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Bronze Sculpture

Modern Sculpture Bronze Sculpture

Modern Sculpture is known as a phenomenon that lasted from 1860s through the 1970s. During this period artists started breaking old norms and almost reinvented the art status of sculpture. We can mention such talented sculptors as Pablo Picasso, Peter Voulkos, George E. Ohr, and Kenneth Price as being key to this process. They created three-dimensional structures through the combination of disparate objects into a whole. They used various materials, including ceramics, clay, bronze, wood etc.

Modern sculpture as well as art in general is impacted by successive art styles like Geometric Abstraction, Cubism, De Stijl, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism Suprematism, Constructivism, Minimalism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop-Art. The advent of Surrealism, for example, was significant in terms of sculpture because it led to things occasionally being described as “sculpture” that would not have been so previously, such as “involuntary sculpture” in several senses, including coulage.

Also important was the vocabulary of reduction and abstraction, which was seen throughout the 1930s and 1940s and was exemplified by artists such as Gaston Lachaise, Sir Jacob Epstein, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Julio Gonzlez, Pablo Serrano, Jacques Lipchitz at that time, and later in the century by Carl Andre and John Safer who added motion and monumentality to the themes of purity of line.

By the 1960s Abstract expressionism, Geometric abstraction and Minimalism predominated. Some works of the period are: the ‘Cubi’ works of David Smith, the large scale work of John Chamberlain, and environmental installation scale works by Mark di Suvero.

In 1967 Picasso presented his acclaimed work, “Chicago Picasso” in Chicago. It is a 50 feet high, massive, abstract bronze structure. The viewers wondered whether the subject was a bird, horse, woman, or a non-figurative abstraction. This landmark creation was an indicator of the new connection that modern sculptors felt with bronze. Another significant example was “Knife Edge – Two Piece” in 1962, erected near the House of Lords in London, by Henry Moore. The author described the phenomenon of modern sculpture: “the sensitive observer of sculpture must learn to feel the shape simply as shape, not as description or reminiscence. He must, for example, perceive an egg as a simple solid shape, quite apart from its significance as food, or from the literary idea that it will become a bird.”

Bronze sculpture has been around for a long time. Bronze enjoys considerable longevity, and it slightly expands before it sets. This allows the artist to apply the finest details to the piece. Bronze is very strong and ductile. This ductility contributes greatly to works that depict motion, especially in human and animal figure.

Modern artists use different methods to keep this art form alive and well. There are a number of discrete casting processes that have to be mastered, such as sand casting and centrifugal casting. When artists plan to create a large bronze sculpture, they usually create a miniature example of what they plan to create first. They also use a large number of measuring devices to scale the dimensions of a piece accurately.

One method to create a bronze sculpture is the lost-wax method. It is an older method, but still commonly used today. To use it, an artist sculpts the original piece in wax, wood or clay, and then spends hours or even days perfecting the desired shape of the artwork. The waxed piece is then dipped in ceramic, and then dipped in fine sand, giving the detail. It is then dipped in coarser sand which will give strength to the piece. This process is repeated until the coating reaches one quarter of an inch in thickness. The artwork is heated to one thousand five hundred degrees Fahrenheit to melt the wax and set the ceramic mold.

As we can see, bronze sculpture is very popular for excellent reasons, and may express different aspects of time and Weltanschauung.
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SD Historical Society Foundation to Host Social on Sept. 5

A fundraiser to help preserve the state’s history will take place in a historical building in Pierre.

The South Dakota Historical Society Foundation will host an evening social from 7-9 p.m. (CDT) on Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Hitching Horse Inn, 635 N. Euclid Ave.

“This is a great opportunity to learn about the activities of the South Dakota State Historical Society and the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation in a historical setting,” said foundation president Michael Lewis. The foundation is the nonprofit fundraising partner of the South Dakota State Historical Society.

The Hitching Horse Inn was built in 1907. Ron Lutz became the fifth owner of the house when he bought it in 2008 with the intention of making it into a bed-and-breakfast. Jeremy Phelps owns the bar inside the Hitching Horse Inn and helps manage the bed-and-breakfast.

State Historical Society Director Jay D. Vogt, members of the State Historical Society’s board of trustees, Lewis and members of the foundation’s board of directors will be at the social to answer people’s questions about the work of the State Historical Society and foundation.

“The South Dakota State Historical Society has several new projects that people can learn about. Those attending can enjoy hors d’oeuvres, beverages and live background music while visiting with directors and board members,” Lewis said.
A silent auction will take place.

The suggested donation is $20 per person, payable at the door.
Those planning to attend are encouraged to RSVP by calling (605) 773-6346 or emailing However, people are welcome to attend the social without making a reservation.

Sponsors include Country Carpet & Flooring, Pryntcomm, Days Inn, Clausen & Rice LLP CPA, May Adam Gerdes & Thompson LLP and Pierre Inn & Suites.

The South Dakota Historical Society Foundation is a private charitable nonprofit that seeks funding to assist the South Dakota State Historical Society in programming and projects to preserve South Dakota’s history and heritage for future generations.

The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Tourism. The Department of Tourism is comprised of Tourism, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the State Historical Society. The Department is led by Secretary James D. Hagen. The State Historical Society, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call (605) 394-1936 for more information.

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Saturday, 21 November 2015

Let’s Go! Episode 5 – TOTTY!

In the absence of Anthony it's finally safe the broach the topic of DD Fist of the North Star and its companion segment Strawberry Flavoured! All that plus the usual siblings, superheroes and sixties nostalgia.

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Xena: Warrior Princess: Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 21

Posted by RonPrice
Xena: Warrior Princess: Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 21
December 16, 2010 03:59AM
After I had finished teaching ancient Greek history in the early 1990s to matriculation students and just before retiring from full-time teaching in 1999, Xena: Warrior Princess appeared on the lighted-chirping box. The problem of religious plurality has been explored not only in philosophical and theological works, but also in popular culture. Xena: Warrior Princess explores this issue par excellence in her several mythological milieux of which ancient Greece is but one. The series ran for six seasons with the syndication beginning in 1995. By the time the series concluded in 2001 I had retired from full-time teaching in Western Australia, had taken a sea-change to Tasmania and was on a pension.

The beautiful and relatively unknown Lucy Lawless stars as Xena. She journeys through the ancient world and interacts with seminal figures, stories, and ideas from various religious and mythological traditions. The television series constructs the stories in a way that makes provocative suggestions about the truth and usefulness of religion in general, about the truth-claims of specific religious traditions, and about the ontological relationships among the metaphysical claims of various religions. The various answers to the problem of religious plurality suggested in Xena: Warrior Princess are compared to standard philosophical and theological approaches.

As globalization has brought religious communities into greater contact with one another and religious diversity to the forefront of public awareness, the problem of religious plurality is addressed not just in philosophical and theological treatises, but also in popular culture texts.. The Xena character was created as an evil warlord and temptress in the series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. The spin-off series involving Xena begins with Xena undergoing an unexplained conversion in which she renounces evil and resolves to spend the rest of her days doing good in order to atone for the misdeeds of her past. Over the course of six seasons of episodes, Xena interacts not only with the gods of classical Graeco-Roman mythology, but also with key figures from several of the worlds religious traditions, through story lines that construct complicated relationships among the religious and mythological systems involved.

Xena does not interact with Islam. This is quite understandable. Islam did not emerge until the sixth century C.E. Though Xenas travels through the Xenaverse cover a span of roughly 1200 years of Earth history, they end long before the sixth century. So when Xena travels through what we now know as Islamic territories, she encounters either the pre-Islamic jinn or the kind of comic-book stereotypes of pre-Islamic Arabia that caused Arab activists to protest Disneys Aladdin film.-Ron Price with thanks to David Fillingim, By the Gods or Not: Religious Plurality in Xena: Warrior Princess, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 21, No.3, Fall, 2009.

As I was finishing my career as a teacher
a Xenaverse appeared where all religions
and mythologies were true, but some were
truer than others in the lighted-chirping box.
Despite Xenas preference to remain aloof
from spiritual concerns and promote a wide
pragmatic humanism, both Christianity and
Hinduism both turned out to be true in the
most ultimate of senses. It should not be a
surprise that Hinduism and Christianity both
received top billing in a TV series that capped
the 20th century. After all, in the 20th century,
it was through the influence of Tolstoys take on
Jesus teaching that the Hindu Gandhi awakened
to the way of satyagraha. And it was in the Hindu
practice of Gandhi that the Christian Martin Luther
King, Jr., saw the non-violent love of Jesus.....This
process was described as passing over and coming
back-the spiritual/ethical stance for a post-Auschwitz,
a post-Hiroshima, post-modern world, that is our own.

Xenas pragmatic, humanistic commitment
to the good of others guides her interactions
with the spiritual traditions she encounters...
To blindly accept religious authority or any
other authority for that matter is dangerous
so went the wisdom of this television oracle.
But a stance rooted in one tradition, open to the
collective wisdom of other spiritual and ethical
traditions & sources, and committed to the good
of all people promises the best possibility for us
to meet the ethical challenges in this very very
globalized techno-bureaucratic age: amen! Xena!

Ron Price
13/3/'10 to 17/7/'15.

PS This is the 2nd edition of this prose-poem. The author is a Canadian living in Australia and has been a BahÃ¡'Ã for 50 years.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2015 09:06AM by RonPrice.
Re: Xena: Warrior Princess: Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 21
July 17, 2015 09:08AM
Since no one has responded in the last four years, I'll add an item while here on the subject of TV:

Television studies is an academic discipline that deals with critical approaches to television. Usually, it is distinguished from mass-communication research, which tends to approach the topic from an empirical perspective. Defining the field is problematic; some institutions and syllabuses do not distinguish television studies from media studies. Some study programs classify it as a subfield of popular culture studies.

Television studies is roughly equivalent to the longer-standing discipline of film studies in that it is often concerned with textual analysis. Analyses of so-called "quality television," such as Cathy Come Home(BBC drama 1966) and Twin Peaks( USA drama, 1990), have attracted the interests of researchers for their cinematic qualities. However, television studies can also incorporate the study of television viewing and how audiences make meaning from texts, which is commonly known as audience theory or reception theory. My own experience of television studies has been part of my film and media studies as a teacher in colleges of advanced education(CsAE), technical and further education colleges(Tafe) and, finally, a school for seniors. This experience covered the years from 1974 to 2004, from my 30s to my 60s in Australia. For more go to: [www.ronpriceepoch.com]
Re: Xena: Warrior Princess: Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Volume 21
March 09, 2017 10:08PM
Cool deal Ron. I loved Herc & Xena. Actually, HTLJ is my favorite show ever.

I find it sad these 2 shows are not aired anymore. Herc defined the 90s & changed TV forever.

Let's review. No Herc, no Xena. No Xena, no Buffy of Angel. If we did have these shows there
are countless vampire,magic, fantasy, or any other new age shows that wouldn't have come to be.

Herc also was around for many beginnings (including the Olympics & lighter).

As far as "she (Xena encounters either the pre-Islamic jinn or the kind of comic-book stereotypes of pre-Islamic
Arabia that caused Arab activists to protest Disneys Aladdin films."

I would have thought they'd spend more time protesting Jasmine's wardrob. In real life she never could
have worn that skimpy little thing.

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Wednesday, 21 March 2018

I service 4 men nightly, collect N1,000 per round — 17-yr-old sex worker

Emotions ran high yesterday at the Lagos State Police Command as some under-aged girls, who were allegedly lured from their villages by human trafficking agents, narrated how they ended up being prostitutes in a hotel at Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos.

Some of the girls, whose ages were between 15 and 19, disclosed that they slept with at least four men every night, for N1,000 each. Others, who were discovered to have abandoned their children in their villages, with the hope of getting a job that will improve their living condition, lamented that the present economic situation was affecting their trade, following low turnout of customers. The revelation came after the Lagos State Police Command uncovered the hotel, located on Ige Street, with the subsequent arrest of some its management staff.

One of the girls, aged 17 (names withheld), boldly stated that she came to Lagos to ‘hustle.’ Her words: “I am an orphan. Someone directed me here from Calabar, Cross River State. I started four months ago. I attend to at least four men every night and collect N1,000 from each of them; but I use condom.” On her part, Jovelin Edet, a mother of one, stated that she left her three-year-old child in her friend’s care in Akwa Ibom State, after she was assured of getting a job in Lagos. According to her, “I have been in the hotel for seven months. But I attend to one or two men every night and I collect N3,000 from each of them, for short time.

sex workers
But when I follow customers home, I collect N5,000. “My parents are not aware of what I do in Lagos. I use the money to take care of myself and also send to my friend on weekly or monthly basis, to take care of my baby.” For Destiny Itabasi, a mother of one who also abandoned her three-year-old baby back in her home town in Akwa Ibom, she was invited to the hotel four months ago, adding that she makes at least N15,000 weekly from prostitution.

But 15-year-old Loveth (not real name), claimed that she came from Oron, Cross River State, to collect money from her sister Monica, who was alleged to be the trafficker. Meanwhile, the alleged coordinators, Thomas Emmanuel, 29, and Okon John, 34, denied bringing the girls from their villages, claiming that the girls came on their own. They added that the commercial sex workers pay them N3,000 weekly as rent.

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Monday, September 19, 2016

Lawrence, KS Snapshots

The past two weekends I went to visit my boyfriend at the University of Kansas. I love visiting because Lawrence is an adorable town and has a lot of fun things to do. Although I love Ames, it's nice being in a larger city with more shopping, restaurants, and activities.

Lawrence is also home to Cane's which is the best chicken fast food place out there, at least I'm convinced. If you are near a Cane's it is a MUST! Everything is great and I can get behind a restaurant with basically only chicken strips and french fries on the menu.

As you may have see on Instagram or my last post we went to visit the nearby sunflower fields! It was so beautiful and it was crazy to see so many sunflowers all in one place.

What did you do this weekend? Let me know in the comments!

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image Ron Russell Editor’s blog

San Jose State loses Mike MacIntyre to Colorado

Monday, December 10, 2012

The coach who turned around San Jose State’s moribund football program in three years to have them 10-2 and bowl-bound this season has accepted the head coaching position at Colorado, ESPN says. He’s to be introduced in Boulder at a 3 p.m. (PST) presser. Mercury News says he told the team early this morning that a job offer was on the table, but that he wasn’t around for the team’s workout.

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A Chronicle basher pauses to praise the late Herb Caen

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Randy Shaw at Beyond Chron takes time out from ragging on the Chronicle to praise the late Herb Caen. Shaw spent the holidays reading three of Caen’s books and another written about him, and says he’s come away with a renewed appreciation for the legendary columnist. Until now, he says, he’d viewed Caen primarily “as a guy who regularly lunched with Wilkes Bashford and Willie Brown and enjoyed being among the city’s political movers and shakers and celebrity set.”

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MUSINA, South Africa (AP) — It's easy to miss the two girls. They are so small they seem to disappear amid the dozen Zimbabwean boys crowded around them along the trash-choked drain.

Sofia Chimhangwa, a 14-year-old in a denim skirt, lies on the concrete under a filthy blanket. Her 15-year-old friend sits next to her, braiding a legless Barbie's hair. Sofia says she survives because the other girl's 19-year-old boyfriend helps feed them both when the coins they beg don't stretch far enough.

“We shouldn't be here on our own. I know that,” Sofia said. Her big sister helped her get to the border from Zimbabwe's capital Harare. After eight months in this border town, Sofia is not ready to go home because she cannot yet take money back to her widowed father.

She is among an increasing number of young Zimbabweans setting out on their own to escape their homeland's economic ruin, bringing both a child's naive sense of invincibility and a grown-up desire to help their families.

International aid group Save the Children says some 500 Zimbabwean youngsters are in Musina today, compared to about 50 five years ago.
But those committed to helping these children are increasingly anguished over one question: Where are the girls?

Aid workers say they don't see enough Sofias – teenage girls – to account for the number that men, women and boys say they accompanied across the border.

Some disappear as maids or “wives” into homes around this dusty mining town split by railroad tracks. On one side of the tracks are the crowded “locations'' where blacks were forced to live under apartheid; on the other are the neighborhoods of broad roads and large houses still predominantly inhabited by whites.

Other girls hang back in the shadows at Musina's truck stops at night along with older prostitutes. There are fears traffickers are recruiting girls into the sex trade in Johannesburg, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) south, and other South African cities.

As the representative in Musina of Lawyers for Human Rights, Sabelo Sibanda tries to ensure Zimbabweans aren't illegally detained or deported before they can apply for refugee status. But he's grown wary of pushing too hard for the release of young girls from a government deportation center here, at least until he can be sure into whose hands they will fall.

He said he found a home with Zimbabwean relatives living in South Africa for two girls he met at the center who had crossed the border to look for jobs as waitresses in Cape Town. One was 13, Sibanda said, adding “the other said she was about 20, but I don't believe that.”

He was less successful with another pair, 18- and 16-year-olds who said they were raped on both sides of the border crossing into South Africa.

Sibanda found them a place at a shelter for abused women. He said the older girl later told him that while on a walk in town, they were approached by men offering them food and clothes. The girls returned to the shelter after an older woman warned them not to listen.

“A few days later, the younger one went to town, and just never came back,” Sibanda said.

“The level of vulnerability for girls and young women is very, very high,” he said. “There's so many of them, and they're so desperate. They'll just jump at anything.”

In the year or so he has headed the Musina office of the International Organization for Migration, Mohamed Hassan has helped scores of
Zimbabwean boys return home. But he said only a few girls came to him for help.

Hassan got a sense of how many more girls there were when the South African government opened an office at a fair ground to process
Zimbabweans seeking asylum. A makeshift refugee camp grew up on a sandy lot across the street, and unaccompanied girls were suddenly visible, making up perhaps 25 percent of all the teens on their own.

“They would come for documentation, and that would be the last time anyone would see them,” he said.

Conditions in the refugee camp turned so bad – there were reports of rape and offers to pay for sex – that the South African government shut the place down.

“It was just some sort of fishing ground for those with ill intentions,” Hassan said.

An International Organization for Migration study last year found established routes used by human traffickers in South Africa, bringing girls and young women from the countryside into the cities to work as prostitutes or maids.

But the victims rarely come forward. Some may not even think of themselves as victims because they were aware the jobs being offered were in the sex trade. Others may be too ashamed, or too thankful just to have work, to speak out.

Forster Kwangwari, a Zimbabwean preacher who ran a shelter for street children in his homeland before opening one here last year, says the refugee girls in Musina are vulnerable.

“People can easily take them, to be domestic workers, to be wives,” Kwangwari said. “Men adopt them before we see them.  They see them before we see them.”

The ragged young Zimbabweans on Musina's streets know Kwangwari well, judging by the cries of “Pastor! Pastor!” following him along the main street. He offers steady meals, a chance to go to school and to play, but he's persuaded only 20 boys to come to his shelter, a shed-like building furnished with foam mattresses. Kwangwari said children living on the streets quickly come to value their independence above everything.

He's set aside rooms for girls but does not get enough donations to afford the separate staff he would need to look after them.  Two other shelters in town cater largely to boys, as few girls come forward.

A girl who gave her name as Tracy said she had thought she was doing fine on her own. Then, one evening, the 16-year-old was mugged, raped and shot through the neck. After leaving the hospital – two scars still pink on either side of her neck – she made her way to a shelter and was looking for help to go home.

Tracy had left her widowed father in the Masvingo region of Zimbabwe more than a year ago and found a job almost immediately.

“I was just walking around, and someone said: ‘Come work for me,’ ” she said. She was paid 400 rand (about $100) a month to clean a house, and spent 150 rand of her earnings each month to rent a room in a poor neighborhood in the shadow of two iron-gray hills created by mine tailings.

She wasn't able to save much. So she's looking for more work before she heads home.

“I want to buy groceries to take to my father,” she said.

Musina is “not a good place,” Tracy said.  “There are no jobs. There's no place to stay. A lot of robbery. Girls are forcing themselves into prostitution to get money. And others are forcing themselves into temporary marriage, to stay with boyfriends for security.”

However, she said she would not discourage any young Zimbabwean girl from coming here, adding she would likely return herself one day _ a measure of the desperation in her homeland.

With an economic free-fall, collapsed hospital infrastructure and deadly cholera epidemic, aid agencies are feeding most of the population in Zimbabwe. For many Zimbabweans, the only road to survival remains the one leading to South Africa.

First, men left in search of work. As times got worse, women, too, had to leave. And, finally, children.

In some cases, Zimbabwean parents who have established a foothold send for their children, paying transporters known as “amalaitsha” to bring them to South Africa. Children have been abandoned, some with no idea where their parents are, by amalaitsha fleeing police or border guards.

Other children have told aid workers of hopping a train to the border and then simply walking across on their own.

Sibekiwe Moyo came to Musina from the Beitbridge area just across the border, blending in with a van load of neighbors heading to a football match. Her grandmother had sent her to find work.

Sibekiwe, a bright, shy 14-year-old, once wanted to be a teacher. Now she says that's no longer possible “because I am no longer in school.”

She last attended classes in 2006. Money ran out for fees, then the education system collapsed.

Sibekiwe's father is dead and she and her grandmother lost track of her mother and 19-year-old brother when they crossed into South Africa several years ago.

Once in South Africa, Sibekiwe wandered into a housing compound for workers on a farm overlooking the Limpopo River about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Musina. She was offered work baby-sitting, seven days a week for 200 rand (about $20) a month, plus food and a place to sleep in one of the compounds mud-walled, tin-roofed shacks.

Her wages are probably a fifth of the earnings of the farm worker who pays her to watch the baby while she tends melons.

The 8-month-old whom Sibekiwe had secured to her back with a pale yellow towel could be her little brother. Sibekiwe speaks Venda, as do the
South Africans in this area. She points out a few other Zimbabwean girls looking after other babies. One, 14-year-old Thembi Ndlovu, has been here three months, and plans to work until December, then return to Zimbabwe for the new school year.

“I'll go back to school after I've earned some money here,” she said.

Sibekiwe, who had been in South Africa only three days, had more modest goals. She hoped to one day save enough to send money to her grandmother.

“I'm not big,” she said. “But I can work and help.”


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A Night at the FickstutenMarkt - June 14, 2017 - SF Weekly
SF Weekly

A Night at the FickstutenMarkt

Aside from the time I went hang-gliding in a foreign country with a guide who didn’t speak English, the scariest thing I ever did happened inside a yurt in Northern California a few summers ago, when I was a horse.

It was the horse fair, also known as the FickstutenMarkt, a sex party imported from (where else but?) Germany. We were in a yurt because it was part of an annual, all-male, weekend sex camp not far from Ukiah that I promised the organizers I would not name. The yurt was for privacy. The entire weekend is secluded from the outside world — there are signs at the gate instructing UPS to come back some other time — but it’s also private in the sense that half of the 30 or so FickstutenMarkt participants don’t know who the others are. It’s a structured, semi-anonymous orgy built around dominance and faux-bestiality.

You signed up to be a mare or a stallion. Mares meet separately an hour before the market opens, at which point they’re blindfolded and given a soothing pep talk where they’re assured that handlers will be there to provide water or adjust blindfolds as needed, and that it’s OK to tap out at any point if you’ve had enough. Also, all the mares have to be fucked before any one of them can be fucked again.

That is probably not how they do it at clubs in Berlin.

Still, self-esteem-boosting California modifications or not, it’s a German concept — which means there are rules. First, there’s no peeking and no talking. The sex has to be entirely anonymous. Second, a mare cannot refuse a stallion unless the stallion’s cock is too big or if it has a piercing. Third, mares have the option of choosing only protected sex. I play safe as a condition of being in an open relationship, so a ribbon was tied around my arm to indicate my choice. (This was before PrEP became widespread and condom use began to decline in such circumstances.) Fourth, if you choose to stop for any reason, that decision is final and you are escorted outside into the dark, at which point you remove your blindfold. But you have to keep walking without turning around, like Orpheus leaving Hades.

We sat in near-silence around the yurt. Low tribal music played. I remember my heart pounding, and ridiculous thoughts masquerading as pragmatic concerns filling my head. We had just eaten dinner — what if I got nauseated? What if I got a rough top who was really into the equine aspect and wanted to inspect my gums? The only thing that kept me from cackling was the worry that inappropriate laughter would spoil the scene for other nervous mares psyching themselves up.

The stallions entered, a demonic processional. After a few minutes, I heard moaning from other mares as they were sold off. A hand gripped my arm, and I was led wordlessly to my first stallion. The anticipation mixes with the fear. The agony alternates with the ecstasy. The knowledge that you’re being observed causes you to remain stoic.

I knew who he was, right away. I could determine his voice from his groans as he fucked me. He was about my age and very good-looking, so I relaxed into the rhythm of it. I think he came, but I honestly don’t remember for sure. He might have got what he wanted and moved on.

My second stallion was older and larger. Instead of fucking me from behind, he positioned me to sit on his dick. It was girthy and rock-hard, but he was almost gentle with it. He wanted me to have fun, too. I am certain he did not ejaculate. I think he wanted to fuck as many mares as he could. I did not know who he was.

After two, I signaled for water — but what I really wanted was a break. Although I had no idea how much time had passed, it was clear that the room had thinned out a bit. But the realization that I had lasted longer than at least a few mares was all the encouragement I needed.

The third one was rougher. He broke the rules by whispering in my ear, whatever the opposite of sweet nothings are. He didn’t care if I felt any pleasure; I was his to use. Ordinarily, being treated like meat would turn me on, but this was a little too intense. My body was done and so was my mind.

I was taken out. The lead handler, an affable blue-collar bear, thanked me for being a good sport but emphasized the importance of following procedure. I showered and went to the hot tub, happily dizzy. At that hour, many guys were in the middle of flogging scenes or fucking in their cabins, but there were enough people soaking to make it too aggressively social to stand for more than five minutes. So I left, proud that I could take three dicks at the FickstutenMarkt and still keep my trap shut afterward.

I never learned who that last guy was. We will always be two anonymous horses who fucked at the fair. But the next morning at breakfast, a handsome, middle-aged guy introduced himself in such a way that I realized he was the second stallion. Funnily enough, he was German. We never saw one another again, although we share the same first name.


text:
SmokeGood DrinkGood Magazine

Music: The Best of Roy Ayers A True Jazz Pioneer

Roy Edward Ayers, Jr. was born in Los Angeles, CA on September, 10 1940. He comes by his affinity with music naturally, as his mother Ruby Ayers was a schoolteacher and local piano instructor and his father Roy Sr., a sometimes-parking attendant and trombonist. As it often happens in a household filled with the love and the appreciation which for music, Roy began to demonstrate his musical aptitude by the tender age of five, by which time he was playing boogie woogie tunes on the piano. He turned to the steel guitar by the age of nice, had stints during his teens playing flute, trumpet and drums before embracing the vibes as his instrument of choice.

Perhaps Roy’s karmic destiny as a vibraphonist was by his parents’ decision to allow him attend a concert featuring the great Lionel Hampton’s Big Band. During “Hamps” customary stroll down the aisle to thank you his audience for attending, he noticed and ecstatic five-year-old boy. So impressed was “Hamp” by the child’s ebullience he walked over and presented young Roy Ayers Jr. with the gift of a lifetime- a pair of vibe mallets.

During Roy’s adolescence, although his parents required that his schoolwork remain his primary focus, his mother managed to fit in piano lessons, which served to enhance his public school education. In addition to Roy’s involvement with various instruments, he also sang in the church choir. Then, at seventeen years of age his parents presented him with a set of vibes and the rest, as they say, is history.

Roy began at first study independently, then eventually discovered that Bobby Hutcherson, a rising vibraphonist, lived in his neighborhood, and subsequently he began to work under Bobby’s tutelage. Their relationships as friends and musicians blossomed, with regular meetings between the two to collaborate and practice. During this period, Roy went on to form very first group of which he was the leader, while a student of Jefferson High school. Appropriately enough, he first named the group the Jefferson Combo, later re-naming the group to the Latin Lyrics. After graduation from Jefferson High, Roy attended Los Angeles City College where he studied advanced music theory.

By 1961 Roy had become a well-rounded, full-fledged professional musician, and as is customary in nuturing African-American households, at twenty-one the keys to the door. As the adage goes, if you are blessed, when one closes another one opens. Fortunately for Roy, he had just begun to receive his musical blessings, as early in his career, he collaborated and performed with likes of Chico Hamilton, Teddy Edwards, Jack Wilson, Phineas Newborn and Gerald Wilson. Shortly thereafter, Roy made his recording debut with Curtis Amy, a highly regarded saxophonist, with whom he recorded “Way Down” and “Tippin on Through”.

Music: Charlie Parker Millennium Collection – 20th Century Masters

Charlie “The Bird” Parker is one of the most important names in history of jazz, if not American music in general. Almost single-handedly he turned what was mostly a dance music, an entertainment, into an art form – his playing & unique approach to influence generations of musicians to come. Parker’s Millennium edition features the highlights from his recordings for the Mercury & Verve labels, 1947 to 1953, essentially the heart of the great artist’s career.

The collection includes tracks with small & big bands as well as several from his famed sessions with strings. Chronologically sequenced, from 1947’s “The Bird” from the Mercury album The Jazz Scene through “My Little Suede Shoes” & “Loverman” to his 1953 reprise of his classic “Now’s The Time,” all twelve tracks are classics from one of the greatest.

Charlie Parker Biography

Charles Christopher Parker Jr. was born on August 29, 1920, in a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, to Charles Parker Sr. and his 18-year-old wife Addie. His father ran out on the family when Charlie was just a little boy. When he was 11 his mother bought him an alto saxophone for his birthday. By the time he was 15 Charlie was working as a musician in the flourishing Kansas City jazz scene. He also began drinking heavily and using drugs, which were also a part of the KC jazz scene, as were illegal after-hours gambling casinos. Charlie became more experienced by playing with various bands, including those of Lawrence Keyes and Harlan Leonard, before joining Jay McShann’s band in 1940.

The band was widely heard on radio across the country, so Charlie’s saxophone playing became well known, even though people didn’t know his name, so he became known as the Yardbird, or just The Bird. While still in Kansas City, Charlie reached a breakthrough: tired of playing solo with the same scales, he discovered that if he used a higher interval of the chords from a popular song or melody line, with a pianist or guitarist adding the appropriate new chords, he finally could play the sound he always had been hearing in his head. Essentially turning the melody line inside out, he began experimenting with this new style, which became known as “bebop”. Charlie played with McShann in New York City until 1942, when he left for brief stints with the bands of pianist Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines and singer Billy Eckstine. The association with the Hines Orchestra was a significant one because of the other musicians, who included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

By 1945 Charlie was back in New York and leading his own small groups. He got married, but continued to live like a nomad, traveling from place to place and spending almost every other night in a hotel or boarding house. He also became a drug addict, and as his addiction increased so did his appetite, and he began putting on weight. Charlie took part in the first bebop recording session in 1945. With Gillespie and Miles Davis, he recorded songs like “Billie’s Bounce” and “Koko” for Savoy Records. Not long afterward, he recorded such classic songs as “A Night in Tunisia” and “Yardbird Suite” for another small label, Dial Records. In the late 1940s Charlie toured Europe, where he was received like visiting royalty. He made several tours of Cuba, where he began experimenting with large string sections and Afro-Cuban rhythms. After a few years of relative stability, however, Charlie began a downward slide.

He got hooked back on drugs again (heroin was his favorite), he began nodding out on bandstands, getting into fistfights and pawning his saxophones for drug money. Aware of the effects of drug use, he chastised younger sax players who emulated his heroin use. By the early 1950s Charlie’s drinking and drug use made him gray and prematurely lined. His self-abuse began to infringe on his musical ability. During this time, Charlie was befriended by a wealthy European baroness who was living in New York, loved his jazz music and helped him out when he needed it. In early 1955, on his way to a gig in Boston, Charlie stopped by her apartment for a visit.
Alarmed by his obvious ill health, she had her personal doctor examine him, which revealed that he had stomach ulcers and many other health problems, the result of his years of drinking and drug use. The doctor recommended hospitalization, but the stubborn Charlie refused to consider it. The baroness got him to rest at her place for a few days. On March 12, 1955, she found Charlie Parker dead, slumped over in an easy chair in front of the TV set in her apartment. He was 34 years old. An autopsy revealed such damage to the inside of his body that the doctor who performed the autopsy thought Charlie was a man at least 50 years old. Charlie Parker’s legend grew even larger after his death. Fans scrawled “Bird Lives!” on walls of jazz clubs from New York, to Los Angeles, to Paris, France. To this day, more than 40 years after his death, Bird remains jazz’s single most venerated figure.

Music: Diana Krall Pure Elegance and Grace A Style of Her Own

While I’m a new fan of Diana Krall, I have to say that she’s such a great talent, and I’m so glad that there’s an artist like her out there making music. In this day of “Mainstream Pop”, hearing someone who has real musicianship is a much needed change of pace. The first time I saw Diana was when I was watching Jazz Central on BET a few years ago, and I was truly impressed, but I never really tried to find out anything more about her, until this year. I was searching on the Internet and I found her rendition of “Christmas time is here”. I was totally blown away, and I had to find more.

From the very first song, “Let’s face the music and dance”, with its steamy bossa nova, smokey delivery from Diana, and smooth string accompaniment, it’s really hard to put this album down. All of the arrangements are extremely well done, and Diana brings out all of the emotions of each song like she’s lived through them all. Especially the title track. I couldn’t stop listening to it.

I just hit the replay button, and fell into the lush sounds of the strings, the warm guitar, while I fell in love with Diana’s soothing, comforting voice. VERY few albums have ever done that to me before, and I can’t wait for her next effort so she can do it to me again.

Now I can understand that people are mad that Diana doesn’t show off her great piano chops, and those who claim that she’s selling out, but I have to totally disagree. Diana doesn’t have to go the route of so many artists and use their albums to display how great they are; she just wants the music to show for itself. As for the selling out thing, she is more popular, yes. Being nominated for Album of the year proves that, but can’t an artist be allowed to grow, and even expand out of their genre ever so slightly? This album is NOT Pop and ESPECIALLY NOT elevator music. Having strings on a jazz album is also not a sign of selling out either. While the strings were certainly not needed, as she sounds just as great with just her trio, the strings just added a whole other dimension to the songs. I’m glad that she went that route, as it made for a wonderfully splendid album.

It couldn’t come any more highly recommended. Go get it now. And while you’re at it, newcomers should go and get her other albums as well, so you can see that her talent isn’t just a one-album affair; it’s the real deal.

Music: Miles Davis Made His First Mark “Birth of the Cool”

“Birth of the Cool” was where Miles Davis made his first mark in jazz. Possibly the most influential jazz artist of all-time, Miles was on the forefront of the music for several decades, essentially steering its path during that time, and with the landmark recordings that make up this CD, Miles Davis (as well as Gerry Mulligan and Gil Evans, who deserve just as much credit) gives birth to “cool” jazz. Though it has had a few detractors who’ve dismissed it as ‘boring’ and ‘bland,’ a majority of listeners are really taken by what Davis & Co. have accomplished here. That nonet only recorded 12 pieces in the studio, and the whole dozen have been collected in this remarkable compilation.

Davis’s lyrical, anti-virtuoso trumpet finds a beautiful soulmate in Gerry Mulligan’s baritone sax (who also had a huge hand in writing much of the material as well). The recordings are most famous for the arrangements Evans, Mulligan, and a few others have given the music; elegant and sophisticated, it charts new territory in “big band” music, something that would ultimately lead to the quasi-orchestral music produced by Davis and Evans in the late 50’s and early 60’s.

A few years ago, it was thought that the definitive version of “Birth of the Cool” was released on a CD titled “The Complete Birth of the Cool,” a remastered disc that also contained live radio performances of the music. However, recently, famed recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder discovered the original master tapes that were used for the original 78’s (all 12 tracks were initially released as 78’s; they weren’t compiled on to an album until several years later). As it turned out, every Lp and CD of the album since then were made from Lp masters that were essentially safety copies.

Capitol was reluctant to remaster this material after just doing so, but supposedly Van Gelder convinced them to do so due to the quality of the masters. Now remastered and reissued under Blue Note’s RVG Series, this latest edition is simply incredible to listen to. Far better than older editions of this CD, it even outstrips the “Complete Birth of Cool” disc.

If you haven’t bought this music yet, this new RVG edition is definitely the one to get on the basis of sound. “The Complete” does have those radio performances, but while they are of obvious interest to lifelong jazz enthusiasts, I wouldn’t call them essential.

Music: Led Zeppelin – Timeless Classic Mothership

Led Zeppelin redefined rock in the Seventies and for all time. They were as influential in that decade as the Beatles were in the prior one. Their impact extends to classic and alternative rockers alike. Then and now, Led Zeppelin looms larger than life on the rock landscape as a band for the ages with an almost mystical power to evoke primal passions.

It’s rare that a group can truly rock todays world, but the arrival of MOTHERSHIP, the first-ever comprehensive 2CD Led Zeppelin compilation with the soon to follow re-release of The Song Remains The Same on CD & DVD and a concert event reuniting Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones qualifies. Produced by Page and mixed by Kevin Shirley, MOTHERSHIP’s 24 monolithic tracks were selected and sequenced by the band, who also oversaw the painstaking remastering.

Spanning their epic career, the unprecedented collection pulls immortal songs from all eight of the bands classic studio albums, one of the 20th century’s most enduring bodies of musical work. Arguably the most influential and innovative rock band ever, Led Zeppelin has sold over 200 million records worldwide. They continue to inspire successive generations with their passionate, groundbreaking, genre-transcendent, mystic, heavy and blues-infused rock n roll. Forty years since they formed, the song indeed remains the same.

The short guitar bursts on “Good Times Bad Times” that open this firecracker debut in 1969 could be viewed as a forewarning of great songs to come, some of the most historic moments in rock and roll. These four guys were actual musicians who, as a collective unit, created a sound that was unmatchable at the time. And they didn’t just blast away at their instruments, either. “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” showcases gentle acoustic guitar at first, then later driving riffs that could inspire anyone to play air guitar.

Even on their first record, Zeppelin weren’t afraid to draw out their songs (some would say overstay their welcome), and four of the nine tunes last (and blast) for over six minutes. Like The Doors, Zeppelin had a keen interest in the blues; underneath all the raw rock on this album is a soulful, bluesy sound and aura with two Willie Dixon covers that the band “Zeppelinizes” to the max. Nothing, however, tops the segway from “You Shook Me” to the blazing “Dazed and Confused,” which sounds amazing, raw and blistering.

The organ work of John Paul Jones is truly beautiful, sounding like a church hymn on a rough-and-tumble rock and roll album. Undoubtedly, these British lads mixed sonic beauty and thrashing rawness to create an art form that still resonates today. “Black Mountain Side” is a busy acoustic ditty that sounds positively charming next to its follower, “Communication Breakdown,” but that’s Zeppelin’s style in a nutshell — heartlifting to raw in a matter of seconds.

These rocking songs come off as urgent and passionate. Lyrically, the album is all blues as Plant wails majestically about one heartbreak after the other, moaning about his lost women and unabashedly feeling lonesome and sorry for himself. No matter, he’d have plenty of time to attain more women in the future. This is the work of a band ready to take on the world on its own terms.

Music: Charles Mingus 1959 Classic – “Mingus Ah Um”

In 1959, Charles Mingus was at the height of his powers– in the midst of a roll from a stream of fine music on Atlantic, he signed to Columbia and delivered his first album in early 1959, “Mingus Ah Um”. Perhaps the best album Mingus ever recorded, Mingus augments his working band (saxaphonists John Handy and Booker Ervin, pianist Horace Parlan, and drummer Dannie Richmond) with reedman Shafi Hadi and either trombonist Willie Dennis or Jimmy Knepper, and produced an album of such startling variety and briliant performance that it demands attention.

To this day, when someone curious about Mingus’ music asks me for a recommendation, without hesitation, I immediately suggest this album. From the opener, it all works– Mingus’ racing “Better Git It In Your Soul” is a gospel shout masked as a jazz piece– featuring the leader on rambling vocals, a gospel shout theme, a jaw dropping solo by Booker Ervin (under which the rest of the band claps rhythm) and just stunning and sensitive drumwork from Richmond that puts the exclamation mark on the piece– this really is about half of what Mingus has to offer as a musician. The other half comes in funereal ballad “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, second track on the album. A tribute to departed saxophonist Lester Young, Mingus evokes raw mourning in his sax line, and Handy’s solo and Mingus’ support of it are nothing short of astonishing (check Mingus’ echo of Handy’s fluttering for evidence of this).

By the time you’ve finished these two tracks, if it’s not working for you, Mingus probably isn’t for you, and the rest of the record isn’t going to change anything.

Mind you, the rest is pretty good too, alternately energetic and explosive (“Bird Calls”) and mellow and beautiful (“Self-Portrait in Three Colors”) with at least one stunning arrangement (“Open Letter to Duke”) and another bonafide classic in “Fables of Faubus”. Composed about the then-governer of Arkansas and his segregation policies, “Fables” originally had vocals, but Columbia censored Mingus, fearing the outcome of such a move (check out “Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus” on Candid for the uncensored version of the piece). The resulting piece has to rely on horns only for sarcasm and bitter exposition, which it does remarkably well, and it is full of bluesy solos, including a Mingus solo that is as biting as any vocal could be.

The reissue features pristine sound– it certainly could have been recorded yesterday, and three additional tracks that were unearthed in the ’70s. All three (particularly “Pedal Point Blues”) are fine material nad well worth having. Included in the liner notes are two essays– the original album notes and a new one, both of which are interesting reads.

“Mingus Ah Um” is one of the classics of Charles Mingus’ catalog, and is on the short list of essential jazz listening. Highly recommended.

Music: Jazz Masterpiece “A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane

Arguably the best album John Coltrane ever recorded and consistently mentioned as the greatest album in jazz, “A Love Supreme” lives up to everything every melody.

Coltrane was riding an artistic high– enormously successful thanks to 1960’s “My Favorite Things“, he had quite a bit more latitude than many musicians, a producer who would support his every experiment in Bob Thiele, and a band willing to go wherever he needed (pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones) who he’d developed a rapport with over three years of constantly working together. He’d just recorded the stunning “Crescent” several months earlier and entered the studio in December to record this suite.

The piece, as indicated by the liner notes Coltrane penned, is spiritually informed, a prayer offered to God. The music itself is based on relatively traditional structures, but Coltrane manages to juggle a number of influences and sounds– shades of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler all run through it. The suite is broken in four movements– “Acknowledgement” is patient and building, revolving around a four-note bass motif– Trane is exploratory and yearning.

After a brief bass solo, this moves into the frantic “Resolution“, where Coltrane rails against his theme, turns things over to a oddly meditative yet equally frantic Tyner, and then solos himself in Monkish fashion– extrapolating off his theme and exploring the sort of spiritual ecstacy that he heard in Ayler. A brief drum solo signals the transition to “Pursuance“– Jones is full of energy and explosiveness and this sustains throughout the piece, Coltrane’s extended solo is nothing short of stunning, full of fire and energy before suddenly taming down and surrendering to Jones briefly then an astonishing solo by Garrison. Finally, the long exhale after the tension– “Psalm“, finds Coltrane meditative, almost wistful, and informed with a sense of optimistic melancholy.

When it’s all done, it’s an experience. Many listeners find this the first truly unlistenable Coltrane album– too much for its own good, but it certainly leaves its mark. My assessment is that the album is nothing short of stunning.

Music: B.B. King One of the Greatest Ambassadors of The Blues

B.B. King was certainly one of the greatest ambassadors of the blues that we had and this latest anthology–released is a well chosen collection of some of his best and best known songs. However, condensing a 50-plus-year recording career onto a single disc and calling it THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION borders on impossible.

However, give the compilers at Geffen Records their due. Through cross licensing they have been able to include some of his early RPM and Kent singles as well as his MCA material. [MCA has been B. B. King’s home since the late sixties.] The set begins with his first No. 1 R&B single “Three O’Clock Blues” in 1951 and continues through with the most recent song “Ten Long Years” from 2000’s collaboration with Eric Clapton, RIDING WITH THE KING.

Even at twenty-one tracks, there is much that had to be eliminated from this collection. Only the last four tracks represent King’s post-seventies output. And over the past half dozen years alone, King has released some powerful albums, including 1999’s tribute to the music of Louis Jordan LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL and 2003’s collection of standards REFLECTIONS, neither of which is represented here.

What you do get though is classic B.B. King, including his 1964 crossover hit “Rock Me Baby,” a couple tracks from 1965’s LIVE AT THE REGAL “Every Day I Have the Blues and “Sweet Little Angel,” his signature song “The Thrill Is Gone” (which at No. 15 was his highest charting pop hit in 1970), and the 7″ edit and mix of “When Love Comes to Town” with U2.

Overall, this is a satisfying collection and makes for a nice #smokegood #drinkgood situation. If you want a broader overview, consider 2000’s 2-disc anthology or 1992’s box set KING OF THE BLUES.

B.B. King Biography

For more than half a century, Riley B. King – better known as B.B. King – has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over fifty albums, many of them classics. He was born September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola. In his youth, he played on street corners for dimes, and would sometimes play in as many as four towns a night. In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis, TN, to pursue his music career. Memphis was where every important musician of the South gravitated, and which supported a large musical community where every style of African American music could be found. B.B. stayed with his cousin Bukka White, one of the most celebrated blues performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art of the blues.

B.B.’s first big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM out of West Memphis. This led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis, and later to a ten-minute spot on black-staffed and managed Memphis radio station WDIA. “King’s Spot,” became so popular, it was expanded and became the “Sepia Swing Club.” Soon B.B. needed a catchy radio name. What started out as Beale Street Blues Boy was shortened to Blues Boy King, and eventually B.B. King.

In the mid-1950s, while B.B. was performing at a dance in Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B.B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, then realized that he left his beloved $30 acoustic guitar inside, so he rushed back inside the burning building to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give the name to his guitar to remind him never to do a crazy thing like fight over a woman. Ever since, each one of B.B.’s trademark Gibson guitars has been called Lucille.

Soon after his number one hit, “Three O’Clock Blues,” B.B. began touring nationally. In 1956, B.B. and his band played an astonishing 342 one-night stands. From the chitlin circuit with its small-town cafes, juke joints, and country dance halls to rock palaces, symphony concert halls, universities, resort hotels and amphitheaters, nationally and internationally, B.B. has become the most renowned blues musician of the past 40 years.

Over the years, B.B. has developed one of the world’s most identifiable guitar styles. He borrowed from Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise and complex vocal-like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarist’s vocabulary. His economy, his every-note-counts phrasing, has been a model for thousands of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jeff Beck. B.B. has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound. In B.B.’s words, “When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.”

In 1968, B.B. played at the Newport Folk Festival and at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West on bills with the hottest contemporary rock artists of the day who idolized B.B. and helped to introduce him to a young white audience. In “69, B.B. was chosen by the Rolling Stones to open 18 American concerts for them; Ike and Tina Turner also played on 18 shows.

B.B. was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He received NARAS’ Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 1987, and has received honorary doctorates from Tougaloo(MS) College in 1973; Yale University in 1977; Berklee College of Music in 1982; Rhodes College of Memphis in 1990; Mississippi Valley State University in 2002 and Brown University in 2007. In 1992, he received the National Award of Distinction from the University of Mississippi.

In 1991, B.B. King’s Blues Club opened on Beale Street in Memphis, and in 1994, a second club was launched at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York City’s Times Square opened in June 2000 and most recently two clubs opened at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in January 2002. In 1996, the CD-Rom On The Road With B.B. King: An Interactive Autobiography was released to rave reviews. Also in 1996, B.B.’s autobiography, “Blues All Around Me” (written with David Ritz for Avon Books) was published. In a similar vein, Doubleday published “The Arrival of B.B. King” by Charles Sawyer, in 1980.

Before his death, B.B. continued to tour extensively, averaging over 250 concerts per year around the world. Classics such as “Payin’ The Cost To Be The Boss,” “The Thrill Is Gone,” How Blue Can You Get,” “Everyday I Have The Blues,” and “Why I Sing The Blues” are concert (and fan) staples. Over the years, the Grammy Award-winner has had two #1 R&B hits, 1951’s “Three O’Clock Blues,” and 1952’s “You Don’t Know Me,” and four #2 R&B hits, 1953’s “Please Love Me,” 1954’s “You Upset Me Baby,” 1960’s “Sweet Sixteen, Part I,” and 1966’s “Don’t Answer The Door, Part I.” B.B.’s most popular crossover hit, 1970’s “The Thrill Is Gone,” went to #15 pop.

Music: Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers – Moanin’

Without a doubt Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers was the most exciting band I’ve heard perform in my quest to learn more about the Jazz greats. Moanin’ was recommended by my father who started me on the drums at 4 years old, he said “You need to checkout Art on the drums”.  I heard his week long gigs at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco were legendary. Every one of his many groups were outstanding though, propelling many of his “youngsters” into careers of their own.

The group on this CD was one of the best. There are many things that make this CD a real joy. From the four original tunes by Benny Golson and the title track by Bobby Timmons to the solid muscular drumming of Blakey himself. For me though there is one thing that dominates this date Lee Morgan. Lee Morgan absolutely rules. Trumpeter Woody Shaw was once asked one of those interview questions, ‘What was your biggest influence?’ Without skipping a beat he said, ‘The solo Lee Morgan takes on “Moanin”. Amen.

From the very first press roll off Blakey’s snare Morgan is launched. Bolting out of the gate this young artist is barely containable. The urgency of Art’s drumming and the rest of the team compels this dynamic trumpeter to dig deep, creating flurry after flurry of spectacular rhythmic gymnastics, artfully blending them with melodic ideas that just burst out. His harmonic ideas on this piece too are so sweet.

Morgan pulls out all the stops, at times employing his signature half valve technique, double tonguing, triple tonguing, slurring, sliding, and just plain carving up the beat. The elegant construction of this gem of a solo has you sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation and at times in disbelief. And what a tone! Smooth, round, big.

Lee’s solo on the alternate track is a nice addition and would have made a decent first cut if for some highly unfortunate reason his masterpiece was never recorded. The rest of this CD is excellent too by the way, sit back with a cigar and your favorite fine spirit, relax and enjoy!

Music: One Night in Tokyo by Chet Baker

Although Miles Davis’ masterpiece “Kind of Blue” might be the most listened to jazz album of all time-and it deserves to be-jazz fans should take note that Chet Baker “One Night in Tokyo” more than holds its own as far as musical quality and inventiveness are concerned. To add to the intrigue, Miles, Evans, Coltrane, Adderley,, were at their musical peaks when “Blue” was recorded.

Chet, on the other hand, because of his unpredictability brought about by his much chronicled addiction, was considered by many critics to be a couple of decades past his peak . Yet, on that magical night in Tokyo, with dentures firmly in place, the jazz icon displayed incredible technique, ideas and control on such challenging tunes as “Seven Steps to Heaven,” and “Four.”

“Almost Blue” is a song by Elvis Costello (Declan Patrick MacManus) that appears on his 1982 album Imperial Bedroom. This song was also performed by Chet Baker and appears on the album Chet Baker In Tokyo (1987) one of my favorite songs when I’m relaxing and smoking a cigar.  The groove is epic and surprisingly Chet Baker voice just enhances my relaxation. I would recommend every cigar lover try some of his music, your guaranteed to enjoy his smooth style and melodies.

With the masterful support of a rhythm ensemble reminiscent of the best of trios that painted a special satisfying texture to the Stan Getz and Miles Davis groups, Baker played the most exciting rendition of “My Funny Valentine” that I’ve ever heard from Chet or anyone else.

Perhaps most surprising for a musician not known for his range and technical dexterity, Baker’s flurry of perfect notes formed a magnificent weave of spellbinding phrases. Solos by the swinging and lyrical Harold Danko on piano paced by the highly inventive bassist, Hein Van Der Geyn, and a Tony Williams like performance by drummer, John Engels, made the moments when Chet wasn’t performing so pleasing and captivating to this listener that, at times, I nearly forgot that Chet was the headliner.

Although a drug-addled mess towards the end of his life, musically this recording finds him in top form on horn and vocals. It’s ironic how someone with such a warm tone could be so definitively associated with cool jazz.

Buy CD Online: One Night in Tokyo


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Georgia-Pacific Memphis Facility Supports Youth Chess Team

February 6, 2018

For several years, the Georgia‐Pacific Memphis Cellulose facility has supported the Douglass K‐8 Optional School and its STEM program in Tennessee. Part of that engagement also means support for the school’s chess class. Since it began a few years ago, […]

Georgia-Pacific Building New Lumber Production Facility

September 26, 2017

Georgia-Pacific plans to build a new lumber production facility in Talladega, Alabama, the company reports. Construction on the $100 million, 300,000-square-foot, technologically advanced plant is scheduled to begin immediately with an anticipated startup in late 2018. Once it is fully […]


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Stowe art show features paintings of local cows

Courtesy Photo
“The Sweet taste of Spring” by Stephanie Bush

Shelburne artist Stephanie Bush has a new solo art show that’s all about cows.

“Ladies in Waiting” is an exhibition of oil paintings featuring cows that Bush admits she is enchanted by. She calls them “fun, quirky and engaging” animals and she decided to dedicate an entire show to her paintings of the creatures.

Growing up in Montreal, Bush says she did not come into contact with many farm animals. She channels her first encounter with a cow in her latest series.

“The first thing that overwhelmed me when confronted with the actual presence of a cow, was simply their size, and this translates directly into the size of my canvases,” she said in an email.

She also channels the shock she felt by how she perceives the gazes from cows.

“One can get lost in their eyes and so the gaze has become an integral part of the series, expressing the relationship between the witnesser and the witnessed,” she said.

Stowe’s West Branch Gallery in announcing the show puts it this way: “Bush’s representational portraits of dairy cows encourage the viewer to share her experience of seeing and being seen by these ponderous creatures, a familiar backdrop to Vermont life.”

Bush divides her time between creating art, teaching art, and raising a family. Her studio is at Shelburne Pond Studios on Pond Road and she teaches art at the Community College of Vermont and Shelburne Craft School.

The opening gala at the West Branch Gallery and Sculpture Park is this Saturday, 5-7 p.m. Bush’s paintings will be on exhibit through Sept. 22. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment at 17 Town Farm Lane in Stowe.

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Shop Bobby's Department Store

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Zip Tac Self-Adhesive Decorative Shelf Liner Black - 9 Ft X 18 In

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Zip Tac Self-adhesive Decorative Shelf Liner Black - 9 Ft X 18 In

SKU : 10501

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Zip Tac Self-Adhesive decorative solid black shelf liners which provide an easy-to-clean, multi-purpose surface that can be used in cabinets, drawers, cupboards or even in the refrigerator. Also helps line bathroom shelves. Measure: 9 Ft long and 18 inches wide. Design: Black.

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SKU # 10501

SBID # 11430

UPC ID # 093427352968

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- Easy to apply and remove
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- Design: Black
- Size: 9 Ft long and 18 inches wide
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We strive to provide you with the lowest prices possible on as well as in our stores. However, sometimes a price online does not match the price in our stores.'s prices may be either higher or lower
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welcome to ShoppersBD...

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Portable Mini USB LED Light HCL771

Product Code : HCL771

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Portable Mini USB LED Light

Power: 2.5W
Voltage: 5V
Compatibility: Any device with a USB port
Color of light: 4500K
Number of LED: 6 pсs.
Size: 199×17×9 mm.
Material: Soft-touch, rubberized plastic
Feature: Flexible leg, smooth illumination

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Portable Mini USB LED Light This portable USB flexibly light can be used with powerbank, laptop, notebook, travel charger and other USB devices. This mini USB stick produces bright white light. This USB stick light consumes very low power only 1.2W, 5V. Dimension is 169 x 18 x 9mm. Different color is available until the stock ends.

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So Cow: Meaningless Friendly

So Cow
Meaningless Friendly
(Tic Tac Totally)

Buy it at Amazon!
Buy it at Insound!

Catchiness will never be a problem for Ireland’s Brian Kelly. He’s got hooks falling out of his pockets on Meaningless Friendly, his third full length album as So Cow. Most of the 16 songs on this collection barely clear the two minute mark. Tunes like the 50’s inspired opener “Start Over,” and the reverb-drenched, Casio-driven “Shut-Eye,” will lodge in your brain for days. Kelly understands the power of unison, frequently doubling his melodies with guitar, organ and even a snare drum on the insanely sticky “Dunno.” He’s a pop classicist, capturing a particular 80’s New Wave moment, when bands like Squeeze and artists like Joe Jackson broke in the U.S. armed with nothing more than a bit of Brit attitude and a barrel full of tunefulness.

But Kelly does have a problem knowing when to stop. About halfway through the record, things begin to drag, culminating in the god-awful 7:26 of “International Waters,” a multi-part concept number, without a concept, that Kelly’s clearly not ready for. His homemade sound, too, starts to wear out the ear. Wildly out of tune lead vocals and sloppy drum fills abound and in that way, Kelly breaks faith with his predecessors who all displayed top musicianship along with their melodies. I’d love to hear Kelly with a band as great as Elvis Costello’s Attractions. On his 1980 masterpiece the 20 song Get Happy, the band defined his faux-Motown sound, and their Booker T and the MG’s inspired, everybody plays their part and nothing more aesthetic, elevated the material.

Lo-fi charms abound on Meaningless Friendly, but Kelly can do better. Let’s hope he finds some pub-vets to help with the heavy lifting and fleshes out So Cow into the healthy heifer it deserves to be.

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About Dan Siegler

Dan Siegler is a music producer/composer/songwriter from NYC. He has an inexhaustible supply of opinions and expresses them freely at Short and Sweet NYC and Baeble Music as well as to strangers in bars.
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Side-Line introduces Spoiled Poisoned – listen now to ‘Storm Shelter’ (Face The Beat profile series)

The 73rd track on our free download compilation “Face The Beat: Session 4” (featuring 92 tracks) is by the Swedish EBM/industrial band Spoiled Poisoned.

Spoiled Poisoned is a band from Sweden which was formed in 2014 by Johan Person. Person began experimenting with electronic music in 1990 together with his best friend under the name Potential Living. This project lasted from 1990 till 93.

The first Spoiled Poisoned EP is out now on Body Music Records, but the track we offer here, “Storm Shelter”, is an exclusive track not officially out yet on any other release. And it’s a real instant hit!

You can find the project back on Facebook, make sure to check it out.

Listen to “Storm Shelter” below and download it right here.

Check our “Face The Beat: Session 4” page on Bandcamp to discover the other 91 bands. All donations will go to charity.


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Pointedly focusing on health

Topic: Occupational health and safety
MECCOS iTR/eTR Transmitter

The selective continuous detection of gases such as NH3, CO2, CH4, O2, O3 and NO.
iTR with infrared measuring cell.
eTR with electrochemical sensors.

All products to this topic

Their industrial applications include preventing corrosion, hardening steel and separating gold and silver.

That is one aspect of cyanides. The other is that they are extremely hazardous. If inhaled, swallowed or absorbed through the skin, just 50 milligrams can have fatal consequences within a matter of minutes. Eliminating any risks for those working with cyanides requires high-sensitivity precision measurement equipment for leakage control. It displays critical values instantly and reveals hidden dangers, even in very loud environments, using warning lights and alarm horns.


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Is Soccer too Risky?

Players and Parents File Lawsuits in California

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, but it is also one of the most dangerous ones. While playing soccer, many athletes sustain head injuries called concussions. In 2010 for example, nearly 46,000 high school soccer players across the U.S. suffered head injuries. This number is greater than the number of head injuries suffered by high school athletes in basketball, baseball, softball, and wrestling combined. Therefore, some athletes and their parents want to change the rules of the game to make it safer.

This past summer in San Francisco, California, some American parents and players filed a lawsuit against multiple international and national soccer organizations like U.S. Club Soccer, U.S Soccer, and FIFA—soccer's international governing body. The lawsuit states that these groups do not properly protect players from head injuries. Soccer is unlike other sports because players can do ``headers,’’ a move that involves striking the ball with their heads. Those filing the lawsuit claim that FIFA and the other organizations know how dangerous headers can be, yet they do little to prevent them or treat the harm they cause. They want soccer leagues to change the game’s rules to allow more substitutions, which would enable potentially players to leave the game and be attended to more quickly.

“We believe it is imperative we force these organizations to put a stop to hazardous practices that put players at unnecessary risk,” said Steve Berman, one lawyer representing the players and parents backing the lawsuit. Hopefully, FIFA and other soccer leagues will listen and make soccer a safer game for all.

[Source: TIME for Kids]


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xhu 发表于 2008-5-19 20:23

Hard rain never stops (II)

Hard rain never stops

You pull on your cruise controller

and you car cruises

In a moment you get to your destination

and you do your business as usual

you feel like to go on a vacation

but you turn out to stuck on the Internet

and it surfs

browse a webpage or two

then you find the Internet sells

Running through the rain

stopped by a cigarette shop

you buy a cigar

and it smokes

also you are on fire

and you lay in your tombs

Imagine you ride your bike

and it rides

you excercise your rein

and it never fails

At night

you feel like to have veal for dinner

and the restaurant cooks

just like a sharp edge knife

your knife kills

In a moment or two

you never stop it

that you smell cash

and your bill fills

you fell to your wife

as you always do

it rules

OK, I got the enough of it

you are the boss

and it won't cure

just hurts

and it hues

and it hues

xhu 发表于 2016-1-19 01:35

页: [1]
查看完整版本: 再贴一首诗，以前写的


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Site One

Bookmark this page!

Part of the beauty of the internet is that it's given us all the ability to communicate across such great distances to people we might otherwise never have met. Chat rooms are one of the ways in which we can meet and talk with others from across our own country or around the world.

Chat rooms give us the means to talk to people from all walks of life. There are chat rooms available to you based on age group, hobby or interest, or designed for those who specifically want to meet others to date or make a new friend. If you fail to find a chat room that you are interested in participating in, the option is open to nearly any internet user to make their own, using free tools or software that are supplied on the internet.

The most prevalent chat rooms that are out there for UK users include Chatterbox chat rooms, which are free to users from Scotland, Ireland , Wales and Britain. These are moderated chat rooms that assure that you're going to have a good experience chatting with others from the country and since many others use them, you're likely going to meet people from around the globe.

Multiple other larger sites also provide chat rooms and message boards for your use. The bigger companies and sites which give you the option to chat live include Yahoo, MSN, and AOL, to name just a few.

Chat room use has proven a great benefit to those who are shut in for one reason or another. It offers them the option to interact with others without having to leave home. Using chat rooms for those who suffer from the same disease process that they do has proven to be a real benefit for some people who are ill, offering them a support group kind of atmosphere where they can learn about new technology and treatments for their illness.

One of the older sites, WBS chat has been reworked in several places, using the same live, real-time chat to offer users a moderated live process chatroom that lets them role play, discuss crafting, sewing, cooking, or whatever their hobby may be, while chat rooms targeted toward specific age groups, such as Thirty Something Chat, Forty Something chat, and teen chat are also available.

As with any other online interaction, take care to use proper precautions and not disclose personal information.

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2018-02-20 07:11:00  + video

Whether you want to bust a move, flaunt your sharp editing skills, or learn how to make a watermelon shark, Douyin has proven the place to be.

Micro video app Douyin — literally “shaky sound,” or a trill in music — has taken China by storm in the last year, becoming one of the top free iOS apps in the country. In January, it even attracted international attention as the home of the wildly viral “Karma’s a bitch” makeover meme.

Originally conceived as an app for user-made music videos, Douyin now hosts all kinds of clips, from pranks to pets to sport stunts. Every clip is up to 15 seconds in length, and the app offers myriad editing tools, filters, and effects, such as slow-motion and camera blurs. Viewers can swipe through the videos or search by backing track or creator.

Popular Chinese social app Douyin was once used to make music videos — but today, users are taking their creations a step further.

Douyin was launched as A.me in September 2016, and later received multiple rounds of investment from the company behind news aggregator Jinri Toutiao, where Douyin’s founder Liang Rubo also works as technical director. Despite entering a crowded market, it has already soundly beaten popular short video apps Kuaishou and Meipai on iOS, and is now challenging them for users on Android. And unlike Kuaishou, which counts working-class youth as its core user base, Douyin has won over the millennial market in affluent first- and second-tier cities.

By collaborating with popular TV shows and celebrities such as Kris Wu, Douyin’s overall user numbers grew tenfold from March to December 2017, and it now boasts more than a billion daily video views. The app is aggressively pushing into international markets — where it has rebranded itself as “Tik Tok” — and has already topped iOS app charts in Japan and Thailand. The latest versions have added features like dance games, livestreaming, and even quiz shows.

Sixth Tone peeks into the comedy and creativity on offer in Douyin, looking at the eight main categories of videos.

1. Music Videos

Music videos — or MVs — are the platform’s raison d’être. Most feature young people filming themselves at arms’ length as they pose, lip-synch, and show off their creative editing. But though MVs were the platform’s original purpose, they are now vastly outnumbered by other genres.

2. Dance

One of the most popular dance memes that went viral through Douyin last year was a routine set to “Panama” — or “C-li-C-li” as it is known in China — a 2013 song by Romanian reggae artist Matteo. People of every age and profession took part in the meme, turning the song into a nationwide hit that can still be heard in gyms, shopping malls, and fast food chains all over China.

Another was a shuffle dance set to “Seve” by Tez Cadey. Half a million videos on the platform use the song — some creative users even turning the dance into a flip-book animation or recreating it with video game characters.

3. Pets

Some of the biggest stars of Douyin are fluffy friends of every description — testament to China’s booming pet market, which is growing at 20 percent annually. Videos range from the ordinary — dancing cats and sleeping puppies — to the extraordinary: flying squirrels, bowling cats, sexy dogs, and fowl play.

As on Instagram, pets can become celebrities on Douyin. “Butter,” for example, is a pug whose videos of himself getting ready to go out in the morning or being bored at work have won over 610,000 fans.

4. Comedy

Comedy videos now make up the majority of the content on Douyin, with many highlighting common sources of millennial angst: being single, broke, or overweight. The platform has also given rise to viral pranks that are attempted by jokers across the country — such as catching people with clear tape strung across doorways.

One popular comic sound bite that features Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” interrupted by high pitched screams has spawned countless imaginative interpretations.

The platform has its own comedy stars, such as “Big Head,” a user with close to six million fans who frequently posts videos of pranks he plays on his little sister.

5. Skills

Skill videos flaunting athletic and artistic feats — from dance longboarding and parkour to creating a billiards-based Valentine — reveal the range of activities now popular among young people in Chinese cities.

6. Instructional

More common to short-video app Kuaishou, instructional videos teach users all kinds of things, from how to make a watermelon shark to how to fake a magic trick.

7. Beauty

Though beauty videos are more the domain of Meipai, Douyin also has many accounts devoted to cosmetics or simply looking cute. In the summer, “Wicked Wonderland” by Martin Tungevaag became the soundtrack to over 850,000 videos — perhaps the most viral meme on the platform — most of which are “beauty transformation” videos.

8. Celebrities

Celebrities such as actress Angelababy occasionally make an appearance on Douyin, usually to promote a product or show. In one Douyin ad for Harbin Beer, U.S. hiphop artist MC Jin raps about being “happy” — a pun on the Chinese for “Harbin” and “Beer.” And game developer Blizzard Entertainment promoted its team shooter game Overwatch using a clip of a character from the game doing the Panama dance.

Editor: Qian Jinghua.

(Header image: Screenshots of Douyin videos.)


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Saturday, September 23, 2017

Trackin' Trucks: Christopher Bell wins at New Hampshire

Christopher Bell celebrates in Victory Lane at New Hampshire.
Credit: Chris Graythen

by Courtney Horn

Christopher Bell dominated Saturday’s UNOH 175 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, capturing both stage wins for his fifth victory of the season.

Bell started second and led 73 laps toward his first win at the 1.058-mile track, which advances the Kyle Busch Motorsports driver into the second round of the Camping World Truck Series playoffs.

Bell trailed Ryan Truex in the final laps but gained enough momentum with 15 laps remaining to slide his No. 4 Toyota Tundra into the lead for the seventh career victory.

“He was doing a really good job of watching his mirror,” Bell said of Truex. “I knew it was tough to pass all day, but our truck had been so good, we had been able to do it until we got to him.

“I kept trying to work down, and he kept blocking my air down and down and down. Finally, I got one run where I drove up in (Turns) 1 and 2 and then got a big run into 3.”

Bell was the only playoff driver to score a top-five finish. Truex finished second, Todd Gilliland third, while Grant Enfinger and Stewart Friesen finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

John Hunter Nemechek had the most troubling day of the playoff contenders. Nemechek was forced to go to the garage to repair a rear gear early in Stage 1, then returned after 36 laps to finish in the 20th position.

Johnny Sauter fought hard for ninth place after his No. 21 Chevrolet was heavily damaged when Ben Rhodes spun and made contact with the right side of Sauter’s truck, but ended up finishing seventh.

A Look Ahead Into The Playoffs

The Camping World Truck Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 30, 2017 for the second race of the 2017 playoffs.

Bell holds a 40-point lead over Sauter, the defending series champion, while Matt Crafton sits third, 41 points behind Bell.

Nemechek is the most need of a turnaround. The NEMCO Motorsport driver is eighth in the standings after New Hampshire, seven points below the cutoff.

Will a playoff driver take the checkers or will a non-playoff driver play spoiler? Find out when the CWTS return to night racing at Vegas on September 30th at 8:30 p.m ET on Fox Sports 1.

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Puppy Love – Iditarod sled dog.

A dog nuzzles a handler before the start of the 2008 Iditarod

hey Folks,

Here’s another from the start of the Iditarod in Anchorage, March 1, 2008. It doesn’t seem like that long ago, and here the month has flown by. I wanted to get a shot or 2 of some interaction between the dogs and heir handlers, but they were typically not in decent light. Finally got a few that I was happy with. This one, the handler knelt down to check the dog’s booties, and he got a face full of tongue for his trouble. Seconds later the starter said “Go”, and the dogs were gone!

Like it? Share it. The world needs more sharing.

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