not jacking up their cows and their pigs with hormones. Organic is actually a thing here. The quality of the food, it’s not processed crap in a box that is run by Monsanto.
Because of the climate here, Dalat, which is the region in Vietnam where most of the produce is grown, some of the most unbelievable tasting produce is grown there.
The fruit is unlike anything you’ve ever tasted.
A watermelon is the sweetest, juiciest, delicious thing you’ve ever put in your mouth; and it’s available from every little fruit stand that is on Quốc Hương.
I walk to my local [stores] because I like to support locals here and have my little bag and pull my produce and all of it is grown on their farm,
It’s just that’s how people eat here. There is no Kraft macaroni and cheese. There is no processed, boxed chemicals here.
Because of that, the quality of the flavor profiles is so superior.
So that is the biggest difference.
The reason why there’s such an obesity problem in the U.S. is the abundance of processed food.
[Here in Vietnam], even fast food. We’ve got McDonald’s and Popeye’s and KFC. But the taste of a Big Mac or a Whopper with cheese is far different than anything you can get in the States because of the quality of the meat that they use.
That is the biggest difference of why Vietnam is so globally recognized as such a foodie hub.
Joe Winger:
You’re doing a lot to bring attention to Vietnam as a foodie hub.
Tracie May:
I was the guest judge on Top Chef Vietnam, and I was the guest judge on the finale of this show called Super Cake, Banh Xeo, which was basically, Build a beautiful cake. And these Vietnamese national TV, reality shows which showcase culinary.
So that was fun.
Joe Winger:
If somebody from the United States comes to Vietnam for a few days, from a food point of view, what must we try?
Tracie May:
Saigon is incredibly vibrant and there’s too much to do. For the best Vietnamese food hands down It is in district one, which is basically the city.
Mạ Quán
It’s gorgeous. A restaurant with Vietnamese cuisine that focuses on historical dishes from the imperial city of Huế to the north and in Hanoi to the Mekong Delta and is visually stunning.
The flavors are unbelievable. For sure if you want to eat an extraordinary Vietnamese meal, that’s a place, hands down, highly recommended.
Lesung
In the last 3 months I was introduced to Malaysian cuisine. Spicy, sambal based, chili based. The chef / owner is a fine dining chef, who’s a celebrity chef here. He wanted to get back to his roots and he opened this restaurant that’s very reasonably priced. Fine dining, but in a casual setting, not expensive and truly authentic Malaysian cuisine. All of his grandmother’s recipes and it’s home cooking at its best. That is a must go.
If you love sushi, Noriboi is an extraordinary omakase restaurant in Thảo Điền, in the town where I live. 12 to 18 tastings of caviar, and the best uni flown in from Japan, and extraordinary toro, and you can’t imagine how good, it’s insane.
Joe Winger:
You took a very dramatic pivot a few years ago and it turned out so well.
Tracie May:
I knew that I had to make a change. I knew that I was unhappy. Even though I had great friends and a great life and did really cool stuff in LA, I felt like I was just trapped in a hamster wheel.
I was bit by the “Eat Pray Love” bug.
Decided that, life’s too short to be unhappy.
There is a big, wide, beautiful world out there. Why not explore it while I have the chance?
I happen to have family who live in Saigon, and we conspired together.
I sold my car, put everything in storage, all the paperwork, packed my two dogs and three suitcases and got on a plane.
The original plan was to hang out in Southeast Asia for three months.
Leave my stuff with my family, get a backpack and travel throughout Southeast Asia and go pray with some Buddhist monks. Have my Tomb Raider moment in Angkor Wat in Cambodia and go do a lot of scuba diving. Then three months later, go home [to the United States] and face the music.
But COVID happened, my life shifted. So I stayed.
I couldn’t have imagined a more incredible life that I’ve been able to curate for myself than I have been able to in Saigon.
Tracie May at Tet Lunar New Year 2024 party
Joe Winger:
Your background is a world class publicist in North America. Because of the pandemic, you went from a publicist to a “stay at home mom” figure.
Tracie May:
I did, but I still had to pay my bills, right?
So I had a free place to stay because my family was paying the rent. When [my family] got stuck in the US during COVID, when Vietnam closed their borders, they got locked out for 10 months.
Suddenly I’m a mother to 2 kids in an international school. I’ve got to take care of their three dogs, my two dogs, their villa, all their stuff, in a country that I didn’t know and a language that I didn’t speak.
It was all about pivoting.
At the time I had hot pink hair. All the expat moms, they’ve got kids and they live in a compound because their husbands run Nike or Adidas or…[some huge company]
There’s me, this newbie from LA with my fuchsia hair riding my family’s electric bike with the kids on the back taking them to school.
The [expat Moms are] like, who and what is this?
Originally I became the talk of the town.
I live in a bubble, a little enclave within the city, it’s expat land.
I really think in the beginning I made friends out of total pity. Suddenly they were like, “Let’s take you to lunch.” So there were several luncheons introducing me to society and I created my clan.
The one thing that’s hard about here is that the expat life is very rotational because a lot of the families are on contract.
If you work at the consulate, you’ve got a 2-3 year contract.
Once the contract is done, you’re back home. I don’t want to leave.
So one of the hardest things about making really close friends here is that they leave. So it’s a lot of continual rotation.
I have friends who’ve been here for 14 years up to 35 years who felt the bug like me and decided no, this is where you want to be right now. This is a good place to be, but yeah, that’s basically how it happened.
Joe Winger:
A minute ago, you used the phrase “talk of the town.” Let’s dive deeper.
You’re getting huge growth on social media. Food and dining, lifestyle, travel in this genre. Your face is everywhere. Your voice is everywhere. Your name is everywhere.
What’s it like living your life, when someone sees your face, name and recognizes you?
Tracie May:
It is bizarre.
I have no idea how it happened, especially in Vietnam. Local Vietnamese don’t speak a word of English.
There’ve been so many times that I’m walking my dogs up my street or [I’m] on the back of a “Grab” bike, which is our version of Uber and they see me, look at my picture before and say:
“Sorry, Madame. Are you Madam Tracy?”
And show me a picture of myself.
I’m sure it’s due to doing TV appearances on Top Chef Vietnam and other major, national primetime TV shows here with millions of Vietnamese watching.
It’s bizarre, especially coming from Hollywood where all my focus has always been the promotion of others and the promotion of brands.
Suddenly I’m the [one being] promoted and I just find it really funny. But I’m grateful.
Joe Winger:
How has publicity changed from LA to Vietnam?
Tracie May:
I wear a lot of hats here [in Vietnam]. I’ve become the “go to” event producer.
I was a pretty major event producer in the States and produced [around] 250 fashion shows in three continents around the world, a bunch of parties in LA, and red carpets.
There’s tons of talent in Vietnam. So now I’m doing it for major Western companies who want a sprinkle of American or they want a real Western perspective for [their event], I’m the girl they call.
One of the events I produced was the 25th anniversary of the Sofitel Saigon Plaza Hotel.
That was a huge event inviting every government official, major CEO, all of their massive VIPs.
Tracie May with Artist Jerome Peschard
I’m actually about to produce another event with Sofitel for one of my clients. One of the most talented people I’ve ever met in my entire life, Jerome Peschard.
He’s a French artist with the same story as me, except he got here, fell in love with Saigon and just never left . He met his wife and has a bunch of kids. He has become the most collected artist in Asia globally, for specifically pop art related to historic, historic Vietnamese French and machine and pop art and he does it all. Composite art.
I brokered a deal with Sofitel on June 21 in celebration of the 60 year anniversary of the Sofitel Hotels and Resorts global brand, their Diamond Jubilee.
We are doing a two month installation, exclusive installation of his works being some are 2.6 meters x 1. 5 meters – large scale, which are going to be in the lobby as an installation in collaboration with the hotel.
It’s a massive thing, and they called me, so I’m really honored.
I get to work with him every day and he’s a total rock star.
Tracie May living her best life in Vietnam
Joe Winger:
What’s the theme at this point in your life?
Tracie May:
The moral of the story is “Don’t be afraid to take the leap of faith.”
Joe Winger:
It sounds like you crossed your fingers, closed your eyes and took the jump.
Was there a big concern before taking that jump? How did that big concern work out for you?
Tracie May:
It’s very personal.
The concern wasn’t about work. I knew that I could work internationally. I knew I could do PR online and still service clients abroad. No matter where you are in the world, the cream rises to the top and you will figure it out.
On a personal level in the sense that I have always been a serial monogamist. I had a really petrified, paralyzing fear of being alone.
The idea of being 50 and alone again, scared me. Having to start over again, scared me.
What I’ve learned from that is, I have no problems dating. I have no issue being alone. I actually revel in it because my life is so public now. When I get to be in my underpants, watching Netflix with my two dogs, eating a ham and cheese on freshly baked sourdough baguette with some tomatoes and lettuce; and some truffle aioli from my friend’s company. That’s my happy place.
That has been the biggest lesson that being alone is okay. Being alone is actually a good thing.
I don’t need to have a partner or a marriage to justify and qualify who I am. I’m just fine on my own.
Joe Winger:
What are the ways to find you and follow you online? How do you want people to find you?
Tracie May:
It’s all about the gram, right? My Instagram is @_TracieMay_
Or you can find me as Tracie May on LinkedIn.
My blog is here, but I rarely update it because I never have time.
Ordering Chinese food in NYC? HungryPanda want to Help
Ordering Chinese food in NYC? HungryPanda want to Help
Leveraging their industry-leading delivery services, the HungryPanda app seamlessly connects food, people and culture.
HungryPanda goes further with Asian food culture
The ‘Golden Panda Award’ is a symbol of excellence in the global overseas Chinese food industry, setting the highest standard for culinary achievement.
It stands as the world’s exclusive international honor specifically dedicated to recognizing restaurant businesses in the food delivery sector. This prestigious award embodies commitment to promoting and celebrating outstanding achievements in the realm of international Chinese cuisine.
Kitty Lu from HungryPanda
Joe Winger:
We are here today with Kitty Lu from HungryPanda.
Help me get to know HungryPanda.co
Kitty Lu:
HungryPanda serves a niche market for Asian communities. We were established in 2017, founded in the UK when our CEO and the founding team were studying in Nottingham University.
The platform was born from a very simple, but compelling need experienced first hand, by the founders as international students, struggling to find authentic Chinese food in the UK.
From that outset, HungryPanda started to really focus sharply on that particular niche market, tailoring our user experience with Chinese interfaces to overcome culture and language barriers.
That’s how our app got started. We are very lucky enough to be growing really fast within the past six years.
Now we expanded into 10 different countries, including: US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and Singapore.
Joe Winger:
Different cultures, maybe different ways people use their phones, different apps.
What challenges has HungryPanda faced as you enter the very competitive North America market?
Kitty Lu:
Local regulatory requirements that we need to meet. Every country, every region has different regulations, and especially with food delivery.
The U.S. is actually coming out with all the new regulations lately, therefore that’s one of the challenges as well.
Also intense competition from established local and global brands.
When we entered the North American market, Door Dash, Uber, the giants, had already occupied the mass market. In the Asian food delivery market, we also have competitors like, Chow Bus and others.
Obviously we were the new brand going to the market.
Therefore, that’s the main challenge that we faced. But, we were actually quite confident and, lucky enough because we have a very good team structure. All of our team members have experience opening markets in different countries.
So unlike Uber or DoorDash, when they are opening a new market, for example, North American market and Australian market is very different. People have different consumer behavior. But for us the good thing is, although we are in different countries, we are serving the same type of people, which is the overseas Asian customers, therefore the consumer behavior is rather similar.
Although we have the challenge, it’s easier for us to actually dive in and then adapt in a rapid rhythm.
HungryPanda
Joe Winger:
Is North America the toughest audience when it comes to regulations?
Kitty Lu:
With regulations, we’re talking more towards the drivers, how do we protect them?
Obviously there are minimum standards. Because what we call the “gig economy” is still considered a new industry, no matter what part of the world.
North America, Australia, the UK, all the countries are coming out with new regulations to actually protect this particular industry.
We are all at the same stage, growing from a new industry to a more mature industry.
Joe Winger:
Your company released a food trends report from 2023. What’s the biggest takeaway?
Kitty Lu:
Consumer interest in the authenticity and quality in food.
When you talk about Chinese food in North America or the UK, the first thing you think of is actually Cantonese food because [it] arrived first.
Now we can see all the hot Sichuan hot pots and malatang, all these are more modern and, trendy or more northern cuisine start to really get in the picture. popularity.
This is something that’s blowing our mind as well.
It’s a strong signal to the food industry to really focus on the authenticity, offering high quality ingredients. This is something I think is actually quite interesting.
Joe Winger:
Talking about trends, anything was surprising?
Kitty Lu:
The most popular category is definitely Boba tea. Now, as.
As we can see the hot pot, stuff actually, coming on top of, all this fried chicken, bubble tea and stuff. That suggests our local consumers start to really adapt into a more authentic flavor Chinese food instead of people always ordering honey chicken, spring side pork.
They learn to really understand, oh, that’s you know, Chinese people eat in China, they really start to learn and understand and admire about the spice actually in the food.
This is something actually I find quite interesting.
Joe Winger:
That’s really a big change.
Based on your 2023 report, any predictions for 2024?
Kitty Lu:
The rise in the family demands, so AOV ( average order value) keeps growing. Food delivery is not growing accommodating only for one person, two person, but it’s starting to expand, for more towards a family’s demands.
We can anticipate the age group that actually accepting or keep using the food delivery services actually start to grow and expand as well.
Also predicting new services for delivery companies. We can actually see the trend that many people start to order.
Pick up orders from the app and you can go straight to the restaurant to pick it up without waiting. It’s helps you jump the queue.
When you order a pickup it’s actually cheaper than ordering at the shop itself.
Therefore, this is actually one of the trends that we can see. It’s actually start to grow.
Joe Winger:
How do your users want the experience to go for them?
Kitty Lu:
During the pandemic, everything had to be contactless. Therefore the pickup feature was actually created during that period and blossomed afterwards.
Joe Winger:
Now you just mentioned the pandemic. Your company learned a lot from that experience, like how much packaging matters.
Can you talk a little bit more about what you learned about packaging?
Kitty Lu:
First thing we need to discuss is the difference between Asian food and Western food.
When it comes to Chinese food, generally it’s very heavy on sauces. Therefore, restaurants have to elevate the packaging standards to ensure the food quality can remain consistent.
When you order Chinese food, you expect it to still be hot, to have the best of flavor. Iit often [comes] with soup and if the packaging is not good, it actually leaks.
That has always been a challenge that Asian food delivery faces.
China created a new trend with laminate packaging to make sure all the packaging is sealed and kept warm. That helped the whole industry globally to maintain higher standards.
Joe Winger:
There’s nothing worse than when you get the package to your house and it’s broken, ripped, it’s spilled.
The superior packaging isn’t about looking pretty necessarily. It’s about keeping your food secure.
Kitty Lu:
That’s right. Another thing we have to consider is [being] environmental friendly.
The Chinese food industry has been blamed for using too much plastic to begin with. Therefore, the new packaging uses aluminum.
Joe Winger:
So your HungryPanda app itself has a lot of features. Can you let’s talk through some of the most popular features?
Kitty Lu:
Comparing with other apps, one thing we find quite convenient is that on the front page we have a very full restaurant list with tabs: by distance, by popularity, by discounts, by reviews, by delivery times. So it’s very easy for you to access.
Other apps have the categories but limited restaurants.
Joe Winger:
What’s the best way for an Asian restaurant to make the most of this opportunity of this new food trend?
Kitty Lu:
I think In the age of technology leveraging online platforms for visibility, working with a food delivery platform is definitely one of the ways to help them really engage with consumers.
When we talk about foodies, they are young, they’re always on social media. They’re always online. Therefore, promoting yourself in front of them is very important.
We use our channels to really promote different restaurants to help them to expand their reach within their comfort zone.
Joe Winger:
What’s your favorite food? What would you order on your app?
Kitty Lu:
My favorite food is [the same as] the trend report. Sichuan malatang.
So that shows the report’s authenticity. The audience like the food like a real Chinese person.
The reason why I like the malatang is because not only is it delicious, but it’s actually quite healthy as well.
It’s a hot spicy soup, but you put in fresh vegetables, fresh meat, it’s like you’re cooking your own hot pot
And it’s a very balanced and nutritious meal. Flavorful when you put all these different ingredients into one pot of soup. Brings you more flavors and it’s very fast [to make].
Joe Winger:
What is HungryPanda’s user coverage look like?
Kitty Lu:
We have about 30 cities covered in the U. S. Obviously, New York, L.A., all major cities itself. I would be more than happy to provide you with the full on city list. We’re in Canada as well and just over 80 cities all around the globe.
Joe Winger:
For the audience who’s watching and listening right now, what’s the best next step? How can they enjoy this app?
Kitty Lu:
If they haven’t downloaded it yet, give it a try.
For new users, we actually have new user vouchers available for them to have a few free deliveries.
You can order to deliver, you can order to pick up it’s very convenient to use, very simple. Obviously we have a much wider supply for Asian food.
Therefore, if you are a Asian food lover, you should have HungryPanda on your phone.
NYC Foodies Head to Colorado: Winemaker Ben Parsons from The Ordinary Fellow reveals Wine, Food and Nature in Palisade CO
NYC Foodies Head to Colorado: Winemaker Ben Parsons from The Ordinary Fellow reveals wine, food and nature
Ben Parsons, Winemaker and Owner of The Ordinary Fellow in Palisade, Colorado
Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
Just to touch on background a little bit, you were the winemaker and founder of a very successful urban winery, the Infinite Monkey Theorem.
Then you chose to move on to where you are now at The Ordinary Fellow.
What was that transition like for you?
Ben Parsons:
The Infinite Monkey Theorem was really about disrupting the wine industry and trying to make wine fun and relevant and accessible.
We were the first ones in the U.S. to put wine in the can. We started kegging in 2008.
It was really about creating these urban winery spaces, just a tap room for a craft brewery in a city where everyone could come down and enjoy.
After 11 years of taking that to a 100,000 case production distributed in 42 states, there was a really good opportunity for me to get back to what I wanted to do, which is being in a vineyard.
Even though that might sound like a cliche, there is something quite romantic about farming and being surrounded by nature and really trying to make the very best wine you can from Colorado fruit that you grow and putting it in a bottle versus buying someone else’s wine and putting it in a can, they’re like two very different things.
I had an opportunity to take over a vineyard in southwest Colorado down in the Four Corners just outside of Cortez, where the Four Corners meet.
It was in disrepair and hadn’t been pruned in four years. So I got back in there and now it’s looking really good.
So that’s taken 4 years. Yeah it’s relatively small. It’s 13 acres of Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon.
Sits at 6,000 feet elevation. So very high for a commercial vineyard. And it’s beautiful.
It sits on a national monument called the Yucca House, which is an un-excavated ancestral Pueblan ruin from between the 10th and 12th century.
Starts at Mesa Verde, which most people are familiar with for the ancestral cliff dwellings from the Pueblans down there. It’s just a beautiful location.
Yeah, two very different things, but kind of coming full circle almost as to what I got me into the industry in the beginning, back in the late 90s.
And now back there, but doing it on my own.
Palisade Colorado Winemaker Ben Parsons takes a Vineyard Tour
Joe Winger:
Your famous quote in the wine world: “I miss being in the vineyard”
So for our audience, who’s going to go to wine country this weekend or this summer, when they take a vineyard tour, what should they be looking at?
Ben Parsons:
As to how wine gets from a vineyard and a grape to a bottle. Most people think it just ends up on a grocery store shelf and that is not the case.
It’s really the idea that you could grow something from rootstock, farm it, suffer the vagaries of agricultural production, deal with all of those challenges, do it in a sustainable way.
Ben Parsons, Winemaker and Owner of The Ordinary Fellow in Palisade, Colorado
Determine when you’re going to pick that fruit. Take it into the winery. Ferment it. Turn it into wine. Age it in a barrel. Bottle it. Decide on the branding. Decide on the naming. Come up with a label design.
Take it to all of those small awesome restaurants that everyone wants to hang out at because they’re making great food and getting good press.
You see my wine or I see my wine on someone else’s table, drinking it and to think where that came from.
And how many times those grapes got moved from a to b and then back, from b to c and then c to d whether it be like shoveling grapes with a pitchfork for a destemmer.
Or shoveling fermented grapes into a press with a Home Depot bucket.
Or picking that case up and taking it from here to here, that got handled so many times, so much went into that, that I think there’s a huge disconnect amongst most consumers.
Palisade Colorado Winemaker Ben Parsons on the Area’s Natural Beauty
Joe Winger:
You chose to be in Palisade, Colorado making your wine.
Tell us a little bit about the region and why someone should come visit you in Colorado?
Ben Parsons:
Palisade is beautiful. It’s on the Western slope of Colorado. It’s about a 4 hour drive West of Denver over the mountains.
About 4 1/2 hours East of Salt Lake City.
It’s an American Viticultural Area designate called the Grand Valley and it’s pretty stunning.
You come through this Canyon called the Back Canyon on the North side, you have these book cliff mountains that rise above you on the South side, you have the Colorado River, and it’s a very niche microclimate. It’s definitely an agricultural community.
What a lot of people don’t realize, because they just drive straight past on I-70 is it’s proximity to all things good, outdoorsy.
Within 28 minutes I could be at a local ski resort called Powderhorn. It got 32 feet of snow last year
I’m an hour and a half from Aspen.
I’m an hour and 20 minutes from Moab.
I’m a 10 minute drive from Fruita, which has the best mountain biking in the world.
It’s all old Indian territory. There’s wild mustangs up on the book cliffs.
It’s known for its fruit. It’s actually known for its peaches, believe it or not. Some of the best peaches grown anywhere in the United States. Arguably the best.
But it’s a very small microclimate.
Palisade is around 4,500 feet elevation. There’s about 26 wineries you can tour and visit. Take a few days, spend a weekend.
There’s some good local restaurants, growing their own produce and making real good farm to table food.
Grand Junction is a city that in the last 5 years has really exploded.
And Grand Junction is 10 minutes from Palisade. It went through a series of boom and busts during the oil shale boom business back in the day, but now it’s strongly focused on tourism.
Lots of people are leaving the front range of Denver, Colorado Springs and moving to the Western slope for a kind of quality of life.
Also we have a lot of California transplants because it is cheaper to live. You are outdoors all the time. You can travel long distances very quickly. I put 42,000 miles on my car this year delivering wine all over the state of Colorado.
I feel like the state and this particular area has a lot going for it. Definitely more than enough to fill a long weekend or a week’s trip.
Exploring vineyards, food, farms, outdoor opportunities.
Taking a trip to Moab, it’s really pretty. It’s one of the reasons I moved here.
I’d been in the city for a long time. I grew up just South of London in England, but I lived in London for some time and I loved it when I was young. I love Denver as well.
When I started the Infinite Monkey Theorem, that was really when a lot of people were moving to Denver and it was becoming something substantial.
It was one of the fastest growing cities in the country at that time.
I feel like we were a big part of pushing that growth and in tandem with the other food and beverage scene, like craft breweries and good restaurants.
Joe Winger:
You’ve mentioned different restaurants and food and dinner. Our audience primarily are foodies. We’re in Colorado for a wine weekend, we come to the Ordinary Fellow for a wine tasting.
Can you suggest a few places and different cuisines that are a must visit within 20-30 minutes of you?
Ben Parsons:
In Palisade there’s a good restaurant called Pesh. One of the former line cooks at a linear in Chicago started it with his wife, maybe 5-6 years ago. It’s excellent.
In Grand Junction, where most people stay there’s a few good restaurants started by this guy, Josh Nirenberg, who has been nominated for James Beard award several times for best chef and has one called Bin 707, Then he just opened a third called Jojo’s. He also has a kind of trendy taco spot called Taco Party, which is a fun name.
If you like craft cocktails, there’s a new place that opened called Melrose Spirit Company. Guy opened it in a hotel that was recently renovated. Really cute, really excellent cocktails.
Joe Winger:
Let’s get into the wine geek stuff now and talk about your vineyards. You have Colorado Box Bar, Hawks Nest.
So let’s talk through terroir, soil type, elevation.
Ben Parsons:
So Box Bar, It’s in Cortez, sits around between 6,000 feet elevation.
It’s on this weatheral loam that has some clay in it, which has these water retention properties. It is essentially a desert. So you do have to drip irrigate, there’s less than 7 inches of precipitation a year.
So very little rainfall which is good in some ways in that there is very little disease pressure.
You’re not having to spray. There’s no necessity to spray for powdery mildew or anything down at our vineyards.
It’s essentially farmed very minimalistically.
Lagging very sustainably, which I know people appreciate.
Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay. We’re just planting some Chenin Blanc and some Charbonneau, which is an italian red varietal as well.
Hawk’s Nest is not my own property, but I work with a grower called Guy Drew who planted four different kinds of Pinot Noir and two different kinds of Chardonnay there.
That vineyard is at 6, 800 feet and that is the highest commercial vineyard in North America.
Similar soil properties as the Box Bar. Making some really good Pinot Noir.
I think what’s interesting about Colorado is we have a very short growing season, 155 – 165 days. Napa has 240 days. That’s frost free days.
So the thing is that we have such high sunlight exposure because of the elevation and the ultraviolet light that we have the same number of degree days as Napa Valley. So we can ripen like Cabernet Sauvignon, but we’re ripening it in a shorter period of time. That’s fairly unique.
The Ordinary Fellow is really focusing on traditional French varietals from Chenin Blanc Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah.
Most recently we took over a vineyard in Utah so I’m actually farming a vineyard about 1 ½ hour drive from Moab called Montezuma Canyon Ranch.
That’s this ancient sandstone with a little bit of clay in there that was planted in 2007. 12 acres of Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Riesling Chardonnay. We made an awesome Utah Rosé vineyard last harvest 2023, which we just released.
You don’t see that many wines from Utah so that’s why I’m excited about it.
I think there’s only 6 wineries in Utah and I’m not sure that many of them get their fruit from Utah.
Joe Winger:
You mentioned that you have one of the highest peak elevation commercial vineyards in North America.
What are the benefits and the disadvantages to such a high elevation?
Ben Parsons:
If you think about spending any time on a mountain, it can be really warm, but as soon as the sun goes down, it gets very cold.
So having high elevation vineyards, even though you might be in a quite a hot growing region as soon as the sun goes down, the temperature does drop.
You have a large diurnal temperature shift.
So in Cortez, in the growth, during the growing season or during ripening, say late September, mid September, late September. We could be 85 to 90 in the day, but 45 to 50 at night, which is a really big temperature swing.
It basically means that the vine has a kind of chance to just shut down and rest.
From an enology perspective, you can retain more natural acidity in the fruit because it’s not being metabolized by having a lot of sunlight constantly and higher temperature. So we don’t have to make any artificial acid additions or anything like that you may have to do in more established wine regions in the United States.
Our wines all have really great balance to them and really good acidity. None of them are overdone. They’re not big, jammy, overly alcoholic.
They’re all well balanced between acids, tannin, alcohol, sugar, but they’re all bone dry.
There is no fermentable sugar in any of them, which leads to palate weight and mouthfeel, but but they’re not sweet per se.
Even my Riesling is bone dry.
Joe Winger:
During the Infinite Monkey Theorem days you led the canned wines movement.
How does it feel seeing it become so incredibly popular and any big lessons you learned from that experience?
Ben Parsons:
I genuinely believe that [we led with canned wines]. In 2009 we entered into a R and D project with Ball Corporation, the largest supply of aluminum cans in the world.
To figure out how to can wine and everyone thought it was stupid and everyone just turned their noses up at it and thought that RTD wine and RTD drinks were stupid.
It’s a tough question because I think that canned wine is good because of its use application, primarily. Where you can take it and where you can drink it.
Now, very rarely do I see people putting the best wine they’ve ever made in a can. So I think it’s all about where you want to drink it, who you want to drink it with. There’s definitely this kind of utility aspect to it.
Also price point wise, you don’t see that many canned wine, four packs above $16,
I would say so. Yeah, price wise, it’s fairly economical from a sustainability perspective. It makes a lot of sense.
But from an absolute quality perspective, you’re probably still going to be buying bottled wine over canned wine.
It’s all about where you’re going to consume it.
Sometimes when I see it I think about when you start any category, there’s always those people that are out there doing it way before anyone else is doing it. It’s those people that usually don’t reap the benefits of it because they put all of the effort into it.
I look at LinkedIn occasionally and I’m just baffled by people that think that it’s a new thing. It just blows my mind.
Joe Winger:
You have an excellent sparkling wine and you’ve mentioned England’s excitement about the sparkling.
Why is England falling in love with sparkling wine? And why should all of us be falling in love with sparkling wine?
Ben Parsons:
Historically, England has consumed a lot of sparkling wine.
But in terms of actually growing grapes and making their own sparkling wine, that’s happened in the last 20 years.
That’s one of those unfortunate advantages of global warming in a kind of isolated geographical area that previously, you wouldn’t have been able to ripen Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier.
It would have been a challenge making really good sparkling wine in Kent and Sussex and Southeast England where a lot of it is made.
But with a few degrees temperature rise, that’s now possible. And it’s the same chalk escarpment as champagne. They’re very close to each other.
They’re just separated by 24 miles of the English Channel, right?
So they’re actually geographically very close to each other a little further than 24 miles, but climatically very similar.
So actually, a lot of French champagne houses have bought up land in Kent and Sussex over the last 20 years and have been planting that, and now some of the bubbles are coming out.
Joe Winger:
When I have an opportunity to speak with an Oregon winemaker, we often talk about the challenges based on their region. Do you feel like you are also in a region [Colorado] that’s more problematic?
Can you share a lesson you’ve learned from solving some of those problems?
Ben Parsons:
The whole industry because of the shortness of the growing season, it’s always on a knife edge because you can have late spring frosts that can come through a bud break and just wipe you out.
But you can also have these freak-like early winter freezes in October where there’s there’s still fruit hanging or maybe it’s just come off and it goes from 70 degrees in the day to 8 degrees suddenly, and the sap still flowing in the vines and then all of the vines, the trunks split, the cordon split.
That’s what happened in Palisade maybe 3 or 4 years ago now.
Then in Cortez where Box Bar is, last year we had a hailstorm come through just after the bud break. So our Chardonnay was out and got wiped out. Then the secondary buds pushed and we went from a crop of 36 tons to 10 tons overnight.
That’s just agriculture anywhere. Unfortunately that’s just one of the risks.
Joe Winger:
Let’s talk about wine. Their flavor profiles. The different bottles you offer.
When we come visit your tasting room in Palisade, Colorado any hints about what they should be excited to taste?
Ben Parsons:
Blanc de Noir
Yeah the sparkling wine, that’s Blanc de Noir, so that’s 100% Pinot Noir. That’s about as geeky as it gets, because that’s single vineyard, single grower, single clone of Pinot Noir. only 8 months in barrel. The base wine was barrel aged for about 6 months, and then it was entourage, lying on its utilise in a bottle for six months.
Then it’s put on a riddling rack and hand riddled one bottle at a time. Then disgorged by hand, just take the top off, put your thumb over the top of it so nothing comes out and then no dosage.
So again, just super geeky, like really bone dry, like really crisp, great acid. So that is that wine is super hands on.
It’s delicious. It still gets those more developed, brioche-y notes. Texturally it’s very pleasing on the palate. I think we make really good method champignons, bottle fermented sparkling wine.
Chardonnay
A lot of people these days think it’s trendy to not like chardonnay, because they heard somewhere about that, but there are actually some really good Chardonnays out there, which aren’t all aged in new French oak and haven’t all gone through like a creamy buttery secondary fermentation. And I think mine is one of them. It was aged in 8 year old barrels. So there’s really no influence on it at all.
It’s all hand harvested or whole cluster pressed. I think that wine has a really pretty texture, like this palette coating texture but it has really good acidity and it smells like a ripe peach or a dried apricot. It’s really pretty.
Pinot Noir
Our red pinot noir. Again that spent just 9 months in neutral barrels so I think there was a trend like 20 years ago to put everything in a brand new barrel and every winemakers thought it was cool, but you know in the last 5 – 6 years, I think that has changed
Winemakers are really trying to let the soil and let their vineyards speak for themselves.
Minimal kind of intervention to a certain extent. It is the trend.
Our Pinot Noir has done really well. It’s on the much lighter side. I would say it’s more like a German style Pinot Noir, like lighter with really good acidity, firm tannin. Beautiful aroma.
I think all of our wines are just very well balanced. Very food friendly, very clean. They’re not funky. I’m very proud of that.
Joe Winger:
I’m assuming balance and the clean is a style choice by you?
Ben Parsons:
Balance is easy because it’s done in the vineyard because of the elevation and the retention of acidity. It’s just about when you pick it. So you’re tasting [the grapes] for flavor and like phenolic ripeness and the seeds being brown, et cetera, but you’re also testing a few for your pH, your titratable acidity and your sugar levels. Then you make an informed decision as to when you’re picking it.
The cleanliness part of it really just comes down to the fact that I feel like winemakers, even though this doesn’t sound very romantic, you’re almost just like an insurance manager in that you don’t want to mess it up.
So you make informed decisions, preemptively. You top your barrels, like every 2-3 weeks, you do things to make sure the wine, does not end up flawed through a secondary characteristic developing.
Sometimes that’s a flavor enhancer and sometimes that’s good, but when it’s overdone… I believe there are a lot of wines that they get away with it these days. To me it’s just bad winemaking.
I’m definitely kind of a minimal interventionist
Joe Winger:
I always feel like white wine doesn’t get enough love and respect. People love talking about the complexities of reds. You make a phenomenal Riesling.
Ben Parsons:
Interestingly I really don’t drink red wine anymore. Occasionally I’ll drink some Pinot Noir, but I much prefer drinking white wines. I think a lot of people in the industry crave acidity, and yeah, my reasoning is a good example.
The general consumer in the U. S. still thinks that all raisins are sweet. I think that’s just a common misconception, that’s purely a stylistic choice from the winemaker, and my choice is to allow the yeast to ferment all of the sugar until there is no residual sugar.
To have a wine with high natural acidity that pairs well with food. That’s my choice as a winemaker. Those are the wines that I enjoy most that kind of just leave your palate just like this rasping acidity. Take the enamel off your teeth, and but have beautiful aroma.
Our Riesling is starting to show some characteristics from being in the bottle for 18 months. Where it gets those kind of, it’s tough to say about making it sound bad, but those more kerosene-y , kind of petroleum, kind of eraser like notes, which are very typical of Riesling, intertwined with really nice citrus and green apple.
Yeah, and like really just good structure. That benefits from growing at elevation here for sure.
Joe Winger:
Petit Verdot is probably lesser known, less popular, but it deserves all the love anyway.
Ben Parsons:
Petit Verdot, interesting, like one of the six red Bordeaux grape varieties. Bordeaux is maritime climate. It’s much cooler than Colorado.
It doesn’t really get the chance to ripen as well as it does here. So when it can ripen, it doesn’t just need to get blended into Cabernet Sauvignon or something to just give it more tannin and more structure.
Here it can stand alone as a single varietal.
The greenness is gone. The tannin is not like just rip your face off tannin. It’s well developed. Like silky, velvety, firm, but not like really dry and like Petit Verdot can be. Aromatics are very lifted on it, and it’s not a massive red wine by any means.
That’s grown at a vineyard about half an hour from Box Bar called Canyon of the Ancients and that vineyard was planted in 2006.
Unfortunately we only made about 99 cases of that wine. It’s fun to introduce people to wines that they probably haven’t heard of, but wines that that can stand up to any good red wines that you may have heard of.
Palisade Colorado Winemaker Ben Parsons reveals his Favorite Food
Joe Winger:
Do you identify yourself as a foodie? Can you pick 1-2 of your bottles and your favorite dish for dinner tonight?
Ben Parsons:
Yeah I would definitely pair my Riesling with a Thai curry or even a panang curry. I think it does really well with oriental food that has some level of heat to it. But also I think it does really well with a charcuterie plate, some almonds and some cheese. I think you can’t go wrong with that.
Then my Petit Verdot, for example I think there is more tannin in there. For those of us that like the light grilling you couldn’t go wrong with serving that with a ribeye. It’s delicious. Or if you’re cooking a little heartier food in the winter, maybe a lasagna. Something that can really work with that tannin.
I think my wines do well with a lot of different food just because of the balance that they have, they’re not going to overpower the food and vice versa, which is what it’s all about.
But I also enjoy them, just having a glass on its own, to be honest. When I get home from work, sometimes I love that.
Joe Winger:
I’m watching your Instagram videos quite a bit, and it seems like you’re having a lot of fun sharing knowledge, showing your vineyard, showing what it’s like day to day.
Ben Parsons:
The one time that I do enjoy social media is when you’re in the vineyard or you’re doing something that seems that other people might never have seen before.
I’m in awe of where I am because I feel like it comes across in those videos. It’s pretty down here today, and those are beautiful vineyard sites.
Or if you’re filtering a wine or racking a wine or, trying or shoveling grapes.
Just the imagery comes across and really shows how much work is involved in it. I always struggle when it’s like go take a photo of a bottle of wine in front of a restaurant. I don’t know how you make that look cool.
Find more about Ben Parson’s The Ordinary Fellow website, instagram
More about Palisade, CO
NYC Demands Better Coffee, They Traveled the world to find it, Dr Christina Rahm from Rahm Roast Coffee
NYC Demands Better Coffee, They Traveled the world to find it, Dr Christina Rahm from Rahm Roast Coffee
Today we’re talking coffee! The rich and delightful taste of Rahm Roast, crafted from carefully selected coffee beans straight from Guatemala.
Dr. Christina Rahm is a scientist, supermom, devoted partner, and the ultimate coffee aficionado!
With a passion for detoxing and a mission to uplift lives, she’s not just about the lab coat life; she’s out there exploring the globe in pursuit of both science and the perfect cup of joe.
Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit FlavRReport’s YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
So what I love the most is your introduction, Dr. Christina Rahm, “Mother. wife, scientist and coffee lover.”
Dr. Christina Rahm:
Thank you. Yeah I always start with mother. Now my kids are older. I’m like, am I supposed to say mother to adult children? They were such an integral part of my life. And hey, that was the reason I started drinking coffee. Just to be honest, I had to stay awake to take care of them.
Joe Winger:
Do you remember what first inspired you to get interested in coffee?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
Motherhood, basically..
I grew up in a home where everybody loved coffee but me. I remember when I had my 1st child, and I was thinking, how do all these mothers stay awake?
I worked back then too. It was a lot, working and taking care [of my first baby].
I was delusional because I thought I’m going to have my son, and I thought, I’ll go back to work on Monday. Cause you don’t know. I remember that Monday getting up and calling my mom and saying, “This is not doable. What am I going to do?”
I had a job where they let me take him to work, but still it was a lot. And my mom was like, you’re going to have to drink coffee.
So I started drinking coffee.
My parents loved it growing up. They would offer us coffee with cream and sugar when we were little.
I grew up on a farm and they would offer it and I’d be like, no, I don’t like it. I was the only one in my family that didn’t like it, but I learned to love it after I had a child.
Then I three more [kids]. But I love the taste of it.
Also, as a scientist, I had a pituitary tumor and different types of cancer.
When I started researching, you can’t ever claim that a natural substance cures anything, but I did notice there were certain types of coffee and coffee beans that caused cancer cell death, apoptosis.
So it was one of the things that I added to my regimen.
What happened was, the cancer metastasized and I was trying to eat everything from spirulina to coffee to resveratrol.
I did give up alcohol for a while.
Then someone said one glass of alcohol is good because of the resveratrol.
So I added wine back in [to my diet].
But like I learned to love [coffee]. The more I researched it, the more I understood that it had mold and mitotoxins and it had all kinds of things.
Even though the pure bean could help from a physical perspective and from a healthcare perspective because of the pesticides and GMOs in the land, air and water that we have.
I hate bringing up the topic because people [think] the environment’s not that bad.
The problem is, regardless of your political stance, our environment is not healthy like it used to, because we’ve had so much pollution/
Nuclear war and when a nuclear war happens, it does not leave the stratosphere.
It disseminates across our world.
So a our things – plants and herbs and roots and seeds – you have to be very careful where you get it.
Most of my career I focused a lot on detoxification and really helping clean out the environment.
Things I’ve worked on… You can go to the store and buy coffee or buy vitamins and they can have heavy metals, lead, mercury, horrible things in it.
I don’t want to scare people.
Instead, I’ve worked on creating some things that hopefully will help people feel, look, and be better because we just all need to be as great as we can be.
There’s no easy, one pill solution, right?
Coffee was definitely something for me.
People drink [it] every day, and if they’re going to drink it, I’m hoping they drink something that’s, free of mitotoxins, that has a good pH level, that is fair trade.
I had a whole list of things that were so important to me.
When Rahm Roast launched I was very happy because we ended up getting a 91% cup score. We worked really hard for that. Only 1% of the coffee in the world has a score that high.
But I think what was more important than a score, what’s that going to do for you?
What really matters to me is that the coffee did not have toxins and the coffee did not have heavy metals and it hadn’t been exposed to GMOs or pesticides.
If my name was going to be on it it better be something that’s really helping people and making their life better. That was important to me.
Joe Winger:
Two words you said a second ago, let’s connect them: coffee and detoxification.
What does that process look like for Rahm Roast?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
I went all over, even to Ethiopia because [they] have great coffee.
I would meet with different coffee plantations and different owners trying to find a really good place. We ended up being able to find a place in Guatemala that was on top of a mountain, which had never been exposed to GMOs and pesticides.
The water’s clean, the air’s clean.
It was a very isolated place. We decided we wanted to partner with a business that was small. All they cared about was making something that was just really unique and special. [Unlike most other businesses] they were not worried about mass production.
They’re worried about making sure that it tastes good, which taste was important to us.
But the biggest issue was let’s make sure that everything is fair trade, the organic, the vegan, we wanted everything. I wanted to be sustainable.
For me, sustainable is not enough.
We need to remediate things because you can to be sustainable. It’s not completely accurate, right?
I have a lot of patents based on remediation of things and making sure that you’re not just detoxing, but you’re helping the plants and you’re helping everything grow.
Because we should have this much top soil [gestures to 6 inches] and now we have this much top soil [gestures to 2 inches] and there’s not enough nutrients in it that help the plants and the roots and the seeds. They’re just not the same.
We explored all of that and came up with a process to clean the beans and detox the beans of any kind of monotoxins, mold, fungus, bacteria, viruses, anything surrounding it.
I developed that in 2015. I started by basically writing a series of patents that had to do with getting rid of nuclear waste.
The regeneration of land, air and water and the human body and also the reversal of aging.
What I’ve learned as a scientist and as a human being is to admit failure every day, and then to admit that I’m going to try to be better every day.
And that’s what happened with the coffee.
It was a one step process that involved a four day process to make the cleaning and it’s made from basically a zeolite silica trace mineral vitamin mixture which goes in and cleans the beans.
I think that’s the reason our cup score is so high because the PH level basically getting rid of all those minor toxins, all the things, the beans that are harmful or could be harmful creates a ph level that is very conducive to our body.
I don’t know if you know this, but our Earth is composed of silica and water, right?
As humans, we are too.
So when you put something in your body, you want to make it compatible bioavailable to the body. And I would say that’s another proprietary thing that I do. And I work on things I’m working on.
Understanding the DNA of a coffee bean, and understanding our DNA and then understanding how they would work copacetically together.
Another thing that was really close to me that I actually have not talked about in any interview is the fact that. With coffee and coffee enemas and different things that people have, there’s like a 70 percent increase right now in colon cancer. It’s horrible. And I would credit that to the environment and to all the things we’re being exposed to.
And even vegans are getting colon cancer. Even younger people. You can look it up.
It was in the New York Post, everything else. So I wanted a coffee that a doctor decided functional med doctors or doctors in other countries wanted to help with this area that could use it as a colon cleanse as well.
Again, I have not talked about that anywhere, but for me, it was essential because as a person that’s had so many different types of cancer, I want to put things in my body that will help my body.
What’s interesting about what I do for a living now, I used to work in pharmaceutical and biotech and we could say.
We don’t cure bronchitis, but here’s zithromax to help with bronchitis and it does right from my perspective.
Giving people things that make their body, make them achieve the greatest thing they can, that, which is to be their best self, it’s so important.
And if those things that we give them can also improve the cellular health of their body by making the healthy cells healthier and making the cancerous or the sick cells not even wanna be there, then that is a goal.
There’s been all kinds of studies, there’s all kinds of information which shows that could be possible.
But again, the problem is in theory, yes, that can help people in different areas of health.
But in reality, I don’t feel like it has because I think the coffee beans and coffee has been exposed to so many things in our environment that then sometimes we’re putting more toxins into our body.
So that was really a major focus for me when I worked on the coffee.
We drink coffee every day and we deserve to have really good coffee.
I’m not saying,me making spaghetti and saying my spaghetti is the “best spaghetti in the world.”
I will tell you that I’ve traveled to 89 countries and I’ve studied this for years and this has been a topic of mine since I was in my twenties, that has been important to me.
Then my oldest son, my Mom used to give him the coffee with the sugar and the cream and he would just keep drinking it.
And I would get in an argument with my Mom about why are you giving my Son coffee now?
He’s bouncing off the walls. He just loves it.
So he put fire under my feet on it. I was like, I’m too busy working on all these other projects.
He was like, “Mom, you have to make good coffee.”
Because some people drink four or five glasses a day. So it needs to be healthy for you.
It’s just like water. If you’re going to drink water, you want to drink healthy water; and water is part of the process when I make the coffee too. It’s a specific type of water that helps clean the beans.
It’s interesting. I tried to do it in the United States. I could not find a master coffee maker that could do what I wanted.
I found one in Cyprus [Greece].
So I was in Cyprus introduced to an award winning coffee grinder coffee maker.
He’s won awards all over, [ he] understood my process, understood how to do it.
Then after you tasted it, after it went through the process, he was like, this is amazing. This is the best coffee ever. And again, it makes sense.
Like when we’re healthy, we look better, right?
When coffee beans are healthier, they taste better. They’re better.
It’s just simple and I love it.
I think it’s magical how science works and how all of our DNA is connected. We’re connected to a leaf on a tree. We’re also connected and able to bring coffee to the world that’s going to help people.
I think it is probably one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most in the last three to four years of my life.
Joe Winger:
That’s beautiful. Obviously you have a huge scientific background. Our audience is into the flavor. Food, spirits, wine, coffee based on flavor.
I’m sure you can understand how science can intimidate so many of us.
Is there a very simplified way of explaining what makes Rahm Roast good for the body, good for the planet?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
It’s like going to an organic farm up in the mountains where everything’s perfect and tasting a bite of a watermelon and it just tastes so great.
Or of strawberries.
When you go to these places on these islands that have never been exposed to GMOs and pesticides.
And you’re like, why does this taste better?
Sometimes in the United States, you’ll buy a rose for someone and it doesn’t even smell like a rose, but then you’ll go to a tropical island where they don’t use GMOs or pesticides and it smells so beautiful.
This is the most beautiful rose. It smells so amazing.
The coffee was made and sourced from a single source in a place that was the perfect environment that we could find. We looked everywhere.
Then the process. That was made basically cleaning it until it was beautiful and perfect. It’s like you brush your teeth, you take a bath, you look better.
If you don’t shave or brush your teeth or take a bath for two years, then you may not look the same as you look today.
This coffee has been cleaned in a very holistic way, organic way using only natural.
It tastes amazing. It tastes almost like chocolate.
It’s very smooth.
Using zeolites [like they] used to line the ducts of the Aztec and Incas and Mayas and the pyramids. It’s documented throughout history and all I did was take a process and make sure it was cleaning so that it would look beautiful.
I think it’s simple.
I sourced it from the most amazing place that had not been exposed to pesticides and GMOs, that was fair trade, that everything was a sole source farmer.
We knew everything about the history. I want your audience to also know this.
It’s not just the beans and the plants.
It’s the parent plants and the genetics behind it.
When you see race horses. They breed, right? You pay a lot of money if you have a winner from the Kentucky Derby. Because it’s genetics.
There’s a genetic component and there’s always this debate about genetics and the environment.
Which one’s better?
And so to me, both are important.
So I looked at the genetics of the plants and the seeds
I made sure the environment was a really good environment to raise a healthy environment to raise these amazing coffee beans. And then we just cleaned them and made them even more beautiful so that everyone could taste how amazing they are.
Scientists made GMOs to try to make plants bigger, better, right? That failed.
So as a scientist I went back to school, I went to Harvard and studied nanobiotechnology for a very different reason than most people think.
I studied to see how we could reverse it.
Things naturally from things that we’ve put into our world that weren’t natural, that have hurt us.
Joe Winger:
Incredibly inspirational.
From a corporate point of view, can you talk a little bit about what inspired you to pursue the social responsibility of the company?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
In my career, I worked for the government. I’ve worked for a lot of the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
I would say I failed at that in many ways.
Our economy depends on spending a lot of money on health care.
It was a hard time for me, but I never gave up.
From my perspective. Since I had cancer, since I had Lyme’s disease, since I had a child that had cancer, I’ve devoted my life to trying to do the right thing. I have an opportunity to be alive for a reason.
It was a blessing, even though I didn’t feel like it was a blessing when I was diagnosed. I have a warrior strength of fighting anything.
We’ve just got to be better humans, right?
My goal is to make every person have the longest, best life possible.
That means mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And as a scientist, I feel like it’s on my shoulders and my responsibility to tell the truth and to do it in a positive way instead of being a whistleblower blowing things up.
I want to offer these things that can help people.
About 8-9 years ago, I started really stepping up and talking about social issues, working on female empowerment. I just always try to talk about how we can empower.
When you have gifts, if you have influence, if you have money, if you have power, your job is to protect those weaker than you or that need help.
And somehow we’ve lost that in our move for success.
We think we don’t we forget about that. But for me, that’s my motive to make social change is to it’s my responsibility to be a good human. I’m going to die someday. And I’m going to have to answer for everything I’ve done on this earth.
So I have to try every day to be better.
The coffee was something that was for a social change that I think we need to be aware of without scaring everyone.
And so that has led me to move past that. To run companies. I have 22 companies actually under DRC ventures and a lot of people don’t know that. So there’s 22 companies that I’m actually in charge of right now, trying to make some good social changes in the world.
Joe Winger:
For our audience who wants to learn more about your and Rahm Roast Coffee, what are the best ways?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
DrChristinaRahm.com is my website.
I’m on social media at Instagram, LinkedIn
The root brand sells Rahm Roast at RahmRoast website. We also donate from every bag of coffee to philanthropy as well.
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Sarah Paulson Returns to Broadway in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate at Second Stage Theater
Sarah Paulson to Return to Broadway in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate at Second Stage Theater
Second Stage Theater (Carole Rothman, President and Artistic Director; Lisa Lawer Post, Interim Executive Director) today announced that Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award winner SARAH PAULSON returns to Broadway starring in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ APPROPRIATE, directed by Lila Neugebauer.
This production marks Ms. Paulson’s return to the New York stage since she was last seen co-starring opposite Danny Burstein in Lanford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly in 2013.
Part of Second Stage’s 45th Anniversary Season, APPROPRIATE will begin previews Tuesday, November 28th and will officially open on Monday, December 18th at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street).
This production marks Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins’ Broadway debut.
Two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (An Octoroon) and Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer (The Waverly Gallery, 2ST’s Mary Page Marlowe) invite you to one helluva reunion in the darkly comic American family drama,APPROPRIATE.
It’s summer, the cicadas are singing, and the Lafayette family has returned to their late patriarch’s Arkansas home to deal with the remains of his estate. Toni (Paulson), the eldest daughter, hopes they’ll spend the weekend remembering and reconnecting over their beloved father. Bo, her brother, wants to recoup some of the funds he spent caring for Dad at the end of his life. But things take a turn when their estranged brother, Franz, appears late one night, and mysterious objects are discovered among the clutter. Suddenly, long-hidden secrets and buried resentments can’t be contained, and the family is forced to face the ghosts of their past.
Additional casting and creative team members will be announced in the coming weeks.
Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award winner SARAH PAULSON last appeared onstage in New York in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Talley’s Folly in spring 2013. Other stage appearances include the Broadway productions of Collected Stories, opposite Linda Lavin, and The Glass Menagerie alongside Jessica Lange; the Mark Taper Forum production of The Cherry Orchard opposite Alfred Molina and Annette Bening; and off-Broadway in Tracy Letts’ critically acclaimed Killer Joe. Paulson received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie for her portrayal of attorney Marcia Clark in FX’s critically acclaimed miniseries “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” Paulson also received a Golden Globe® Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critics’ Choice Award and a Television Critics Association Award for this role. Her many additional TV credits include her performance as Linda Tripp in FX’s “Impeachment: American Crime Story” (Emmy nomination, also Executive Producer); the title role in the Netflix series, “Ratched” (also Executive Producer), which debuted at number one across 50 countries worldwide and earned Paulson a Golden Globe® nomination; the FX on Hulu Emmy-nominated limited series, “Mrs. America,” opposite Cate Blanchett; Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (Golden Globe nomination); HBO’s “Coastal Elites” and “Game Change” (Emmy and Golden Globe nominations); ten installments of Ryan’s Murphy’s award-winning television series “American Horror Story,” where she also made her directorial debut with the 78-minute crossover episode, “Return to Murder House.” Paulson has received five Emmy® nominations for her roles in the franchise, as well as two Critics’ Choice Awards for her roles in the anthology series. Paulson’s many film credits include Warner Bros.’ Ocean’s 8; Todd Haynes’ critically acclaimed Carolalongside Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, which received an Academy Award® for Best Picture. She has also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s The Post opposite Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep; Aneesh Chaganty’s Run for Hulu; M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller Glass for Universal; Netflix’s Bird Box opposite Sandra Bullock; DreamWorks Animation’s Abominable. Other film credits include Martha Marcy May Marlene; Down with Love; What Women Want, The Other Sister. Upcoming, she will executive produce and star in Searchlight’s horror thriller, Dust; will appear in Bruce Norris’ film adaptation of his Pulitzer, Tony, and Olivier award-winning play, Clybourne Park, directed by Pam MacKinnon; and in Bad Robot’s series adaptation of Glennon Doyle’s memoir, “Untamed.”
BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS is a Brooklyn-based playwright and producer and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.
BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS is a Brooklyn-based playwright and producer and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Recent theatre credits include The Comeuppance, which recently ran at the Signature Theatre; Girls (Yale Rep); Everybody (Signature Theatre), War (Yale Rep; Lincoln Center/LCT3); Gloria (Vineyard Theatre); Appropriate (Obie Award; Signature Theatre); An Octoroon (Obie Award; Soho Rep, Theatre for a New Audience); and Neighbors (The Public Theater).
He was showrunner, executive producer, and writer for HULU/FX’s drama series, “Kindred,” based on Octavia E. Butler’s groundbreaking novel. He currently teaches at Yale University and serves as Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council and on the boards of Soho Rep, Park Avenue Armory, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Dramatists Guild Foundation. Honors include a USA Artists fellowship, a Guggenheim fellowship, the MacArthur fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize forDrama, and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.
LILA NEUGEBAUER is an award-winning stage and screen director.
LILA NEUGEBAUER is an award-winning stage and screen director. Broadway: Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery.
Recent Off-Broadway credits include Simon Stephens’ Morning Sun (MTC), Tracy Letts’ Mary Page Marlowe (Second Stage); Annie Baker’s The Antipodes; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Everybody; Edward Albee’s At Home at the Zoo: Homelife/The Zoo Story (Signature Theatre); Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves;and Zoe Kazan’s After the Blast (Lincoln Center).
As co-Artistic Director of The Mad Ones: Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (Ars Nova) and Miles for Mary (Playwrights Horizons), among others. Lila is an alum of the Drama League, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, an Ensemble Studio Theatre member, New Georges Affiliated Artist, and New York Theatre Workshop Usual Suspect. Obie Award, Drama Desk Sam Norkin Special Award, and Princess Grace Award recipient. TV: “Maid” (Netflix), “The Last Thing He Told Me” (Apple TV+), “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” and “Room 104” (HBO Max). Lila’s directorial feature debut Causeway, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Brian Tyree Henry (Oscar nomination), is available on AppleTV+.
Second Stage Theater’s programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The Season is supported by a grant from the Howard Gilman Foundation.
Second Stage Theater’s 45th Anniversary Season will kick off in November
Second Stage Theater’s 45th Anniversary Season will kick off in November at the Tony Kiser Theater with the world premiere of Guggenheim Fellow Jen Silverman’s (Collective Rage) play, SPAIN, directed by Tyne Rafaeli (The Coast Starlight), off-Broadway at the Tony Kiser Theater (305 West 43rd Street). The season will also include the world premiere of an untitled new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel (How I Learned To Drive), directed by Tina Landau (The SpongeBob Musical) at the Hayes Theater. Additional productions will be announced at a later date.
Single tickets for APPROPRIATE will go on sale at a later date. Currently, Season Subscriptions are available: full season 5 Show packages are $445; 3 Show packages are $350. For those 30 years of age and younger, Flip the Script 5 Show packages are $150. To purchase a subscription, please visit 2ST.com or call 212-246-4422. Subscribers receive early access to a winter festival of plays and readings by new American writers.
SECOND STAGE THEATER operates three New York City venues
Under the artistic direction of Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATER operates three New York City venues, exclusively dedicated to producing living American playwrights.
Among Second Stage’s 180 productions are the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson; Clyde’s and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture and Whorl Inside a Loop by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy and Notes From the Field by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; andTiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee.
The company’s more than 170 citations include the 2022 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Take Me Out, as well as Best Featured Actor in a Play for Jesse Tyler Ferguson; six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, 11 Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Clarence Derwent Awards, 20 Drama Desk Awards, 11 Theatre World Awards, one Dorothy Louden Award, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.
In 1999, Second Stage Theater opened The Tony Kiser Theater, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theater, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched “Second Stage Theater Uptown” to showcase the work of up-and-coming artists at the 99-seat McGinn/Cazale Theater.
In 2018, Second Stage began producing at its 581 seat Broadway home, The Hayes Theater. Originally named “The Little Theater” and built in 1912, the city landmark has been remodeled by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group.
The Theater supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs.
For more information, please visit www.2ST.com or follow Second Stage on Twitter: @2STNYC, Instagram: @2stnyc and Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/2STNYC/
Broadway: BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical Announces Digital Lottery & General Rush Ticket
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical begins previews on Broadway Friday, June 30th, 2023, at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre .
A limited number of $45 tickets will be available via digital lottery, subject to availability. The digital lottery opens at 12AM ET one day before the performance and winners are drawn at 10AM ET and 3PM ET that same day.
Tickets are non-transferable and limited to 2 tickets per person. For additional rules and to enter visit rush.telecharge.com.
A limited number of $40 in-person general rush tickets will be available every day when the Winter Garden Theatre box office opens, on a first-come, first-served basis. Maximum of two tickets per person, subject to availability. Seat locations and the number of tickets available are subject to availability and determined at the discretion of the box office.
Produced by Colin Ingram, together with Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and based on the Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment film, the 2022 Olivier Award-winning Best New Musical, BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical has a book by Bob Gale, new music and lyrics by Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Alan Silvestri and six-time Grammy Award-winning Glen Ballard, with additional songs from the film including “The Power of Love” and “Johnny B. Goode.” Bob Gale is the co-creator and co-writer of the Back to the Future film trilogy and Alan Silvestricomposed the iconic film score for the series. BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical officially opens Thursday, August 3, 2023 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway).
Tickets for BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical are now on sale at www.BackToTheFutureMusical.com, through Telecharge by calling 212-239-6200 or visiting Telecharge.com, or at the Winter Garden Theatre box office. Prices start at $69.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical stars Tony Award winner Roger Bart (Doc Brown), Casey Likes (Marty McFly), Olivier Award nominee Hugh Coles (George McFly), Liana Hunt (Lorraine Baines), Jelani Remy (Goldie Wilson/Marvin Berry), and Nathaniel Hackmann (Biff Tannen). The ensemble includes Merritt David Janes (Strickland), Mikaela Secada (Jennifer Parker), Amber Ardolino, Will Branner, Victoria Byrd, Brendon Chan, Kevin Curtis, Nick Drake, Samuel Gerber, Marc Heitzman, Kimberly Immanuel, Joshua Kenneth Allen Johnson, Hannah Kevitt, JJ Niemann, Becca Petersen, Emma Pittman, Jonalyn Saxer, Blakely Slaybaugh, Gabi Stapula, and Daryl Tofa.
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical is directed by Tony Award winner John Rando and features a multi-Tony and Olivier Award-winning design team that includes Tim Hatley (set and costume design), Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone (lighting), Gareth Owen (sound) and Finn Ross (video), with choreography by Chris Bailey, musical supervision and arrangements by Nick Finlow, illusions by Chris Fisher, orchestrations by Ethan Popp and Bryan Crook, dance arrangements by David Chase, music direction by Ted Arthur and casting by Tara Rubin.
Marty McFly is a rock ‘n’ roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence.
The critically acclaimed West End production of BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical has been seen by over 800,000 people to date, broken Adelphi Theatre box office records and recently extended to February 11, 2024. The production won the Best New Musical Olivier Award as well as multiple WhatsOnStage Awards and a Broadway World Award for Best New Musical. BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical had its world premiere at the Manchester Opera House on March 11, 2020 and officially opened in London on September 13, 2021.
The Original Cast Recording of BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical is available now from Sony Masterworks Broadway in all formats, including vinyl. (https://soundtracks.lnk.to/BTTFAlbum)
Back to the Future the film was released in 1985, starring Michael J. Fox as “Marty McFly” and Christopher Lloyd as “Dr Emmett Brown.” The film grossed $360.6 million at the box office worldwide and the total box office for all three films in the Back to the Future franchise was $936.6 million (over $1.8 billion in today’s money).
BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical is produced by Colin Ingram, Donovan Mannato, Tom Viertel/ Steven Baruch/ Marc Routh/ Richard Frankel, Hunter Arnold, Playing Field, Robert L. Hutt, Ivy Herman/Hallee Adelman, Teresa Tsai, Bob McLynn, Gavin Kalin, Kimberly Magarro, Crush Music, Universal Theatrical Group, Sony Masterworks, Augury, Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, in association with Neil Gooding Productions, Ricardo Marques, James L. Nederlander. Bespoke Theatricals serves as General Manager.
Hugh Coles is appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance with this production.
Follow BACK TO THE FUTURE: The Musical at @bttfbway on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.
For more information visit www.BackToTheFutureMusical.com/NewYork.
Tony Nominee joins! Broadway’s THE SHARK IS BROKEN Announces Full Cast
Broadway’s THE SHARK IS BROKEN Announces Full Cast
The Tony-Award winning team of Sonia Friedman Productions, Scott Landis, and GFour Productions are delighted to announce today, on JAWS Day (48 years since the film opened on June 20, 1975), full casting for THE SHARK IS BROKEN at Broadway’s John Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street).
Alex Brightman is Richard Dreyfuss
Colin Donnell is Roy Scheider
…joining Ian Shaw as his Father Robert Shaw
Ian Shaw with his Father Robert Shaw
Two-time Tony Award nominee Alex Brightman (Beetlejuice, School of Rock) will star as Richard Dreyfuss opposite Colin Donnell(Anything Goes, “Chicago Med”) as Roy Scheider, joining Ian Shaw who will make his Broadway debut portraying his father Robert Shaw, who played “Quint” in JAWS.
Ian Shaw as his Father Robert Shaw
Co-written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon, this new Olivier Award-nominated comedy imagines what happened on board “The Orca” when the cameras stopped rolling during the filming of Stephen Spielberg’s blockbuster, JAWS.
FADE IN: The open ocean, 1974. Production on JAWS is delayed…again. The film’s lead actors—theatre veteran Robert Shaw and young Hollywood hotshots, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider—are crammed into a too-small boat, entirely at the mercy of foul weather and a faulty mechanical co-star. Alcohol flows, egos collide, and tempers flare on a chaotic voyage that just might lead to cinematic magic…if it doesn’t sink them all.
The smash-hit of the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, THE SHARK IS BROKEN opened at the West End’s Ambassadors Theatre in 2021 to critical acclaim and an Olivier Award nomination for Best Comedy Play, extending its limited run in 2022.
Directed by Guy Masterson, THE SHARK IS BROKEN has scenic and costume design by Duncan Henderson, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design and original music are by Adam Cork, video design by Nina Dunn, and casting by Jim Carnahan Casting. Beginning performances Tuesday, July 25 after critically acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on London’s West End, THE SHARK IS BROKEN officially opens on Thursday, August 10, 2023, for a strictly limited 16-week engagement.
Tickets are on sale now for THE SHARK IS BROKEN at Telecharge.com (212.239.6200) and range from $49 – $119 (including $2 facility fee) during the specially priced preview performances.
The playing schedule for THE SHARK IS BROKEN is as follows: Monday – Saturday at 8pm, with matinees on Saturday at 2pm. Please note: There will be an added 2pm matinee on Wednesday, August 2 and Wednesday, August 9. Beginning Friday, August 11, the performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday – Friday at 7pm, Saturday at 8pm, with matinees on Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Please note: There will be no matinee on Sunday, August 13.
For more information, visit TheSharkIsBroken.com
Follow us on social @sharkonbroadway
BIOGRAPHIES
Alex Brightman
Alex Brightman (Richard Dreyfuss) is a two-time Tony-nominated actor for his performances in Beetlejuice the Musical and School of Rock. Other Broadway credits include Matilda, Big Fish, Wicked and Glory Days.
Alex can be seen on the current (and final) season of “The Blacklist” on NBC as forensic analyst Herbie Hambright. Other TV credits include “Law & Order: SVU,” “Documentary Now!,” “The Good Fight,” “Blue Bloods,” and “Important Things with Demetri Martin.” Alex is the voice of Pugsley/Temeluchus on the acclaimed Netflix animated series “Dead End: Paranormal Park” as well as the voice of Fizzarolli on “Helluva Boss.”
As a writer, Alex has developed series with NBC, Universal, 20th Century, and Warner Brothers. Alex’s play, Everything Is Fine, recently received a developmental reading at Manhattan Theatre Club directed by Cynthia Nixon. He dedicates this performance to those living with chronic pain and illness and urges you to check out and donate to The Arthritis Foundation. Alex has a dog named Kevin and two adorably awesome nieces.
Colin Donnell (Roy Scheider) can most recently be seen as the lead of Peacock’s “Irreverent.” Colin is known for his work as Dr. Connor Rhodes in NBC’s drama “Chicago Med” and as Tommy Merlyn in CW’s “Arrow.” Other appearances include Scott Lockhart in Showtime’s hit series “The Affair”, “Pan Am,” “Person of Interest” and “The Mysteries of Laura.”
His film appearances include Every Secret Thing, which also starred Diane Lane and Elizabeth Banks, and Almost Love opposite Michelle Buteau.
On stage, Colin Donnell recently starred as Russell Hammond in the musical adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s acclaimed show Almost Famous at The Old Globe.
His Broadway work includes Violet, Anything Goes (which garnered him Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Astaire nominations), and Jersey Boys. Among his other notable stage appearances are Follies, Merrily We Roll Along, Lady Be Good at the New York City Center, the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Loves Labours Lost and Meet Me in St. Louis. Additionally, he’s toured with productions of Wicked and Mamma Mia. Born in St. Louis, Donnell is a resident of New York.
Ian Shaw
Ian Shaw (Co-Writer, Robert Shaw) trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, having obtained a BA in American Studies at Sussex University.
Theatre includes War Horse and Common (National Theatre); Widowers’ Houses, The Importance of Being Earnest, Nude with Violin, The Philadelphia Story, andThe Brothers Karamazov (Manchester Royal Exchange); Three Sisters (Nuffield and Theatre Royal Bath); Private Lives and Closer (Birmingham Rep); The Rivals(Derby Playhouse and Philadelphia Walnut St); The Tempest (SRT) and Much Ado About Nothing in London’s West End. Television includes “Sharpe,” “Soldier, Soldier,” “Medics,” “Wuthering Heights,” “The Queen,” “Ghost Hour,” “Silent Witness,” “Cambridge Spies” and the Emmy award-winning “Hiroshima.” Film includes Century, Moondance, The Boys and Girl from County Clare, The Contract and Johnny English Reborn.
Joseph Nixon (Co-Writer) is the author (with Brian Mitchell) of the plays Those Magnificent Men (New Perspectives, 2010); Big Daddy vs. Giant Haystacks (The Foundry Group, 2011); Seven Studies in Salesmanship (The Foundry Group, 2013); and the musical The Opinion Makers (Mercury Theatre/Derby Theatre 2013.) He has written material for Joanna Neary, Jo Caulfield, Jerry Sadowitz, and Basil Brush.
Guy Masterson (Director) is a London based, multi-award-winning theatre producer & director with over 150 credits over 30 years. A 29-year veteran of the Edinburgh Festival, he has produced or directed many of its biggest hits including THE SHARK IS BROKEN in 2019 – which was subsequently produced in the West End in 2021 by Sonia Friedman Productions and received an Olivier Nomination for Best New Comedy. His 2009 production of Morecambe also transferred to the West End and won an Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. His 2003 production of 12 Angry Men became the biggest grossing drama at Edinburgh – a record broken by his subsequent productions of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (starring Christian Slater), and The Odd Couple (with Bill Bailey and Alan Davies) which he also directed. Other acclaimed productions include Scaramouche Jones, Adolf, Austen’s Women, Absolution and Playing Burton (a solo play about his uncle, Richard Burton). Most recently, he co-directed an award-winning original musical, The Marvelous Elephant Man in Australia. Guy is also internationally renowned for his solo performances of Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm, Shylock and A Christmas Carol (which is to play in NYC over Christmas ‘23). His company, Theatre Tours International, remains the most awarded and nominated independent theatre company presenting at the Edinburgh Festival.
Duncan Henderson (Designer) Productions include Hangman (Two Bins Theatre Company), Bloodlines (Talia Randall), Betrayal, The Polished Scar, Underneath the Lintel (Pretty Villain Prods), Crave (Little Warrior Theatre Prods) and 9 Circle (Theatre Tours International).
Jon Clark (Lighting Design) is a Tony and Olivier award-winning designer. He has designed extensively for the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, in the West End, on Broadway and with many other companies internationally. Recent theatre: A Doll’s House (Broadway), The Motive and The Cue (National); The Lehman Trilogy, Betrayal, The Inheritance, King Charles III (Broadway & West End); Cyrano de Bergerac (BAM & West End). Recent Opera: Hamlet, The Exterminating Angel (Metropolitan Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor, Written on Skin (Covent Garden).
Adam Cork (Sound Design and Original Music) has written mainly for the stage, blending original composition with sound design to create integrated music/sound scores for many celebrated productions. Adam’s musical London Road (co-authored with Alecky Blythe) premiered at the National Theatre in 2011, won the 2011 Critic’s Circle Award ‘Best Musical’, was nominated for the 2012 Olivier Award ‘Best Musical’, and a film version was released in 2015 (BBC Films/Cuba pictures). In 2010 he received a Tony Award for the music and sound score for Red (Donmar/Broadway), and an Olivier Award in 2011 for King Lear (Donmar), also receiving the Evening Standard ‘Best Design’ Award 2011 for Anna Christie and King Lear (Donmar). In 2010 he was nominated for the Tony Award ‘Best Score’ (Music & Lyrics) for Enron (Broadway/West End). Other theatre includes: Leopoldstadt (Wyndham’s/Longacre) Patriots (Almeida/West End); The Hunt (Almeida), Ink (Almeida/Duke of York’s/MTC); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Harold Pinter); Travesties (Menier Chocolate Factory/Apollo/American Airlines Theatre); No Man’s Land (Wyndham’s); Les Blancs, Three Days In The Country, Phedre, (National); Hughie (Booth Theatre); Photograph 51, Henry V (Noël Coward); Frost/Nixon (Gielgud/Jacobs), Hamlet (Donmar/Broadhurst Theatre); Ivanov (Donmar/Wyndham’s); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong/Gielgud); Richard II, A Streetcar Named Desire , The Chalk Garden, Othello, Creditors, The Wild Duck, Caligula (Donmar); Don Carlos (Gielgud); Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest (RSC); Suddenly Last Summer (West End); Paradise Lost (Headlong). Adam is an Associate Artist of the RSC. Television includes Scores for The Hollow Crown: “Richard II,” “Macbeth” and “Frances Tuesday.” Film includes Scores for London Road, Genius, Hamlet, Macbeth. Radio includes Losing Rosalind, The Luneberg Variation (BBC Radio 4), The Colonel-Bird (BBC World Service), Don Carlos, Othello, On the Ceiling, The Chalk Garden (all BBC Radio 3).
Nina Dunn (Video Design) has designed Video & Projections for a wide range of shows, working internationally and spanning Theatre, Opera, Dance, Musical Theatre, Immersive, Fashion, Opening Ceremonies, Live Events and Public Art And is the Creative Director at PixelLux. She is also an educator within her industry. Work for theatre includes: Bonnie & Clyde, City of Angels, No Man’s Land, Cookies (West End); Spitting Image Live (The Rep); The Trials (Donmar Warehouse); 9 to 5 The Musical (West End, UK and Australian Tour); Othello, Manor, Emperor & Galilean (National Theatre); The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Lazuli Sky (Birmingham Royal Ballet); Seven Deadly Sins, Bluebeard’s Castle (Teatro Colón Buenos Aires); A Christmas Carol (Nottingham Playhouse / Alexandra Palace); A Museum in Baghdad, Venice Preserved, Miss Littlewood, The Seven Acts of Mercy, Volpone (RSC); Hamlet, The Mountaintop (Young Vic); Extinct (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Shedding a Skin (Soho Theatre); Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella (Imagine Theatre); Plenty, Copenhagen, Fiddler on the Roof, Forty Years On (CFT); L’Orfeo, Der Freischütz, Macbeth (Wiener Staatsoper); Spring Gala (ROH); Phantom of the Opera (Cameron Mackintosh, UK, US and Australian tour); The Rocky Horror Show (European tour), Armstrong and Miller Live (Hat Trick). Awards include Best Video Design for Bonnie & Clyde (Broadway World UK), Best Video and Electronic Content for Alice’s Adventures Underground (Knight of Illumination), Best Design for Cinderella and Beauty and The Beast (UK Pantomime Awards) and a nomination for Best Video Design for THE SHARK IS BROKEN (WhatsOnStage).
Jim Carnahan, CSA (Casting) has cast over 150 Broadway shows. Broadway: Leopoldstadt; A Beautiful Noise; Almost Famous; New York, New York; Funny Girl; Harry Potter; Moulin Rouge! Off-Broadway: Merrily We Roll Along, Little Shop of Horrors. London: Eureka Day, Best of Enemies. Upcoming film: Ari Aster’s Disappointment Blvd.
Broadway’s ‘Life Of Pi’ Sets Closing Date
Broadway’s ‘Life Of Pi’ Sets Closing Date
Life of Pi, Lolita Chakrabarti’s stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, will play its final Broadway performance Sunday, July 23.
For the cast, Hiran Abeysekera, who won an Olivier Award for his role as the title character Pi Patel, play his final Broadway performance on Sunday, July 9, with cast member Uma Paranjpe taking over the role on Tuesday, July 11.
As an interesting twist, Paranjpe’s Pi will be portrayed as female in a gender-flipped version of Chakrabarti’s original script.
A North American tour of Life of Pi is already scheduled to launch in fall of 2024. Locations and dates to be announced in the future.
On March 30, the play opened at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. It recently won three Tony Awards for its scenic design, lighting and costumes, which is respectable, but a more modest showing than the nine Olivier Awards – including Best New Play and Best Featured Actor (Abeysekera) – for its West End staging.
Life of Pi, directed by Max Webster, utilizes an impressive menagerie of life-sized puppets to tell the tale of 16-year-old Pi who survives a shipwreck only to share a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger.
Melissa Etheridge Comes To Broadway – 9 weeks only – This Fall with MY WINDOW; Begins Sept 14 at Circle in the Square Theatre
Melissa Etheridge Comes To Broadway – 9 weeks only – This Fall with MY WINDOW; Begins Sept 14 at Circle in the Square Theatre
Melissa Etheridge Comes To Broadway – 9 weeks only – This Fall with MY WINDOW; Begins Sept 14 at Circle in the Square Theatre
Grammy and Academy Award-winning rockstar Melissa Etheridge will debut her acclaimed theatrical event, Melissa Etheridge: My Window on Broadway in a limited nine-week residency at the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street) beginning Thursday, September 14, with an official opening night of Thursday, September 28, 2023. Tickets are on sale now at Telecharge.com.
Etheridge said:
“I truly love Broadway, and it’s long been a dream of mine to tell my story and share my music there.
I never felt more connected to this community and New York audiences than I did after telling my life story off-Broadway last year.
The intimacy of the live theatrical stage is like no other, and Circle in the Square is going to be a magical home for my show’s Broadway debut. I can’t wait to come back to the City! It’s a deeply personal experience to be able to tell these stories again, in a fresh and exciting way, and reconnect with my fans and theatergoers.”
Known for her confessional lyrics and raspy, smoky vocals, Melissa Etheridge has lit up airwaves and arenas across the world for more than two decades with instant classics like “I’m the Only One,” “Come to My Window,” “I Want to Come Over,” and more. Melissa Etheridge: My Window is an intimate experience like never before, inviting theatergoers into an exhilarating evening of storytelling and music. From tales of her childhood in Kansas to her groundbreaking career highlights – with all of life’s hits and deep cuts between – Etheridge opens her heart and soul on stage to fearlessly dazzle audiences of all generations.
In October 2022, Etheridge celebrated the world premiere of Melissa Etheridge Off Broadway: My Window – A Journey Through Life. The three-week, sold-out engagement was performed at New World Stages in New York City. The New York Times calls the show “honest and searing. The smoky-voiced, out-and-proud trailblazer finds her own way in ‘My Window’…. pairing completely charming tales with staggeringly beautiful renditions of her songs.” Theatermania says My Window is “A GREAT Party. Etheridge delights us with a dry sense of humor and a whole lot of tremendous music as she recounts her life. She’s an amazing performer – had me in the palm of her hand!” Queerty declares, “Etheridge’s star power is undeniable, she delivers the emotional ferocity that is the very definition of rock ‘n roll. And her stories have the well-crafted arc and casualness of sitting at your favorite bar with a bestie.”
Melissa Etheridge Comes To Broadway – 9 weeks only – This Fall with MY WINDOW; Begins Sept 14 at Circle in the Square Theatre
The Broadway residency is produced by Michael Cohl and EMC Presents; in association with Larry Mestel, Deborah Klein, and Steven Greener for Primary Wave Music. Glenn Orsher serves as Executive Producer.
Melissa Etheridge: My Window is written by Melissa Etheridge, with additional material by Linda Wallem-Etheridge (“Nurse Jackie” showrunner, “That ‘70s Show”), and directed by Amy Tinkham (Aerosmith’s “Deuces Are Wild” Las Vegas Residency, Dancing with the Stars Live). The creative team includes scenic design by Emmy Award nominee Bruce Rodgers (Super Bowl Halftime shows since 2010), lighting design by Abigail Rosen Holmes (Phish, David Byrne’s “Contemporary Color”), projection design by Olivia Sebesky (James Taylor, Chad Deity), and sound design by Colle Bustin (West Side Story).
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE & TICKETING
Tickets start at $99.50 plus fees and are on sale now at Telecharge.com. The regular performance schedule is Wednesday at 7 pm, Thursday at 7 pm, Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 3 pm. (Note: There are also several Monday and Tuesday evening performances.) The performance schedule varies; check the website for the most up-to-date information.
ABOUT MELISSA ETHERIDGE
Melissa Etheridge (Writer/Performer) stormed onto the American rock scene in 1988 with the release of her critically acclaimed self-titled debut album, which led to an appearance on the 1989 Grammy Awards show. For several years, her popularity grew around such memorable originals as “Bring Me Some Water,” “No Souvenirs” and “Ain’t It Heavy,” for which she won a Grammy® in 1992. Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am (1993). The collection featured the massive hits, “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window,” a searing song of longing that brought Etheridge her second Grammy® Award for Best Female Rock Performance. In 1995, Etheridge issued her highest-charting album, Your Little Secret, which was distinguished by the hit single, “I Want to Come Over.” Her astounding success that year led to Etheridge receiving the Songwriter of the Year honor at the ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996.
In February 2007, Melissa Etheridge celebrated a career milestone with a victory in the “Best Song” category at the Academy® Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. As a performer and songwriter, Etheridge has shown herself to be an artist who has never allowed “inconvenient truths” to keep her down. Earlier in her recording career, Etheridge acknowledged her sexual orientation when it was considered less than prudent to do so. In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer, a health battle that, with her typical tenacity, she won. Despite losing her hair from chemotherapy, Etheridge appeared on the 2005 Grammy® telecast to sing “Piece of My Heart” in tribute to Janis Joplin. By doing so she gave hope to many women afflicted with the disease.
On October 7, 2016, Melissa Etheridge released Memphis Rock & Soul, her first album since 2014’s critically lauded This Is M.E. Recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis, the album received stellar reviews from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Parade, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter and more. She followed that up with the release of The Medicine Show in April 2019. For The Medicine Show, Melissa reunited with celebrated producer John Shanks and sounds as rousing as ever, bringing a new level of artistry to her 15th studio recording. The Medicine Show deals with universal themes of renewal, reconciliation, reckoning, compassion, and, most profoundly, healing.
In June 2020, Etheridge launched her own live-streaming subscription and single-ticket concert platform, Etheridge TV, and has done over 200 live stream events since 2020.
On September 17, 2021, Melissa released a new album called One Way Out. The 9-track album is a collection of songs Etheridge wrote in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s that never made the cut….until now! The time is finally right, and fans will finally get a deeper glimpse into who Melissa was then.
SNL star James Austin Johnson, Grammy winners, Broadway favorites stop by Little Island for free Summer Series 2023
SNL stars, Grammy winners, Broadway favorites Stop By Little Island for free this summer.
NYC offers free concerts all summer-long throughout the city. Little Island’s 2023 schedule is bringing in big names.
The public park, which “floats” at Pier 55 off the west side’s Hudson River Park, announces their free summer shows, including DJ sets, drag bingo, dance parties and a wide variety of intimate performances—stand-up comedy, spoken word, live jazz—held in the park’s scenic stage, The Glade.
SNL star James Austin Johnson, Grammy winners, Broadway favorites stop by Little Island for free Summer Series 2023
Summer Series features:
Saturday Night Live’s James Austin Johnson, Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins, Grammy winners Joshua Henry and J Hoard.
Just some of Little Island’s summer event calendar, which runs June 7 to September 3, are Saturday Night Live cast member James Austin Johnson, Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins (Sweet Anita in Jelly’s Last Jam), Grammy winners Joshua Henry and J Hoard, Emmy nominee and Joe’s Pub favorite Shaina Taub, and many more.
Little Island will also host Creative Breaks, free all-ages art-making activities held every Wednesday through Saturday beginning June 7 and culminating on September 2, presented in collaboration with guest partners such as The Free Black Women’s Library, the Greenwich House Music School, The Center For Fiction and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA).
If your kids are a little too old for arts and crafts, the island’s Teen Nights will also return, with social mixers and workshops going from June 16 through August 25.
Union Square Events will also be back as the island’s food and beverage partner, with sandwiches, salads, snacks and sips (yes, including beer and wine) to fuel your al fresco fun. (Vegan Italian hoagie, anyone?)
Little Island opened on May 21, 2021, and in the nearly two years since has become a popular attraction for both locals and tourists alike, welcoming more than three million visitors and hosting more than 572 free performances.
See the full lineup for summer 2023’s programming at the official Little Island website.
NYC Demands Better Coffee, They Traveled the world to find it, Dr Christina Rahm from Rahm Roast Coffee
NYC Demands Better Coffee, They Traveled the world to find it, Dr Christina Rahm from Rahm Roast Coffee
Today we’re talking coffee! The rich and delightful taste of Rahm Roast, crafted from carefully selected coffee beans straight from Guatemala.
Dr. Christina Rahm is a scientist, supermom, devoted partner, and the ultimate coffee aficionado!
With a passion for detoxing and a mission to uplift lives, she’s not just about the lab coat life; she’s out there exploring the globe in pursuit of both science and the perfect cup of joe.
Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit FlavRReport’s YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
So what I love the most is your introduction, Dr. Christina Rahm, “Mother. wife, scientist and coffee lover.”
Dr. Christina Rahm:
Thank you. Yeah I always start with mother. Now my kids are older. I’m like, am I supposed to say mother to adult children? They were such an integral part of my life. And hey, that was the reason I started drinking coffee. Just to be honest, I had to stay awake to take care of them.
Joe Winger:
Do you remember what first inspired you to get interested in coffee?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
Motherhood, basically..
I grew up in a home where everybody loved coffee but me. I remember when I had my 1st child, and I was thinking, how do all these mothers stay awake?
I worked back then too. It was a lot, working and taking care [of my first baby].
I was delusional because I thought I’m going to have my son, and I thought, I’ll go back to work on Monday. Cause you don’t know. I remember that Monday getting up and calling my mom and saying, “This is not doable. What am I going to do?”
I had a job where they let me take him to work, but still it was a lot. And my mom was like, you’re going to have to drink coffee.
So I started drinking coffee.
My parents loved it growing up. They would offer us coffee with cream and sugar when we were little.
I grew up on a farm and they would offer it and I’d be like, no, I don’t like it. I was the only one in my family that didn’t like it, but I learned to love it after I had a child.
Then I three more [kids]. But I love the taste of it.
Also, as a scientist, I had a pituitary tumor and different types of cancer.
When I started researching, you can’t ever claim that a natural substance cures anything, but I did notice there were certain types of coffee and coffee beans that caused cancer cell death, apoptosis.
So it was one of the things that I added to my regimen.
What happened was, the cancer metastasized and I was trying to eat everything from spirulina to coffee to resveratrol.
I did give up alcohol for a while.
Then someone said one glass of alcohol is good because of the resveratrol.
So I added wine back in [to my diet].
But like I learned to love [coffee]. The more I researched it, the more I understood that it had mold and mitotoxins and it had all kinds of things.
Even though the pure bean could help from a physical perspective and from a healthcare perspective because of the pesticides and GMOs in the land, air and water that we have.
I hate bringing up the topic because people [think] the environment’s not that bad.
The problem is, regardless of your political stance, our environment is not healthy like it used to, because we’ve had so much pollution/
Nuclear war and when a nuclear war happens, it does not leave the stratosphere.
It disseminates across our world.
So a our things – plants and herbs and roots and seeds – you have to be very careful where you get it.
Most of my career I focused a lot on detoxification and really helping clean out the environment.
Things I’ve worked on… You can go to the store and buy coffee or buy vitamins and they can have heavy metals, lead, mercury, horrible things in it.
I don’t want to scare people.
Instead, I’ve worked on creating some things that hopefully will help people feel, look, and be better because we just all need to be as great as we can be.
There’s no easy, one pill solution, right?
Coffee was definitely something for me.
People drink [it] every day, and if they’re going to drink it, I’m hoping they drink something that’s, free of mitotoxins, that has a good pH level, that is fair trade.
I had a whole list of things that were so important to me.
When Rahm Roast launched I was very happy because we ended up getting a 91% cup score. We worked really hard for that. Only 1% of the coffee in the world has a score that high.
But I think what was more important than a score, what’s that going to do for you?
What really matters to me is that the coffee did not have toxins and the coffee did not have heavy metals and it hadn’t been exposed to GMOs or pesticides.
If my name was going to be on it it better be something that’s really helping people and making their life better. That was important to me.
Joe Winger:
Two words you said a second ago, let’s connect them: coffee and detoxification.
What does that process look like for Rahm Roast?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
I went all over, even to Ethiopia because [they] have great coffee.
I would meet with different coffee plantations and different owners trying to find a really good place. We ended up being able to find a place in Guatemala that was on top of a mountain, which had never been exposed to GMOs and pesticides.
The water’s clean, the air’s clean.
It was a very isolated place. We decided we wanted to partner with a business that was small. All they cared about was making something that was just really unique and special. [Unlike most other businesses] they were not worried about mass production.
They’re worried about making sure that it tastes good, which taste was important to us.
But the biggest issue was let’s make sure that everything is fair trade, the organic, the vegan, we wanted everything. I wanted to be sustainable.
For me, sustainable is not enough.
We need to remediate things because you can to be sustainable. It’s not completely accurate, right?
I have a lot of patents based on remediation of things and making sure that you’re not just detoxing, but you’re helping the plants and you’re helping everything grow.
Because we should have this much top soil [gestures to 6 inches] and now we have this much top soil [gestures to 2 inches] and there’s not enough nutrients in it that help the plants and the roots and the seeds. They’re just not the same.
We explored all of that and came up with a process to clean the beans and detox the beans of any kind of monotoxins, mold, fungus, bacteria, viruses, anything surrounding it.
I developed that in 2015. I started by basically writing a series of patents that had to do with getting rid of nuclear waste.
The regeneration of land, air and water and the human body and also the reversal of aging.
What I’ve learned as a scientist and as a human being is to admit failure every day, and then to admit that I’m going to try to be better every day.
And that’s what happened with the coffee.
It was a one step process that involved a four day process to make the cleaning and it’s made from basically a zeolite silica trace mineral vitamin mixture which goes in and cleans the beans.
I think that’s the reason our cup score is so high because the PH level basically getting rid of all those minor toxins, all the things, the beans that are harmful or could be harmful creates a ph level that is very conducive to our body.
I don’t know if you know this, but our Earth is composed of silica and water, right?
As humans, we are too.
So when you put something in your body, you want to make it compatible bioavailable to the body. And I would say that’s another proprietary thing that I do. And I work on things I’m working on.
Understanding the DNA of a coffee bean, and understanding our DNA and then understanding how they would work copacetically together.
Another thing that was really close to me that I actually have not talked about in any interview is the fact that. With coffee and coffee enemas and different things that people have, there’s like a 70 percent increase right now in colon cancer. It’s horrible. And I would credit that to the environment and to all the things we’re being exposed to.
And even vegans are getting colon cancer. Even younger people. You can look it up.
It was in the New York Post, everything else. So I wanted a coffee that a doctor decided functional med doctors or doctors in other countries wanted to help with this area that could use it as a colon cleanse as well.
Again, I have not talked about that anywhere, but for me, it was essential because as a person that’s had so many different types of cancer, I want to put things in my body that will help my body.
What’s interesting about what I do for a living now, I used to work in pharmaceutical and biotech and we could say.
We don’t cure bronchitis, but here’s zithromax to help with bronchitis and it does right from my perspective.
Giving people things that make their body, make them achieve the greatest thing they can, that, which is to be their best self, it’s so important.
And if those things that we give them can also improve the cellular health of their body by making the healthy cells healthier and making the cancerous or the sick cells not even wanna be there, then that is a goal.
There’s been all kinds of studies, there’s all kinds of information which shows that could be possible.
But again, the problem is in theory, yes, that can help people in different areas of health.
But in reality, I don’t feel like it has because I think the coffee beans and coffee has been exposed to so many things in our environment that then sometimes we’re putting more toxins into our body.
So that was really a major focus for me when I worked on the coffee.
We drink coffee every day and we deserve to have really good coffee.
I’m not saying,me making spaghetti and saying my spaghetti is the “best spaghetti in the world.”
I will tell you that I’ve traveled to 89 countries and I’ve studied this for years and this has been a topic of mine since I was in my twenties, that has been important to me.
Then my oldest son, my Mom used to give him the coffee with the sugar and the cream and he would just keep drinking it.
And I would get in an argument with my Mom about why are you giving my Son coffee now?
He’s bouncing off the walls. He just loves it.
So he put fire under my feet on it. I was like, I’m too busy working on all these other projects.
He was like, “Mom, you have to make good coffee.”
Because some people drink four or five glasses a day. So it needs to be healthy for you.
It’s just like water. If you’re going to drink water, you want to drink healthy water; and water is part of the process when I make the coffee too. It’s a specific type of water that helps clean the beans.
It’s interesting. I tried to do it in the United States. I could not find a master coffee maker that could do what I wanted.
I found one in Cyprus [Greece].
So I was in Cyprus introduced to an award winning coffee grinder coffee maker.
He’s won awards all over, [ he] understood my process, understood how to do it.
Then after you tasted it, after it went through the process, he was like, this is amazing. This is the best coffee ever. And again, it makes sense.
Like when we’re healthy, we look better, right?
When coffee beans are healthier, they taste better. They’re better.
It’s just simple and I love it.
I think it’s magical how science works and how all of our DNA is connected. We’re connected to a leaf on a tree. We’re also connected and able to bring coffee to the world that’s going to help people.
I think it is probably one of the things I’ve enjoyed the most in the last three to four years of my life.
Joe Winger:
That’s beautiful. Obviously you have a huge scientific background. Our audience is into the flavor. Food, spirits, wine, coffee based on flavor.
I’m sure you can understand how science can intimidate so many of us.
Is there a very simplified way of explaining what makes Rahm Roast good for the body, good for the planet?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
It’s like going to an organic farm up in the mountains where everything’s perfect and tasting a bite of a watermelon and it just tastes so great.
Or of strawberries.
When you go to these places on these islands that have never been exposed to GMOs and pesticides.
And you’re like, why does this taste better?
Sometimes in the United States, you’ll buy a rose for someone and it doesn’t even smell like a rose, but then you’ll go to a tropical island where they don’t use GMOs or pesticides and it smells so beautiful.
This is the most beautiful rose. It smells so amazing.
The coffee was made and sourced from a single source in a place that was the perfect environment that we could find. We looked everywhere.
Then the process. That was made basically cleaning it until it was beautiful and perfect. It’s like you brush your teeth, you take a bath, you look better.
If you don’t shave or brush your teeth or take a bath for two years, then you may not look the same as you look today.
This coffee has been cleaned in a very holistic way, organic way using only natural.
It tastes amazing. It tastes almost like chocolate.
It’s very smooth.
Using zeolites [like they] used to line the ducts of the Aztec and Incas and Mayas and the pyramids. It’s documented throughout history and all I did was take a process and make sure it was cleaning so that it would look beautiful.
I think it’s simple.
I sourced it from the most amazing place that had not been exposed to pesticides and GMOs, that was fair trade, that everything was a sole source farmer.
We knew everything about the history. I want your audience to also know this.
It’s not just the beans and the plants.
It’s the parent plants and the genetics behind it.
When you see race horses. They breed, right? You pay a lot of money if you have a winner from the Kentucky Derby. Because it’s genetics.
There’s a genetic component and there’s always this debate about genetics and the environment.
Which one’s better?
And so to me, both are important.
So I looked at the genetics of the plants and the seeds
I made sure the environment was a really good environment to raise a healthy environment to raise these amazing coffee beans. And then we just cleaned them and made them even more beautiful so that everyone could taste how amazing they are.
Scientists made GMOs to try to make plants bigger, better, right? That failed.
So as a scientist I went back to school, I went to Harvard and studied nanobiotechnology for a very different reason than most people think.
I studied to see how we could reverse it.
Things naturally from things that we’ve put into our world that weren’t natural, that have hurt us.
Joe Winger:
Incredibly inspirational.
From a corporate point of view, can you talk a little bit about what inspired you to pursue the social responsibility of the company?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
In my career, I worked for the government. I’ve worked for a lot of the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
I would say I failed at that in many ways.
Our economy depends on spending a lot of money on health care.
It was a hard time for me, but I never gave up.
From my perspective. Since I had cancer, since I had Lyme’s disease, since I had a child that had cancer, I’ve devoted my life to trying to do the right thing. I have an opportunity to be alive for a reason.
It was a blessing, even though I didn’t feel like it was a blessing when I was diagnosed. I have a warrior strength of fighting anything.
We’ve just got to be better humans, right?
My goal is to make every person have the longest, best life possible.
That means mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And as a scientist, I feel like it’s on my shoulders and my responsibility to tell the truth and to do it in a positive way instead of being a whistleblower blowing things up.
I want to offer these things that can help people.
About 8-9 years ago, I started really stepping up and talking about social issues, working on female empowerment. I just always try to talk about how we can empower.
When you have gifts, if you have influence, if you have money, if you have power, your job is to protect those weaker than you or that need help.
And somehow we’ve lost that in our move for success.
We think we don’t we forget about that. But for me, that’s my motive to make social change is to it’s my responsibility to be a good human. I’m going to die someday. And I’m going to have to answer for everything I’ve done on this earth.
So I have to try every day to be better.
The coffee was something that was for a social change that I think we need to be aware of without scaring everyone.
And so that has led me to move past that. To run companies. I have 22 companies actually under DRC ventures and a lot of people don’t know that. So there’s 22 companies that I’m actually in charge of right now, trying to make some good social changes in the world.
Joe Winger:
For our audience who wants to learn more about your and Rahm Roast Coffee, what are the best ways?
Dr. Christina Rahm:
DrChristinaRahm.com is my website.
I’m on social media at Instagram, LinkedIn
The root brand sells Rahm Roast at RahmRoast website. We also donate from every bag of coffee to philanthropy as well.