Writing
Yardley local takes music world by storm
Music shifts with culture through the ages
Opinion: It's time to let girls try something new
Transhumanist party head makes run for presidency
About:
Knowing that the man who had previously held my job as a clerk at our town's family-owned music store had been a member of two quite popular bands, I reached out to him for an interview after meeting him at a work function and researching his career online. At 16 years-old I traveled on the Pennsylvania Regional Rail into Philadelphia on a chilly New Year's day, walking through Kensington to reach his new recording studio. I spent several hours with him in his small studio, interviewing him as one of his coworkers recorded a track in the next room. This article was published in June of 2016, much later than expected, as it was intended for a different publication.
The smell of rotting piano filled the air as a man, bent like an accordion, leaned over the piano’s remains, pressing its pearly ribs into a suspended melody. He pushed his long brown hair up into his knit beanie and looked out of the concrete-lined window over the city.
This man’s name is Joe Reinhart.
Since first picking up a guitar as a teenager Reinhart, guitarist of Hop Along, has been in love. Not with the fame of his trade, but with music.
“I get to come in here, do what I love for a living and go on tour doing what I love… It’s a lot of hard work, it’s not like you have a job where you leave and just forget about it and not ever think about it again until you go back. It’s constant, it’s always, but that’s what I like about it, and I’m very happy.” said Reinhart, now 33.
Although his first muses included Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, and Stone Temple Pilots, watching Green Day and Nirvana rock out, as a tween, inspired him to do so himself.
“When that stuff started happening I was like, ‘oh, that looks easy, I can do that,” said Reinhart.
Soon, inspired by the legendary punk bands of mohawks not-yet-passed, Reinhart and his friends had begun their own music group.
“It was like two or three of us. My friend, his sister had a karaoke machine, so we stole that, and started singing and writing songs with the guitars, and then I got a Talk Boy and we started recording with that…eventually we acquired drum sets and we just started being loud. All of the time. Always.”
Reinhart’s lorax-esque mustache curled up with a smile as he went on about the music of his youth. “I think it was 6th grade when I wrote my first song. Maybe, f—, I don’t know. We were listening to a lot of Rancid, so maybe it was about… like, a skateboarder that got all bloody skateboarding, and kept skateboarding- I didn’t even skateboard, I just thought that was cool to write about. I’ve gotta find that tape somewhere. I don’t think it still exists,”.
Now, Reinhart works full-time as sound engineer and producer at Headroom Studios, of which he is a partial owner, in addition to playing tours with Hop Along. Reinhart was also a member of bands Dogs on Acid and Algernon Cadwallader.
“My first job in the [music] industry was maybe recording bands, I think. 7th or 8th grade, whenever I got a 4 track I was recording bands… for, like, 30 bucks, or a case of beer, or a bag of weed, or something. Whatever it was. I did a lot for free, too, but I guess that still counts. Then I worked Pro Line [Music]… I just always tried to surround myself with things related to it,” said Reinhart.
Over a decade after Reinhart’s first gig with his friends in their hometown’s Fire House, in Yardley, PA, his band has reached top charts, being featured in the ‘Best Albums of 2015’ lists of magazines like Rolling Stone, Saddle Creek, and Pitchfork.
“It was obviously an honor to be recognized like that, and I think that’s really cool, but as with any other record I’ve ever made, it’s kinda like, I work my a– off and I do the best job I can do and then once I’m happy with it and I’m like ‘I like this, this is good’. If people hated it, I wouldn’t be bummed or surprised. Now that a lot of people seem to like it, I’m not bummed, or surprised, or even that excited because the excitement, for me, was making it,”.
“I’m super glad they liked it, I’m flattered, but it’s not why we do it, it’s not the end game, it’s not that important,” he said.
Joe’s dedication to his art, rather than his fame, has carried through into his touring.
“…the first time I went on tour I was like, if i never do anything else I can say I did this and I’ll feel good about it. First time I went to Europe, first time I played a sold out show, first time I headlined a sold out show, like first time we sold a thousand record. Every Time something like that happens, I’m like ‘this is awesome’. You know? ‘cause it’s another milestone, and I wouldn’t, right now, be bummed if I could never do anything again like in the music industry because I feel like I’ve done a lot. I mean, I felt that way when I hadn’t done a lot but the little I did I was like ‘this is cool’,” said Reinhart
Joe, known most on tour, not for his musical skills, but for his ability to lose shoes in all conditions, wears high, colorful socks at the studio, avoiding the temperature issues that come with losing his shoes.
“Sometimes my shoes get mailed back to me. Sometimes I get them the next time I’m in that town or place. Someone will show up at a show like ‘you left these at my house three years ago’ and I’m like ‘oh my god’. It happens often… Luckily, last time it happened I had my running shoes with me, so, I was walking all over L.A. looking for a pair of shoes in my running shoes. We had to leave like super early the morning before and I just was too tired to realize that I had no shoes on,” said Reinhart.
As far as playing on tour goes, Reinhart still holds a place in his heart for the small venues in which he first played in the basements of Philadelphia.
“I think maybe it’s a little more laid back [at basement shows]. There’s more interaction between the bands and the people there to see them, because you’re all in the same space doing the same thing- talking, smoking cigarettes outside, doing whatever- and I think that’s a good thing for the most part, better than the bigger places… I love playing basement shows. I’ll do it again, sooner rather than later,” he said, although he doesn’t miss the basement scene too much compared to bigger shows.
“I like it when there’s a green room when we’ve been traveling all day where we can sit there, have a beer, take a deep breathe, get on the internet, and then go walk around. I like having that place to chill even if it’s just for 15 minutes.” said Reinhart. “As far as little places, I’ve got a soft spot for The Fire,… It’s a nostalgia thing.”
About:
There's always been a large underground music scene in my area-- Philadelphia is known for its basement shows-- but the music I was hearing at the small concerts that my friends and I had become accustomed to didn't sound anything like what we heard on the radio, even when it was considered to be within the same genre. This made me curious about how music had changed over time-- and how our isolated community had drifted from the mainstream. Although I was never really able to figure our why Philadelphia seemed to stand out the way it does for me, with a bit of research I was able to explore the way music has changed overtime. This was published in October of 2016.
The year is 2016, and, like the generations before them, the young people of today listen to music-and lots of it. Rather than walking to the local record store, as their parents once did to tune into something new, today’s teens and young adults simply open their phones and click on their icon of choice. With this selection of songs, more has changed than just the venue.
If art is a reflection of society, an analysis of America’s changing music taste has the ability to provide insight into our shifting cultural atmosphere.
According to a study by Contently, the popular music of the years 1995 and 2015 used more references to sexual content than any other years within the study, which studied a particular calendar week every 10 years between 1965 and 2015, and showed a relative increase in such over time.
This increase in references to sexual activity over time can be said to reflect how American society has become more open about such, as is shown through the University of Chicago’s NORC studies regarding Americans’ attitudes through particular issues over time, which shows declining rates in disapproval for all sexual behaviors, excluding extramarital affairs.
Songs from 2005 used more profane language than any other year. The most frequent themes from this year included sex, street life, freedom, lust, loneliness, partying, love and money according to the same Contently study.
The rate at which violence was referenced is tied between 1965, 1985, and 1995 for highest frequency. The most common themes of the 1965 sample were love, escape, loneliness, lessons and loss. The year 1985 brought unity, lust, nostalgia, love, dancing and partying. The year 1995 brought along partying, sex, love, freedom, and street life.
Tied for most frequent references to drugs and alcohol are 2005 and 2015, more than doubling the amount of references from the 1965 and 1975 samples. The most common themes of the music sample from 2015 in the Contently study were love, partying, lust, life, loss, and being awesome.
As time went on, many genres developed within the United States and around the world. Although the development of these genres was not always reflected into the mainstream, they still had a great effect on American society.
Classical music evolved into folk and spiritual music prior to, and during, America’s great awakening in the 1700s, prior to its founding as a nation. Later, during the Civil War, both the North and South created popular melodies for patriotic means.
Finally, late in the 19th century, ragtime evolved. From this came jazz, blues, and big band swing. In the early 1940s, blues became the basis for rock and roll, while jazz evolved into bebop. The 1940s also saw the first commercial successes of appalachian folk music, which would later lead to the development of the country music played today.
In the 1950s, blues led to gospel and R&B music. Latin music, brought in from Cuba, also became somewhat popular in the 1950s, along with cajun and creole tunes.
Political causes became a common feature in music throughout the 1960s. Girl groups, surf music, hot rod rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, and soul all arose–in part–during this period. Soul and funk also became quite popular.
In the 1970s, heavy metal, along with its subgenres of glam rock and country rock, came to the forefront. Outlaw country, hip hop, punk, disco, and Philly soul also became popular. The same trends continued into the 80s, with hip hop reaching the top of the charts, and gangster rap emerging.
The 1990s saw grunge, and about two dozen other subgenres of rock, form in full. East coast rap styles were replaced by those of the West, and techno music started to become popular. Indie and garage became the most popular forms of rock going into the 2000s, and contemporary, electronic, and R&B eventually led to the development of the array of sounds we hear today.
In the late 1950s into the 1960s, Americans throughout the country still hopped their socks to the melodies of The Beatles, Supremes, Rolling Stones, Four Seasons, Monkees and–the one and only–Elvis Presley. The following decade’s billboard hits consisted of Elton John, The Bee Gees, Paul McCartney and The Wings, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, KC & The Sunshine Band, and Barbra Streisand.
With the 1980s came Whitney Houston, Madonna, Phil Collins, Hall and Oats, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Bon Jovi, and the Jackson 5 (minus 4). After the 1980s came Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, TLC, Celine Dion, Puff Daddy, and Monica–in addition to a sixth Jackson, Janet.
The 2000s ushered in Usher, Rihanna, Beyonce, Nelly, Ludacris, Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, and 50 Cent. Now, the most popular artists are Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Adele, Eminem, Ke$ha, Justin Bieber, Drake and Rihanna based on how many of their singles have reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 lists.
These changes in popular artistry throughout the decades may be a reflection on changing technology in the music industry throughout the decades, as it can be easily noted that Beatles didn’t quite have the same auto-tuned tone of much of the music of the early 2000s.
About:
As a member of the teen panel for my local newspaper, I received a request for members to write about our experiences as members of the Girl Scouts and what we thought about the opening of Boy Scouts to girls and related issues. My purpose in this piece was to highlight the issues that girls like me faced in Girl Scout troops, and how the expansion of Boy Scouts might allow for us to explore solutions. Although I am aware that my experience was unique, I know that if things went the way they did in my troop, there was nothing stopping the same things from happening in others.
As a kid, I remember sitting with my Girl Scout troop in the teacher’s lounge after school, learning to knit while my male classmates were off starting fires with their Boy Scout troops.
It was miserable; we were promised camping, hiking, pocket knives, knotwork, and what we got was essentially a watered-down housewife’s manual and an in-house lesson about the history of Ireland (for who knows what reason).
It was no surprise to me, then, that enrollment in Girl Scouts began to drop -- and at a much greater rate than that for Boy Scouts. No parents wanted to fill out the hours of paperwork, attend the 50-some-hour classes required by Girl Scout bureaucracy to take the troops on simple activities. No one wanted to sit out in the cold all winter, in front of grocery stores, selling cookies that barely benefited the troops and in no way fulfilled the promises that are made to girls upon enrollment.
It would be easier to make cookies at home, to go camping with your family, to hand your daughter an antique housewife’s manual and still have her garner a better experience than what the Girl Scouts would have taught her.
In my several years in the Girl Scouts we went on one camping trip -- that is, we stayed in a cabin with electricity and running water, learning whatever the heck Goo-goo Gaa-gaa was in the context of schoolyard games rather than a baby crying. Even after that, it took my troop master literally smacking me in the face for questioning her choice of activities, all the while in front of my father and the rest of the troop, for me to quit.
It finally took that, after so long waiting, for me to give up hope on maybe one day learning any real survival skills from Girl Scouts, any useful skills at all, anything that would even half-resemble what we were promised or even what my male friends and cousins were doing.
I feel like Girl Scouts, as it was for me, has been the first hard-line experience of sexism for many women, despite the fact it was being pushed onto them by their mothers and sisters, rather than by men as most might expect; there really is no other explanation as to why Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts have developed so differently over the years.
Despite all this, I wholeheartedly support the allowance of girls into Boy Scouts for more than just reasons of equality; this was an economic decision on the part of Boy Scouts and the issue cannot be discussed without such information. Both Boy and Girl Scouts have seen rapid declines in enrollment and funding over the past decade or so, meaning that this expansion is chiefly a tool to keep the Boy Scouts in business.
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After exploring the edges of the candidate pool for the presidency, I decided to ask the lesser-known candidates for interviews. I was lucky enough to have one reply. I used his interview, along with information found online, to write this piece. It was published in June of 2016.
There are many men grasping for power today, whether it be for the want of a better border, a better healthcare system, a better economy, or a better democracy.
Zoltan Istvan, head of the Transhumanist Party and 2016 Presidential candidate, is not different-he wants a better human.
Istvan is a philosopher, author, journalist, and now, politician living in Los Angeles, California.
After publishing his book, The Transhumanist Wager, a philosophical science fiction novel, in 2013 Istvan began actively promoting transhumanism and other futurist issues via speeches, interviews, activism, and writing.
Transhumanism is the philosophy that humanity can evolve beyond its current physical and mental limitations through the use of science and technology. Istvan believes that this process will unfold fairly quickly in the next few years.
“I expect not to die. Transhumanism will grow and grow, until we are way beyond even machines. I suspect in 100 years we will be pure organized energy–that’s how fast evolution will grow once we tap into machine intelligence, which will be in about 25 years,” said Istvan in an email-based interview this March.
Istvan’s writings and ideas on transhumanism, philosophy, atheism, and futurist issues have been featured in Yahoo News, The Daily Telegraph, Business Insider, Fox News Channel’s Stossel show, CNN’s Inside Man, Gizmodo, and the Joe Rogan Experience among many others.
Having received his Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in Religion and Philosophy, Istvan began his career as a journalist working for the National Geographic Channel. Istvan’s coverage of the war in Kashmir was made into a documentary, Pawns of Paradise, which is regarded highly as one of the most in depth coverages of the war and its effects on the people of Kashmir.
Istvan is a member of the World Future Society, a volunteer Ambassador for The Seasteading Institute, an advisory board member of the India Future Society, a member of the Young Professionals, an advisory board member of A-Team for Wildlife, and is on the Futurist and Space Settlement boards of the Lifeboat Foundation. These organizations may sound unfamiliar, but most of them deal with finding new places for humans to dwell, finding better ways for humans to live, and protecting endangered species.
“ I believe 100% in climate change. I would like to stop it, but I doubt that’s possible at this point. Humans have messed with the planet too much. Our best way to deal with it is to make ourselves transhuman so we aren’t susceptible to environmental hazards, like dirty air, or lack of food. Transhuman won’t need to eat in the future if they’re mostly machines. And breathing air is not a very smart system. Transhumans need to evolve out of it. All this said, I do think, in the meantime, that lessening the carbon footprint of the human race on planet earth is practical to try to slow global warming,” said Istvan regarding climate change.
His presidential platform has a series of points ranging from tracking criminals to decrease incarceration rates, to providing free education to our citizens. One of these points includes the microchipping of citizens in order to prevent bodily injury, which brings into question the use of these chips for the monitoring of private lives by the government.
“The people can always ensure anything, so they must stand up to the government and companies and say their want to have their privacy ensured. However, we also need to understand that our privacy is being chipped away at with this technology. That’s life. But the technology is making the world much safer and more efficient. There have always been trade-offs, and this will be one of them. However, individuals can control how much they are monitored, and that is important that always remains the case,” said Istvan.
Must of Istvan’s campaign focuses around science and atheism. As much of the citizens of the United States are explicitly involved in religious activity and belief, this may pose a conflict with his campaign, but Istvan believes otherwise.
“ I think many Americans are losing their religion, and I suspect in 15 years half the country will identify as nonreligious (or barely religious–which is almost the same thing). As the country becomes less fundamentally religious, science and logic will prevail in culture. That will be great progress,” he said.