Tuesday, September 22nd, 2015 | TechNews

 

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Electric skateboards: The bad

Austin Gonzalez
OPINION EDITOR

Last week, we talked about the ben-
efits of taking advantage of an electric skate-
board to go that final mile in your commute.
There are several prominent drawbacks.

Eboards are rather new and there
are some kinks to be worked out. Reliability is
questionable. Online some users report perfect
experiences, others have broken motors, belts,
batteries, you name it. An eboard is not going
to be as reliable as the bike you could of bought
for the same money. Miles of high speed abuse
and constant vibration caused my board to be
put out of commission not once, but twice this
summer. My experience with customer service
was slow, but ultimately I got a new motor for

free. If your board stops working, they say you
can kick push like a normal board. The key
word is can; despite what any company tells
you, the added resistance from the motor is
significant and you will not want to push. For
fun in the sun, eboards are perfect. As a daily
driver, buyer beware and always make sure you
have a plan B to get to work.

Electric skateboards also aren’t
cheap. Companies like Fiik, Evolve, Evo, Mun—
key Board, Yuneec, and Altered easily charge
$699 to $1999. If you’re willing to take a risk on
delivery taking years, crowd funded boards are
becoming just as commonplace. At this point,
there are five notable electric boards (Bolt,
Marbel, Inbound, Stary, and Mellow) that each
promise their own’unique features starting as
low as $499. The market is growing rapidly. In
a few years’ time, eboards will go the way of

ebikes with a slew of options and additions for
prices that are more reasonable than not, but
until then, there will be compromises.

Eboards are not inconspicuous.
There is a distinct whine from the outboard
motors that people on the street will hear.
People are also incredibly quick to pick up on
the fact that you are just flying as if by magic.
Some of the interactions are great. You’ll hear
kids scream, “WOW!” and they may even try
to catch up to you. Other times being known
on the block as the guy with the electric skate-
board might not be something you want.

And then there are the Regular Ioe
skaters. The board will give you cred you’ve
never had and most will argue you don’t de—
serve. There’s a distinct difference in the cul-
ture around boarding and eboarding. Eboard-
ers want to go 25mph and feel like they’re

going downhill, even when they’re going up—
hill. Regular skaters will bemoan that you can’t
do trick on a 14 lb board and that you’re cheat-
ing. People’s opinions are all over the place.
You get curious looks, confused gasps, and
even angered glares. If you care terribly con-
cerned with what people on the street think of
you, jumping into the nascent and still forming
culture of eboarding might not be for you until
the public forms a collective opinion.

Most of the opportunities with
eboards are growing pains. Try one out your—
self and you’ll find an easy and exciting way
to travel. The promise of fun, fast, cheap, and
convenient travel will prove eboards to be a
great last mile solution for more than just city
dwellers and university students. Just keep in
mind, deciding to be an early adopter always
has its caveats.

Goose Island 312 Urban Block Party features
a variety of mus1c, Chicago favorites

Kori Bowns
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Chicago is home to a wide range of
neighborhood festivals, each with their own
feel and atmosphere. Food and music fans
flock to festivals to hear new bands, try local
food, and see what Chicago has to offer. This
past weekend, Goose Island Beer Company
and Chicago’s 93.1 WXRT radio station hosted
The Goose Island 312 Urban Block Party. The
event returned for a fourth year last weekend
and featured two days of music, food, and beer.

The Goose Island 312 Urban Block
Party took place on the block surrounding
Goose Island’s Fulton Street brewery on the
Near West Side. The event was bordered by
Fulton Street‘to the north, Walnut Street to
the south, Wood Street to the east, and Wol-

 

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cott Street to the west, all of which were par-
tially closed oif to accommodate the event.
The block party got off to a slow start on the
evening of Friday, September 18 due to thun-
derstorms in the city, but the event proceeded
when lightning warnings subsided. Saturday’s
calm late-summer weather provided a more
pleasant experience for attendees, allowing
them to get the most out of their experience.
Both two-day and one-day tickets were avail-
able for the event, and, as an attendee who
only made it out to the Saturday portion of the
event for a $20 ticket, it was well worth it.

The musical entertainment at the
event came from two stages, a large main stage
at the end of Fulton Street and a smaller inte-
rior local stage for smaller acts. Friday’s main
stage lineup included Eleventh Dream Day,
Calexico, and Tune-Yards; Saturday’s main
stage acts consisted of Local H, Jukebox the

Ghost, ”I, and Matt and Kim. The local stage
featured a variety of DIS as well as performanc—
es by The Howl, Pelican, and Sidewalk Chalk

In addition to live music, food from
Chicago-area restaurants was also available at
the event. Food at the event came primarily
from three vendors. Beat Kitchen from Roscoe
Village staifed a booth at the event offering a
variety of pizzas, and Goose Island’s own res—
taurant catered some of their popular choices.
The most-anticipated food vendor, though,
was Chicago cult favorite Hot Doug’s, a res-
taurant that closed in 2014 and has only been
doing rare special events since. Those who at-
tended the 312 Block Party got a chance to try
unique sausages from I-bt Doug’s, including
their veggie sausage, chicken chorizo, baked
ham sausage, spicy Thai chicken sausage, and
many others, as well as their legendary duck fat
fries.

As Goose Island is a prominent
brewery in the city, the event also included the
opportunity to try a variety of beers made by
the company. In addition to the popular 312
Urban Wheat. Ale and 312 Urban Pale Ale,
15 other beers were available on tap as well as
two ciders from Virtue Cider Company. All of
these were available for $3 each at the event. In
addition, Goose Island also offered a variety of
special and rare beers out of their tap room at
diflerent times during the event.

Despite being plagued by bad weath-
er for the first day, the Goose Island 312 Urban
Block party was a great chance to experiences
some of the great things that the city has to of-
fer as well as take in the last few weeks of sum-
mer with good food, good beer, and great mu-
51c.

 

Photos by Kari Bowns

‘Made For Pleasure' by The New Mastersounds

Soren Spicknall
WIIT MUSIC DIRECTOR

Let’s face it: after more than a de—
cade or two of eiu‘stence, bands that are known
primarily for their jam rock or jazz fusion ele-
ments tend to settle somewhat into monotony,
at least outside the context of a concert envi-
ronment. On album, groups like Phish, The
Greyboy Allstars, and Widespread Panic have
ceased-to be compelling, with each released
track setting up the basic blueprint for a live
jam session rather than standing on its own
as a piece of musical art. While the American
and English jam scenes no doubt contain some
of the most talented and multifaceted musi-

cians of any modern genre, fans are almost
exclusively hooked through groups’ live shows,
not through their relatively lackluster albums.
That’s why, in today’s funk and jazz fusion en—
vironment, it’s so refreshing to hear an album
that is as fleshed-out, as genre-bending, and as
genuinely exciting to listen to: “Made For Plea-
sure,” fire thirteenth studio album in fourtebn
years from The New Mastersounds.-

On paper, the Leeds, England—based
quartet seem like they may be setting them—
selves upfor failure with a project as ambitious
as “Made For Pleasure.” Recorded in New Or-
leans (one of the fundamental centers of jam
and-funk) with a horn section from North-
ern California and guest vocals from North

Carolina—based soul vocalist Charly Lowry,
the album contains songs that could individu-
ally be classified as belonging to very difier-
ent genres, ranging from reggae to hard rock.
While many such highly-varied fusion albums
tend to fall flat under their own weight (see last
year’s puzzling Blues Traveler album “Blow Up
The Moon,” which contained uninspired con-
tributions from a dozen washed up alt—rock
bands like Hanson and Bowling For Soup), I’m
pleased to report that “Made For Pleasure” is a
home run for The New Mastersounds, and for
their genre as a whole. While exploring a vari-
ety of influences and styles (as any jam band
should), The New Mastersounds have simul-
taneously created compelling, taut tracks that

keep the listener actively involved in the mu-
sic. As the album’s title suggests, this LP doesn’t
come across as the concerted, international
effort that it is. Instead, it feels like a light-
spirited meeting of friends who just happen to
be incredibly talented at their various instru-
ments. In album form, these songs all stand on
their own, and their combined strengths make
for an album experience that is at once explor-
ative and cohesive. '

While no two songs on “Made For
Pleasure” sound alike, they all share the same
block party-style energy. This album is perhaps
the best of the group’s career so far, and is a

high water mark for funk, jam rock, and jazz

fusion in this decade. 9.3/10