Saving Nina Simone’s childhood home // New Moai statue uncovered // Worst job in the art world

Hello everyone. Welcome back to Buy Amara. This is a weekly news show where I discuss contemporary events in the art and history world.

I'm your host and personal curator Amara Andrew. The format for this show that I typically sometimes not really ever follow is one traditionally used by Western brides. Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.

This week we only have a couple different stories, and I'll tell you why in a second. This week though, we're going to be talking about saving Nina Simone's childhood home, a new Moai statue that was uncovered on Easter Island, and the worst job in the world. All that and more coming up on this episode of Buy Amara.

Let's get to it.

Welcome back to the podcast. I am so sorry I did not have an episode last week. It was crazy.

First to start off, I am 30. Excuse me.

I am 30 now. I can't believe it, and it's insane. I definitely feel older.

You may have just heard me cough right now, and I am sick, so that is also why we're going to be doing a very quick, quick, little show. I am definitely, definitely not feeling 100%. So sorry, this isn't going to be the most energized version of Buy Amara, but I'm making it happen, so I did intend to record last week, especially at the insane place that we were in Topanga Canyon, but Jeff and I had just, we were really, really, really tired, and we didn't understand why.

But then, as soon as we got home, everything just fell apart, and we got very, very sick. I currently can't smell or taste anything. That is just completely gone.

My sinuses aren't full, so I've just lost all my sense of taste and smell, so I'm very upset about that. But on a happy, positive note, my birthday trip was super fun. We started off in Vegas.

We flew there. Also, shout out to the man in first class who told me I look like Britney Spears. It's funny, I've gotten a couple different people who have said I look like Britney Spears, and I had to clarify if it was young Britney or new Britney, cuz depends on how I'm looking right now.

So, thank you very much, you put a big smile on my face. Yeah, so that's that's how I started the trip, which was pretty cool. Vegas was awesome.

This is my first time there as a grown-ass adult. I loved it. It was very fun.

We stayed at the Aria Hotel, which was absolutely beautiful. It was like one of the nicest hotels I think I've ever stayed at.

And I loved being able to walk to all the different, museums. I loved being able to walk to all the different hotels nearby, and just see kind of all the sights. We did end up going to one show.

We were going to go to a couple, but then we just ran out of time. We went to Banachek the Mentalist, and we actually got called up to participate in the show and be on stage and everything. I fucked it up when I got called up.

He said, Banachek said like, "The gentleman with his hands in his pockets." But both Jeff and I had our hands in our pockets, and I didn't hear gentleman, or I didn't hear guy, or whatever he said. So then I was like, "Yeah, that's me." He's just like, "Okay, you can go sit down, you don't listen to instructions." So, I didn't get to take part in the rest of the show.

Jeff did, which was really fun. So I recorded the whole thing. It was like 15 minutes or whatever.

But yeah, it was a really cool show. So if you're in Vegas, I highly recommend it. It's a little bit of a trek, you have to go all the way to The Strat, but it's a very good show.

We did also go to The Neon Museum, which was freaking awesome. I loved it. I am a huge, huge fan of neon lights, hence why we love Miami so much or one of the reasons.

It's so freaking cool. It's like a big, neon light graveyard and everything, and you get to learn about all the different history, cuz they have like a whole guide book that you can read at the same time. It was really freaking cool.

All around had a great time in Vegas. Really great birthday, as well. Jeff and I didn't know how to gamble.

We got a little messed up just because I kept seeing people with these blue cards that they were putting in the slot machines, and like Jeff and I very clearly, like we don't drink, we don't gamble, we don't do anything. We don't have any vices like that. So, we kept like watching people how they were doing it, and we saw these cards.

So then I'm thinking like, "Oh yeah, it's like Dave & Buster's where you just put all your money on the card, put it in the machine, and then like you're good to go." And, so then we got one of the cards and I was like, "How the fuck do you put money on this? It's just like not working." We asked a couple different people, and we got confused with each person.

Cuz now that I know, like in retrospect, it's a very stupid question that we were asking, where it was like, "Well, I don't know how to answer." It's like when somebody asks, asks you a question that's so like, obvious that you kind of don't know how to respond. So then it's just like it's it's so obvious, like don't be stupid.

Anyway, everybody was very nice, but we ended up finally asking this guy like, "Okay, how do you how do you put the money on the card?" He's like, "What the fuck are you two talking about?" He's like, "You literally just put your money in the machine. That's just like a rewards card from MGM Resorts." So then, then we figured out, "Oh, fuck, you put the cash in there." Cuz like, I didn't bring any fucking cash, I didn't know.

I do not deal with cash, like I never have cash on me. So that is a big, big no-no in my shame on me. So, anyway, TLDR, we figured it out, we only spent like $40, and we were playing all the penny slots just cuz that was the most fun for me.

I did end up winning $5 though, which was pretty cool. So, yeah, that was Vegas. It was really neat.

I would definitely go back, for sure. And it felt right to be in the time zone where I was born for my 30th birthday. Like, it just it all felt right.

We were just a couple hours north of where I was born, so it just it felt good, it felt right. Then, however, things took a turn in the trip. We ended up driving from Vegas to LA, cuz then it was like we had our second part of the trip in Topanga Canyon, which was a whole other thing.

We got to the rental car place, and the guy was super awesome that worked there. He was really lovely. We get the car, and then we realize, "Oh, this is an electric vehicle." And the guy was like, "Oh, yeah." Mind you, we do not have electric vehicles, we have never even driven an electric vehicle.

So, very different animal EVs are. So we ask the guy, we're like, like we know Tesla, cuz like we've thought about getting a Tesla and stuff like that, and just like looking into it. This is a Chevy Bolt, with a B.

Bolt EUV, so it's like a little, a little SUV kind of looking thing. And we ask the guy, we're like, "Oh, does it like tell you where to go to charge or like how to charge?" Excuse me. And he's like, "Oh, yeah, no worries.

Like it's in the, it's in your little control station, like don't worry about it. You can look it up on the maps." And we're like, "Oh, okay, cool." When you don't know what you don't know, you don't know what to ask. This is where shit went a little sideways.

So, mind you, we are taking this car through the middle of butt fuck nowhere desert to go to LA. Like, it's just literally nothing between the two. I mean you have like little roadside attractions and stuff like that.

The infrastructure in the country is centered around gas, which makes sense, because, duh, that's what's mostly been available. So, trying to find an EV station turned out to be a lot more difficult than we expected. I thought it was going to be like Tesla, where it's just like, "Hey, go there.

It's easy to find. You can find Tesla superchargers wherever." Cuz with an EV, you either have a quick charge or just a regular charge. We were looking for the quick charges, obviously, because we didn't want to be sitting in Crazy Eddie's Cupcake World or whatever, the parking lot for like 20 hours.

So, we get on the road, and we're like, "Okay. Well, we can't find these charging things that he's talking about in the maps." So then it's like, "Oh, fuck, what do we do now?" So then we're like kind of panicking a little bit, our mileage is going down. Also, something to note about EVs, they're more for stop-and-go traffic versus highway traffic.

Meaning, you charge the car when you brake. That's just how this one went. I'm just talking about that experience, cuz I don't, obviously, know any other EVs.

So, when you brake, it charges the car. So, we're on the highway, though. It's open, you're just going.

So, our gas, or gas, our like battery level, our amount of miles that we have left, is draining quickly, quickly. So then I was like, "Oh, fuck, like this is going to be a huge problem." So, we're down to maybe we have like 60 to 70 more miles, and then we see that the nearest quick charge place is like 60 miles away. Like, we have maybe a 5 to 10 mile, leeway, if even.

Like I said, though, it's going quick, so it's like we're down to the wire in the middle of nowhere, and we're like, "Oh, fuck." But, like, we have no choice. We just have to go to this random-ass place and hope for the best. It was in some, what was it called?

It was like not Crazy Eddie's Cupcake World, but it was like Eddie's something or other. It has like a giant cupcake. I have a photo of it for you to see.

If you're watching this. But, we end up going there. Chargers are all open.

I also, at this point, I really have to pee. So, I just leave Jeff, I'm like, "You figure it out, we'll just figure it out in a second. I really have to pee." I run into the bathroom, it smells like total fucking shit.

But anyway, it was totally fine. They had like the largest assortment of candy. It was in- it was such a weird place to be.

But the charger ended up working. We were fine. Also, I had a list of places I wanted to see along our route, and we ended up getting to see one.

We saw Seven Magic Mountains, which was really cool. But then, you know, because the whole charging fiasco, it took a lot longer, because you have to wait like an hour for it to charge quickly. So, on my list of places I wanted to see, though, was the old, original Del Taco, stand, cuz it was like on the way.

I didn't think we were going to get to see it. We ended up getting to see it while we were speeding along trying to find this little charging station. So, that kind of worked out.

Anyway, so we leave the place and then we still have to like charge along the way. We find a Target as we get closer to LA, and we're like, "Oh, okay, cool. There's like a quick charge here.

We can just plug it in and then charge, and then we're like good to go for the rest of our trip." So, we plug it in, all set, it's like starting to charge, we can see. So then we just like go in Target, and we're just fucking around, and like just beating each other with pool noodles, and just like doing weird shit. And then, we go to the bathroom, we come out, and then we're just like, "Okay, it's been like a half hour, let's go check on the car." We get out, the fucking car was not charging at all.

We were so pissed off. By this time, it's like 6:00 or 7:00 at night. We just want to get the fuck to where we're supposed to go.

This has been a whole fiasco trying to have an EV as your road trip vehicle. Do not do it. If even if you are familiar with your EV shit, it takes fucking forever.

Maybe a Tesla would have been the way to go, cuz Jeff actually said, "Oh, we should rent a Tesla," before we knew we were going to have an EV. So, anyway, that it took a lot longer. And then, also, we're staying in Topanga Canyon, too, which is all mountains, so it's all an uphill drive, so that was that was something.

That was definitely something. It was We were trying to stay positive in the moment, and just laugh and be like, "This is going to be one of those things where we find it really funny in the future." So, we were trying to enjoy it in the moment, which did make it a lot more tolerable. It was definitely, definitely a way to way to remember my 30th birthday, so.

Anyway, everything, excuse me, everything worked out. It was totally fine. We got to LA, we got to Topanga Canyon.

The place we stayed, like I said, was insane. They had like a cold plunge pool, a hot tub, sauna. The hosts were super awesome and very friendly, too.

It was a really cool place. We ended up getting to see like some of Jeff's friends, and, yeah, it was pretty cool. But then, toward the end of that trip, we started feeling like really tired and just kind of not well.

Like, we didn't feel not well, but we just felt really sleepy. And then, by the last day, as soon as we were headed to the airport, we were like, "Fuck, like, we don't feel well at all." So, the plane ride was absolutely fucking terrible. We got home.

I slept the next day for like 18 hours, and just, yeah, I This has not been a good, good week, I'll just say that. So, anyway, on top of trying to catch up with work and all these various different things, cuz like, I mean, I have deadlines in my business, like I have to get people their shit, so. Anyway, just been just been working through it.

So, TLDR, it was really good. It was an absolutely amazing trip up until we got sick, but, you know, I guess that's that's the price you pay. I hope I can get my sense of smell and taste back.

I'm able to smell curry powder a little bit, which is pretty cool, but I did end up crying when I made coffee this morning, cuz I haven't had coffee in like a week or so now, and I cried because I couldn't smell it or taste it, and I love like that ritual in the morning of having your coffee and smelling it and tasting it and everything.

I don't know, first world problems, really, but it's it's very weird not being able to smell or taste anything, so I'm having to ask Jeff, like I'm making food, "Does this taste okay?" Cuz I have no idea. So, anyway, it's very weird, I hate it, and it's stupid, and I hope it's over soon. So, anyway, those are my life updates.

I do have one update though, related to a story that I've talked about before. So, in episode 22, we talked about how Hermès was suing Mason Rothschild for his NFT collection, MetaBirkins, and how Hermès won the case.

Despite Hermès winning the case though, Rothschild was still selling MetaBirkins and still like selling them on his social media and everything, I guess. Which is wild to me. I just, I don't know.

I think I would be scared of more legal action and having to have more money to pay for lawyers and stuff like that, but whatever. You do you, I guess. So, Hermès was not super happy when they found out that Rothschild was still selling and promoting his MetaBirkin collection.

So, now they're seeking an injunction against him. In their request, they stated, quote, "Rothschild will continue infringing. He has shown that he cannot be trusted," end quote.

So, what is an injunction? An injunction is used to force someone to do something or to refrain from doing something. So, also, if you violate an injunction, it means that you can be held in contempt of court, and that could lead to jail time or really hefty fines for you to pay.

So, in order to be able to get set injunction, Hermès has to prove that he's done their brand irreparable harm, that other remedies, like money and stuff like that, can't like, can't cover the damages that he's caused to their brand, that when balancing the hardships of both parties, the relief is equitable, and that public interest would not be done a disservice by this legal action, which I have no idea what that last one means, so don't ask me.

What's also interesting, too, is that apparently, which I hadn't read this before, but apparently Hermès was also actually planning on releasing their own line of NFTs about their Birkin bag. So, I think that's why they're even more pissed off about his MetaBirkin situation. The main things that Hermès is hoping to have happen through the court with this whole case, is have Rothschild cease using the Birkin trademark, have him transfer any and all socials with the word Birkin over to Hermès, transfer any MetaBirkin NFTs in his possession to them, have him inform Hermès of any profits he made off the project since the trial began and then give those funds to Hermès, and then finally have Rothschild get in contact with MetaBirkin holders and notify them of the injunction.

So, the story just keeps going. I'll probably have way more updates for you in the future, cuz this sounds a little wild. Rothschild though, is not put- not going down without a fight, it sounds like.

So, we will see where this leads. So, let's just get into the show.

So, this is really exciting. Four artists are teaming up with Venus Williams to save the childhood home of Nina Simone. And Simone is an amazing, just incredible singer and songwriter.

So, the artists that are involved are Adam Pendleton, Rashid Johnson, Julie Mehretu, and apologies for mispronunciations as always, and Ellen Gallagher. They actually purchased Simone's childhood home back in 2017 for $95,000. Her home's Her childhood home is located in Tryon, North Carolina.

There were several failed restoration attempts over the years to like care for and preserve Simone's home. Many people were actually worried that it was going to be demolished if nobody bought it. So, that's why these four artists were like, "No, we need to save this.

Like, this is This is an iconic piece of history." So now, and they saved it. They stepped in. They saved it from being demolished.

Now the artists are partnering with the National Trust's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, the Pace Gallery, and Sotheby's, and they're going to host a fundraising benefit and art auction so that they can help preserve Simone's house. And this is where Venus Williams comes in. This is where Venus Williams comes in.

She's going to co-curate this show. The online auction will go live from Friday, May 12th through May 22nd, and it'll feature work from all four of the artists, as well as Mary Weatherford, Stanley Whitney, and then a bunch of other artists, as well. The home was designated a national treasure in 2018 by the National Trust.

So, that's why these efforts are being made by these various different organizations, specifically the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, though. That's through the National Trust. So far, they've raised $500,000, and they hope to raise $5 million at the gala and auction.

That would be really amazing to have just to be able to start doing all the restoration work. There aren't super detailed plans yet as to what is thought for the future of this historic structure. But, there are two kind of like scenarios that are figured configured.

Excuse me. Sorry, my throat is so dry right now. But, there are two kind of options for the outcome of the project.

So, the first is that essentially the home would just kind of be like a house museum, where you can just go in, and you can like pay homage or pay pilgrimage to see this historic site, and maybe they'll have exhibits, or you'll just be able to see what the house was like that Nina Simone grew up in. Also, that would mean that there wouldn't be any modern conveniences, like heating or electricity added to it, just because that doesn't exist now, and hasn't existed in the house.

The second option, though, would be to expand the structure with an addition off to the side. So then that would allow for modern upgrades, so like heating and electricity, while also still keeping the integrity of the original home. With this second option, it also sounds like there would actually be space for artistic and cultural programming, like an artist-in-residence program for emerging Black artists.

So, that would be really amazing to have, just any kind of anytime you can turn a space into a community space and, you know, invite people to be able to explore their creativity and things like that, I always think that's a really great option, personally. I would love to have the second option. I mean, I know my opinion just doesn't even matter, but I think the second option would be amazing.

It all does come down to funding, though, unfortunately. So, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, the auction can, you know, help inspire people to want to be able to donate money, and give more money to be able to turn this into a cultural kind of space. And to, you know, like I said, help people want to like foster more creativity and beauty in the world.

So, anyway, no matter what's chosen, it's amazing that this is actually just going to be saved, first and foremost. So, we got that done, that is great. So, let me just keep building, I guess, and just hopefully it can turn into some sort of a community engagement space, but I guess we'll see.

So, a new Moai statue was unearthed on Easter Island a couple weeks ago. I think I actually mispronounced it in the intro, I'm just realizing. But, we're just going to go with it.

It's a struggle today. So, this new statue that was unearthed was located in a dry lake bed in a volcano crater inside the Rano Raraku volcano, and apologies, again, for mispronunciation, I am an idiot. So, while the statue is smaller than others that have been found, it's significant because it's the first that's actually been uncovered in a dry lake bed.

So, while it's amazing that it was found, it's actually really unfortunate that it was, because then it signals that, you know, climate change is happening, and dry conditions are getting even worse. I mean, this freaking lake hasn't been dried out in years and hundreds and hundreds of years, so this is definitely a problem.

If dry conditions persist though, more currently unknown Moai could surface and could be found, so that would be cool. But, again, it's like we kind of shouldn't be able to find it right now. And apparently, researchers on site believe that these Moai haven't seen the light of day for the last 2 or 300 years, because the lake was filled in.

The lake was 3 m or almost 10 ft deep at its peak, I guess. Meaning that no human could have left the Moai there in that time, nor had they seen it at that time. The Moai are actually 500 years old.

I'm like dying a little bit right now, so I'm going to have to go quickly through these last two. So far, there are nearly 1,000 Moai on Easter Island. They're made of volcanic tuff.

The tallest one is 72 ft high, and they weigh on average between 3 and 5 tons. But, I also saw that some of them could weigh up to 80 tons. People's math could be way off, but, I mean, that's that's a big boy, or person, big sculpture, statue.

The Moai that was just found, though, measures 1.6 m or like a little over 5 ft tall. And it was found lying on its side looking up to the sky. The statue itself, it does have signs of wear and being underwater and everything, cuz that's just what's going to happen, and like corrosion of the actual material.

But it was still in pretty good condition, though. You could actually, it was, it was, quote, "full-bodied with recognizable features, but no clear definition." So like, you could see what it was, but it just, it wasn't as sharp and defined, cuz, obviously, water is very erosive. Again, like I said, super quick story.

There are currently no plans to remove the Moai from where it is, so I think it's just going to sit there for now. The team who's doing the excavating is also searching for the tools that were used to carve the Moai, as well as other writings. So, and like I said, maybe they'll actually find more, because this lake bed is completely empty now, but I guess we'll see if I have updates for you in the future.

There are some really terrible jobs out there, and especially in the art world. It feels like, I don't know, it feels like that's all you hear about are the horror stories of people's shitty jobs that they do or don't do, or wouldn't even think of doing, or do, I don't know. I did come across two separate articles a about a week or two ago, both about terrible jobs in the art world.

One of these jobs was apparently about a job that the New York Times called, quote, "the worst job ever." I think that's a little dramatic, personally. I think that there are way fucking worse jobs than this job, but, we're going to we're going to dive into it just a little bit. So, the job posting is still up if you want to if you want to take a look for it.

The job is to be an executive or personal assistant for a very well-known art family, I guess. Obviously, it doesn't say who it is. You need a 4-year degree, it's a full-time permanent position, you have to be experienced, and it has the salary, though, this is what got me.

I know New York money is different than like any other place money. The salary is $65,000 to $95,000 per year. That's not too bad.

There are definitely some jobs in New York that pay like $30,000. That really suck ass. So, could be worse.

It's a full-time, salaried position with 2 weeks vacation built in. You also get healthcare, dental, vision, and 401k plan, so it could be worse. There are a lot of responsibilities to this job, though, which maybe that's why people were freaking out.

Essentially, it's kind of broken up into travel, calendars and appointments, personal home duties, and then other duties, which is always that's that's where they'll get you. In the travel, essentially what you're doing is you are the coordinator for their travel plans. Calendars and appointments, you're just helping them live their life, I guess.

You have to kind of take care of their entire home and, do appointments and schedules and payments and maintenance and all that wonderful shit. Errands, obviously, cuz nobody likes to do them. If you do, you're insane.

And then, like all the random stuff of answering the phone and drafting out thank you notes and, all assisting in content creation for social media. That one got me, that one I was like, "Really? On top of all the other things you have to do?" apparently you also have to like help nanny the kid, even though the kid has a nanny.

I don't know, there's there's a lot to this job. It does sound very intense, but you are getting paid well, I would say. I know it's not the same, again, in New York money, that's like no money, but I still think that's pretty good.

It's not like they're like, "Oh, $20,000, and you have to do all this," cuz I've definitely seen those jobs, and that sucks. So, I do think it's a little, a little hyperbolic to call it the worst job ever, because if you really need a job, you wouldn't you would you would think it was not great, but if you really, really, really need a job, and you're that dire straits, you kind of don't care at that point.

So whoever wrote that article, I think, has never been in that position, they've had somebody they can fall back on, that it's just like, "Yeah, whatever." I don't know. I've I've lots of thoughts on the thought process of calling it the worst job ever, cuz that to me is a sign that you have the privilege to be able to say that.

I know privilege is such a fucking big ass word to throw around, but I don't know. Just calling it the worst job ever bothered me, and I don't know why. I think because there's so many worse jobs in the world that actually exist, versus having to do somebody's errands and run to get their coffee.

That's not bad. That's really not that bad. I would rather do that than fucking have to scrape dead things off the side of the road.

Like, that's a pretty bad job to me. Anyway, I digress. So in keeping with all these shitty art jobs, I also saw a bunch of other, in this article, jobs that have existed in the art world, so I just wanted to read a couple of them to you, cuz I thought they were really interesting.

So, one of them was head of coffee at the Tate. They wanted to hire a coffee expert who would be able to, assess the quality of espresso, operate the museum's four different locations, and handle sales and blah, blah, blah. The position, though, was $6,500 more a year than most curatorial positions within the museum.

That is such a middle fucking finger to people. Oh, my god, that is That's insane. The other one that I thought was absolutely insane was from 2021 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.

They posted a job listing seeking a director who could maintain its, quote, "traditional core white art audience," end quote. That was in the job listing for the director of the museum. Needless to say that institution's president resigned, which he should have just been fired, cuz that's How do you even put that in a fucking job description is beyond me.

They resigned, and then now the museum is claiming that they're working to make the work culture better or whatever, but whatever. If that's already in your DNA and in your in your, if you thought that was okay to even put in a job listing, you got a lot of work to do. The next one is collecting grocery lists from a 2015 project.

This one's just weird. So, the artist paid part-time volunteers to collect grocery lists from shoppers at farmers markets. I don't know what ever became of the lists.

It doesn't really say here, but maybe they're probably included in some sort of installation or maybe a meal was made, I'm not really too sure. The last one that I thought was really bizarre was, paying people to just sit in a gallery. Or they could they could do whatever they wanted, but they had to be within the gallery from 10:00 a.m.

To 6:00 p.m., it looks like. And, they could do whatever they wanted, but they had to converse the entire time, which was very odd. So, I don't know, there's some very, very weird, weird, weird jobs, that exist in the world.

So, I think calling this one the worst job in the world is, it's a bit of a stretch. I don't really, I don't really agree, necessarily, but that's just me. Anywho, sorry.

Thanks so much for listening. Sorry, this was a really quick episode. I just am about to die, so I need to go lie down.

Like this episode if you liked it. It probably sucked, so I'm so sorry. I'll I'll hopefully be back to normal by next week, but we'll find out.

Subscribe and I'm Amara Andrew, and never stop creating.

Jesus Christ.