Shields wins unanimous decision over Dicaire
Plan a perfect private vacation with your ‘bubble’
FLINT, Mich. – Claressa Shields won a unanimous decision over Marie-Eve Dicaire in their 154-pound unification bout Friday night.
Shields (11-0) won 100-90 on all three cards.
Shields was fighting in her hometown of Flint – in a matchup that was previously scheduled for May 9 before being called off because of the coronavirus. Shields also had a fight scheduled against Ivana Habazin in Flint in 2019, but that was scrapped after an altercation before the weigh-in.
It’s been 25 years since Tempe rockers the Refreshments hit the streets with “Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy,” a career-defining breakthrough Roger Clyne has always viewed as his “first really firm step in the lifeway that I chose as a musician.”
The idea of that album turning 25 is just “surreal,” says Clyne, who still performs those songs as the leader of the post-Refreshments project he and drummer P.H. Naffah launched in 1998, Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers.
“I’m grateful that it did have such an impact and was sort of the inception of my relationship with what became the Peacemaker fan base,” he says. “And that it’s still revered and most folks say it’s not period-dated.”
That last part was important to Clyne and his bandmates — Naffah, lead guitarist Brian Blush and bassist Buddy Edwards — as they set out to record their first release as Tempe’s latest major-label signings on Mercury Records.
The Refreshments set out to make a timeless album
One of the goals going into the sessions at Ocean Way Recording on Sunset Boulevard with producer Clif Norrell
to cut their first release on Mercury Records was to capture something that could not be carbon-dated to that moment in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.
“We were hoping it would stand up as well as, say, the Violent Femmes’ first record ‘Damn the Torpedoes,’ or whatever,” Clyne recalls.
“There are classic American rock ‘n’ roll records. And we all agreed that we wanted to try to make something like that. So we handed that over to Clif Norrell, our producer, and I think he did a pretty damn good job.”
It may have helped that their Southwestern spin on alternative rock didn’t sound much like what qualified as rock ‘n’ roll in 1996.
“The music of the day was very grunge-oriented,” Clyne says.
“That was what was on the airwaves. Either that or the emergence of the female sort of folk singer, like Jewel. We were nowhere near that stuff and nobody knew what to label us. We didn’t want to sound like 1996. And I think we’re lucky that we probably couldn’t.”
They upped the production value for ‘Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy’
All but one of the songs on the album, including the breakthrough hit “Banditos,” had been featured on an album titled “Wheelie” two years earlier, released on Epiphany Records, a label run by Zia Records founder Brad Singer.
They tracked the “Wheelie” album in two nights at the Saltmine for $400, with an additional $200 or so allocated for beer.
And as Clyne says, “It sounds like that, too. I listen back and go, ‘Oh, no.’ But someone in the fan base said, ‘Well, it gives me a contact high.’ If it has that effect, I’m cool with it. I just can’t look in that mirror. It’s tough for me.”
By contrast, the singer recalls the making of their release on Mercury as “surprisingly meticulous,” including two weeks with Norrell spent woodshedding the songs until they didn’t even have to think about what they were doing.
“And I mean that in the way a batter doesn’t think about his performance when he’s swinging at a ball,” Clyne says. “You just get it to where it’s part of you.”
There’s an extent to which that’s how they always played.
“We were a bar band that was playing seven days a week most weeks,” Clyne says.
But Norrell gave them other things to
focus on when they were swinging at that ball. Perhaps the biggest thing they had to learn to make sound natural was playing to a click track.
“For me, as the snotty punk-rocksteeped lead singer, that was like putting a yoke on,” Clyne says.
“But it really was good for the songs. I wanted to go, go, go and capture as much of the live feel as we could. He said, ‘Believe me, we will. Just slow down and we’ll capture this thing.’ And he was correct.”
Things didn’t always go smoothly during recording
At times, it boiled over into heated disagreements with Norrell.
As Clyne recalls, “I was like, ‘That’s the one. That felt great.’ And he would say ‘You rushed. The second chorus is at least two clicks faster than the first.’ I would argue ‘Well it felt great.’ He’d say, ‘It’s not gonna hold up.’ It got frustrating. But that push-me, pull-you was fruitful. We learned to find that groove and let the music just be its own vehicle.”
Clyne remembers feeling really good about his vocals on that record.
“I wasn’t a very good singer then and I’m arguably not so great now, but the emotional aspect of feeling those songs, it felt really good,” he says. “I believe a majority of those songs are actually, at least in part, the scratch tracks.”
What didn’t feel nearly as good was tracking his guitar parts.
“It was super-frustrating for me to have to sit down and listen to Clif pick apart my rhythm guitar,” Clyne recalls.
“I’m just not a good guitarist. I beat up guitars. And it was shocking how out of time and how many clunkers I was delivering that I never, never knew. He’d be like, ‘All right, right here? Listen.’ He would isolate my rhythm guitar track, and it was just terrible. I was like ‘Oh my God, this is embarrassing.’”
How the album connected with the audience
As to what it was about that album that it managed to make such a lasting impact on his audience, Clyne says, “I probably should never know the answer or I might be tempted to become a parody of myself. I think it was really energetic, honest, high-octane, fun, irreverent rock ‘n’ roll. Maybe there’s another couple elements that I don’t recognize, but all those things mixed together made for a heck of a potent potion.”
Released on Feb. 27, 1996, “Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy” yielded a national modern-rock radio hit in “Banditos,” a gritty, guitar-driven song about planning the ultimate bank heist.
“We knew it was popular with the live crowds,” Clyne says of “Banditos.” “But we were fortunate and still are in that it’s hard to tell what song is more popular than another once the suds get going.”
Surprisingly, Mercury Records let them choose the single.
“We knew it was gonna be between ‘Blue collar’ and ‘Banditos,’” Clyne recalls. “And we had the artistic freedom at the time through Mercury, on that record anyway, to choose. We literally flipped a coin upstairs in the studio when Mercury was asking us which one we were gonna deliver for a single and it came up ‘Banditos.’”
Celebrating 25 years of ‘Fizzy Fuzzy’
When “Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy” turned 20, the Peacemakers marked the occasion by blowing the dust off the album in a sold-out string of 10 shows at the Yucca Tap Room, the Refreshments’ former stomping grounds.
They obviously couldn’t do that this time due to COVID-19, so Clyne planned a livestream with Naffah for Friday, Feb. 26, the day before the proper anniversary, on Stageit.com.
“Once we put that out there,” Clyne says, “Brian Blush reached out and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna be in town. Do you mind if I crash that party?’ I said, ‘Heck yeah, crash that party.’ So it moved from two of the original numbers to three. And we’re inviting bass player extraordinaire, Nick Scropos of the Peacemakers, to stand in and complete the fourpiece.”
They’re playing the “Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy” album in full, which required some homework on Clyne’s part.
“I have to go back and look at my baby pictures, i.e. listen to ‘Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy,’ and make sure I haven’t forgotten any of the nuances,” he says.
As to what he thinks of “Fizzy Fuzzy Big & Buzzy” now?
“There are things that I would never do as a songwriter now but I didn’t know any better then. And I’m super glad I didn’t. It’s like an accidental audacity to do some of the stuff I did as a songwriter that I would just not do again. But I’m so glad I did it.”
New music for the Peacemakers
As he celebrates the anniversary of that landmark album, Clyne is also in the midst of working on the Peacemakers’ first album since 2017’s “Native Heart.”
“I’m sitting on about 10 or a dozen songs that we have demoed for ourselves,” he says.
They cut those demos with their masks on and each member in a separate corner, which is not how he intends to make the proper album.
“I want a really comfortable atmosphere to record in when we do these songs, because anymore, writing becomes more and more difficult for me,” he says.
“I’m glad I’m not alone in that respect. I’ve heard Leonard Cohen and Tom Petty say the same thing. But I find my ass is on the couch with a guitar in my lap for more and more hours yielding less and less actual music.”
Given that, he wants to make sure he can make these songs the best that they can be.
“And certainly having to wear a mask and not be able to go into the control room with more than one person at a time to hear your playback is not the environment in which I want to record,” he says.
“You’ve gotta have your personal intimacy with your fellow creators, first and foremost, because it is a collaborative effort to make a record. So I’ve got to make sure that is still in place, and then we can move to square one.”
As more vaccines meet more arms, many people are taking the first tentative steps back to vacation planning. Possibilities abound for a post-pandemic vacation, even for would-be travelers who don’t feel quite ready to plunge back into close quarters and shared airspace. Hotels, tour companies and other travel providers are crafting bubble travel options for people seeking a vacation experience while limiting contact outside their immediate group.
Though no vacation offers an airtight bubble – the point of travel, after all, is to experience the world – keeping within a trusted group while in transit, dining and where you stay can reduce stress and risk. These so-called bubble trips provide another bonus: the chance to reconnect with friends and family after extended separations.
Book a private tour
Once outside the realm of financial possibility for most travelers, private tours are making their way into the mainstream – at least for now. Prices are still higher than equivalent larger-group tours, but there’s a way to balance out the bump in cost: Build your own tour group. Bubble up with a few families, close friends or couples, or extend your bubble to include multiple generations of family. Match your group to a tour, and you’ll get your own itinerary, tour director, transportation and private trip.
When you take the private tour path back to travel, you’ll have plenty of choices. Adventures by Disney debuted its Private Adventures. Groups of up to 12 people can book itineraries in Costa Rica, Egypt, Greece, Italy and Peru – some of the most popular itineraries the company offers – with travel dates starting in April. There’s no age minimum (except for the Peru trip), and you can choose your own travel dates. Best of all, on a private tour, your group gets more dedicated time with the local Private Adventure guide. That means more immersive storytelling, which families say lends a special and authentic connection to the destination.
Adventure tour operator G Adventures unveiled its Book Your Bubble Collection, consisting of 80 private tours that offer the same benefits of a small group trip – including in-depth itineraries, accommodations and local guides.
This collection of private tours has flexible booking conditions and discounted tours for trip organizers. The eighth spot is 50% off, the 12th spot is complimentary, and discounts can be spread across individuals, making the tours even more affordable.
In 2018, Globus launched Private Touring, and more recently, its sister brand Cosmos joined in with private tours, too. Both brands offer a private option on all their European itineraries. Structured for groups ranging from two to 24 (though in the time of the bubble, less is more), private tours come with private transportation and driver, tour director, professional local guides and the chance to move at the pace you choose.
Sustainable tour operator Intrepid Travel, best known for its small group trips around the globe, isn’t new to the private tour game. Its Tailor-Made tours have long been popular with families and groups who want to travel together on an entirely private and customizable adventure. Matt Berna, Intrepid Travel’s managing director in North America, says that in the past year, “our TailorMade product has become more popular as exploring within your ‘bubble’ is increasingly interesting to groups of travelers.” Intrepid saw a 41% bump month over month in the last three months of 2020, a trend that looks likely to continue.
Even if you’re not ready to commit to a private tour, there are plenty of creative ways to vacation with your bubble. Outdoors-focused accommodations, inns and B&Bs, luxury properties and vacation rentals are often well-suited to cater safely to bubble groups.
Social distancing at parks
National and state parks offer a fresh-air backdrop for families and groups looking for inspiring nature and the built-in safety of social distancing outdoors.
In addition to the famous national park lodges, many parks offer private, rustic cabins that not only help to accommodate budget-conscious vacationers but also offer isolation and social distancing to keep families safe.
With a prime location next to Grand Teton National Forest, Yellowstone National Park and Bridger Teton National Forest, Togwotee Mountain Lodge has 54 rustic cabins with kitchenettes. In Washington’s Olympic National Park and Forest, Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort has 32 cabins, access to natural hot springs and plenty of room for safe social distancing. In Shenandoah National Park, Skyland, Big Meadows Lodge and Lewis Mountain Cabins all offer individual cabin accommodations.
Happily for those who prefer comfort over roughing it, rustic is not the only option. Just outside Yosemite National
Park, Rush Creek Lodge’s accommodations include standalone cabins and villas with hundreds of acres of open space to let everyone spread out. Even better, the lodge’s Rush Creek Spa offers takeovers of its Yosemite-inspired experiential spa. Couples or groups can reserve the spa – which features a granite waterfall hot tub, cool mist showers, a Himalayan salt sauna and warm river rock immersion beds – for private use.
Camping and RV
If affordability and flexibility are at the top of your bubble-trip wish list, camping or RV travel might be the perfect fit. Ashley Rossi, managing editor of Togo RV, says, “Traveling with your travel bubble to a campground is one of the easiest ways to follow social distancing and maximize your time outside – you can avoid indoor dining, bring everything you need with you, socialize comfortably outdoors and get direct access to hiking trails and other outdoor activities.” Camping doesn’t have to mean sleeping on the ground, either.
“So many campgrounds now offer cabins and other glamping experiences,” Rossi says, noting that if you’ve never tried RV travel, this might be the year to give it a go. “Traveling by RV gives you your own space and bathroom.”
Luxury stays
What was once a draw for celebrities looking to unwind in peace is a perk for bubble groups looking to vacation sans crowds.
The picture-perfect Grenadines is home to the private island resort of Petit St. Vincent. There, you can take bubble-ready tropical distancing to the next level with a stay at the resort’s PSV Peninsula, a small collection of one- and two-bedroom cottages on a secluded part of the island. Groups can book up to four cottages.
In south central Alaska, Tutka Bay Lodge on the Kachemak Bay and Winterlake Lodge at the entrance to the Alaska Range offer remote wilderness luxury and plenty of room for your group. These small lodges are by their very nature socially distant.
Cabo San Lucas calls, and The Cape answers. The boutique luxury hotel on the Sea of Cortez offers its A Villa State of Mind package as the answer to families and small groups who want a week-or-longer stay. Multi-bedroom villas come equipped with kitchens, large outdoor patios with hanging daybeds, washers and dryers and ocean views for miles. Other villa options include private plunge pools, outdoor BBQs and direct beach access.