Hivemind Times Issue #64

Welcome To The Hivemind Times!

Boo! I’m just kidding, I'm not a ghost you idiots. I am your loyal and devoted editor and chief of The Hivemind Times here to deliver you another hot copy off the press. 

This week has been an electric week of content that I hope you have enjoyed. Cheapseats Jeopardy blasted off, Quadecca reappeared on the main channel for a new ep of Guess the One Hit Wonders from Their New Song, and today we will be dropping a new Rotten Tomatoes game on Unlimited. That’s what I like to call a triple bam bam. 

I know this is an exciting evening for everyone including myself so I won’t keep you too long. Lastly I highly encourage those without great costume ideas to go as your own interpretation of “Cronk” and to send us pictures.

- Riley & Graydon

ALBUM RECS

Happy Halloweenis! I hope you guys are making pie and eating candy like the rest of us, it’s good for the soul. 

This week I would love to highlight a new album that fits the chilly/ cozy season: Oblivian - Alice Phoebe Lou. 

This is her 4th album and definitely her most stripped back. Reminds me a lot of Jessica Pratts Self-Titled 2012 Album.

Perfect for late night drives or cozy mornings! 

- Grant

CRONK’S UPDATE

Hello good folks of Hivemind Newsletter,

I'm a dog that's back from the road, in case you missed it. I just spent two weeks on the road playing drums for Rozey opening for Quadeca. Our band consisted of me and Andrew “Rozey” on vocals and guitar, and Tommy on additional guitar. In our van we also had Hivemind merch collaborator Copes and his protege assistant minion, Sean.

The five of us drove for seven hours from Detroit to Minneapolis to the Wisconsin Dells, a family town in which we crashed because it was 2 a.m. They had a lot of amusement parks, tho it was lowkey a sleep town - would highly recommend. From the Dells we drove another three hours to Minneapolis where we played our first show. It was odd because we were all nervous and had a crazy amount of adrenaline but it was a decent first show.

From Minneapolis we drove to the beautiful Madison Wisconsin which absolutely rocked. It was a small college town on the water, felt very familiar to Michigan. The crowd rocked, the venue was awesome and it might've been our best set. That night we stayed with Tommy’s aunt who had her basement decked out with mattresses, chips and cookies.

The next day we went from Madison to Chicago. We were very late and we all had to pee so bad we had to stop talking. While I was confronting my blackout having to piss rage, I was confronted with the difficult task of parallel parking the van with a trailer on a busy Chicago street. Rest assured I got it done, took a piss, then walked into the main room of the venue where my gut sank. This venue was absolutely massive, like the ceilings must've been 150 ft. I have never ever been in a room so big. We played decently but we all agreed it was our most nervous night. Still the Midwest rocked.

Then we went an easy four hours back to Detroit where we enjoyed a day off and then played for all our friends and family at the tried and true El Club. It was a packed but relatively small venue in comparison to Chicago. We were happy to be at home but so anxious and ready to get back on the road.

From Detroit we set off on our maiden voyage of the East Coast, and immediately in heading to Toronto, Tommy forgot his passport setting the whole day back but it’s all good - that’s my bro, I couldn’t ever be mad at him. The Toronto drive was cool but kinda just like a mid version of Michigan, and holy fuck Toronto traffic set us back an hour in itself. Sean had to pee so bad he hopped out the back and went in an alley. Toronto city beautiful, Toronto people cool af, Toronto sound guys best of the whole tour, but Toronto traffic had me in a darkness I never want to see again.

From Toronto we headed to Boston, a pretty damn far drive but we stopped in New Hampshire where Sean’s mom made us lasagna and let us crash. New Hampshire rocked and was the only place we stopped that I would consider living. I’ll forever wish I grew up there.

Boston city was beautiful, decent pizza, cool venue, but very very stiff crowd. The show vibes left us feeling like we shouldn't stay in Boston and drive through the night to New York. Only about a four hour drive but man, this drive after playing a show and loading the trailer. We all lost our minds on that interstate through Massachusetts. We had a reggae dub mix playing so loud I couldn’t hear who I was. Four hours of no streetlights, two lane highway with trees so high you couldn’t see the night sky.

This is probably a good time to mention I was the only one driving. I planned on passing it off at some point but we were so deep into the trip I wasn’t prepared to let anyone drive the van with a trailer for the first time in the middle of dark dark Massachusetts. We left around midnight and got to Jersey City at 6 a.m. Man what a dump that place is.

The next day we played New York. We were really missing Detroit at this point so we were blasting Rio Da Yung OG in the van while I whipped through the busy streets of Manhattan with the trailer. Driving in New York is easy and fun, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Also New York show ripped and we spent two nights in Brooklyn which was also fun as fuck but the egregious amount of gentrification made us a little sad.

We then went to Rozey’s hometown of Philly where we ate Wawa four times in one day. The show was great but I left a bunch of my important adapters and USB cables on the New York stage and the sound guys had an attitude with us. We stayed in West Chester where we found some speed bumps that almost sent Tommy and Sean through the roof of the van. (they were way in the back seat)

Then we went to DC which was pretty close to Philly. The DC show rocked, the venue was legendary and gave us food and merch and just had a great vibe and staff. We spent the next day absolutely ripping Lime scooters through DC and jumping tree stumps and shit. DC was the most fun city we explored.

Then we ended our two week escapade in the mundane Durham, North Carolina. We had fun here but only because we chilled with Quadeca and his crew the whole time. The city was very odd, but also we jumped a bunch of shit on Lime scooters and hit a bunch of hill bombs.

Then we ripped 11 hours back to Detroit. It was a blast but also fuck why did I make myself do all the driving. I had a BLAST though.

8 out of 10, will do it again.

- Cronk

OLD HALLOWEEN PHOTO DUMP

My mom’s house used to go ridiculously hard on Halloween. To the point my friends and I retired from the old trick or treat early in order to work as full time actors for whatever creepy plot my mom would decide on. 

I think it all started with a haunted hillbilly year where I wore a mask that made me appear to have no eyes. The props included my sister’s truck in the lawn, a dead squirrel on a grill, fake guts in a banjo etc. 

Another year we did the exorcist, I was possessed, and we brought a bed frame out onto the front porch and chained me to it. I covered myself in pea soup to look like puke and my sister played my nurse. It truly became a spectacle over the years and in that sweet spot of like 7th grade to sophomore year we were the main attraction in town. 

Shout out all the old homies who would pull up and not be too cool to get into full make up and really buy into the bit. It was some of the best times. My mom dug through her old pics so I’ll attach some here. 

Go all out, it's fun for a night.

- Graydon

WHO WILL MAKE THE BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME?

THIS WEEK’S COMICS

RECIPES

Graydon here and it’s Gumbo season for sure. Go ahead and give this lil fucker a spin and tell me it don’t wanna make you slap yo momma?!

1. Prepare your veggies aka the holy trinity. Dice a green bell pepper, a yellow onion, and a couple celery stalks. I added a jalapeño as well for spice. 

2. Prepare the aromatics. Mince 6-10 cloves of garlic and combine your seasonings (cajun seasoning, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, and cayenne). If your cajun seasoning is salt-free, you’ll want to add salt as well. I prefer to measure with my heart but about a teaspoon of each will do the trick.

3. Cut andouille sausage into 1/2 inch thick rounds. Cook in your pot over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until they are browned. Remove and set aside for later. 

4. The grease of the andouille sausage will be the base of the roux. Add 1/4 cup of butter or neutral oil and 1/4 cup of flour into the pot. Continuously stir over low heat until the roux looks like melted chocolate (this process can take about 20 minutes). 

5. Add the veggies into the roux and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add in the aromatics and sausage and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Make sure to stir during this process and ensure the roux has coated everything in the pot. 

6. Add in 2-3 cups of chicken broth (depending on what consistency you prefer) and a bay leaf. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce to low heat and simmer for 20 minutes. 

7. Add shrimp (I prefer shell-on because it adds extra flavor) to the pot and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. 

8. Remove the bay leaf and serve over rice! Optional toppings: parsley, green onion, and tabasco.

- Graydon

MERCH (LAST CHANCE TODAY!!)