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For the Record With Grace Vonderkuhn

“For the Record” is a periodic feature in which musicians discuss what they’ve been listening to lately.

The electric charge of Grace Vonderkuhn is spreading wildly, and with her first full-length album Reveries out Feb. 23, she’s already been featured by NPR, WXPN’s The Key, and a half dozen other media.

The album, put out by EggHunt Records, is a gritty, mad dash of noisy garage rock plunging into melodic catharsis, backed up by bassist Brian Bartling and Dave Mcgrory on drums.

Reveries is available on vinyl, cassette and digitally on iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, Spotify and more.

In March, Vonderkuhn and her band will tour the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond, most notably playing at South By Southwest in Austin as official showcase performers (March 9-16). Locally, catch her at Wilmington’s 1984 on Thursday, March 29.

O&A caught up with Vonderkuhn before her spring tour, and she shared her music career’s five most formative, influential albums.

T. Rex — Electric Warrior

One album that really influenced me in my late teens is Electric Warrior. I remember the first time hearing the song “Cosmic Dancer.” I was waiting tables on a slow day and it came on. I thought it was Bowie at first, but I soon found out that it was Marc Bolan serenading me. I felt like I was transported into another reality. After that I delved into the whole album and fell in love with the sound. It’s true glam rock with dashes of psychedelic riffs and it’s all tied together with Bolan’s vibrato and spacey lyrics. It just grooves.

Pixies — Doolittle

It probably doesn’t come as a surprise to people that have heard my music that the Pixies are one of my favorite bands. Although I enjoy most of their discography, I wanted to highlight their album Doolittle because it was my gateway drug into late ‘80s/early ‘90s alternative rock. This album is stacked with hits and there are so many mood changes, it’s no wonder it’s hailed as some of their greatest work. I really could sing their praises all day, but I’ll probably just listen to Doolittle again instead.

Autolux — Future Perfect

Here’s another life-changing album for me. Autolux redefined what a three-member rock band could be. It comes down to their dynamics and the ability to use quiet and space to build up heavy parts into lethal rock. Plus, there are some deeply satisfying guitar and bass tones and entrancing vocal harmonies. I highly recommend listening to Autolux.

Elliott Smith — Either/Or

I’ve never heard an Elliott Smith song I didn’t like, but this particular album is close to my heart. This is deeply introspective and, well, sad music. Smith was a master wordsmith and one could write a dissertation on the meaning of his lyrics. He was also heavily influenced by the Beatles and I love the juxtaposition of his pop chords and heartbroken content. If you must explore your darkness, Either/Or is an ideal soundtrack.

Sex Pistols — Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols opened up a new world for me when I was a teenager. Along with The Clash, they sparked my interest in ‘70s U.K. punk and led me to bands like Buzzcocks and Generation X and later post punk bands like Public Image, LTD., Joy Division, and Magazine. Loud, fast, angsty music is truly cathartic and energizing.

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Healing Through Play

Dr. Carol Bouzoukis utilizes toys and drama therapy to help kids cope with trauma, disorders and more

Children’s play and drama psychotherapist Dr. Carol Bouzoukis, known to parents as “the child whisperer,” is the lone adult in a room surrounded by her tools of choice: toys.

Shelves weigh heavy with Legos, Barbies and a miniature castle, which here, under the care of Bouzoukis, transcend their original plasticky purpose; Pokémon characters line the window sill, while a pirate ship, doll house, the occasional toy cannon and a bean bag chair fill in the remaining corners of the small Greenville office.

The toys inspire the imagination of Bouzoukis’ clients, starting from age 3 to pre-teens. And more important, the kids will subconsciously—or consciously—use the toys as symbols that tap into their struggles, which can vary from parental divorce to trauma, abuse, school or social anxiety, tantrums, or others in a long list of disorders.

This idea is explored in the third book Bouzoukis is writing (title pending), revolving around play therapy tools. It explains how these simple objects take on a new meaning in the hands of a child, which really is at the core of play therapy.

“The bean bag chair can become a tsunami, ocean, water, it can even represent me or a parent,” she says.

For now, though, therapist, internationally-recognized author and drama coach Bouzoukis, who has owned her own practice, Play Therapy Delaware, for more than two decades, is caught in a rare moment of quiet as she sips a cup of tea.

Her first book, entitled Pediatric Dramatherapy: They Couldn’t Run, So They Learned To Fly, focused on the treatment of chronically ill children, while the second, Encouraging Your Child’s Imagination, prompts children and schools to create original and improvised plays. She’s the recipient of a slew of degrees and accolades, including a doctorate from New York University with an emphasis in Child Dramatherapy and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Child Drama from the University of North Carolina—Greensboro.

Play therapy usually helps the patient achieve healing without intervention from a specialist.

Play therapy dates to the 1950s, and its evolution hasn’t gone unnoticed by therapists and members of the public alike; these days mainstream pediatricians and schools don’t hesitate to recommend the treatment for a troubled child.

Child-centered and child-directed, this means that patients come into the room and choose what they want to do, what kind of toys they’ll play with, what they’re going to explore.

“Some people are a little confused about play therapy,” says Bouzoukis. “It’s not that they come in and play and I lure them into talking about what’s wrong. That’s a misconception.”

It’s simpler than that, she explains. The children play with toys or with a sandbox, and Bouzoukis observes.

“With the sandbox, kids will select from themed objects—people, animals, trees, bridges, caves—and put them in the sand to create a picture,” she says. “When they’re doing that, they’re projecting anything that’s on their minds—worries, conflicts, anxiety, stress.”

Once they set up the scene, kids can give it a name, act it out, or create various scenarios. The same goes for regular toys.

Bouzoukis, who typically meets with patients once a week, will analyze the behavior and look at the themes of the play, symbols and metaphors of what the child selects. But there’s never any intervention or prompting on her part.

“What happens is that while they’re working through their issues and their conflicts, eventually they’ll start to find resolution themselves,” says Bouzoukis. “Then I talk to the parents and give them tips on parenting or help them look at the situation through a child’s eyes.”

Sometimes kids do talk during a session, but whether they do or don’t isn’t important; what is important is that they can communicate nonverbally, says Bouzoukis.

Kids often carry on a storyline from week to week. For example, if they engage two pirate ships in battle, the war could represent their parents’ divorce, or a “fight” within the children when they don’t feel good about themselves, says Bouzoukis. Children often show signs of regression by playing with baby toys or by trying to “feed” Bouzoukis toy food.

Of course, Bouzoukis has a no-violence policy, but she says you never know what will happen when emotions churn. Years ago, one patient was dealing with abandonment issues after his mom dropped him off at his father’s for the weekend and never came back. “Two years later, he had me pretending to be mom,” says Bouzoukis. “I had this refrigerator box the kids liked to play in, and he threw it and walloped me in the head, and my ear was bleeding.”

After some time with their kids in play therapy, parents notice changes in observable behaviors: tantrums stop, kids with anxiety lose their anxious ticks or habits.

“Parents say the kids are so happy when they leave here, and they take that out into the world with them,” says Bouzoukis. “The child gets to work it all through with the play, and I’ve done this long enough to see the effectiveness of this work with children. I’m very lucky to do what I do.”

For more, visit playtherapydelaware.com, or contact Bouzoukis at cbouzoukis@gmail.com or 777-1110. Play Therapy Delaware is located at 2 Greenville Crossing, Suite 244, 4001 Kennett Pike, Greenville.

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Winter Instagram Challenge

And the Winners Are…

We asked readers to submit their best pictures of the beauty of the First State in winter. Out of the almost 200 fantastic submissions, these shots best captured what we were looking for.

Photo Duane Loveland

First place

@mrloveland • Duane Loveland, Elsmere

Photo taken at Breck’s Mill Area, Hagley

“This shot is part of a photo project I started in the fall. My goal is to capture the changing seasons from this location. I got the inspiration for the project from a Bob Ross painting. Finding the right angle for this shot just required a little bit of walking along the side of the road until I could lean out over the stone barrier far enough to get clear of the trees along the river bank.”

Photo Deb Felmey

Second place

@dlfelmey • Deb Felmey

Photo taken at Fowler Beach

“Snowy owl visiting at Fowler Beach—one of the coolest reasons to brave the cold this winter.”

Photo by Jesse Walker

Third place

@jrhimself302 • Jesse Walker, Wilmington

Photo taken at Alapocas Run State Park

“The picture is from right after a heavy snow storm. I hiked down to this location in the snow to get this shot, which was worth it.”

First place receives one Delaware Nature Society household membership, and runners-up will get gift cards to Iron Hill and Penn Cinema movie tickets. The contest was sponsored by Delaware Nature Society. Thanks to everyone who participated!

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5 Questions with Andrew Bird

The multi-instrumentalist comes to The Grand on Feb. 23

Los Angeles-based film score composer, multi-instrumentalist and lyricist Andrew Bird picked up a violin for the first time at age 4. As he grew up, he pursued a variety of styles, including early jazz, country blues and gypsy music, melding them into his own brand of pop.  Since beginning his recording career in 1997, he has released more than a dozen albums, including his most recent full-length Are You Serious (2016) and the instrumental Echolocations: River (2017), which is second in a series of short films and recordings documenting site-specific compositions. River was recorded while Bird stood ankle-deep in the Los Angeles River under The Hyperion Bridge. The first installment, Echolocations: Canyon, was released in 2015 after Bird played violin in a canyon in Utah.

Equally creative and candid, Bird hosts a Facebook Live series “Live from the Great Room” which streams from his living room, putting the creative process on display for fans as he performs and converses with friends and collaborators. Previous guests have included Zach Galifianakis, The Lumineers, Fiona Apple, The National, and Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

Out & About caught up with Bird by phone as he prepared for his winter tour, which will hit Wilmington on Friday, Feb. 23, at The Grand at 8 p.m.

O&A: Can you talk about how you choose recording locations for your Echolocations albums like Canyon and Rivers?

Bird: The idea is to go into the spaces and try to be a blank slate and listen to the feedback I’m getting off the surfaces – whatever brings in all the reverberations of the instruments. I take the songs home and create a record around them, reacting to what I hear and remember. It gives me an excuse to improvise and to exercise other ideas. Then, at shows, I basically do what I did when building the record: I react to the film recording and improvise while watching the film.

O&A: Will there be more Echolocations installments?

Bird: These are part of a series of four albums I’m making. The next one is going to be in bunkers built into a coastal hillside during the ‘30s. And the one after that is in an aqueduct in Lisbon, Portugal; the reverberation of that one is insane. They’re all distinct environments.

O&A: Echolocations recordings differ in style from your other albums, which feature vocals and a full band – like 2016’s Are You Serious, which falls between these two instrumental albums. Instead, you approach Echolocations with a minimalist slant with just one instrument – the violin – and one musician – you. What made you take this approach, and did it present any new artistic challenges for you?

Bird: Between records I put out every three or four years, I do these projects that keep me able to exercise other things. A lot of stuff ends up on the cutting room floor when you’re making a pop album, so this just kind of gives me life and the ability to stretch out and play long-form pieces and explore textures and sounds. And to just be a player again. I think otherwise I would be withering creatively.

O&A: What inspired your collaborative Facebook Live series “Live from the Great Room”? What artists are you planning on working with in the future?

Bird: It relates to Echolocations in a sense that it began with the emphasis on being raw. I wanted to bring it back to music and collaboration and invite people into my house and play in my living room and fill that room with sound and have it be raw and live and messy. A lot of people tried to convince me to pre-record it and I thought, ‘I can’t do that, it has to be scrappy and live and reactive.’ It turned out to be more successful and gratifying than I imagined.

I’ve got a list of folks that want to do it, we just gotta find the time. I’m hoping to get back into it in the summer or fall. I’ve been trying to get Randy Newman for a while.

O&A: What’s next for you?

Bird: I’ll be finishing a new record that’s going to come out early next year. It’s on my mind ‘cause I just finished tracking it. It’s gonna sound different than the last one. I’ve been basing the sound off early ‘60s jazz and gospel records that were all recorded in one room. The subject matter is a bit more political, I guess you could say, rather than personal, though it’s never entirely one or the other. I guess the overarching theme is talking about how we need our enemies or how we seem to thrive off of conflict.

I’m also doing a run of symphonic shows in the fall, where I’ll be playing with the National Symphony Orchestra – that’s a totally new venture.

Don’t miss Andrew Bird at The Grand on Friday, Feb. 23, at 8 p.m. For tickets, go to thegrandwilmington.org.

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Of Chocolate Bars & Cacao Farmers

Working out of their Arden home, Stuart and Mhairi Craig are the founders and sole employees of Double Spiral Chocolate and the state’s first bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Here’s why you should pay $3.75 for one of their bars.

The source of one of Delaware’s most palatable secrets is hidden away in a second-floor room of the Arden home of Mhairi Craig, a registered nurse, and her biochemist husband Stuart. Walk past the glowing fireplace and tidy kitchen, then climb the stairs to the spare room above the garage, and you’ll find a small-scale chocolate-making process that floods the space with the warm and slightly pungent scent of cacao. The Craigs are the first bean-to-bar chocolate makers in Delaware, leaders of what has the potential to be a trend not unlike the third-wave coffee movement that developed over the past 30 years. Statistics show that in the last 10-15 years, bean-to-bar chocolate makers have increased from just a handful to more than 200 in the United States. For now, the couple rules the local industry with Double Spiral Chocolate, a part-time project that distributes to local small businesses like Newark Natural Foods, Delaware Local Food Exchange, Drip Café and Little Goat Coffee Roasting. Double Spiral goes through 35 pounds of chocolate a month, making 500 bars. The potential for larger success is certainly there, but the couple, juggling busy jobs, are determined to keep it a two-person, part-time gig—right now, anyway. And that’s partially because they’re not in it for the money. They just about break even (their chocolate bars could arguably be priced higher than $3.75, and they’re known to donate boxes of chocolate). Mainly, they want to provide healthy snacks while supporting ethical cacao farming (more on that later). Originally from Scotland, the Craigs met as grad students in Edinburgh, married in 1984, moved to the U.S., and ended up here on the northern cusp of Delaware two-and-a-half years ago. Mhairi works at the Endoscopy Center of Delaware in Newark, and Stuart is director of regulatory and scientific affairs at DuPont Nutrition and Health.

Most Double Spiral chocolate is made with two ingredients: unrefined sugar and cacao. Photo Krista Connor

Before moving here, Mhairi had begun experimenting with homemade chocolate as part of a personal interest in the relationship between diet and health. Meanwhile, in 2016, Stuart worked on a project examining unrefined sugar. He wondered—can chocolate be made with the stuff? “I had only seen it with white sugar,” he says. “I’ve worked with chocolate in the past with Nabisco, so I knew enough to know that I couldn’t think of a reason why you couldn’t, but there must be a reason ’cause nobody does.” In fact, it had been done. Stuart’s research unearthed an entire movement called bean-to-bar, comprising makers dedicated to sourcing organic, sustainable cacao (which is the fermented seed chocolate comes from). The function of a bean-to-bar maker is to start with the cacao bean and from there, roast, grind and smooth the chocolate, all from scratch. The Craigs tried it, using willing friends as guinea pigs. They launched Double Spiral Chocolate just before the move to Arden. (A double spiral is an ancient Celtic symbol representing how two opposite components can find balance.) Their reputation preceded them, and before they even moved in they were known in the tight-knit arts community as “the chocolate people,” which still makes them laugh. Of their part-time pursuit, Stuart says: “It’s something interesting to do.” His nonchalant tone belies the impact of the product—one-ounce chocolate bars that delight the palate while evincing memories of some childhood fiction or dream—not to mention the passion with which he and his wife pursue a pure and ethical production process.

Chocolate Alchemists & Eccentric Innovations

Stuart Craig, a biochemist, checks on texture and taste during the chocolate-making process. Photo Krista Connor

Most Double Spiral chocolate is made with two ingredients: cacao beans and unrefined cane sugar. For flavored bars, a third ingredient is added. This could be whole food, freeze-dried fruits like raspberry and ginger, or mint leaves, or even coffee from Newark’s Little Goat Coffee Roasting Co. From cacao bean to chocolate bar, the complex process takes about three days to make a batch, which equals approximately 100 bars. The Craigs’ sunlit chocolate room acts as both a sterile science lab—not an unwanted dab or drip of chocolate to be seen —and minimalist bakery kitchen, where silky-smooth, finished bars wait on trays to be wrapped. Each batch goes through the same process: Cacao beans are sorted and the selected ones are poured into a small roaster to develop flavor. Then, to separate the now-nibs from the husk, they’re cracked and winnowed (meaning the shell is blown away). Next, the nibs are ground and refined in a melangeur—a bowl that crushes the nibs between granite stones to produce a warm liquid. Unrefined sugar is added, and the process continues for eight hours. Flavor development continues overnight through a process called conching, then the chocolate can either be aged (for several months), a third ingredient could be added, or the chocolate can be tempered (Tempering is a precise temperature profile with a lot of physical chemistry involved—it produces the desirable beta-crystal form of cocoa butter). This leads to the characteristic melt-in-your-mouth chocolate bar shine and snap. Finally, the bars are molded and wrapped with labels printed from the Craigs’ home printer. Wrappers are made from recycled sugar cane. Being a self-trained, small-scale producer of a product that is yet to trend means the market may not have what you need. But the Craigs are resourceful. For example, a hair dryer was originally used to blow the shells away from nibs. Now they’ve graduated to the winnower attached to a Shop-Vac. And the roaster? It’s a repurposed rotisserie chicken oven. “It’s very much a labor of love,” says Stuart. “Some days it’s labor, some days it’s love.” The process would be a lot easier—and cheaper—if they added extra cocoa butter or other ingredients. “But we want to stick with these simple things,” he says, “or add that third interesting flavor.” Double Spiral bars are one ounce for a reason—that’s the daily recommended amount of chocolate. And science suggests you’d need at least 70 percent cacao to have all the health benefits associated with it, which is why Double Spiral’s cacao percentage only goes up from there. That sets them apart from many major chocolate companies, who use as little as 10 percent cacao, with the rest of the ingredients dominated by sugar and fat.

The Bigger Picture

When you pay $3.75 for a Double Spiral Chocolate bar, you’re getting more than a flavorful, healthy snack. Here’s why: The Craigs have traveled to a handful of the farms their chocolate is sourced from, including some in Belize, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Up next is Guatemala. The trips reveal a side of the chocolate world that consumers never see, and demonstrate why sustainably-produced chocolate is linked to the survival of farmers and rain forests. It all starts in the jungle. Pods housing cacao seeds grow on trees found in rainy, tropical areas. They’re often grown on large farms where people are overworked and underpaid. But like others in the bean-to-bar movement, Double Spiral sources its beans ethically. Their supplier, Uncommon Cacao, links small holder farmers to the specialty cacao industry and ensures transparency and a good profit for the farmer. “The supply chain is very transparent,” says Mhairi. “As opposed to big companies.” One huge issue masked by big-company supply chains is child labor. That’s because many farmers only average $1 a day working with major supply chains, so they must send their children to work. Leaders in the chocolate industry—think big players like Nestlé and Hershey’s—have been grappling with the problem for almost two decades, particularly in countries in West Africa. A 2015 U.S. Department of Labor-funded report shows that 2.1 million children were engaged in objectionable labor practices in cacao farming in Ivory Coast and Ghana alone. Feeling the heat of public outcry, some chocolate corporations have vowed to be 100 percent sustainable by 2020 and 2030, but progress is slow. Sustainable companies, of course, forbid child labor. And in addition to providing good wages to farmers and workers, these ethical producers contribute to job growth. Haiti, for example, faces mass amounts of unemployment. Cacao farming is one way to overcome these obstacles and create jobs. “But it’s not just us,” says Mhairi. “We need people to like it and buy the chocolate—to say, ‘From my disposable income I’m willing to pay for this because it will help support farmers and save the rain forest.’” The difference bean-to-bar chocolate can make is huge when it comes to tropical deforestation. The logic is simple: Growers grow what they know will sell. If a farmer can grow a crop and support his or her family, then he or she will be less likely to cut down trees—i.e. clear the rain forest, which is a big problem, especially in Haiti—to plant another crop more likely to sell. The risk that certain strains of cacao will become extinct is currently high as development encroaches or more conventional strains are primarily cultivated. So, bean-to-bar producers also have to focus on maintaining the genetic diversity of the beans they purchase. “An economic model that encourages the maintenance of the rain forest to produce a profitable crop becomes, just by itself, a much more sustainable way of thinking about how we buy our food,” says Mhairi.

The Craigs source their cacao from farms like this one in Dominican Republic. Photo courtesy of Double Spiral Chocolate

On top of everything else, farmers have to grapple with corruption. Once Uncommon Cacao got involved in Haiti, the business partnered with Produits Des Iles SA (PISA), a cacao processor and exporter that offers farmers double what low-paying middlemen, or brokers, give. (Today, PISA works with an association of 1,489 smallholder farmers; 476 of them are female). However, used to buying cacao for a rock bottom price, the previous brokers began threatening and intimidating farmers. They broke into one farmer’s home while he was at church, says Mhairi. “All this is going on in the background and we don’t know about it,” says Mhairi. “Look how many people had to be involved just to get to the container ship: the growing, harvesting, fermentation, drying, putting beans in sacks, loading the sacks into trucks in 90-degree heat. Then there’s the warehouse over here, and our whole process making the chocolate. And at the end of that, some people may think: ‘I don’t want to spend $3 for a chocolate bar,’” she says. “But look at everything that happened to get it to the store.” Says Stuart: “It really comes down to consumers understanding and demanding where their chocolate comes from, and that’s part of the chocolate journey.”

For more information, visit doublespiralchocolate.com.

Stuart and Mhairi Craig. Photo Krista Connor

 

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Coffee With a Kick

Newark gets its own micro roastery, Little Goat Coffee Roasting Co.

Little Goat Coffee Roasting Co., which opened early this fall on Haines Street in Newark, roasts and sells specialty coffee in an atmosphere that achieves a customer-pleasing trifecta: approachable, unfussy and quality-centered.

It’s a third-wave micro roastery and coffee shop, leaning more toward roastery—as indicated by the limited seating and little-to-no food on the menu. The space is home base for wholesale distribution in New Castle County, say owners Joe Lins and Olivia Brinton. Today, each is clutching a mug of coffee or espresso cup and they intermittently step behind the bar to refuel while discussing their new enterprise.

They would eventually like to see every fine dining restaurant within a 20-mile radius serve Little Goat coffee, Brinton says. With national daily gourmet coffee consumption up 10-15 percent from last year for consumers between the ages of 18 and 60, that would seem to be an achievable goal.

“We are really focused on the quality of the cup of coffee,” says Brinton. “And we hope that each customer that comes here for a cup will think of us when they want to buy a bag of beans.”

And people are buying, whether it’s an $8 half-pound, $14 pound or $50 five-pound bag. So far, the roaster has gone through about seven 150-pound burlap bags a month. Consumption is split evenly between café sales and wholesale distribution, which, at this point, consists of Hockessin’s The Perfect Cup Café and The House of William & Merry.

The café space at Little Goat is small and open, cozy but contemporary while avoiding industrial-style tropes. Here, you can be a purist sans pretention while still tossing around phrases like “tasting notes” without garnering eye-rolls.

“I think our goal is to make really good coffee accessible to anyone, rather than it being an unapproachable topic; you’re scared to ask questions at some places,” says Brinton.

Co-owner Olivia Brinton (right) with the Lins family: co-owner Joe, his wife Elizabeth and their children, Lola, Finnegan and Henry. Photo by Krista Connor

They diversify their selection—sourcing from different places at a time is more sustainable than having one go-to—though Brinton says they’ll typically have Sumatran and Central or South American beans year-round with a wild card like an Ethiopian bean—which is something of a special coffee anyway. A popular Ethiopian legend tells how coffee was discovered by an 11th century goat herder named Kaldi, who found his goats full of unusual energy after eating the red fruit of the coffee shrub. Kaldi tried the fruit and had a similar reaction. Hence the name Little Goat Coffee Roasting Co.

The collaboration between Lins and Brinton, who are old family friends, began to brew about five years ago. Lins, a stone mason looking to transition into something that his wife Elizabeth could be a part of, was developing an interest in home roasting. Meanwhile, Brinton, recently returned from working at a coffee roastery in Asheville, N.C., during college, had the necessary background.

They began selling wholesale coffee at farmers markets over the past year, a build-up to opening the current shop, which is in the building where the Switch skateboarding store was before it moved to Main Street. (“We kept the skateboard door handles as a tribute to them,” says Brinton). The location is prime because of the foot traffic between Main Street and Delaware Avenue.

Lins and Brinton are involved in the entire process their coffee undergoes, from its plant origin to its aromatic dive into a paper bag (featuring a hand-stamped logo), which is then displayed along a chalkboard wall advertising the roasts of that day or week. The star of the show—the roaster —sits in unassuming glory through a side door, like a heroine not yet aware that she’ll save the day. It’s surrounded by bags of green—raw, unroasted—beans awaiting their metamorphosis.

Today, Lins plans on roasting Colombian beans. The process is surprisingly simple. He stands on tip-toes and hoists a bin of green coffee beans through the drum at the top of the roaster, and pours. This Colombian coffee has tasting notes of brown sugar, sweet orange and sugar cane, according to Brinton. “And if we can get some of those tasting notes to come through after roasting, then it’s a job well done.” As with good wine, the tasting notes come from the source itself with no added flavors. This is due to terroir, cultivation, harvesting, etc. One bin even smells like blueberries.

The coffee bean roasting process takes only about 15 minutes. Photo by Krista Connor

Meanwhile, visible through a tiny porthole on the roaster, the Colombian beans are roiling like clothes in a dryer, turning brown. When they are sufficiently roasted after about 15 minutes, Lins presses a lever and a silver metal mouth spews the beans into the cooling bin.

Lins and Brinton move immediately toward the bin and their expert eyes look for “bad beans,” which means anything under-ripe or otherwise unsatisfactory. They toss out only one or two.

“We’re really proud of these beans,” says Lins. “The farmer goes through such effort, and it shows.”

Each of Little Goat’s coffees is traced back to its farm of origin. For Brinton and Lins’ own records, a laminated printout of, say, a Peruvian bean shows a photo of the farmer, exact geographical location of the cooperative and a detailed description of the region. Little Goat doesn’t actually source directly from growers because, as Brinton puts it, the small quantities wouldn’t be worth it for the farmer. Instead, a New York-based specialty green bean importer, Royal Coffee, does the sourcing and works closely with the growers.

Royal Coffee—and beans certified by sustainability auditor Rain Forest Alliance—align with Little Goat’s ethics, which is a word that comes up frequently in conversation here.

“We can’t grow coffee in the continental United States, so the best we can do is source it, as the second-most traded commodity in the world, as ethically responsibly as we can,” says Brinton.

Coffee beans before the roasting process. Photo by Krista Connor

Royal Coffee monitors labor and payment and always purchases the next year’s harvest a year in advance, so that farmers are guaranteed business. Royal also encourages community growth. For example, if a town builds a school, Royal may pay an extra $2 a pound for coffee. Likewise, Royal holds communities accountable to their projects and product.

Brinton says she and Lins apply that same sourcing ethic to all aspects of the business, down to the café sweetener and creamer for those who opt to use it. Organic dairy is sourced from Natural by Nature in Newark, and honey comes from a local beekeeper; all the perfected details come together in tribute to the one thing that matters most: That pure, unblemished green bean.

“We do spend a little more on the quality of our green beans than most places,” says Brinton. “If anything, we feel pressure to roast these beans the best way possible because they are super special.”

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The Four-Legged Star of The Wizard of Oz

The tour stops in Wilmington through Nov. 19, and its leading pup is causing quite the buzz

Toto isn’t in Kansas anymore. In fact, he’s here in Wilmington through Sunday, Nov. 19, on The Wizard of Oz tour, making the Playhouse on Rodney Square one of its nearly 100 stops.

“Toto” – aka Murphy, a 4-and-a-half-year-old white Brussels Griffon/Cairn Terrier mix – falls seamlessly into character, says Murphy’s owner and the show’s musical director, Lizzie Webb. An impressive feat, especially since he has no special training.

His illustrious career began on Feb. 5, 2016, when Webb adopted him from the ASPCA in Chandler, Ariz. He was immediately welcomed by the theater world, where Webb has served as adjunct professor of Musical Theater at the University of Montana, as well as directing and writing shows for Zootown Cabaret, and music-directing mainstage shows like this one. Back then, Murphy started out as a trusty backstage companion to cast and crew and a pit orchestra puppy, sleeping at Webb’s feet while she played piano and conducted shows.

“He was very calm, and handled everything really well,” says Webb. “During the very next show that called for a dog, I asked the director if he wanted to use Murphy.”

He got the role. He’d be Willoughby in Mary Poppins, and later went on to play Toto on a tour prior to this one.

Now, Murphy’s a veteran performer. But during that first Wizard of Oz show, when the audience clapped wildly for him upon his entrance on stage side-by-side with the leading lady, he succumbed to the glory of his newfound fame. He ran off the stage and straight into the crowd to greet his adoring fans – with “Dorothy,” red heels flying, in pursuit down the aisles.

Perhaps wiser now that he’s nearing 5 – or maybe he’s been seasoned by tour life – he’s unperturbed by distractions. “He’s extremely calm and laidback,” says Webb. “Every once in a while he’ll look and see me in the front, but then he gets his focus back.”

His main role during performances consists of being held by the actress playing Dorothy, which he loves, says Webb, so it’s a win-win. During this tour, Webb’s favorite moment of him is during the opening scene; when Dorothy performs “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” he attentively watches her sing.

“He’s so sweet and it really adds to the song and it makes it that much more special,” says Webb.

Off-stage, the pup is just as beloved. On the road he has full run of the tour bus, says Webb, and he divides his time wandering from lap to lap, cuddling with any of the 40 cast and crew members.

Murphy’s life is more glamorous than most humans could hope for. “He has his own all-access pass on his leash so that he can get into the theaters,” says Webb. “One of our hotels set up a [dog] bed and silver dishes for him. Today, we got to tour Independence Hall and he got to see some history in Philadelphia.”

Truly, can you think of a better rags-to-riches tale? He even has his own hashtag, #montanamurphy.

Travel down the Yellow Brick Road and beyond with Dorothy, Toto and their friends the Cowardly Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow in this production, featuring special effects, choreography and classic songs. This spectacular celebration of the iconic 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz will blow you away from the moment the tornado touches down and transports you to Oz, complete with munchkins and flying monkeys. Tickets range from $40-$75. Performance times are: 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16; 8 p.m. Nov. 17; 2 and 8 p.m. Nov. 18; 2 p.m. Nov. 19.

Get tickets here. 

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Talking Turkey!

Area chefs and food aficionados share their secrets for preparing the perfect Thanksgiving meal

Generally, what words of wisdom do you have regarding Thanksgiving meal preparation for family/friends?

I would say the most important thing, if you are tasked with the preparation of Thanksgiving, is to not overextend yourself. Make them bring some sides – you just concentrate on the bird and one or two sides that you know you can handle and knock it out of the park. It is hard to please everyone at a table even if it’s friends and family, so delegate and don’t say no when they offer to bring something. That way, if they don’t like anything, it’s just as much their fault as yours.

—Daniel B. Sheridan, Chef/Owner, Wilmington Pickling Co., Locale BBQ Post, Stitch House Brewery

The most important thing is not to stress yourself out! Plan, plan, plan. Make as much ahead as possible. Breads and baked goods freeze well, so make them a couple of weeks ahead and then reheat them on Thanksgiving. Be sure to put some water in an ovenproof container in your oven so that there is some moisture when you are reheating. Think about prepping your veggies and starches a day or two ahead. Make an oven plan: count back from when you plan to sit down to eat and have a checklist of when items should go into the oven. This helps prevent the inevitable “There’s no more room in the oven!” headache.

—Paula S. Janssen, Owner, Janssen’s Market

The holidays are about spending time with family and friends. Don’t let the food take you away from spending time with them. When time and schedules permit, make preparing and cooking the meal a tradition. If that is not feasible, then try to buy the more time-consuming foods. It may cost a little bit more, but it will give you the opportunities to be with your loved ones.

—Kevin Varrasse II, Owner, Bachetti Bros. Meats, Market and Catering

Specifically, any thoughts about how to prepare a turkey? What herbs and spices have we been missing out on all our lives? What about alternative suggestions for vegetarians or vegans?

Ingredients should be as fresh as possible from any reputable grocer. I usually grab everything I need a day or two before. You don’t need too many off-the-cusp seasonings or ingredients, just a nice turkey and the vegetables you need for the sides. Herbs like thyme and rosemary go a long way and help the house smell great all day. Since I’ve opened Locale BBQ Post I’ve been smoking the turkey the last couple of years for my family and some regulars and it comes out amazing. I brine the turkey, then make sure some butter is stuffed in between the skin and the breasts, then season very heavily with salt, pepper and some of our dry rub. I usually cut the legs off the body so I can control the cook time on them separately. A brine on the turkey is definitely suggested. Don’t forget to make sure you have a drip pan to save all that great flavor for some gravy.

—Daniel B. Sheridan

Honestly, turkey is one of the easier meats to cook—don’t overthink it. Start with a good, natural bird. We sell T.A. Farms fresh, all natural turkeys from Wyoming, Del., which are delicious. I rub mine with a dry rub: Chairman of the Bird by Madison Avenue Seasonings, and leave it to rest on the counter for about an hour before cooking so that it cooks evenly. Once I put the bird in the oven with a little white wine in the bottom of the pan, I don’t open the oven door. No basting, no nothing—just even heat. Check after several hours with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh—you want it to reach 165 degrees. Also, let the bird rest for 15-20 minutes before carving so that each slice is tender and juicy!

Some things to think about if you are having vegetarians or vegans at your Thanksgiving table: There are options like Tofurkey, but honestly, I think you are better off just eating sides. Personally, I just take one token piece of turkey—for me it is all about the sides! Instead of mixing bacon into your green beans or Brussels sprouts, have them on the side to sprinkle on top. Use olive oil instead of butter in your recipes. Skip the cheese in recipes—everything is heavy enough as it is! Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

—Paula S. Janssen

I believe that poultry seasoning is the key ingredient in cooking turkeys, although many people are experimenting with fresh sage placed under the skin on the breast.

—Kevin Varrasse II

Fantastic! Anything else we should know before rolling up our sleeves?
If the thought of cooking for everyone stresses you out, let people bring side dishes and dessert. Or pick up some items at your favorite local market—put it in your own dish and no one will ever know!

—Paula S. Janssen

When mom says get out of the kitchen, just listen to her.

—Kevin Varrasse II

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Teens Take the Title

Major changes, close-knit friendships and an energetic sound contribute to newest Musikarmageddon victors Rusty Blue

When Rusty Blue was announced as the victorious band at the Musikarmageddon competition on Oct. 14 at the baby grand, members of the group began laughing uncontrollably.

Says bassist Joey Heins: “It was just pure joy. I was trying to stop myself from laughing but I just couldn’t.”

The four-man band received an average score of 93 out of 100 from judges and got nearly half of the audience votes. The remaining three bands—Cologne, TreeWalker and Carrier—were much closer in their scores, with Cologne taking the runner-up spots thanks to a solid fan base. There were approximately 160 people in attendance, one of the largest Musikarmageddon finale crowds.

Judges’ comments about Rusty Blue brimmed with praise: “Solid. Full of energy. An eclectic mix. You’re on the fast track to amazing things,” from Jim Pennington, guitarist of local band The Collingwood; “Who needs an intro with a start like that? Killer. Catchy, interesting, nostalgic,” from Zach Crouch, lead guitarist of last year’s winners Susquehanna Floods; “Great interaction, amazing energy, fun to watch. I’m an instant fan. Classic but innovative,” from area music mainstay Angela Sheik.

The Wilmington alternative rock band has come a long way since forming in 2014 as Over Ripe Banana. Most members hadn’t even reached high school then.

Between then and now, the original line up has shifted—members left, others switched instruments—and the group now consists of Greg Stanard on rhythm guitar and vocals, Joey Heins on bass, Clayton Milano on lead guitar and Damien Pace on drums. The band name first appeared as the title of a song, which, Heins says in retrospect, was “a pretty bad piece of music, but we needed to get rid of Over Ripe Banana if we had any chance of getting a real show.”

At the time, the group did covers, something remembered by Gayle Dillman of Gable Music Ventures, the local event company that promotes original music and runs events like downtown’s Ladybug Music Festival.

“Every month for six months Joey emailed me,” Dillman says. He also sent videos of the band playing—and growth and improvement were immediately palpable. When Rusty Blue shifted to playing original music, Dillman got them a handful of Gable gigs.

“Each time they got better,” she says. “What Joey demonstrated is something many bands have trouble with: patience, perseverance and persistence. Did I mention that Joey was 14 when he started emailing? Who does that? Usually it’s a parent, not a young teen. We knew there was something there.”

All four members of the band are students at Mount Pleasant High School. Photo Ryan Gorman

Songwriting became Stanard’s job, though over time that role has become more collaborative. Someone will write a chorus or verse, someone else will come in with a riff, and everyone discusses the song’s outcome from there.

The band has released one album, Life’s Good. The Musikarmageddon prize package includes a recording session with TribeSound Records (along with 20 custom band t-shirts from Spaceboy Clothing, a photoshoot with Moonloop Photography, and more) so Heins says they’ll definitely be utilizing that studio time to work on their second album in the near future.

Most of Rusty Blue’s songs are rooted in experience, whether about day-to-day life like bike riding adventures or the more abstract, like dreams. But one thing all the songs have in common is that they’re deeply personal.

“I think that’s what makes them so special,” Heins says.

Band members’ chemistry doesn’t stop with collaborative songwriting.

“Our music is complex and we really try our best to play together,” says Heins. “We never let a musical moment go unrecognized if we can help it and I think we all know where everyone’s moments are. We complement each other.”

In the meantime, finding a band-life balance is no easy task. All members, between the ages of 16 and 17, are juniors or seniors at Mount Pleasant High School in Wilmington. They also have jobs, so finding time to practice can be challenging, but it’s a priority—as is building friendships.

“All of us hang out all of the time,” says Heins. “We love to listen to music, ride bikes, take walks, explore interesting places, pretty much anything.”

While graduation is around the corner, Heins says the band is excited for their future of playing together. “This is my first chance to pursue music in a big way and I love that I’m getting this chance with my best friends,” he says. “Our shared musical and personal chemistry is what makes continuing as a band worthwhile to me.”

Heins says Rusty Blue wants to go on tour soon, which he says seems more feasible now than it did even a month ago. With the adrenaline of the Musikarmageddon win, plus the fact that the band has been expanding its show base beyond Wilmington and Philadelphia, things are looking up.

“Rusty Blue’s evolution is everything that Gable wants as a business,” says Dillman. “We started Gable to provide a platform for all ages. The young men have matured, sharpened their skills and have written some amazing original music. And they are all 16 or 17—kind of reminds me of The Districts.”

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Get in Line for CP Furniture

Executive Director Andrew McKnight says the furniture is all handmade and of the best quality. Photo courtesy of CP Furniture

Offshoot of nonprofit Challenge Program offers standardized but distinctive pieces, appealing to more residential and commercial clients

Trainees of the Challenge Program—a Wilmington-based nonprofit that provides construction and life-skills training for Delaware’s at-risk youth—are known for creating custom pieces for area establishments. Think honeygrow, the bar tops at all Grain Craft Bar + Kitchen locations, other local restaurants and some Philadelphia companies.

Now, helmed by founder and Executive Director Andrew McKnight, the organization is entering a new phase with an offshoot program called CP Furniture. Distinctive, handcrafted pieces are being standardized and incorporated into this new furniture line, opening the door for residential and commercial clients—and more clients in general—verses the custom piece approach.

“We decided that with a line of furniture, focusing more on manufacturing and less on custom work, we could better utilize our workforce and increase margins and profits,” says McKnight, who explains that all profits will go directly back into the Challenge Program.

By standardizing design, CP Furniture can bring in graduates of the six-month Challenge Program and offer them fulltime positions with benefits. McKnight describes a CP Furniture position as a transition job from the Challenge Program into entry level outside employment.

McKnight says the CP Furniture pieces are premium quality, so customers can expect a higher price point (Prices were not available at O&A press time). Depending on the piece, the furniture is made with custom fabric, hand-tied springs—all handmade and of the best quality, he says.

Right now, he’s focusing on the Mid-Atlantic region, but in the future, national orders aren’t out of the question. Visit cpfurniture.org to see options like sit-stand desks for the office or at home, tables, seating—like the contemporary Lillian Chair available in walnut, cherry, oak, birch and maple—entertainment consoles, side tables and more.

“I hope we do better than break-even,” says McKnight. “I hope we become a thing. We’re manufacturing furniture, employing significantly more grads. We want to create a buzz around it and market it and make money to put back into program.”