text:
Tag Archives: soul
UK dance legend Shy FX headlines Electrikal tonight and we're set for a proper scorcher!
23 February 2018 - Andy
We've lost count of the number of times Shy FX has played Edinburgh, not to mention the Bongo. One of the original ruffneck, Ragga Jungle pioneers from the Nineties, he bulldozed into the public eye with stone cold classic anthem Original Nuttah, scoring his first UK Top 40 hit in the process, alongside equally legendary MC and ruffneck vocalist UK Apache, back in 1994. [There have been a fair few more since, not least his massive collaboration with T Power and soul/r n b vocalist Di, Shake Ur Body, in 2001.]
His light speed riddims married with rude boy rhymes create a unique sound that Edinburgh, and especially the Bongo, loves and he's somehow managed to maintain his edge throughout a career spanning more than 25 years. Oh yes, we're set for a proper scorcher tonight!
Check out the great interview/feature (from last year) below, courtesy of Skiddle's Marko Kutlesa, where Shy talks about his many productions, recording style and reggae soundsystem culture.
Though he often wears a cap, perhaps in part to hide the hair he's lost, I still wouldn't like to guess the age of Andre Williams, aka Shy FX. Though he's been consistently releasing music since his 1993 debut, barely a sign of ageing registers on his face and his voice, quite softly spoken, gracious and impeccably polite, sounds like that of a man in his late teens or early twenties.
However this is not a man whose appearance alone defies his years. Throughout his two decade plus career he has managed to produce music that sounds so fresh that, while maintaining a consistent fan-base, has also managed to appeal directly to the youngest ravers amongst us.
Brought up around reggae soundsystem culture (his grandfather was famed 1970s London DJ, record label owner and soundsystem chief Count Shelly), Shy FX's first forays into music production were in the reggae indebted spheres of jungle. He scored a huge hit right at the start of his career with 1994's 'Original Nuttah'.
He established a trend for collaboration thereafter and has most closely been linked with studio partner T Power with whom he released two albums, 2002's Set It Off and 2005's Diary Of A Digital Soundboy, the former containing top ten UK chart hit 'Shake Ur Body', the latter released on Shy FX's own label Digital Soundboy (which has also released music by Breakage, Calibre, B Traits, Zed Bias, Skream, Benga and Caspa).
Shy FX has since collaborated with and produced music for the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Plan B, Yasmin, Naughty Boy, Wiley and Emeli Sandé plus Kano, Donae'o and Roses Gabor and re-emerges in 2017 with amazing new single 'We Just Don't Care', which displays a wildly different music approach to previous offerings. You can't, however, say that it's a comeback, because Shy FX has never been away and you can't call it a reinvention, because he's made different musics throughout his career.
I really like the new single 'We Just Don't Care'. Where was the video filmed and what was the idea behind it?
Thanks! The video was shot in South Africa. I'm a fan of Craig (Moore), the director and I just wanted to get a high energy dance video that wasn't, well… you know you can get some videos like that which can be kind of cheesy? I wanted something that was visually pleasing but still had a sense of urgency and was still pretty gritty, but polished at the same time. I know that sounds like a really mad description, but I definitely think it caught the vibe of the tune.
Is the other music you're currently working on in a similar vein to 'We Just Don't Care'?
Yes and no. Everything's completely different. Before playing 'We Just Don't Care' to people I found it really difficult to describe. A tune at 128 bpm that sounds like me, quite tribal, that's the closest I could get. Everything else, again, there's a mixture of loads of different things thrown into the pot. Again, it sounds like me, but you just can't quite put your finger on what it is or put it into a genre.
I suppose no is the easiest answer [laughs], because the next tune is at a different tempo and has a completely different vibe. It still doesn't sound like anything else.
Is this single the precursor to an album?
Not so much. It's just me getting loads of music out there. I think next year I'll try and focus on putting an album out, but right now it's about getting different styles and vibes out there.
I ask because, although you've been quite prolific as a producer, you've not really been that prolific in making albums (you had your debut and the two albums you did with T Power). Why is that?
I just think it's important for you to have something to say when you do an album. I set up Digital Soundboy as well and along with all the touring and stuff… to sit down and think this is what I want to do and this is what I want to put out as a body of work, I take that seriously.
I think now is the time for me to do that. I had my head in the Digital Soundboy thing and in helping other people with production with their stuff and everything else that comes with being involved with running a label, other acts, but I've now put that aside and I'm fully focused on my own stuff.
What happened to the material you were putting together for the album that had the working title Cornerstone/Larger Than Life about 5 years ago? Did that material come out?
[Laughs] No, it didn't, but it's going to. With that project it was straight up reggae, but I always find that, when you do projects, people expect, for the rest of the year at least, for you to tour that and that kind of defines you for a period. And although I really love reggae I didn't want to do a whole campaign around it, which is what would've been expected. But there's over an album's worth of music for that project which will come out as EPs. That way I can do it as an ongoing thing.
I didn't want it to be like, "Here's my reggae album and that's that" because I'm always going to make it. I think 'Cornerstone Vol 1' and 'Cornerstone Vol 2' is going to work much better. That way I can keep it moving.
When the music you're recording changes style should people expect the music you play as a DJ to also change?
Anyone that's seen or heard me play knows that it's very eclectic. It's not so eclectic that it's bordering on wedding DJ, the dots always join. And what I make is generally what I play in my set, but what I play in my set is also what I'm making, if that makes sense? It's just what I'm feeling like at the time, what am I trying to say, let me make it, let me play it. I don't really think any deeper than that. I'm fortunate enough to be able to make whatever's in my head, whatever I'm vibing with, so that's what I go with.
I just had this conversation with someone recently and I just think it's nuts when you walk into a studio with a blank canvas, you don't know what's going to happen and a few hours later you've got something new in the universe. That's so mad. For people to stick to one particular thing, I just don't get it. There are so many different vibes you can put out into the world, I never know which one it's going to be.
Which DJs that operate outside of drum 'n' bass music do you enjoy listening to?
Oh, wow. Right now, today, the answer would be someone like Benji B. Still Gilles Peterson, as well. They seem to catch my vibe, you never really know what you're going to hear when you listen to those guys. It's always a bit of an education, but you always hear grooves, music that touches your soul, when you listen to those guys. So, right now Benji and Gilles, but tomorrow that changes. There's so many.
What do you see as being the similarities, if there are any, between 'Original Nuttah', 'Shake Ur Body' and 'We Just Don't Care'?
Woah! Erm… I think with all those three tracks I definitely went in the studio in I-don't-give-a-shit mode. It literally was just sitting down making music until I was jumping up and down. I can't say tempo, that's for sure. It's just touching on groove and mixing loads of elements together, which is what I generally do, I guess. With 'We Just Don't Care' I think the closest thing I've done to that is 'Bambaata' in terms of it being tribal and the bass, the cinematic feel as well. But I don't know if I can join those three. Can you?
I think you can join the dots between 'Original Nuttah' and 'Shake Ur Body'. And I think you can join the dots between 'Shake Ur Body' and 'We Just Don't Care', so yes. Not in the tempos maybe, not in the rhythms, but maybe in the vibe, maybe in the excitement of the music, yes. For me, they all sound like you.
Yeah, I think there's a sense of urgency in there. Definitely the vocal, harmony wise, between 'Shake Ur Body' and 'We Just Don't Care', you can join those dots. But generally I'd have to pass on that question, ha! I couldn't tell you mate.
On the cover of the Simple Tings EP you're pictured with your dog. Do you still keep a dog?
No, not anymore unfortunately. That was a Great Dane. Nobody's ever asked me that question before, ha!
My mate, Shane Loughlin, used to work in a big secondhand record store in Manchester, Vinyl Exchange, and he was in charge of the drum 'n' bass. They had that record on display and he'd stuck a speech bubble above your head and wrote "I'm Shy FX and I love my dog" on the cover, so I never forget that sleeve.
Ahahahahahaha. Oh, wow. And that's when I had hair as well. I had hair and I didn't wear a cap.
T Power, your old production partner, is quoted as saying the reason he made his 1995 debut album in a more experimental drum 'n' bass style was he wanted to get away from a lot of the politics that were around jungle music at the time. Did you ever experience those politics and how did they affect you?
Yeah, every day, but just like now I don't really care, I just get it done and keep it moving. I think that's the only thing you can do. People come, people go, opinions are like arseholes etc.
At the time, when I was younger, there was loads of different camps and everyone was trying to fight for space, everyone was talking about what you should and shouldn't do. Whenever that happens it just makes me fall into my own space and just make music, kind of like giving a middle finger up. I never really get involved in all of that. I just do what feel is right.
What, for you, are the parallels between reggae soundsystem culture and jungle/drum 'n' bass culture?
From basic stuff like rewinds to dubplate culture?
Whichever way you want to take the question…
[Laughs] OK, cool. Well a lot of us came from the reggae culture so I suppose we brought a lot of that vibe with; the way we played and selected music, the rewinds.
In fact, it's pretty strange now where a lot of the younger guys who haven't grown up on that culture and maybe not on the grime culture either, they just don't understand the idea that when you get a tune that's so sick, you rewind it and play it again from the beginning. They look at you like "What. Are. You. Doing?" I think they get it more now, but playing dubplates with your name on as well, they can sometimes be like "We know who you are. Why have you got your name on every track? What's that about?"
The bass, the sense of community as well, particularly with the early jungle scene, not so much with drum 'n' bass. Yeah, I think because a lot of us came from there we just brought it into what we were doing.
In your own words, can you define what kind of unique voice the world of drum 'n' bass has lost with the sad passing of Marcus Intalex?
Oh, man… Can I think about that and maybe e-mail you an answer? I don't just want to say something and not get it right, it just means too much.
[Unfortunately Shy FX's incredibly busy schedule and perhaps the obvious sadness he displayed meant that no addition to this answer was sent]
Did your paths cross much? Did you see him regularly?
Not so much over the last couple of years. It was a couple of years ago I last saw him, at the Soul In Motion night. We were just vibing and, as always, talking about music and technical stuff, plug ins.
Which of his releases have you most frequently played when DJing out?
Probably 'Lover' by M.I.S.T. And the 'I Like It' remix which goes way back to 1995. When he did that I did 'This Style'. It was the same kind of vibe. He definitely influenced me in making that. Obviously I play a lot of his stuff, but those are the two that stick in my set.
Categories: Blog, News, Regular Club News
Tags: Andre Williams, culture, Digital Soundboy, drum n bass, jungle, Original Nuttah, r 'n' b, ragga, reggae, Shake Ur Body, Shingai, Shy FX, Skiddle, soul, soundsystem, T Power, We Just Don't Care
Heidelberg's finest, Move D, headlines Lionoil's 3rd Birthday B2B with Telfort this Fri 8th Dec
07 December 2017 - Andy
We're very excited to be welcoming Move D to the Bongo. Alias David Moufang, he's one of Germany's most successful DJ/producers and a man who's been around the block more times than most in the contemporary scene, having first got involved as a DJ in the late Eighties, releasing his debut productions in the early Nineties.
Making his Bongo debut, Moufang plays this special date for local label Lionoil, as they celebrate three years of throwing parties in the capital, inviting him to go back-to-back with their pal (and something of a local hero just now), Telfort, whose records Moufang has been championing from the start. It's not often that you can catch a B2B set from Move D, as there are apparently only a few people in the scene with whom he's happy to do this. When asked 'do you enjoy [b2b] as much when you get the opportunity?' Moufang replied, 'No, I don't, and it's only a handful of people I'd enjoy doing that together with. So that would be Gerd Janson, Jus Ed, and Axel Boman, actually. So I have to really like the person as well as their taste in music… It's quite an intimate, personal thing.' So, high praise indeed for the man like Telfort!
With fellow Lionoiler Philip Budny in support, in short, we're sure this will be another special night, much like Lionoil's last ace event here with Soichi Terada (live) and Jonnie Wilkes (in May).
For TICKETS and MIXES check the EVENT PAGE.
MORE INFO (MOVE D BIO, courtesy of RA):
If talent converted into record sales, David Moufang would be a very rich man. His records with partner Jonas Grossmann as Deep Space Network and his own solo releases as Move D are among the furthest outreaches of techno's push towards the stars. Moufang grew up in Heidelberg listening to his parents' collection of early Pink Floyd and Kraftwerk records but the most overwhelming influence on his childhood was outer space, the result of a trip to the cinema with his father to see 2001: A Space Odyssey. "I was space crazy as a child," Moufang told journalist Tony Marcus in 1995, "when the other kids were riding around in their little cars I'd be building my own spacecraft. I'd put in a small engine, put rubber on the wheels so it made some noise and stand there with a walkie-talkie and my headphones on. It was very techno…"
Moufang's grandmothers were both classical concert pianists. He can still remember favourite childhood moments, sitting under the piano as they played, surrounded and lost in sound. By the age of 12, he taken up drums (he eventually went on to study classical percussion) and took up the guitar a few years later, this time taking lessons from two separate jazz guitar teachers. He played guitar in a band called Rivers & Trains well into the '90s. Occasionally he even plied his trade as a DJ, spinning electro, funk and jazz. It wasn't until 1989 that he discovered techno when a friend of his, D-Man, invited him to a club he was running in the industrial suburb of Mannheim. When Moufang walked into the Milk! Club that night – like so many others before and after him – he discovered a scene that changed his life. Discovering Detroit, 808 State, Nexus 21 and the first stirrings of ambient techno, Moufang became a committed clubber. Through D-Man, he met Redagain P who converted Moufang's nickname "Mufti" into the more kinetic Move D.
Moufang's first records were made with Grossmann as Deep Space Network. Their first two albums, EARTH TO INFINITY (1992) and BIG ROOMS (1993) suggested a significant, unpredictable and innovative talent which was confirmed by the release of HOMEWORKS (1993), a Source Records compilation that included solo tracks such as "Pulsar" and "I've Been On Drugs" alongside collaborations with D-Man. Ranging from subtle, Detroit-inflected grooves to wired electronic jazz, Moufang's music seemed to operate on ambience, slow motion and subdued rhythm, a sound that was rooted, as Tony Marcus later pointed out, "in the jazzy, laid-back but still hip-tugging tradition of Larry Heard, Carl Craig's "Microlovr" or "The Wonders Of Wishing" and New York's Burrell Brothers… listening to [Moufang's records] is like a sweet and lazy adventure into sound, a space where time and stress are suspended."
REAGENZ (1994), a collaboration with SpaceTime Continuum's Jonah Sharp, was an astonishing fusion of beautiful, experimental electronics that reached out to a point that even Detroit's most visionary producers hadn't yet achieved. Recorded between Heidelberg and San Francisco, it sounded like pianist Bill Evans might have if he'd grown up surrounded by Star Trek instead of modal jazz.
Moufang's debut album, KUNSTSTOFF (1995), was equally remarkable. Tracks such as "Soap Bubbles" and "In/Out" oscillated between soft, dreamlike textures and the spiked electronics that Detroit was beginning to explore. The glittering production surfaces were a legacy of Moufang's days as a student at the School of Audio Engineering, but the music they encompassed was equally compelling. It was an album full of contrasts – between the jagged drugfloor grooves of, say, "Nimm 2" and the gentle, synthetic lullaby of "Beyond The Machine" or between the pristine sounds Moufang conjured with and the haloes of analogue noise which surrounded others. Amazingly pretty and wildly innovative, KUNSTSTOFF remains one of the most accomplished techno albums to emerge from Europe so far.
The collaborative ventures that followed – including EXPLORING THE PSYCHEDELIC LANDSCAPE (1996) and A DAY IN THE LIVE (1997) with Pete Namlook – preceded an experimental single for Sheffield's Warp label. Moufang had been a big fan of the label's "bleep techno" output in the early '90s and "Cymbelin" was, in some ways, a homage to that sound, twisting beats and synths into a bass heavy groove. But the producer's ability to soften almost any structure with aching prettiness transformed the record into a unique fusion.
Another unique fusion was suggested by the release of CONJOINT (1997). A collaboration between Moufang, jazz veteran Karl Berger, Jamie Hodge (of Born Under A Rhyming Planet) and Gunter "Ruit" Kraus, it was Moufang's most overtly jazzed outing so far, but provided spectacular evidence of his growing abilities as a producer and composer. Currently working on a number of new projects – including a new Deep Space Network album and a second Conjoint album – Moufang continues to explore the boundaries of electronic music.
Categories: Blog, News
Tags: B2B, David Moufang, DJ, electro, Germany, Heidelberg, house, jazz, Lionoil, Move D, Philip Budny, Resident Advisor, soul, techno, Telfort
Jamaican dancehall legend & MOBO winner Gyptian plays live at the Bongo, Mon 4th Dec
30 November 2017 - Andy
Jamaican dancehall star and MOBO winner Gyptian makes his Bongo live debut this coming Monday, playing a rare Scottish date as part of a UK tour to promote his new single and we're stoked to welcome him to the Bongo, which has been supporting reggae music since the venue first opened (in 1996).
This will be a very intimate show for an artist with his profile. Not to be missed!
Here's an interview with the man from 2013, courtesy of guestlist.net, who published it:
'UK's my n*1 family'
You're rastafarian, your father was rastafarian and your mother was a Seventh-day Adventist, how did that play out for you as a child?
You know, Jamaican people really care about certain things, which aren't really a priority to us. The father would stay at home and the mother would go at church. Sometimes she'd come home shaking. She used to attend a revival church, it was frightening and traumatising, *imitating intensive breathing*. You know, the Rastafarian, he does what he wants to do, all he has to do is show peace and love and shall unite people. For me, as Rastafarian, no disrespect to Christianity, but it's hypocrisy, right there.
I heard you were forced to do music when you were young, what does that mean?
First, Gyptian is very shy. Singing professionally wasn't my thing. The vibes at the studio weren't great. Then I got exposure on the TV stations. So I just made use of those and I realised there was something really good happening, people liked my songs. So here I am.
So, what can we expect from your show?
The shows are packed and the people are screaming, as usual, they love this Gyptian wine. As usual. I make the ladies' bodies feel nice, go home make love to their boyfriend, make love to your wife, whatever. Gyptian please you tonight with music, naturally so. You never know if it's going to outbreak tonight because different crowd, different feel, different performance. Just freestyle as it goes.
You have a reputation of an incredible artist because of your mix of RNB and Reggae with 8 million views on YouTube. Some classify you as a crossover artist, how do you feel about that?
Crossover whatever, I make it in the market, so pretty much a crossover. It's all about me, showing the world of reggae, as a reggae artist, it's not dead. Because that's what I hear everybody saying: How do you feel about reggae this and reggae that? Reggae will never die because when I die there will still be people listening to reggae. The only way it can die is if they get rid of it in Jamaica, music and politics, I've seen, I've been all over the world. A lot of people are trying to push reggae aside and just stick to what they have. Come on people! Move on!
A lot of mainstream reggae stations are getting rid of their reggae DJs/shows. People are talking about a conspiracy against reggae and dancehall. How do you view that yourself?
Reggae roots shall weigh more than this. Because the spread of reggae was a real all and all task for Bob then to complete. If you have a strong mind, like Bob, you can do it. This is the people's heritage, this is part of the heritage, part of the love, part of the thing. I think they should all just let it be, because it's music. All these people trying to criticise and degrade reggae music. Reggae probably does more for them than many with their music. Because what reggae does for people, really, puts you in touch with answers, you see yourself, you can get meditation vibes. We can't stop man from being man. And I think that is one of our biggest problems in Jamaica. That's one of the main things that drives the music, because people think we are degrading them which we are not, because we don't really know what it would lead to if we said what we really have to say. They should leave us alone, give us a break. For me, as an artist, I just try my best to sing a song that has no politics in it. My songs are all about joy and real time, not serious time. Going for the fundamental spirit of the music, without fighting with the politics. I feel like the people that are picking on the reggae artists should just leave us alone. Music is music. No matter how much you try to stop reggae music, you're only gonna make it bigger.
The mixtape, sex, love, reggae, is out in October (2013). You have real mixes of tunes, 'Serious times' and 'Mama', and some covers, Gregory Isaacs 'Number One' and Cindy Lauper's 'True Colours'. There's a freestyle with Snoop Lion, big combination, what's the history behind that?
It was big vibes, because, you know, it was Snoop Lion, originally Snoop Dogg. We grew up watching him on TV. I was singing at the radio station and I was told that Snoop was going to be there. I heard that I was suppose to freestyle with Snoop. I was in the corner, it was his moment, so I was just chilling there just thinking. And then I freestyled, and people loved it, you know.
You've got some old tunes, remix of riddims, everything is there, it's nice. A nice mixtape. Your current single, Vixen, featuring Angela Hunte, tell me about the track.
For her to get the chance to work with me and me with her, was just like a magnificent aim from the beginning. So, pretty much, we went in the studio working from time to time. It was a new experience and a new environment around the music. Pretty much, because she came from Jamaica just for a visit, so there was a good vibe of love. Love and respect and everything else. I really appreciated it, big up to Angela Hunte.
You ride a horse in the music video
I'd ridden a donkey, not a horse. I had this big gigantic horse. I was like: 'Is this really necessary?'. I thought that was the interesting part. After that shoot they had this snake in a cage. I went to the cage that was standing there until someone came up and told me it was a snake. The snake is in a box, it's not like it's coming out. 'It's not venomous'. They didn't tell me I was going to put a snake around my neck. I was like 'Rascassa, no'. 'Gyptian's snake is not venomous', no snake, the horse-riding was enough. We did one extreme part let's stick to that. It was nice and everybody enjoyed themselves.
The way you move is fantastic.
You move like, some girls like it in some way. We all know this. You have to read the mind, you have to read the eyes, the body language and all these things. Because first, you have to know a women can take one glimpse at a man if she wants to. While we men, think our face is pretty and at the same time we wanna have a back stare, a back look when she passes. You've got 10 men in a room and everyone want this one girl, do you know who she wants? The one that isn't giving her attention. That's the man she'll really want. You wonder why? Is it that he is not paying attention to her? I'll be the one like, she's staring, I'll be drinking or I'll be doing something different until she comes over. This is why, then we come and ask me. Pretty much, it speaks for itself.
When is a full studio album coming out?
20th of this month. You'll get the sound that you need. I don't know what else to say.
It's black history month this month, any special message, especially to the black community?
Pretty much, we black people have come from far far away. We haven't been paid for all the work we put in. I guess we are not gonna get any consultation. But at the same time this is our month, so listen, black with power, power with the people. Mad love, mad life, mad respect and everything. When I say mad I mean good.
Tags: culture, dancehall, gig, Gyptian, Jamaica, live, MOBO, r 'n' b, rasta, rastafari, reggae, soul, winner
Late Nite Tuff Guy brings his Prince tribute show to the Bongo this Fri 13th Oct
12 October 2017 - Andy
Nightvision are excited to announce LATE NITE TUFF GUY shall be joining us for a date on his very special PRINCE Tribute Tour.
Australia's finest musical export and 'king of the edit' Late Nite Tuff Guy takes a journey back to celebrate the life's work of one of the greatest showmen, producers and songwriters to ever grace a stage. After the success of this tremendous show over in Oz the 'Tuff Guy' puts his heart and soul into an immersive all night tribute to The Purple One.
Here's a good interview with LNTG, about the influence of the Purple one on him and the whole world of pop and dance music, courtesy of Pulse Radio:
Do you remember where you were when you heard your first Prince record? Or when you bought your first album? Can you recall the first time you saw Prince live?
How about the last time? Do you remember how you felt when you found out he was gone?
Cam Bianchetti remembers. Bianchetti is one of Australia's most enduring dance music artists. An influencer during house and techno's formative years of the early '90s in both Europe and Australia as DJ HMC, he now dominates the global house and disco edits scene as Late Nite Tuff Guy, responsible for two of the most ubiquitous tracks on contemporary dance floors, 'I Get Deeper' and the 'Controversy' edit, 'Do I Believe In God'. He also happens to be a Prince fan, as true as they come.
I had heard that Bianchetti was on the shy and retiring side in interviews, but if there was truth to that, not so when talking about his long time musical idol, Prince. On this subject Bianchetti is animated, educated and above all, passionate.
A seventeen year old Bianchetti first heard Prince at a small club in his "sleepy" home town of Adelaide on an unassuming Wednesday night no less, "which is pretty happening for Adelaide let me tell you!" Loving the track, Bianchetti immediately resolved to source its creator and so, on a pre-internet Thursday in 1981, looked for answers at his local record store, where he discovered the artist behind the single to be Prince, and purchased his LP on the spot.
An epic seven-minute dance stomper which sings of a craving for emancipation from oppression and bias, the track which started it all for Cam was 'Controversy'. "Who is this person?" was the question driving the young music fan. In the space of a year he'd purchased Prince's three previous albums and "completely fallen in love" with his music.
So what was it that captured Bianchetti's sensibilities so strongly? "Partly the fact that he crosses all genres of music," he expains. "R'n'B, soul, disco in the early days, funk, rock'n'roll, jazz… he can do anything. But what I love most is the sparseness and simplicity of a lot of the music."The less-is-more approach which so attracted him directly influenced the music Bianchetti would go on to make in the following decade. "When I started producing music it was techno, and the popular tracks were that ones that were really simple and straight to the point, there was nothing fancy about them whatsoever."
Lyrically and conceptually, Prince's understanding of the power of nuance is also a strong draw for Bianchetti. A cryptic character in real life, Prince's lyrics are suggestive and layered. "He has an incredible way of writing words. A lot of his earlier stuff is about sex. I find lyrics today can be so blatant, so in your face, that there's nothing to read behind, it's just so – there. Whereas Prince's early lyrics, about that subject in particular, were a little deeper. You had to think about what he was saying before you understood it."
Finally, one of the most impressive aspects of Prince's creativity was his autonomy. Diverse in skill and determined by nature, a teenage Prince wrote and produced his debut self-titled album on his own, as well as recording the vast majority of the album's instrumentation himself. "When you think that he was seventeen at the time and he wrote just about everything on that album… fuck it's impressive." Still awed by this feat as an accomplished artist, one can imagine how it would have resonated with Bianchetti as a budding producer of the same age.
As we talk, it becomes clear that Bianchetti values Prince's pursuit of creative autonomy as much as his creativity. The untameable, in many ways unknowable character that Prince presented throughout the course of his thirty year career proved to be a fascination and inspiration in itself. Having dedicated the best part of his life to the "jungle" that is the music industry, Bianchetti is familiar with the financial tug of war that plagues so many artists, and admires Prince's tenacity in public battles with his record label Warner, which peaked in the late '90s with Prince's defiant (if rather untenable) name change to a cryptic glyph, and the penning of 'slave' across his own cheek in protest.
"He definitely puts himself out there as someone quite strange, who really knows who he is. Someone who's not afraid to do something different. After the success of Purple Rain, for example, which was massive, he released Around The World In A Day, which was completely different. I, along with a lot of other people, expected another Purple Rain. But I remember him saying in an interview it would have been so easy to do Purple Rain Pt 2, but he likes to push himself and do something original every time. I love that."
No stranger to reinvention himself, slamming techno DJ HMC come disco-edit don Late Nite Tuff Guy has clearly taken the lesson of creative challenges to heart. "Throughout my youth, throughout DJing and producing, I wanted to do something different every time. It's a lot harder now that I'm older though. I tend to revert back to doing what I know, because it's easier… but you don't challenge yourself that way, do you?"
So Prince as a person has inspired, as well as his music. But can any of us really lay claim to understanding such an eccentric and elusive character, having never even met him? "He's definitely a weird character… we just don't know him," Banchietti acknowledges. Why is it, then, that he and so many others felt such a profound and personal sense of loss upon hearing of his death?
"When I found out about his passing, it was one of the saddest moments that I could ever remember. Obviously I had a cry. I couldn't believe I would never get to see him play live again."
Bianchetti was lucky enough to attend one of the final performances of Prince's life in February of last year. "I'm so thankful I got to see him, but the awful thing about that day was that Vanity [an artistic protégé and one-time lover of Prince], had died that day. So he was really emotional, and you felt like a lot of the songs that he did were in honour of her. It was a really special show."
The emotion of this performance explains at least part of the reason we can feel such a personal connection to someone we've never actually met. Most artists put some of the deepest parts of themselves into the work they create – so in some way, we do know them. "Well, we know a part of them," Bianchetti qualifies. But it's more than that; we are not merely observers to the emotions of our favourite musicians. In a fascinating and powerful phenomenon, our own emotions and personal development are inextricably woven into their music and persona, at least in our own consciousness.
"The only way to explain it for me is that it's because I grew up on his music – especially Sign Of The Times, which is my favourite Prince album. I remember listening to that constantly and it was also around the time that I was smoking marijuana, so I heard the album differently. Growing up on that music, learning a lot about how he produces and how he writes… it influenced me. And now it is a part of me, right? It's a part of my youth."
"After [David] Bowie's death and Prince's death I saw people on Facebook saying things like, 'you don't know the person, why are you pretending to care?' and so on … and it's like, well, we really are connected to them! And when they go, a part of your youth is gone too."
Throughout our interview, Bianchetti mostly talks about Prince in the present tense; less as an individual who has died than as a musical legacy that he hopes will live on for a long time to come. As Late Nite Tuff Guy, Bianchetti has played an important role on an international scale in keeping that legacy alive through his edits.
Though 'Controversy' is the only one he's released, Bianchetti has a small but powerful arsenal of Prince edits which he saves for his own sets, "and yes, it's going to stay that way" he assures me. It takes some balls to begin tinkering with the music of an artist you idolise so much, and when I ask if it makes him nervous the response is unequivocal. "Oh shit yeah. We're talking about a genius here. If you want to take on his music, then you really have to bring it."
Despite intimidation, inspiration comes from within the track. "I didn't do that much to 'Controversy', just extended and accentuated parts of the track that were amazing. For example that loop in the beginning just really gets me, I could see myself on the dance floor going, 'fuck yes!'"
That looped introduction is an important part of most LNTG disco edits – a new and more contemporary presentation of the dusty disco gems of the past. "A lot of young people ask me about the old music. They love the way I've interpreted it in a way that they understand…The first part of the edit is a looping, hypnotic groove that draws them in, and then I expose them to what the track was before." Hearing old songs reinterpreted on modern terms can be the catalyst for many young music lovers to discover a whole new world of listening: Prince and beyond. "And they need to do it themselves," Bianchetti adds paternally. "You can't force feed it to them."
Creating an edit not only allows him to share the music he loves with a new audience, but it also offers Bianchetti an opportunity to appreciate its components on a finer level – especially when it comes to Prince. "When I do an edit, obviously I quantise everything in Ableton. And then you go through the track slowly, many many times, so you hear everything clearly: all the words, all the music, all the intricate bits of the track. Hearing it slowly like that over the process of edits definitely makes me love it more."
"I've never known a musician to do the things Prince does; a unique sound and a unique way of producing music. It's beyond everybody."
There could be none more fitting to curate a Prince Tribute Night on the first anniversary of his death than Late Nite Tuff Guy. A talented musician in his own right, Cam Bianchetti is also a true fan.
Late Nite Tuff Guy x Prince Tribute (3 hr set)
Tour support TBA
Tags: disco, funk, Late Nite Tuff Guy, Prince, soul, Tribute
UK dance legend Congo Natty brings the jungle ruckus to Loco Kamanchi, Wed 25th Jan '17
18 January 2017 - Andy
Loco Kamanchi welcomes veteran UK MC/producer Congo Natty (aka Rebel MC) featuring Congo Dubz & Iron Dread on 25th.
Scoring a slew of crossover hits between 1989 and 1992 (Just Keep Rockin' and Street Tuff with Double Trouble; plus Better World, The Wickedest Sound and Tribal Base), Natty and co mashed up dub, reggae, soul, hip hop, breakbeat and hardcore styles, ushering in jungle and bringing black and white together under one roof – a true pioneer and a proper legend.
There's a great interview with him in The Guardian, where he talks about what it was like when jungle first broke and the power of music to bring people together, no matter what their colour, creed or culture, among other things….
"Black and white, they should be taken out of the dictionary, in regards to people… By the time jungle came in 94, you've got all nations together in London, as one. There's no colour ting.. Music, for a moment, it cancels out all the shit, and" – he clicks his fingers – "we are one."
Sentiments such as these resonate deeply with us at the Bongo, especially at fractious times such as these. But, quite aside from all that, jungle and drum n bass has had a massive impact on British pop music and culture and this man is a true original.
TICKETS have been selling fast! Don't sleep.
Tags: breakbeat, classic, Congo Dubz, Congo Natty, drum n bass, hip hop, Iron Dread, jungle, rave, reggae, soul, UK dance
Craig Charles to headline Four Corners Tenth Birthday, Fri 6th Feb '15
Four Corners 10th Birthday Party featuring a very special guest DJ set from CRAIG CHARLES.
Established at the The Bongo Club in 2005 (then at Moray House), Four Corners has run every month for 10 years now – with very few exceptions. It is now one of Scotland's longest running club nights, consistently providing a top drawer soundtrack of deep funk, soul, afrobeat, latin, disco, r 'n' b, hip hop and reggae.
Come and help us celebrate the big ONE-ZERO with a very special guest DJ, CRAIG CHARLES, the well know TV personality-turned-top-funk-ambassador. His BBC Radio 6 show is the most popular on the network, and behind the decks Craig knows how to work a room.
Tickets are £8+BF in advance from here, and soon at Ripping Records and Ticket Scotland. Here's the man himself sporting a Bongo T-shirt in support of our Save The Bongo! campaign two years ago…
Tags: 10th Birthday Party, Craig Charles, Four Corners, funk, soul
New Zealand singer-songwriter Jayson Norris, intimate live show, Thurs 4th Dec
New Zealand singer-songwriter Jayson Norris brings an intimate performance to The Bongo Club, in association with Kiwi champions Spacific.
Combining his rich, earthy voice with a blend of soul, roots and rock, Jayson Norris offers music inspired by many songwriters including Ben Harper, Lenny Kravitz and Bob Marley. Jayson's cultural and musical heritage is subtly reflected with a South-Pacific feel resonating throughout his songs.
Moving to the UK in 2004, Jayson set to work immediately. By tirelessly gigging all over London, hard work and epic live shows, Jayson soon made a name for himself and carved a niche in the music scene, supporting and sharing stages with a range of artists such as Andrea Bocelli, INXS, Blue King Brown, The Black Seeds, Pete Murray and Dave Dobbyn.
Since his move to the UK, Jayson Norris has released two full-length albums A Basket Full in 2006, which sold in excess of 3,000 copies independently in London alone and Freedom Twenty Eight in February 2011 through Loop Recordings in New Zealand and Australia. Freedom Twenty Eight is a dynamic blend of sounds, subject matter and genre that conveys Jayson's explosive and diverse live show and captures the soul and emotion of him both musically and in his heartfelt lyrics.
Freedom Twenty Eight hit the New Zealand Album Charts debuting at #25 on the New Zealand Top 40 and #2 on the New Zealand Independent charts. The second and third singles taken from the album, "Love Someone" and "Window", both made the New Zealand RIANZ Top 40 Singles Chart with the music video for "Love Someone" making #1 on Juice TV's Channel 63.
Following on from the success of his recent singles and album, Jayson Norris was invited to join the cast of the renowned kiwi collective Fly My Pretties, which toured NZ in January 2011. Not only did Jayson join the cast of Fly My Pretties, but he also opened each show with his own epic live solo performance, impressing audiences across the country. While in NZ, Jayson also performed at the 2011 "Homegrown Festival" (NZ's biggest local music festival), which saw him being the first artist ever to be asked to play on two different stages, a true testament to Jayson's amazing live show.
Tags: Jayson Norris, live, New Zealand, reggae, rock n roll, soul
Soulsville: Midnight In Rio, New Year's Eve at The Bongo Club
This New Years Eve, The Bongo Club presents "Soulsville – Midnight in Rio", a night of raucous revelry in the spirit of a South American Carnival!
With an array of visuals, unique art and colourful decoration alongside Ruckus Carnival Rhythms and the elevative brand of Funk & Soul which defines Soulsville's musical philosophy, creator Francis Dosoo aims to capture the sheer joy and freedom of celebration that is at the heart of the South American Carnival.
Tickets: £10 (early bird) / £15 (on the door). Available here.
Tags: Brazilian, carnival, funk, latin, soul, soulsville
Six60 & David Dallas LIVE (Sat 17th May) – SOLD OUT!
06 May 2014 - Andy
This gig has now SOLD OUT and will be open to ticket-holders and returns only on the night.
Blending soul, rock, dubstep and drum 'n' bass, Six60's music is as dynamic, versatile andunexpected as their back story. Extended singer-songwriter jams incorporate dubstep sections as bridges, hard-rocking guitar duels with robust synthetics and thunderous low end bass over vibrant percussive rhythms, and in both voice and instrumentation, infectious melody consistently shines through.
After spending most of 2013 in Europe and USA, performing at some of the world's biggest festivals including Glastonbury, SXSW, The Great Escape, Wavefront, Summerfest andRepeerbahn, Six60 returned to New Zealand for the summer and immediately hit the studio. For these gigs the band are playing a BRAND NEW set that debuts five new songs plus a few other surprises.
Supporting them will be David Dallas with his first ever UK shows. The past three years have been a rollercoaster for David: he signed to underground powerhouse Duck Down Music in2011, releasing second album 'The Rose Tint' soon after, followed by a tour throughoutNorth America with hip-hop duo Aer. He recently supported Eminen and Jay Cole on their tours of Australasia.
ITV SYNCH DEAL
Six60 announced a TV synchronisation deal for their song, Run For It, via a trailer for the brand new ITV drama, Prey (starring John Simm), throughout April.
Term: 29 days (7th April – 5th May, tbc)
Territory: UK and Eire
Media: Streamed internet/mobile advertising (Pre–roll ads on various UK video-on-demand/rich media services via the Videology service including 4OD, Blinkbox, Netflix, etc)
MORE INFO about PREY
MORE INFO/LINKS: SIX 60
MORE INFO/LINKS: DAVID DALLAS
Strike Agency Artist Profile
Tags: David Dallas, gig, hip hop, Kiwi, live, New Zealand, Six60, sold out, soul
David Dallas, NZ hip hop star, supports Six60 LIVE
19 March 2014 - Andy
David Dallas has just been announced as the tour support for Kiwi pop-soul stars Six60. These will be his first ever UK shows.
The past three years have been a roller-coaster for David Dallas: he signed to underground powerhouse Duck Down Music in 2011, releasing second album 'The Rose Tint' soon after, followed by a tour throughout North America with hip-hop duo Aer. He recently supported Eminem and Jay Cole on their tours of Australasia.
'(Dallas is) the coolest thing to come out of New Zealand for quite some time'
(Rip It Up magazine, NZ)
'There's an honesty in Dallas' lyrics that's so genuine it's refreshing'
(XXL Mag, US)
'Easily the most impressive Kiwi cultural export since Flight of the Conchords. Dallas stands as an inspirational tale of coming from nowhere with the mecca of hip hop in one's crosshair and hitting it big under the bright lights' (URB Magazine, US)
More info about this gig / buy tickets here.
Kiwi hip-hop artist David Dallas is the "artist formerly known as". Formerly known as Con Psy. Formerly known as one-half of the award winning local hip-hop group Frontline. Through currently known as "the next big thing".
Dallas first appeared on the New Zealand music scene after label mate P-Money spotted the prodigious talents of the rising star. It was this recognition that led to Dallas' searing verse on Scribe's "Not Many – The Remix". The song heralded the arrival of an untapped rap talent that New Zealand hip-hop was quick to make room for.
Eight years on from that 16 bar introduction, David Dallas has amassed an impressive history of ticked boxes. Releasing a critically lauded debut album? Check. New Zealand music award for the Best Hip Hop Album? Check. Record deal with prestigious American record label? Check. Surgically precise wordplay few can approach? Check.
Dawn Raid Entertainment, Dirty Records and Duck Down Music are excited to announce the release of Falling Into Place – David Dallas' third studio album.
The past two years have been a rollercoaster for the Kid. He signed to underground powerhouse Duck Down Music NYC in 2011, releasing second album The Rose Tint in the US soon after and touring throughout North America with hip hop duo Aer. A spot at the notoriously hard-to-get-into SXSW Fader party. Big ups from Kanye West and adds to MTV America and Australia. Short listing for New Zealand's highest songwriting accolade, the Taite Prize. A tour of New Zealand with P-Money, and the release of his Buffalo Man EP.
Not wanting to rest on laurels, the start of 2013 saw Dallas enter the studio with production whizz kids Fire & Ice, note book in hand. Diamonds are made under pressure. In four months, Dallas had tweleve unmissable finished tracks to put his name to.
D.Dot talks a big game but he's still a storyteller. Themes on Falling Into Place range from epic Django Unchained tales of escape on first single "Runnin", to his tribute to the streets of South Auckland, "Southside". Arguably the biggest innovator in hip hop New Zealand has seen in two decades, Dallas has once again turned his eagle eye to finding new and unusual talent to mix in with his own. On "The Wire" and "The Gate" he collaborates with alt. pop icon Ruby Frost, the tracks bookending the album (both songs had been demo-ed a year before "that" TV show, to quell any notions of bandwagon-jumping). Elsewhere in the tracklisting, up-and comers Spycc and Rokske rub shoulders with long time wingmen Sid Diamond, Mareko, PNC and US superstar rapper Freddie Gibbs.
With his second album The Rose Tint, David Dallas made new rules for how a record should be sold and marketed (i.e give it away). Expect the unexpected when Falling Into Place drops in October.
'I'm out here, I'm hungry. I don't play around, trust me' ('Runnin', David Dallas)
Tags: David Dallas, hip hop, live, New Zealand, Six60, soul


text:
Q: Laravel form validation in image upload with ajax I am working in laravel 5. and using blade and ajax for upload image.
Every thing was working fine unless I inserted validation code in store function inside controller. Getting server error:
POST http://localhost:8000/imgC 500 (Internal Server Error)

I guess there is something wrong with url inside ajax or in routes, I am using Restfull Controller.
image.blade.php
{{Form::open(array('url' => 'imgC', 'method' => 'post','files'=>true, 'id'=>'upload_form'))}}
   Title: {{Form::text('title')}}
   Image: {{Form::file('image')}}
   {{Form::submit('submit',['id' => 'btnAddProduct'])}}
   {{Form::close()}}

ImageController.php:
public function store(Request $request)
{
    $validator = Validator::make($request->all(), [
        'name' => 'required|max:255',
    ]);

    if ($validator->fails()) {
        return "error";
    }
    $destinationpath = public_path() . '/img/';
    $image=$request->input('image');
    $filename=$request->file('image')->getClientOriginalName();
    $request->file('image')->move( $destinationpath,$filename );

    $img= new Image;
    $img->name= $request->input('title');
    $img->picture_path=$filename;

    $saveflag=$img->save();
    if($saveflag){
        return Response::json(['success' => $saveflag, 'file' => asset($destinationpath.$filename)]);
    }

}

AJAX function:
$(document).ready(function() {
  $('#upload_form').submit(function (event) {
      event.preventDefault();
      $.ajax({
          url: '/imgC',
          data: new FormData($(this)[0]),
          type: "POST",
          processData: false,
          contentType: false
      }).done(function (response) {
          console.log(response);
          $("#success").show();
          setTimeout(function() { $("#success").hide(); }, 5000);

      });
  });
});

route.php:
Route::resource('imgC', 'ImageController');

What am I doing wrong here?

A: I looked into the server log files and figured it out.
There was error with validation after adding Use Validator; in Image controller, problem solved

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This is presently used as a residential home. Endless possibilities. Master bedroom has cedar closet and laundry chute. It is zoned highway commercial, suitable for office, financial institution, health care, retail, etc. It has a lot of potential for commercial use and a full finished basement the entire length of the home. Bar in basement has a sink and refrigerator. The home is set back which could possible accommodate parking in front and back. Many possibilities for this property!


Aquatica's designers understand the true essence of bathing is the ability to transport the bather into a realm of sanctuary, removed from the cares of the world. The ideal bath should pamper, support and comfort, rejuvenate and invigorate.
This is the Emmanuelle 2 Relax which provides not only a wonderful bath design but also incorporates Aquatica's air massage and сhromotherapy for the ultimate in bathing pleasure.
The bath itself features an extended built-in head and neck rest at one end, designed using ergonomics to provide you full support as you lean back and enjoy your soak.
Because it is crafted from AquateX™ solid surface composite, you will enjoy smooth, velvety matte surface that is soft to the skin, as well as excellent heat retention properties which allows prolonged bathing.
The addition of over 20 low-profile air jets offering wave and pulse massage take this bathing experience to a whole other level. The speed of the massage system can be adjusted by the bather.
Last but by no means least is Aquatica's underwater chromotherapy system for 20 low profile LED lights. This is designed to give the body balance and harmony, using slow color rotation or a fixed color mode in one of 6 available tones.


Sustained growth leads our client to seek a Scientific Advisor to be based in their West London offices. Our client is an international medical communications agency with offices in London and the USA.
The role of the Scientific Advisor is to act as the scientific lead on key oncology accounts, and manage the development of client communication programmes for educational and promotional campaigns.
You will be responsible for scientific quality control for assigned accounts, and in addition, will help the team to be mindful of compliance whilst promoting and delivering work of the highest scientific standards, with a focus on medical content, therapeutic expertise, literature awareness, and data knowledge and understanding.
This role offers an excellent salary with benefits including pension from day one, healthcare (including family), season ticket loan, free gym and pilates, free breakfast, 23 days holidays plus discretionary days off and much more. This is a great chance to work for an agency that values and invests in their staff with structured opportunity for progression.
This role will allow you to make and take the strategic decisions based on the science that will ultimately contribute to the project's and brand's overall success.


text:
THE BOYZ Jacob Reveals How He Almost Missed The Chance To Debut
If he'd followed his first instinct, he wouldn't be part of THE BOYZ.
While some idols dreamed of becoming singers since they were young and focused on achieving that dream, others stumbled upon it by chance. One of the idols part of the latter is THE BOYZ's Jacob.
| SBS Inkigayo PD Note
On Eric Nam's podcast K-Pop Daebak, he asked Jacob how he ended up auditioning for LOEN Entertainment, now Kakao M. It turned out that Jacob hadn't sought out the company intentionally.
Since he's from Canada, Jacob was attending a Korean academy to receive lessons for singing. "The academy I was just taking vocal lessons at, it's like a Korean academy."
Since they offered those lessons, they would encourage the students to attend auditions for major companies. "So whenever there were auditions, whether it was 'K-Pop Star,' JYP, SM, all those auditions, they ask the people if they want to go."
Because LOEN Entertainment's audition was the next one coming up at the time, they encouraged Jacob to test his skills. "So LOEN audition came up, and they thought, you know, it'd be good to give it a shot. So they asked me."
Rather than jumping at the chance to possibly join a major company, Jacob confessed that he'd immediately rejected it. "First I said, 'No.'" That wasn't how it panned out, though.
Somehow, Jacob found himself attending the audition and soon passing it. "But then, I ended up going." Looking back on the moment, he was glad that he did, "Which now I'm grateful for."
Without the academy giving him the push to attend, Jacob wouldn't have become part of the company to debut in THE BOYZ. "Yes. If I didn't, I don't know what I'd be doing, honestly."
Sometimes, all it takes is chance and a little bit of luck to get the stamp of approval as a trainee material and later become skillful enough to become an idol. See Jacob reveal how disregarding his first instinct had led to him joining THE BOYZ.
THE BOYZ's Juyeon To Be Special MC For MBC's "Music Core"
A Fan For THE BOYZ's Younghoon Sets The Bar High As She Scales A Whole Mountain For Him — Literally
Hot Korean Men Drenched In Prada Pose For Fall/Winter 2022 Fashion Show
Here Is What We Know About All 13 Siblings Of THE BOYZ's Members
See more THE BOYZ

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
August 11, 2022 | Policy Corner
Eight ways the Inflation Reduction Act is resetting the climate table
Amy Cortese
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 11 – The Inflation Reduction Act hasn't yet passed the House and already it is reframing narratives (the U.S. is a global climate leader!), reshaping assumptions about the role of climate solutions (deflationary!) and raising expectations for the green economy (jobs, jobs, jobs!).
All told, the bill includes an estimated $369 billion in climate and energy-related investments, making it the largest-ever federal commitment to action on climate change. Even before he signs the bill, President Joe Biden is resetting the storyline of his presidency, taking a "victory lap" after a string of legislative wins.
The messaging: "Make it here in America. Make it with American workers. Give those workers a chance to reach into the middle class and support their families with jobs and careers in clean energy and climate," said Ali Zaidi, the president's deputy national climate advisor. Delivering, he says "means saving for consumers and it means achieving our climate goals.
Eyes on the prize: Green opportunities outweigh tax quibbles in U.S. climate bill
The climate bill includes more than $200 billion in clean electricity investments and incentives, almost $50 billion to retrofit buildings, $33 billion to electrify transportation and more than $20 billion for farmland conservation. Other line items: $3 billion for the Postal Service's clean fleet investments, $1 billion in rural renewable energy loans and a tax credit for wind and solar investments in low-income neighborhoods (for a full breakdown, check out this spreadsheet from Ben Beach of BlueGreen Alliance and this analysis from the CPC Center).
The public financing is poised to accelerate already red-hot renewable energy investments, which hit a record $226 billion in the first half of the year.
"The private sector can come and build upon a very solid platform of incentives and guidance and industry creation around this bill, and that's really promising," Stephan Nicoleau of FullCycle Climate Partners told ImpactAlpha.
From geopolitics to cheaper appliances, here are eight ways the bill is resetting the climate table.
8. The U.S. can reassert global climate leadership. The IRA moves the U.S. from the list of climate laggards to the leaders. "This says, 'We're back, baby,'" Jennifer Turner of the Woodrow Wilson Center's China Environment Forum in Washington, told the AP.
The Inflation Reduction Act will reduce U.S. emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030, according to studies, putting the Biden administration within striking distance of its goal to halve emissions this decade. That "allows the U.S. to cement its global leadership on climate, compete with China on new technologies, keep pace with Europe's actions, and show how growth in manufacturing can be tied to climate action and emissions reductions," Matt Piotrowski of Climate Advisers told ImpactAlpha.
7. Making COP27 relevant. Advocates had all but written off as a lost cause the COP27 global climate summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt this November. The U.S. was AWOL, the host country Egypt is cracking down on protests in advance of the conference, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine has disrupted the phaseout of fossil fuels by giving oil and gas production a boost. Now the U.S. is back, India and Australia have upped their climate ambitions, and prospects are improving for progress at COP27.
"I think it really provides a lot of opportunity for us to think more expansively about what's possible," said FullCycle's Nicoleau. "Showing up to Sharm without climate legislation to speak of would not have been very great both for the United States nor for the gathering."
Plenty of hurdles remain: Climate cooperation between the U.S. and China has soured as tensions over Taiwan flare. Wealthy nations have not fulfilled longtime funding promises to developing nations that had little to do with the climate crisis.
"A large focus of COP27 will be on adaptation in a year of crippling extreme heat on every continent," said The Fletcher School's Kyte. "The U.S. in particular, but also Europe and other G7 countries will need to step up, despite difficult economic times, to provide the support many low income countries need."
6. Long termism is in fashion. With incentives locked in for 10 years, the IRA breaks the short-term cycle that has long stymied private sector planning and investment.
"The time frame is almost as important as the amount of incentives provided," Rachel Kyte, dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University, told ImpactAlpha. The legislation, she said "will allow investors to come in, pick up speed and drive growth through S-curve cycles so that it stays at pace with the 1.5-degree world."
5. Electrifying everything, faster. Consumer savings and incentives will drive a boom in heat pumps, electric vehicles and induction stovetops. The IRA will reduce real electricity prices by 5% to 7%, forecasts Resources for the Future.
Rewire America, a nonprofit advocacy group, estimates that a household making $50,000 per year would be eligible for up to $14,000 in incentives for home electrification. Combined with other tax credits and incentives, they could replace aging water heaters, furnaces and air conditioners with modern electric equipment at zero upfront cost.
The incentives make a zero-emissions grid inevitable, unlocking the full benefits of electrification, Shaun Abrahamson of Third Sphere tells ImpactAlpha. One by one, appliances, vehicles and other goods will achieve "lower total cost of ownership, in large part because electricity prices won't be subject to the type of volatility we see for fossil fuel-based systems."
"This bill will provide a real boost, once the dollars flow through to the local level, for heat pumps and other home electrification," Spring Lane Capital's Rob Day told ImpactAlpha.
One sector poised to benefit: microgrids. Getting energy efficient technology into lower income homes is "fundamentally deflationary," said the Coalition for Green Capital's Reed Hundt. "We want Home Depot to be selling heat pumps, for them to be flying off the shelves."
4. Creating climate jobs. Energy workforce investments and funding for a Civilian Climate Corps were dropped in the latest bill, but the bill includes additional incentives for projects that meet "prevailing wage requirements," apprenticeships and union-level rates. Hundreds of billions in investment and incentives for onshoring clean tech supply chains will be a boon for U.S. workers in climate-related jobs.
Already, tech talent is moving toward climate ventures (forest carbon startup Pachama has had 15,000 applications). And initiatives like CREST are moving to diversify and upskill the climate workforce to meet the surging demand for talent.
A $25 million plan to upskill and diversify the climate workforce
3. Made in America, eventually. The IRA aims to cut the U.S.'s dependence on China and other countries for chips, rare minerals, batteries and other inputs for electric vehicles and next-gen industries. The bill includes $50 billion in tax incentives to boost domestic clean energy manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, and mineral mining and processing.
"This will prompt a wave of battery innovations" said Day of Spring Lane Capital.
The bill "gives us a sense as to where we will get our next generation of batteries and storage," says FullCycle's Nicloeau.
One twist: Few electric vehicles currently on the market will meet the bill's Made in America requirements.
Though the bill drew no Republican support, many of the clean tech factories that the tax incentives will encourage will be sited in red states across the South and Midwest.
2. Expanding green banking. A $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund administered by the Environmental Protection Agency will bank hard-to-finance projects like building energy retrofits, small-scale community solar project and agricultural projects that store carbon and increase the resiliency of farm communities.
"Green Bank" in climate bill to provide catalytic capital for renewable energy and community resilience
"Having a pool of capital in the form of a federal grant will allow us to deliver capital that's much lower cost and is much longer term," said the NRDC's Douglass Sims, "and transform the economy in a much quicker way."
1. Environmental justice? The bill invests $60 billion for environmental justice priorities, including pollution clean up and low-carbon retrofits in low-income communities. A tax on methane emissions will spur from oil and gas companies to cap wells and plug leaks in infrastructure that is predominantly sited near low-income communities. The bill includes direct payments to enable entities that can't benefit from tax breaks to participate.
More than half of the $27 billion in the "green bank" fund is earmarked for disadvantaged communities. But advocates for community development financial institutions and minority-depository institutions, such as U.S. Black Chambers and Action Center on Race and the Economy, object that many community-based lenders are excluded because the bill restricts funding to nonprofit organizations.
More broadly, some climate justice leaders in Black and Latino communities, which disproportionately bear the burdens of climate change, are calling out the bill for its continued support for fossil fuel development and the lack of inclusion of communities of color in the legislative process. The Black Hive at The Movement for Black Lives, a collection of over 200 climate justice organizations, came out against the bill as "a deal that sacrifices Black lives for the pretense of clean energy progress."
"We have the bill. It's not perfect," says Nicoleau. "But ultimately, we have to think of this as the laying of a foundation, a really strong one."


text:
Elvis Presley Spotlighted at Country Music Hall of Fame
He may have been the young man who bombed when he played his one and only show at the Grand Ole Opry in 1954, but even when Elvis Presley was told that night to go home, quit music forever and go back to his job driving a truck, the fiery talent inside the Mississippi native would not be quelled.
Today, the very idea that he would have followed that advice is inconceivable, for "the King" changed the face, heart and soul of music forever. Inducted with the original class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, it was natural he would follow suit into the Country Music Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 1998.
Elvis was born January 8, 1935, and with 2010 being the 75th anniversary of his birth, Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is set to unveil a new Spotlight Exhibit on the King entitled 'Loving You: Collecting Elvis Presley.' Opening August 6, the exhibit will be on display for visitors until January 2011.
This special exhibit gives fans the chance to see items from the Museum's collection that are rarely available to the public. Visitors will be able to examine Elvis' continued appeal around the world through documents and items that show how beloved the superstar remains, nearly 33 years after his death. Some of the artifacts included: a Munsingwear bathrobe and Lord Nelson wristwatch owned and worn by Elvis himself, items featuring Elvis' likeness, such as a bronze bust designed by Armand LaMontagne, a Christmas ornament, a porcelain music box, a bottle of 'Always Elvis' white wine, and much more.
Though more closely associated with rock 'n' roll, Elvis' strong ties to country music are still being celebrated. The true tale of the 'Million Dollar Quartet' is currently being told on Broadway, in a musical which chronicles the day in December, 1956, when the King joined Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis at Sun Records in Memphis for an unforgettable jam session.
Elvis also recorded country music from time to time, and was deeply influenced by its sounds. In fact, it was through country radio that Elvis first gained exposure in 1954 and '55, before he broke through the new rock market in 1956 with 'Heartbreak Hotel.' He was often heard on the Louisiana Hayride radio show and other country outlets. Country songs he recorded include Bill Monroe's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky,' 'Your Cheatin' Heart' by Hank Williams and the Hank Snow classic, 'I'm Movin' On.'
In addition to the one for Elvis, other Spotlight Exhibits now featured in the Museum pay tribute to his manager, Colonel Tom Parker; Rascal Flatts; the Statler Brothers; Taylor Swift; Porter Wagoner and Carrie Underwood.
Download Elvis Presley Songs | Buy Elvis Presley Albums
Filed Under: Bill Monroe, BillMonroe, Blue Moon of Kentucky, BlueMoonOfKentucky, Broadway, Carl Perkins, CarlPerkins, Carrie Underwood, Colonel Tom Parker, ColonelTomParker, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, CountryMusicHallOfFameAndMuseum, elvis presley, ElvisPresley, Grand Ole Opry, GrandOleOpry, Hank Snow, Hank Williams, HankSnow, HankWilliams, jerry lee lewis, JerryLeeLewis, Johnny Cash, JohnnyCash, louisiana hayride, LouisianaHayride, Million Dollar Quartet, MillionDollarQuartet, porter wagoner, PorterWagoner, Rascal Flatts, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, RockAndRollHallOfFame, Statler Brothers, StatlerBrothers, Sun Records, SunRecords, Taylor Swift
Categories: Country News, Legends


text:
Q: Using a n-1 calculation, within a loop I'm trying to use n-1 to draw a items within a loop. Obviously the first observation, n-1 wont have an item, so I assume that is the reason my script isn't working. Here is some example data.
df = data.frame(Week=seq(1,10,by=1),  X1 = c(0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0))
container <- data.frame(numeric(nrow(df)))
for (i in 1:nrow(df)) { container[i,] <- df$X1[i] + 0.5*container[ i-1,] }

I get this error message
Error in 1:nrow(df) : argument of length 0

Is there a way to adjust the script to get this result?
> container
   numeric.nrow.df..
1          0.0000000
2          0.0000000
3          1.0000000
4          0.5000000
5          0.2500000
6          0.1250000
7          0.0625000
8          0.0312500
9          0.0156250
10         0.0078125

I have used a workaround by adding a row of zeros, starting the loop from row 2, then removing the first row. This is quite unwieldy. If it's possible to modify in script it would be much simpler.
Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks

A: Another way to achieve this, using the df in your question
> df = data.frame(Week=seq(1,10,by=1),  X1 = c(0,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0))
> df$X1+0.5*rbind(0,head(container,-1))

   numeric.nrow.df..
1          0.0000000
2          0.0000000
3          1.0000000
4          0.5000000
5          0.2500000
6          0.1250000
7          0.0625000
8          0.0312500
9          0.0156250
10         0.0078125

For your second dataframe
> df = data.frame(Week=seq(1,10,by=1), X1 = c(1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0))
> df$X1+0.5*rbind(0,head(container,-1))

   numeric.nrow.df..
1          1.0000000
2          0.0000000
3          0.0000000
4          0.5000000
5          0.2500000
6          0.1250000
7          0.0625000
8          0.0312500
9          0.0156250
10         0.0078125


text:
Home is Where the Fangs Are (Daylighters – A Book Review)
Daylighters (The Morganville Vampires #15)
On Goodreads
Rated H for home because it's where the heart is and nobody fucks with the heart
While Morganville, Texas, is often a troubled town, Claire Danvers and her friends are looking forward to coming home. But the Morganville they return to isn't the one they know; it's become a different place-a deadly one…
After the events of Fall of Night, Claire Danvers and her friends return to Morganville but it's not the town they remember. The Daylight Foundation has taken over and it actually seems good, on the outside at least. The town has been given a new coat of paint and the residents seem happier than they've ever been. But, where are the vampires?
When Claire and the Glass House discover what's going on they must rush to vampires' aid as they are the only thing standing between possible change for the better and the complete annihilation. Old acquaintances return in this final installment of the series and this little Texas town will be forever changed.
The Morganville Vampires series is 1 of 3 that I am rereading as a part of my New Year's Resolution. This is 15 of 15 books.
The Morganville Vampires Reviews
The Morganville Vampires Vol. 1: Glass Houses & The Dead Girls' Dance
The Morganville Vampires Vol. 2: Midnight Alley & Feast of Fools
The Morganville Vampires Vol. 3: Lord of Misrule & Carpe Corpus
The Morganville Vampires Vol. 4: Fade Out & Kiss of Death
Fall of Night
Pardon me, still mopping up my tears. Happy ones of course. This series ends on such a high noted and what makes it even more beautiful is how Claire and the entire Glass House own this town as their home at this point, after all they've been through and wished to get free of. This wild, crazy, dangerous beyond a doubt town, was always their home and to be anywhere else just wouldn't be the same.
There were so many moments that left me feeling incredibly emotional, but isn't that how finales go? Revisiting Blacke where Morley resides and is known for coming across as the Clint Eastwood of vampires was fecking delightful. As batshit as the guy, though he's no Myrnin, he's a blast. So, it was great that he jumped in to help save Morganville. It's one of those callbacks you always hope for in a final season of anything you love and you shout in excitement when it happens. I totally shouted. The weirdest thing of all? There was no Monica. Not a screech of her hideous overdone car, a sparkle of her Barbie outfit, or an insult. I was kind of bummed out. I was hoping for that last insult.
This enemy, Fallon and his Daylight Foundation hit on a unique subject. It's been approached but I feel like it hasn't been done very often because it's considered an easy way out and also not very likely for vampires. That my, loves, would be a cure. Sure, The Vampire Diaries did it on the show, but here in MV it wasn't some saving grace. It was utilized as a weapon and in most cases, could kill vampires. Definitely a new type of scary.
And the hellhounds on call? Poor Shane and Hannah getting caught up in that side experiment was heartbreaking. Still, these two are some of the toughest spirits I've ever seen in books. And the addition of this was so much fun and really added to the plot.
There were a great many callbacks on the series, reminding me just how far this series has come. It really took my breath away. Here is a whole brand-new problem, one that threatens to decimate not only the vampires but the history of the town and though it's a bloody one, it shouldn't be forgotten. In fact, it's a reminder of how far Morganville has come and how much it has changed.
Dare I say it, Chuck from Supernatural really said it well when it came to endings, but I honestly couldn't find an issue or feel any kind of emptiness or unsatisfaction with this one. This is one stage of life ending, and era coming to its end while a new one begins. And it's even expressed in such a subtle and marvelous way that the problems of Morganville aren't over. They'll never be over. But this is the start of something grand. A way of saying it's over, but it'll never be over. Sorry, starting to get teary-eyed again.
I could never let go of this series and I will always hype it up with the spazzy excitement that could be registered as ADHD. It has everything for me. Hell, if I did have a bone to pick it's not with the author, the style, the writing, pacing, or supernatural. It was just that happy ending between Shane and Claire. I was totally squeeing but I could never imagine it being their style for it to go down the way it did. It was just out of character, but I totally didn't care. I was too thrilled. Thrilled with this entire series. I can't wait to reread it again. It's like binging a favorite TV show.
Quotables:
"You know, you are not the mousy little thing I met that morning in Common Grounds. You've become something else entirely. It's to your credit, but it's also extremely inconvenient." (Oliver to Claire, p. 250)
"Face it. You're stubborn. That's always been you biggest problem. If you weren't stubborn, you'd have run away from this town the day Monica Morrell and her Monickettes pushed you down the stairs at the dorm." (Claire, p. 288)
"All right. Remember; we're not fighting for Morganville, we're fighting for our own families. No matter what happens, you keep them in mind. Things are going to get ugly." (Mrs. Grant, p. 288)
Song Today? Home by The Goo Goo Dolls.
Thoughts? Let's chat in the comments below!
#bookworm, book blog, Book Review, Book Series, fantasy, Morganville Vampires, New Year's Resolution, Rachel Caine, YA, Young Adult
The Scarlet Playlist – Dec. 7, 2020


Even without seeing his name in the opening credits, this is clearly a Brian De Palma movie: The tone is quasi-surreal, the acting is mannered and intriguing, the camera angles are inventive and often deliberately disorienting, and the violence is intermittent but downright shocking. Unfortunately, the narrative here leaves a bit to be desired: Kirk Douglas is miscast in the lead as the doting father of a young man with psychic abilities being hunted by a government agency, which makes the central conflict rather strained, while there are a number of downright inexplicable interactions here and there that make the narrative difficult to follow at times. But nevertheless, the movie gets better as it goes along, helped by Amy Irving's extraordinary performance, and the climax is a jolting shocker that redefines the movie.


text:
Mitius blennus är en insektsart som först beskrevs av Henri Saussure 1877.  Mitius blennus ingår i släktet Mitius och familjen syrsor. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Syrsor
blennus

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia