Burning Billionaires
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My long lost sisters. Oh, my girls. After weeks, years of separation, we are reunited and it feels so good. Hello. I've missed you. Hello, we are back. I'm feeling restored already. I'm Sam Sanders. I'm Saeed Jones. And I'm Zach Safford. And you are listening to Vibe Check.

Restored, renewed, reviv-a-nide. Reviv-a-nide. Oh wait, that's for black people. That's what we do. You reviv-a-nized, baby. Yeah, reviv-a-nide, yeah. Renaissance-ified. Renaissance-ified. I love it. If you can't hear the love in our voice, we love y'all and we're happy to be back. We're back from our break and we missed you all so much. Okay, we have everything to get into because of course, when we take a break...

We should clarify for listeners. They heard episodes all of August, but we pre-taped all those episodes. So for all of August, we were like on vibe check sabbatical hiatus. So this is our first time on the mic together in over a month. It was.

It's a hoot. I mean, we can talk about it, but I was like in Argentina making tea, listening to the Song of the Summer episode. I forgot, but you pre-taped all those? So on Wednesdays when people would like text me or I'd be talking to someone and they'd be like, well, you picked this song for a Song of the Summer. I was like, I

- Like, I did what? - Like, I forgot about that. - Yeah. We taped that in July, baby. - I'm still proud of you. - Yeah, but it's good to be back live. - It's good to be back live and in color. But before we get to everything, we are going to discuss

A lot of what we missed while we were gone. Yeah. A lot happened during the month of August. And, you know, we wouldn't come back swinging. And, you know, one of our favorite themes is to talk about billionaires in trouble, darling. So we're going to talk about those burning billionaires in the Nevada desert. Not the burning billionaires. I like that. That has a nice ring to it. We're going to catch up on those girlies stuck in the mud. But before we get into all of that and more...

How are we feeling? How are you doing? Sam, let's start with you. Yes. Because Mathang had an evening. I really did. Yes. So y'all know I had a rough summer and there was some even rougher stuff that happened that I'm not going to share on the mic yet. But one of the things I've been trying to do in the midst of that, and one of the things my therapist has been saying to do is just to say yes. He was like, try saying yes to everything that feels like it could be fun and good for you, which meant that

Two groups of friends said they were going to see Beyonce in LA. And I said yes to both, even though we had seen Beyonce in London and I saw her twice in London. So Zach got us into a show on Friday. Then my other friend, Jamie, got me into a show last night. And I'm not going to tell y'all how because no one can know my secrets. But Jamie and I finagled our way onto the floor.

Onto the floor of the show. Entirely unexpectedly. You're going to be on a watch list at that stadium in LA. Literally. We got ourselves from like halfway up.

I love it.

She thanked us all for the ability to make a safe space for us. And it was the most beautiful thing. I think Beyonce on this tour particularly understands how much she means to marginalized communities. She means a lot to black people. She means a lot to black women. She means a lot to queer people. And she's leaned into that so much in her Renaissance era. And to see her acknowledge what she means to us. Yeah.

before a breathtaking show, baby, incredible. I have to chime in there. And I'm not saying this to pit women against each other because I actually don't believe in putting Taylor and Beyonce against each other. But something that is different between these two women is what you're talking about is that the refuge that Beyonce creates for people like us who never feel safe in stadiums is so huge. Because when I think about

all the rumors of Taylor performing at the halftime show, the Taylor Swift fans would buy out all the tickets and there'd be no football game. And I do believe that. I do believe that. I do not think black queer people would be able to buy it out because we wouldn't feel comfortable going there. There'd be some backlash for us being there. So it's like so rare that we can go into a space like that and be celebrated and centered and that she does it on a global scale is just stunning. And like the entire aesthetic of the show of this album is building community. You know, like-

it's a village. It's Beyonce and that band. It's Beyonce and those dancers. It's Beyonce and her queer fans. It just feels like she has built this world that we get to exist in, this chrome accepting, loving space. And I felt that so much last night and I'm still on cloud nine.

It was amazing. Yeah. When I first got into New York, I got into New York from Argentina pretty early in the morning and I was like mostly asleep in the car into Manhattan. But I looked up, you know, for the first time and I was passing Union Square. One of the first things I registered was seeing a spray painted sign that said rest in power, O'Shea Sibley.

And so to think that, again, you know, the last image of Renaissance, and Sam knows better than anyone because he's seen the damn show four times now, but the last image on the screens, you know, after it's all over, Beyonce's left the stage, it's just an empty stage, the screens, it's just a huge, huge photo of Uncle Johnny, this black queer person, right, who took care of Beyonce and, you know, inspired all of this art. And so to think that,

While everything else is going on, that Beyonce has been using the height of her power, what she was brought here to do, to do what she can. It's beautiful. It was great. Well, and just to close this, it was so beautiful. What I've noticed this many shows in is that everyone is part of a community.

So more than any other show, I was just talking to strangers, dancing with strangers, singing with strangers because that was the vibe. You're just in community. And then as I was traversing the entirety of the stadium to get down to the floor and figure that out, all of the staff working the show

We're singing along and dancing. I passed these guards and these ushers voguing. It was just beautiful. They said, who said you can't work and work? Yes. And it's just, I don't know. I grew up going to church and I know that music and performance is a community builder. Beyonce has created this beautiful, queer, secular, chromed out,

Like it's a spiritual experience. And I get it. I get it. She's a pop star at the concert, but it felt bigger than that. And I'm still floating from it. Thank you, Beyonce. Yeah, that's my vibe. Thank you, Beyonce. Did you get to see it's been really fun seeing that there's like more celebrities. I saw them all that show. Then at like the Met Gala. Did you sit out for you? Who made you get Lizo showed up and got applause. Okay. Interesting summer for her. Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

Chris Rock showed up with Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner in them. Weird. So weird. Ayo Edebiri showed up with Zendaya and Quinta and Tom Holland. She is going to the A-list really quickly. She's doing it. And then at the end, I was almost able to walk out with Jay-Z's entourage when someone caught me.

Excuse me. Wait a minute. Here's the thing. If you just like look like you know where you're going, baby. Confidence says everything. Confidence says everything. It was all great. It was all great.

That's my vibe.

It's not because I was there with my sister. We had a beautiful group of people. That part was fabulous. All these things. It's just vibes were not right. And even they closed the bars early in the Santa Clarita Stadium. People said the Taylor Swift concert was also weird vibes. So there's something about San Franciscans who do not show up the ways that people in LA or New York do for big cultural events. And I went to a workout class that morning with my sister and the instructor played all Beyonce and everyone felt annoyed by it.

which I was confused by. And then the instructor goes, who here is going to Beyonce tonight? Me and my sister, the only black people there, raise our hands. People glared at us and no one else was going. Oh, hell no. So this is my note to Beyonce. More nights in LA, less in San Francisco. We will show up every night and it's mandatory.

Well, we will circle back to the Bay Area girls in a moment. Yes, we will. I got something for that ass. But something you said actually, you know, it's interesting traveling a lot as all three of us have. Have you noticed, okay, let's focus on gay bars.

It has not been unusual for me to see gay bars, if not literally on their doors, on their social media, have declarations like, we're not going to play hip-hop and Beyonce all night long. You know, like that kind of, have you seen that? I haven't seen sounds like it, but that energy is there. It's a thing. Interesting. Well, other than that, other than San Francisco not meeting the moment, any other highlights for you, Zach?

I feel like this is the first August because we took a break from the show in Hollywood still remains striking, by the way, and at a gridlock, which needs to end soon. This was the chillest August of my life. Like I was really like just hanging out. I missed y'all so much. I miss being busy. I'm so happy Labor Day hit and now people are back to school. I love the school traffic this morning. I was like, we are back. We're back. Because me, we're back.

Left alone. And also, Craig went out of town for work a few times. Me left alone with my own self is not good. I just get so anxious. And I want to busy myself. Not your workaholic ass being like, that's right. Go to school, little girl. Go to school. Nobody wants to work. Blue Ivy, get off the stage and get back in the classroom. Wow.

Wow. Zach is fed up. That's, yeah, so that's my vibe. Go back to work, everybody. Damn. Saeed, what's your vibe?

Your Argentinian vibe. So I, for the month of August, was in Argentina, mostly in Buenos Aires. Generally speaking, I had a wonderful time. You know, your girl been going through it. We've been up on the existential highways and byways, experiencing, learning, processing. It was great to be in a beautiful place.

It is winter in the southern hemisphere, but climate change being what it is, it was one of the warmer winters on record in Argentina. So, you know, there were days that it was like in the 70s, and I was like, oh, this is a nice little treat. But yeah, I got a little penthouse apartment, and I had a little patio, and I went down with a suitcase. Basically, I had as many books as I packed clothes in.

And then I found a lovely English language bookstore there in San Telmo called The Walrus. Highly recommend it. Lovely folks. And so I got more books. Good for you. And yeah, it was really nice. And then at the very end, this is a whole other episode.

But at the very end on the trip, like one of my next to last days, I had one of those vintage online experiences where you tweet something that you think nothing of. You put your phone away. I went on a four-hour cultural walking tour. Had a great time. Learned a lot about the history of enslaved and freed Africans and the roles they played in Argentina's independence. Came back, checked my phone, and what I had tweeted—

was not me walking past two young blonde men speaking German in Argentina, dot, dot, dot.

With a little silly emoji? You know, I just thought it was a silly little tweet. Who's even on Twitter anymore in 2023 at this point? As it turns out, bitch, all of Argentina. Girl, they were logged into the Zoom. And they said, not on our watch. I saw some of the replies. It got nasty. It got nasty very quickly. The worst of them was supposed to be like,

it's so sad that African Americans think like this. Like, really just pejorative. Wait, Sam, to that point, having South Americans, Argentinians, say African American feels more searing than other people saying it. It's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. It's like really tapping into the diaspora a lot. Yeah.

And it was days, right? It was days. Yeah, it went on for like four days. It actually got really, really ugly. I mean, you can go, if you want to learn more, you can go look at my Twitter feed. I will say this, an understanding I've been moving into well before this is how you communicate when you are upset or let's say passionate about something is

With time will really communicate what you value. Amen. And so the pushback that people were getting is that, of course, the history is more complicated. And actually, just as many Nazis immigrated or were, you know, co-signed by the U.S. government as Argentina. And Argentina has a very large Jewish. There's a lot of things going on there. First of all, I never said everybody was a Nazi, but.

If what you're trying to say is, hey, this joke is a little outdated and is maybe betraying some of your ignorance as an American, and we can talk about things like Operation Paperclip and da-da-da-da-da, but while you're saying it, you're calling me a black asshole and sending me memes of George Floyd being murdered? That ain't right. I start to wonder if you're actually worried about Nazis. Yeah. Well, and Argentina tries to play slick.

That is the whitest country in South America, and that was by design. Someone at one point, someone said, and thus it's obvious, Argentina is the least racist country in the world. I said, oh, we got to go. We got to go. I went to the airport that day. Their history has been one of trying at every turn to keep darker skinned people away, sometimes violently. So who are they to speak? Who are they to speak? And they were the South American haven for Nazis during World War II.

Argentina, sit down. They're going to be in your mentions now. Come on. Anyway. Come on. But I will say it's also really frustrating when you can have a wonderful time. I was there for three weeks. Yeah. And then something happens at the very end and you're like, well, damn. But otherwise, I honestly had a wonderful time. The food was great. I've never had so much steak before in my life. You deserve. Anywho, we got to move to some newsy topics and things we missed. We got to move on. It's your read. We wait for you. It is my read. Okay.

Trying to rush us, rush yourself. Keep it in, Shento. Keep it in. Before we get into the episode...

I want to thank all of you who sent us fan mail, who listened during our month break. We got a bunch of good episodes in that month of August. If you haven't heard them, we give you our picks for Song of the Summer. We give you our picks for Modern Scripture. We got some good stuff in there. Also, listeners, I want to urge all of you to go back and listen to my August chat with one of my favorite singer-songwriters of all time, Emily Kane.

We talked about her newest album, Special Occasion, how it's been there for me during my summer of grief. And we even got her mother on the microphone to talk about music and love and how you move on. It's a beautiful thing. Go check it out. And reach out to us, as always, on social media. We love to hear from you and read your emails. VibeCheckAtStitcher.com. Let's jump in. Let's do it. Let's do it.

All right, girls, we're going to play a bit of a game. But, you know, since it's 2023, are games really games or just like, you know what I mean? Is it just a way of being at this point? I'm calling this. Please do not be alarmed. This is just a test of the vibe detection system. That's a name. I want to know.

How shook are you? That's what this game is. I am her-quake shook. We're going to get to it. We're going to get to it. Oh, my God. Okay, so I went through selfishly, expeditiously some different topics, news stories that happened over the month of August while we were on break. Look, listeners, a lot of things happened.

We want to talk about the things we want to talk about. So I'm going to introduce some topics. I miss Saeed Jones so much. I miss your energy. Can you tell? I've just been alone in a penthouse apartment thousands of miles away from everyone. Okay, so let's get into it. Give us the rules of the game. Oh, yeah. Oh, right. The rules of the game are I give you a topic. I ask you how shook you are.

Were or are you by this topic? Uh-huh. And we're going to talk about it. And then, yeah, I guess we'll give it a twerk scale, a twerk of one to five. Five being, you know, just absolutely shook, existential crisis, falling apart, you're still recovering. One being a shrug. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. I like it. Okay. So how shook were you by the Montgomery Riverboat Brawl?

I mean, if shook means overjoyed, I was quite shook. It was amazing. Would you say a five, Sam? Yeah, in large part because I ended up there. So my Aunt Betty recently retired from her longtime job and she moved to a suburb of Montgomery just a few weeks ago. The week I was there to help her unpack was a week after the brawl. And my Airbnb was two blocks from the site.

So I got to go down there and experience it. And I was shook because black people very quickly turned that into a historic pilgrimage. When I went down there, black folks were just coming to see, coming to take pictures and coming to look and talk. Were they like leaving flowers or?

There was one minister there. I was looking for folding chairs. But there was an old black minister there dressed in full regalia talking to anyone who would come by. And we all were like, why are you here? And he was like, I'm here to keep the peace. And we're like, you're here to be on camera. That's fine. But it was hilarious and fun. I just like how with that event...

There was a consensus. I was talking to white folks. I didn't even know about this thing. And they were like, yeah, those dudes earned it. Like everyone knew who the right side was. And it was just a great, it was giving very much like blue dress, white dress, or like, where's the llama, like internet.

energy. We all had this moment to gather around and we all knew how we felt and it kind of made us laugh and have fun. I don't know. I loved it. Zach, what about you? Same. It felt like similar to your pile on in Argentina. This too felt like vintage Twitter, vintage social media where something happens and the whole, let's just say black Twitter,

comes alive and creates content around the content. It has helped me reimagine the chair emoji. Rather, I now have a reason to use the chair. There's a chair emoji. It's a brown chair. It's not a white chair. But, you know, they will probably update it to a white chair the next iOS update. But I just loved how the internet...

was at its best at the moment of that. It's creating content about content and it's like kind of one-upping everyone. So I just, I love that. I also love that no black people have been incarcerated over this. I don't think. Good. I know there was a bail fund. Yeah. So like, I'm glad that that didn't happen. And, um, Alabamans probably are thinking differently now as they're moving through the streets. These white Alabamans. So I love that. I hope they learn for their sake.

Yeah, it was also great to see because you see those videos with the real time color commentary from these black women watching. Oh, right. They made a movie in the midst of it. They made a movie in the midst of black people can make you some good content. It was amazing. It was amazing. Oh, yeah, exactly. So what is your official shook if the rating? Thank you, Chantel.

I would say I was five at the time. Five. Five. Because it just was like, I got calls from people being like, I'm white. Can I enjoy this? So the fact that it reached white people, I was like, okay, now we're all in this conversation. Wow. Okay. All right. I love that. And no one got milkshake ducked. Like we didn't find out later that these black folks were awful. They were great. They were great. Okay. I love that.

Also, yeah, something that sticks out is, in part, the black man in particular was initially being... I just had just such empathy because it was like he was doing his job. He'd asked them several times. And so, you know, no one deserves to have, like, you know, a bunch of random white drunk people gang up on you. But the fact that he was literally doing his job and really just trying to make sure everyone was having a nice day at the river, you know, just made it so pointed. But also, it was one of those moments that reminded me why Twitter...

Though that house is very much on fire, it's hard to replicate. I use Blue Sky pretty frequently. I post on Blue Sky several times a day now. I don't really use threads anymore. Me neither. But like, and maybe it's as simple as the fact that Blue Sky doesn't have video capability, and that was such a huge part of the riverboat. It was like it didn't even exist on that platform. And I remember being like, well, I'm glad I didn't miss out on that. And yeah, I would rate it a...

Four on the Richter scale. It was such a joy and it was really fun in particular because it was the night before I left to Argentina and I was sitting on the couch with my friend Marlon and just to turn to him and like show him the video and to show someone for the first time was very special. The one thing, not to be a downer, but you know, in the last 24 hours, if you're on Twitter, we've found out a really sad news story about a black woman who,

who turned down a guy who asked for her phone number, and he beat her with a brick. And I'm only bringing that up in that it is another viral story that has taken off on Black Twitter, and I'm like, oh, wow, how interesting. Just a month ago, we were all celebrating, you know, and cheering and making, you know, positive, warm, fuzzy memes about how great it is to come to the defense of someone racist

who needs help, who is vulnerable. And I'm like, how many people, how many men in particular stood by and watched this woman get assaulted and did nothing? That really kills the vibe for me. So I'm going to take one point away, you know? And then they critiqued her online after she came forward with her story. They were like, she's a feminist. I'm like, what?

That's the gotcha? Yeah. That's the gotcha? Something else. It's a four on the Richter scale because the North remembers. All right. Second topic. How shook were you to learn while we were gone this summer that the economy has been saved single-handedly by Barbie, Taylor Swift, and Beyonce? Forget about the IMF.

Janet Yellen's to down, okay? Eris, Barbie, and Renaissance are on track. I think all three different entities may well make a billion dollars by the end of the summer. Are you shook by that? Barbie's already at a billion. I'm shook in the best way. So we've talked a lot about the Barbie of it all on my other show, Into It. And it's hard to overstate how much the movie industry needed this. It hadn't come back since pandemic. And there were fears that it might never come back. Yeah.

Barbie changed that narrative and it did so with a women-led blockbuster that was pink and girly. Like, who would have thought? More movies for femmes. More movies for femmes. Yeah, that was beautiful. And then you think about the Taylor and the Beyonce of it all. Those early Beyonce shows in, like, Northern Europe were so massive to the economies of those places that, like...

it affected like the numbers that measure how well their economies yeah what was it dot com or something it was like the gdp went up for a minute or something yeah yeah there are some reports that taylor's stops have affected inflation in certain places this is massive and i think it points to a larger thing that i've seen in pop culture for the last two or three years the women are having fun and making moves and the dudes are just sad and angry

I think about the biggest men in pop culture right now. None of them are having as much fun as the girls are, and none of them are making as much money. Wait, you mean to tell me that The Weeknd's not having a good time right now? What are you saying? Drake's in a bad mood. The Weeknd's in a bad mood. Travis Scott's in a bad mood. I listened to your wonderful interview with Chance the Rapper, and it was like, gosh, they're miserable. I listened to a bit of Travis Scott's album just to hear the Beyonce song, which is great. But I was like, damn, are you okay? They're in a bad place.

Yeah. Are you all right? That is actually really interesting. If you just, just in the realm of pop culture, what is manhood giving us? What does it get? Oppenheimer? That's a pretty masculine. They're not having fun. Yeah. But it's making money, not having fun. Yeah. The men aren't having fun. The men aren't having fun. And in this moment where we're all reemerging post pandemic, we want to have fun. And that's why I think you've seen women rule this year, because this is a year in which people have been trying to refine their joy and

and the girls are doing it and the boys are not. So that said, five on the shookethale. I'm shookethale. Shook for the ladies. Shook for the ladies. That's my take. Shook for the ladies. I love everything Sam just said, but I'm going to give it

a three for now, but a five maybe later this year because one caveat. I'm not surprised that these tours have made so much money because those tickets are so goddamn expensive. So they better make a billion dollars up in charging us so much money. Like 60,000 people spending an average. You need to fire your accountants. Yeah. Where's that money coming from?

let me tell you a bill that me you telling me they're making a billion dollars on tour the math is mathing because i paid a lot of money for my beyond me tickets like get it yes the barbie thing was shocking to me that she's been able to make so much money for warner brothers and that's really exciting for movies and this is where i'm going to add i will be five chuketh if this next thing happens that i think will happen so we know now in the wake of barbie taylor swift has announced that her tour will be going to theaters

very soon in a few weeks. And she, you know, cut out the studios. I love money. It's going to be amazing. And that to me is like, I,

iconic because that's one thing about Miss Taylor that's a business woman right there this is my money 100% but what I need to happen next and I will like I don't even know what I'll do I'll throw a party is Beyonce release those visuals in the movie theater too like Taylor Swift direct to theater cut out the studios you know what's not going to work in a theater viewing experience the entire audience wearing chrome I ain't going to be able to see shit I'm not going to be able to see

That's gonna be so fun. I'm already envisioning it. But that's what I'm hoping that Taylor's already showing and Beyonce's like, you know what, girl? That's a good idea. And they can just have this solidarity moment. Yeah, I will say, sorry, caveat to take it back to Beyonce. What I've noticed show to show to show that I go to is that the visuals in between the songs and the wardrobe changes are changing. I think she's showing us snippets of the videos for Renaissance. 1,000%. Oh, yeah. Truly believe it. Yeah.

Anywho, I digress. Shook by all of it. Wait, let me continue the digression because Beyonce did something incredible.

She got the gay girls and the church girls to come together. Do you know how hard it is to get the queens to get along with jean skirt Twitter? Can I tell you? I saw some church aunties last night wearing chrome at the show. Look at it. Next to the gays. I was like, oh, this is the biggest black church gay straight alliance since Facebook.

black churches began to have dance teams. Yes. Because that was the original. Beyonce ain't just singing bridges. She's building them. I've missed you. Okay. Okay. We got. Okay. Let's do one more. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Well, you know, this is I mean, gosh, this is just.

This is huge. Very different in tone, very different in tone. But also while we were gone, historic and horrific tragedy in Hawaii, the island of Maui, the wildfires. I can't even, I feel like I'm still struggling to process the scale of this tragedy. So, I mean, you know, I'm just, I'm assuming it's all a five in terms of how shook we are by this. But what stands out to you about the wildfires? What's been on your heart as you've been observing all of this?

One, the sheer devastation. The complete loss of not just life, but place. Deadliest American wildfire in history. A hundred people or more died. But it's just this like, what I can't even wrap my head around is that this place meant so much to those people that grew up there, lived their whole lives, raised families there. And to have it overnight just gone, to have a place disappear, is just so,

often even if you rebuild like it's never going to be what it was so just the sense of loss is so spiritual it's economic it's geographic it's everywhere and then also there's like the emerging conversations around the billionaires that do own most of the island you know including our dear Oprah who I love dearly but she owns a tremendous amount of that island Jeff Bezos is not giving a lot of money because of his investments and just seeing the sheer just like the economic differences between those that are the most impacted and the ones that like have vacation homes there and wasn't Oprah

Oprah, I know Oprah was like, I'll start this fund with like 10 million. She was fundraising. That's nothing for her. But she's asking other people to. But I'm like, Oprah, just give a billion dollars. Ridiculous. Literally just give a billion dollars. And frankly, give up your property. You don't need it. That too. You can find another beautiful place to have a home. I'm sorry. Yes. And I think like, and we'll get into this in the Burning Man thing, but like,

billionaires currently have an opportunity to do some really radical things whether it's Maui whether it's you know homelessness all these things whether it's the strikes these billionaire the strikes could give up salary all of them they can give up something and they still will not is just so telling yeah on a lot of levels what I've been so perplexed by is the capitalism of it all

Like, these folks out there in Maui can't win. So before the fires, predatory capitalists like Oprah were taking their land from them. And in the aftermath of the fires, predatory capitalists were trying to buy up their land to, you know, upscale it.

But you also know that Maui relies on capitalism and tourism to survive. So after saying for weeks after the fires, stay away. Now folks in Maui are saying, we need you to come back so we can make money. I'm so... I hurt for these folks out there because...

They are stuck in this trap of capitalism and they can't escape it. And wouldn't it be great if these folks could just heal on their own with what they need? But in order to even heal, they got to bring us over there and have us spend money on them.

you know it's so conflicting so glad you said that because that's been my conflict y'all knew this privately but i'll say this on the show i was planning on trying to go to hawaii for the holidays i've never been i was like oh i want to save and do this thing and do it with my partner and then this happened of course we shouldn't go we should support from afar you know take a breath and then i get the news this morning that now they're needing us to come they're needing quote because of capitalism has done capitalism and now has made them so reliant on us and i thought

Why can't we live in the world where we say, fuck that, give them all the money they need for the next 10 years, let them heal, let them build, let them take care of each other, and then maybe we can go back. And we just don't live in that world. And that's where, I mean, to give you a little peek into the Burning Man of it all that's going to happen in a few minutes, that's also the issue there too. These utopias aren't for poor people or people with little resources for rich people. Yeah. I mean...

Well, two things come to mind. One, I was really struck early on. This is like in the early days of the wildfires. Wendell Pierce, wonderful actor, a true thespian. I think he's one of our great national treasures. And he is also a great son of New Orleans. And so he tweeted a really insightful and heartbreaking thread directed toward the people of Maui. Because he was like, as someone who was in New Orleans and saw Maui,

All the predation that took place in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, how you don't just go through this tragedy, you also have even your ruins kind of stolen from under you. He was kind of like, to the people of Maui, this is what they are about to do. This is how they're going to come in. And it just, to see this...

interplay between Hurricane Katrina and what's happening in Maui and just to see how nothing's changed, it's only gotten worse, and the best we can do is compare notes across the bridges of our experiences was just really striking, which gets me to the other point. Zach and I have been reading a lot of Christina Sharpe's work this summer, and she writes in the book that I'm reading, one of them, In the Wake,

notes on blackness and being, you know, she talks about how we live in the wake of history as if it is a slave ship and we're in the wake behind it. And when you think about the fact that

That the only reason Hawaii is a state in our country is because private businessmen with the approval of the U.S. government held the queen of that sovereign nation hostage in her palace. Like that's how it all starts. And so the way that I'm like, this is colonialism, like the way that you're right, even in their tragedy, they don't even get to say, please give us space because everything is so wound up in the worst way. It's just awful.

Think about if your house burned down.

You would say, I probably need a lot of time to just recover before I can get back to life. These folks in Hawaii have lost everything. And before they can even rebuild, they have to become tour guides again. They have to become a service industry again while they rebuild. My house has burned down and now I've got to have a dinner party among the ruins. It's all dead. And also, when you think about the literal space that they're living in, the most...

awful reporting I saw talked about how when the fires were raging and people were literally burning alive, you know, people didn't know what was certain, what was people and that you're literally breathing in the death around you. So now that we're asking these people who have survived to now give us a tour of the graveyard that is your home,

just so that you can live in it is devastating. So I think we need to, as a world, imagine new radical forms of care for each other. And I think Maui is a place in which we could see new structures built because to Syed's point, this is the wake of colonialism is what we're seeing happen right now. One last, I'm just going to throw this in and this is a lightning round. This is one quick, I just need a number. I just need a number. Can y'all commit to this? Yes. Yeah. How shook were you when you learned

That Troye Sivan, author of the New York Times bestselling pop song, Rush, is not a bottom. Is not a bottom. How shook were you? What's your number, Sam? Unshook. Not at all surprised. Zach? Not at all surprised. I'm unshook that he said that to a journalist. Let me tell you something.

I've met a lot of Troye Sivan's in my day. On top of being horny, they're thirsty for attention. They'll tell you everything. None of this shooks me. I just... None of it. Bless that child. I love the word met as a euphemism. Yeah, I bet you met them. You've met a lot of them. Yeah, same. Oh my God. As a church girl... Okay. As a church girl...

I'll give it a cute three and keep it moving. Yeah, cute three. And I'll say Troye Sivan lives in LA. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Oh, okay. All right. All right. Well, we'll be right back. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be back.

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Alright, welcome back. And we are switching gears a bit to a story that I have been watching on TikTok for the past few days and I'm very excited to talk about. So for those who may not be in the know or may not know what this place is or what this festival is or people who do not live in Los Angeles, because when you live in LA, it's all you hear about every year. We are talking about Burning Man.

which is an annual celebration of music, arts, and community that takes place in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada each year. It used to be in California, but now it's across the state lines, but they're very close.

The land that the festival takes place on is known as the Pyramid Lakebed, which I want to acknowledge that the northern Paiute ancestral land is there, and the Paiute people still live there. And they get to go to the festival for free. I didn't know that. Do they want to? I wouldn't want to go there. Some do want to, and they go. But there's only a few hundred of them that go compared to the now 70,000 plus people who migrate there. Oh, I didn't realize it was that many people.

So that's a renaissance. It's a renaissance stadium of people. So the festival began in 1986 and it was originally a refuge for artists to come together and have a radical space of living. Communism is the best way to think of it, but sharing. Yeah. And it began in the Bay Area. Yeah.

Yeah, like you mentioned L.A., but I was like, I always thought of it more as a Bay Area phenomenon. It was a Bay 1986 phenomenon outside the city, and then it moved to this place. Now, it's been there for a while, and that's where the iconic kind of like big fires you've seen, big installations, that all happens there. It's really, really hard to get to. There's not really a real airport. There's a makeshift airport there. You have to go through Reno. Right.

Reno to get there. But what's really interesting about the place is that when you hear about it, it's conceptually really cool. You know, it's a place where money doesn't really exist. You barter, you sell, you trade, and you give to whoever needs. And it's really this radical sense of care. But over the years, it has become the playground of the rich and famous, which brings us to why this week has become such a big

Lightning run. So, as we said, there's over 70,000 people that went over last week. The festival was closed during COVID, so now it's on its comeback. But what happened this year has never happened before. And a huge rainstorm hit that brought, you know, maybe years of rain. It brought an inch. That's all it took. It brought half an inch.

But this is significant because that area, like right now, you're seeing it actually in like Vegas right now, you know, parts of the country that aren't designed naturally to kind of get that kind of rain. Then you get flash floods. So that's basically what happened. So the flash floods happened. People have been stuck there. They have been making TikToks about it, you know, making content about it. And most of them are just now leaving today. And even President Biden has been briefed in monitoring situation. But it's caused quite an uproar.

because people are like, why do we care so much about rich people playing in the desert? So where should we begin, everybody? How did you feel about this? Has anyone been to Burning Man before? - I have not, but I've been talking to a bunch of my friends who have been to Burning Man.

And they're all like, yeah, it's a mess and it's not what it used to be. I think the most iconic imagery of the departures from Burning Man were like Diplo and Chris Rock hitching a ride on the back of someone's truck to get out. And there being all this concern and worry for these two men. And I'm like, oh, Burning Man has lost the plot. Burning Man has lost the plot.

It has gone and moved so far away from its roots. It was about art. It was about collaboration. It was about sharing. And now you have even a Burning Man economy that is separate but equal. So a lot of the folks who go just to rough it, they rough it. But when the rich folks like Diplo and Chris Rock come out there, they bring their own RVs. They bring their own private chefs. It is just an EDM drug vacation for them in the desert. Right.

And I think that's what made it so easy to kind of laugh at some of these people's calamity over the last few days because it's like they're not the egalitarian community builders. It's just the rich billionaires out there who got stuck and stranded. And I was watching a TikTok from a person of color who usually goes to Burning Man.

But she said, I think it's time for us to stop doing this. You can see these floods this year. But even last year, it was too hot to be there. Oh, that's the one you sent to the group text. She was like, yeah, last year it was like the heat wave was unprecedented. Yeah.

This is a black woman who's saying that like, you know, it's gotten so bad that we as a black group of people that go have decided to stop going. To not go. Listen to black people. Black people do not have to go. But it's like the moral of the story with Burning Man is like at a certain point you were there for the right reasons, but not anymore. But withstanding that,

This place is becoming uninhabitable because of rich capitalists and the destruction of our planet through climate change. Why are any of y'all here? So the lesson and the moral of this story, watching Chris Rock and Diplo and these billionaires hike through mud to leave Burning Man is true.

Don't go back for a while. Like, don't go back. Yeah, what I thought was striking from the TikTok you shared, Sam, was she said, it's very clear the land needs a break. It needs time to kind of like we were talking about with Maui, you know, like just that sense of the land and the people who live there, right? When you've been through that kind of trauma.

trauma, you know, whether the trauma is billionaires or a natural disaster made worse by billionaires, you need time to catch your breath. And I think that's true for people. And I believe that's also true for natural environments. And, you know, my mom always said, Saeed, all money does is speed up karma.

And I think homegirl is moving it like Sam, because just a few days before it started, climate activists were trying to block the road, right? They were blocking the road and cops, I think, pulled a gun at one point on these activists. They did. And then like drove through the protest barricade with their trucks. I was like, OK. And then a few days later, all of this is happening. Yeah. Well, and this is what really burns me up about.

this professed image and aesthetic and mission of Burning Man. Oh, let's go be egalitarian and share and build a commune and give to people in need. You could do that where you're at. 1,000%. These billionaires could do it at home.

Diplo and Chris Rock and Jeff Bezos could build egalitarian community where they're at, but they only want to play as if they're in a commune and sharing with everyone if they're around other like-minded rich people. That's what it is. If you believed in the aesthetic of Burning Man, you would

practice that shit everywhere you are. You would share everywhere you are. And that's why I've lived in LA for going on six years. You hear about Burning Man constantly. I meet the people that go every year that are Burners. And many of them lovely, great people. But the larger philosophy that they're telling me or spouting to me about

why they go and what they learn from it. I do not see play out every day in my life with them. I don't see them treating people better. I don't see them fighting for wage equity. I don't see them fighting the housing crisis here in LA. But yet they're able to go to a desert without a tent and someone's supposed to give them a house when they arrive. That's bullshit. They will give food to a stranger at Burning

but not to the unhoused person outside of their mansion in LA. That's what it is. I mean, it's striking to see someone like Grover Norquist, who's apparently been going to Burning Man for a decade now, having a great time. And I'm just like, wow, if I created what I thought was a radical arts community, and then I looked up one day and fucking Grover isn't not just there for one time, but a decade, I'd have to reconsider some things.

Also, like the idea of like apparently a lot of the language is – what's the term I kept seeing? Oh, radical resilience. Yeah. Come up and I was like radical – like what does that mean? Because radical resilience actually to me flies in the face of community building. Yeah. If radical resilience is I'm tough and I don't need anyone, then I don't know how that works. I also do want to say – I was watching – interesting kind of following down a TikTok rabbit hole because it does feel like there's a large disparity. I get the sense –

That billionaires and, you know, a certain type of celebrity, Chris Rock and Diplo, just can't wait to see the 21-year-old girls that they want to meet there, I'm sure. And then, you know, I was seeing posts from people to me who seemed like professional hikers. I saw a woman who was like, look...

You're told to prepare, and if you pay attention to all the information that's shared, and she walked through her tent, and it was not a fancy tent. And all of the things she had to prepare and everything, and I was like, okay. And I saw another woman who was like, honestly, Burning Man is the only place in America I feel comfortable hitchhiking.

And she just kind of showed how she was able to kind of go around. And so it is kind of interesting. And this is what always happens. Billionaires suck up all the oxygen. So I do wonder to a certain extent if they're just like a normal, I don't know what you would call it, but a normal Burning Man person who's like, look, man, we didn't expect this mud quicksand.

sand situation but also we're not all like that totally you know what it feels like to me and I've been going for years now just for work shit it feels a lot like the mega conference in Austin every year South by Southwest oh yeah South by Southwest began as an indie music conference now it's become this gargantuan film festival and there's a bunch of

corporate money involved and it's gotten away from its roots. But at the heart of South by there are still indie bands playing midnight shows, trying to make it like they still exist, but they don't get the airtime, you know? It's exactly, it's exactly like, yeah. Like I think there's a huge population of Burning Man that is, you know, those folks that like to hike to camp that are lower income that have been going there. This is their big thing, but it's become dwarfed.

Diplo which yeah, you know, yeah one point he flew over in a hot air balloon at the end playing his music Those people stuck in the mud trying to get their trucks out. I'm like, come on man. Can I tell you my favorite Burning Man factoid? Yes, so in general most stuff is just tense and open-air with like shading and covering but there are a few places at Burning Man that always have AC and

And one spot in Burning Man every year that always has a C is the orgy tent. I heard that too. Yes, there's an orgy tent. There's an orgy tent.

Yes, sir. Side space. I mean, y'all know I don't even really like beaches because of the sand. This is my worst nightmare. Oh, my God. And just the images of that. Because as I learned just being a fucking nerd, part of the reason it was so bad, it's not normal soil. It has very high alkaline. And so it kind of creates this like quagmire situation. It's gross. It's gross.

And it's not healthy. People get sick from coming in contact with it. So I think a lot of these people are going to go home and have some going away gifts. I don't know. I guess the takeaway from this knowing Burning Man's history maybe being something that was interesting, that maybe once was radical,

Now, particularly with the Internet, how do you protect a radical idea? How do you protect a gathering? And I genuinely don't know, right? The moment you start doing something cool and someone posts to Instagram, oh, I went to this good – the next weekend, you know, the influencers show up. And then a few months later, it's the billionaires. I don't know. Do your own private Burning Man with your friends at a campsite near home. Yeah.

and make stuff and do things that you can bring back to your own community. But also take people's phones first. Yeah. Yeah. My final note on this will be, I got so angry when I saw Chris Rock walk into Beyonce last night. I saw him walk in. Girl, I know you saw him in person. With the Jennifer Kardashian clan. Girl, you were just hitchhiking talking about cold brew in the back of a truck before you got out of Burning Man. How did you get to this Beyonce concert? Chris Rock has the most divorced man energy of any person I've ever in my life. He does. Oh,

All right. With that, we're going to take another quick break, but don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with our recommendations. Stay tuned.

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z, but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors everywhere.

at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden. Every day, our world gets a little more connected, but a little further apart. But then, there are moments that remind us to be more human.

Thank you for calling Amica Insurance. Hey, I was just in an accident. Don't worry. We'll get you taken care of. At Amica, we understand that looking out for each other isn't new or groundbreaking. It's human. Amica. Empathy is our best policy. All right. We are back. Before we end the show, as we always do, we're going to share something that's helping us keep our vibes right. We'll each have a recommendation for you to watch or read or listen to or whatever to get your vibe up.

Zach, you go first. Yes, I'd love to. So something I've been listening to since we went on our break is the new album Volcano by the group Jungle. Two guys. So good. Oh my God. It's so good. Some of my friends that listen to this show don't love it, but they're still going to see the show. You know who I'm talking about. Oh, really? I really like it. I think it's a vibe. Because what it's like

- Where's the music video that got me- - Back on 74. - Oh, back on 74. - Back on 74. - The dancing is amazing. So if you aren't familiar hearing the name, just go watch the music video, Back on 74, and you'll be like, "Ah, that's on TikTok. I know this." - You can't get away from it on TikTok. - Yeah, they've got, like overnight, have become like supernovas because of this album. It's just a really good thing. And if you like electronica music that has a bunch of genre shifting happening in it, it's a fun time. So listen to the jungle. - Well, and I like them because it's like, it's dance music, it's DJ music,

but it's full of soul samples and soul singing. Yes, a lot of soul. And some of the songs, they feature the vocalist from the black R&B collective Salt.

Like these songs are infused with soul. And so this is like two London British, like white guy DJs, but they like soul music and it shows. My favorite album of theirs came out in probably 2018, but they have several albums that all have a similar fun vibe. Jungle is great. Jungle makes great road trip music. In my opinion. They're really good. You'll like them. They're great. So tune into them. And they're on tour right now. They're on tour, by the way. Sweet. Saeed, what's your rec? Um,

My rec is an audio book. I read the book Circe by Madeline Miller when it came out a few years ago. She also wrote Song of Achilles, which many of us know and love. But I've also been getting into audio books, particularly like when I'm traveling and whoever narrates this audio book for Circe.

Oh, it is so good. At times, she almost sounds like the actor who did Azula on Avatar The Last Airbender, if you've listened to it. But it's just so good. Circe, depending on your relationship to Latinates, I guess. Okay, it's really good. If you read The Odyssey, if you love Greek mythology, Circe was the first witch. Her parents were minor gods. Her father was Helios, god of the sun.

But he was really rude to her. And so it's kind of, you know, Madeline Miller just this wonderful thing where she finds maybe not always minor, but kind of side characters in the Greek epics, right? Like Patroclus, Achilles' boyfriend. What was his story? What's going on there amidst, you know, the War of Troy? And in this case, we've got Circe. And it's like, why was she turning all those guys into pigs? What was the deal there? Is she gay? Is that like the big thing? Is she gay like in the other book?

No, she's not. No, she's not. She loves some men. We'll read. Yeah, read. But also the experience of audiobooks. I just think a lot of people who love storytelling and who love books aren't tapping into audiobooks as just like a wonderful font of storytelling. So get into it. So that's my recommendation.

I love that. Sam, what's your recommendation, darling? You're going to love this, Saeed. I finally took this weekend in between Beyonce shows to watch the entirety of the Apple TV Plus series, Platonic, which features one Seth Rogen. My king! It was really great. My king!

So this show is so cute. My pottery daddy. Yeah. So this show has Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, who we first saw start together in Neighbors. She is funny. They're great. And so they've been coming together to work every few years since that first Neighbors movie almost 10 years ago. In this show, they play two really good friends who grow apart for a while, but then come back together when Seth Rogen's character gets divorced. Right.

And so Rose Byrne's character and Seth Rogen's character are just adult best friends of two different sexes. And they navigate adulthood and career shit with humor. And it's funny and it's fun. Not me hearing a show called Platonic and being like, but do they hook up? They don't hook up. They don't hook up. But that makes it beautiful. They don't hook up. But it's...

It's just the two of them at their comedic best. They're so fun together. Rose Byrne is really funny. She's great. I've also never seen Seth Rogen look this good. You're looking at the wrong pictures, baby. Yeah, you're looking at the wrong pictures. That made us fine. The wardrobe is amazing. I want all of his clothes in the show. He's so confident and has this weird Seth Rogen swagger that works.

It's a fun show. Yes. Watch platonic. Only 10 episodes. Super fun. You'll love it. The girls that get it, get it. And by it, I mean Seth Rogen. He has that swagger of he's a man that you can wake up with on Sunday and just get really high and order food in all day and just laugh. Also, when you've woken up, he's already made you breakfast. He's already made you breakfast. That energy. I'm sure he's a delight at the farmer's market, too. Yeah, it's super fun. We love Seth Rogen.

So yeah, watch that show. It's so good. It's so good. Also, Apple TV Plus keeps winning. I loved Severance. I loved Bad Sisters. Quiet as it's kept, Apple TV Plus has some good stuff. Girl, you just named three shows for an entire streaming service. I don't know if that's exactly... The bar is on the floor. You're like, Netflix has a hit and then you can only name three shows. I don't know, baby. I will say, to your point, Sam, they don't have a ton of stuff, but sometimes they do have things that I really like. Invasion is something that like,

I show up for every week to look at. Severance was excellent. Severance was amazing. Also, Platonic, you'll love, Zach, because it is shot in LA and it shows. Really? Is it in Pasadena? Because they did Shrunk in Pasadena. The central location is a bar in the Arts District. Oh, okay.

and they basically just name check Angel City Brewery the whole time you see that bar he lives downtown and you see that like it's all LA girl you should have led with he lives in my old Seth Rogen lives in my old neighborhood the fantasies I'm about to have that's so good platonic Apple TV Plus watch it Seth Rogen if you're listening send me all your wardrobe from that show please and Seth if you're listening send me other things you know

Y'all were friendly though, right? You and him have talked. We've had our moments. There's footage if you Google of Saeed and Seth Rogen together. Alright, listeners, tell us what's keeping your vibe right these days. Send us your recommendations and let us know if you like what we've picked for you to check out. You can always reach out on social media and via email. Vibecheckatstitcher.com Vibecheckatstitcher.com

Thank you for tuning into this week's episode of Vibe Check. Girls, we have missed you. I know you've been living with our voices, but like we've missed hearing ourselves. If you love the show and want to support us, please make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast listening platform and tell a friend. Huge thank you to our producer Shanta Holder, engineers Sam Kiefer and Brendan Burns, and Marcus Hom for our theme music and sound design. Also special thanks to our executive producers, Nora Ritchie at Stitcher and Brandon Sharp from Agenda Management and Production.

Listeners said it before. I'll say it again. We want to hear from you. Email us at vibecheckatstitcher.com. Keep in touch on Instagram at the Ferocity at Zach Staff and at Sam Sanders. And if you post about this show, use the hashtag vibecheckpod.

All right. Stay tuned for another episode next Wednesday. Till then, I'm just so happy to be back with my sisters. And that's that. That's it. Love y'all. Miss y'all. We're back at it again. Know us like we never left. Reunited and it feels so good. Stitcher at Amika Insurance.

We know it's more than a life policy. It's about the promise and the responsibility that comes with being a new parent, being there day and night, and building a plan for tomorrow, today. For the ones you'll always look out for, trust Amica Life Insurance. Amica. Empathy is our best policy.

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