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The BEST Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

I initially made these muffins as something to add into my daily “lactation boosting” recipes since I was really tired of the same things every day.  You do not have to be breastfeeding to enjoy these muffins.  My husband seems to think that anytime I make a “lactation” recipe that they are somehow going to make him start lactating, and my son calls them booby muffins.  This is not the case, I promise you men, you will not start lactating!  These are delicious no matter who you are!

I had struggles with my milk supply in the beginning and I found myself getting bored with the lactation recipes I had been using.  I needed to change it up and add something new. I adapted these muffins from a recipe from Pinch of Yum. I had been making the blueberry oatmeal flax muffins at least once a week.  I thought to myself, I can really make any kind of muffin using the base of this recipe.  Pinch of Yum has some of the most delicious recipes.  I liked that it didn’t make 18 muffins, being that I was unable to eat 18 muffins before they would go bad or start to taste stale.  I have also made just about every style of muffin out there into a lactation boosting recipe by adding brewer’s yeast and ground flax meal since these ingredients have been known to increase your milk supply.  Brewer’s yeast can leave a funny aftertaste so I decided to leave it out of these muffins (although you can add it in if you would like).  Oatmeal is a great lactation booster so I felt comfortable with just the oatmeal and the ground flax meal.

Again, you do NOT need to be breastfeeding to enjoy these muffins…they are great for everyone.  Just a benefit that if you are trying to boost your supply, these muffins will help.

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I like to get the oats soaking in the buttermilk then prep the rest of the ingredients since the oats need to soak for 20 minutes.

To start, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin tin with 8 cupcake liners.

Add your oats and your buttermilk and set a timer for 20 minutes while they soak. Go ahead and make your streusel topping as well. It should look like the picture below.

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Peel and cut your apple into small pieces, melt your butter, get all of your ingredients ready. Once the oats have been soaking for 20 minutes, add in the butter, 1 egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir until just combined.

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Add in your flour, flax meal, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Stirring until ingredients are evenly mixed in.

Before you add in your apple, spoon just a little bit of the mixture into each muffin tin and add a couple of pieces of apple. I like to do this so that there is an even amount of apple per muffin.  When I first made this recipe I did not do so and some muffins had less apple in them than others.

Fold in the rest of the apple into the mixture and fill the muffin tin almost to the top of the liner. Then add the streusel topping and bake for 14 minutes.

When the muffins are done, let them cool in the tin for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.  While they are cooling, prepare your sugar glaze. You could leave out the streusel topping and the glaze if you are trying to be health conscious, but I promise you it is worth the extra calories, it really makes the muffin.

These muffins are hearty and delicious.  I thank Pinch of Yum for the inspiration to make them! As with all my recipes, please let me know how you like them in the comments section.

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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
Seriously the best lactation boosting muffins you will ever eat! These have oats and ground flax meal that have been shown to help boost your milk supply. These are delicious even if you are not lactating!
Servings Prep Time
8muffins 25minutes
Cook Time
Servings Prep Time
8muffins 25minutes
Cook Time
Streusel Topping
Sugar Glaze
  1. Preheat Oven to 375 degrees and place cupcake liners into a muffin pan or grease and flour.
  2. In an medium bowl combine the oats and buttermilk together and let soak for 20 minutes.
  3. Add melted butter, 1 egg, vanilla, and brown sugar. Stir by hand until just combined.
  4. Add flour, flax meal, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until evenly moistened.
  5. Fold in Apple and pour into muffin pan. Fill each almost to the top of the liner or tin.
  6. Make streusel topping. Combine the small pieces of cold butter, flour, and brown sugar until crumbs form. Add on top of batter in muffin pan. (Note, if your crumble is not crumbly enough, you can add more cold butter)
  7. Bake muffins for 14 minutes when the muffins are nice and golden brown (Note...oven times may vary)
  8. Allow muffins to cool in pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
  9. While muffins are cooling, prepare the sugar glaze (optional, but they really do make these just perfect!) Combine the powdered sugar and milk, then drizzle on top of each muffin.
  10. Once cooled, store in a air tight container. I like to put a couple pieces of paper towel in the bottom to soak up any of the moisture to help keep these muffins from getting mushy or molding to quickly. Let's be honest, you won't be able to keep these around long enough to go bad, they are really that good.
Recipe Notes

You can add in a couple of tablespoons of Brewer's Yeast as well if you want to boost your milk supply even more.

*To the men out there, try these muffins, they will not make you start lactating! They just contain everyday ingredients that are known to help a lactating mama with her supply.

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A lesson in grace, taught by Alexis

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Friday, July 22, 2011

A lesson in grace, taught by Alexis

My 16-month old daughter understands unconditional love far better than me. She has this sense of compassion that could put the "holiest" of saints to shame. I can see her growing into a fine young woman who fully understands the call of Christ on her life. She is so beautiful, so caring, such a joy to everyone she comes into contact with. I am honoured to call her mine, but she isn't really mine. She belongs to Jesus, He just entrusted us to look after her and raise her. What an honour. What a responsibility.

I sometimes wonder why God chose Corey and I to be the parents to Alexis. Every parent thinks their kid is special I know, but this kid IS special. What's so amazing is that she is so kind and considerate and loving even when we don't always model this to her. Don't get me wrong, Corey and I want the very best for our children and we are trying the absolute best we can, but we don't always get it right. Sometimes I get things wrong, very wrong. I'm selfish, I'm hormonal, I'm rude, and I change my mind at the drop of a hat. I'm trying to improve but I have bad days as we all do. Sometimes all I can say to excuse the trash that comes out of my mouth is "I'm so sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me." Praise God that Corey always forgives me and so does Alexis.

Today has been a bad day. I've tried very hard to make it a good day, and good has come from today, but it's been a struggle. I haven't felt well, I've been tired, these hormones are driving me insane, and I've had to fight the urge to spend the day curled up in the foetal position with a bottle (that rum in the cupboard is looking pretty good but I know too much about the dangers of alcohol to a growing foetus).

There's been times I haven't paid Alexis as much attention as I'd like to because I've been too busy cleaning or being stuck in the bathroom or busy with my own ideas of what she might like to do or being cranky.  This is all because I'm trying too hard to be up and happening and to be a good wife and mum. It seems that some days the harder I try the harder I fall. Some days I should just give up.

This morning we had just hung the clothes  on the line and I wanted to keep her outside doing something fun because I'm trying to limit the amount of time she's pestering me to turn the tv on for her. She loves playing playdoh but the stuff we bought her has disappeared bit by bit and the little she had left had finally dried up. So I decided we would make her own. I have been wanting to make our own for ages but first we didn't have salt (we don't put salt in our food, perioid), and yesterday we had no plain flour.  I had asked Corey to get some on his way home from work yesterday while he was already getting bread and milk. He got everything else so I assumed he had. So this morning I said to Alexis, "yay, let's make play dough".

While I was trying to convince her to come inside with me she was pulling her clam shell out of its "hiding place" and trying to convince me to fill it with water for her. I have not yet discovered how to adequately explain that it is too cold and that the water tank is dry, so, trying anyway, I didn't pay much attention to the following tantrum as she threw herself on the ground in protest as I tried to pick her up to take her inside.

I then passed her cries off as being just disappointed that she couldn't go swimming, as I searched high and low for this flour. I thought making playdoh would distract her. I rang Corey, which I know I shouldn't do, but I was just hoping he'd be able to quickly tell me where he put it. He hadn't bought flour. Ok no biggy. But because it was a day when everything is in fact a biggy, I got cross. Now I was most disappointed that instead of saying "sorry sweetheart I forgot," he said "you didn't ask me to buy flour". Instead of thinking he was just tired and stressed yesterday and letting it slide I had to prove him wrong so I checked the email history and clear as day it said "can you please buy milk, bread and flour on your way home or would you like me to do it?" I was upset he tried to make it my fault but also because I was so looking forward to making dough with Alexis. It should not have been a big deal though.

As explained in my last post, "is your marriage baby proof", I know deep down that my husband forgetting to buy flour doesn't mean he hates me, but if I'm honest with myself, sometimes it does feel like it. It shouldn't, but expecting a pregnant toddler-wrangler to be logical and rational at all times is, well, illogical and irrational. So I had a little meltdown about how unfair life is at times. A pity party for me. Alexis started crying. "It's ok sweety, mummy's not mad at you," I explained, "mummy's just sad". I set her up with her toothpasted toothbrush (random but she loves it and she's really good at cleaning her teeth and while she's teething AGAIN it relieves the pressure) while I had a little lie down. She allowed me to indulged in a few minutes of sooking before she started crying again. I lifted her up on to the bed and she gave me a cuddle. "She is so sweet", I thought to myself. Then I noticed....

I had been too selfish to notice that her knee was in fact bleeding. She had grazed her knee outside. I hadn't realised for so long. No wonder the poor little darling was crying. I felt so terrible. "Oh sweety, I'm sorry I've been a bad mummy today. Please forgive me?" that was all I could say. Do you know what she did? She kissed me. She leaned over and kissed my forehead, so sweet and gentle, like we do for her when she falls down. She knew her mummy was sad and she wanted to make it better. She pat me on the back. Without words she was saying, "it's ok mummy, Alexis is here. I love you". It is a moment I never want to forget.

She was a little upset while I put savlon and a bandaid on her sore knee but she was more upset because she wanted to play with the bandaid. I would love to give her a spare bandaid, but they are so expensive (we buy the pretty princess ones). Also I had her in the high chair (where she couldn't run away) with a juice and a chocolate muffin (guilty mummy much!?) to try to keep her distracted and I didn't want her thinking the bandaid was food... My distractions failed, of course, and I suddenly absolutely had to go to the toilet (of course, why not), so I resorted to the TV as a much better distraction. I actually let her watch Yo Gabba Gabba, what is the world coming to?

I then realised she was tired, so tried to put her to bed without reading stories. Reading stories is part of our bedtime routine, but she won't just let us read a book or two, she usually makes us read a dozen books, or two dozen. So I put her lullabys on and snuggled into bed with her. This is what we've been doing lately and it has been working for us. She wanted to play with the blinds for a while (unfortunately the ONLY place her bed fits is against the window) and I let her, still feeling a little guilty. I decided to fake sleep and see how that went. So I lay there still as can be with my eyes closed. She noticed. Normally she wakes me when I fall asleep before her but today she was so cute. She stumbled over, pulled up the sheet and doona, and covered me up. She tucked me in!!! Then she kissed me goodnight and slid off the side of the bed.

She then chose a few books from her bookshelf, walked them over, placed them up on the bed, and tried to climb up on to the bed. This is where she came unstuck though because her knee was sore. So she cried out. I obviously stopped pretending to be asleep at this point and helped her onto the bed. We snuggled and read stories. Then it was time for her to try to go to sleep. I took the books away. She often cries when she knows it's time to go to sleep but today she didn't. I don't know why, but she didn't play up at all. She rolled up on her side, stroked my face, then closed her eyes and started snoring. Honestly I am not making this up.

This kid is amazing. She is going to be such a good big sister. She is going to be the best mother one day. One day she is going to make some handsome young man the luckiest man in the world. She is going to be the sort of person that people want to be around, in fact she already is. She teaches me every day. I have learned far more from her in the last 16 months than I can ever hope to teach her. I was upset at my husband for forgetting flour, yet she forgave me for neglecting her pain and discomfort. I was feeling down for being a terrible mum, yet she showed me love. I should have been comforting her but she was comforting me. I saw a glimpse of the heart of Christ today, through my little girl.

Throughout my pregnancy with Alexis and ever since her birth Corey and I have always prayed, "God, this baby is yours. Help us raise her. Help her love and feel loved. Let her know you so deeply on a personal level." That is the one good thing we have ever done for her, to acknowledge that we are not perfect but that our God is. We are human, painfully so, but God is perfect. We are weak, but God is strong. We struggle, but God is able. He is growing her into an amazing young woman, perhaps despite our frailties or perhaps even because of them. Maybe He chose us because we knew we weren't good enough? Through this journey God is teaching me too, that although what I do is important and I should always try my best, He is in control.

But he (The Lord) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

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At July 24, 2011 at 10:45 PM , Blogger Jess Newman said...

I could have written this post myself. God teaches me more about himself through being a parent, than I am sure I teach my kids about him. I guess that's why he asks to come to him as little children.
You're an excellent mother, the very face that you have prayed from conception for this little darling is proof of that. We all fail. We are all human. But what I love about that scripture is that when we are at our weakest, God is at his strongest. Which gives me freedom to fail.
Thanks for this post. Love reading other Christian Mummy blogs.

At July 27, 2011 at 2:19 PM , Blogger The Mother Experiment said...

Thank you Jess. Your encouragement means heaps :)

At December 4, 2011 at 8:50 AM , Anonymous michelle twin mum said...

To be a parent is to be blessed and you are right God teaches us so much through our interactiosn with our kids. I am definately a better person and Christian for being a Mum. Mich x

At December 4, 2011 at 5:59 PM , Blogger The Mother Experiment said...

Thanks for your comment Michelle. Theres no greater way to learn self sacrifice is there.

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Monday, November 20, 2006

this information could very well make or save your cycling career.
what follows is an article sent to me by the original dr. crankenstein, scott dickson, who terrorized the road circuit back when most of your parents were teens thinking about getting laid. scott started racing when he was five, was a masters national champion by the time he was 17, and has managed for the most part to qualify for a university team his entire adult life. his lifetime winning average of all races entered is around 89%, if you include ragbrai stages. he has ridden more ragbrais than anyone you'll ever know, except me [i've done over 50, at present, while scott is somewhere in the upper 30s]. he's the reason the french don't like lance, as he dominated paris-brest-paris from the late 80s through the end of the 20th century, winning outright four times in succession [while never testing positive], and once in a group of riders who all held hands as they crossed the line. i had the pleasure of training with scott while we lived in ames in the late 80s and early 90s, and our routine of 40 in the morning and 60 at night served us well. it was a bike racing tutorial, i shit you not. every great cyclist has a scott in his/her background, and anyone who aspires to be a great cyclist needs one. but look carefully, because there are a lot of dangerous idiots out there who race bikes. --the reverend
Rules to Race By*
A few simple tips to racing with your brain, not just your legs:

Many competitive cyclists lack an understanding of the basics of road racing. This isn’t a criticism so much as a comment on the lack of organized teaching in American cycling. There are countless books and articles on how to train, but all those intervals are useless if you are riding the entire race on the wrong side of the field and attacking on the downhills. There are also upper category riders who, despite their strength and abilities, could use a primer on racing basics. It’s not uncommon to see a Cat. II racer pull off to the wrong side in a paceline. I offer the information below as lessons that I have learned over the years. I’m not a particularly accomplished racer, but I’ve found this information helpful in getting me through races against better riders, and in adding to my enjoyment of racing. I hope it does the same for you.

First things first: Figure out where the wind is coming from. Then visualize the course and where the wind is in relation to the course. Anticipate the wind, and position yourself accordingly. In many instances, your position relative to the wind is far more important than your fore-aft position in the peloton. Use corners to switch sides of the field. You may sometimes want to ride in the wind temporarily, if it means you’ll have shelter for a longer stretch exiting a turn.

Pull off into the wind. This one drives me crazy. If done properly, the lead rider does his turn, then pulls off into the wind and fades to the back of the group, shielding the riders moving up in the line in the process. If done improperly, the riders moving up in the line are pulling into the wind before their turn and then resting as they slow down – a total waste. It’s very simple: Pull off into the wind.
Do not accelerate at the front. After the lead rider pulls off, he should slightly decelerate. The second rider should maintain pace (watching your speedometer is helpful). It’s the lead rider ending his turn who dictates the pace of rotation. The second rider should not storm past, by sprinting or accelerating quickly. The wind-breaking efficiency of a paceline is ruined if energy is wasted with riders constantly changing pace. You can increase your speed much more effectively and efficiently by subtly elevating the speed as a group.
Draft while going backwards. On a more leisurely ride, or when an attack first goes away, people can take long turns as the front. But once the group has settled in at speed, the paceline should be a steady rotation. This allows for maximum speed at minimum effort. Here’s how it should work: The lead rider (Rider A) should pull just until his rear wheels clears the front wheel of the rider who has just taken a turn (Rider B). The when Rider A pulls off and starts floating backwards, Rider B is getting a draft off of him. Some folks think they are doing the group a favor by taking long, hard pulls. You only accomplish two things with long, hard pulls: You break the paceline’s rhythm, and you completely flick the guy who pulled before you as he has no one to draft. Be smooth. If you follow the rules for pacelines above, your paceline should not consist of a guy pulling super hard and then sitting up and going right to the back. It should consist of guys making efforts just a hair above their limits for the short time they are in the wind, then making long steady efforts a hair below their limits, drafting as they move up the line and drafting as they move back.

Conserving energy is the most important thing that you can do, especially in longer races. Play a game with yourself within each race to see how little of an effort you can make. Think of your body as a bank account with $100. You must pay $1 for every minute of steady riding. But you have to pay $5 for every minute of hard accelerating. Typically, the rider who wins is the one with the most money at the end of the race – when it can all be spent with it counts most. Here are ways to conserve energy.
Look ahead. See what the riders at the front are doing. If they are sitting up, then there’s no reason to charge into the back of the field only to have to slam on your brakes. This is especially true out of corners. Conversely, if you see riders starting to attack and you know the pace is going to increase, you can gradually increase your pace instead of having to rapidly react when you notice the rider in front of you take off.
Don’t brake unless necessary. Braking means one or two things: That you went too hard earlier, or that you’ll have to accelerate after whatever you’re breaking for. In either event, braking usually means wasted energy.
Do not accelerate into dead air. If you need to move up, find a wheel to follow. Pulling out of line and sprinting into a wall of air is a waste of energy.
Ride the wave. You can see patterns in most races, especially circuit courses and criteriums. You see places where the field will accelerate and places where they sit up. Figure out those patterns and take advantage of them. If you know of a section where the pace will likely increase, position yourself toward the front before that spot, then let yourself float back during the acceleration if necessary. This way you can maintain a steady $1 pace while everyone else is spending $5. This theory works well with hills, as you can start a climb in the front, make less of an effort as you float back and arrive at the top still in the field. Conversely, if you know there is a slow section, use that time as a chance to improve your position in the field.

One of the main tactical differences between the Pro/Cat. I-II races and all other races is that no self-respecting Cat. I would take a hard pull without good reason. Conversely Cat. IV races often play out with everyone sitting around until someone attacks, then everyone killing themselves to catch the poor guy, then everyone sitting around again.

Save your big efforts to either attack or to bridge to a break. Don’t make a big effort just to give all the other riders a free ride. Plus, if you want to ever be in a successful break-away, you cannot contribute to the chase-at-any-cost mentality. If there are knuckleheads who want to ride like lemmings, let them. Then when you counterattack, they’ll be too tired to chase you.
Remember that there are more enemies in the pack – and on your wheel if you are pulling – than there are up the road. If someone is going to beat you, at least give a chance to the rider up the road making the effort and not to the passive riders taking advantage of your hard work.

Anyone can attack when it’s easy. Anyone can attack downhill. And anyone can attack in a tailwind. If you feel fantastic and pace is easy, don’t bother attacking, because there are 99 other riders who feel as great as you. The key to a successful attack is to break the will of the other riders. It’s not easy to break the will of someone who’s been coasting for the last 5 minutes. If you are fit, you want to attack when it’s hard. If you’re suffering and you’re one of the strongest riders, they you have to suspect that the others are really suffering. That’s when they’re ripe for the cracking. These opportunities usually occur in crosswinds, on hills and at the end of races. Sometimes, though, it helps to attack when it’s easy – it makes the race harder. You can attack at the beginning of races or when the pace slows, just don’t make a full commitment to those efforts. Jumping and then cruising at 80 percent isn’t that draining, but it can stir up the field and induce counterattacks. Being off the front when that happens also allows you to slip back into the front of the field and into a good position for a counterattack with a real effort.

While a ProTour team giving a sprinter a 3km lead-out is quite a sight to see, team racing at the lower categories need not be so involved. There are a few simple ways though for teammates to effectively assist each other.
Don’t move up alone. If you are going to make an effort, at least bring a teammate with you.
Counter-attack each other. If your teammate is in a break that gets caught and you do not counterattack, it is an insult – their efforts caused the chasing riders to tire while you sat on. That’s exactly the situation you’re looking for as a rider and as a team. Don’t let that effort go in vain. Counter. Even if you get caught, the stage is set for another teammate to attack and hit the pack again.
Give a leadout when it makes sense. Leadouts are often a waste of time at the lower levels. If you have 2 guys strong enough to both be at the front, you’re usually best served by sprinting and getting 2 results. There are exceptions: If you’re both out of position, sacrifice one rider to get the other into position. If it’s a tricky or dangerous finish, or if you are unsure about where to start the sprint, send one teammate – he might win, or if it’s too early, he might deliver his teammate to just the right spot.

Sprint early. Most new riders wait too long and find themselves in the middle of a mess. You’re usually better off going early and avoiding the chaos. Even if you get passed and finish 5th, it’s better than being trapped and finishing 12th. Or worse yet, ending up on the pavement. Also, you’ll never know how far you can sprint until you’ve gone too early a couple of times. Once you’ve seen how far you can go before you blow, then you can make the necessary adjustments based on wind, terrain and circumstances.
Pick the right gear. You are attempting to accelerate as quickly as possible and then hold you speed as along as possible. Unless you are J.J. Haedo, you can do neither in the 11-tooth cog. Sprint in a gear in which you can accelerate and then shift. Also once you are up to speed, do not be afraid to sit down and spin. You are much more aero seated, and in a long sprint you can often get a few more RPM’s out of you gear while in the seated position.

*Article written by & stolen from: Bill Laudien who is the former director of pro team. I suspect he was never really that good, or I'd have heard of him. But he sure writes purty.

1 comment:

Bill said...

Yeah, _I_ wrote it, _you're_ the one who stole it.

It appeared on my site and in VeloNews earlier this year.

I have no problem with you reprinting it, but you should have probably asked first.

Bill " Never heard of me" Laudien


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Ep 52: Sammy Rangel on Forgiveness

As an author, social worker, peace activist, speaker, and trainer, Sammy Rangel joins us to share his profound story about forgiveness. His early life was filled with horrendous experiences of abuse and neglect, leading to violent years spent in and out of prison, with the most important people and systems failing to help him.  While his story is heart wrenching, his spirit is awe inspiring. He speaks honestly about the pivotal moments in his life that caused him to shift from destruction to connection, from hate towards empathy, and ultimately, towards forgiveness.


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The Progressive Aspect – TPA The Progressive Aspect is a site dedicated to progressive rock (and closely related genres) and includes latest Prog News, CD Reviews, Interviews, Concerts, UK Guide Guide, Festivals and more Sat, 24 Feb 2018 20:31:33 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 Jim Griffin – To A Far City Thu, 22 Feb 2018 19:00:41 +0000 Three years ago I reviewed a strange but engaging album entitled The Ranger And The Cleric by Irish guitarist and songsmith Jim Griffin, and it pleases me to tell you that here is the follow up, released in November last year.

Opening track An Ocean Mind, with its aquatic backdrop hung over a curious combination of light prog touches, semi-submerged Who-like riffage, some hard hitting drumming and an overall folksy approach establishes a pattern – Gordon Giltrap springs to mind. Containing not the only lyrics on To A Far City to be inspired by Lovecraft, the song establishes a mysterious but homely vibe that will deepen as the record progresses.

Three minutes or so into the whimsical Clouds, the sudden introduction of a brutal drum hammering directly lifted from Bonzo’s essential backbeat to When The Levee Breaks raises a smile. At first it seems incongruous, but the reintroduction of the sharp melody line on top of its insistent rhythm makes all the sense in the world. As much as the poetic narration and the accompanying synth line that arrives later in the song, at any rate. This tune is the first part of a triptych, a musical suite ruminating on nature and mysticism, and the song cycle being “inspired by the haiku of Matsuo Basho”, the track times of 10, 14, and 10 minutes reflect the 5, 7, 5 structure of the classic poem.

There is also something of the Celtic muse of Horslips woven into the musical fabric of this fine piece of magickal myth making, something that, given my own Celtic familial origins, I can well appreciate. A final pointer – if you are into the similarly dreamy infusions of fellow Celt Nigel Mazlyn-Jones, then you will certainly like what Jim has brought to the table.

Clever use of synths and voice treatments throughout render this work as thoroughly modern as it is inherently ancient, and Jim’s love of Blue Ösyter Cult sees the interjection of the occasional guitar break from a heavier acidic universe.

The watery theme of An Ocean Mind crops up throughout, and being Irish I suppose the influence of rain and the sea is inescapable for Jim and his colleagues. As the promotional bit on Bandcamp says, the album is inspired by “Matsuo Bashō (Genroku 2), “The Quest of Iranon” by H.P. Lovecraft (February 28th, 1921), and a rainy Summer’s day at Derrigimlagh at half three in the afternoon.”

A calming, inspired and reflective album such as this, arriving as it does in times of strife and division is probably what we all need.

01. An Ocean Mind (13:59)
02. (i) Clouds (10:00)
03. (ii) A Chance To Dodge (14:00)
04. (iii) Moon Viewing (10:00)
05. The Gifts Of My Journey (5:00)
~ Bonus track:
06. So, This Is Like, Goodbye, And Stuff… (6:16)

Total Time – 59:17

Written and performed by Jim Griffin, and featuring the voices of Dharma, Maya, and Lily.

Record Label: Reverb Worship
Catalogue#: RW 384
Country of Origin: Ireland
Date of Release: 15th November 2017

Jim Griffin – Facebook | Bandcamp

Dukes of the Orient – Dukes of the Orient Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:18:41 +0000 Ten years in the making, Dukes of the Orient is the album that many Payne-era Asia fans like myself had long since given up believing would ever be released. Having dropped the ‘Asia Featuring John Payne’ moniker, this is the album that was going to be released as: Asia – Americana. It was the sad passing of prog legend John Wetton last year that finally convinced Payne that he should drop the name he once held the rights to. Whether or not there have been complications with the Asia name that held this album up, isn’t clear. What we do know is that when John Payne released his Architects Of Time EP in 2009, he promised that release would be a foretaste of the new album which would appear in 2010. Finally, that album is here – in 2018.

If the fans have been frustrated, so too was Erik Norlander, Payne’s DotO confederate. When he was interviewed several years ago he said that he just wanted John to release these songs, confident, rightly as it turns out, of the quality of the material. One of the tracks did appear, Seasons Will Change as a download-only release back in 2012. The guest slots on this album are from the guitarists who came and went between Payne’s post-Asia project, GPS, and throughout the history of Asia Featuring John Payne; a period of no less than twelve years.

John Payne’s stint in Asia led to a fruitful writing collaboration with Geoff Downes that produced some of the finest melodic/prog rock of the Nineties and early Noughties; no mean feat when you consider these were prog’s wilderness years. Nevertheless, the music press spoke highly of Payne’s Asia albums, but poor support from record companies let the band down resulting in low sales and difficulties in touring. A reunion of ‘original’ Asia, first attempted unsuccessfully in 1999, became inevitable.

What original material John Payne has released since Downes broke up their partnership has been promising: GPS’ Window To The Soul was mostly very good, bolstered by the considerable talents of Guthrie Govan and Ryo Okumoto. The aforementioned Architects Of Time EP was reminiscent of 2001’s excellent Aura.

The good news is that this album is terrific – there’s not a dud track on the whole thing. Erik Norlander is a master of the anthemic keyboards that have been Downes’ hallmark in Asia and the guitar wizardry of Govan is really second to none, as fans of Steven Wilson will likely already know.

The album kicks off with a thumping rhythm, a statement of intent, on the opening track Brother In Arms. We’re in very familiar territory here; a solid rocker with a grand chorus which builds its musical phrasing toward the climax – that familiar Asia suspended chord. There is a powerful guitar solo and the overall mix is reminiscent of the tracks on Aria.

Strange Days offers a slightly softer intro, more along the lines of Aura, and a very strong vocal performance from Payne, showing that his talents have not diminished over the years. Norlander treats us to an anthemic solo here which is followed by the remarkable talents of Govan on the guitar.

A beautiful piano intro and strings introduce Amor Vincit Omnia, a song whose phrasing will call to mind The Smile Has Left Your Eyes but builds to into a unique piece of balladry in its own right. I was singing along before I’d even finished listening to it for the first time. Time Waits For No One raises the tempo, the guitar and keyboards really complementing one another very effectively on this track.

Four tracks in, the album has impressed immensely but if there was one slight reservation it would be that ‘Dukes…’ sounds a little too much like Asia in all of its various incarnations. The chord sequences are very familiar, as are the keyboard settings and guitar effects. The second half of the album, though, offers something a bit different.

A Sorrow’s Crown kicks in bombastically with church organ and choir and the historical theme and vocals call to mind Gary Hughes’ Ten. The lead out on this song is a little unnecessary, I felt, and was obviously intended to bridge the album’s original Americana theme between this track and the next. The keyboard theme that opens Fourth of July features, in a number of variations, throughout the song’s eight and a half minutes. Thankfully, its catchy enough not to become tiresome and strings together some delightful melodies both in the keys and the guitar. There is a nice flavour of American AOR here which suits the song nicely.

The aforementioned Seasons Will Change follows; it’s a pretty upbeat rocker, rather like the album’s opener Brother In Arms and, for those who heard it several years ago, a good introduction into what to expect from this album. The album’s closer, Give Another Reason, is ten minutes long and opens with some acoustic Spanish guitar which builds, through a Gilmour-esque solo, into a prog epic that showcases the talents of Payne, Norlander and their stellar guests. It’s a superb closer to a fine album.

Payne-era fans will be delighted with Dukes Of The Orient, no doubt, but fans of prog, melodic rock and AOR should not overlook this album either. Obviously, the Asia hat (that striking top hat) is still very much on Payne’s head; it’s in the music, it’s in the band name, it’s even in the eye-catching Rodney Matthews cover which depicts his winged lion and cobra from ‘Arena’. I suspect the Asia name has been a bit of a millstone, but it is an established name that will generate gig bookings. I sincerely hope everyone gives ‘Dukes…’ a chance and that we might see Payne and Norlander here in Europe. Only time will tell.

01. Brother In Arms (5:22)
02. Strange Days (5:33)
03. Amor Vincit Omnia (5:45)
04. Time Waits For No One (6:03)
05. A Sorrow’s Crown (5:07)
06. Fourth Of July (8:26)
07. Seasons Will Change (6:37)
08. Give Another Reason (10:10)

Total Time – 53:03

John Payne – Vocals, bass & guitar
Erik Norlander – Keyboards
~ with
Guthrie Govan – Guitar
Jeff Kollman – Guitar
Moni Scaria – Guitar
Bruce Bouillet – Guitar
Jay Schellen – Drums

Record Label: Frontiers Records Srl
Catalogue#: N/A
Date Of Release: 23rd February 2018

Dukes Of The Orient – Website | Facebook

Moonparticle – Hurricane Esmeralda Tue, 20 Feb 2018 19:57:37 +0000 Following in the footsteps of 2013’s instrumental solo-release Banshees and Harpsichord, Hurricane Esmeralda finds guitar virtuoso Niko Tsonev at his creative peak, assembling an all-star cast featuring the likes of keyboard wizard Adam Holzman (Steven Wilson, Miles Davis, etc.), and flautist Theo Travis (Steven Wilson, Robert Fripp, etc.) to ultimately form the progressive-rock venture that is Moonparticle. In addition to said sidemen, whom he’d already worked with in past endeavors on Steven Wilson’s 2012 Grace For Drowning tour – documented on recent re-realese Get All You Deserve – Moonparticle furthermore comprises Frost* Drummer Craig Blundell, violinist Samy Bishai and vocalist Grog Lisee – her raspy vocal-timbre adding an essential note to the general sound of the record.

The music presented over the 40-minute recording is colourfully diverse, ranging from classic rock tunes such as the bluesy The Strength Of A Thousand Year Rose over flute driven intermezzi to jazzy tinged fusion undertakings, as exemplified on the stellar Michelangelo Don’t Stop. Even hard-hitting metal-flavored riffs find their rightful place on this album, leading to a truly extravagant show of versatility and skill by all involved.

The catchy chorus of the opening title track doesn’t leave hold of the listener for the entire duration of the remaining journey, aptly demonstrating Niko’s gift for compact and hook-oriented songwriting. And still the nearly three and half minute rocker finds room for some swirling synthesizer and guitar leads.

Instrumentals Helium I and II contrast the speed racer of an opener by means of pace, instrumentation and structure – lending a folk-jazzy mood to the album. The former introduces a twangy electric guitar melody while the latter presents itself as more exotic – flute and acoustic guitar carrying the torch while dreamily accompanied by an intimate string arrangement.

The highly polyrhythmic Winter Mountain is a highlight of this particularly versatile album, mainly driven by constantly alternating 8/8 and 10/8 time signatures drenched in varying sound carpets. Grog Lisee’s already spooky vocals accompany the haunting atmosphere most effectively and are enhanced by multiple overdubs.

White Light’s where the metal is. Not unlike some of Steven Wilson’s endeavors, Tsonev candidly introduces a sudden burst of heavy distortion on a decisively thunderous riff, only to be relieved by a fine 8/4 jam based around a wet guitar-lick. Craig Blundell constantly shifts his rhythm patterns until Tsonev goes off on a captivatingly affectionate solo, accompanied by smooth yet divine organ voicings. Holzman then leads the way back into the deafening White Light.

On Michelangelo Don’t Stop Tsonev goes full-fusion on a bass-line anchored 6/8. While some of his guitar work here is reminiscent of many of Allan Holdsworth’s ventures, the general atmosphere doesn’t concur but moves into more easy going territories, driven by an unburdened melody played by the flute. Humming voices, arranged in intervals of thirds, guide the main harmonic progressions as well, furthermore adding to the lighthearted ambience.

While the afore mentioned blues-rocker The Strength Of A Thousand Year Rose recalls late grunge acts of the early 2000s, the instrumental Reverend Mum once again disagrees completely in tone by introducing a sparse arrangement of a thoughtful guitar solo accompanied by programmed drums.

Hurricane Esmeralda closes on a definite high with Leon’s Experiment – the albums longest track. The first sequence of the composition is introduced by another fat layered guitar riff that subsequently recurs and guides the entire piece in periodic intervals. In-between, contrastingly quiet sections, led by atmospheric synthesizer spreads by Holzman, open up the soundscape for wistful contemplation. The final sequence slowly rocks the album to sleep – in an ambient way.

Hurricane Esmeralda is not far from being a perfect progressive rock album. The stunning musicianship paired with intriguing and versatile compositions profit from being presented in a bed of crisp sounds, which also has to be attributed to Tsonev, who not only composed and played “Guitars, Bass and everything else” (as mentioned in the booklet) but also produced and mixed the record. Due to these circumstances, slightly questionable choices concerning the mixing, such as exaggerated panning, can easily be excused and lead to the imperative conclusion: Hurricane Esmeralda is a great start to a progressive 2018 and Niko Tsonev is a voice to be reckoned with in the future.

01. Hurricane Esmeralda (3:20)
02. Helium I (2:16)
03. Helium II (1:24)
04. Winter Mountain (5:20)
05. White Light (5:00)
06. Michelangelo Don’t Stop (6:51)
07. The Strength Of A Thousand Year Rose (4:23)
08. Reverend Mum (4:06)
09. Leon’s Experiment (7:16)

Total Time – 39:16

Adam Holzman – Keyboards
Craig Blundell – Drums & Additional Drum Programming
Theo Travis – Flutes, Saxophone & Flutescapes
Samy Bishai – Strings & String Arrangements (track 3)
Grog Lisee – Vocals & Additional Vocal Arrangements (tracks 1, 4 & 7)
Niko Tsonev – Guitars, Bass & everything else

Record Label: Independent
Catalogue#: n/a
Date of Release: 20th January 2018

Moonparticle – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter

Agusa – Agusa Mon, 19 Feb 2018 19:19:08 +0000 Swedish psychedelic band Agusa present their self-titled third album, their second release on the Lasers Edge label and a follow up to 2015’s Agusa 2 (‘Tva’), an album that consisted of just two tracks spanning some forty minutes. On this new release the tracks follow more traditional lengths, ranging between five and ten minutes.

I am a bit late to the party on this one, having been released in the latter part of 2017 it has sat amongst my to do pile and despite playing it several times I have only just got around to putting some thoughts down. The album, spanning some forty three minutes, was recorded and mixed by Viktor Rinneby and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Bob Katz, the sleeve art is by Danilo Stankovic.

Jenny Puertas was added to the band line up in 2015 and her flute contributions are an important part of Agusa’s current sound. The flute leads the melodies and along with the use of the organ goes some way to creating their distinct feel. The music ebbs and flows with a great ability to draw you in to their musical world. Opener Landet Längesen starts with a gentle and almost delicate flute accompanied by the organ, the pace picking up half way through to create a pulsing vibes, reminiscent of early seventies Hawkwind, before things change again.

Throughout the album all the players make excellent contributions to the music, which makes for a very interesting instrumental album, blending psychedelic sounds with Swedish folk, indeed on Den Förtrollade Skogen the guitar appears to have a reggae feel at times, while the organ dances around it. With the tracks mostly stretching to between eight and ten minutes it gives the band the chance to develop and stretch their musical ideas, perfectly pacing each song, the shortest song being the wonderful Sorgenfri, with some memorable flute and an excellent organ section it is a song that has been carefully constructed. Sagor Från Saaris offers a slightly harder edge and a darker feel to the mood of the piece with some great guitar work from Mikael Ödesjö.

Overall this is an excellent album and if you are not familiar with the music coming out of Scandinavia at the moment then this would not be a bad place to start. Give it a listen, it is available now on CD, vinyl and download.

01. Landet Längesen (10:29)
02. Sorgenfri (5:00)
03. Den Förtrollade Skogen (8:33)
04. Sagor Från Saaris (9:20)
05. Bortom Hemom (10:19)

Total time – 43:41

Tobias Petterson – Bass
Jeppe Juul – Organ
Jenny Puertas – Flute
Tim Wallander – Drums & Percussion
Mikael Ödesjö – Guitar

Record Label: Lasers Edge
Country of Origin: Sweden
Date of Release: 27th October 2017

Agusa – Facebook | Bandcamp

King Crimson to release new live album in April Mon, 19 Feb 2018 18:19:57 +0000 King Crimson announce an April release date for their new 3CD set, Live In Vienna, recorded on the 1st December 2016.

“Mixed from the original multitracks discs one and two feature the complete first and second sets from the evening’s show. Disc three includes a series of soundscapes edited into newly sequenced pieces. Drawn from the introduction music (composed/improvised afresh for each night) & featuring Robert Fripp, Mel Collins & Tony Levin, this essential component of current live KC shows also receives its most complete presentation to date. In addition, the third disc includes the long awaited live recorded debut of Fracture by the 2016 line-up as performed in Copenhagen.”

Presented in a 4 fold-out digifile package with 16 pages booklet featuring tour photos & notes by David Singleton & housed in a slipcase. The three-disc set will be released on 6th April 2018, with pre-ordering available now.

Disc One: First Set (Vienna, 2016)

01. Walk On: Soundscapes: Monk Morph Music Of The Chamber
02. Hell Hounds of Krim
03. Pictures of a City
04. Dawn Song Suitable Grounds for The Blues
06. The Construkction of Light
07. The Court of the Crimson King
08. The Letters
09. Sailors’ Tale
10. Interlude
11. Radical Action II
12. Level V

Disc Two: Second Set (Vienna, 2016)
01. Fairy Dust Of The Drumsons
02. Peace: An End
03. Cirkus
04. Indiscipline
05. Epitaph
06. Easy Money
07. Devil Dogs of Tessellation Row
08. Red
09. Meltdown
10. Larks’ Tongues in Aspic Part Two
11. Starless

Disc Three: Encores and Expansions
01. Fracture
02. Heroes
03. 21st Century Schizoid Man
04. Schoenberg Softened His Hat
05. Ahriman’s Ceaseless Corruptions
06. Spenta’s Counter Claim

Mel Collins – Saxes & Flute
Robert Fripp – Guitar & Keyboards
Tony Levin – Basses, Stick & Voice
Pat Mastelotto – Drums
Gavin Harrison – Drums
Jakko Jakszyk – Guitar & Voice
Bill Rieflin – Keyboards
Jeremy Stacey – Drums & Keyboards

King Crimson will embark on a lengthy European tour during 2018.

King Crimson Uncertain Times 2018
13 Jun 2018 Earth Hall Poznan
14 Jun 2018 Earth Hall Poznan
16 Jun 2018 ICE Congress Hall Krakow
17 Jun 2018 ICE Congress Hall Krakow
18 Jun 2018 ICE Congress Hall Krakow
20 Jun 2018 Lichtburg Essen
21 Jun 2018 Lichtburg Essen
23 Jun 2018 Stadhalle Vienna
24 Jun 2018 Stadhalle Vienna
26 Jun 2018 Forum Karlin Prague
27 Jun 2018 Forum Karlin Prague
01 Jul 2018 Admiralspalast Berlin
02 Jul 2018 Admiralspalast Berlin
03 Jul 2018 Admiralspalast Berlin
05 Jul 2018 Cirkus Stockholm
06 Jul 2018 Cirkus Stockholm
08 Jul 2018 Sentrum Scene Oslo
09 Jul 2018 Sentrum Scene Oslo
10 Jul 2018 Sentrum Scene Oslo
13 Jul 2018 Concertgebouw Amsterdam
14 Jul 2018 Concertgebouw Amsterdam
16 Jul 2018 Philharmonie Munich
17 Jul 2018 Philharmonie Munich
19 Jul 2018 Teatro Grande Pompeii Naples
20 Jul 2018 Teatro Grande Pompeii Naples
22 Jul 2018 Auditorium Cavea Rome
23 Jul 2018 Auditorium Cavea Rome
25 Jul 2018 Piazza Napoleone Lucca
27 Jul 2018 Teatro La Fenice Venice
28 Jul 2018 Teatro La Fenice Venice
29 Oct 2018 Pavilion Theatre Bournemouth
31 Oct 2018 St David’s Hall Cardiff
02 Nov 2018 Palladium London
03 Nov 2018 Palladium London
06 Nov 2018 Symphony Hall Birmingham
09 Nov 2018 Bridgewater Hall Manchester
12 Nov 2018 Royal Concert Hall Glasgow
15 Nov 2018 L’Olympia Paris
16 Nov 2018 L’Olympia Paris

SOURCE: King Crimson

7shades – The Monumental Midden Sun, 18 Feb 2018 19:58:54 +0000 “I command you to be my master and I will not take no for an answer”, ends the introductory paranoiac’s jerk that is The Answers, the opening track on 7shades’ brand spanking new album of dark pop-tinged psychedelic hot egg juice, that emanates from the cracked shell sitting precariously atop your sensorily heightened and now sticky pate, the gloop slivering down through your hair, bubbling into your ears, leaving your synapses cross-wired and sparking joyfully.

Moving on from the almost-homage but nonetheless enticing draw of the Cardiacs’ suffused Bursting, Neil Spragg and his loony mates have created their own world, mired in this Monumental Midden, a place where the net is cast wider than before, both lyrically and musically.

Themes coalesce into a glorious glutinous mass where humanity’s corruption and greed seem to be sending it blindly hurtling towards a fast approaching precipice. But who cares when you can dance to it, and even celebrate a degree of bodily uncertainty in Eye For An Eye

“A leg for a leg and a nose for a nose
So you hobble along past the blooming red rose
Maybe some day you’ll work out where everything goes.”

The tune displays a fetching ascending crescendo, as does the following Everybody’s Got Something To Hide (Except An Exhibitionist), a lesson well learned from the never far away influence of Tim Smith’s far-reaching genius. The ascent bursts into a joyous romp on the spiffingly good instrumental The Dialogue, like the much anticipated end of the longest sentence in a Jack Kerouac novel, justifying all that went before. The air up here is rarefied.

The band do not waste time while they are up here, doing The Pointy Elbow to The Elevator without so much as a by your leave. This may be a midden, but there are diamonds in the murk. This song will leave you breathless but panting for more. Several odd time signatures clash with a metronomic beat and the all-encompassing sparky pop sensibility that makes The Elevator a bit of a lift, and something of an album highlight.

The fun element is neatly balanced by the serious side of the band, with takedowns of social meeja’s “tiresome tittle tattle and endless pissy wit”, and lyrics addressing the serious concerns of disappearing privacy and identity in the corrupt modern world, lyrics that sometimes get overlooked in the headlong rush of the busy, always interesting instrumentation. Fop Killer is an art rock extravagance that will leave your ears ringing and your head spinning, leading into the necessarily calmer climes of the still unsettling Out Of The Woodwork, and onwards into the final six minutes of glorious ideas-in-collision that is Camouflage, where synthetic orchestras do battle with guitars and huge beats on the plains of Kashmir.

Yep, The Monumental Midden is a bit of a triumph, buy it, now!

01. The Answers (3:14)
02. Hot Egg Juice (in a fiery skillet) (4:29)
03. Don’t Make Me Assume My Ultimate Form (4:12)
04. Eye For An Eye (4:12)
05. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide (Except An Exhibitionist) (7:55)
06. The Dialogue (5:26)
07. The Elevator (6:27)
08. Kidneys (5:45)
09. Deaf Ears (4:03)
10. Fop Killer (5:01)
11. Out Of The Woodwork (2:59)
12. Camouflage (6:13)

Total Time – 59:57

Neil Spragg – Vocals & Technology Wrangler
Andy Read – Electric & Classical Guitar
Lance Ruffoon – Bass
The Libbertine – Vocals
Joshua Ryan – Electric Guitar

Record Label: Snafu Recordings
Catalogue#: SNAFU077
Date of Release: 27th November 2017

7Shades – Website | Facebook | Bandcamp

]]> Believe – Seven Widows Sat, 17 Feb 2018 19:00:24 +0000 Death is bewildering. Something beautiful, precious, is gone never to be seen again. Our cries of anguish, the wrenching pain of our dejection, the awful agony of our newly discovered and unwanted aloneness is a heartbroken call to anyone and to everyone to recognise the irreplaceable value of what has been lost. The abject removal of a uniquely familiar presence in our lives is the rending of everything that has been built together across a life time, no matter how short, and the loss of all the hopes and dreams, the plans and the anticipation for a happily shared future.

Joy Davidman is reported to have told C.S. Lewis shortly before her own death from cancer: “It is easier for the one who goes first”. Believe’s stunning sixth studio album, Seven Widows, is an exquisitely conceived and emotionally penetrating protest which carries the raw cry of bereavement directly from this smouldering heart of desolation. It speaks of the profound sadness and aching silences which remain with us forever. And it unflinchingly cherishes the suffering of a love that refuses to surrender or to be overcome by death.

We suffer because we love. We cry out in desperation because the pain of their absence is more real than any presence and the reality of their being gone is so much more tangible than their being alive once was. Mirek Gil’s brilliance in the writing of this album is in taking the stories of seven widows and creating musical narratives which tell the simple tale of the what was and now is not, and how this reverberates in the lives of those who are left behind.

In the process it marks a magnificent – even triumphant – return to form four years after the rather underwhelming The Warmest Sun in Winter. The seven stories translate into seven tracks, the shortest of which comes in at just over eight minutes, which in turn creates an invaluable sense of unhurried space. There is no rush to tell the story; the heart speaks in the way it needs to be heard and the music has a corresponding sense of organic development and natural timing.

What has changed is the return of Satomi’s inspirational violin playing, sadly marginalised in previous releases, but now serving as the textured, dynamic heart which beats so effusively at the thrumming centre of this new musical vision. It brings character, presence and voice to the sound stage and engages you with flashes of insights, perceptions and moods. It says ‘Come, look at this; over here, listen to this.’ The playing is delightfully suggestive, a muse and guide which gently shows us the way.

Gil’s guitar playing is mesmerising in the voice it gives to the empty pain of loss, to the tears of despair, to the lonely wail of isolation. Robert Kubajek’s drumming brings heart and vibrancy, breathing life into the tumultuous turmoil of emotions which ebb and flow throughout each story. It is the perfect mix with Przemysław Zawadzki’s bass playing that really speaks of the anger often associated with hurt, with the relentless circling of thoughts, the mind which cannot and will not switch itself off, each memory recalled a further stab of loss.

Throughout it all new band member Łukasz Ociepa provides the perfect vocal performance which rides the seas of grief from anguish to forlorn emptiness, from hollow hopes to heart aching resentment, self accusation and the keen sense of injustice. The album is an incredible vehicle for the melodic, at times symphonic, expression of the emotions, thoughts and feelings we go through at the end of a life. It is perfect in its construction, elegant in its execution and an absolute delight to listen to.

Above all else, however, Seven Widows does something even more important. For those who are left behind, it shows how music can redeem the memory of suffering, how it can preserve the meaning of what our lives have been and how, by telling musical stories of those whom we once loved and whom we still love, they continue to live in our hearts. This is a supremely beautiful album, with the potential to become an immensely important project, which works on so many levels to let those whom we mourn live again.

01. Widow I (10:49)
02. II (9:08)
03. III (8:12)
04. IV (11:42)
05. V (8:35)
06. VI (8:37)
07. VII (8:19)

Total Time – 65:22

Mirek Gil – Guitar
Robert ‘Qba’ Kubajek – Drums
Łukasz Ociepa – Vocals
Satomi – Violin, Keyboards
Przemysław Zawadzki – Bass

Record Label: Music and More Records
Country of Origin: Poland
Date of Release: 25th October 2017

Believe – Website | Facebook | Soundcloud

Weedpecker – III Fri, 16 Feb 2018 19:00:43 +0000 The third long-player from this gathering of Polish potheads is a bewitching listen that demands repeated tokes at regular intervals.

A moniker like Weedpecker automatically brings with it certain expectations of sound, style and the accompanying trappings. However, this 4-piece from Warszawa, Poland deftly manages to both thwart those expectations and assuredly deliver on them. By inhaling elements from a wide array of pot-centred music from the early ’70s they feature a more panoramic sound than is the norm for this genre. Their maturation has been swift as each release has dramatically expanded on the musical vocabulary of the one before.

The glittery guitars, trippy space-rock groove and lilting harmony vocals of guitarists Wyro and Bartek on opening cut Molecule immediately ingratiate. When it eventually gets heavy it manages to do so while maintaining the relaxed vibe, something less skilled bands have difficulty managing.

Embrace is a joy; a mixture of jangly psychedelic folk, Meddle-era Pink Floyd and in the dramatic instrumental mid-section, righteous tube-driven fury. It’s during this segment that some stylistic similarities appear between Weedpecker and Boston’s Elder, their label-mates on Stickman Records. Both groups have the ability to stretch out on long guitar features without ever sacrificing the song in the process.

Musically the album really hits a peak midway through first single Liquid Sky that it rides for the remainder of the album. The bass guitar-driven groove that begins right around the 3-minute mark is blissfully infectious and lays a hypnotic foundation for the guitars to build on. The jangly section in the coda a particular highlight.

From Mars To Mercury starts side two and it’s not only the longest cut on the album, but also its greatest achievement. Again, there’s a passing similarity here with Elder, especially in the heavy beginning and ending segments, but the gorgeous exploration during the mid-section is very distinctive and beautifully played by everyone involved. This is music that needs to be experienced with eyes closed and distractions shut out to really appreciate (herbal medicine optional).

Album-closer Lazy Boy And The Temple Of Wonders is a playful collision of ’60s psychedelia (later Beatles, Syd-era Floyd) and ’70s Zep guitar that ends things on a satisfying note. III is designed for LP, it clocks in at a brisk 42 minutes that splits perfectly onto two sides of vinyl. It’s refreshing to hear concise albums again! I think it’s better to leave the listener hungry for a little more.

I must also mention the production by Haldor Grunberg who recorded, mixed and mastered III. It’s a beautiful, organic sounding record, the mix really letting the layers of these compositions breathe.

01. Molecule (7:05)
02. Embrace (8:59)
03. Liquid Sky (6:33)
04. From Mars To Mercury (10:36)
05. Lazy Boy And The Temple Of Wonders (8:51)

Total Time – 42:03

Wyro – Guitar & Vocals
Bartek – Guitar & Vocals
Mroku – Bass
Falon – Drums

Record Label: Stickman Records
Country of Origin: Poland
Date of Release: 5th January 2018

Weedpecker – Facebook | Bandcamp

The Dark Element – The Dark Element Thu, 15 Feb 2018 19:00:51 +0000 When I first learned Anette Olzon (former vocalist for Nightwish) and Jani Liimatainen (founding member and guitarist for Sonata Arctica) were collaborating on a project called The Dark Element, I jumped at the chance to review it. Olzon is one of my favorite vocalists and Sonata Arctica is a band I recently discovered and have enjoyed, so I was expecting something wonderfully epic from this release. What I got wasn’t what I expected, but the more I listened, the more my disappointment faded.

Most of the songs follow the same basic pattern. They all start off sounding like they are going to be hard, metal tracks thanks to Liimatainen’s heavy riffs accompanied by synth strings, but the guitars soon recede into the background under Olzon’s vocals, which are supported largely by synth pads. A guitar solo leads into the final push to the end of the song. That isn’t to say the songs all sound alike. Nothing could be further from the truth, as each song has its own character. There are a few songs I want to highlight.

The ballad Someone You Used To Know is one of the highest highlights of the album. Sonically, the song focuses mainly on Olzon’s voice, which expresses the desperation of the lyric perfectly, and acoustic timbres. Heaven Of Your Heart sounds like the main love ballad from a Broadway show. Dead To Me is probably the closest thing to symphonic metal on the album with its use of the synth strings to reinforce the vocal line throughout and a greater interaction between the synth, guitars, and vocals. The Ghost And The Reaper is a close second. I particularly like the cello interlude that interrupts the build up to the final choruses.

I Cannot Raise the Dead is much more electronica-influenced than the other songs on this album. Aside from the solo, the guitars are largely absent from this track except to provide some power to the chorus. It is otherwise dominated by synth sounds.

The album closer, Only One Who Knows Me was probably the song that took me the longest to get into. At first, it sounded like it is completely out of place, and I’m not a fan of the ’80s-style guitar solo fade-out ending. The more I listened to it, the more it seemed like it really fit as the closer. It is essentially a thank you to the person or people in life whose praise and admiration will still matter when celebrity fades and everything is said and done. I’m still not a big fan of the musical setting of the song, but it feels right on the album.

Living up to expectations is the biggest challenge for this album. Since the band was marketed on the reputation of the members’ former bands, I expected a product that would sound similar to those bands. Also, with a name like The Dark Element (and the accompanying cover art), I expected the music to have a darker, perhaps more Gothic sound with down-tuned guitars and darker lyrics. Instead what we get is bright music with lyrics mainly about love and love lost.

Overall, the album is more modern rock than symphonic metal, more like ABBA-meets-Evanescence or a synth-laden Halestorm than either Nightwish or Sonata Arctica. Once I got past my expectations, however, I really enjoyed this album. The songs are catchy and easy to sing along to. The overall musical textures are pleasing, and Olzon’s voice is as fine as ever. One minor, picky issue is that the Liimatainen gives some of his lyrics a bit of an edge through the occasional use of slangy grammar, like “don’t need no…” that commonly appears in rock lyrics. Olzon’s voice, however, is so clean and her diction so clear that it comes across more like your grandma reading Snoop Dogg lyrics than the gritty feel he was going for. Like I said, a minor, picky thing.

Overall, this is an enjoyable album to just put on in the background or in your car. It is a thoroughly commercial album. There is nothing remotely “progressive” about it, unless you are desperate to make it fit and you want to hang your hat on the occasional hemiola in the vocal line, so if you are looking for something complex that requires intense listening to grasp all the nuances, you will need to look somewhere else.

01. The Dark Element (4:27)
02. My Sweet Mystery (5:00)
03. The Last Good Day (4:14)
04. Here’s To You (4:15)
05. Someone You Used To Know (4:24)
06. Dead To Me (5:29)
07. Halo (4:26)
08. I Cannot Rise The Dead (4:26)
09. The Ghost And The Reaper (5:22)
10. Heaven Of Your Heart (4:47)
11. Only One Who Knows Me (5:12)
12. Dead To Me (Almost Acoustic Version) (5:07)

Total Time – 57:09

Anette Olzon – Vocals
Jani Liimatainen – Guitars, Keyboards & Programming
Jonas Kuhlberg – Bass
Jani Hurula – Drums
~ With:
Jarkko Lahti – Piano (tracks 5 & 10)
Niilo Sevänen – Vocal Growls (track 6)
Anssi Stenberg – Backing Vocals
Petri Aho – Backing Vocals

Record Label: Frontiers Records
Catalogue#: FR CD 822
Date of Release: 8th November 2017

The Dark Element – Facebook | Twitter

Murder & Parliament – Murder & Parliament (…including inadvertent Tom Slatter interview…) Wed, 14 Feb 2018 18:00:41 +0000 Murder & Parliament is a project by Tom Slatter, a Bad Elephant Music artist. The eponymous debut album has been out for a little while now and there have already been reviews. I was busy doing things. And stuff. Consequently, I didn’t have time to write a review or even listen to the album before the release. The Progressive Aspect, nevertheless, would be remiss should we fail to cover music that we feel would benefit from reaching your ears, and this is no exception.

Some of the tracks lead me to consider it very much as a Tom Slatter album, and this left me with many questions. I wondered why Tom felt he needed a fresh identity for the performance of these songs as Murder & Parliament.

Unlike Tom’s solo albums, this one feels very much like a raw band performance (Grey Malkin). At other points noises that don’t appear musical set the scene, like sound effects in a movie, giving some tracks a mood-provoking, experimental and ambient feel, and for this reason my stand-out track, also the most unlike his other solo work, is Embers.

Now I am concerned that I would like to have regarded this album as the product of a band in its own right. I could only speculate as to whether that was Tom’s intention. I thought about asking him. So, I did:

Hi Tom, hope your day is going well. The Murder & Parliament album. I’m doing a late review of it. Would you mind answering a question for me? If so the question is this: Would you prefer the M&P album to be viewed as the product of a band that you just happen to be in – or is it definitely a Tom Slatter project? I know it is your stuff and that some of it is from ages back, but this has a band feel about it.

Tom Slatter: I regard it as a different project – hence the different name. I’d originally toyed with the idea of keeping it completely anonymous but in the end didn’t go that far as it would require more time than I have available to promote it separately.

[Tom, mistaking me for someone who sympathises with his rock star existence, then reveals just how difficult it is for him working in such a difficult dynamic as that forced upon him by the man running his record label and I continue, impertinently, to ask him more questions, having hoodwinked him into believing that there would be only one:]

I suspected as much.

TS: Please also mention the threats I received from David (Elliot, AKA David Elephant, CEO of Bad Elephant Music) to make sure the CD recouped.

No. Fight your own battles.

TS: Ha!

I bloody love Embers.

TS: That’s got a lot of positive feedback. It was very much improv…

[Tom sends me the score of Embers using the Interwebs]

Fascinating! So, there was direction then, not just wing it and record it!

TS: I gave that to Alun (Vaughan – bass) and Chrissie (Caulfield – violin), did myself then arranged the results.

Were you in the same room or was this an internet collaboration?

TS: I have never met them in real life. They may not exist.

[I pause to wonder whether I exist. Tom does the same. We resume]

Wow! How long ago did you have the M&D thing in “the can” (whatever that means)?

TS: Recording finished late last summer. Composing – It’s old, old pieces but I had the shape of the album maybe three years ago.

A long project, then. Do you have time for this? I’m not keeping you from anything important, am I? I will probably weave it into the review.

TS: I am just about to go get some lunch. I certainly do have time to talk about myself.

TS: I put out CDs with my name and face on. Who would ever doubt the size and breadth of my ego?

I certainly never did. There’s no rush if you want to get some grub.

TS: Carry on asking questions if you have any. If I don’t answer it is cos I got distra- oooh look, a squirrel!

Where? I bloody LOVE squirrels!!!!

TS: Exactly.

There is definitely some familiarity in some of the more guitar-oriented riffs and phrases. I can hear things that are part of your “musical vocabulary” like intervals between notes that crop up periodically, like at the end of Crookedness. What makes one song a Tom Slatter song but another a Murder And Parliament song?

TS: A lack of words?

HAHAHAHAH! Really? That’s it? You make me chuckle, Mr. Slatter.

TS: No, the working method is different. M & P almost all began life as written scores.

Oh, working method. So you can hear the stuff and you write it down?! Like Beethoven only not deaf and dead?!

TS: It’s trying to (write) stuff like the part writing on Firecracker – all those weaving lines have to be written down. I use Sibelius, so you hear it as it goes sorta thing. Like MIDI in a DAW but the interface is the score.

I’ll have to ignore the MIDI reference because for some reason I have a mental block… perhaps because I’ve never had to get to grips with it. I dare say if you hear synths on anything I’ve done it will be sequenced or even played live and recorded direct from the synth. There does seem to be more arrangement in your songs. By that I mean distinct parts that are segued together. Is that a fair observation?

TS: Maybe, but I think all my work is Frankensteined together out of disparate song ideas.

Frankensteined. I like that.

TS: I do deliberately try to write stuff that couldn’t be done with loops and that always has a clear melody. Lots of stuff is loop based, e.g. TFATD [The Fierce And The Dead]. I love them so that’s not a value judgement, just something I think I can do well and that I enjoy.

Some of your stuff does have unconventional patterns of groups of notes and beats to the bar. I’m sort of between two camps as to whether I can whistle along to some of it. I like to get in a 5/4 groove or 7/8 but when you mix them up it can be a bit jarring. Do you ever wonder whether your stuff is putting people off because it might be hard to follow for people who think in 4/4? Did that make sense?

[Silence. I await a response, but Tom stays silent for about the time it would take to stir fry some salmon and vegetables and then eat them. My paranoia begins to surface. Did I say something wrong? I try again…]

BTW, I like that you have Tabs as well as conventional music in your score. I can work from Tabs – well, I’m learning. But they are a bit hard to follow for Stick!

[Obviously, I have gone off-piste a little here. After all, the only questions you people want answered are the ones about lunch and star signs. Nevertheless, someone might want to know other things, so I continued to harass Mr. Slatter…]

I get the sense that the main person you do this all for is Tom Slatter and that if other people like it then that’s a bonus.

TS: I’m not expecting mass market appeal, so no I don’t care if others get it. However, I think there is an audience for this sort of stuff. So do I do it just for me? Well it is art so yes. Do I want others to hear and enjoy it? Yes, but I reckon the people who like this sort of stuff would hate it if I did anything other than follow my muse.

Thanks, Tom! I think I have enough to go on to cobble one or two bollocks together now. Is there any other insight you want to share exclusively to The Progressive Aspect via me?

TS: The CD run has pretty much recouped. We didn’t lose money. If I were capable of being earnest I would say this is humbling. But I’m not. So, I will instead say this is only right and proper.

That’s excellent. I had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich on seeded bread for lunch. What did you have?

TS: Salmon and stir fry veg.

What star sign are you?

TS: Solero.

I did have other questions, like why are these instrumental tracks collected together here and not simply distributed amongst his back catalogue? But Tom answered this by default in that he feels these tracks were created using a different methodology to those of his solo works.

A question for you, or perhaps from you, dearest reader, might be: Is Murder & Parliament sufficiently distinct, musically, from his work as Tom Slatter? I can only answer that in many places it is, although that Tom’s DNA runs through it is undeniable. There are, however, other tracks that fit into an Alterslatterverse. It is these tracks that are, for me, the album’s saving grace. Even as Tom’s song-writing style is individualistic and there are common elements in his musical vocabulary, most of Murder & Parliament is to Tom Slatter as Sugar is to Hüsker Dü.

Despite preferring the stuff on this album that at least reminded me of Mr. Slatter’s solo stuff I do like Tom’s solo albums, as testified to in my reviews published on The Progressive Aspect’s interweb site of Happy People and Fit The Fourth. Some of this Murder & Parliament music takes an altogether new and exciting direction and I want to hear more in the same vein from Tom, in his new alternative incarnation. As this review/interview (or inter-review?) follows numerous others, then perhaps recommendation is somewhat moot, though recommendation this is. Diverse and entertaining, why not put Murder & Parliament in the black on the Bad Elephant sales ledger.

Thanks for reading.

01. A Scattering (8:28)
02. Crookedness (4:52)
03. Grey Malkin (4:50)
04. Kettle and Cauldron (3:05)
05. Firecracker (5:02)
06. Embers (6:43)
07. Clamour (4:53)
08. They Broadcast My Birthday On A Numbers Station (5:29)

Total Time – 43:22

Tom Slatter – All Instruments
Chrissie Caulfield – Violin
Alun Vaughan – Bass

Record Label: Bad Elephant Music
Country of Origin: U.K.
Date of Release: 1st December 2017

Murder & Parliament – Website | Bandcamp
Tom Slatter – Website | Facebook | Twitter


text:
Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Twisted Endings

My short pieces always have a twist at the end.

So when the new online magazine Twisted Endings requested submissions, I knew it was a perfect place for me to submit a piece.

Please read my flash fiction story "Brolly Folly" on page 5 of the March 2013 issue.

I hope you enjoy it!

And if you'd like to submit something, here's the link.

Do you like surprise endings?

Friday, March 15, 2013

Musicians, Maestros, and Muses

Aubrie Dionne is visiting my blog today to talk about how being a musician helps her write and inspired her new book.

How Being a Musician has Made me a Better Writer

1.     Music has taught me patience, hard work and discipline. Practicing an instrument is like exercising- you don’t see the rewards right away. It takes a good week of long tones to finally start sounding stronger at all and years to get the fuzziness out of your tone. It wasn’t until Grad school-twelve years of playing- that I started to achieve the clear, resonant flute tone that I have today by changing small things with the shape and size of my mouth, my lips, and my chest cavity. So, if anything, music has taught me that patience, hard work, and discipline will yield results sooner or later- you just have to keep working at it.

2.     Music has taught me how much time you really need to invest be a pro. I just read an article in Flute Talk magazine- yup there’s such a thing- about this conservatory teacher who asks his students to practice 20 hours a week- that’s like 3 hours a day! If you truly want to sound professional, than you need to spend A LOT of time with your instrument. I have to practice an hour or two a day just to maintain the level that I’m at for rehearsals and teaching.

The same goes for writing. 500 words a day isn’t going to cut it. Right now I dedicate 2-3 hours a day to my writing, and finally, I’m starting to see results.

3.     Music has taught me how to express emotion. The tools you use with music are different than with writing, but you need emotion in both just the same. With music, you use vibrato-waves in the sound, dynamics-loud and soft, rubato- bending the tempo, and emphasis on certain key notes to achieve an emotional result. They all have to work together in synch and make sense to produce the desired effect. With writing, you can achieve emotion with a mix of internal thoughts, outward actions, character arcs and development, and specific associations to produce a desired emotional effect- but it has to work right together- just like music to produce the emotional result.

4.     Music has taught me how to receive criticism in a positive way and how to use it to better myself. Each week at a music lesson, if you have a good teacher, your teacher will give you suggestions on how to improve. If you take those suggestions, over time you start to see how they can make you a better player. Sometimes you don’t want to hear how you don’t sound clear, or you’re playing the wrong rhythm, but you grow to learn that your teacher is there to help make you better. The same goes with your editor. You have to truly listen to what they are saying and then try to implement it in your writing.

Tell me, what part of your jobs or careers has helped you with your writing?

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Peaceful sun-kissed
Shining sparkling
Scratching scraping

You calm
You thrash what you’ve calmed
You ebb
You flow when you’ve ebbed

You give
You take what you give
You come
You go when you’ve come

You promise
You betray what you promise
You beckon
You banish when you beckon

Break the surface
Sinister underbelly
Undertow pulls under

This is dedicated to the residents of Plum Island who just lost homes.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

The sky’s
Blue hue
When we’d
The restaurant
To thick
Black clouds,
We quicken pace.

First drops
Splash down.
We shriek
We run
But we cannot
The rain,
So you
Your umbrella.

I gaze
Your face
With drops
As you fumble
The latch.
I quake.
The top
Open. Shelter.

You and
I, we
Two girls trembling.
I feel
With you.
Heart beats faster.

Our eyes
I freeze,
You, me. The rain.
Your lips
For mine. Soft, sweet.

I pull
Your eyes wounded,
You pull
Moment. Undone.

You give
Me your
Hands brush.
No words spoken.
I want.
I can’t.
I don’t.
Retreat rain-soaked.


text:
Friday, November 9, 2007

Saint Therese

Just three lovely pictures of Saint Therese found on Patron Saint's Index
It always amazes me how she remembers events of her life. She recalled in her book stories of her younger self in nearly full detail! I wonder if she's the patron saint of memory...

No comments:


text:
Friday, November 25, 2011

Either Way I'm Celebrating

    I am pretty darn funny----at least that's what I've been told all of my life.    Some people---ok, MANY people describe me as being irreverent---maybe even blasphemous.  I swear I'm neither.  I just have a hard time not laughing out loud when all of the costumes and masks we all keep squeezing into---have "malfunctions"---and the disparities and incongruities and "real--ness" of our lives come roaring out.  As hard as all of us may is real.   There is not enough lip gloss or letters after our names or condos on Sea Island to smother what our souls long to LIVE out.
(That was a dog-gone long and winding topic sentence.)  I could have just said, "I say stuff that most people don't say---especially when a situation feels weird.  I sort of appoint myself as the "Truth Fairy".   It's not always a good thing.   I have never been good at denying  that the  emperor has  no clothes.   Which leads me to how I talk to my doctor.
So, last week I went to my family doctor  and  sat there and cried.
Here is how the conversation went:
Me:  Dr. J., I just don't think it's fair that I'm fat......AND have a retarded son.
Dr:   What is it that you want out of life, Marianne?
Me:  I want to look great naked!!  I want to be thin like everybody else I know.
Dr:   Seriously, do you think being thin would make you have the life you want?
Me:  Absolutely.  I am 100% sure that this is all I need to make my life perfect.  Can't I just raise
         Taylor AND look great naked??   Can't I have both?
Dr:    (Laughs....shifts his feet around....laughs.  Was that a "No" or was that an "Your eight minutes
          are up?")

     I wonder if you're reading this, what ONE thing it is that you might long for---or might have convinced yourself that if you had....that your life would be.....better/perfect/just right.   My guess is that we all have that one thing.   Mine just happens to be ......about weight.  And, I ask you, is it an illusion that there is something OUT THERE that will make life better?  (I already know the answer to this in my head.)   Why are we so lured into that belief that says:
"Life will be good when...or life would be good if.....".
 What a trap that catches us in---and I walk into that trap daily!

 Maybe that scene from the  movie  When Harry Met Sally  re-cemented this myth  when the older woman customer says to the waiter, "I'll have what she's having."  Somebody else appears to be having it better/easier/thinner/richer/smarter----so, yes, of course,  "I'll have what she's having. I assume that she must look great naked.  Her life, I bet, is perfect."  Myth.

Obvious segue:
Eckhart Tolle urges us to:
"Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally."
So, as a student of life.....
Accepting Taylor for Taylor is an on-going journey.  I am doing my best.
And, I am working hard to change what I can so I can "Have What  I've assumed she's Having."
 But, if I can continue to laugh and live a  life in which " Wherever I am, I can be there totally"---
Even if I don't look great naked......
Either way, I'm celebrating.
I'll send pictures.

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Post a Comment

Thank you so much for your comments. I know it's scary to put yourself out there. I really appreciate your being on this journey with me. You really are brave..


text:
Eric Conrad Simon

Dear husband of Winifred R Simon “Maitri”

Manchester Jewish Museum
190 Cheetham Hill Road,
M8 8LW

Details on cross:

GRU tags
Captain E C Simon
5th Lancashire Fusiliers
17 August 1915

Text type (e.g. hand-written, GRU tags, carved): GRU tag

Cross dimensions (millimetres please)
Cross beam width: Star of David plaque

Other information
Mounting to wall: unknown
Detailing: none
Evidence of use in field (earth marking, cracking, staining, shrinkage): Possible
Surface insertion depth (into ground if apparent):
Finish (varnish, paint, oiled, unfinished etc): unvarnished
Condition (cracked, paint peeling, woodwork, damage etc): Good

Other information, notes and observations:
Above data taken from photograph via email from Museum.

Eric Conrad Simon, B 14 September 1887 Didsbury, Lancashire.
Died in field ambulance shot while reconnoitring trenches. (De Ruvigny roll of honour)

He went to school at Bedales and is remembered on their website in some detail here.

An extract here:
“Eric’s grand-daughter Deborah recently explained “He was, apparently, a very gentle person. … The idea of war and killing must have been horrifying for him, but he decided to join up … he could not bear the thought of not doing his bit.”  In January 1915 Eric was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers and in April was promoted to the rank of Captain.  The battalion was in France by May.  Unfortunately his officer’s file does not survive in the National Archives so I haven’t traced his progress but August found him near Albert on the Somme.  He was reconnoitring on the evening of 16th and was shot by a sniper; he died next day in the Field Ambulance and lies buried in Millencourt Cemetery”

Eric Conrad Simon
Rank: Captain
Date of Death: 17/08/1915
Age: 27
Regiment/Service: Lancashire Fusiliers 2nd/5th Bn.
Grave Reference: F. 63.
Additional Information:
Son of Henry and Emily Simon; husband of Winifred R. Simon (nee Levy), of 41, Broadhurst Gardens, Hampstead, London. Born at Didsbury, Manchester.

He was subject to a reburial although it would appear it was from the vicinity of Millencourt.

The inscription on his grave at Millencourt reads: Dear husband of Winifred R Simon “Maitri”
Maitri may be a reference to the Hindu word meaning ‘Loving Kindness” or could be a pet name, it is unfortunately impossible to know now.

Survey compiled by Andrew Howson, photograph courtesy of Manchester Jewish Museum.
Date of survey: 15 Dec 2016


text:
POWERFUL: Father of fallen SEAL begs for military officer to tell the truth about “criminal” rules of engagement

This is a couple we’ve seen before several times and they were on Hannity tonight to discuss why they are speaking out against the administration on behalf of their fallen son who was a Navy SEAL and a member of SEAL Team 6. But what really got me the most was near the end when the father begins to describe the situation that led to his son’s death, and much of it had to do with the current rules of engagement that he called “criminal”. And he begs for some high ranking officer to have the courage to risk everything and tell the truth about these rules of engagement and what’s really happening with our warriors.

Comment Policy: Please read our new comment policy before making a comment. In short, please be respectful of others and do not engage in personal attacks. Otherwise we will revoke your comment privileges.


text:
My dear ladies and germs,

We’re back with our weekly update this fine Monday.  Last week we told you we’d found a mechanic, well, praise be, we did!  However… … … his wife literally had a baby the night before he was supposed to come out to get Jolene up and motoring.  So.  There’s that.  Good on them…*cough* …more delays for us.  But we are doing our very very best not to bug-out.  We have two mechanics now committed to coming to us next week, so one more last collective deep breath, we are late – but we are actually going to be moving.  Sahweet.  More details on that front as they come.

What we’ve done this week:

Matte black sexiness, and they come with every purchase.

  • We officially finished painting all shelving a gorgeous matte black.
  • We selected a bloody lovely red for three small accent areas and taped out / started painting those.
  • We brought in every book we have from storage and have begun obsessively organizing and shelving them.
  • We did one more personal item purge and rearranged some of Sade’s effects as the current set up was just not working for him.
  • We bought an actual printed US Atlas.
  • We emailed every single backer from our Indiegogo campaign to thank them and get reward info/addresses as appropriate.
  • We ordered teeshirts, totes, pins and bookmarks.  Pins go up in our shop TONIGHT – go check them out!
  • Sade created the Fallout Shelter on our website as a permanent thank you page to our lovely backers.

In our online store – $2 a pop, or 3 for $5 so you can share or rep us on all your jackets.

This week we plan on:

  • Finishing the red accent walls and spray painting our front countertops.
  • Mapping our route and getting our TomTom set-up and firmware updated.
  • Shipping all pin/sticker rewards, and sending the first book for each subscriber out so they reach their readers before March 1.
  • Finalizing the shelving of books and getting displays set up.
  • Getting our gas-mask jewelry from Kuro-Same Arts up in the online store.
  • Paperwork paperwork paperwork

One more grateful thank you to all of our lovely backers.  For those of you who are curating a guest shelf, do please get us your selections and we’ll send you a photo once the display is up!  We’re also looking at plaque engravers in the area to get our “Early Bird Gets the Sandworm”  repeat backers’ names up on the bus ASAP.   Don’t forget – those who couldn’t back at the time – you can subscribe to our #ReadingIsInfectious book club any time here online and get books delivered straight to your home!

Love and pathogens,

Em, Sade, and Fulci


text:
Hello dearest ladies and germs,

Our hero explaining how to rip Jolene’s old genny out to a scrapper. As seen from our brand new mirror.

Big news this week.  It’s official – we’ve hit the road!  Our hero mechanic Jon breathed life back into Jolene by fixing her electrical woes, got us set up with a new rear view mirror, a brand spanking new generator, and diagnosed what was going on with our brakes.  Good gravy, that man was worth his weight in gold.

As such – we took off yesterday (Sunday) morning and headed south all day, from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Joshua Tree National Park.  Determined to make our first day count, mileage wise, we drove over 400 miles.  We arrived late in the evening, having forgotten how much longer it takes sweet Jolene to get places compared to her smaller car brethren.  She likes to roar at a temperate 55 mph on the highway, provided it’s flat terrain – and she chugs pulling her cargo of nearly 2000 books up hills and mountain passes – sometimes at a mere 20 mph – so patience (and a keen ear for how hard the engine is working) is key.

Our morning view of Joshua Tree Park.

After pulling into Joshua Tree, we parked along a gorgeous expanse of desert, quickly recuperated the living quarters as a few things had shifted in transit, and set up our little outdoor grill.  I made us carne asada tacos for dinner under the stars in one of the most lovely places I’ve had the pleasure of being, listening to coyotes yip and howl to one another in the distance.  When we woke up the sky was grey and moody, and the landscape was otherworldly.  We drank our morning coffee in the cab looking at the strange trees and martian-like rock formations before deciding we’d drive through the park in order to rejoin Rt.10 at her southern border (rather than backtracking and taking the highway that borders the north of Joshua Tree).  It was slower going, of course, since the roads were serpentine and the speed limits were much lower than highway speed, but man were the views worth it.  The hours and miles slipped by us easily surrounded by so much beauty.

One exhibit we found at Joshua Tree Park seemed especially fitting.

Once we rejoined Rt.10 we decided making it to Arizona was our main goal along with finding a full service truck stop so we could have Jolene’s brakes looked at.  As I mentioned, our mechanic in CA diagnosed why her brakes were so mushy and less responsive than before.  Some corrosion has eaten away at the brake lines in the front and caused us to leak brake fluid.  He couldn’t fix it at the time he mentioned it and we were itching to get on the road after weeks and weeks of waiting.  Thankfully, just over the AZ border, in Quartzville, we found a Love’s with a full service truck stop.  While they deal only in air brakes (and we have hydraulic) one of the mechanics here works for a standard (non-truck) garage here in town and agreed to see us in the morning to replace the bad bit of line.  We’ll give up some driving time tomorrow for the fix, but it’ll be more than worth it.  We got a bit more than 150 miles under us today.  We’d like to average 300 miles a day, so with yesterday’s marathon drive, we’re still on track in that regard.

Some of the music we’ve been enjoying while on the road from Sade’s most excellent (in my opinion) tape collection (yes, Jolene has a tape deck!):

We’re never going to give you up.

Sunday: Rick Astley, Roy Orbison, David Bowie

Monday:  Peter, Paul, & Mary, Pentangle, Twin Peaks Soundtrack

You’ll here more updates from our journey to Florida, where we’ll complete our renovation.  Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Tumblr and you’ll get the daily dose of Virus you crave (plus Fulci pics!).

Love and Pathogens,

Em, Sade, and Fulci

The Road Virus Crew