Simpler Times Lager – Minhas Craft Brewery (or, the Trader Joe's Lager)

"Simpler Times Lager." It's a lager, for the simpler times. The name, "simpler" describes the "times," not the beer. Perhaps it's trying to strike our nostalgic nerve. Simpler. Simpler, compared to what? But then again, Trader Joe's is the last place this One Woman would associate with those good old days. (Remember this madness when TJ's opened in NYC?). Besides, I say good riddance to those simpler times when it was not so cool for ladies to drink, much less write, about beer.

But title aside,  $4.00 for for a six pack! Unbeatable! The cost makes this casual, unobtrusive, yellow beer an excellent choice for Trader Joes receptions, preferred by artists and musicians in the US, coast to coast. Seriously, what would the US art world do without TJ's?

...this is how One Woman ended up with a can of Simpler Times in her hand this evening, at a gallery opening at Warehouse 416 in Oakland, part of the monthly Oakland Art Murmur event. The space and rocket-themed show included a display of glowing alien specimen in tubes by Molly Reichert and Colleen Paz, and tunes by Patricia Chavez.

Inside Elwyn's studio
 

Also exhibiting, or actually, opening up her workshop, was milliner, artist, and DJ, Elwyn Crawford, who is the owner of O'Lover Hats. These hats are so lovingly crafted, look, feel, AND fit gorgeously. I love that Elwyn opens up her studio to visitors, and makes the work in progress part of the thing that she's selling. Asked about the relevance of beer in relation to her lovely hats, she immediately responded with something to the extent of, of course beer and hats go together - party people love hats, and beer! This woman rocks.

Outside, One Woman ordered a delicious falafel sandwich with sweet potato fries (very highly recommended) from Liba's food truck. A small sweet potato fry offered by One Woman to two more women (Ruth Boerefijn and Elizabeth) outside the truck prompted Ruth, an artist, to tell a beautiful story about how meaningful one sweet potato was for one struggling woman in a mining town in 19th-century America. Then, Elizabeth, also an artist, and Ruth's former assistant, told a story about potato peel pie. Potatoes? WTF, you may say, but throughout history, these grains--as nourishment, as commodity, as memory, and as national symbol, have managed to make some serious impact on the lives and livelihood of people.

What does all this have to do with Simpler Times / simpler times? Not too much. But without at all saying that a beer enables anything (as of now, I'm under the impression that beer doesn't have agency), tonight, all around, cans of TJ beer witnessed so many connections, conversations, and meetings, unforeseen, which I thought were quite lovely.

Musical pairing of the day: Tuning in to the outer-space and rocket ship theme, and exploration of the unknown, of the the show at the Warehouse the musical selection today is, "Cosmic Rays Dreaming," recorded by the Cosmic Rays, a doo wop / rhythm and blues group active in the early 1950s, led by someone you may know better as Sun Ra, since the later the 1950s.  Sun Ra biographer John Szwed writes that the songs and lyrics were based on dreams that Sun Ra had recorded. If you listen to it expecting the Sun Ra you know and love, the cosmic rays are shockingly doo wop. But it also has the unmistakable sound of Sun Ra.