Chef Kristen Caroselli of The Poppy and Parliament

Written by Jordan Murphy of CHUM

Chef Kristen Caroselli and I first met and worked together during COVID, also known as what was basically an apocalyptic time for the hospitality industry. Originally from Bloomingburg, New York, she had just moved to Huntsville from Tuscaloosa to run the new kitchen at The Poppy and Parliament, and I was bursting at the seams to help support anyone wanting to have a serious wine program. In January 2023, just a few days before I moved to Nashville, I sat down with her at the butcher shop above The Poppy and Parliament, where we said our goodbyes and I told her about my future plans and CHUM. We let down our professional wall for the first time and talked like friends. Within minutes of us just shooting the shit, I asked her if she would be interested in being interviewed for CHUM and she said yes, so here we are. So much has happened since then, including her becoming the first winner of Rocket Chef (Huntsville’s culinary competition) since before COVID. The winner just before COVID, Chef Angela Ozbolt of Good Company Cafe, was the first female winner back in 2019. They are both graduates of Johnson & Wales University, home to one of the best culinary programs in the country.

I was stoked to learn that Chef Kristen is into zines and was even more excited for the opportunity to interview her for mine. She told me about one of her friends from college, Pete, who has a photography zine, and how he always sends them to her. “Now I have a collection,” she said. “When I found out you were the one who did CHUM, I was so excited.” I woke up an hour before I normally do to interview her over the phone, catching her on her drive to the airport to attend a wedding in New Jersey. We enjoyed the following conversation and I’m stoked to share it with you.

Jordan Murphy: In lieu of us having coffee together, tell me how you would take your coffee if we were.

Chef Kristen Caroselli: It depends on my mood. Sometimes I want hot, sometimes I want cold. If cold, I like an iced latte with vanilla, usually regular milk, but sometimes oat. I like Gold Sprint Coffee. If hot, cappuccino, lightly sweetened. I don't actually like coffee that much; I like espresso.

JM: How has Huntsville changed since you’ve been there? 

CKC: Oh gosh, it’s grown an enormous amount. The restaurants and food and beverage spots have almost doubled in just three years. New things are opening all the time. It’s a move towards educating and influencing the culture here in a positive way, and it’s very exciting. 

JM: What was it like competing in Rocket Chef? 

CKC: Oh my god it was so much fun. I wasn't nervous until the day of, but then my boyfriend and our families came into town, my sister flew down, and my friends were hyping me up. I got to the pub and I thought I was going to pass out. I sat down and had some water and then blasted music in the car with my sister. After that, I wasn’t nervous anymore. There was such an enormous support group. I didn’t realize how much I was actually supported until then. It was such a good feeling being able to raise so much money, too. We raised like $29,000 for such a cool cause, doing positive things for kids who don’t get the chance (Food Bank of North Alabama and the Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center). I love being involved. The networking and feedback since then has been so awesome. 10/10 would recommend going and competing. There used to be this component that I didn’t like, where basically whatever chef raised the most money got bonus points towards their competition points, like it was a popularity contest. I didn’t want any bullshit like that. I wanted it to be fair. I wanted the guys to get beat by a girl fair and square. If not, then I wasn’t going to do it. They took that component away, so I was in. 

JM: Describe yourself culinarily in your own words. 

CKC: I’m definitely very structured. Probably undiagnosed OCD. Very clean. Super passionate. I want to pass on my knowledge, and I want the guests to understand the love that goes into food. I’m a little bit of a control freak. Female, Italian, New Yorker, chef, I mean…come on. That all plays into what I'm doing. Extreme passion plus extreme attention to detail. Without that, I wouldn't be good at what I do.

JM: Fucking right. Is it safe to assume you like cheese? 

CKC: Oh I love cheese. There's not really any cheese I don't like. I like the funk on crazy blue cheese. Trader Joe’s has a little triangle of mushroom brie that’s like $7. I can't go in there without buying it. 

JM: How about any favorite herbs? 

CKC: I love all fresh herbs. Not huge on dried herbs. Tarragon is something I've really gotten to use more especially with English, Irish, and European cuisine. It’s like sweet licorice, but savory at the same time. Also I love Maldon salt. Not an herb, but it’s so good. 

JM: If you had to pick three meals to eat forever on a desert island, what would they be?

CKC: Potstickers. I would eat those every single day of my life. Next, spaghetti and meat sauce, easy. Last, probably something Greek like gyros or anything with loads of tzatziki sauce. Does it have to be a full meal? I honestly could just eat tzatziki sauce. 

JM: What is your absolute favorite knife? 

CKC: I have two. So my fancy knife would be a Shun vegetable knife. That's a Japanese brand and it's expensive. My easy to get, like buy it off Amazon knife, is Victorinox. It's like a swiss army knife in that I use it for everything. It’s serrated, like a little bread knife.

I never, ever used to use it, but when I met Chef Barry, he used a serrated knife to cut everything. I was like, are you really using a serrated knife to cut meat? Really? Now I can't get away from it. 

JM: What was one of the worst food experiences you’ve ever had?

CKC: The most memorable disaster dining experience was in Koh Samui in Thailand. A group of five friends and I had booked a super fancy prix fixe dinner on the actual beach, and with high hopes we all ended up wildly disappointed. We paid $130 per person and the menus we chose seemed really good but they just completely ruined it. We were served lobster spring rolls…but they forgot the lobster. So it was literally just rice paper with unseasoned raw salad vegetables. The duck breast we were served was cold, improperly cooked, and so chewy. But honestly I was with a group of very close friends dining on a beautiful beach right next to the water in Thailand so how bad can it really be? I’ve had many bad food experiences but I usually try my best to find positives or appreciate food even if it isn’t the best.

JM: Where are a few of your favorite places to go in Nashville? 

CKC: Ooooh. Folk. I absolutely love Folk. My favorite bar would be The Fox. I recently went to a tapas place called Barcelona and it was unbelievable. Love that place. I love Nashville, love live music, I love bouncing around, but every time I go, I go to Folk. I've never had anything bad there or a bad experience.

JM: Speaking of Music City, do you find that there’s a connection between music and food? 

CKC: Absolutely. I think that in multiple ways. From my perspective, food is my entire world. From a musician’s perspective, music is their entire world. That’s the way we both express art. They go hand-in-hand. Plus you can't go into a bar and it be dead quiet. You need the right music there for the ambiance. Food and music are absolutely symbiotic.

JM: Who are some of your favorite bands or musicians?

CKC: I’m obsessed with Ed Sheeran. Most talented individual human in the world. But my music taste is all over the place; I’ll go from super old school country like Johnny Cash, bounce over to Disney, and listen to Eminem five minutes later. But the bottom line is Ed Sheeran. He goes on stage with a loop pedal by himself. Go see him even if you don't like his music…it’s life-changing to see someone so talented.

JM: We can’t wrap this up without talking about wine. How would you describe the role it plays in your life?’

CKC: I used to be into super sweet wine when I was getting started as a kid in college. Like Franzia blush. Then I grew up and got my actual ID and now I'm into bolder flavors. I've learned a lot from you and through relationships with my wine vendors. Recently, Josh Nunn introduced me to pet-nat. I could crush an entire bottle. I love the funk! I love wines that have crazy fun  notes like “barnyard”. I don’t think there's anything I don't like or at least appreciate in the wine world. Across the board, there's a beautiful pairing for everything. As long as they’re balanced, I can occasionally even drink sweet wines. My favorite category though is Italian reds. I've learned so much that I've been able to branch out and appreciate everything I try, one way or another.

Honestly Eating with Sous Chef Ben Brennan

Get to know a Sous Chef in town named Ben Brennan, an artist in the kitchen and an asset to the Huntsville culinary scene.

This interview was initially published in CHUM Vol. 8, interviewed by Jordan Murphy but DIBS also reached out to Chef Brennan to ask a few more questions.

CHUM: Ben, who the hell are you?

Ben Brennan: I’m figuring out who I am every day. I am from just south of Denver, and I’ve basically lived in every time zone.

(Heaven Beside You is playing, and we taking shots of … I’m going to guess Jim Beam and Tequila because I do not remember)


DIBS: Why did you decide to become a chef, and who inspired you too?

So my dad cooked dinner almost every night. We didn’t eat out a ton cause there were five of us kids. One of my sisters is a winemaker, another is a chef, and I started working with her when I was 16. Fell in love with the camaraderie in the kitchen, and then the science of food is what really piqued my interest.

There are tons of inspirational chefs. But I’ve also been very fortunate to have worked with and for some really amazing people. I really just fell into it, and I feel very fortunate for the opportunities I’ve had and worked hard for. I’ve seen a lot of friends struggle to find things they’re passionate about and was very lucky cooking kind of found me, I guess. It sounds super cliche, I know.

CHUM: What makes a chef a chef?

BB: Honestly, you’re only as good as your last plate. I guess that’s what’s beautiful about food. Someone can be having the worst day of their life, and food can turn that all around. We’re here to nurture people. I never thought about it like that until I read the article by Thomas Keller (French laundry) about “Why Cooks Cook” (Nations Restuarant News, 2019). He touches on a similar sentiment that I love that Alice Waters spoke on: “it’s around the table and in preparation of food that we learn about ourselves and about the world.”

CHUM: I love that. What do you like to eat?

BB: It depends on my mood. I love simple diner food, but I like the elegance of nice roast chicken. Judy Rodgers, this badass chef in California, makes roast chicken, and I always use her recipe. Normally, though, chicken grosses me out. Like, have you ever seen a chicken coop? (reference this Larry David video start watching from 1:45) They’re one of the most mistreated animals we eat. The term to put your neck out on the line comes from killing chickens. So I’m picky about where my chicken comes from.

CHUM: What do you like to cook?

BB: Almost nothing. It’s widely known that chefs eat like children. I fucking love Marie Callender’s chicken pot pie. Also, I love champagne and potato chips. Sue me. I also honestly eat a stupid amount of red meat. If I don’t, I get shaky. My dad used to cook every night, like Zatarain’s couscous and pork chops - That’s comfort food for me.

CHUM: What makes cooking thoughtful to you?

BB: One thing you should know is I really hold Alice Waters close to my heart. She is affectionately known as the godmother of farm-to-table. She focuses on simple, quality ingredients cooked in a proper way, so I’ll start there. It’s about how the animal is treated and where the food is grown. It’s in the right soil and understanding salt. Did you know salt has a similar etymology as the word “salary”? Salt is the only rock we can’t live without. You can eat as much as you want as long as you drink enough water.

DIBS: What is the most challenging part of your job

BB: Definetly managing staff. Every employee comes from their own strengths and weaknesses as well as their own sets of problems

DIBS: What is the most rewarding part about your job?

When you give somebody a dish, it brings back a memory or an emotion. That’s my favorite. I made a simple eggs Benedict to share with one of my bartenders the other day and it literally made her tear up a little cause it reminded her of her dad’s. It made my week! The only time I want to bring somebody to tears (lol).

CHUM: Anything else we should keep in mind?

BB: In general, GMO has so many definitions. It depends on the farming practice. Do your homework and eat according to the harvest seasons and sharing food is super intimate. I think that’s why it’s generally a first-date thing.

You can enjoy Ben Brennan’s cooking at CO/OP Community Table, a Huntsville farm-to-table concept located in the Embassy Suites Hotel Downtown Huntsville, AL

Rivers Langley - Alabama funny in LA

Comedian, actor, podcaster, professional wrestling commentator, AND tour guide Rivers Langley is from the great state of Alabama and is now living in the endlessly fascinating city of LA.

Langley took some whispered advice of a dying prospector promising that there was “gold in them thar hills" in California. So in 2012, he saddled up, rode out west to pursue a career in comedy and represent the great state of Alabama.

He hosts “The Goods from the Woods”, one of the longest-running independent comedy podcast in Los Angeles. He was the host of "Unnecessary Evil" at Westside Comedy Theater which was recently named by LA Weekly as one of the Top 10 stand-up shows in Los Angeles. Rivers has also appeared on the Cooking Channel's "Food: Fact or Fiction?", Comedy Central's "How To Be Broke", and Funny or Die's "Test Tube" as a member of the sketch group Hush Money.

He also had a mining company but folded in early 2013.

Introduce yourself.

I’m Rivers Langley. I’m a stand-up comedian, podcaster, professional wrestling commentator, and tour guide based out of Los Angeles, California. I was born and raised in Auburn, Alabama; a true townie. My folks are both retired school teachers. I went to Auburn High School and Auburn University where I studied English Literature and History. While at Auburn, I worked at the campus radio station, WEGL 91.1 FM, all four years I was there. By the time I graduated in the Fall of 2009, I was doing 10-12 hours of airtime per week up at WEGL. I was hosting the daily news show where we’d do comedy bits and cut it up with callers on the air. In addition to the news show and two long music shows on Sunday, I would also just hang out at the radio station during the day and if someone didn’t show up for their show, I’d jump on and fill time between classes. It was, by far, the best thing I did in college. That’s how I learned broadcasting and audio editing. I now host “The Goods from the Woods”, one of the longest-running independent comedy podcast in Los Angeles.

Why did you decide to move out to LA?

Like a lot of people, when I got done with college in 2009, there was the huge question of “Now what?” just kinda hanging over my head. I spent almost a full year in suspended animation at Auburn. I was a substitute teacher, I delivered pizzas, and I made a couple of short films with my friends. All of that was fine and good, and I think a lot of people can probably relate to this, when you find your thing it feels like you’ve got the holy spirit or something. I started doing stand-up in Auburn at the tail-end of 2010 and immediately fell in love with it. The problem was that there wasn’t a whole lot of stage time locally so I’d drive up to the open mics in Birmingham and Atlanta. At some point in mid-2011, I made the decision to try and pursue stand-up full-time and set my sights on the West Coast for the simple reason that it’s warm and there are a lot of opportunities. I worked as a delivery driver at Steak-Out in Auburn and saved up my tips for a year and a half. On July 16, 2012, I put my whole life in a Nissan hatchback and left Auburn. I had a brief stop-over in the San Francisco Bay Area (Had one REALLY crazy night where I had to follow Robin Williams at an open mic at a bar called “Dirty Trix Saloon”!) before moving to L.A. on Labor Day 2012.

Now it’s 9 years later and I’m still having a great time out here. I’m doing stand-up as much as I can, I host a podcast that a lot of folks seem to like, I do ringside commentary for a local professional wrestling promotion, and I’m a private tour guide. The tour guide gig is the best day job I’ve ever had. I get to go on vacation with people for a living! I drive folks around L.A. to all the touristy hot spots, take family pictures, talk about the history of my favorite city in the country, and crack jokes all day long. I honestly couldn’t ask for more!

*This is where I meet Rivers on a tour bus. Photos below.

How has growing up in Alabama influence your comedy? What are some things you learned growing up in AL that has helped you navigate through LA?

Alabama was an excellent place to start doing stand-up for the simple fact that the scene is almost all DIY (do it yourself). There are two clubs in the whole state and, obviously, they aren’t going to have stage time for all the locals so, if you want stage time, you have to learn how to produce shows yourself. With that comes to hazards of doing comedy in non-traditional spaces (bars, coffee shops, restaurants) that weren’t necessarily designed for that but it teaches you how to adjust on the fly and make stuff work. Some of my fondest memories of comedy are doing a bar show in Alabama that shouldn’t have worked but it did somehow.

What is your style of comedy?

This is always the hardest question to answer because it can be a bit limiting. I am absolutely not above doing a one-liner or a physical act-out. There’s not a whole lot I’m gonna steer away from on stage if I think it’ll get a laugh at the moment. That said, I suppose it’s best described as a storytelling style. I’ll have something happen to me that strikes me funny and then it’s my job to build a joke around it. Sometimes I’ll have stories that I wanna tell but I just haven’t found the angle on it so it just sort of sits in my brain as a funny thought or anecdote but not a joke. Then, one day, I find the joke, and then it’s ready to go but that process can sometimes take a while. I have things in my brain from 2017 or whatever that I still haven’t found the right angle on! 

What comedians inspire you?

George Carlin: It’s an obvious one but Class Clown was the first stand-up record I ever heard and, despite being recorded in 1972 almost all of it still holds up really well. My dad is from New York City and is an ex-Catholic school kid so George Carlin is the patron saint of the house that I grew up in.

Debra DiGiovanni: Debra is from Canada originally but is now local to Los Angeles and THANK GOD because that means I get to do shows with her sometimes and see her perform all the time! On stage, Debra is a legitimate force of nature. Her energy level is incredible and her jokes are amazing. She will hit you with one big joke and, while everyone is still laughing at that, she’ll hit you with three quick ones so you’re not even able to breathe while she’s on stage. Debra DiGiovanni is a joke machine gun and she must be seen to be believed. I don’t know if I can say that she “inspires” me because I just sit there watching her and think “Welp, I can’t do what she’s doing. She’s on fire; a whole ‘nother level” but she makes me want to work harder at what I’m doing.

Roy Wood Jr.: Roy’s from Birmingham and is probably Alabama’s most successful comedian and for good reason. I first met Roy in Los Angeles around 2014 when he was nice enough to perform on my show at Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica. Roy is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth dudes you’d ever want to meet. Now, I say this next thing not just because I know the guy but because it’s absolutely true: Roy Wood Jr. is legitimately one of the greatest stand-up comedians working today. If you see him doing small, 15-minute sets around L.A. he’s obviously a crusher but the real magic is watching Roy do long-form stuff. I got to see him do an hour at Auburn University in 2019 and it was one of the most incredible stand-up performances I’ve ever seen. I love the way he plays with silences and uses the audience’s discomfort with some of the things he’s saying to achieve a bigger laugh at the end when he hits the punchline like a pressure valve and releases the tension; a comedy Jedi master. I could get really metaphysical about it but I’d just encourage folks to watch or listen to his new special Imperfect Messenger and y’all will see what I mean.

Do you ever come back to Alabama?
I’m usually home at least twice a year (Three times if someone getting married or something) to see my folks and all my friends who still live in Auburn. I’m always home at Christmastime and then again in the Spring. I’ve been the emcee of the Old 280 Boogie Music Festival in Waverly, AL since my college radio days so I’m always home in late April for that event. While I’m home, I like to book as many stand-up gigs as I can. 

I am gonna be back in Huntsville on May 6th at “Awesome Comedy Hour” at Liquor Express and Craft Beers. Like I said, just follow me on Twitter and listen to “The Goods from the Woods” podcast. I’ll post and mention all my dates there.

Talk about the comedy scene in LA and the comedy scene in AL
I cannot stress how unbelievably huge L.A.’s comedy scene is. There are obviously the famous Hollywood clubs (The Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Improv) but there are also small independent comedy theaters as well as one-nighter comedy shows in every bar, coffee shop, restaurant, art gallery, bookstore, and anywhere else in town that you can fit a mic stand, a light, and a couple of chairs. Kick a loose brick in Los Angeles and a comedy show falls out. That can prove to be overwhelming for a lot of people and they just kinda stick to the neighborhoods and places they know. Personally, I like to switch it up and go everywhere. I do shows in venues all around L.A. and Los Angeles County. Honestly, the weirder and more non-traditional the venue, the better. I’m opening for a REALLY incredible comedian named Katrina Davis who’s doing a one-woman show at a gallery space on April 2nd. Just check my social media (Twitter and Instagram) @RiversLangley to see where I’m gonna be. I also do ringside commentary for a pro wrestling promotion called “Wrestling Pro Wrestling”. It’s an absolutely insane comedy show that features crazy characters and some really top-notch professional wrestling. That show is once a month. They’re on Twitter @WrestlingPW. Check that out to see when those shows are gonna be.

As for the Alabama comedy scene, understand that I’ve been out of the loop for 9 years so I’m not really qualified to speak on it aside from what I’ve observed when I’m home. That said, it’s been incredible to watch the rise of Huntsville as one of America’s best comedy cities. That can be credited to folks like Scott Eason who has run Epic Comedy Hour at Lowe Mill with my ol’ college radio pal Tim Kelly for over a decade now! Ask any comedian who’s done the show what they think and you’re going to get a glowing review. I always say “If you can’t kill it at Epic Comedy Hour, you should quit.” I just got a chance to do Stand-Up Live in Huntsville for the first time back in December and it was a great venue too! Birmingham is the place I claim as my original scene and there’s a lot of cool stuff happening there. One of my best friends in the world is Wes Van Horn. Wes is one of the funniest people I’ve ever been around and he’s been running some great shows out of Avondale Brewing Company. There’s also Alice Whatley and Lauren Lamphere who run a comedy collective in Birmingham called “Laugh Garden”. They do these really cool variety shows with music and comedians that everyone should go check out. So, even though I’m not super plugged into the scene in Alabama as I was before I left, from what I can tell it’s really vibrant and there are still young people doing it, so that’s kinda all you need.

Any tips for aspiring new stand-ups

If you’ve already started doing stand-up, keep going and say “Yes” to absolutely everything you’re comfortable with. The weirdest venues in towns you’ve never heard of can sometimes be the most fun. I did a comedy festival in the Yukon Territory up in Canada (basically the Arctic Circle) and those were some of the most fun shows I’ve ever done. Overall, the only piece of advice that I feel comfortable giving is this: Set your goals high and expectations low, and then just have fun. If you haven’t started doing stand-up yet but you’ve been thinking about it, do it. Do it now. Do not wait. I started doing stand-up when I was 24 years old. My only regret in life is that I didn’t start earlier.

Any topics that a stand-up comedian should avoid should be free to joke about anything?
You can joke about anything but make sure it’s funny. Part of that is making sure the audience finds you credible to speak on the subject. That’s why I always tell people to write about either what they know or what they’d actually like to know. Patton Oswalt once said that all jokes should be a discovery. Either it’s a set-up with a punchline the audience didn’t see coming or it’s the comedian approaching a subject from a place of ignorance and then figuring it out by the end. The joke isn’t done until you figure it out. I think that’s a great way to approach it. It’s like the thing I said about Roy earlier, use your words to build tension but make sure you’re building to SOMETHING. Don’t just say inflammatory stuff for the sake of doing it. In professional wrestling, that’s called “Cheap Heat”. Anyone can do it and if it’s done just for its own sake then why bother? 

_____

Interview by Cristina Byrne Sternberg

Trash Pandas Social Media Manager Lucas Dolengowski

Of course, there is a Minor League Baseball Team called the Trash Pandas! Yes, the slang word for a Raccoon, you know, the animal that forages through garbage! 🦝

Lucas Dolengowski runs their social media and is constantly figuring out ways to stand out from the other 119 Minor League Baseball Teams. He likes to create comical memes and incorporate some banter into the brand; he also says he is "fortunate to work with many talented people who provide plenty of ideas."

Check out this exclusive interview and learn more about what it takes to be a Social Media Manager to the Rocket City Trash Pandas. The name that is responsible for the highest merchandise sales in Minor League Baseball before the first game.

Love it or hate it the Raccoon, or should I say The Trash Panda lives in Rocket City, and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere.

The Rocket City Trash Pandas is the Double-A affiliate to the LA Angels located in Madison, AL; their home opener at Toyota Field is on Tuesday, April 12th, against Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

Introduce yourself!

Hi! I’m Lucas Dolengowski and I’m the social media manager for the Rocket City Trash Pandas! I grew up in Orlando in the heart of the theme parks, and I’m a graduate of the University of Florida. I’ve been working professionally in social media for 5+ years now, including college athletics, golf, and football.

Have you always wanted to be a social media manager or was it something that you fell into?

I originally wanted to do sports broadcasting, specifically baseball. I did a lot of that for most of my college experience, but in my last year at UF I had an opportunity to work as a social media intern for the athletic department. I’ve always loved social and used it a ton personally, and two months into that internship I decided to switch career paths. A bunch of my friends from our college sports broadcasting program did the same thing I did and got into social – so many of them are working for big teams too. Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Falcons, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Lightning, just to name a few.

What kind of pressures do you face when having to post for thousands of followers? 

I think the biggest challenge is constantly coming up with new content, or at least new ways to present recurring content. You have to keep things fresh online, or your fans will just tune out and engagement will go down. I’m competitive in that regard too – I want to be better and different than the other 119 Minor League teams. We’ve created such a fun and unique brand so far with the Trash Pandas, so my personal pressure is how we keep that going and stay in people’s minds.

Where do you find inspiration for content?

My media relations coordinator asks me this a lot, like “How do you even come up with this stuff?” Honestly, my brain just works in very weird and silly ways sometimes. I love memes and I love comedy so that factors into a lot of what I do. Minor League Baseball (and the internet as a whole) is a very copycat industry, so being able to take whatever trending content you see and spin it to your advantage is something I enjoy doing. I’m fortunate to work with a lot of talented people who provide plenty of ideas, too. It’s a very collaborative effort.

What are some challenges you face in managing social media? And how do you overcome them?

It’s an “always-on” sort of job. The ability to be connected to our professional social channels at all times is a blessing and a curse. Along with our broadcaster, our social media team covers EVERY Trash Pandas game during the season. It’s great that we get to watch baseball and post about it, but our “off days” are definitely much fewer than most other people in the front office. Taking breaks and disconnecting in the offseason is really important to reset your mind. The other challenge is digital envy – there are SO many talented sports creatives out there, many in organizations with a lot more resources to produce great content. I get jealous sometimes of their posts. It’s great for ideas, but you have to execute what you’re able to execute, control what you can control.

In your opinion, what do you think are your top 3 social media posts? And why?

This is our most viral TikTok, with over a million views. It became a bit last season for our athletic trainer, Yusuke Takahashi, to stare into the camera in pregame warmups. It’s just so simply hilarious, and simplicity usually wins on social. This is one of my personal favorites because it was a very “in the moment” type post that had nothing to do with us. Tennessee football fans were literally chucking trash onto the field because of a bad call from the referee, so I had to jump on it. Any trending topic or meme related to trash, garbage, or raccoons is fair game for us and usually performs really well. Finally, this walk-off homer from last season is maybe my favorite iPhone shot. I just had it on a stabilizer and there will certainly be thousands of higher quality videos in the sports world, but giving fans close-up access is really important to me. Emotion plays wonderfully on social. I got splashed with Gatorade and water, of course.

Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok - how do you distinguish what content to post where?

Most of it just really depends on your age and demographics. Facebook and Twitter skew older, Instagram and TikTok skew younger. A lot of our marketing and sales efforts go towards Facebook and Twitter, making sure we put as much relevant information we can into posts. You almost have to “spoon-feed” details to fans – people can easily look up information on our website or at the link in the post, but most don’t want to take the time. Instagram and TikTok are where we hit on more pop culture and fun visuals. Fortunately for the Trash Pandas, we’re much more of a wide-reaching brand, as opposed to JUST a baseball team. We can get in on memes and trending topics, and that works for us. Society has such a short attention span – how quickly can you capture and hold someone’s attention?

Describe a social media hiccup/regret and what did you learn from that?

I don’t have one specific example, but I do tend to be a little sassy sometimes on our channels, especially when replying to fans. It works on TikTok and Twitter because those are more “fun” platforms, but I have to stay level-headed on other channels. Something very frustrating to me is when people ask us a question that would actually be quicker to just look up on Google, as opposed to waiting for a reply from the social team. We’ve set a good standard of quickly answering customer service questions because it’s a very important part of the job. But what if we weren’t that fast with replies? Or didn’t have the resources to properly answer customer inquiries? I’m a very independent internet user and know how to find things easily, but have to remember that others aren’t wired that way.

What are some skills a social media manager should have?

A skill I really value is copywriting ability. How quickly and how well can you come up with attention-grabbing captions? How’s your spelling and grammar? Do you proofread? Obviously, not everything has to be grammatically correct depending on your brand, but it’s still important. Nothing is more frustrating to me than watching other teams make spelling and grammar mistakes. You should be a multi-faceted content creator. Can you produce, shoot, edit, and post? It’s really nice to have creative support around you, but to a degree, you need to have some independence there.

What is the most important thing a social media manager should know?

This is certainly a learned trait, but you can’t take things personally. People online will send mean responses and have angry messages and post dumb comments – it’s the world we live in, unfortunately. Some things are definitely hard to ingest, but I usually try to take everything with a grain of salt. It’s mostly very funny to me. Comedy is my defense mechanism. I enjoy reading out our most outlandish/irrational comments in postgame meetings.

Describe a typical day for your off-season and in-season.

In-season is my favorite time to be a social media manager. We’ll have staff meetings every gameday to go over the operations for that night. We’ll showcase what giveaways or promotions we may have, new food items, lineups, pitching matchups…it’s all part of the ballpark experience. Once players start arriving in the afternoon, we’ll usually shoot batting practice or pitcher workouts. It’s nice to get out of the office at this time of day, soak up some sun and gameday atmosphere, gather true baseball content. Once the game starts we’re shooting game highlights, crowd shots, monitoring social feeds, answering fan questions, and ultimately posting score updates. In the off-season, we focus a lot on non-baseball events: Beer & Wine Fest, 5K Races, Christmas Light Show, 4th of July Celebrations, etc. We’ll also recap the season that just finished and begin planning for the next baseball season. It’s truly a year-round marketing effort.

In terms of engagement, what content does the Trash Panda Nation seem to respond to?

Sprocket, our mascot, is a fan favorite. His personality is supposed to be mischievous and fun-loving, and that plays really well as the face of our brand. With only one season under our belt so far, Sprocket content still gets more engagement than most of the things we post with players or coaches. People also seem to love groundskeeping videos. They really fall into that “oddly satisfying” genre. Cutting grass, painting lines, raking dirt – it’s all strangely calm and enjoyable to consume. Memes and pop culture references usually kill too. Again, we’re a lifestyle brand more than we are a baseball team.

Keep up to date with The Trash Pandas - check out their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

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Interview by Cristina Byrne Sternberg

What's Spinning?

Photo by Yoon Kim at Sluice Fest 2019.

Ashleigh Jackson writes Sluice Fanzine and orchestrates Sluice Fest, a mostly all-locals DIY music festival in Huntsville, Alabama that happens every year in August.

Name of record/artist:

Beauty and the Beat by The Go-Go’s was released in 1981 on I.R.S. Records

What emotion does this record invoke for you?

This record makes me feel nostalgic even though I didn’t start listening to it until a couple of years ago. It reminds me of running around town with nothing to do and nowhere, in particular, to be with my friends in high school, especially the track “This Town.”  

What is your favorite instrumentation part on this album?

The bass in particular is really strong. It plays a lot of key elements on this record that bring up a lot of emotion. If you try to listen to just the bass without the other instruments it could have been on a completely different record. Margot Olavarria played bass on this record and she had different intentions for the sound of the band, going more towards a sound that’s similar to Buzzcocks. It really shines through and I wonder what it would be like if the album as a whole had gone in that direction.

Does this record bring back any memories for you?

The track “Tonite” takes me back to driving my friends to shows at Excalibur in Decatur. Back then we were listening to a lot of No Cash, Descendants, and Black Flag, but that track reminds me of being in a state of excitement that comes about when you’re about to do something cool. “How Much More” reminds me of dating as a teenager. The song is cute and catchy but it’s also pretty sad. It captures the excitement of having a crush on someone and the heartbreak of it not being reciprocated. 

What are the highlight tracks?

Without a doubt my favorite song is “Automatic” – it’s such a cool song to me. It’s the most complex song on the album.

Describe the album artwork

The album artwork is all the girls wrapped in white towels with cucumbers over their eyes and face masks on with a blue and pink pastel gradient in the background that looks like a painting. It’s like having a big sleepover with your girlfriends. 

RAPID WORD ASSOCIATION - What is the FIRST word that comes to your head

Empowerment.

This record is the first time that you see an all-female band that wrote and played all their own songs. For myself, as a woman, that’s a really important thing to see, especially now that we have all these new bands popping up in town. 

Why should we listen to this record?

This record is honestly really cool and everyone should listen to it at least once. It’s way more than just “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips are Sealed.” Both of those are obviously good songs and stand out on their own, but there’s more to it if you dig a little and listen to the album in its entirety. 

 
 
 

Harrison Stone, athlete turned actor

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Harrison is an athlete who played NCAA Division 1 Tennis and was ranked #1 in high school for Alabama. He teaches tennis lessons at Atheltic Club Alabama in Huntsville. He is also a professional actor and has appeared in the TV series The Liberator, and NCSI: New Orleans, and the movie the Green Book to name a few.

I meet Stone on the set of Super Science Showcase, where these photos were taken, and briefly chatted with him about being an athlete and an actor.

DIBS: What are some things about being an athlete have taught you about being an actor? 

Work ethic and having a thick skin. When I was playing tennis growing up I had some coaches who would yell, scream and scare me. They consistently put a tremendous amount of pressure on me, and learning how to deal with the pressure from sports helped me better remain calm under the pressure of being an actor whether it’s auditions, callbacks, or onset. I also really learned the value of hard work from sports. If you want to be great at anything, you have to be willing to work hard at it day in day out. The work ethic I have from tennis prepared me for the grind of filmmaking. I also believe that being an athlete has helped me as an actor in terms of the physicality of taking on roles. I think acting is much more physical than people realize and I think that from sports I learned how my body moves and am better aware of it which helped me better attempt to execute a role I am playing.

Lastly, I believe that in both sports and acting, you have to learn that you are going to consistently fall down and fail, and you have to learn to pick yourself back up and continue working towards your goals. So funny enough, in both realms, I believe failure is a vital part of success.

DIBS: What are some similarities between an athlete and an actor?

That is a really interesting question. I think from my experience, with tennis, I would have to, day in and day out, work to perfect my stokes and my game. I think there is a misconception with acting that it is relatively “easy” and that there isn’t much to it in terms of muscle memory or a technique - that’s dead wrong. With tennis, my racket was my “instrument” whereas with acting it’s simply my body, but in both cases you have to consistently work out the given muscles to perfect the technique in each given field. I also think in both areas you have to learn how to deal with pressure under difficult circumstances. 

DIBS: Why do you think there is a misconception that sports and the arts do not go hand in hand?

I think it’s because usually people only do one or the other. But if you look at history. Many of the greatest actors of all time were incredibly good athletes and many great athletes do well acting in films/commercials. I honestly have no idea why they don’t go together but I personally love both and I have many friends in the industry that have been very successful athletes along with their acting careers. I feel like this is the crux of High School Musical haha!

DIBS: Why is having a creative outlet important for being an athlete? 

Well, I think both sports and the arts can inform each other and help a person be better well rounded. Whether they are more focused on one or the other, I believe by being both an athlete and an actor, I have gotten better at one because of the other and vice versa. 

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Check out his IMBD

What's Spinning? Mordechai by Khruangbin

Andy & Ashley Vaughn owners of Vertical House Records in Huntsville Alabama opened up their store in 2007 in historic Lowe Mill, an old cotton mill in West Huntsville. They moved into their current location which is approximately 3000 square feet in January 2019.

They are big supporters of the independent and local music scene!

Name of record/artist:

Artist: Khruangbin, Album: Mordechai, Released in June 2019 on Dead Oceans.

What emotion does this record invoke for you?

Is “chill” an emotion? Haha

What is your favorite instrumentation part on this album?

For a trio, they have a very big sound. There is a little bit of singing but the majority of it is instrumental. The drummer and the bassist are great as a rhythm section for the thai funk-inspired guitar riffs.

Does this record bring back any memories for you?

Not specifically since it just came out recently. I imagine it will invoke memories of the Summer time during future playings !

What are the highlight tracks?

#2 - Time (You and I), If There Is No Question, Pelota, So We Won’t Forget are a few of the standout tracks but really the whole album is great to listen to in its entirety.

DIBS: Describe the album artwork

Khruangbin is a Thai word that translates to “Flying Vehicle” or “Aeroplane”, so I feel like the album cover is a take on that. The cover has a colorful illustration of a winged animal taking flight. Kind of psychedelic design with earth tones.

RAPID WORD ASSOCIATION - What is the FIRST word that comes to your head

Funky!

Why should WE listen to this record?

Because it’s gooood! We’ve been selling a ton of their albums at the store and every time we play it someone asks what we’re listening to. That’s always a good sign!

Khruangbin is a three-piece band from Texas, formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald Johnson on drums. Taking influence from 1960's Thai funk - their name literally translates to "Engine Fly" in Thai - Khruangbin is steeped in the bass heavy, psychedelic sound of their inspiration, Tarantino soundtracks and surf-rock cool.

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