Episode 73 - Season 3, The ReSeasoning 

Thanks for Hitting Play and then listening to Hit Play. This episode: Favorite seasonings, reseasonings, and a new season of Hit Play! Some of the plays may contain sensitive topics. For more specific content warnings, check out the timecodes below.

If you like what you hear and want to support the New York Neo-Futurists, subscribe to the show, tell a friend, and leave a review on your listening app of choice. If you want to support in other ways, consider making a donation at nynf.org, or joining our Patreon. And be our friend on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook.

2:01 Re-Seasoning My Carbon Steel Wok by Chan Lin

4:54 In Which a New Yorker's Reaction to a Train is Collaged with the Previous Play

(for/after Joey Rizz) by Katy-May Hudson

7:55 [CW: explicit language] (space junk) : (welcome back) by Yael Haskal

11:09 One of the greatest honors of my life was in 2017 when Anthony Dean wrote me a song and I’ve never shared it with anyone because I didn’t want to look like a narcissist but that changes today, okay? by Katy-May Hudson

13:10 [CW: explicit language and drugs] Sir Gregolas Radio: Freelance by Greg Lakhan

14:06 Our Favorite Seasonings by Hilary Asare

Our logo was designed by Gabriel Drozdov

Our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean

Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Hilary Asare, Yael Haskal

Take care!

Transcript 

Show Intro

Upbeat electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Yael: Episode 73: Season 3: The Re-Seasoning

Hi, I’m Yael – a New York Neo-Futurist.

Our live show is back, but we just can’t stop making art for your ears so Hit Play continues!

If you’re already a fan of The New York Neo-Futurists, or any of our sibling companies, hello!

We can’t wait to shake your hands in person, like the Business Folk we are.

If this is totally new to you— welcome to it!

We make art by four rules: We are who we are, we’re doing what we’re doing, we are where we are, and the time is now.

Simply put: we tell stories, and those stories are our own. Everything that you hear is actually happening.

So if we tell you that we’re trying to solve a complicated spherical metal puzzle, we’re really trying to solve a complicated spherical metal puzzle, like I am right now.

Some of the work in this episode may contain sensitive topics. For more specific content warnings, check the timecodes in the show notes.

This episode’s theme is “Season 3: The Re-Seasoning” – meditations, revelations, and manifestations on coming back for Hit Play’s third season.

And now, Katy-May will run the numbers!

Katy-May: Hi, I’m Katy-May – a NY Neo-Futurist. In this episode we’re bringing you 6 new plays.

This week’s cast is Chan Lin, Yael Haskal, Greg Lakhan, Hilary Asare, and myself, Katy-May Hudson.

That brings us to 330 audio experiments on Hit Play. Enjoy!

Music winds down.

Play 1: Re-Seasoning My Carbon Steel Wok (2:02)

Chan: Re-Seasoning My Carbon Steel Wok. GO!

So today I am reseasoning my carbon steel wok, which is the process of heating a very thin layer of oil in a pan so that it polymerizes into a nonstick layer. If you’ve ever used a cast iron pan, this will sound familiar. Right now I’m using steel wool, soap, and water to scrub the surface.

I got this 14 inch wok last October and remember being really excited to season it from scratch. I like the idea of ritual, and of being able to take care of an item that takes care of me, especially since my partner does more of the cooking these days, so at least I can contribute in this way. I also like how even if you accidentally burn food or let the wok rust, there is still forgiveness. You can always begin anew and start over, and scrub away the old uneven seasoning, like how I’m doing now. Last time I used it to make steamed eggs and let the water sit there overnight, which ruined the seasoning.

Now I’m washing away the soap leaving just the bare metal.

Now I’m bringing her to the stove to evaporate away any remaining moisture.

Now I am adding a few drops of avocado oil inside the wok and then wiping the entire surface with a paper towel.

As the wok smokes up, the oil hardens into a smooth layer.

There’s a lot of smoke coming out of the pan, so i have to open the windows. It gets really smokey.

When the smoke subsides a bit, then I repeat the process with another layer of oil,

Oil, wipe, smoke. Oil, wipe smoke.

The more layers you build, the stronger the fortification, the slicker the surface.

I’ve done around 8 layers today. You can even keep going until it’s shiny enough to see your own reflection.

Growing up, I’ve been in the kitchen of many chinese restaurants, having seen the chefs quickly rinse the wok over a massive gas-powered flame, then drop a ladle of oil into it and immediately dump it away. I used to wonder why they would do that between each dish, and now I understand that they were always seasoning, always fortifying.

Oil, wipe, smoke. Oil, wipe smoke.

Now with my wok freshly seasoned and layered, not only can she handle the big deep frying, stir-frying, and steaming, but so can I.

Play 2: In Which a New Yorker's Reaction to a Train is Collaged with the Previous Play (for/after Joey Rizz) (4:54)

Katy-May: In Which a New Yorker's Reaction to a Train is Collaged with the Previous Play (for/after Joey Rizz). GO!

© 2022 katy-may Hudson

All of the weeks plays will be allocated a number and a random number/play will be selected. This play will forth be known as the previous play.

Audio from this excited train guy …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lutNECOZFw&ab_channel=SNCRwy

…is distilled so all references of the train are removed.

The previous play is repeated with this distilled audio. The audio should dominate any other audio in the previous play.

The play is over when the action of the previous play has transpired or when the audio for this play has run its course.

Play 3: (space junk) : (welcome back) (7:55)

Yael: Title. GO!

April 30, 2022. Partial solar eclipse.

Space is cyclical, cylindrical, God scratched our calendar into the sky with poor penmanship, and we’ve kept track. These days, there is weather. It’s wrong. I have been told that eclipses are when everything changes, but there isn’t enough evidence to strap me to the board. I am seeing big dogs on short chains. Flotsam and jetsam are fucking in the stairwell. The sun’s gonna disappear partway but you won’t necessarily know.

May 4. The Eta Aquariids meteor shower will peak in night skies.

Concurrent convex kin of Halley’s Comet, falling from the sky while Grandpa orbits retrograde around the sun. Did you catch the big guy in 1985? Did you put him in a collar? Did you put him on a string? Meet me 30 degrees south of the equator with a lasso, we’ll pull debris from the sky and build a rocket for the tooth fairy. Hurry up.

May 15. Total lunar eclipse; blood moon. Visible in the Americas, Africa and Europe.

The sun’s the moon and I have no working definition of carrying the one. You can tell me that the blood moon swells in the east but the heart beats/palpitates and the rain ain’t red. I am standing at the sink and counting the drips. I’ve had it with the blood moon, give me an eye moon, give me an ear moon, give me something anything like a spoon across the tongue to do me good and help me see, give me the moon that lets me know and lets the breath pass easier, please.

May 19, Boeing plans to launch a test flight of the Starliner capsule.

This is good, this is great, machine astronaut: round two. They’ve tried this before but “propulsion valve error,” okay, like the sky didn’t just say “no.” Have you ever been that booster at the bottom of a rocket that propels it through liftoff but ejects after launch? You fall so–frickin–fast. Who built you up? Who sent you off? How hard did you crash?

June 19, anticipatory headline: "NASA could launch the Artemis-1 mission around the moon.”

Exactly the glottal astronomical cocktease America needs. Thank you, God, our thin-fingered galactic puppeteer. Take the strings and gimme a show. We can track time by the things that fly through space but not everything that goes up comes down. And that’s fine, I think – the forever cosmic rodeo. All I want to know is where you are tonight and what the stars are doing next, so, look up. Count the days.

Play 4: One of the greatest honors… (11:09)

Katy-May: One of the greatest honors of my life was in 2017 when Anthony Dean wrote me a song and I’ve never shared it with anyone because I didn’t want to look like a narcissist but that changes today, okay?. GO!

Anthony’s composition for Katy May plays. Its is bouncy, bright, and sings many praises of Katy-May.

Play 5: Sir Gregolas Radio: Freelance (13:10)

Greg: Sir Gregolas Radio: Freelance. GO!

It's the class clown

Hardly ever on the straight and narrow

Rip Bong, sip a little shroom tea then I pass out

Struggle to follow times arrow

Bllack Jack Sparrow

Always traveling the high seas

Commit lyrical homicide

Weird flex but okay personified

Talented, black, hilarious and traumatized

Spit real shit never dramatized

Got dummy bops and all of them shits monetized

Time is money best believe I’m always occupied

Fuck a 9-5, a mindless grind

Cash a check in a ski mask

Hit the stage do a swan dive

Hit the dab then I freelance

Play 6: Our Favorite Seasonings (14:06)

Hilary: Our Favorite Seasonings. GO!

All: These are our favorites

The sounds of Katy-May frying something in her kitchen. On the following lines, Neos shake a container of their favorite spice/seasoning after they speak.

Yael: Salt.

Hilary: Jerk Seasoning

Greg: Garlic powder

Chan: Alishan Wasabi Powder

Katy-May: Smoked Paprika

Toni: Sumac

gentle cozy electronic music underscores

Chan: Alishan Wasabi Powder, from these mountains in taiwan, it’s wasabi flavor, but a little sweet. My go to snack is avocado cubes dipped in a mix of soy sauce, sesame oil, szechuan peppercorn, and dusted with the wasabi powder. it's like all the umami of sushi minus the fish.

Yael: Um Salt. My answer begins and ends right there.

Hilary: I will use a Jerk Seasoning blend on anything- chicken, veggies, popcorn. It’s the perfect balance of savory and sweet with a little kick. Okay a lotta kick depending on who makes the seasoning blend but I like heat. No complaints here.

Greg: Love me some garlic powder. It elevates EVERYTHING you put it in.

Toni: I mean in the middle east, sumac was lemons before they even knew what lemons were. It’s got that mild acidic sharpness and that woodsy spicy aroma that wants to be in everything. And when I say everything, I mean it's great on veg and meat but you have not lived until you put some on yogurt or cheese or on an olive oil cake. Or even in a lemonade get that double citrus! How many sumacs do I have in my kitchen, lets see- here’s one, here’s another shaker jar, another here…

Katy-May: I pop a smidge of smoked paprika in almost everything. It makes me think of Serbia and the ancestors of my family. It especially makes me think of my husband's mum, who was a tremendous cook. Her Punjena Paprike (stuffed peppers) is literally the best in the world. I have ordered this dish with the hope of finding an equivalent, but nope, hers is the best. Smoked paprika has a role to play in that.

Yael: Celebrate your sense of taste.

Chan: The buds on your tongue,

Greg: Turning flavors into memories

Katy-May: Revisited when the craving,

Hilary: For your favorite hits.

Neos take a little taste of their favorite seasoning and say “mmmmm” followed by whatever thoughts they wanted to verbalize. They are overlapped as the play fades out.

Show Outro

upbeat electronic instrumental music plays underneath.

Yael: Thanks for hitting play and then listening to Hit Play.

If you liked what you heard, subscribe to the show, tell a friend, and leave a review on your listening app of choice! If you want to support the New York Neo-Futurists in other ways, consider making a donation at nynf.org, or by joining our Patreon - Patreon dot com slash NYNF.

If you’re in New York City this month, we hope you’ll join us at the premiere of “Try This On For Me”: a full-length Neo-Futurist show by Lee LeBreton, with Anooj Bhandari and Nicole Hill. Enter Lee’s surreal immersive flea market and exit feeling more beautiful than when you arrived. Shows are May 12-21; tickets available at www.nynf.org.

This episode featured work by: Hilary Asare, Greg Lakhan, Katy-May Hudson, Aurora-May Hudson, Chan Lin, and myself, Yael Haskal.

Our logo was designed by Gabriel Drozdov and our sound is designed by Anthony Sertel Dean.

Hit Play is produced by Anthony Sertel Dean, Hilary Asare, and me, Yael Haskal. Take care!

Music fades out!