Oh, the Hall of Fame has never looked better. Greg Popovich. Oh, we're not talking about that. I'll show. Okay. Sorry. Run it back. Starts now. Run it up. Run it back. Run it up. Run it back. Run it back. Run it up. Yep. This is Run It Back. And Shams, I mean, we'll get to Chandler and Eddie. That's important. But Shams is coming to us live from the greatest statue of the greatest player of all time. Shams is at the United Center because he can be. I mean, do we have to do any of it? No. We don't. Shams, good morning. Chandler, Eddie. Also, good morning to you guys. I mean, that might be the greatest shot ever taken. Well done, sir. Well done. All right. We're going to get right into things. Is it because I'm in it, Michelle? Or no. Oh, yeah. I mean, is there anyone who's been it? I can't tell. It's really, it's very artsy. The lighting is very nice. You've got, you've got good things happening right now. Let's talk some basketball, shall we? How about Celtics and Wizards winning this one? I don't know what's going on on the screen right now, so I'm just going to keep talking like I know what's going on. But here we go. Wizards won this one. Pretty big 130, 111. It's kind of an embarrassing loss, quite frankly, for Boston. But the Wizards didn't have Kuzma. They didn't have Beale. They just didn't have a lot of people and they somehow won this game. Big, big game. But Shams, let's start with you. Kristops, is he in for another big payday in his career? Yes. I'm told that the Wizards and Kristops are in serious, active conversations on a potential new contract extension that would have him potentially opting out of his deal. He's eligible for a four-year, maximum $180 million extension. They have a deadline of late June to come to an agreement on this potential extension. So he has the ability, he has a $36 million player option. He can opt out of his contract and a free agency. But I'm told there is mutual interest in both sides on getting a deal done. And when you look at the Wizards, bigger picture. They're the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference in the playoffs. They're playing for lottery balls at this point. Bradley Beal, Kyle Kuzma have missed the last several games with injuries. I would not be surprised if both were essentially shut down for the rest of the season and do not play. And Porzingis has had a massive season, a rejuvenated season, an all-star caliber year. So look for him to potentially get a new deal done. And Kuzma is a guy where if he could extend, he would extend as well right now. But he's got a $12 million player option. I expect him to potentially reach a new deal himself with the Wizards. I think there's a shared goal there.  Clearly they feel like this is the direction they're going to go in. Yeah, it's tough, right? Because they're not winning. They have a great core. These three players seem to be finding very efficient. 50% from the field, 39 from three. He looks like the player that we thought he was going to be in Dallas with Luca. And I don't see them getting anything else, right? So why not build with this core? They kind of can do it all. Their window is now. They can mix up with some draft picks of young guys kind of built around these guys. I don't think that's really a destination.  And these three guys have shown that they can have big, big games. They can impact winning and they all deserve a big payday. And I think they're going to get it. But this game last night it just shows you, man, how weird the NBA is. This team's shorthanded has no business beating the Boston Celtics last night. And it happens and there's really no easy nights. There's no off nights and Przinga's last night, he looked like an all-star. He looked like a contract extension. He's still young. He's still has plenty of years left to play. So he deserves it. Kuzma deserves it. Brad Beale has, you know, he's been in and out of the lineup. But he's one of my favorite players. He's a two-way player. He can shoot the ball. He can score. But I like their core. It's just the Eastern Conference is so deep, man. Like I don't see them winning with this core but I like them kind of sticking together. I'm with Chandler. I get these three guys as individuals but you're giving Chris that is his second max contract of his career. You have Brad Beale and a super max already. So what is your flexibility going forward? Their graphics are all over the place going forward as well. So you're buying into that trio and good players on their own in a vacuum. But when you look at the Eastern Conference, the Knicks are getting better and have a ton of flexibility. The Sixers are what they are. The Celtics have their future pretty much tied up between two superstars. The Bucks are the best player in the league. And then you even look at the Nets, the Cavs, these other teams, they have bright futures. They have young stud players, all-stars that they're building around and a ton of flexibility going forward on top of that. You then add on top of that. Are they going to eclipse any of those teams? I'm not exactly understanding what's going on here but I guess retain your guys. That's the best you can do for now and go forward. But at their best this year, it's a little confusing but I guess you're signing your guys and you're keeping your guys and you're seeing if you can grow from there. They don't have much of a choice. It seems sort of depressing when you put it like that. Eddie, thank you so much. Can we talk Celtics for a moment here because they are obviously very much in the contending part of the season. They're supposed to be vying for a championship but they make a loss like this happen. How bad of a look was this for them, Eddie?  They're pretty much set in the two seed. There are seven of their last 10 right now. It's not like they're just throwing away the season. That four game losing streak they had is long gone. They lost a tough game to the Utah Jazz.  Like the Rockets game felt uglier than this. It happens. Chris Daps went off the Wizards had a good night from the field and I think what you do wonder is in the light of the Jalen Brown stuff and him saying he doesn't care about the ovation the fans gave him and the quotes he made about Jayce Tatum and Brad Stevens you go, hey, are they having the warriors thing? Like are they not getting alone? But again, they won seven their last 10. They're locked into the two seed. They're going to have a beneficial opening round matchup and they're just wanting to finals. What I do wonder is, is this the reality though? Like they got injured and all the issues they were having with their injuries they barely beat the books and without Chris Middleton. So do we kind of regress back to the mean it's like, yo, they're just a tier below those teams. I don't know maybe we see that in the playoffs but I think they're fine. Chandler, you agree? Yeah, I agree. Listen, it's one game at the end of the season. They have been playing pretty well. They just didn't look good last night. It's just everybody's beatable. It's crazy. You look across the board that this game shows you a couple other games last night and show you that there's no freebies, right? There is no easy games and this Boston Celtics team is pretty consistent. They can play well together offensively. They have two absolute studs. They lock in defensively. They play the right way. They're coached the right way and that's how good the league is, how deep the league is. There's no really any off-nights but I throw it away to just a bad night like Bill Simmons saying he's disturbed. It's a bad loss. It shows holes in your team but this is also a game to, you know, you watch film, you go from this, you clean up mistakes and you don't let this kind of trickle into the next game and they move on. They're a great team. They're a contending team. They're a great team season. No one got up for it. Everyone probably took them lightly. You know, coups out, Beal out. No way they thought this was going to happen. It happened and it's just a game you flush it and move on. Every time I watch the Celtics really the second half after the All-Star break, it's like they're waiting for just a playoff to start. They don't have a championship hangover because they didn't win the championship last year but you just tell him to get together. He's been up and down a different point second half of the season but I think him Jalen Brown you know they're going to be ready once the play-off start and I do think I don't have worry of this team turning it on because I think they're really readying and preparing for the play-offs. Also I'm wondering if Jalen Brown is trying out for his next team next season . I don't because that game had just about every emotion you could possibly want out of a game. The Warriors somehow win this one, but they probably shouldn't have. The Pelicans were leading this thing by, I don't know, nearly 20 at the half. And then, and then Golden State comes out and drops 39 in the third quarter, eight of 18 from three. I got ugly. Steph Curry with 39 points. Some of those were a little bit nuts. Eight of 15 from three. Chandler, this Warriors team could not have more multiple personalities. I don't even know what to ask you about this game. What's, what is the deal? I mean, this just shows you, when you have a lead against normal teams, it's safer than a lead against the Warriors. The way they shoot the ball, the way they can shoot three being down 15 is like being down six. Like these guys shoot at a crazy clip. The game is never over till the buzzer goes off. And this third quarter was a perfect example of that where they took their foot off the gas. They thought this game was over and these guys just went absolute berserk in the third quarter. This is why they're so tough to beat. They know each other. They have a system. They move without the ball better than I've pretty much ever seen in my life with the team. They can hurt you in many different ways and they can lock in and play some really good defense when it matters. So this is, this is, these are why they're the chance, right? This is why no one wants to play them. This is why they're impossible to defend. They have so many actions. They're constantly moving. You can't double team anybody because there's so many shooters around. And this was a, this was a perfect example of why you don't want to see this team healthier. They get Andrew Wiggins comes back. It's just another asset. And this is this is extremely dangerous team come playoff time.  And I thought about this the other night with the Timberwolves and then that great game that that was, and the Timberwolves squeaked that out on a crazy play and a great shot. But they look like a team that's charging themselves. So we had the stuff with Dreymon and Ingram in the first half and he's going to get suspended for that. But you have that entire situation and you just have this tension about that team. And you can fill it in their arena and you can see it in this kind of the angry way they're playing. And then at third quarter, they're charged up. They come out of the half and they're charged up. They, they held the Pelicans to less than 43% from the field in the second half. So yes, they went crazy. Clay, Jordan Poole, Steph, they had a brazen at their quarter, but they defended. They went to a boxing one. They went to trapping Brandon Ingram and this the pelicans just could not get good shots in the late in that game. And it just, you just feel it. The Warriors are taking this game over. This feels like a playoff game. There's this tension all over the court. And they thrive in that. So like I'm starting to feel like every day we flip flop on them, but I'm starting to feel like this is a team that's kidding themselves jacked up for the playoffs. They're getting ready. And they look like yesterday. It looked incredible. This is why they're dangerous. The most dangerous team in the league. It's why they're the champs. And it's scary. And if they get Wiggins back, you know, maybe they might look like the best team of the league for last week of the season going into the playoffs. And it's like, how did we get here? How did we spend all season getting here? That was game 77 last night. So it's it's been a journey. This would be the weirdest trick played on all of us. If somehow Golden State just comes out and dominates the playoffs. Um, Eddie, I got to stick with you on this one because your man who is not easily impressed. I think that's fair to say. So this is the Steph pass. And I want you to compare it to the Luca pass that you were obviously not feeling that we showed yesterday. So go on. It was better. I'm so happy. This is being brought up. This was a better pass. I want the world to know this is right offhand crunch time in the game cornered and look at he led the guy. He led a guy who was covered against a good defender. Watch Steve Kerr. If you get a chance to watch it, watch Steve Kerr. He cannot believe Steph made that pass. It's further. It's against tighter defense. It's that's, you know, look, CJ McCollum, he's no Tony Allen, but that's not TJ McConnell and step is smaller. Like this was I couldn't believe he made this pass. This is the most impressive play of the game. Thank you for asking me much better than the local pass. I don't know if it's good that I asked you or not Chandler. It wasn't that nasty, though. It was it wasn't even close to be better. Am I in honestly? I get but if Clay Thompson doesn't make a 35 footer, we're not even showing this pass.  He was deep. I love that it was left hand. They were up 10. The game was pretty much over at this point if I'm being honest. And it was a very impressive pass. But the fact that Lucas getting double team had to keep it under the hoop slingshot it over. I'm going with the Luca pass all day long. But the fact that it was left handed gives him a little credit, but the Luca pass was just never ever. He hated the Luca pass. It's just a thing that happened. He hated it.  Draymond last night was just absolute classic Draymond. If you love him, you loved him last night. If you hate him, it was a long night. He had eight and six and 12 assists and two steals. But who cares because he also had a technical after an altercation with Brandon Ingram. It is his 17th tech of the season. Shams remind the kids what happens next. Yeah, if he has one more technical file, he gets a suspension, a one game suspension. But I don't know if you guys saw on Instagram, he actually used my post and said he loves Luca. But he thought, you know, essentially it was a joke that Luca's technical 18 technical file got rescinded. But Draymond, you know, we'll see what happens with him. If he if he ends up getting suspended, we saw Dylan Brooks, his didn't get rescinded. So Draymond Green keeps finding himself in this position where he's so close to getting suspended. Once again, and honestly, last night, he looked several times like he was going to get another technical file, but you saw what Steve Kerr said after the game. His aggressiveness, his tone, the way he he's so passionate, the energy that he brings. Yes, it can be a crystallize, but most often than not, due to his skill, his IQ, it's usually a benefit for the Warriors. And last night it was. Yeah, a couple of things on this. First of all, we know Brandon Ingram doesn't just talk, he's he throws punches, right? So this wasn't one of the we know before the Chris Paul thing is with it and he will fight. And again, this wasn't a basketball play, right? Like he didn't even swipe at the ball. He didn't even attempt to steal the ball. He just kind of bumped him and he got it. But this is the type of stuff where Draymond Green that he does, and he's very smart, right? And he's very good defensively. And this is his value. He's a better Patrick Beverly. He knows his role, but you can't be you can't be confused that this is a technical foul, right? You bump into a guy, there's an altercation. That is a full blown. I'm surprised I didn't even call that a failure because it's not trying to get the ball. And this is the situation that they find himself in like a Dylan Brooks, like, you know, like Luca, you can't not be there for your team down the stretch right now. How tight everything is. He can't afford plays like this. I understand his fire. I understand his value. I understand everything he brings to that team. But when you get suspended now and you're not playing and they lose a game in the season, they fall, you know, whatever seed they're going to fall. Now it's hurt. Now it hurts. Now it's detrimental to your team. And these are the type of things that they can't have because he is so important to this team. Offensively defensively.  He's got to not do things like this to be on the floor and take himself out of games like this. And now he's looking at a suspension. It's it's no good. I would love to know what the refs are told specifically concerning Draymond Green because I will go to my grave. There is no other player that is allowed to act hysterical the way he does in every single screaming how over and over again, like there's like an unbalanced moment that he has in almost every game. And then there's Herb Jones, which I think had a couple funny moments in last night's game, one of which is him staring at him while they're trying to submit. But there's it's a double kick, basically, or a kid. Yeah, it's like, should he have been ejected just for that? There's one game here where he could have been ejected several times. Eddie, what do you think? I mean, he should have. I'm with Chandler. The the foul on the foul on B. I was was cheap. It wasn't a basketball play. I'm actually shocked he didn't get a flag for that. I'm actually shocking a technical for this. Like I shocked he was allowed to finish the game. But here's the thing, the craziest thing. This work, this work, it absolutely changed the temperature of the game. It changed the way the referees called it. It changed the entire temperament of the pelicans. It worked. He got his self into the game and in a way that he wasn't. And late he was a monster defensively. This completely changed the game. They got the crowd into it. The refs called everything tighter. CJ McCullum got a really weird, cheap flagrant in the second half as well. It just completely altered the game. And it worked. And apparently it's exactly what he needed. They remind me of like Billy Ho from White Man. Can't jump when he's a good for the tournament. He's cussing everybody out.  He's I'm getting my zone, man. Dreyma's getting his zone. It's kind of scary because it changed the game. And they won the game because he was able to stay in the game, but both players were absolutely cheap. And I thought he was going to get jacked it and he didn't. And I'm with you, Michelle. He has the longest like leash from the referees I've ever seen in the NBA. It's the way he can jump and kick and scream with two with a tech already. And just it's fine. I can't believe it cannot like Chandler, you played like this. Have you seen anybody get away with as much as Draymond does? I haven't. Like if her jokes to him, I think he's tossed and every player is officiated differently, like more physical guys, they get away. You can't call every single foul, right? Draymond Green does so much stuff. And it's like you guys are saying he's got a longer leash for whatever reason is you go into a game as a ref. Like it's like referring to Marcus Cousins. You expect him to say something profound and just mean and loud and obnoxious. If you're going to he gets 10 things to say and most players get two or three before they actually get penalized. So it is it's interesting just knowing going in like a ref probably the refs probably hate reffing the gold say words because of Draymond Green, right? Because of all the because of all the, you know, the emotion that he shows and everything that he does. It's got to be tough. But at the same time, you can't just you can't judge off what he usually does or the game before, right? It's a clean slate every single time. It's but it's obnoxious, man. It's great. By the way, Zach Zarbha doesn't hate it because it's more camera time for Zach Zarbha when you ref a golden state game. Let's not get that twisted. Zarbha has the best hair in the game. I used to always tell the money, your own Zarbha. Look, this wasn't everything that happened. He even got into it with his own coaching staff.  But the bottom line is this. This is the team that has been all over the place. We've talked about it. Your trust level Chandler for a guy like Draymond and we've seen him do it. I almost feel like it's unfair to ask this question, but as we head into this postseason, you still have the utmost trust, right? Yeah, I have trust in Steph Curry. I have trust. I have trust in Steve Kerr and this roster that they assembled and Draymond is a critical part of that, but he's like the fifth, sixth guy I trust most on that team. But yes, he does have value. He does fire. He goes berserk at the refs him going like you just out this this coach. This coach doesn't like like that. That's not like a normal interaction, right? Like that is that normal and everyone takes it how it is because this is Draymond. He's passionate. He does this, but excuse me. It's not it's not normal. But yeah, I still trust him because he's found this beautiful role in Golden State and he's thrived in it. And this is who he is and he is extremely important to the team. So I trust this Warriors team going forward and I do think they're only going to get better. Yeah, I remember a month ago, he was like, man, I don't feel like I can hold guys accountable after I punched my teammate three months ago. Looks like he's holding people accountable again. It looks like he's back at it and I trust them. They've done it. They've done it more than anybody else in this league. More than anybody not named LeBron. So how can I not trust them? And it seems like they're rounding in this shape again. Even that game they lost the other night. That was one of the more competitive games of the season I've seen. And funny enough, it was a Draymond Blunder late night game that caused them. But this stuff like he's doing this after every play like every single play. I don't know if it's one of those things where you're just used to the drunk uncle and you love him. He's your handful, not everybody else. Or it's just like, yo, we are sick of him, but we have a job and we're on TV so we can only do so much. But whatever it is, they need him. They needed that energy last night and absolutely paid off for them. I think that's what's going to make the off season interesting because Draymond anywhere else, I don't think it works, but I don't know that he's wanted much longer there. So we shall see. Bishams, I do want to talk to you a little bit about the Pelicans. They should have had that one. I mean, they really should have. And all we really want to know is Zion. What's the deal with Zion? Will we see him again at all this season? So, Zion Winston is doing more on the court. He's progressing to one on one. And after that, I think continue to do more contact. There's a natural progression with Zion Winston that we've seen the last couple of years. Anytime he deals with injuries, one on one, two on two, continuing to progress in contact and having no setbacks through that because we know this is a guy that six, six, like he's a very unique specimen. The way that he moves his body, the way that he he leaps in the air, they have to make sure he's 100% physically condition wise when he gets back on the floor. So assuming there's no setbacks, they're going to reevaluate him next week. And then at that point, with a couple of games left, you hope that he's going to be able to get cleared enough to play. But at the end of the day, time is running out. I think everything with this season is running thin. So you're going to be looking at really a two-game window potentially. And then the play-in, do you bring him back for a game and then the play-in tournament? Do you bring him back just for the play-in tournament? Those are all questions the Pelicans are going to have to answer over the next week. I vote yes. Does anybody care? Okay. I want to see Zion, just even if it's one playing game, I'm fine with that.  It's not sponsored and I just named it now, but they won three in a row and they beat the thunder at Oklahoma City. They don't have anybody. I'm not even going to run down. If you can name anybody on their starting lineup other than PJ Washington, I will give you a million dollars, but PJ Washington with 43 points. And I don't know. It's like they're breaking up dreams, Eddie.  They're the best events right in the league since the All-Star Game, which is kind of insane to think about. But they've been the spoiler for the Western Conference for the last week. And I don't know, maybe Mike gave them the nice pep talk that, hey, we're selling here pretty soon. Let's clean the car a little bit. Like, let's put some sheet on the tires, but they look great. And PJ Washington is very interesting. This is somebody who a lot of fans wanted their team to give a look to at the trade deadline. And he didn't. He's obviously still there. But you see these games? This is that late season stuff. This is what happens usually when the most teams are tanking. You get these weird box scores. You get these weird like Mark Madsen shooting 12-3s kind of situations. But PJ is good. And he can put, he can fill it up. So it was dope to see him have a big night. And yeah, Michael Jordan somewhere smiling knowing that he's got a few billion on the way as these guys are rolling. Yeah, they're clearly just a team that's that's playing free, right? I'm looking at this, this roster, Michelle. I wouldn't get that million dollars. I have no idea. That's why I felt comfortable saying it. No, I didn't. Who these people are, and it just shows you, you know, it's crazy.   I'm like, you know how good you have to be to be bad in the NBA? Like, it doesn't matter if you're tanking. It doesn't matter if you're, you know, a rookie of the oral bet. These guys are good, right? And I don't care if the team doesn't plan on winning. No team is going in the locker room saying, OK, we're losing this game tonight. That's just not happening. They're probably putting out this product of this, this roster of guys that they expect to lose. But on the flip side of this, this is why OKC is just happy to be their type of team, right? This is a team where yesterday I picked the Lakers in the mass because they are a better team. They have experience. This is a loss right here. And I know SGA didn't play. And they did have an extremely good game with those three guys having 30 plus points. But this is where they're just, they're growing and they're, they're, they're looking towards the future because games like this and Hornets are playing spoiler. They just did the same thing to the maps, I think twice. Anybody can beat anybody. And this, this is a perfect example where the Oklahoma City Thunder are in position right now to make a plan and blow out anybody's expectations out of the water and they go and they lose to this team with a bunch of guys that we've never heard of. It shows, it shows a lot, but it really just shows you that it doesn't, kids aren't going to go out there.  They're playing for their livelihood. They have children like this. So they're not just going to go and lay down and get embarrassed and get punked. And they showed it last night. PJ Washington had a career game and there is, there's nothing sweet in the NBA. There's no Gimmies. There's no easy games, especially at this point of the career where they have a long off season coming up. They have no, they have no playoff hopes. They're just out there hooping without a care in the world. So it really is crazy. Yeah. Even in a loss, I feel like we're still talking positively about OKC. And that sort of tells you everything you need to know about where the expectations are for now. We're to take a quick break here when we come back, the showdown between Donovan Mitchell and Trey Yong. Not disappoint. That's next when we talk a little calves hawks. I think this will be fun to do. This was a good one. Donovan Mitchell had 44 points, but it was not enough. No, no, Hawks win this one by two Trey Yong. This is a perfect Trey Yong line. 16 points. Ten assists. Six turnovers. Dejante Murray finished with 29. As far as the Hawks Chandler, how much confidence does a win like this over a pretty good Cleveland team give them heading into the postseason? It gives them confidence and this is this is another young team that's kind of on the rise and then and Atlanta I feel like shouldn't be in the same boat as this team but they've kind of not had the best year. Expectations are high. They got like Dejante Murray who's such a good talent. And when you look at this roster, they have a lot of pieces, right? I love the Sadiq Bay addition. The kid can shoot the ball. They have size. They have, they have youth. Trey Yong is a star. They just they, they're not very good but it's it's they're starting to find it, right? And they can they can't hurt you in many different ways. And when you look at these two teams, I don't want to play the Hawks either in the plan because they're they they're very dangerous. They now they have a great coach with a great system and Trey Yong can go berserk. Sante Murray can go I says Deandre Hunter is one of my favorite players who I was hoping would take a big leap this year and he hasn't done it yet but this is a dangerous team and this is a team it's going to be tough to beat four times or whether it's you know Milwaukee, Boston, Philly, whoever it is this is not an easy out. Yeah, I'm with Sandler about the play and this is what makes the play and so dangerous is that they could actually beat the heat in a one-off game and be the sevens and just that quickly altered the playoff landscape. It I think about the same thing when I look at the Western Conference we saw the Pelicans compete with the Warriors last night and yes they faltered late in and it was a very interesting game but you could they could definitely beat the Lakers in a one-off game and be the sevens or help push the Lakers out of the playoffs. Same thing with the Wolves like these young teams who can hit it who can hit shots from all over the place we have these dynamic stars it would be none of us would be shocked to have an incredible playing game and beat one of these teams and then put somebody out of the playoffs that quick. So they're fascinating to watch they are the definition of mid they're right back at 500 again yesterday they're doing the same thing one game off one game off but you know that also means they're beating some good teams just like they're losing to some bad teams and they're dangerous they're dangerous they have two great young guards and they can go with anybody except in the first round if they end up with the Celtics or the Bucks they're getting swept they're going home but they can absolutely beat the heat in the play and kind of shake things up in that way. Yeah I mean I think the Hawks if there's a team right now that really needs to make a playoff run make it make it in and at least see what they have it's the Hawks because they have a lot of decisions coming up when you look this summer Trey Young's future that's been discussed all year Quinn Snyder coming in you want to see what you have and I know that was a big part of why the Hawks went out and hired Quinn Snyder in season is making sure they're able to give him half of a year to really see what the group is like what players he might like and then you go into the off season and you make decisions on your summer we see John Collins his name is in every single trade rumor for the last couple years well will Quinn Snyder like him? What does he view him as? And and where do they see this going? I think that's why the playoffs is so important especially for this Hawks team but like Eddie said this is a team that's been literally the one one game over 500 one game under 500 then 500 then back under 500 like every single game is a give and take so let's see I mean they have an opportunity now to get over 500 let's see if they can do it We talked Cavs for a second they're in the four spot pretty comfortably at this point they've clinched a playoff spot this is the first time since 98 which of course that would have been LeBron time so as far as what they can do in the playoffs Chandler what do you think their ceiling is? You never know what the guards and the talent that they have they can advance and it's going to be a great series they're locked in the four seed they're not going to pretty much move up they're not going to go down and Nick's aren't going to catch them and that's going to be a fun first round series and depending if they stay healthy and Donovan Mitchell is playing like he did last night and he can explode the second round is going to be interesting no matter who they draw out of those top three teams they can compete and they're so young and they're so explosive that the travel is not going to bother them the long series is not going to bother them and again I think their expectations are you know getting out of the first round is a huge win for them this year so even if they do get the next in the advance whatever they can get in that second round I think is a bonus in their eyes and again same like the Hawks they're a more dangerous team than the Hawks these team can compete and they're long and I remember this was the one game I went to in LA this year and it was against Cleveland Mobley is so long Jared Allen is so long they have the defensive potential to be very very good mixed with those two guards I can go get you a bucket whenever you want they're a very very good team and I think their future is super bright I just think they're going to run into a buzz saw here in the second round and it's not going to be the experience they'll get and the youth they have it's been a very very impressive season and I'm hyped for JB it's a painful loss for them last night though they could have gone within one game of the 76ers they take that loss now there are full two games back only a handful of games left they could have stole 3 seed it was realistic with everything going on in Philly with their nagging injuries and just their kind of slide at the moment they could have stole that seed and you know I don't know how much they benefit from that you're going from a series against the Knicks to you know potentially the Heat or maybe the Hawks that we're talking about or the Nets but they could have moved up that's a tough loss to take but I'm with Taylor they're dangerous in the playoffs they have all the makings of a good playoff team they have the best defensive rating in the league and have for some time now and they figured out how to defend really well even with those two small guards at the point of attack so they had those two bigs behind them roaming the pain closing out protecting the Ram all at once they're dangerous and when I think about them I think about those two isolation scores and that matters so much in the playoffs and so they are dangerous now what I take them against Philly what I take them against Boston and that might be a little bit of a stretch but we wouldn't be shocked if we're going into game five of a series and they're tied 2-2 one of those teams wouldn't be shocked at all I don't even I haven't even put them past the Knicks yet I feel like we're really pooping all over the Knicks in this segment inadvertently by the way I know we're not doing it on purpose except for Eddie I know Eddie's doing it on purpose but the rest of us are being very unbiased and by the way that nugget down there Donovan Mitchell first player in NBA history to reach at least 10,000 points and 1,003 points I'm not shocked that it's Donovan Mitchell because he's great just that's kind of a big deal it felt like a big deal to me that we're not giving enough balloons to but that's all right because we want to talk some heat raptors and don't look now haha raptors 500 again guys not since December 9th have they done that they won three in a row it's another team like again it's a lot of play-in talk today but rightfully so you know Chandler do you think this Raptors team can do anything in the play-in shock anybody I actually do this is a team kind of like Atlanta where they should have been a lot better this year than they are and I feel that that they're kind of just now starting to figure it out and they have all these athletic bodies where they have guys so they're six seven to six ten that can switch defensively they can move their feet they can guard one through five and then they have two very good players in Fred and Siakam so I do think they're I think they're one of the better teams kind of in that lower echelon of the Eastern Conference but you can't make this stuff up Jimmy Butler says he's going to play hard and he's ready to play he does the he does the he does the he does the he does the and he ruins our parlay it's unbelievable how this works but I do think the Raptors are peaking at the right time and I think there's just like Atlanta that the bottom of the east it's top like there's there's again there's there's nothing easy this play in I love the play into I think it's exciting I think it's everyone a chance and I think the best team will come out of that be the seven and eight seed and I think Toronto's going to be right there for either of those yeah Toronto's dangerous and you look back at the trade that line everybody was just sure that Pascal Siakam would be on the move that OG Ananobe would be on the move that Fred Van Blee would be on the move and they decided to stand pat they decided that the picks that were being offered weren't enough and then whatever this mystery haul they were asking for for OG but three unprotected first and another guy they weren't getting that and so they decided to stand pat and yeah they went three straight this is a proven playoff team we've seen them do this before now even with three straight they're in the nine seed and they got some work to do but a dangerous team for sure again they went a series I wouldn't take them to beat any of the the big teams up top and that's who they'd be playing but it is a little scary to see them write the ship and they've got a wonder going into the summer okay now what because we we dangled all these guys out there we were willing to get rid of them now what do we do going forward are we gonna do the reset are we gonna are we gonna cobble pieces together and who knows but they look great last night and like Chandler said maybe maybe Jimmy's waiting till April maybe that's who it was it's like April is gonna take it serious and then they're gonna start winning guys almost there Jimmy almost there Sean I will I will say looking at looking at these four teams in the play in Chicago Toronto Atlanta Miami like I don't know who's gonna come out that's that's that's gonna be a really really fun plan yeah that's pretty good that's not a bad plan good ratings I would imagine Shams you're in Chicago what do you have for us on this on this Toronto squad yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna actually push back a little bit on Eddie I'm gonna speak up for Michelle right now Yaka Pertle they made the move to go get Yaka Pertle at the trade deadline that was their big move everyone was like you know what is Messiah gonna do are they is he gonna trade Oji on the newbies he's gonna trade pass you off to Yaka and he goes all in on this team with Nick Nurse and goes and gets a center they've really needed a center for the last several years ever since they traded Yaka Pertle with DeMarge Rosen in 2019 they've needed a guy in the middle they went out and got him they're 12 and 8 in the 20 games that Yaka Pertle has played this year and he's been a difference maker for them and this is a team that was under 500 now they're back over 500 and I think you can look at Yaka Pertle being a major reason why when you look into the summer free agency this is the guy that's gonna get I think in the range of 20 million dollars if not more per season in a new contract so Yaka Pertle has been a difference maker they did not stand Pat Eddy they made a move shout out Michelle shout out the spurs by the way March 29 2023 the day Yaka Pertle is now known as the savior is probably going to go down as one of my favorite historic moments in FBA history who saw it coming but the Miami heat yeah we've mocked Jimmy Butler and then he doesn't play but they're also seemingly doing poorly at the worst possible time back to back losses Chandler this heat squad does it feel like they're going opposite direction and at the worst time now it does a little bit but is there that they're my east coast warriors they're like a team for whatever reason I trust and I think they're gonna figure it out and I think they're very good offensively they're very good defensively they have the roster to actually be a championship contending team they're just not for whatever reason putting it together this year and obviously Jimmy is a huge piece of that him saying he's not trying hard and playing and they're not playing well they need him in the lineup they're not a contender without him but I do think this team has the roster to compete this year and not just get out of the play and not just win the first round this is a difficult match up for one of those top three teams in the east whether it's Boston Milwaukee or Philly I think Miami is the most dangerous team just because they're experienced they're best they're top they defend they have shooting I love Struce I love Tyler Hero they can really shoot the ball they can space you out they can go on they can go iso and they defend so I think they are the probably the best position out of those teams but like I just said that that play in there it could go either way all four of them teams deserve to be in the playoffs exactly what the play in should look like it's going to be good Shams is sticking around from Chicago he's going to have a big time preview on the Lakers Bulls game for tonight or as I like to call it Pat Beverly show when run it back returns and it's happening to light Lakers Bulls Shams is on the ground there right in front of the goat statue you know what before we get to the game Shams what's the vibe there feeling anything yet no I'm not feeling a thing Michelle but I know I will be soon I think I think I think when you look at this game though like the Bulls are have a two and a half game lead in the play in tournament race like they're pretty secure the Wizards like we just discussed their team that's directly underneath them at 11th and they're clearly going on a path where Bradley Beal Kyle Kuzma could get shut down so the Bulls are good in the play in tournament race but when you look at the Lakers every game matters and and they've gotten more at stake tonight and really for the next several games then the Bulls are just for the simple fact they're half a game out of the play in tournament race they're also equally you know whether it's a game gave in a half depending on the moment out of potentially getting into the playoffs outright so every game matters for the Lakers LeBron James is questionable tonight we'll see if he plays I assume as long as that foot is feeling fine you know we'll see what happens in pregame warm-ups but the the big news for the Lakers is after missing a game the Angel Russell will be back in the lineup tonight he's listed as probable All right Chandler you heard Shobbs who is this a bigger game for Lakers or Bulls The Lakers no question and like Blank Shom just said the Bulls are pretty they're pretty comfy right now like they're gonna get in the play the Lakers it's so it's so jumbled up with every game with Oklahoma City losing last night they have a chance right now to kind of make even more of a jump and looking at their schedule the Bulls Timberwolves Rockets Jazz they have a lot of winnable games so the good thing for them is they control their own destiny and it starts tonight this team just be you you know Pat Bev is gonna get them fired up you know Pat wants to kind of spoil their season so this isn't gonna be easy and then and the Bulls at the same time they are comfortable they're not just gonna lay down they want to continue to progress they want to continue to get better so it's really it's an exciting game it's crazy how the schedule worked out they're both kind of fighting for their livelihood here in the play-in but to me it's it's it's the Lakers you need every single win going forward yeah it's the Lakers for sure I mean like you guys mentioned the Bulls are kind of set in the 10C they're not catching Toronto the Wizards aren't really trying to catch them so they're they're good they're gonna play a play-in game and they have a chance to get into the playoffs but the Lakers they need this it's a log jam there they could potentially still fall out with the Mavericks still there making a run and so it's huge for them they just lost to this team they're now finally going to be fully healthy as Shams just said everybody but Mo Bamba you got Braun flying in from Houston after watching Brani light it up last night look look like a stud at the McDonald's All-American game so I'm expecting some fireworks some little jelly Shams is there but you know check out Shams they open up the whole arena for this guy he's look at the pool he has in his town I like that Shams right it's not just like some random place like this beautifully lit United center behind the TV it's pretty good look the best part of tonight's game I think for a lot of us is Pat it's gonna be Pat Beverly like if he pulls the antics off that he did in Los Angeles what is he going to do at home in front of the hometown crowd Chandler I want props I want everything I want pyro like let's do this listen this is what he lives for he's made it very very clear that he wants to suppose that he didn't enjoy his time there God knows what he's gonna do but he's gonna be parking at Chicago tonight look at what we're doing like he's already won this is a game with Zach Levine DeMar DeRozzi LeBron Jays Anthony Davis and who's the story of this game whose name is on the Chiron right below me Pat Beverly look at this he's killing it the man the man should be on there I know I love it so much I love that you're gonna be in the building for it all Shoms because I just again I don't know who's in a better spot today if it's Shoms in Chicago for this game or Eddie in Phoenix for the other should we talk the other game let's talk to massive games to massive games it's like we have like so much going on insider stuff going on all right so yeah it's Minnesota in Phoenix and Katie expected again to make his son's home debut fingers crossed nothing better happened look they have time right and it is KD as far as chemistry concerns Eduardo we'll go to you first of course your insider on this one any concerns at all that there's not enough time to build chemistry or zero concerns some concern I mean I think chemistry amongst the guys it's a good group they're enjoying each other they're having fun the continuity on the court that they're gonna need to make some of these things happen that they still need they need this week of games they need this handful of games and the crazy part about it is they absolutely need this game if they lose the Timberwolves the Timberwolves can climb as close as a half a game behind them the the Warriors are right there behind them the standings are so jumbled they need this game they need the Denver they need every game really if they want to don't want to fall out towards the they have to win this game huge game and the Timberwolves are coming like they load it chat is back and the Edwards is getting the ankles getting better every day it's gonna be a huge game tonight yeah Eddie nailed it this is such a big game but the with the seedings and everything it's it's super tight and I do think seven games enough and I do think these are a hard seven games and they're gonna be playoff atmospheres you know and it's it's it means a lot and a guy like Kevin Durant it does take time to kind of work him in right they need to figure out their options offensively defensively who's gonna get the ball and what scenarios and I think this next two weeks is huge for them and it's kind of perfect timing but it's a good problem to have anytime you can plug one of the best players of all time into your lineup with with going into the playoffs healthy it's it's it's perfect for them and with this team at full strength is extremely dangerous and one of the better teams in the league and it starts tonight and this is a big one both teams playing very very well and the Suns got their guy back in the lineup tonight so this will be this will be the game I'm I'm dialed into tonight this is gonna be a big game but I think these last seven games are so massive for the Suns to get chemistry with Devin Booker Kevin Durant on the floor I saw them in Chicago they looked lethal together they played only three games together you want to see them get game reps in Chris Paul, Deion Raiden all healthy this is the juncture of the season seven games a lot riding on it they have to get chemistry because you don't want to go into the postseason cold and not having that that camaraderie in that chemistry on the court so tonight's the start of that seven games Eddie will be there so you know Eddie how pumped are you for the game though like like are you I know you've been a lot of you know games before but how pumped are you tonight I'm excited man I'm excited the trip worked out Tommy Wise my last trip Kevin was you know things happened and here we are I'm excited I mean I think it's technically still a game with time decision so not here to break any news but that was Kevin yelling at me about the charger I stole and I had to run back up the stairs during the break so you know we're getting ready man we're getting this big day he's fine just whatever you gotta do he's fine Shams have so much fun tonight can't wait to hear all about it we'll check you out on Twitter of course and we'll see you well Monday my goodness it is Wednesday isn't all right we'll see you Monday morning bright and early we'll take a quick break when we come back let's make some cash y'all get rich we can run it back returns Spandall Casino's March Weekly Super Sweeps is here and you can want to share up $300,000 each week from March 14th through April 2nd every Tuesday through Saturday opt-in in any bed of $200 or more gets you an entry to that Sunday Sweepstakes Drawing see Fandall Casino for more details on how you can enter the March Weekly Super Sweeps well want to talk about what we did last night guys wow we're bad at this we are so bad at this it is now comical not one of us got a leg of the Parley correct last night so that can only mean one thing and one thing only we'll do it again that's okay this is we're just bad the sick part is I genuinely like I like all three of those picks like those they were no double down double down all right Eddie take it away let's try again I got wolves with the points I don't think they're gonna win but that's why I think it's gonna be a great game so I'll take okay wow good feel on that one all right Chandler I'm going the bulls I think Patrick Beverly and his shenanigans at home the Choms is there the place is gonna be live and I just think every team will thank your season all right I have bucks minus 12 I just think they're gonna crush Indiana but I will say this I might not feel great about my leg but I feel really good about yours guys so take that for what it's worth it's our Friday we will be back on Monday Eddie enjoy the game Chandler just enjoy your life in general and we'll see you guys next week


Let folks know that the meeting is now currently being recorded so everyone should see something that pops up on the screen that says recording as well as the meeting may be aired on a CTV's website. We're not quite at forum yet, forum yet so. I don't have to say all of that now. Yeah, but that's okay. Okay, all right well thanks Jen thanks for setting us up. We'll see you later. Bye. Can I make you host? No. No. Yes. Hey Matt. Well hello here we are. I'm actually gonna. Okay. Good evening everybody welcome to the June 13th meeting of the Amherst Cultural Council. This meeting is being recorded and so all participants should be aware of that. Pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. The meeting is being conducted via remote means, there will be no in person access for members of the public, but members of the public may access the meeting via zoom. The link was noticed and paid placed on the town site. More than 48 hours in advance of the meeting. And then if folks have any trouble accessing the meeting in real time, they can view it on the town's YouTube channel as well. And we can handle any kind of technical difficulties that arise as they as they come up over email. So I'll go around and we'll just do a quick audio check make sure we can hear us and be heard and I'll just read off my screen. Eleanor. Yes. Leah. Yes. Robin. Yes. And Rachel. Yes. And so we're at core I'm with five and I suspect some folks will be able to join us in a little bit. And I will pull up our agenda we this should be I think it should be an interesting meeting. Hopefully, we will stay within the 60 to 90 minute definitely within the 90 minute range and possibly within the 60. But we definitely have some things to discuss. And I want to thank Rachel and Rachel, we will. We will post an updated agenda into the onto the website so that we include this item on there but a discussion about, I think a discussion about the outreach efforts that you know every cultural council is required to make outreach efforts and we do so through our public participation. But obviously there are more systematic ways of doing that and we're always trying to increase public participation in our process. So I really just want to thank Rachel for doing the research on that. And Rachel if you're ready to jump right in on some of that right now I think it'd be great to just sort of you ask some really good guiding questions and I clicked on several of those links and I saw there's some diversity. Go ahead Leah. So we have. Did you email out the agenda or should I just write up notes. Oh, I'm sorry. I will share the agenda with you. The agenda is posted but I may not have emailed it out and that's my fault. I apologize. Oh, got it. Sorry, I usually get it from no worries. Okay, it's my fault. I'm a little bit out of pocket today to be totally honest with you so let me see. The agenda is definitely like hard to be doing things on time. I was going to ask if anybody wanted to talk about potentially canceling our next or July meeting that might be a good idea July is usually kind of a dead month for us. I'm a little busy these days and we have so many interesting things going on I hate to outright cancel it, but Leah I'm going to I'll create a minutes document off the agenda and share that with you in like two minutes and like 30 seconds. Hopefully. Yeah I already have a minute document, but okay, okay. Well, in that case, I will, I have not emailed it out so I can, I think I think you're good just to just attract us as we go. Because I neglected to add Rachel's discussion to the minutes but I will update them. I will update them and we'll get an updated set of minutes posted as well. Today and I also don't think that we're going to necessarily take any binding action on this survey right here right now so I think we'll be will be within the open meeting law constraints. So, I did also send out a set of minutes for approval. If we want to prove those real quick we could also do that. Yes I see. We're not in your head. Does anybody want to make a motion to approve last month's minutes. Motion to approve maze minutes. In a second. Okay, we'll do a quick roll call Leah. Approach. I'm a yes and Rachel. Yes. Okay great. All right, so the minutes are approved. And I will send those along to Angela for posting and thank you so much for being on top of those they really look great. As always. Okay, so, so Rachel, do you want to discuss now or do you want to wait. Yeah, because I'm going to have to go at seven o'clock anyway so. Perfect. So, I don't know if all of you had a chance to look at the email that Matt forwarded that you know I had drafted two weeks ago is interesting because I went through the list of the sample surveys that MCC for shared with us. And of the ones that I mean I looked through all the ones that they shared and picked out the few that I thought would be most useful for our purposes. And you'll notice that the funding levels of all the ones that I chose are actually quite different from ours. And I, so I guess that's not necessarily a reflection of how much money. Local councils are allocated but like how much thought they put into how to use that money or how to allocate that money. So I thought their questions were all, you know, could be helpful to us and I and I listed in each case how many questions they had in their survey right as the outline I don't saw that part in the email so I don't know if I should share screen or not or Matt I don't know if you could. Do you think it's better if we just talk generally about the, the categories of information that we that I posed to see if we want all of those types of information and to what extent to what you know how granular do we want to get. So, I don't know if it's better to just start generally just start with the categories I think that's that's a smart way to go about it and find out what you know what do we want to know, and then right. And I mean, I'll just say personally I really think. So the four categories that Rachel suggested were awareness. So awareness of us of our grants and granting. Sorry Rachel, you go ahead I don't mean to, I don't mean to take it. Oh no it's fine I mean yes because I don't have my email in front of me but I can okay. I have it up if you want me to read. Okay, so let's see and then there was the. So there's awareness. Because do people know I mean they might come across the events but do they know that ACC has a role, or sometimes kind of a very major role in funding these programs, and let's see and then how if so how do they find out about, you know where to get their information. I put perceptions of funding priorities I put perceptions because we as a council know what our funding priorities are but what what do the residents but what what do they think about how you know we prioritize right so I think, maybe you disagree with with that approach but I think I think it's more like understanding what people actually think or about how we make decisions. Where priorities lies for funding, and then the last two categories are really about the respondents themselves so who are they. In terms of their demographics and also to what extent do they participate, or in in the events and programs that ACC funds. So, I suppose when it comes to participation there, there are two levels to it one is just how much do these respondents. Take part, generally it doesn't matter who's funded the events right so whatever local programs are available regional programs and then to are they are they specifically interested in what ACC is doing in terms of programming so that's that's just maybe less relevant but it's more like what what are they participating in. So those are the four categories I came up with just generally speaking and. So maybe people can just, we can have a discussion about what we think about that and just just so you know the. I asked the first two categories of question in terms of awareness and perception just to have a sense of. Do the residents who are whose tax monies are helping to fund ACC's budget are, are they aware, do they know are they are they in line with what we think we're trying to do. That makes sense and if not is how do we address that from you know the the sources or the channels that would be most effective so it's really I think it's really at the core about communications. And making sure everyone is kind of on the same page to to that extent so please jump in with your ideas and thoughts. Just one thing I think it's funded through the lottery. No through Texas, so. Right I just meant that you know in terms of what people think like how are we directing those funds I should say right. Yeah. So, I will say I mean I think it's helpful for me to, I really appreciate you, first of all just doing the research and then putting these categories out there because, you know, it does both things for me it helps it helps me think about what do I want to know. And it also gives me a sense of what other people are doing. And looking through these and I'd have to go back and reopen some of them to figure out which ones are which but my, my, my personal interests lies mostly in guidance around well, I guess a couple areas one is one is what kinds of things. Do people want that they're not getting, because that helps us think about our local grant activities. So I'm in the north, the north borough one and they have a question. The arts and cultural programs or services that are most value to me, like I think in the community wide performances art exhibits and programs educational programs programs towards the elderly and adults programs towards children. I think it's really is really nice because it's a, what does the community want and need question. And I think that's something that we with our local funds, you know, can certainly as we we've, you know, we distribute a slate of grants, and then we can look and say okay what didn't we hit from the community values and things that we didn't hit from the community values we can then find ways to fund those through through local funds. But personally, I'm very interested in that and sort of a community values type question. And then obviously the other thing that I'm most interested in is are just elevating our profile for for prospective applicants, you know diversifying and expanding our pool of applicants and just just asking folks if there's anything we can. The problem is that the people who fill out the survey are the ones who are already, you know, seeing the activity so I don't want to overly invest in that but but I think it's still worth asking what more can we do to be a public face like we're going to do Juneteenth this weekend Robin thank you for stepping up to help with that and and excited about that and I'm excited that you know that we're able to help support Juneteenth financially as well. But we'll have a booth there and we can be doing some you know public facing promotion at that time as well. But I guess those are my two big questions you know what does the community want and then how do we, you know how can we be more accessible to them. Leah, please. Um, I was going to ask, I have like two quick things, kind of in the like, how do you send out a survey. Like, where, how are these places like what email lists are they using because it feels like we can't use the like cultural council because like if we want to find out how many people are aware of it. Like the people on our list would probably be aware of it so I'm wondering how they find this database to email. And then I also really liked one of the councils I forget which one had like a new place it was like an optional question and it was like we're still looking for new members. Um, if you're interested just put your email in and I thought that was great because it will probably end up being a little bit more skewed towards interested people and I thought that was like really smart to use that platform to look for new members. So that might be a nice thing to put like at the end. Excellent point. Yeah, I, well, I really agree. I think I'm, you know, interested in accessibility and like what people are interested in engaging with. I just wanted to note one question that I really liked on the Northboro one that I think, I don't know, I can see, I can see a world in which we wouldn't want to include something like that because I think it is kind of optional and it makes the survey longer but they asked like what do you think gives our town like a unique character. And like kind of what defines it and I just was really moved by that I was like that's a very. Just a touching thing to ask people like what they see in the town and then like we could then think about how we want to incorporate that or how we want to reflect that and the events and like the artists that we support. I loved that kind of zoomed out like what do you like about this town and what do you see in this community. That's like unique and meaningful to you. So I liked that they weren't just doing super specific cultural council stuff but I could also see us wanting to kind of save that for another avenue. Another time but I just enjoyed that a lot. Rachel did Northboro post their results anywhere. No, I included the results where we're available and because the links from the MCC were for the last fiscal years survey so some of them by the time that I was sending the email to you and Julian for this meeting we're already not available for viewing. So no, I was not I didn't see it but but I think Rockland posted their results so you can see how certain cultural councils are very much on top of these things are very proactive about, you know, getting this information out and updating it. And then what I thought was interesting is that the Falmouth for the amount of grant allocation they have how detailed they got with their surveys and I thought oh wow like so I wonder you know what the response rate would have been. So if, like, I agree with all of you that I found Northboro's survey really interesting how they did it. And so if there were like one or two that we think are worth consulting in more detail I'd be happy to just contact those people and ask them, you know, to say to you would you mind. You know, sharing what you found was useful about the survey or you know results or if they would have any suggestions for us doing something like this but you know that's that's just just a thought that just occurred to me so. Leah. I was going to add on I also. Oh, please go ahead. Oh, I was going to say I really liked fall follow out survey, especially like when they went into demographics they asked about like, they said what's your connection to the arts and cultural life like are you consuming. Are you an artist yourself. Are you like a volunteer. And I thought that was interesting. And then also asking when they said how would you rate it. Like one is like getting stronger and one's like getting weaker so like asking about how they think the trajectory has been especially for like longer residents like because if they think it's like, okay, we might want to see if they thought it was bad but getting better or not good but getting worse. I don't know I thought that was like an interesting angle to ask the question. Yeah, I think the. I, the reason I put in that category in our for ours about demographics is I think it yeah it'd be interesting to see what the current profile is, but for Amherst, right because the population is shifting. So it'd be interesting to have a sense of that. And we could, you know if we wanted to we could, we could get more detailed about demographics. So it's really up to us how we want to structure a questionnaire and we had to answer your earlier question about how the survey would get distributed. I think early on when the time when Mindy sat in our meeting. Recently Mindy Dom. And she had, I think she had suggested contacting. Jennifer moisten or Brianna at the town council to help us with the distribution of the questionnaire and I think the timing of it could they would be certainly in a good position to advise us on when and how to distribute it. And they would have a broader reach of the town as a whole obviously. And I had, you know, raised this thing in passing last time about well if we have the social media accounts for ACC. We could send questions that way, but I don't know what the response rate would be and how many people would see it in the first place so we want to move this discussion forward. Like, do we do we agree on the categories of information that Matt just highlighted as well. And I think Eleanor supported and go from there. Is it too soon to do a draft of the questionnaire that, you know, for our purposes. No, I think that's exactly where I was going to suggest. We go is a draft and you know I mean this being Amherst I think we, well you're always have to be conscious of survey fatigue and I agree with, I think it was Leah who pointed out some of these are quite quite lengthy. And so, you know, one thing about Google Forms is you can choose whether you want to do multiple pages or a single page, you know and I would advise a single page I know people have different opinions about that but I think a single page for me as a a completer. I like to see how far you know how long it's going to take me. And if it's, you know, fewer than between five and 10 I'd say items. I think you can get a decent response rate out of that and. But but yeah I mean Rachel if you're willing to, you know, take and I would I would also be but just because you've done the research and I think you've synthesized a lot more than any of us. So maybe willing to just sort of put together a few draft items and they don't need to be complete but maybe just sort of the prompts and then we could all brainstorm at our next meeting I would love to be able to distribute this. We're like at least a month before our, our grant cycle opens, because that way we can maybe gain some exposure on potential applicants, and also it can give us some guidance when we go into grant making around you know what are we. It may actually help inform what we're looking for. Ideally, yeah that that is that that is the case and I think that was one of the reasons that I think MCC encourages local cultural councils to do these surveys in the first place. So I mean I'm fine to just start I could I could make a template of a Google form with sample questions or just questions that you all can comment on and I think I agree that it's, it's, it's probably most realistic to just do a single page form to you know because I think that would have a better chance of getting more responses and, and I think the key I don't know if you all agree but I feel like whenever I get these surveys. I'm more likely to complete it right away if the questions posted me don't require a huge amount of thought. I'm replying to a survey that I think would be useful to whoever's asking questions and I wanted to give them information that they want but if it's going to take me too long to like put that information together and and give it to them then. I might just set it aside for the time being I don't know I'll get back to it depends on how important it is right to, to me to, to actually complete this and I don't know how important it's going to be to most people to complete a survey from the cultural council so. So the easier we can make the responses, the better. So I'm going to just use that as a guiding principle if you all all agree with that approach. I think that's, that's a great approach and I really appreciate you saying that about keeping that, not being too existential with the questions. Although at this I also like, as Leah said sort of trying to tease out the you know underlying values to, but I think you can, you can do that with a couple open response questions at the end and people know much they want to provide. But no I think yeah, yeah, yeah it's up to them right exactly exactly. Well thank you really please Robin yeah. I suppose there's any way to add a one page survey with the exercise text bills go out or the census or anything like that. Just, I doubt it but you know how they're adding registration for voting with other things like it gets put in with other things and stuff just. It doesn't hurt to ask, you know, there might be some competition in terms of a paper survey to circulate something and that might be a more involved process but it doesn't hurt to ask because we're going to be asking anyway for them to help distribute it electronically so we might as well say and we'd be happy to provide it in print if you'd like that instead so you know I think it's a good idea. Yeah I think it's certainly worth asking I agree, because if it's put into a communications like a townwide communications it, it depends on how many other items are in that communication right it could just get lost in the shuffle but but it will help us reach everybody. So, Matt, do you want to ask whoever's at the town or do you want me to ask because I'm not sure exactly what I should be asking. Let's get our, I think we should probably get a little bit further along in developing survey. Wouldn't Angela be the person to talk to first. Yeah, yeah. But I think, I think Matt what would be probably worthwhile doing is just mentioning if you know if it's Angela, if Angela is the person that it might be worth mentioning to her just say we're thinking we're planning to do this when might be a good time to just just so she has it kind of on her radar. I'll be happy to reach out as well and just sort of. He's a good thought partner and he's supportive of this. Okay, so, so do you want to just ask them and just or just tell them that with where we're thinking or planning to do this and so that they have it in mind. I mean, I can I promise you I mean Brianna has been great about press releases and helping us circulate stuff so they will definitely mobilize to help us with it. And we'll just have to, but I agree it's a good idea to get their advice in terms of timing. So, right. So I'll go ahead and put together a draft or template survey for you all to come and talk. Procedure procedure wise Matt, there's the, is it okay if I send it to all of you or do I need to send it to you and Julian to distribute to the rest of us how does that work in terms of your meeting laws or whatever else. Well, we really just we can't conduct public business over email that's kind of where it where it breaks down a little bit so I think it's, it's fine to circulate a draft to everybody. But it'd probably be better to just send it to Julie and me and then okay, because we were then circulated to everybody and we'd also post it for our next meeting basically that's kind of you know the materials have to be publicly available at all. I'm sorry, I'm going to set Freddie up with something and I'll be right, I'll be right back. I guess. Okay, so I will send the draft to I guess I don't know if he completely answer my question because presumably between a time I create the original template and the time we actually posted for the town. The next meeting is we'll we might have some discussion or something or is that not allowed, I don't know, but, but hopefully we could, you all can, you know, add and revise and edit the form before our next meeting right, or at least have a chance to look at it I don't know, see what Matt and Julian say about how it work, it would work. And do you think one optional question at the end would be sufficient, or do they need to be maybe another one, like, I would think one, sorry. No, no, no, no, no, because, yeah, because I think I think almost like as I agree as minimalistic as possible and I do think like this doesn't have to be our only survey ask thing, you know, like I think in the future we could do something where we're more trying to distill like the values of people like what they value about the town or that kind of thing. But I think we could potentially do that through something else like, I think we should prioritize getting like as many responses as possible for this one is what I would think. Okay. Yeah, sounds good. All right. Well again Rachel I can't thank you enough and I think this is really you know this is something that we needed to get stronger in and I'm just so happy that you've taken the lead on helping us because I think the community participation aspect both in terms of our membership. And also in terms of grantees you know that's that really is what we're we're here for that's our job. So thank you. And on that note just because I'm sure folks are wondering we, we were supposed to have some interviews this week, but June schedules are already starting to get a little crazy so it sounds like we're going to have interviews at the end of the month for for additional slots so if anybody is wondering, we will definitely keep you posted as as that gets closer to reality. So how many. People are applying in our interest. I don't, I haven't. That stuff comes to us pretty, pretty late in the process I haven't seen any lists actually like we, you know really they set up the interviews and then we usually get the, the CAF forms, like a day or two in advance just because they're, you know there's a lot of back and Paul and Angela and the perspective people. Some people filled out this form, you know, two years ago and they're like, why you call you know why you don't call me so so they have to kind of weed through find find folks who are interested. So, I know they're working on it they're also a little short staffed in in town hall, you know, no surprise. So, okay so I want to move on to the other business I just wanted before I forget I want to mention to all of you. If you go to any events yourself, yourselves. And you know how there's always advertising somewhere on at the venue it's like you know sponsors of whatever sign and then they'll have all the sponsors and whatever. Right, posted. And if you, if we all could just maybe look to see whether somewhere on that public advertisingizing board or whatever signage. There's somewhere there's a QR code that that would actually lead people to a very short survey about that event itself. I'm not going to find out about this and you know like three question thing. I'm not saying that that is exists already but I'm just curious whether a mechanism has been put in that place and I will ask the question to is Jay our contact right MCC to see if there's something like that is everything you know every time somebody every time an event is happening. There is that mechanism for people to respond through through some kind of questionnaire and which would help MCC collect data as well. So, so if you. That doesn't happen. Are you asking if MCC does not have that. Okay. All right well maybe that's interesting. Okay. I will ask them, have they, you know, what they want to do that or not because I think I've been going to events where at the end, there's always like please fill out a response to this right and I'm sure you've seen that too. So, that's, that's a broader. Well, I'm not sure where we could certainly create a QR code with the link to the survey you're talking about and yeah that's for our that's for our survey but I'm talking about kind of at the other end once whatever programs have happened. We have like a response thing so it's, it's not directly related to our survey and just. I was just curious whether you've noticed something like that where it's used as a as a way to collect information about participation. Anyway, so that's, that's a tangent. Okay, I'm done. All right. Okay, thank you. Yeah, and again thank you very much for this work it really is super super important. I think are more. Well, I don't know. So, so fall block party planning. I just pulled, I just opened speaking of surveys the survey a minute ago and we've had eight folks respond that they're interested in performing at the fall block party. Two of those eight indicated like a smaller booth type setup which remember that was the thing Gabrielle needed to figure out how they would pull that off. So about 21 indicate interest in the spring block party. That was with two or three email queries so I will send out another email query tomorrow, but I do think we need to. Well, actually, you don't have to close it anytime super soon but but you know at some point we'll have to close it and say this is the list of interested parties and turn that over to the bid and let them, you know, run with it but I just wanted to give you that update that we have eight responses I sent out to the survey I think the day after our last meeting or maybe a couple days after our last meeting so it's out there in the ether, and I guess I would just say if you, if you interact with any grantees. Please, you know, please promote it remind them about that this is happening. I haven't like put a press release out yet on this. And, you know, I'd like to, but I want to I think I think the goal would be for the fall block parties press release to include this and they're trying to they just got all their summer music stuff out like this week. So my guess is they're going to start turning their attention towards promoting the fall, you know, in a couple weeks is probably my best guess. So and then Eleanor and Cody and Leah. I don't want to ask this question but I have to ask, are you are you with us until what September. I don't know, I think it might be really hard to be doing college and also. Oh yeah, oh I know I know. I want to I want to come back for the fall block party though, and the spring I feel like I'll come back for that. And I can work a table.  In hopes that kind of like the same thing that happened to me will happen. But I'm also doing a little bit. I'm like writing kind of like, like what the council like kind of looks like in hopes that like, like if someone is like, oh yeah I do basketball and it's October through January every day, then they'll be like, maybe this wouldn't be a good role like I'm expanding a little bit Okay, yeah that's great I really we really appreciate that. But so I think I'll just Eleanor and Cody and our have volunteered to sort of help Gabrielle get get stuff together because I, I mean your name came up at our last meeting but I don't think she's going to be a part of that part of that crew. So. Okay, I would love to like if there's like a table. I'll sit at it.  But anyway, so I think, you know, I'll send out one more, or I'll send out a nudge this week to our to our grantees, and then Eleanor I'll reach out. And then Cody about maybe we get a zoom session with Gabrielle just, it helps for momentum just sort of to, you know, connect and suss things out talk it through a little bit. Yeah, perfect sounds good. So, how many agencies are we looking at. Yeah, okay. So, go ahead, what. So, we have, yeah, we have Tobi's, and then Robbins and then Leah in September and I think we're right now we're sort of actively pursuing those the tune, like immediate ones but obviously we've let Paul and Angela know that that will have a third as well. But I think I think realistically speaking we'll probably go into the fall with with a vacancy. My goal would be to get you know the council fall for the grant cycle, you know that's, that's always the goal. But if it doesn't happen it's okay you know we can get five. Anyway, looking at, and then I will just say this publicly in case you know in case anybody we don't need attendees but you know in case anybody watches the meeting or, or if you're talking to folks, the CAF the citizen application for I shouldn't say there's a CA if you Google CAF Amherst, the first thing that comes up. It's the council application form, and it is a community sorry community application form. And it literally is a one click, and you're in your in the pool. So please if you know of anybody who's interested we are recruiting. The last substantive thing because I don't have any grants updates so far that's been quiet and smooth. The last thing of substance is Juneteenth and that's that's just a super exciting event and even if you won't be able to volunteer if you happen to be in town or adjacent to town at all. It's definitely worth it to zip over and check out Juneteenth on the common. It starts at noon and really gets going. I'd say probably two or three. It's a wonderful event and I did get an email from Jen today yesterday asking what we needed in terms of table. So we'll have a table and a tent and two chairs set up. And then I will print. I will print just some copies of our website frankly just you know to give folks a feel of what we do. So many hands to put in people's hands, and I don't want to make any promises because she's not here but Julianne was going to do a little bit of background research on potentially getting some swag printed up we have a really great logo. And it just dawned on me the other day like, why is our logo not plastered all I would totally wear like clothes with our logo so it's a really nicely done thing. She's working on it. I don't know if it's going to be I doubt it'll be ready for Juneteenth but I but that's one hope is you know, let's let's increase public visibility that way. Yeah, I didn't suggest that and how to get the word out. And then I thought, no, but maybe aren't the way but maybe they are. We are a stylish bunch. And I think we're friends. And if people see us wearing this gear, they will be more inclined to join. You can use discretionary funds. discretionary funds yeah. That's that's the heart of administrative stuff right. I will go ahead please yeah. I was just saying that will add to the survey that you can win a free t shirt. Yeah, answering this survey. Oh that's a great idea I know I was I was actually wondering about a giveaway yeah. I did ask Jen to confirm which, because you know our additional funds are the thing that allowed her to book her headliner, who is divinity rocks. So that's that's not the same. Yeah, it starts early. Yeah, and I don't know, and probably doesn't we don't need to know how we know how much that what was but the 2500 that we pitched in from festivals and projects certainly helps there. And then I will share this that I'm sort of this this festivals and projects grant the timing of it was really funky I don't know if you all remember but like, we submitted the application. And then we didn't find out about the awards until April it was like it was like nine months before we found out about the awards and then the actual contract came to us very like we had six weeks before before the money had to be spent that we actually got the contract. And so this year, really having you know having been through all that stuff I wasn't paying close attention to the dates, and the due date for the festivals and projects came last week. There was a last minute reminder that said this thing is open right now. I went to with Julianne and in the town and you know I just went ahead and I put in for Juneteenth again. And my thinking there was that I would obviously I would have preferred to have had a cultural council discussion about it it just totally slipped right past me. And so my thinking was that, you know, if we as a council feel differently if there's energy moving towards the spring block party we really need those funds to be applied there. We can always amend that grant we learned that this year that it can be amended. But I just felt like Juneteenth it you know it hits so many of our core priorities and it is truly a town sponsored event. And I just I didn't want them I just didn't want the money to go, you know, untaken so I just went for it and figured you know apologize later kind of a thing and if we want to, if we want to, you know, discuss further. As soon as we find out if we got the award then certainly we can and we can amend if, if folks feel a strong way about it. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. And that, that's really all we had on the agenda for for tonight. I'm going to. Yeah, which day we talking about Saturday, not Monday, or which I'm at Monday. Monday, so which I'm at Saturday right for Juneteenth. Yeah, the official, no, the hang on the official. Yes, no, yes, no. The official Juneteenth event. Yes, it's Saturday. Okay, and so the town or Jennifer or Angela whoever's going to make sure that you'll set up one thing I can't do is really set up stuff. Wherever it's going to be and then I'll just bring over if we have materials someone will bring that or I'll be there.  Yeah, that's fine with me. No, that would be great. So it starts at noon so be there, like 11 or 10. So the gents email says the tables will be set up by 10 and it's first come first choice of spots as people arrive at different times. I don't I don't really have no idea how many tables are going to have or anything. I, yeah, I think not a very big place. I'll buzz over, I'll buzz over at 10 with the materials I have to. I have a, this is more information than anybody needed to know I have a preschool gymnastics class at 1130. So I can be there from 10 to 1130 I'll go down and get that set up, and then I'll be back up for the headliner and and all that so Robin if you if you can cover from 1130 to 1230 that'd be perfect. Or beyond, but that's the gap in my Right. Okay, it's so cute. Okay, that sounds good. And I think the headliner is going to bring in a lot of people. Yeah, I feel really good that we were able to make that happen. Yeah. I mean, this is such a last minute thing. She had already created a lot of her materials but I asked her to make sure that, you know, we use a, you know, we that she use the cultural council logo, you know, and give attribution. I mean that's that's that's actually a requirement for the mass cultural council attribution. So I'll make sure we'll make sure that happens. Okay. All right well if there's no further business I hope everybody can. Oh, shout. Personally, I kind of like just having a regular monthly meeting it even if it's quick, especially with the survey question emerging, but shall we just cancel the July, the July meeting just given folks are going to be tied up. I'll second that motion. Okay, why don't we take July off and then we'll plan to reconvene second Tuesday in August. Sounds good. Okay. All right, well thank you all so very much. Thank you. Thanks. Take care. So is Julian.


What does it feel like to win Idle's SA? Liulou Yuba's spills the tee. Newly crowned Idle's SA winner Liulou Yuba is still on Cloud9 after scooping the title. He said winning the competition was a dream come true and surreal. Liulou beats Ninlandless Nazie Misami in the talent competitions finale at Carnival City in Boxburg on Sunday. He won a prize package worth more than our 1.5M, including our 1M Cash, a Huawei iMatebook X, GT Watch, B525 Router, 20 GB of Telcom Data, a Ford Fiesta 1.0 EcoBoost, AR100,000 TraWords Poucher, RAD,000 worth of Yahama music instruments and a record deal with Gallo. Speaking to Chvisa Livee after his win, Liulou said, I am feeling great. I am feeling happy with how everything happened. It feels so surreal. He said the moment he heard his name announced he was filled with so much happiness and pride. That moment is very special. Even though you are hoping your name is called, you are still so proud of yourself for making the top two. My name being called was just great. It was on another level. He said he immediately thought of his family and friends at home in King Williamstown in the Eastern Cape. Residents of the town packed the streets in celebration of his victory on Sunday and Liulou said he was honored by the support he had received from the area. I thought of my family and my supporters, people who have supported me since day one. I know that some people only started voting for me in the finale, but I am still so grateful. I was just filled with gratitude and even now want to thank those who supported me. The next few days will seal you Liulou attend dozens of interviews and meetings to keep the momentum going. I definitely still want to carry on with my music career as it is at the moment. I was performing before Idle's essay, but I knew the competition would really kickstart my career in music. It is an amazing platform, he added. I am an Afrosoul artist but the one thing that Idle's essay taught me was to be versatile, so I want to work with other artists of different genres and really stretch myself.


This is one of the best Caribbean meals that you can make at home. And to get into the Caribbean vibes, I'm using Le Creuset's new Caribbean cookware collection and this tropical colorway is one of their best. To make this dish, I'm prepping the chicken with salt and lime, just very important. Then to season, I'm throwing in curry powder, cumin, pepper, green onions, and green seasoning. And when you start sneezing, that's when it's adequately seasoned. Then I'm building a curry paste by sauteing onions and garlic with more green seasoning and adding that kick of spice with pimento and Scotch bonnet peppers. I added my curry blend of spices and a bit of water to get that curry paste nice and thick. I threw in the chicken and let both sides get a good savor before I added a bit more water, but not make it too saucy because it's curry, not a stew. 30 minutes, you top with chopped cilantro and this can be served with roti or over some rice. The Le Creuset Casa Dough cooked this perfectly. It made my eyes roll back not once, but twice. 10 out of 10, please make this.


Dona, dona, dona! And after we go to the tactical, we do it like the other day. We do the pitch, just to... Back opening. After... No, no, no. Coming back. Not sure. Still Kenny, Junior Christie. We were right. He said he says, but it's dynamic. Go, go, go!