Record Pairing: Andy Shauf, Neon Skyline + A G&T
Posted on October 21 2020
The Feel-Good Pairings Project is designed to help us share the ways we’re all coping and trying to feel good in these strange times. I'll be sharing contributions from friends, clients and people I admire. Each project includes a record and pairing from different contributors, plus an organization that they’re supporting in these troubling times. Helping others feels really good, and one of the best ways we can support our communities when we can’t be together physically! You can see all pairings projects here.
Submission #7 from Jenny Houser @jennyhouser
Pairing: Andy Shauf + Classic G&T
Location: San Francisco
Record: Andy Shauf, Neon Skyline - Side A (though I almost always listen to the record the whole way through!)
I've been listening to Andy Shauf for awhile, but his newest album Neon Skyline has been spinning since I saw Shauf play in San Francisco not long before shelter-in-place began. Truth be told I've kind of been binging on it as it always makes me feel good - Shauf is a talented storyteller and the album draws me in more every time I listen. And lately, especially after work, I'm drinking a classic gin & tonic (St. George Botanivore Gin and whatever tonic I have around, plus lots of lim!) to decompress while making dinner. My friends would laugh because for some reason I am incredibly fond of chardonnay, but nothing does it like a G&T these days!
What organization(s) are you supporting right now?I believe mutual aid is the best, most impactful way to uplift our communities - and especially to support Black and Brown folks and NBPOC who have been so disproportionately affected across the board. I invest on both an individual and organizational level and there are SO many people doing SO much work. On Tuesdays, Ericka Hart (@ihartericka) amplifies those who need some money for things that range from food or a treat to funds to sustain their businesses and keep up with loans. It's really easy to Venmo people directly from there. Mission Meals Coalition (@mission.meals), founded by Xiomara Alemán (@xoealeman), Gabriela Alemán (@gabrielaaleman.sf) and Maria Castro Noboa (@mcastronoboa) has a community fridge that's received a lot of press, but their work goes so much deeper - they serve hot foot to seniors, day laborers and unhoused folks daily in San Francisco and provide necessary things like masks!
I'm also super excited about the Bay Area Black Leaders Retreat, founded by my friend Genevieve Leighton-Armah (@gennyqueen) and the new Urban Farm in Bayview, founded by Isaiah Powell, Faheem Carter and Danielle Fernandez (@the_art_of_calibird). From home, I've been writing a lot of postcards (like, hundreds - the joys of being unable to leave my house much) and phone banking for Sister District (@sister_district) and recently started doing letters with Vote Forward (@votefwd) - both of these organizations are focused on improving voter turnout for 2020 in key states.
