Today we're joined by Hazel B West, author of On a Foreign Field, a historical YA novel which is book of the month in February on Goodreads group Books, Blogs, Authors and More. You can read our review of this great book here after you've read her interview!
What were your main inspirations for On a Foreign Field?
Well, since it is historical fiction, the original idea obviously came from the story of William Wallace. But this was not the first Wallace novel I have written, and I really wanted it to stand out from all the other iconic Wallace stories that are out there. So I took a plot line I love to read about: characters from different sides having to deal with each other, and quite possibly becoming friends eventually. I don't think a Wallace story has been told from the point of view of an Englishman, the opposition, so I really wanted to give that plot line a try, thus I invented Reeve and told his story.
Which of the characters is your favourite and why?
Any author will tell you it's hard to choose favorites, but I do have some characters I enjoyed writing more than others. I loved Reeve of course, but I think my favorite character from the book was actually Gavin, one of Wallace's men. He was pretty fun, and I loved writing his continuous jibing of Reeve.
How long did it take to write On a Foreign Field?
Well, I had had the idea for quite a long time before I started it and had written a couple scenes down, but from the point of actually writing to finishing was probably about three months. That is not counting 'post production' and all the editing and formatting to get it ready for publication.
Right now, I'm working on a very special pet project that I'm totally having a blast with! It's a steampunk Victorian mystery novel featuring my new favorite character (don't tell the others) Anthony Maxwell. It's the first in a series I have planned and I'm hoping for it to be out sometime this spring. I'm very excited to see what people think about Anthony.
Ooh, well, I would love to invite all my own characters, but besides them, historical people (if I can invite anyone I want, living or dead) William Wallace, of course, Rob Roy, Jack Chruchill, Constance Markievicz, Robert the Bruce, Manfred von Richthofen and Samuel Pepys.
Yes, I love the song "Brothers in Arms" which is originally by Mark Knopfler but I really like the version by Celtic Thunder. Very moving song, and it was always in my mind when writing this.
Victorian London. Yes, I'm a total Sherlockian, but also I just love that time period despite its imperfections. It was just such a fascinating time period and I'm so happy to finally be working with it in my Anthony Maxwell books.
Oh yes, and sometimes that's a very scary thing! I think all authors leave a little bit of something in their characters. It's not quite so prominent in this book as some of my others; in my newest novel "By Blood or By Bond" my character Viggo is about as close as anyone could get to me. In "On a Foreign Field" I think I spread and shared my characteristics more between the characters.
Ooh, I have several, I'm definitely looking forward to The Hobbit Part II this year, I absolutely loved the first one! And as for books, I'm very much looking forward to the sequel to "Raven Boys" and also the fourth Knight and Rogue book by Hilari Bell—I adore that series so much! And whatever John Flanagan is coming out with next, I'm looking forward to as well.
I love reading a good mystery, with a nice cup of coffee or writing a mystery, which is the next best thing. But still with the coffee.
Meeting fantastic people and actually having 'real' reviews written for my book by unbiased parties. Getting a five star review from someone you don't even know is probably the most rewarding thing a writer can get, especially when you're self published. But my favorite part is definitely the friendships I have made.
First off, it's always the same: righteous anger, because how dare they slam your baby? I get very very protective of my characters, so if anyone says anything bad about THEM, well, let's just say I go i-viking. But there's two kinds of bad reviews. Those that really are just to be mean and nasty, and those that are constructive criticism. And the latter, it might do you well to take a second look at because chances are, they are probably right. Sometimes they could have said it a little nicer, but you get the satisfaction of showing them they were wrong the next time!
Sir Reeve Montgomery is an Englishman born and bred, proud of his heritage and the right to serve his country fighting against the Scottish rebels. But when the tide is turned unexpectedly during the Battle of Stirling Bridge, he is wounded by an English arrow, left for dead by his comrades, and taken captive by Wallace's army. Wounded, and alone on a foreign field, he knows he should expect nothing but torture and death at the hands of the Scottish rebels who are known to be complete savages.
But as he comes to know this tight brotherhood better, and sees Wallace's utter devotion to his men and the cause of freedom, Reeve begins to wonder whether the English are right to oppress them.
This entry was posted in Author Interviews, Interviews and tagged author, hazel b west, historical fiction, on a foreign field, william wallace. Bookmark the permalink.


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THE Friday Boys are a disparate group of men spread across Tyneside who meet once a week - 'always on a Friday' - to talk about the arts, raise a glass to recently departed heroes and villains and, at the evening's end, down a whisky or two. The FBs have only one golden rule - talk of the working week is strictly off-limit.
Newcastle upon Tyne Weather Forecast, United Kingdom
Merle Haggard RIP
Merle Haggard obituary: 'all he really wanted to do was fish and write songs'
Inventive singer-songwriter who gave common people a forthright voice
Tony Russell
Wednesday 6 April 2016
Merle Haggard, who has died aged 79, was one of the most resonant figures in country music for almost half a century. Popular, successful, highly influential upon the genre and critically admired both within and beyond it, he also acquired the status of a spokesman for his core audience, his songs Okie from Muskogee and The Fightin' Side of Me appearing to rally blue-collar Americans round Old Glory and old-fashioned values. But Haggard was an altogether more complicated and interesting man than that status might suggest.
His family background was an archetypal Dust Bowl story. In 1934, James Haggard and his wife Flossie Mae (nee Harp), like the Joads in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, quit the worn-out soil of Oklahoma to find work in California. They lived in migrant workers' camps and, when Merle was born after three years, their home in Oildale, near Bakersfield, was a converted railway boxcar. James died when Merle was nine, and five years later the restless youth left home to become an itinerant worker and petty criminal. These early years of poverty and frustration, punctuated by spells in reform school, would inspire some of his most enduring songs, such as Hungry Eyes, Branded Man and Mama Tried.
Following a conviction for burglary, Haggard spent his 21st birthday in the state prison at San Quentin, north of San Francisco. Paroled in 1960, he was determined to become a country singer like his models Lefty Frizzell and Jimmie Rodgers, and learned his craft in the bars of Bakersfield. From Frizzell in particular, he absorbed the vocal slides and the wry, resigned blues delivery of the honkytonk singer, a label that came from those bars. For a while he played bass in a band led by Wynn Stewart, a talented, almost forgotten singer who also had some part in moulding the younger man's style.
He made a few recordings for a small label and began singing with Bonnie Owens, the ex-wife of California's leading country artist, Buck Owens. In 1965 they married, Haggard's first marriage, to Leona Hobbs, having ended in divorce. He formed a band, the Strangers, and signed with Capitol Records.
That year he won an Academy of Country Music award as most promising newcomer and, for three years running, he and Bonnie were voted best vocal duet. By the late 60s, his folio packed with songs like Sing Me Back Home and Today I Started Loving You Again, Haggard was a nationally known artist, winning awards, guesting on TV shows and spearheading the "Nashville West" movement, centred in Bakersfield, which offered a less ingratiating kind of country music than the smooth productions emanating from Nashville itself. He was admired even by artists of a very different stripe, such as the Grateful Dead and Joan Baez, who both recorded Mama Tried and Sing Me Back Home.
Then, in 1969, came Okie from Muskogee, a litany of anti-hippie putdowns celebrating the Oklahoma town "where even squares can have a ball". It was written in the band bus on the spur of the moment, and when it was recorded, one of the session musicians remembered, everyone was laughing so much that they despaired of getting the job done. But many conservative small-town Americans heard it as a fanfare for the common man, and the album of the same name was his first to sell a million.
When Haggard followed it in 1970 with The Fightin' Side of Me, an aggressive paean to patriotism, he accrued the kind of admiration that would now be accorded to a rightwing talkshow host. He was invited to play at the White House for President Nixon, who told him he approved of his song Workin' Man Blues,
Unfortunately, Haggard's broad-brush political gestures obscured other, more finely crafted recordings that reveal much more about the man who made them and the place he wished to occupy in the grand narrative of country music. In 1969, he had also released Same Train, a Different Time, an album of songs associated with Rodgers. A year later, he made a similar tribute to another venerated artist, the western swing bandleader Bob Wills, for which he taught himself to play fiddle. Four years after that he produced Wills's final album, For the Last Time.
The respect for country music's history evinced by these projects was both genuine and informed. For the Wills tribute, Haggard recruited former members of Wills's Texas Playboys, including fiddler Johnny Gimble and guitarist Eldon Shamblin, who continued to play in the Strangers. Another significant sideman was the guitarist Roy Nichols, a veteran of the west coast country music scene, who served in the Strangers for more than 20 years, a period in which they were voted touring band of the year by the Academy of Country Music an unprecedented eight times.
Other projects, such as a gospel album shared with members of the Carter Family and a venture into Dixieland jazz, attested to Haggard's inventiveness. Meanwhile, he continued to provide his hardcore followers with memorable country songs like It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) and If We Make It Through December. In 1977 he was elected to the Nashville Songwriters' Hall of Fame, in the company of another Okie composer, Woody Guthrie. The following year he and Owens were divorced and he married one of his backing singers, Leona Williams. In 1981 he published an autobiography, Sing Me Back Home.
Though periods of his life were marked by heavy drinking, and by songs about it such as The Bottle Let Me Down and I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink, Haggard relaxed only with friends and his band. He had no interest in the social circles of country music, or in spending time with politicians, journalists and other hangers-on; all he really wanted to do, he said, was fish and write songs. In the 80s, now wealthy enough to do that, he worked only on projects that interested him, such as duet albums with George Jones and Willie Nelson; Pancho and Lefty (1983), with Nelson, was another million-seller. During the farming crisis of the mid-80s he produced the sombre Amber Waves of Grain, and in 1987 he regrouped with Bonnie Owens and old friends for the album Chill Factor. By then he had scored 38 No 1 records in the country singles charts.
He was less productive in the 90s and seemed to be settling into the role of living legend, a stature recognised by election to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994. But in 2000 he started making albums again and, in Roots, Vol 1, returned to honouring predecessors like Frizzell and Hank Williams. He too was receiving respectful nods from younger artists, being mentioned by name in songs by George Strait, the Dixie Chicks and Brooks & Dunn ("Turn off that rap and play me some Haggard"). His 2005 album Chicago Wind was notable for the song America First, reflecting national disillusion with the Iraq war.
If he attracted less attention in his later years than certain contemporaries, it was largely because he did not court it. In some ways he could not: as a personality, on stage or TV, he was less immediately striking, less magnetic than, say, Johnny Cash, even though he was a far more gifted singer. His place in country music as a singer and stylemaker is assured, but he himself wished to be remembered, as he once told the journalist Paul Hemphill, "as a writer, somebody who did some living and wrote songs about what he knew. That's all."
In November 2008, he was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer and underwent surgery, but by January 2009 he had recovered enough to give concerts again. In 2014–15 he kept up a touring schedule that would have taxed a much younger man. During 2015 he released his last albums, collaborations with fellow veteran country singers Mac Wiseman and Willie Nelson.
Haggard's marriages to Leona Williams and then Debbie Parret ended in divorce. He is survived by his fifth wife, Theresa Lane; their two children, Ben and Jenessa; four children, Dana, Marty, Kelli and Noel, from his first marriage; a son, Scott, from another relationship; and a sister, Lillian.
• Merle Ronald Haggard, singer and songwriter, born 6 April 1937; died 6 April 2016
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/06/merle-haggard-obituary
A brief interview with Kinky Friedman about Merle: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03q88hz
Posted by Frank Black at 08:34
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The question: "McQueen or Garner?"
The answer: "Garner."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We had our daughter's wedding reception at the Huntingtower Hotel near Perth, Scotland on 23rd July this year, and everything was magnificent. The service, food and surroundings were truly exceptional, and many friends said it was the best wedding they had ever been to. The service really makes the Huntingtower stand out – they were helpful, professional and discrete. Cannot recommend it highly enough.
With 6 acres of beautiful gardens and grounds we were spoilt for choice, for that perfect spot for those all important photographs. Our photographer was very impressed with the freedom and space to get those perfect shots.
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Best Memories of Perthshire.


text:
Q: Creating an async event inside a dataTable column and rendering a button according to response I am using dataTables to represent a list of institutions. One of the columns in the table has button to check API status, so when a user clicks it will say if the API is active or inactive. I have this working but now I will like to make it an async event so when the page or the dataTable is loaded we get the status of the API after few seconds automatically, how can I achieve this as I am unable to find anything useful regarding this. Below is my code.
 $.ajax({
    url: '/getInstitutionsList',
    type: 'GET',
    dataType: 'JSON',
    success: function(response) {
        var institutionsTable = $('#institutionsTable').DataTable({
            responsive: true,
            data: response.data,
            language: dataTableLang,
            columns: [
                { data: null, defaultContent: '' },
                { data: 'description' },
                { data: 'email' },
                { data: 'phone' },

                {
                    data: null,
                    render: function (data, type, row) {

                        if (locale === 'fr') {
                            return "<button class=\"btn button-status btn-primary btn-sm ml-4 mb-2\"  id= 'checkApiStatus" + data.id_institutions + "' data-instituteid='"+ data.id_institutions +"'> "+ frLocaleDataTable['CHECK API STATUS'] + " </button>"
                        } else {
                            return "<button class=\"btn button-status btn-primary btn-sm ml-4 mb-2\"  id= 'checkApiStatus" + data.id_institutions + "' data-instituteid='"+ data.id_institutions +"'>Check API Status</button>"
                        }

                    }

                },
                {
                    data: null,
                    render: function (data, type, row) {
                        return " <button class=\"button-expire btn-sm ml-4 mb-2\" style=\"border:none;\" data-instituteid='"+ data.id_institutions +"'></button>"
                    }
                },
                { data: 'id_institutions' },
                {
                    data: null,
                    render: function (data, type, row) {
                        return " <button class=\"button-manage btn-sm ml-4 mb-2\" style=\"border:none;\" data-instituteid='"+ data.id_institutions +"'></button>"
                    }
                },
                {
                    data: null,
                    render: function (data, type, row) {
                        return " <button class=\"button-delete btn-sm ml-4 mb-2\" style=\"border:none;\" data-instituteid='"+ data.id_institutions +"'></button>"
                    }
                }
            ],
            columnDefs: [
                {
                    targets: [6],
                    visible: false,
                    searchable: false
                },
                {
                    targets: [0],
                    checkboxes: {
                        selectRow: true
                    }
                }

            ],
            select: {
                style: 'multi'
            },
            pageLength: 5,
            order: [[ 1, 'asc' ]],
            bDestroy: true,

        });

    }

});

Below is the event on button with button-status class click
 $('.button-status').click(function (e){
        e.preventDefault();
        var instituteId = $(this).data('instituteid');
        $('#spinner' + instituteId).removeClass('hidden');
        $.ajax({
            url: '/getInstitutionStatus/' + instituteId,
            type: 'GET',
            dataType: 'json',
            success: function(response) {
                $('#spinner' + instituteId).hide();
                document.getElementById('checkApiStatus' + instituteId).classList.remove('btn-primary');
                document.getElementById('checkApiStatus'  + instituteId).classList.add('btn-success');
                document.getElementById('checkApiStatus'  + instituteId).innerText = 'Active';

            }, error: function (e) {
                $('#spinner' + instituteId).hide();
                document.getElementById('checkApiStatus'  + instituteId).classList.remove('btn-primary');
                document.getElementById('checkApiStatus'  + instituteId).classList.add('btn-danger');
                document.getElementById('checkApiStatus'  + instituteId).innerText = 'Inactive';
                $("#overlay").fadeOut(2000);
                document.getElementById('errorDiv'  + instituteId).innerHTML = '
' + e.message + '
';
            }
        });

    });

Here is the screenshot of the dataTable with the buttons for reference

A: According to DataTables reference there is a callback option you may want to use:
initComplete
https://datatables.net/reference/option/initComplete

It can often be useful to know when your table has fully been
initialised, data loaded and drawn, particularly when using an ajax
data source. In such a case, the table will complete its initial run
before the data has been loaded (Ajax is asynchronous after all!) so
this callback is provided to let you know when the data is fully
loaded

So you may add it as an option to your 'SUCCESS' response for 'getInstitution' call... somewhere here:
var institutionsTable = $('#institutionsTable').DataTable({
                responsive: true,
                data: response.data,
                language: dataTableLang,
                initComplete: function(settings, json) {...}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Q. When do returning students find out if their application was successful?
Single rooms- You will find out if your application is successful on Tuesday 12 February 2019 and successful students will receive a text and an email confirmation. From this date Group Request Application Forms will be available until Tuesday 26 February 2019 to students who were successful in the ballot and who now wish to form themselves into a Group. On Tuesday 26 March 2019 Accommodation Services will confirm which Halls of Residence your group has been provisionally allocated to.
If demand from returning students is greater than the supply of rooms, students who apply and pay the booking fee by the deadline date will be entered into a ballot for a place in halls in order of policy priority. Those who apply and/or pay the booking fee after the deadline date will not be entered into the ballot and will be a lower priority.
Studios/ flats- Provisional allocations will be announced during the first week of August. Successful students will receive a text and email confirmation from us. A small number of studios/flats will be allocated in February to assist returning students to secure accommodation before you may leave campus for summer vacation.


"Here is a link to fiberglass over cardboard. https://microship.com/cardboard-core-composite-fabrication/"
"I made that one from wood for the frame and a piece of !/4 inch plywood for the top. If I was to do it again I would make it out of cardboard and then fiberglass the cardboard.. Good Luck"
"When I lost one on an older unit I had to fabricate the replacement."
"SO how old is old? I now have a 95.... Still welcome? Sounds like a great time if I can find time for it.. Garry"
"I have an 1984 on a Chevy but no manuals with it."
"OK I was thinking that those had a smaller grill in the center but it looks as if the head light surround is also part of the grill."
"Can you find one to post a picture of. I suspect unless you get lucky you will need to custom one or modify one. Pictures and dimensuions might help those that see things layoing around.. Garry"
Retired and poor but happy. Love my wife and kids, grand kids. Know the Lord!
Started by Shane Stachura in Vintage Campers For Sale 28 minutes ago.


text:
Home News & Politics Latest News All About Politics: Reviewing the Debate
All About Politics: Reviewing the Debate
Mark Plotkin
Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
**The Debate**
Hillary Clinton had a good night. No, let's be more accurate. A very good night.
All you had to see is what happened after the debate ended. Hillary plunged into the crowd and was beaming. She knew she had done well. She vigorously shook hands with her supporters and her smile didn't leave her face. Big hugs for everybody. It looked like she really was enjoying herself.
Compare that to Donald (more about the first name in a bit). His family came onstage to greet him. Their faces lacked joy or even satisfaction. The candidate himself appeared downright glum. They didn't stay around and mix with their supporters. They basically walked off the stage. There appeared to be no inclination for a victory lap.
Rudy Giuliani was prominently seated in the front row. He is Donald's chief surrogate. This can't help with African American voters. They detest him. But Giuliani is being used to remind everybody that Trump is the "law and order" candidate. Trump must have said "law and order" a dozen times. Shades of Nixon in 1968.
Law and order — who's against that? No, it's a code word to send a message to a certain group of voters who don't want any discussion of racial reconciliation or harmony. Trump knows what he is doing. Just like Nixon did in '68.
No Chris Christie in sight. The former presidential candidate is severely damaged goods. The prosecutor has already directly implicated him in Bridgegate. Day after day in the trial of his former top aides he is placed right in the middle of the scandal.
Now back to Hillary's skillful and strategic repetitive use of Trump's first name. The word is that he insists in being called "Mr. Trump." Even in his own corporate offices. Hillary knew this would bother him and get under his skin. The first-name reference demonstrated a total lack of respect.
The other ploy was her adroit and piercing criticism of Trump's refusal to make public his tax returns. She just came out and stated that he might not have paid any federal taxes. He all but confirmed the allegation by shouting into the microphone: "That makes me smart."
What bothered him the most, I believe, is her saying that what Trump is afraid of is that he is "not as rich as he says he is." In addition, she listed his six bankruptcies and ramped up the borrowings from his father from one million to 14 million.
The final blow was her retelling of the Miss Universe episode. That will definitely help her with the Latina constituency. No Trump voters will leave the camp. But women voters might be even more committed and enthusiastic for Clinton after Monday night.
She needed a boost. The state polls were getting close. Watch out for the next debate. Trump will lash back.
**Tim Kaine**
Virginia is a battleground state. Clinton picked Kaine because he is well known and liked in the state. Virginia residents feel Kaine — a former mayor of Richmond, lieutenant governor, governor and now senator — is one of them.
Those 13 electoral votes are an important part of the Clinton electoral strategy. Kaine speaks fluent Spanish (he was a missionary in Honduras). The Hispanic turnout was 20 points less than the white and African American vote in 2012.
Hispanic turnout is key for Clinton to win. I bet Kaine will be speaking more Spanish than English in the next 40 days.
*Political analyst and Georgetowner columnist Mark Plotkin is a contributor to BBC on American politics and a contributor to TheHill.com. Reach him at markplotkindc@gmail.com.*
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Your friend or family member struggles with alcoholism. You want to be a good friend and help. But you don't know where to start. You don't know if you should start. Is this something they have to manage on their own, or can you do something to help? The truth is that you can — and should be! — an important part of your friend's recovery support system. And with this quick guide, you can do just that.
The best way to be a good friend to someone struggling with alcoholism is to speak up. If you're worried about a friend's drinking, even if you aren't related by blood, you can begin the intervention process. An intervention isn't the dramatic event you see on TV. It can be as simple as a few conversations or as formal as a calm, loving group meeting guided by a professional. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) suggests first asking your friend to talk with a medical healthcare provider.1 If your friend isn't willing to take this step, it may be time to call an addiction specialist and learn more about your next best approach for helping.
Most importantly, you can simply be present so your friend can talk about or even just have company through the roller coaster of emotions that accompanies this transitional period between alcoholism and recovery. You can help calm fears and anxieties so your friend can stay motivated and positive about this new and exciting step in life.
Don't just ignore your friend once he enters rehab. While recovery is ultimately something your friend has to do for himself, you absolutely can be involved in the process! If his treatment team thinks it's a good idea, you can go to friends and family events. You can even participate in a few family therapy sessions so you better understand what your friend is experiencing and how you can be the most helpful.
And don't wait for this group invitation to get involved in getting better — find some therapy for yourself! It's always a good idea to check in with a professional and get a little personal guidance. When a friend or family member struggles with alcoholism, it can be even more helpful. Addiction impacts everyone, not just the person who drinks. You may be surprised to learn just how much your friend's alcoholism has influenced your own thoughts, actions and mental health and happiness. Therapy will help you set boundaries, end any potentially enabling behaviors and better learn the right things to do and say to help your friend and yourself.
Life after rehab is going to take some readjustment. Don't expect things to be just like they were before rehab. Do takes steps to be supportive. Make sure your friend is staying connected to her recovery. Offer to drive her to therapy sessions, support group meetings and other aftercare resources and events. Be there for your friend during good and tough times. Invite her to do fun things, but also offer safe alternatives or be understanding if she doesn't want to participate.
But no matter how you phrase it, at every stage of recovery, maybe the best things to say are questions. Ask how you can help. Ask if what you're saying is okay. Be open and honest. Admit when you don't know what to do. And absolutely make sure you listen when your friend answers. You can be a good friend. You can be here for the person you love now, later and long into a future of shared happiness and healing.
1 "What to Do If Your Adult Friend or Loved One Has a Problem with Drugs." National Institute on Drug Abuse, January 2016.
2 Szalavitz, Maia. "Why We Should Say Someone Is a 'Person with an Addiction,' Not an Addict." NPR, June 11, 2017.


Yolo County Office of Emergency Services (OES) is a division of the Yolo County Communications Emergency Service Agency (YCCESA), a Joint Powers Agency created by the County of Yolo and the Cities of West Sacramento, Winters, and Woodland. The City of Davis later joined as a partial member. The major division of YCCESA is the Department of Communications (911 Dispatch).
In times of disaster or threatened disaster, OES opens the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) which serves to coordinate response activities county-wide. The EOC also collects information from the Cities and other local jurisdictions within the county for relay to the State. Similarly, the EOC forwards information from the State to the Cities and local jurisdictions.
Enter hightway to get road conditions.
When traveling in California and the Reno, Lake Tahoe area, you can use a free voice activated 800 service, 1-800-427-ROAD (7623).
You can select reports for various areas of California.
Real time traffic Incident reports for Sacramento area.


This show starts with the news that money troubles are affecting the BBC World TV, Wolf Harranth reports that James Blades who played the drums on the BBC's Victory V campaign passed away. And Bavaria's BR decides to upgrade its 49 metreband channel. (I guess it was one of the last European broadcasters to do so).


text:
TRANQUILITY: A collection of beautiful melodies and arias
Giulio CACCINI (1545 � 1618) � Ave Maria (arr. Nick Ingman)
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858 - 1924) � Donde lieta usci (Mimi�s Farewell) (La Boheme � 1895)
Anton�n DVOR�K (1841 � 1904) � Songs my Mother taught me from �Gipsy Melodies B104 Opus 55� - 1880
Albert Hay MALOTTE (1895 � 1964) � The Lord�s Prayer
Giuseppe VERDI (1813 � 1901) � La Vergina degli angeli (La Forza del Destino � 1862)
George Frideric HANDEL (1685 � 1759) - Ombra mai fù (Serse HWV40 - 1737)
Engelbert HUMPERDINCK (1854 � 1921) � Prayer (Hänsel und Gretel - 1893)
Heitor VILLA-LOBOS (1881 � 1959) � Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5: Aria (Cantilena)- 1938
Franz SCHUBERT (1797 � 1828) � Ave Maria (Ellen�s Gesang III), D839 (Op.52, No. 6 � 1825)
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858 - 1924) � Vissi D�Arte (Tosca - 1900)
Cesar FRANCK (1822 - 1890) � Panis Angelicus - 1872
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756 � 1791)� Vedrai Carino (Don Giovanni K527 � 1787))
Franz SCHUBERT (1797 � 1828)� Ständchen (Horch! Horch! die Lerch') D889
Gabriel FAURÉ (1845 � 1924)� Pie Jesu (Messe de Requiem Op. 48, 1886/7
Karl JENKINS (b.1944) � He Wishes for the cloths of heaven - 2001
Vincenzo BELLINI (1801 - 1835)� Casta Diva (Norma - 1831)
Lesley Garrett (Soprano)
Britten Sinfonia and Chorus
Ivor Bolton, conductor
The Anthony Pleeth Cello Ensemble
London Voices
Terry Edwards, Directory
BBC Concert Orchestra
Peter Robinson, conductor
BMG 74321 96300 2 [61.57]
This CD is a compilation of �the most beautiful arias� taken from Lesley Garrett�s previous albums for BMG from 1997, 1998 and 2000. Presumably the publishers are hoping to continue sell this new CDs on the basis of her popularity on TV and radio. But you have to question who the recording is aimed at. It is an admirable aim to try and encourage and educate people by getting them to buy CDs of things that they would not otherwise listen to. But this one seems to set out neither to communicate nor to educate, so I can�t see how it can encourage the newcomer. All the Italian items are sung in that language and the booklet prints no translations, not even a brief summary. There is similarly no background to any of the arias, just a bald list of titles along with the name of the composer and the opera (where relevant). The producers seem to be almost encouraging the listener not to think about the aria�s context, just to listen to the lovely sound of Lesley Garrett�s voice.
And she does have a lovely voice. Anyone who heard her as Dalinda in �Ariodante� at the Coliseum will know what she is capable of. But her last appearance there was a �Rosina� (�Barber of Seville�) and her stage repertoire consisted mainly of soubrette type roles such as Adele (�Die Fledermaus�), Musetta (�La Boheme�), Valencienne (�The Merry Widow�), Yum Yum (�Mikado�), and the title role in �The Cunning Little Vixen�. This is not a list that would lead you to expect to hear her singing �Casta Diva� from �Norma�, but that is what she ends her recital with. Which brings us back to the issue of who the recital is for. Would you buy this if you were not already an admirer of Lesley Garrett?
The first item, Caccini�s Ave Maria, sounds lovely. But sung in a stylistically inappropriate manner and with a refulgent accompaniment, it is best to forget about Caccini. A number of the items are similarly marred by inappropriate accompaniments. �Ombra mai fù� from Handel�s "Serse" has an awful leaden accompaniment from the BBC Concert Orchestra under Peter Robinson. And Schubert�s �Ave Maria� rather suffers from a kitsch orchestration, this time played by the Britten Sinfonia under Ivor Bolton. The song is sung in German but Miss Garrett makes little of the words and no sense of narrative is allowed to disturb the lovely vocal line. Schubert�s �Ständchen� (in German) comes off rather better, with more feeling for the words and a rather more discreet accompaniment. But why have an orchestral accompaniment at all, surely the Schubert songs would be far better recorded with the original piano accompaniments. The Aria from Villa-Lobos�s �Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, sounds lovely with an effective accompaniment by the Anthony Pleeth cello ensemble. But the piece does not feel very Latin American, and I certainly wanted a greater sense of darkness in the middle section.
As a lighter item for operatic voices, Franck�s �Panis Angelicus� has a respectable recorded history. After a long luxuriant opening cello solo, Miss Garrett sings the piece with the generalised operatic style used for most of the pieces on the recording. But this piece is a religious hymn and surely demands to be sung in a more suitable manner. I felt a similar sort of problem with the Pie Jesu from Fauré�s �Requiem�, but for me female soprano and full orchestra not ideal for this item. Though she reins her voice in, Miss Garrett still sounds a little too sexily refulgent for my tastes, lovely though the sound is.
�Donde lieta usci� from "La Boheme" is unexpectedly good and whilst you would probably not expect to hear her singing Leonore ("La Forza del Destino") on the operatic stage, �La Vergine degli angeli� does seem to work rather well. The Prayer (sung in English) from Humperdinck�s "Hansel and Gretel" is charming and, though the notes do not say, I presume Miss Garrett is duetting with herself. This is exactly the sort of item which suits her voice. �Vissi D�Arte� from "Tosca" is a venture into heavier territory. Though sounding somewhat light voiced, her version of the aria really suffers from a lack of characterisation. You get only generalised feelings rather than the telling details which stage experience in the role can bring. With Zerlina�s �Vedrai Carino� from "Don Giovanni" we are back onto territory that Miss Garrett has traversed on the stage. The aria has more feeling for the drama, but oh the accompaniment does feel rather slow and heavy.
Dvoř�k�s �Songs my mother taught me� is sung in English but with rather stilted diction. This is followed by a version of the Lord�s Prayer by Malotte which we sang at school. It suffers from the stilted English as the Dvoř�k. The order of the items is bewildering. In most collections like this, the lighter, non-operatic items come at the end. But here they are cheek by jowl, so that the �Lord�s Prayer� is followed by �La Vergine degli angeli� from "La Forza del Destino."
The closing item on the disk is �Casta Diva� from Bellini�s "Norma". Miss Garrett has a far lighter voice than any Norma that I have heard, but the aria is beautifully shaped though her fioriture are rather smudged. But this track really made me question the production values of all the items on the recording. I found all the items seemed to have a similar quality and style and that Miss Garrett�s voice seemed a little over spot-lit. Repeated hearings made this unnatural aural environment a little wearing. This tinkering was particularly noticeable in this last aria, where Miss Garrett�s Norma seems to soar effortlessly over the recessed chorus in a way that bears little resemblance to a natural balance.
On a general note, I found that there was not enough spacing between the tracks. Given the varied nature of the items on the disk, a good pause between them would be welcome.
I did enjoy this disk rather more than I expected. In all the items Lesley Garrett never sounds less than lovely, so to seems rather churlish to complain. But too many items have a generalised pleasantness of performance which relegates them to enjoyable background music, rather than the dramatic detail that really draws you in. I think that lack of stage experience tells against Miss Garrett in some of the arias. If you are an admirer of hers, then you don�t need me to advise you whether or not to buy the disk. But if you are not an admirer, then I would advise you to try and listen to the disk before buying. For those seeking to explore an unfamiliar repertoire then I cannot do better than recommend Yvonne Kenny's recital for Chandos. It is sung in English, with excellent notes and libretto and with a similar mixture of familiar arias and songs, would encourage anyone to explore further. Something that �Tranquillity� entirely fails to do.


The BBC is also looking for an empty building that could be used for filming for a few months. The building needs to look like an old village shop. Anybody who knows of such a property is encouraged to make contact.


text:
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Vancouver Recital Society
Early Music Vancouver
Past Previews / 'Best Of'
Vancouver Classical Music
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE CONDUCTING: AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN
Christopher Seaman's recent book Inside Conducting has proved to be a particularly insightful treatment of the art and means of conducting, relying on a wealth of experience dating as far back as Seaman's days as principal timpanist for the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the 1960's. He first served as Assistant Conductor with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1968 to 1970, becoming the orchestra's principal conductor from 1971 to 1977. Seaman has also had the strongest affiliations with the Guildhall School of Music and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. His most significant tenure in the U.S. was as Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, continuing for thirteen years through 2011. He now holds a lifetime appointment as the orchestra's Conductor Laureate. Seaman continues to conduct internationally and has recorded for IMP, Carlton and Harmonia Mundi.
This interview starts with a discussion of the origins of his new book, and his more recent experiences in Rochester. For me, the rarer insights come from his many stories about famed conductors that he played under in his early London days. Seaman is now part of the British 'old guard', so his memories link to the past in a way that is slowly disappearing. He also contributes insights on how classical music has evolved into a somewhat different social culture over the last half-century. The interview took place in conjunction with his performances of Beethoven and Walton with the Vancouver Symphony and pianist Alexander Melnikov in March 2016.
ON 'INSIDE CONDUCTING'
1. YOUR BOOK HAS TURNED OUT TO BE A TERRIFIC SUCCESS. HAD YOU ALWAYS PLANNED TO PUT DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS ON CONDUCTING?
Interestingly enough, I long avoided teaching conducting because I thought it was unteachable. I had helped out over the years at Guildhall but the turning point was one of my Australian visits about 10 years ago. It was two weeks with the Melbourne Symphony, and I asked my agent, "Find out if there's anything I could do for young Australian conductors. I don't care where, or for how little. Just put me in a hotel and give me some young conductors." In fact, they had a whole young conductor's development program that Jorma Panula directed. I did the couple weeks, and they seemed to like it. Maestro Panula then decided he didn't want to travel that far, so I took over the program.
I guess my teaching philosophy was pretty simple: I aimed to put only a few basic principles of conducting in place, with the idea that you might dispense with these eventually. I used to say to the students, "Look, I can't give you talent, but I can make sure orchestras don't have such a miserable time playing for you, and I can make sure that you can make the absolute best of what you've been given." I was also unorthodox, since I did not try to get them to conduct the way I do. The moment you say there is only one way to conduct, you're wrong, because all you have to do is look at a number of conductors, and they're all completely different. But somehow I produced a number of promising conductors out of this: one who is now the assistant in Colorado Symphony, another in Jacksonville; in Australia, assistants in Queensland, Brisbane, Sydney and Perth. They're all my students, and I love it!
2. SO HOW DID THIS LEAD TO ACTUALLY WRITING THINGS DOWN?
Many of the students simply said, "You've got to write this down. There are lots of books on conducting but it's different, the way you say it." So I started writing a few little articles on topics like establishing beat, accompanying concertos, learning scores, and so on. Then, I sort of lost interest for a while. One year, I was in Aspen when David Zinman was the music director, and I showed him a couple of these articles, and he also said, "You've got to do this. My students need this." So that gave me courage, and I carried on. I ended up with about 50 or so little pieces, not really a textbook, though there were musical examples that one could skip.
In any event, I contacted the head of musicology at the Eastman School saying: "So I've written something down, and I'd like to know if I should just photocopy it for students or if I should pursue it." He suggested we meet the editorial director of University of Rochester Press. I gave her the text and I thought that was probably the end of the story. But, surprisingly, an email came back saying that they wanted to publish it. They are a part of Boydell Press, a big English publisher, so it all worked out that way.
3. PRESUMABLY YOU HAD TO DO CONSIDERABLE REVISION TO GET THE FINAL TEXT READY?
I sent some of the pieces to an Australian friend who used to edit monthly magazines and she said, "This is very, very good. There's something that could make it even better. It's a journalistic trick and you won't find it in academic books: Front load every sentence". Instead of saying, 'When you're rehearsing, it's important to save time,' you say, 'Saving time is important in rehearsals.' So you begin the sentence by going for the jugular - they key word, the key thought. I did that with one article and sent it to the University of Rochester Press, saying, "Look, I've slightly changed the style." And they said, "This is it, you've got it!"
4. SO YOU ARE NOW A FULL-FLEDGED AUTHOR?
Well, everyone seemed to love it and, apparently it turned out as their best-selling Kindle book. BBC music reviews loved it and the Wall Street Journal loved it. I don't really think of myself as an author yet. Sometimes I pick up the book disinterestedly, start reading, and think to myself, "I agree with this, that too, and there's an interesting point." Sort of a funny feeling! The publisher has now suggested an autobiography.
ON LIFE AFTER THE ROCHESTER PHILHARMONIC
5. HOW ARE YOU ENJOYING YOUR LAUREATE FOR LIFE POSITION WITH THE ROCHESTER PHILHARMONIC?
Oh, I love it! I go there once or twice a year to do concerts, but they make the most monumental fuss over me. Hundreds of people have attended the receptions after these concerts, and people who I hadn't even met before get up and made the most glowing speeches. At the end, I got up and said, "Normally, to hear these things said about yourself, you need to be in a coffin. And I'm not. I hear it, and I love it, and I will feed off it." I realized that a lot of things that we like about other people, we never tell them. And I resolved to do my best: if I liked something that somebody did, I would tell them. We could all be dead next week, and they would never have heard it.
6. ARE YOU CONDUCTING BROADLY?
This season, I did Brazil, as well as concerts in Cincinnati, Milwaukie and Rochester. I've been in New Zealand, and I've also got plans with the Scottish National. So I could be anywhere, and you can't control it. You can't control who it is, when it is, and you can't even control 'if' it is. I loved being the musical leader of the organization, and when you are a guest conductor, you don't have quite the same symbiotic relationship with the orchestra. But it's like being a grandparent: you have the pleasure without the diapers.
7. THIRTEEN YEARS AT THE HELM OF A SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IS A LONG TENURE. I HAPPENED TO SEE YOU IN ACTION WITH THE ROCHESTER PHILHARMONIC IN EASTMAN HALL IN THE LATE 1990S, AND WAS IMMEDIATELY IMPRESSED WITH RAPPORT YOU HAD WITH YOUR AUDIENCE, NOT LEAST IN YOUR PRE-CONCERT TALKS.
Yes, we often had 1000 people at the pre-concert talks. It's so important that the audience knows what they're going to get: "What am I supposed to be listening for? What should I notice? What emotions am I supposed to be picking up?" Describing musical emotion is difficult, but you can still go a little way in that direction. It seemed to me to be very important that when the concert came, everyone was ready to enjoy it. We also had a series called Symphony 101, where I talked and conducted parts of the piece. Then the orchestra would leave after about an hour, the last 20 minutes being reserved for questions from the house. You received some fascinating questions that you would never think of as a musician.
8. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY WERE SOME OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS BESIDES AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT?
This was a harmonious 13 years, so there were many cherishable moments. I was impressed with how generous people were in allowing the symphony to prosper. In fact, after 9/11, New York State cut our budget in half, so we really had to get out there and find funding for a while. We also managed to upgrade our concert hall. In many ways, we were very fortunate that the University of Rochester controlled the Eastman School of Music, and owned Eastman Theatre. Joel Seligman became the new President of the university in 2004, and he was one of those people who seemingly wants everything 'yesterday'. That suited me very nicely indeed, and he realized (or at least I managed to persuade him) that we've got to renovate and upgrade Eastman Theatre. He and I befriended the president of Kodak, who ended up giving us $10 million towards it -- at a time when Kodak was laying people off. That caused a bit of social stir, but Seligman was fantastic and made it all happen. The Rochester Philharmonic Board got behind it. . I am very proud that this took place under my tenure.
ON CONDUCTING YOUTH ORCHESTRAS
9. I ALSO HAPPENED TO SEE YOU CONDUCT ELGAR WITH THE NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN AROUND TWENTY YEARS AGO AND I WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE SHEER LIFE AND ENTHUSIASM YOU BROUGHT OUT OF THE ENSEMBLE. DO YOU THINK THERE ANY PARTICULAR SECRETS IN CONDUCTING YOUTH ORCHESTRAS?
The NYOGB was my original home. I played timpani in the orchestra from age 13-19, starting in 1955. But I have conducted it many times since. You just have to get into a young person's shoes and try to feel what a teenager would feel when faced with that line of music. You must know how to say things in a way that is very 'here and now', and that a 16-year-old will actually listen to. They won't be turned on by saying, "We need to do that piano because that's what's printed." You have to give them a reason they understand. You also have to be all heart, and when you want things right, but it's beyond their capacity, there's a certain point where you say, "Hey, let's get a life and not worry too much about it." They really want to see that you love the piece, that you love getting it right, and when they get it right, it makes your day.
10. I SUPPOSE THAT THE REVERED 'OLD SCHOOL' CONDUCTORS, LIKE TOSCANINI, MIGHT NOT HAVE FARED WELL WITH THE YOUNG MUSICIANS?
It's an interesting you say that! I think that a lot of these classic conductors might have displayed a different side of their personality with young people in front of them. We always think of Toscanini with enormous personal walls, but there's an interview on YouTube with Licia Albanese that gives quite a different picture. She depicts the maestro as very warm, all-heart, with a very strong paternal side. Perhaps once he saw his great grandchildren holding an instrument, a whole different part of him would have come out. It's certainly possible.
ON HISTORICAL CONDUCTORS
11. IN YOUR YOUNGER DAYS, YOU WERE ABLE TO COME IN CONTACT WITH SO MANY LEGENDARY CONDUCTORS WHO VISITED LONDON, NOT LEAST FROM YOUR FIRST APPOINTMENT AS TIMPANIST OF THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA IN THE EARLY 1960S. I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE MANY MEMORIES OF SIR ADRIAN BOULT, SIR JOHN PRITCHARD AND OTHERS?
I certainly knew Pritchard very well! He was my boss in London and he gave me my first job. Also being the director at Glyndebourne, he was able to secure the London Philharmonic's status as resident orchestra for the summer festival, starting in 1964. John was an exceedingly talented fellow, but in my opinion he was at his absolute tops in the opera pit. We met many great conductors at Glyndebourne. My favorite was Vittorio Gui, and we played all the great Mozart operas with him. I adored that guy, and I used to sit there watching him intensely, hoping that something about conducting would rub off. He actually complained to the management that I was staring at him. Then they explained the situation, and the next time he came in, he said, "Don't do it, my boy. It's a terrible job." He did a lot of Italian stuff, but he also did Pelleas then, which was a little unusual.
12. WHAT ABOUT SIR ADRIAN?
When I knew him, he was a raging inferno squashed -- and had the most frightful temper. In some ways, he was a profoundly bad sport. I recall going on a 2-day conducting seminar with a bunch of young conductors while I was still at Cambridge; they had this small amateur/semi-professional orchestra for us to conduct. And the opening of Beethoven 5th came up. Sir Adrian asked one person to do it, then another (he didn't ask me thankfully). After 4 or 5 were not quite getting it right, he said, "Come along!" He grabbed his 10-foot long baton, and went 'flop', and the orchestra played even worse than under the students. He turned on the orchestra and said, "What's the matter? Don't you know this piece?" I thought, "Bad sport." And I never forgot that. But he was actually very kind to me personally when I became a conductor. I have about 12 letters from him at home -- including one giving a description of Nikisch's interpretation of Tchaikovsky 5th. I also did a Vaughan Williams in London, and he said he loved it.
One thing you had to understand about Boult is that he focused on the big picture, and did not care about nit-picking details. He didn't like being asked questions at rehearsals either -- he really did not like that! I remember doing Brahms 3 with the LPO, and I was playing those last 3 chords on the timpani. It was so terribly not together. So I said, "Sir Adrian, I'm finding it very difficult to put my semiquavers together with everybody else..." and he was like, "What!" He hated being asked a question. Then he said, "Well...oh, let's try it again." And so we tried it again, and it was semi-together. He concluded, "That's as near as we can get it. We don't want any of it this French precision around here, do we?" Those were his actual words in Festival Hall.
Nonetheless, Boult did a better Brahms 3 than virtually anybody. He knew what really mattered, and even though it felt a little messy within the orchestra, he knew exactly how much mess to tolerate. The same goes for his Schubert 9. He just let the music get along, and didn't put himself in the way. I remember Marie Wilson, the fiddle player, saying to me, "Schubert needs to sound as easy as falling off a log." A marvelous way to put it, because despite all the emotion and drama in Schubert, there's always a natural ease in his music -- and Boult found it.
Sir Adrian's conducting could be quite variable: he could be really 'on' some days, but he could be really switched off on others. He was obviously bitter; he felt that he should have had more success than he had – but, goodness knows, he was in the best work all his life. That apparently wasn't good enough for him: the BBC made him retire, and he never forgave them for that. Any reference to that organization would get him to mutter 'typical BBC': it was one of his most familiar comments. Undoubtedly, I knew Sir Adrian in his fallow days. After I left the orchestra, he suddenly had this Indian summer as a celebrity, which did him the world of good, and all the negativity seemed to disappear.
13. HOW WOULD YOU EXPLAIN BOULT'S LACK OF CONCERN FOR PRECISION: THE INFLUENCE OF HIS TEACHER, ARTUR NIKISCH?
I don't think it was an English thing. One of Boult's big influences was Fritz Steinbach, who was Brahms's favorite conductor. So Steinbach did Brahms the way Brahms liked it, and Boult did Brahms the way Fritz Steinbach liked it. Of course, Boult had a strong link to Nikisch. He told me that Nikisch was only a great interpreter of a tiny handful of pieces but, as someone who can get an orchestra playing, get results and glorious sounds, and knew what do physically, there was no one to touch him. But he did not nit-pick; neither did Furtwangler later. Mahler was the opposite, very awkward physically, all fists and elbows, and he would nit-pick all the time. When Nikisch came to America, it didn't work because he wasn't fussy and insistent enough. He didn't spell out things to the players in sufficient Germanic detail; he gave orchestras a lot of wiggle-room.
15. DID YOU EVER HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO MEET SIR THOMAS BEECHAM?
No, I missed him unfortunately, but I knew hundreds of people who played for him. My colleague, Lewis Pocock, who was his timpanist in the Royal Philharmonic for many years, would occasionally come over and play 2nd timpani for us. We called him 'Titch' Pocock -- a tiny little man and a beautiful timpanist. He said, "Tommy never gives you a beat, you just know when to play." Beecham had such an unbelievable natural talent: he could never have taught conducting, yet just watching him, players knew what to do. String players said something similar: "He just got the best people, and let us play well." But Beecham's art was letting you think you were doing it your way when you were really doing it his way. In my book, I quote Nikish's comment to the same effect. It's that power to convince, and it's a gift that all great conductors have in differing degrees.
16. WHAT ABOUT THE GALLIC CONDUCTORS?
I played under both Charles Munch and Jean Martinon. With Munch, you never knew what he was going to do. That was his natural personality as an improvising sort of chap: he was not merely trying to keep us awake! For example, he didn't think there was a natural interpretation built into a Brahms Symphony. Boult certainly would have certainly said that there was. And Hans Richter too, though Nikisch would have likely dissented, being more of a gypsy, temperamentally-speaking. Yet Munch's conducting was still clear – in fact, crystal clear -- in his own unmistakably spontaneous way.
I first played for Jean Martinon in the National Youth Orchestra and I could not do one thing right for that man. As timpanist, he gave me the most miserable 10 days of my life. Then, a decade later, I played for him again when he guest conducted the London Philharmonic. I thought, "What on earth am I going to get from him this time." We played through Roussel, Debussy – all his usual repertoire – and he did not say a thing to me all week. However, at one of the final dress rehearsals, I happened to glance his way. He gave me an enormous wink, and that was that. Either he'd given up on me, or I was finally getting it right now! But I will always remember that enormous wink! I thought he was a very fine conductor.
17. DID YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO KNOW RAFAEL KUBELIK?
Kubelik was around in London early on, but I really adored him much later when I saw him conduct the complete Ma Vlast on television in his last days. In the 1990's, I would sometimes go to Prague to guest conduct the Czech Philharmonic. During one free morning after a concert, I couldn't resist saying to the manager, "Is Mr. Kubelik in town? I would just love to meet him, but I don't want to be a nuisance." And he said, "Well, he's coming to a meeting at 11 o'clock. If you sit in the lobby, he'll show up!" So here I am sitting in the lobby, and a taxi drives up, and a very elderly man gets out with great difficulty. He walks in and the manager brings him over and said, "This is Christopher Seaman, an English conductor. We're still in the middle of rehearsing, and he's the guest conductor of our orchestra this week." He shook my hand very abruptly and walked off. Then, he stood in a corner with the manager and talked. He promptly came back, and said, "Look, it's wonderful to have you here. You look after yourself, you're a young man, make sure you get enough to eat -- and look after the orchestra." And I said to the manager, "What were you talking about?" And he said, "He was asking if you were any good." But I found him totally adorable.
ON THE MORE RECENT EVOLUTION OF CONDUCTING AND THE STATE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC
18. SO HOW DO YOU THINK THE 'ART' OF CONDUCTING HAS CHANGED IN RECENT TIMES, IF AT ALL?
It's undoubtedly more egalitarian. There are many more female conductors – and very good ones too. But there's something fundamental that has changed too, and that affects conductors, solo performers, and everybody else. We are more and more leading people to listen with their eyes, and not their ears. If I had things my way, there'd be a screen behind the conductor, so the orchestra could see them, but the audience couldn't. Audiences often think that a conductor who can get a fortissimo without slipping three discs and jumping around is not doing anything. And it's not just conductors, but the soloists too. Of course, there have always been showy performers (recall Leonard Bernstein in the early days); the difference now is that this sort of display has become a model that young artists increasingly seek to emulate. The greatest pianists I've worked with -- Arrau, Rubinstein, Curzon, and many others -- just sat there and played. And now, people will see that style and think that they're not doing anything. If you look at the old orchestras and the greatest performers, nobody swayed around, smiled, or made physical gestures – but they sure knew how to play.
All the audio-visual advances make this trend worse. I knew one conductor (whose name I won't reveal) that asked managementto have a camera in front of him at every concert, and a large screen above the orchestra so the audience could watch what he is doing. That is just so anti-music, and so narcissistic. A healthy ego has a certain balance to it, and knows to put the music first. We want the eyes of the orchestra and ears of the audience. That is the fundamental morality of a conductor.
19. BUT DON'T YOU THINK THE BEST YOUNG ARTISTS TODAY HAVE THE ABILITY TO SHUN GLAMOUR AND DISPLAY WHEN THEY NEED TO, OR POSSIBLY JUST TIRE OF IT EVENTUALLY?
It is my greatest hope that that is the case. I saw Gustavo Dudamel a couple of weeks ago in a tricky American program, including a Ginastera piano concerto. He walked on very simply without any flash, and it sounded very good indeed. I was impressed: he often stood very still and did nothing for show. I played with Lang Lang at the beginning of the season in Baltimore and, again, I also thought there was less show than there had been. Maybe someone had a little word with him, but I do like him.
One conductor who is frequently in the public eye (for many reasons) is Gergiev. He is unusual and unorthodox, but I think he has really got something. He can also remove his usual mystique and go back to basics when he has to. A friend of mine was in Israel when he conducted Strauss' Don Juan with the Israel Philharmonic. They had never played the work before, because Strauss was suspected of Nazi leanings. Gergiev started to rehearse with an absolutely crystal-clear beat, something he would have gotten from Ilya Musin, his old teacher. Musin's conducting's was so clear, beautifully-shaped, with wonderfully-coordinated used of the hands. Gergiev conducted like that for a time, and it was only when the orchestra got used to the piece, that he went back to his more characteristic smoke-and-mirrors. I think that is quite legitimate.
20. DO YOU THINK THAT ORCHESTRAS ARE OVERLY-CONCERNED WITH PRECISION THESE DAYS?
Well, they certainly have a greater precision from an objective standpoint. Take the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, say, in the time when Charles Munch was still concertmaster. They had some very, very good players. Even though not all orchestral members might have passed an audition nowadays, they had a certain 'nous', whereby some of them were unbelievably brilliant, and the others knew how to keep out of trouble. So I think the orchestra actually sounded quite precise, but for those rather unusual reasons. Now, the concern is that everyone plays all the notes – and very accurately.
Self-conscious precision by the orchestra or from the conductor still doesn't guarantee an inspired performance. Orchestral players must learn how to read a conductor in a deeper way. For example, people couldn't understand how Nikisch got the most gorgeous sound from the orchestra. Commentators finally concluded that "Nikisch beat into the sound. He squeezed into the sound, rather than dictate where it should come from." Furtwangler couldn't do that, so what he did instead was a wobbly repetition of the beat. Eventually, when you couldn't stand it any longer, you played. I think if you had a certain musical instinct and some experience, you knew what to do. So precision as such has little to do with this 'art'. A good orchestral player should be able to smell what you want. That's it really. Orchestral playing is a job that requires incredible skill -- a lot of people don't realize that. A sensitive musician will know exactly what you mean when you make a small movement with your hand, and it can mean something quite different with other conductors.
21. BUT DO CONDUCTORS FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE CREATING IN PERFORMANCE?
It was Carlo Maria Giulini who said, "Conducting is a very mysterious art. I have no idea what I do out there." Bernard Haitink indicated the same. I went to some of Haitink's rehearsals in Amsterdam, and he did one thing so wonderfully well that I had to bring it to his attention. And he said, "Oh, I did that? Did you think it's not good?" He had absolutely no idea! Boult also had no idea what he did, though he taught it as if he did. I personally think I know some of what I do, but I don't know all of it. And, in many respects, I'm really glad I don't. I think the greatest conductors that I've experienced -- as a listener, in the audience, or playing -- all gave me the feeling that they were in the presence of something far greater than themselves.
22. WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ON THE 'AUTHENTIC' MOVEMENT?
The idea of recreating the sound that the composer heard is not really very current. Mendelssohn revived the Saint Matthew's Passion and salvaged orchestral works like Schubert 9. Saint-Seans did a lot of research on old music (Rameau) and he brought out Baroque editions. He edited them and wanted this music played. Many other composers would do editions of Gluck and music from that and Baroque periods. But it never occurred to these people that we should try and imitate the old instruments. And, for all authenticity is very much accepted these days, I regard it still as very much a can of worms.
23. MOVING TO VERY MODERN MUSIC, ONE THING THAT INTRIGUES ME IS ALL THE PROGRAMMATIC NARRATIVE THAT GOES WITH THESE NEW COMPOSITIONS, FROM THEIR TITLES TO THEIR INTRICATE DESCRIPTIONS OF THEIR MOTIVATIONS. COMPOSERS ARE NO LONGER WILLING TO WRITE COMPOSITION XII AND LEAVE IT AT THAT. WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS?
Is it meant to make us hear the work differently? I was about to see a contemporary ensemble in London, a very good one, and I read the programme notes in advance to better bone up. I read about the first piece, and I thought, "I think I've got that." Then, when I heard the work, my immediate response was that I didn't like it. I thought, "I must be stupid! I read the programme notes; they tell me I should be liking it." I think all this description is about intellectual snobbery. It preys on one's fear of being stupid, and I think that is a very, very bad thing to manipulate the audience with.
24. WHAT'S YOUR PERCEPTION ON HOW THE WORKING CONDITIONS FOR ORCHESTRAL PLAYERS HAS CHANGED OVER THE DECADES?
A: Well, they're still not good enough. It's a real challenge for an orchestra to have enough skill in fundraising to give the musicians what they deserve. I used to tell to people in Rochester, "Our orchestra plays twice as well as orchestras that earn twice as much." There would be applause. I said, "You think that's good?" Even though orchestra unions have been established for a long time now, most musicians in all but a few major orchestras are underpaid, and orchestra cultures really depend on the dedication and sacrifice of their members. The issue's been there certainly since the 1950s, and likely long before that. The one guy that was known to have the money on his chair was Handel. If you did a gig for Handel, you got the money. He had a very good reputation.
25. AFTER ALL THE PROBLEMS THAT AMERICAN ORCHESTRA'S FACED A DECADE AGO, WHAT FINAL INSIGHTS DO YOU HAVE ABOUT KEEPING ORCHESTRAS AFLOAT IN MEDIUM-SIZED CITIES, IN ADDITION TO THE CRITICAL ISSUE OF FUNDRAISING?
I think the biggest thing is that communities have to develop a civic pride in their orchestra. For all the competing distractions that have evolved over the years, it's still up to the media to keep the orchestra in the face of the public the whole time. When I started in Rochester, the Democrat Chronicle, the local paper, asked me to meet the editorial board, which I thought was quite surprising. The music critic was there, along with all the editors. They said, "What would you like us to do?" And I thought, 'Wow, here is the chance.' So I said, "Well, you don't have to agree with everything we do. We'd like it if you did, but I hope you see it as your civic duty to keep this orchestra right in the face of the public all the time." And, more or less, that's what they did. I think that's really, really important. I've been to places where you're lucky to get a tiny concert review in the paper, and no previews or interviews with soloists either. Unfortunately, a more recent question is 'how we keep newspapers, and especially their Arts sections, afloat', so it is critical that new and different online sources increasingly come into play.
© Geoffrey Newman 2016
Photo Credits: Walter Colley, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle
CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN REHEARSING WITH A YOUNG BAND


text:
Q: How do i prove this? (I'm not sure what exactly the title should ne) Let $R=\prod_{i=1}^n [0,a_i]$ and $Q=\prod_{i=1}^n [c_i,d_i]$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$
Let $T:\mathbb{R}^n \rightarrow \mathbb{R}^n$ be an orthogonal operator and $x=(c_1,...,c_n)$
Say, $Q\subset T(R)$.
How do i prove that $x+ T(-x+Q)\subset T(R)$?
And what is the subject studying questions like this precisely? (That is, geometry is not precise literally in modern mathematics framework)

A: Try this case: $n=1$, $R = [0,1]$, $Q=[-1,0]$, $x=-1$, and orthogonal operator is $T(u)=-u$ for all $u$.


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text:
Islam's Future: The Importance of Social Sciences
Muqtedar Khan, University of Delaware
One of Islam's most important objectives is to enable its followers to live an enlightened life. The Quran does not hide its preference for those who possess knowledge and those whose faith is tempered by reason. With that in mind, one leading Muslim scholar explores how some Muslims have failed to cultivate a broad approach to learning — and the consequences this failure has had.
Muslims correctly value those who have knowledge with good reason. They are led by the Ulema — Muslims scholars trained in Islamic law — who have determined how Muslims understand Islam and the world for centuries.
Dangerous ignorance
But over time, Muslims mistakenly began equating knowledge with a narrowly defined conception of religious knowledge — and scholars with narrowly defined conception of scholarship.
Thus, as the frontiers of knowledge, human understanding and the scope of sciences expanded — sometimes astronomically — ironically, the Muslim vision of what is knowledge and who is knowledgeable has actually shrunk.
There is no doubt in my mind that the diminishing Muslim vision of knowledge is singularly responsible for the decline of creativity, dynamism, vitality and power of the Islamic civilization.
Without a doubt, the Muslim world today lags behind all other civilizations in its production and consumption of knowledge. Today, most Muslims think of knowledge as that limited to familiarity — with an essentially medieval Muslim understanding of law and jurisprudence.
Neglect of social sciences
Scholars are those who only "memorize" Quran and the related traditions — and are familiar with pedagogical and epistemological tools developed a thousand years ago.
It is therefore not surprising that, under the intellectual leadership of this class of scholars, the Ummah — the Muslim community — has gone from one low to another lower low.
The world according to Islamic sciences
One area of knowledge that has been deeply neglected by Muslims is the area of social sciences. Except for a few initiatives launched by American Muslims in the early 1980s, there has been very little attempt by Muslims to engage in its field of study.
Social sciences — unlike Islamic sciences, which are essentially normative paradigms — have an empirical focus. Social sciences are more interested in understanding and describing the world as it is — rather than on postulating on how it ought to be.
While medieval Islamic sciences do provide a view of how the world should have been a thousand years ago, they do not equip scholars with the training and tools necessary to understand the world as it is.
A need to understand our existence
Ulema's discourses on how the world ought to be become meaningless — and therefore ineffective — because they are not grounded in contemporary realities. Very simply, if you do not understand where you are — even if you know where you have to go — you will go nowhere.
Hence, you need social sciences to understand where you are — and, on that basis, put religious knowledge of where to go to effective use. To put it bluntly, without social sciences, traditional Islamic sciences are useless.
The success of other nations
In this context, it is interesting to note that the Quran exhorts Muslims to undertake empirical study in Surah Al Ankabut. Say: Travel through the earth and see how Allah originated creation [Quran 29:20].
Some countries — such as Japan, India and China — have trained social scientists to use advanced analytical and research skills in the interest of their nations — and provide the necessary information to make effective policy.
The progress, growth and development of these nations is indicative of the success of their social scientists.
Shortcomings of the Ulema
In contrast, the Muslim world often looks to "the Ulema" to ask whether it is halal (religiously permissible) to eat gummy bears — or if one can marry two sisters simultaneously.
Questions even extend to asking if it is okay to join the WTO and whether democracy is a good idea. While the Ulema are "trained" to answer the first two questions, contemporary reality is outside their domain.
No wonder the Muslim world remains strikingly underdeveloped. The success of non-Muslims — and the failure of Muslims in worldly matters — can be explained only through the knowledge deficit that plagues the Muslim community.
Freedom of thought and knowledge
The Quran once again is so clear on this issue: Allah will raise up to (suitable) ranks (and degrees) those of you who believe and who have been granted knowledge. [Quran 58:11]
While I cannot comment on the faith of anyone, I can understand that Allah has raised the West and the Far East to great heights. In large part this is purely because of their commitment to freedom of thought and knowledge.
The best universities and the most productive work in knowledge accumulation is taking place in the West and the Far East. Actually everywhere except in the Muslim world.
Upcoming issues
Bringing about the required changes won't be easy. Why? Social scientists must not only be consulted — but also encouraged to research, speak and write freely on the most important and pressing issues of their time.
The issues include matters of external and internal security, geopolitics, globalization, interfaith politics, economics, social and public policy — and short- and long-term planning.
Other issues that they can enrich are normative discussions based on empirical experience of institutions and policies that are best suited for our times.
A need to modernize
Social sciences are now very diverse, very complex and very advanced. They deal with issues all across the board and their findings impact policy at all levels.
The Ummah today does not need Ulema who are incapable of knowing the world we live in. Rather, what is needed are Muslim social scientists who are also familiar with the maqasid al Shariah — the divine way — to help develop and govern their societies efficiently and effectively.
These are painful insights for Muslims. After all, Islamic sciences — developed by human beings, not revealed by God — were quite advanced for their time and helped vitalize the Islamic world and make it a dominant and thriving civilization. However, they have enjoyed little development in over a thousand years.
Revising the Islamic curriculum
While Islamic sciences remain a dead tradition, social sciences are alive and growing.
Social sciences have also added Islamic studies to their realm and have developed a more nuanced, more sophisticated — and even empowering — vision of Islam by critiquing and building upon traditional Islamic sciences.
Today's Muslim scholars
Today it is easy to find Muslim social and humanities scholars who are also trained in traditional methods. Empowered by new learning theories, they are doing wonderful research. If the Ummah were to embrace their word, it would resuscitate the entire Muslim community around the world. It is time for us Muslims to recognize that we have failed now for centuries to become leaders of humanity. We cannot fulfill our mandate as Allah's vice regents on earth [Quran 2:30] because we have surrendered our vision, our faith and our reason to deadwood.
Power, it turns out, is a function of knowledge. Again the Quran says: Are those equal, those who know — and those who do not know? [Quran 39:9]
The role of American Muslims
All of that is especially excruciating for American Muslims. We live in times when the basic objectives and even values of our community are questioned. It is time American Muslim social scientists stepped up to the plate and addressed some of these issues.
That will not be easy. Scholars by nature are isolationists. They need seclusion to think, research and write. It is not fair to expect them to come forward, but the community must also seek them and seek their guidance.
The future belongs to those who have thought the deepest about it.
http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3255
Labels: islam, social sciences
While I mostly agree with the author on the importance of social sciences, I find him too pessimistic about Muslims' relationship with them. I myself am a Muslim social scientist, and know hundreds of others in my country (Turkey) who try to 'synthesize' and/or create a dialogue between social and Islamic sciences. It's true that there are some traditional ulema who are disconnected from reality, but it's also equally true that there are many others who are not. What's needed is not to dismiss the ulema and Islamic sciences but to try to master both social and Islamic sciences and then produce frameworks of explanation of contemporary social phenomena and find solutions to the problems faced not just by the umma but also the humanity in general. There's a new generation of Muslim social scientists that has the capacity to do that for the last two decades. (So, it's not just "a few initiatives launched by American Muslims in the early 1980s" as the author claims.) In fact, as someone living in the US for the last 7 years, it's my observation that most American muslims are interested in engineering and other natural sciences. The real potential for generations of Muslim social scientists lies outside the US right now -I hope American Muslims will catch up some day.


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The immigration landscape of North America is constantly changing. Canada and the United States, to a large extent, followed parallel trajectories in the earlier parts of their immigration histories. Both countries initially drew principally on migrants from the British Isles and Europe, before expanding their catchment area to other regions of the world. Over time, however, Canadian and U.S. immigration policies have diverged in significant ways. Immigration issues are in the news in both countries these days, perhaps more so than usual. Canada is in election mode, with many new Canadians expected to vote for the first time. Meanwhile in the United States, a combative Republican Presidential nominee contest, led by the enigmatic Donald Trump, has placed immigration policy to the fore. But what are we really talking about when we talk about immigration? How does Canada differ from the U.S.? This article will present five fundamental ways in which Canadian immigration policy is different from that of the U.S.
1. Canada favour's economic immigration.
Around two thirds of new Canadian permanent residents arrive through economic immigration programs. In contrast, only 16 percent of new Green Card holders (lawful permanent residents, or LPRs) in the U.S. arrive through economic immigration categories. Politicians and commentators in other countries continually point to Canada's points based economic immigration as a shining example of a positive, open immigration strategy that creates opportunities for newcomers and Canadians alike.
Sources: Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Canada. U.S. figures are for 2013. Canadian figures are projected for 2015.
The Diversity Immigrant Visa program, also known as the Green Card lottery, is a lottery program for receiving a U.S. Permanent Resident Card. Canada has no such program. In 2014, the Green Card lottery attracted more than 11 million applicants. From this pool of applicants less than 0.5 percent were to receive visas, which are allocated at random in a single annual draw. With odds of less than one in two hundred, applicants generally enter the pool of applicants in the Green Card lottery more in hope than expectation. Canada has its own sort of pool — the Express Entry pool, which came into operation earlier in January, 2015 — where candidates who have made an Expression of Interest in immigrating to Canada are ranked according to a Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS).
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While not everyone is eligible to enter the Express Entry pool, the same is true for the Green Card lottery. The major difference, however, is that individuals presently ineligible to enter the Express Entry pool can become eligible through their own endeavour by improving their language ability, adding supplementary work experience, and/or completing a higher level of education. Applicants to the Green Card lottery, on the other hand, are at the whim of a program that only allows candidates from certain countries to enter, and that's before the randomness of the draw itself is taken into account.
In Canada, the federal government and the provinces and territories share jurisdiction over the selection of immigrants. Provinces and territories can create and tailor Provincial Nominee Programs (PNPs) that allow them to nominate individuals who are deemed likely to contribute positively to the community, both socially and economically.
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The federal government then attends to health and security matters before issuing the permanent resident visa. The PNPs are a dynamic set of programs that fasttrack the entrance of newcomers who arrive in their new homes knowing that the region in which they are settling wants them there. Indeed, these newcomers are actively pursued by the provincial governments. The 50 U.S. state governments do not benefit from such a decentralized system, however, with immigration jurisdiction remaining exclusively with the U.S. federal government.
When Mitt Romney was running for President of the U.S. in 2012, he stated "If you get an advanced degree here, we want you to stay here – so we will staple a Green Card to your diploma." Alas, postgraduation work and immigration options for international students in the U.S. remain scant to this day, with many graduates effectively forced to leave the country soon after graduation.
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These individuals take with them their ideas, creativity and know how and use it elsewhere — very often in Canada. In turn, the U.S. loses out on a potentially high earning tax base. In contrast, Canada offers its cohort of international students something that is not available, or more difficult to obtain, in other countries — a post graduation work permit for up to three years. International students who go down this route also benefit from permanent immigration options, including the Canadian Experience Class and the Quebec Experience Class. All of this allows Canada to retain top talent.
A Green Card is the popular name for a United States Permanent Resident Card. Instead of a Canada Green Card, permanent residents of Canada have the right to a Canada Permanent Resident Card as proof of their Canada immigration status. The distinction is not a question of semantics; there is a significant difference in the philosophies behind the issuance of a United States Green Card and a Canada Permanent Resident Card.
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A Green Card grants the holder the permission to enter and live in the United States. In contrast, Canadian permanent resident status grants an individual the right to enter and live in Canada. Having permission and having the right are two distinct claims. A right is something more — it is a legal entitlement, inherent to the holder. Permanent residents of the United States must be in possession of their U.S Green Cards at all times and must be prepared to show them to U.S. authorities upon request. Canada permanent residents have no such obligation. Not only do they not have to carry around their Canada Permanent Resident Card, they are not even required to apply for the card. Though useful to have, a Canada Permanent Resident Card is purely voluntary.


Most Chileans head here during southern Chile's glorious summer, between December and March. For fishermen, the official season commences the second Friday of November and runs through the first Sunday of May. Visiting during the off-season is no hardship, though, and lodging prices drop dramatically. An increasing number of Santiaguinos flee the capital in winter to enjoy the Lake District's brisk, clear air or to ski and snowboard down volcanoes and Andean hills.
Summer means festival season in the Lake District. Communities across the region hold their own festivals in January and February, but the Festival Costumbrista in Castro, Chiloé, held the third week of February, is the can't-miss event. In late January and early February, Semanas Musicales de Frutillar brings together the best in classical music. Verano en Valdivia is a two-month-long celebration centered on the February 9 anniversary of the founding of Valdivia. During the second week of October, Valdivia also hosts a nationally acclaimed international film festival. Puerto Varas hosts an entertaining and fun Rain Festival each June.


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Russian Federation and unnamed others are still seeking to influence U.S. midterm elections through messaging and sowing division, heads of the ODNI, FBI, DHS, and NSA told reporters, pledging to protect democracy but offering no details.
Bulldozer operators and their machines build containment lines while battling the River fire in Lakeport, California on July 31. "People are doing everything they can, but nature is very powerful and we're not on the side of nature", Brown said.
He has repeatedly referred to the media as "the enemy of the people ". "We fully support a free press but there also comes a high level of responsibility with that", Huckabee Sanders told David Martosko, political editor of the Daily Mail .


It's a wonder my whole generation doesn't have skin cancer. Eight hours in the sun with minimal sun protection was the perfect day when I was a kid. And there was no nicer place to be outside than at STYX, RIVER, WATER WORLD. I'm shouting it out just like they use to in the TV ads.
For most kids in the 80's, Styx was the name of a band that ruled the charts with that cheezy song, "Mr. Roboto." But for kids growing up in Mobile, Alabama, Styx was the place to be on a summer's day. The short drive from Mobile made it a favorite destination of families, churches and day cares throughout the area.
Approaching the park, a series of statues greeted you, including a cowboy, an Indian (um Native American), and a dairy cow. Looking more like over-sized miniature golf fixtures than water park attractions, for my generation, they signaled the beginning of an awesome adventure.