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A pintura na Austrália tem uma dupla tradição: uma corrente deriva da arte aborígene, cuja origem está na Pré-história local, mas que só passou a ser seriamente considerada pelos círculos oficiais e se integrar vitalmente à cultura australiana a partir da década de 1950, e outra que deriva da pintura europeia, tendo iniciado um florescimento pouco depois da colonização do território no fim do século XVIII, crescendo ininterruptamente desde então e mostrando ter características próprias. Na atualidade a pintura australiana acompanha a multiforme cultura global contemporânea e já desfruta de significativo prestígio internacional, com vários representantes premiados em certames internacionais e diversos museus locais dedicados à sua preservação e divulgação.

A pintura indígena
Há pinturas rupestres na Austrália de data estimada entre  e  anos, que são possivelmente a mais antiga iconografia da figura humana em todo o mundo, um grupo de obras espalhado por uma área de mais de  km² em cerca de  sítios arqueológicos, e conhecida como Bradshaws ou Gwion Gwion. Seu interesse reside tanto em sua enorme antiguidade como na temática, ilustrando não animais, como é comum em outros sítios similares do mundo, mas pessoas vestidas com trajes sofisticados e portando objetos que sugerem uma vida em aldeias com a existência de uma tecnologia relativamente avançada. Também foi aventado que seus autores eram originários de outra parte, talvez da Polinésia, já que não há sinais de civilização autóctone comparável com essa antiguidade. Tais obras aparentemente possuíam um significado cultural mais amplo do que apenas o uso ritual e mágico, mais comum em outras culturas pré-históricas.

Outras culturas pré-históricas mais recentes também deixaram importantes registros pictóricos, mas estas em geral foram produzidas por tribos de caçadores nômades, e mostram muitas figuras de animais, além da humana, em um estilo bem menos refinado e variado do que as Bradshaws. A arte aborígene continuou a ser praticada ininterruptamente até a chegada dos colonizadores, que encontraram diversos povos e clãs que preservavam uma cultura visual e usavam para pintar pigmentos minerais, vegetais e animais, junto com gomas, colas e gordura, sobre suportes diversos, como cascas de árvores, vestuário, totens, objetos utilitários, e também se exibiam com pintura corporal, como os povos Ganalbingu, Gupapuyngu, Kuninjku, Yolngu e muitos mais.

A partir do século XIX alguns artistas indígenas começaram a ser reconhecidos individualmente, tornando-se famosos, como William Barak, e depois Albert Namatjira, David Malangi Daymirriŋu e Wenten Rubuntja, embora sua arte ainda fosse um fenômeno cultural isolado da corrente pictórica culta, de herança europeia. Contudo, sua atuação contribuiu ainda para a progressiva afirmação dos aborígenes na sociedade nacional, e foram os precursores de um movimento de revalorização da cultura indígena que a partir dos anos 1950 passou a incluir nos acervos museológicos oficiais o trabalho de artistas indígenas, não como dado etnográfico, mas como arte de pleno direito. Desde o Modernismo, e com mais força após sua consagração pelos museus nacionais nos anos 1950, a arte aborígene passou a influir na pintura cultivada pelas elites brancas e instâncias oficiais, como se vê na produção de Sidney Nolan e Margaret Preston, e hoje artistas de sangue nativo como Emily Kame Kngwarreye estão entre os líderes da arte australiana contemporânea.

Mesmo com todos esses fatores combinados, a implantação definitiva do Modernismo na Austrália conheceu muitos obstáculos e críticas, e só aconteceu tardiamente. Uma das forças de oposição foi a instituição em 1921 do Archibald Prize, um dos mais importantes prêmios de pintura da Austrália, e nas duas primeiras décadas de atividade ele foi dominado por representações acadêmicas, exemplificadas por artistas como John Longstaff e William Beckwith McInnes. Não havia uma unidade de princípios entre os modernistas, em alguns artistas se percebia uma dissociação entre filosofia e prática, e outros temiam que suas propostas pudessem ser mal-interpretadas e marginalizadas, e com isso perdessem sua força social, indecisões que acabaram por fragilizar o movimento. Dentre seus expoentes se contam George Bell, Clifford Bayliss, Joy Hester, Peter Bellew, Grace Cossington Smith, Margaret Preston, Thea Proctor, e George Lambert.

Na década de 1930 são criadas a Academy of Australian Art (1937) e a Contemporary Art Society (1938), mas em 1941 Theodore Sizer, diretor da galeria de arte da Universidade de Yale, depois de visitar o país a fim de curar uma exposição de arte australiana que deveria itinerar pela Europa e América, deplorava a rigidez dos conceitos que ainda dominavam a cena de arte local, largamente baseados no programa da Royal Academy. No final dos anos 1930 em diante muitos artistas da nova geração, como Ivor Francis, James Cant, Peter Purves Smith, Sidney Nolan, Arthur Boyd, Dusan Marek, Roy de Maistre, Albert Tucker, Sam Atyeo, Eric Thake, James Gleeson aderiram parcial ou integralmente ao Surrealismo, seja inspirados pela movimentação europeia, seja espelhando as inquietações geradas pela entrada da Austrália na II Guerra Mundial. Gleeson, um dos mais importantes dessa corrente, disse que

 "por certo tempo, especialmente durante a guerra, eu realmente pensei que o Surrealismo pudesse ser uma arma revolucionária. Aceitei a ideia de Breton de que pelo uso do inconsciente se pudesse chegar a estado de equilíbrio na mente racional e talvez evitar desastres como a guerra, a indiferença ou o fanatismo".

Por outro lado, artistas como Peter Graham abordam temas sociais em um estilo carregado de dramaticidade, e o paisagismo continua a ser cultivado como pretexto formal para trabalhar a depressão e angústia desse período conturbado, resultando em uma abordagem inteiramente nova do cenário local, expressionista e dramática, às vezes de contornos tão simplificados que tendia à abstração, e quando tingida pelo Surrealismo, beirando a atmosfera do pesadelo, com Russell Drysdale, Elise Blumann e novamente Sidney Nolan como bons representantes dessa tendência.

Pós-Guerra
O fim da década de 1940, difícil período de reconstrução depois da guerra, foi marcado pela radicalização do Modernismo, que levou ao aparecimento da abstração na arte de todo o ocidente. O mesmo se dá na Austrália, onde a abstração, tanto informal como geométrica, derivada dos trabalhos de Vassili Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich e outros, encontra líderes em Grace Crowley, Roger Kemp, George Johnson e Ian Fairweather, que desenvolveram uma linguagem de símbolos e sinais inspirada na arte aborígene e na arte caligráfica oriental, tentando ilustrar os mistérios do cosmos e descobrir o lugar do homem no universo. Outros que seguiram essa tendência foram Leonard French, Peter Graham, David Aspden, Sydney Ball, Inge King e Leonard Crawford.

A reação não se fez esperar e grupos como o Merioola, formado por Donald Friend, Justin O'Brien, Peter Kaiser, Roland Strasser, Mary Edwards e outros, e Os Antípodas, do qual participavam Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd, David Boyd, John Brack, Robert Dickerson, John Perceval e Clifton Pugh, reivindicaram uma arte figurativa, influenciada por uma multiplicidade de estilos, contra o que começou a ser visto como os excessos e impessoalidade da abstração. Os Antípodas realizaram uma exposição em 1959 em Melbourne e também lançaram um manifesto contra a exposição itinerante The New American Painting, organizada pelo Museu de Arte Moderna de Nova Iorque, temendo que o expressionismo abstrato norte-americano se tornasse o novo dogma da pintura internacional e anulasse as especificidades nacionais. Outros artistas como Pro Hart, um outsider, retomaram a paisagem do interior australiano de forma positiva, num momento em que a sociedade passava definitivamente de uma matriz rural para uma urbana, e o vasto e árido território do Outback precisava, apesar de suas grandes belezas naturais, ser visto como "um ventre estéril", a fim de se poder reafirmar os valores de uma cultura urbana que buscava sua identidade própria num panorama social e cultural em rápida mudança.

Nos anos 1960 e 70 entram em cena as estéticas da Arte Pop, da Nova Figuração, do Psicodelismo, Minimalismo e da Arte Conceitual, mesclando-se a tendências já presentes como o abstracionismo, e criando um campo multifacetado na pintura onde são absorvidos diversos procedimentos extra-pictóricos que inauguram o polimorfo universo artístico contemporâneo, enquanto que o paisagismo conhece um novo impulso e se renova. Neste período artistas aborígenes são incentivados pelo professor de arte Geoffrey Bardon a alterar suas práticas tradicionais e adotar a tela como suporte, dando origem à Escola Papunya Tula, que seria uma das mais influentes novas propostas dentro da arte australiana e a levaria ao reconhecimento internacional através da obra de Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri e outros.

Ao longo da década de 1980 a pintura experimentou uma nova onda de prestígio em todo o mundo, a partir da atuação dos grupos neo-expressionistas da Europa, com uma explosão no mercado. Na Austrália essa tendência foi conduzida por Peter Booth, Jenny Watson, Davida Allen, Jan Senbergs e Ian Smith. A partir de então as tendências e estilos se sobrepõem e entrecruzam, introduzindo uma série de novos temas urbanos, psicológicos e sociais na arte, e abrindo espaço para o uso de novos meios e suportes e manifestações mais ligadas à arte popular. Alguns nomes destacados no fim do século XX são Brett Whiteley, Fiona Hall, Marion Borgelt, Janet Laurence, Guy Warren e Andrew Rogers no campo da abstração; Peter Booth, George Gittoes, Steve Cox, Nigel Thomson, Tracey Moffatt, Stewart MacFarlane e Fred Cress na figuração de índole expressionista. Uma corrente grunge e punk se desenvolve através de pintores como Hany Armanious e Adam Cullen, e a denúncia da discriminação racial contra os indígenas é trabalhada por Gordon Bennett, enquanto que Emily Kame Kngwarreye, descendente de nativos, é aclamada como uma das mais importantes artistas australianas dos últimos tempos, caracterizando a pintura australiana como multifacetada e perfeitamente integrada às recentes tendências mundiais nessa forma de expressão.

Ver também

 Pintura
 História da pintura
 Cultura da Austrália

Artes da Austrália
Australia


text:
Consumer Watchdog files Google+ complaint with FTC
Senior Editor, IDG News Service | PT
Google, through its plan to link Gmail addresses to its Google+ social network, is violating a privacy agreement the company made with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, said a long-time critic of the company's privacy practices in a complaint to the agency.
Google+ also has a "flagrant and fundamental privacy design flaw" because it allows any user to add other users to his circles without their permission, frequent Google critic Consumer Watchdog said in the complaint.
"A user can be forced to be publicly associated with someone with whom they do not wish to be associated," wrote John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director. "People must have the right to choose with whom they are associated. Operating a social network as Google is doing in a blatant attempt to build traffic and the user base is an unfair business practice."
Google representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Consumer Watchdog complaint.
Compounding the problem is Google's plan, announced earlier this month, to merge Google+ and Gmail contact lists, Consumer Watchdog said. The change will allow a Gmail user to send an unsolicited email message to another user without knowing the second person's Gmail address, by adding the intended recipient to his Google+ circles.
Privacy issues?
That merger of Google+ and Gmail accounts violates a March 2011 privacy settlement between Google and the FTC over Google Buzz, the company's failed first social-networking experiment, Consumer Watchdog alleged.
The Google plan to merge the contact lists makes it easier to send unsolicited email than the method used by Google+ competitor Facebook, Simpson said in an email.
Facebook's messaging feature is "designed for communication on the Facebook platform," he said. "Google+ will deliver right into Gmail's inbox, which many people use as a their primary account."
The merger of the contact lists violates a provision in the Buzz settlement that requires Google to obtain users' consent before sharing their information with third parties, Simpson alleged. The plan "provides a material change in the way data is shared and used," he said. "Google has announced the plan, but has offered only the option to opt out."
Grant Gross edits and assigns stories and writes about technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for the IDG News Service. He is based outside of Washington, D.C.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Twitter Reacts to Academy's Diversity Overhaul With a Mix of Skepticism and Hope
By Eliza Berman
January 22, 2016 5:24 PM EST
After the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a series of measures to increase diversity Friday, interested parties took to Twitter with a blend of celebration, uncertainty and a rather healthy dose of snark.
Director Ava DuVernay expressed a mix of optimism about the changes and skepticism about the motivations behind them, tweeting that it's "One good step in a long, complicated journey," but also that "Shame is a helluva motivator," especially given a lack of response to repeated calls for change from marginalized artists over the years.
Along a similar line of thinking, other Twitter users were quick to accuse the Academy of acting swiftly in the name of public relations rather than out of a true desire for change:
Others brought a reminder that while the Academy has the power to influence the behavior of its members, the lack of diversity in Hollywood must also be addressed at the level of the studio executives who decide which movies get made in the first place, and directors who cast actors in their films:
Some commented on the possible reaction from older members of the Academy, who will transition to "emeritus" status with no voting rights if they have not been active in movies for a decade or more:
And of course, there were those who couldn't resist a more humorous take:
Write to Eliza Berman at eliza.berman@time.com.
Academy Moves to Improve Oscars Diversity


Most people associate piston rings with vehicles in particular. There are, however, many other areas of applicability and that is the Rottink field of specialisation. Shipping, chemicals, aviation, power generation and many other branches of industry. Everywhere, in fact, where strict, precise requirements are set on piston rings and metallic seals. But not the gigantic quantities, just the smaller, refined piston rings. Usually manufactured in small series preceded by precise development and prototyping.
Piston rings can be found in several applications. They ensure a seal, lubrication and heat conductivity between the cylinder and the cylinder wall. Piston rings determine to a great extent the optimum performance of engines, pumps, compressors and similar devices. This means with a minimum of standstill and with the lowest possible maintenance costs. Piston rings are therefore vital for the continuity and the returns of business processes.


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Photo Credit: Everett Collection
Grew Up… among his own Wookie race, hairy beasts like him who shared his grunting language and crass way of life. An important member of Wookie society, Chewbacca left life on his home planet and ended up partnering with interplanetary smuggler Han Solo.
Living… on the Millennium Falcon, an old and rickety but still space-worthy cargo ship. He co-pilots the ship along with Han Solo and is generally a skilled pilot and mechanic. Alas their adventures throw quite a bit more than a wrench their way and some of the ship's damage is irreparable, even for such an able technician. Currently Chewbacca is aiding a group of travelers who are trying to evade the watchful eye of the Empire—which makes him rather uneasy.
Profession… smuggler. Chewbacca is Han Solo's partner-in-crime, so anything Han says goes. Though Chewbacca seems to be in complete agreement with Han, it's definitely not Chewbacca making most of the executive decisions. Yet they both know that Chewbacca could tear anyone limb from limb, making his opinion a very important one indeed aboard the Millennium Falcon.
Interests… winning. He enjoys playing board games like dejarik, a holographic chess-like game, but hates to lose. Once when a droid starts beating him, Chewbacca utters his signature growl, a threatening gurgle that makes C-3PO reconsider the droid's game plan: "I suggest a new strategy, R2: let the Wookie win."
Challenge… transporting Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their two droids without getting killed in the process. This proves to be a lot more difficult than it might sound. Above all, the villainous Empire is hot on their tail for most of their voyage. If Chewbacca can fix up the ship enough for it to go into light-speed hyperdrive, they might stand a chance of outrunning the Imperial fleet. Otherwise, they're in big trouble.
Personality… irritable and brutish. Chewbacca tries to get his way through grunting and growling and using his towering frame to intimidate. And although he's often speaking a communicable language with these grunts, only a few people, including Han Solo, can actually understand him. Han does most of his translating. Even though Chewbacca and Han get in quite a few arguments, they always get along in the end, as evidenced by the affectionate nickname that Han calls him: "Chewie."
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Rebel leaders map their strategy for an all-out attack on the Emperor's newer, bigger Death Star. Han Solo remains frozen in the cavernous desert fortress of Jabba the Hutt, the most loathsome outlaw in the universe, who is also keeping Princess Leia as a slave. Now a master of the Force, Luke Skywalker rescues his friends, but he cannot become a true Jedi Knight until he wages his own crucial battle against Darth Vader, who has sworn to win Luke over to the dark side of the Force.
Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
The Empire Strikes Back: Star Wars: Episode V
Although they had won a significant battle, the war between the Rebels and the Empire had really just begun. Soon, Luke, Han, the princess and their faithful companions were forced to flee, scattering in all directions—the Dark Lord's minions in fevered pursuit.
A New Hope: Star Wars: Episode IV
Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine—and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies. But he got much more than he bargained for.
Return of the Jedi: Star Wars: Episode VI
It was a dark time for the rebel alliance. Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, had been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian launched a hazardous mission against Jabba's Tatooine stronghold. The Rebel commanders gathered all the warships of the Rebel fleet into a single giant armada. And Darth Vader and the Emperor, who had ordered construction to begin on a new and even more powerful Death Star, were making plans to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
From Wikipedia: "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a video game released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992. It is the sequel the original Star Wars for the NES. This is the second of three video games released under the Empire Strikes Back title for home video game systems. It was preceded by a version for the Atari 2600 and succeeded by Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back for the SNES. The NES version was released the same year as JVC's Super Star Wars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. As Empire was released towards the end of the NES's lifecycle, a corresponding sequel to the film Return of the Jedi was never developed, nor released. A version of the game was released for the Game Boy. That product was reprinted and distributed by several publishers over the course of three years."
Thirty years after defeating the Galactic Empire, Han Solo and his allies face a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren and his army of Stormtroopers.
The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.
The Force Awakens (Star Wars)
Set years after Return of the Jedi, this stunning new action-packed adventure rockets us back into the world of Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Luke Skywalker, while introducing a host of exciting new characters. Darth Vader may have been redeemed and the Emperor vanquished, but peace can be fleeting, and evil does not easily relent. Yet the simple belief in good can still empower ordinary individuals to rise and meet the greatest challenges. So return to that galaxy far, far away, and prepare yourself for what happens when the Force awakens.
Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
The next installment in the franchise and the conclusion of the ?Star Wars? sequel trilogy as well as the ?Skywalker Saga.?


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Q: Specify rows to read in from excel using pd.read_excel I have a large excel file and want to select specific rows (not continuous block) and columns to read in.  With columns this is easy, is there a way to do this for rows? or do I need to read in everything and then delete all the rows I don't want?
Consider an excel file with structure
,CW18r4_aer_7,,,,,,,
,Vegetation ,,,,,,,
Date,A1,A2,B1,B2,C1,C2,C3,C4
1/7/86,3.80,8.02,7.94,9.81,9.82,4.19,3.88,0.87
2/7/86,0.50,2.02,5.26,3.70,8.59,8.61,9.86,3.27
3/7/86,4.75,3.88,0.46,5.95,9.45,9.62,4.33,1.63
4/7/86,7.64,6.93,2.71,9.96,1.25,0.35,1.84,1.02
5/7/86,3.33,8.24,7.36,7.86,0.43,2.32,2.18,1.91
6/7/86,1.96,1.78,7.45,2.28,5.27,9.94,0.22,2.94
7/7/86,4.67,8.41,1.49,5.48,5.46,1.39,1.85,7.71
8/7/86,8.07,5.60,4.23,3.93,3.92,9.09,9.90,2.15
9/7/86,7.00,5.16,6.10,8.86,7.18,9.42,8.78,5.42
10/7/86,7.53,9.81,3.33,1.50,9.45,6.96,5.41,5.25
11/7/86,0.95,3.84,3.52,5.94,8.77,1.94,5.69,8.62
12/7/86,2.94,3.07,5.13,8.10,6.52,9.93,5.85,3.91
13/7/86,9.33,7.03,5.80,2.45,2.86,7.32,5.00,0.17
14/7/86,7.39,4.85,9.15,2.23,1.70,9.42,2.72,9.32
15/7/86,3.38,4.67,6.63,2.12,5.09,7.71,0.99,9.72
16/7/86,9.85,6.68,3.09,5.05,0.34,5.44,5.99,6.19

I want to take the headers from row 3 and then read in some of the rows and columns.
import pandas as pd
df = pd.read_excel("filename.xlsx", skiprows = 2, usecols = "A:C,F:I", userows = "4:6,13,17:19")

Importantly, this is not a block that can be described by say [A3:C10] or the like.
The userows option does not exist.  I know I can skip rows at the top, and at the bottom - so presumably can make lots of data frames and knit them together.  But is there a simple way to just read in what you need once?  My workaround is to just create lots of excel spreadsheets that just have what I need for different data frames, but this leaves things very open to me making a mistake I can't find.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Author Notes: This Mediterranean flavoured sandwich ticks all the boxes. Light yet hearty, packed with protein & iron, low in fat, easy to make and delicious!
Place drained chickpeas in a blender with garlic cloves, olive oil and lemon juice. Whizz to a paste.
Transfer chickpea paste to a bowl. Blend in chopped olives, pepper and basil leaves.
Spread on your favourite bread with some salad leaves.


breathe, or turn blue. Maybe I'll ask for a picture of my Gizzards?
Last edit: 7 years 3 months ago by rbmc.
Good luck! Looking forward to you reporting back an "all clear"!
Good Luck. Just remember to breath slowly out as the scope passes the prostate. After that relax and enjoy BC TV.


text:
Maiorana: Tom Brady looks human but overwhelmed Josh Allen isn't ready to take torch
Sal Maiorana
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Bills fans have been waiting for this to happen for years, and Sunday afternoon, it finally began to look like the end of Tom Brady's dominance of the Bills, and the NFL, is upon us.
Brady is now 41 years old, and at various points this season, Gisele's husband has started to look his age.
Not that he's Johnny Unitas playing out the string with the Chargers, a shell of his former greatness, because during New England's 24-12 victory over Buffalo, Brady did surpass the 4,000-yard passing mark for the ninth time.
But at long last, the greatest quarterback in the history of the game is looking fallible, and his reign of terror over the Bills, Jets and Dolphins in the AFC East is nearing its conclusion. Really, I think it is.
Brady could not have been more average, dare I say below average, in this game. Buffalo held him to 126 passing yards, picked off two of his passes, and his only TD pass wouldn't have happened if not for a heads-up play by wide receiver Julian Edelman.
However, if anyone was thinking the AFC East torch might be passed from Brady to Buffalo's Josh Allen, sorry, not yet.
Allen's stock-market season took another dip as he looked overwhelmed at times against Bill Belichick's defense. He completed 20 of 41 passes for 217 yards with a TD and two picks for a rating of 52.6. He rushed for only 30 yards, and simply wasn't up to the task of beating the Patriots in his first try.
Interactive: It's your turn to grade the Bills
"Early on they did a really good job of kind of disguising and dropping out and playing zone when they sure looked like they were playing man," Allen said. "They did that for an obvious reason, being young. It took a little bit to adjust to. At the same time, I've got to be better with my eyes, got to be better with where I put the football. It's a really well-coached team, a really good defense. But at the same time, I didn't feel like it was too fast for me or things were too crazy out there."
We all knew this is what it was going to be like with Allen, at least in his rookie year. He is learning and gaining experience each week, but he remains a raw, unmolded talent who has been put in a difficult situation because he is surrounded with such incompetence on offense.
Allen made several questionable decisions, on some plays he held the ball too long in the pocket, and he was wildly inaccurate on a few throws, two of which ended up as interceptions. But he also got no help from his receivers, and while he wasn't sacked, let's not make the jump that the line played well, because it didn't.
"They were doing some good things, give credit where credit is due," coach Sean McDermott said of the Patriots. "They had a good plan. Overall, you know, I just think that as a young quarterback you are going to see some things, from time to time, that are new. And so they presented some things that were new for Josh and you know, I thought he settled down at times and made some good throws in there. But overall, obviously, not enough on offense. We've got to have better production."
One more week to go. One more week for Allen playing with this slop around him. And then when it's over, we wait with great anticipation to see how general manager Brandon Beane goes about bringing capable players in to help him for that time when, we hope, he finally wrests the torch away from Brady.
McCoy was naughty
Whatever it was that LeSean McCoy said or did before Sunday's game, it was far weightier than anything he did on the field.
McCoy had yet another terrible day as he gained only 9 yards on six carries and had zero impact on the game. This is nothing new in 2018 as McCoy now has seven games where he rushed for less than 25 yards, three of which were a single-digit total.
If that wasn't bad enough, we found out after the game that the reason McCoy wasn't on the field for the first offensive play of the game was due to a disciplinary decision by McDermott.
McCoy would not say what happened, but he did offer up, "We had a situation, and he was totally right. It was a private situation. I'm a captain and I gotta be more accountable. Simple as that. He checked me, put me in place. That was it."
It must not have been too serious because McCoy was on the field for the second play, but for a guy like McCoy who pays attention to his career stats, it had to hurt that he lost a game start over this, and rookie Keith Ford got to check that box for the first time.
McCoy was asked about his future in Buffalo, which seems like it has one week left. Given the way he has played, it seems ludicrous for the Bills to consider bringing him back in 2019, though he's not buying that.
"I don't know, I remember Beane saying earlier in the year that they've got plans for me, so we'll see," McCoy said. "I can't worry about that. The only thing I can worry about is who I am. I'm a good player. I love it here. We'll see what happens."
More:LeSean McCoy lost his job to an undrafted rookie. Are his days in Buffalo almost over?
Youth movement marches on
Another player who is unlikely to be back in 2019 is tight end Charles Clay, and that came into crystal clear focus when he was announced as inactive, a healthy scratch.
McDermott said after the game, "Yeah, coach's decision. You only dress 46, so it was my decision." Pressed further on why Clay was not active despite being uninjured, McDermott added, "You're looking at production and looking at young guys. And when you have opportunities, you've got to make plays and then looking at some young guys."
To decipher that, it means this: Clay has been terrible all year with 21 catches for 184 yards, he has done nothing impactful, and the Bills need to see if Jason Croom and/or Logan Thomas are worth moving forward with next year.
"I just kind of control what I can and be a good teammate and help these guys out there as much as I can," said Clay of his benching. "I don't want to get into any of that. I am going to work like I have been and I continue to do that and keep my head down. I am going to keep working and see what happens."
Cutting Clay would save the Bills $4.5 million on the cap, so that seems prudent. However, one has to wonder what to make of Croom and Thomas. Croom flashes, and he had four catches for 55 yards Sunday, but he also lost his second fumble of the season in a situation where he was fighting for extra yardage and didn't secure the ball.
"We get a score there, with a touchdown, then we are within a touchdown or so," McDermott said of the giveaway that occurred at the Patriots' 6 with Buffalo down 21-6. "Those are tough, because I love the effort, but you also have to be smart. Keep it high and tight, keep two hands on the ball when you feel like the play is ending for the most part."
Thomas had one ball thrown his way, and he failed to catch it. He has great size and athleticism, but it's not showing up on game day.
► Player of the game: Sony Michel. The Patriots rookie running back did not play in the first game against the Bills, and now we know why the Patriots couldn't run the ball that night at New Era Field. Michel gained 116 yards and scored a first-half touchdown.
► Play of the game: Edelman's 32-yard touchdown catch and run. The Patriots were clinging to a 14-6 lead and had fourth-and-4. Edelman got open over the middle for the first down, and he, Jordan Poyer and Rafael Bush all went to the ground together. However, Edelman was never down, and he knew it, so he popped up and sprinted the final 15 yards to the end zone for the score that broke the game open.
► Unsung hero: Lorenzo Alexander was all over the field as he had a game-high 14 tackles, made a nice interception, and also rushed Brady into a throwaway. At 35, Alexander remains a marvel.
► Injuries: LB Julian Stanford left the game in the first quarter with an ankle injury, and WR Deonte Thompson went out in the third quarter with a toe injury. Neither player was able to return.
► What's next: The Bills close the 2018 season at home Sunday at New Era Field against the Dolphins, who suffered a sickening 17-7 loss to Jacksonville and are now eliminated from playoff contention.
MAIORANA@Gannett.com
COMPLETE BILLS-PATRIOTS GAME COVERAGE
Maiorana: Brady looks human but overwhelmed Allen isn't ready to take torch
Report card:The offense is still a dysfunctional mess
Game story:Except for Tom Brady looking old, nothing new as Patriots whip Bills
Final score and recap:Josh Allen becomes latest rookie victim in Foxborough
Throwing shade at Shady: LeSean McCoy didn't start. Are his days in Buffalo almost over?
Video: Bills coach McDermott says offense has 'to be able to score touchdowns'
Video: Allen says Patriots defense 'took a little bit to adjust to'
More: Game photos of all the action


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The Welcome Return Of A Talented Native Son
Marilyn Drew Necci | September 3, 2021
Topics: Alan Parker, album reviews, Devonne Harris, K Bay, Matthew E. White, Natalie Prass, richmond music, Spacebomb, Trey Pollard
With K Bay, Matthew E. White delivers his first solo album in six years. A joyous, fully realized musical statement, it reveals itself to be fully worth the wait, and quite possibly the RVA album of the summer (yes, even if it did come out in September).
Matthew E. White hasn't totally disappeared from the world of popular music since his last solo album, Fresh Blood, came out six years ago in 2015. He has, after all, released two collaborative albums: one, Gentlewoman, Ruby Man, with Flo Morrissey in 2017; the other, Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection, with Lonnie Holley earlier this year. But for the most part, his activities have moved out of the spotlight. Rather than taking center stage, he's produced albums for Natalie Prass, arranged orchestrations for Foxygen, and made records with Bedouine and Hiss Golden Messenger, among others, as part of his extensive work with the label/studio/house band he co-founded, the almighty Spacebomb.
So yeah, Matthew E. White hasn't exactly been lazy in the six years since he last released a solo album. Nonetheless, for the many fans he made with his first two albums, the arrival of third album K Bay is surely the musical event of the summer. For White, it's also a chance to correct some mistakes he felt that he'd made earlier in his career. Despite it arriving three full years after debut album Big Inner, White felt he'd rushed his follow-up, Fresh Blood, and has spent the last few years away from the spotlight figuring out how to recalibrate and get back in touch with the inner creative voice that guided earlier efforts like his work with legendary Richmond music collective Fight The Big Bull, and his extensive collaborative work with the local luminaries who make up the 21st-century Wrecking Crew that is the Spacebomb House Band.
During the past six years, White made an effort to separate his own work from that of the Spacebomb organization. While it was a rich collaborative environment, it sometimes became an obligation that crowded out his ability to work on things he wanted to do for himself. In order to give himself some space for his own work, White built a home studio in his new house on Kensington Avenue, calling it "K Bay" in simultaneous acknowledgement of the Museum District avenue he lived on and the coastal environments from Virginia Beach to the Philippines where he lived as a youth.
When you listen to the first half of K Bay, the album — which was recorded at K Bay, the studio — you can't help but hear the tropical vibes White hoped to evoke in his home recording environment; they fairly ooze from the speakers. From the synthetic Caribbean percussion and lyrical uses of hippie-era slang for sex in the dancefloor banger "Let's Ball" to the funky rhythms and disco/postpunk guitar stabs of "Electric" (featuring a murderer's row of Richmond music all-stars including Devonne Harris, Cameron Ralston, Alan Parker, and Pinson Chanselle), there's an undeniable energy to side one of this album that speaks of a happy, self-actualized bandleader rejoicing in the newfound joys of married life and long-sought success in the music world that's always been his life.
Things get slinky and smooth in a lights-go-down fashion at times too. Moody centerpiece "Fell Like An Ax" drops the tempo and gets into a Barry White vibe, one that will surely lead to some fun intimate times for more than a few grown-and-sexy couples who kick off the weekend by drinking wine on the couch with K Bay as the soundtrack. Let's just say that if you're planning to put this one on as background music for an intimate dinner for two, you're going to want to change the sheets beforehand.
K Bay by Matthew E. White
This album isn't entirely an escape from the real issues White's native land has grappled with over the past half-dozen years, though; at the halfway point, with "Only In America/When The Curtains Of The Night Are Peeled Back," White engages in a lengthy exploration of the culpability white Americans should feel for the continuing racist oppression that takes place across the USA. "We set aside all that's right, and we left behind in the darkest night all the folks we didn't want next to us, or even near to us, cruisin' on our avenue," he sings, over a thick bed of emotionally evocative strings and horns that's laid down by 33 different musicians from around the Richmond music scene (a group that includes more than a few names you'll know from projects like Bio Ritmo and No BS! Brass Band). Shouting out over a dozen victims of racist violence, including Emmett Till, Rodney King, Sandra Bland, and Michael Brown, White makes clear that he recognizes the full extent to which the white South, and white America as a whole, owes a debt to the many oppressed communities who have never been given a fair deal in this country.
The latter half of the album gets more personal, as White sings extensively of his marriage, referencing "Judy" (a nickname for his wife, Merry) not just on the track that bears her name but also on tunes like the joyous "Never Had It Better" and the dark electric triumph of "Hedged In Darkness." White has shown us that he can still party, and that he's paying attention to the many problems that still exist in the world, but by the end of the album, he can't help but focus at least for a while on the joy he feels at having found the love of his life. While the earlier, more party-oriented jams were often collaborations with talented songwriters including Natalie Prass, Eddie Prendergast, and Trey Pollard, these late-album paeans to marital happiness are solo efforts, into which White pours his heart and soul. The spare, acoustic ballad "Shine A Light For Me," on which White declares, "I kept you on your toes and you kept me in line. Now we're just tryin' to find a way and maybe get out alive," is contrasted nicely by the explosive midsong catharsis of album closer "Hedged In Darkness." Alan Parker's overdriven guitar solos combine with Daniel Clarke's Hammond organ and an energetic horn section to provide the loudest, most powerful moment K Bay has to offer, as if to put an emphatic period at the end of the profound, multilayered statement White is making with this album.
Look, you're from Richmond — you know by now what you're getting from Matthew E. White. A focus on live instrumentation and group performance over studio perfection; an ongoing delight with the possibilities of classic American musical movements, from soul and gospel to funk, jazz, and Southern rock; that honeyed, baritone voice layered thick as molasses over it all. If it's not your thing, fine — there's a lot of other music in the world. But at the end of the day, anyone unwilling to acknowledge the strength of the work White delivers here, the incredibly talented craftsmanship and ineffable artistic spark that went into making it happen, and the fact that the rapturous reception it's almost guaranteed to get is fully deserved… well, I don't know what to say to you. Except maybe this: if you don't get it, keep listening until you do. Because it's there.
Top Photo by Cameron Lewis
30 Century Spacebomb
Jonah Schuhart | May 1, 2020
Topics: 30 Century Man, Andy Jenkins, Cameron Ralston, Pinson Chanselle, richmond music, richmond va bands, Scott Walker, Spacebomb, Spacebomb House Band, Spacebomb Records, Spacebomb studios, Trey Pollard
With coronavirus keeping the music scene on lockdown, Spacebomb House Band present a Scott Walker tribute that takes us straight to outer space.
The Spacebomb House Band is just what it says in the name: the house band for the Spacebomb Records stable of artists, and for the label's recording studio. However, while their day job may be to act as a backing band for the label's many talented signees, they do a lot more than that, and they proved that this month with their cover of Scott Walker's signature tune, "30 Century Man."
Walker, who originally gained fame as a baritone pop singer and grew over the course of his 50-year career into a pioneer of avant-garde musical explorations, released "30 Century Man" on his 1969 album Scott 3. Originally a barebones tune consisting solely of acoustic guitar and vocals, the Spacebomb House Band's version puts a spacey, psychedelic spin on the Walker original. Featuring a full rock n' roll ensemble performing the music, it retains the spirit of the original through the Walker-esque baritone vocals of guest vocalist Andy Jenkins, a Spacebomb recording artist himself.
The idea for the cover came when the band's guitarist, Trey Pollard (who also acts as the head of the studio's publishing department), suggested the band produce more cover songs. The group developed a list of potential options, and bassist Cameron Ralston chose "30 Century Man." From there, the group had to figure out how they wanted to reimagine the original. In the end, their basic approach became a straightforward rock n' roll take with a sound deliberately reminiscent of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
"I didn't have any interest in trying to do a very true version of [the song]," said Ralston. "Just because that already exists in the world, and it was already done so well. It felt very futile, and I always heard it as a rock n' roll song."
The Spacebomb House Band version was recorded in just a few takes, with the entire band playing at once. They used no metronome, instead keeping time with each other.
"We wanted it to be just as fast as we could make it," said drummer Pinson Chanselle. "[With no metronome] we didn't have to adjust to the click."
Chanselle says abstaining from a metronome also allowed them to "float" slightly on and off tempo in a very natural way, adding to the song's freeform vibe.
The only part of the song not recorded simultaneously were Andy Jenkins vocals. Ralston says he had chosen Jenkins to contribute vocals from the beginning.
"For some reason I just always heard his voice [while imagining the song]," said Ralston. "There's something about it that reminds me a little bit of Scott Walker, so I thought it would be a good way to connect the dots a little bit to the original version."
Andy Jenkins. Photo via Facebook
Despite the song's release date of April 10, it was actually recorded this past winter, well before the coronavirus epidemic hit America. While the musicians at Spacebomb say they can't pull off that kind of session during the pandemic, each of them are finding ways to keep their creative juices flowing.
"I think for all musicians…this has been a real wakeup call. Everything has come to a halt," said Ralston. "[But] we've been communicating pretty regularly… and just trying to stay creatively active, mentally with each other."
On top of staying in touch, both Ralston and Chanselle have taken the time to produce whatever music they can inside the house. Ralston has been recording what he can while working on ambient music with friends. Meanwhile, Chanselle has been honing his percussion skills by recording raw drum parts.
"Anything you can do to keep that creativity and that energy stoked is positive right now," said Ralston.
Top Photo: Cameron Ralston at Spacebomb Studios, via Spacebomb/Facebook
The 40 Most Essential RVA Albums Of 2018 (Part 2)
Marilyn Drew Necci | January 1, 2019
Topics: 2018 in Review, Elizabeth Owens, Essential Albums of 2018, Fan Ran, Madison Turner, Marcus Tenney, Marcus Tenney Quartet, Natalie Prass, Piranha Rama, PT, Recluse Raccoon, Roy Batty, Serqet, Shadow Age, South Hill Banks, Spooky Cool, Sports Bar, Suppression, Toward Space, Trey Pollard, Unmaker, Windhand, Womajich Dialyseiz, Young Scum
Richmond's always been a great city for music, and that didn't change one iota in 2018. If anything, it became a bit overwhelming — indeed, even the most comprehensively-minded local music nerd was likely to overlook a few things. While putting this list together, I found a few that I overlooked myself — and I'm sure you will as well.
This list features our best shot at the most essential and noteworthy albums that our city birthed this year, from any and all genres. Since so many different genres and scenes are thriving in this town, we had to include 40 just to feel like we weren't leaving anything crucial out. And let's be real — we probably still didn't catch everything. The best advice we could possibly give you about following this town's vibrant musical community is this: always dig deeper. Your new favorite record might be right around the corner.
These 40 albums are a good place to start. Yesterday, we presented the first 20, and we follow up today with the remaining 20 — in alphabetical order by artist name, so it doesn't seem like we're playing favorites. Happy listening!
Coming of Age by Elizabeth Owens
Elizabeth Owens – Coming Of Age (Grimalkin)
This young singer-songwriter has avoided the strict confines of genre on their first album, instead dancing along the invisible borders between a variety of sounds. Lushly-strummed acoustic guitars and haunting vocals center these compositions, even as a variety of both conventional and unconventional instruments form an intricate, multi-layered background. Psychedelic folk in the original, late 60s sense — think Incredible String Band or Pentangle — is a good touchstone, though a better, more recognizable one is hinted at by the song entitled "Ode to Joni." Yeah, you know what's up.
S/T by Piranha Rama
Piranha Rama – Piranha Rama (Trrrash)
Piranha Rama is a band full of Richmond underground rock all-stars that took the local scene by storm in 2018. Featuring members who've performed with a wide variety of local ensembles and played a wide variety of musical styles, Piranha Rama's sound is apropos, capturing as it does both the rollicking rock n' roll spirit that is this band's bedrock and the wide variety of influences that takes this album in many different directions from song to song. The results are always catchy and fun, even if the album's overall feel is more like that of a great mixtape made by a crate-digging friend than you'd expect from a singularly driven band. The more voices, the merrier.
Antiphone by Trey Pollard
Trey Pollard – Antiphone (Spacebomb)
I admit I never would have expected this in the year 2018, but it has in fact come to pass. Trey Pollard, best known as the in-house arranger for Spacebomb Records, has released an album of classical chamber music. The selections found within are the sorts of things typically referred to as "pieces" rather than songs, and are mostly performed by four to eight-piece string ensembles (sometimes accompanied by a piano). Pollard, who acts as composer and conductor here, has created a stunning collection of memorable moments that feel like a score for a film — one that's playing in your mind as you listen. Close your eyes and let it overtake you.
The Future and the Past by Natalie Prass
Natalie Prass – The Future And The Past (ATO)
Natalie Prass had been the fledgling Spacebomb label's obvious breakout star thus far — along, of course, with label founder Matthew E. White. For her second LP, Prass signed with ATO and moved beyond the traditional soul-R&B feel of the Spacebomb house band, getting into deeper electronic grooves that seem to arise directly out of the pre-New Jack Swing sound of 80s greats like Cameo or Kool & The Gang. When she croons overtop of these, she's got a real retro-diva sound, like a young Janet Jackson. Who can resist that?
AIRTIGHT (EAR•TITE) by PT & Fan Ran
PT & Fan Ran – Airtight (Ear Tite) (Gritty City)
The Gritty City roster of champion rhyme-spitters is deep, and each passing year seems to make that clearer, as new albums bring us strong statements of purpose from previously unheard names. This year it's PT, which stands for Perfect Timing, who jumped out in a big way. Airtight is a full-length collaboration with Gritty City production mainstay Fan Ran, and the hard-hitting beats he brings match up perfectly with PT's strong flow and aggressive approach to the mic. If you miss the days when RZA was producing a different Wu-Tang solo album every couple months and they all ruled, this one's for you.
Recluse Raccoon by Recluse Raccoon
Recluse Raccoon – Recluse Raccoon (recluseraccoon.bandcamp.com)
This band features a rotating selection of local musicians, but Timmy Peele is the true raccoon hiding reclusively behind the name. For this debut full-length, it's Mr. Peele who lays down vast majority of instruments for the dozen compositions he treats us to. There is at times a decided Animal Collective vibe in the thick vocal harmonies and ringing piano notes, though at other moments he comes closer to straddling that invisible line where the mellowest math-rock meets the most far out of the psychedelic jam sounds. Expect the unexpected — it's more fun that way.
ROY BATTY by ROY BATTY
Roy Batty – Roy Batty (roybattyband.bandcamp.com)
This one just dropped a couple weeks ago, but it demands a place on our radar simply by virtue of the many awesome bands the members have been part of in the past. Specifically, this is frontwoman Lindsey Spurrier's first return to full-time action after the demise of Hot Dolphin, and I think I'm far from the only one who felt that band ended before their time. Roy Batty has a heavier sound that Hot Dolphin, due to the fact that Spurrier is backed here by metal dudes rather than garage-punk types, but the frantic energy and aggressive spirit remain undiminished. And thank god for that.
Oleander by Serqet
Serqet – Oleander (Vinyl Conflict)
This two-song EP constitutes the first release from a local band who've been getting some attention on the whole DIY punk scene. I hear kids who are nerdy about that style of music call it "peace-punk" but if you ask me, it's more along the lines of old-school goth. Maybe a bit Siouxsie and The Banshees, plus a bit of Submission Hold, and even some strong melodies on the B-side that get more into pre-shoegaze UK indie sounds. If you're looking for something that can simultaneously please fans of Flux of Pink Indians, Sisters Of Mercy, and House Of Love, you've hit paydirt with this one.
Shadow Age by Shadow Age
Shadow Age – Shadow Age (Play Alone)
This trio unfortunately took an indefinite hiatus not long after this album was released, but we can at least be thankful that they left behind such an excellent document of their creativity. Bandleader Aaron Tyree has obviously been influenced by the saddest goth boys of the early 80s UK, and he brings the spirits of Robert Smith, Ian McCulloch, and Adrian Borland into the 21st century with flair and panache. Hazy keyboards, glittering guitar leads, quiet melancholy crooning, all set to an essential driving rhythm section. Turn on the fog machine.
South Hill Banks – No Time For A Breakdown (southhillbanks.com)
This RVA bluegrass band has really cemented a place for themselves on the local music scene over the past year, and No Time For A Breakdown is just part of that — you may also have caught onto their year-long residency at The Camel, or the bluegrass festival they threw over at The Broadberry last month. But it's this album that'll give you the best taste of what South Hill Banks have to offer, spotlighting their 21st century take on bluegrass with some excellent melodic songcraft. Of course, they still know how to get down with a traditional speedy instrumental, and their choice to feature electric instruments in the band doesn't get in the way at all.
Every Thing Ever by Spooky Cool
Spooky Cool – Every Thing Ever (Citrus City)
Spooky Cool spent the first few years of their existence being the RVA scene's best-kept secret, staying off social media and restricting access to their music to those who actually came to see them live. Their choice to live like a pre-internet band in the post-internet era paid off in a big way when they finally released their debut EP this year, and the whole world had a chance to hear the catchy indie-psych this quintet had spent the last few years cooking up. It was worth the wait — there are some seriously catchy tunes on this one, but those tunes also feature an unpredictable edge that only adds to their charm. Jam this one — we've waited long enough.
Stranger In My Head by Sports Bar
Sports Bar – Stranger In My Head (Mister Falcon)
Speaking of long-awaited releases, melodic garage-punk quartet Sports Bar have spent nearly a decade building up to this — a killer full-length full of shit-hot tunes that simultaneously bring the manic, distorted punk attack and highlight the flawless sense of melody that has made this group one of Richmond's most enjoyable hidden discoveries since back in 2010. This one is a ton of fun, bringing us both angst-ridden singalongs like "Fried" and furious punk blasts like "Love Or Hate." Get into it.
SUPPRESSION "Placebo Reality" LP by Chaotic Noise Productions (label)
Suppression – Placebo Reality (Chaotic Noise Productions)
2018 was Suppression's 26th year of existence, an existence that has seen them move from experimental power-violence to electronic noise to postpunk weirdness and now into the world of shit-fi grindcore madness — which really constitutes a return to the roots of bassist/vocalist Jason Hodges' long-running project. On Placebo Reality, Hodges and drummer Ryan Parrish flail wildly through somewhere north of 70 songs in under half an hour, blowing your hair back with distorted vocals, hyperdrive tempos, and distorted bass rage. A palate-cleanser of the most confrontational sort, this one will erase all your momentary cares in the face of world-ending chaos. Exactly what we all need.
Moment by Marcus Tenney Quartet
Marcus Tenney Quartet – Moment (American Paradox)
If you pay attention to music in Richmond and beyond, chances are you've heard of Marcus Tenney. A full-time member of the legendary No BS! Brass Band as well as soul-jazz quintet Butcher Brown and hip hop duo Tennison, he stays busy. For this album, he took the lead in a quartet featuring several other Richmond jazz luminaries, and created a collection that is grounded in the classic hard-bop sounds of half a century ago, but comes from a thoroughly modern worldview that helps bring jazz into the 21st century. But this album isn't just an exhibition of instrumental talent — the mellow, melancholy mood evoked on Moment has a deep emotional resonance.
Gently with a Chainsaw by Toward Space
Toward Space – Gently With A Chainsaw (Cult 45)
This raw garage-rock trio has done quite a bit, considering their youth, and Gently With A Chainsaw fulfills the promise they were showing even when they were still playing house shows with foot-pedal drums. These days, their snotty punk rage has been tempered a bit by a power-pop approach to choruses, and the result makes for a number of pleasing singalong earworms on this album. Make no mistake, though, these juvenile delinquents are still ready with a switchblade if anyone messes with 'em — but have no fear. Underneath the snarling facade, they've got hearts of gold.
A Comprehensive Guide to Burning Out by Madison Turner
Madison Turner – A Comprehensive Guide To Burning Out (madisonturner.bandcamp.com)
Madison Turner grew up with the classic alternative rock of the 90s, and now that she's made it out of her 20s she's headed back to her roots with this, her fourth solo release. Backed by a talented group of musically-inclined friends, she's created a powerful collection of songs that sound excellent and are catchy as hell. The lyrics, which delve deeply and sincerely into the album's "burnout" theme, are witty and all-too-relatable, even as the songs keep you singing along all day long. "I don't know why I'm so sca-aa-ared to reach out to my friends!" So real.
Unmaker – Firmament by Unmaker
Unmaker – Firmament (Seeing Red)
This quintet shares a few members with local blackened-thrash combo Occultist, but don't let that fool you — Unmaker have quite a bit to offer in their own right. They distinguish themselves from the metallic pack thanks to Aaron Mitchell's arresting vocals, which carry an urgency that makes them impossible to ignore. But the rest of the band has a powerful sound of their own, simultaneously exploring the gothic end of the postpunk spectrum while retaining a powerful, heavy rhythm and sticking to an energetic tempo. Fans of Killing Joke will find a lot to like here, but really, everyone should.
Eternal Return by Windhand
Windhand – Eternal Return (Relapse)
Local doom combo Windhand has always been witchy, but they've taken it to a new level on their fourth album (and first with only one guitarist), Eternal Return. The psychedelic aspects of their sound are cranked up here, and even as you can hear those low-end rumbles that make these guys a total headcrush live, the album's production opens up another layer of their sound — one in which vocalist Dorthia Cottrell's haunting voice is the star of the show, bringing a heaviness of emotion that more than matches the rest of the band's heaviness of groove. Kill the lights and light a candle.
Live in RVA by Womajich Dialyseiz
Womajich Dialyseiz – Live In RVA (Grimalkin)
This improvisational collective brings together a shifting group of "women, femmes, and gender non-conforming people" from around the Richmond scene to create uncategorizable experimental music. The results, documented here on recordings from four different live performances, are ambient and multi-layered, featuring percussion, voices, and a variety of melodies, many of which tend toward the unsettling. Maybe not something you should put on late at night when you are alone, but certainly an important element of the Richmond scene in 2018. Lend an ear.
Young Scum by Young Scum
Young Scum – Young Scum (Citrus City)
I doubt any of the young people in this city's indie music scene are particularly intending to hark back to the early 90s heyday of Sarah Records and the indie-pop movement that label inspired, but regardless of intent, Young Scum have landed right in that wheelhouse. If you loved Heavenly or The Field Mice, you're going to find a lot to love here, from Chris Smith's dulcet vocal tones, which wash over you like a cooling mist, or the glittering layers of undistorted guitar strums laid down by Smith and Ben Medcalf. There are brief moments of tense distortion hovering subtly in the mix, but for the most part this mini-LP is pure indie-pop bliss.
Wow, we're done! And of course, as soon as I got this list finished, I realized I'd left out the Candy LP and the Boygenius EP, so go check those out too. What can I say? There was no way I was gonna think of everything.
Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond
VA Shows You Must See This Week: November 7 – November 13
Marilyn Drew Necci | November 7, 2018
Topics: Ann Beretta, Bennett Wales & The Relief, Bigwig, Butt, classical revolution RVA, CounterPunch, Dad, Doll Baby, Fat Spirit, Fishbone, Flora, Good Riddance, gwar, HAUNT, Jackmove, Jafar Flowers, Madison Turner, Mannequin Pussy, Matthew E. White, Miss May I, Miya Folick, Municipal Waste, NØ Man, Pale Waves, Peabody's, planned parenthood, Roosevelt Collier, Sensual World, Shaka's, shows you must see, Slothrust, strange matter, Super Unison, The Broadberry, The Bush League, The Camel, The Candescents, The HofGarden, The National, Toxic Holocaust, Toxic Moxie, Trey Pollard, Ugly Muscle, Video Shoppe, Wargo
Saturday, November 10, 8 PM
GWAR, Municipal Waste, Miss May I, Toxic Holocaust, HAUNT @ The National – $22 in advance/$25 at the door (order tickets HERE)
Folks, it's time once again that we check in on Richmond's reigning masters of bloodthirsty metal from outer space. Everyone's favorite homicidal aliens, GWAR, will return to the National's stage once again this Saturday night, and it's sure to be an absolute gorefest, so you know what that means — wear your white t-shirts and get ready to be hit by the cannons of goo that are certain to be unleashed. You know the ones; the ones that throw so much blood and guts all over the place that the National has to drape their balconies in bedsheets just to protect the fancy woodwork. If you think you can be anywhere in the same room as GWAR and stay safe from the splatter, you're sadly mistaken, but that's OK — getting covered in slimy stuff of uncertain origin is part of what makes GWAR shows so much fun!
Last year, GWAR released their first new album since the death of founder Dave Brockie. The Blood Of Gods sees the crossover sound GWAR have cultivated over the past several albums giving way to a more over-the-top rock n' roll sound that sees new vocalist (and originator of the Beefcake the Mighty character) Michael Bishop howling and yowling, Ted Nugent-style. There's still plenty of thrashing going on with GWAR these days, don't get me wrong; but the fact that the album ends with a cover of AC/DC's "If You Want Blood (You Got It)" should tell you something about what you can expect, musically speaking, from GWAR these days.
That said, we all know that the gore-saturated show is the main attraction when seeing GWAR live. But there's plenty of ass-kicking no-show all-go metal on this bill as well. The main attraction for all of you hoping to spend a few hours focusing on banging your head is the one and only Municipal Waste, who'd been largely dormant for most of this decade but returned to action last year with a beefed-up lineup featuring former Cannabis Corpse axe-slinger Nikropolis on rhythm guitars and their first LP in five years, Slime And Punishment. If you haven't caught up with the Waste since all that went down, rest assured that they're gonna fuck you up just like they always have. They'll do it with the able assistance of their best thrashcore pals, Toxic Holocaust, as well as metalcore mainstays Miss May I and up-and-coming Maiden-esque power-metallers HAUNT. It's a headbanging bonanza, and it'll be topped off with a serious bloodbath. Should make for a wonderful weekend.
Wednesday, November 7, 7 PM
Slothrust, Mannequin Pussy, Doll Baby @ The Camel – $12 in advance/$14 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Look out, all you rock n' rollers — the 90s are still back, perhaps more back than ever, and one great aspect of that is the continued ascendance of powerful songwriters with rough, distorted guitars that hit you hard even as their lyrics and vocal melodies make you feel some strong emotions. Slothrust is one of those groups, and singer-guitarist Leah Wellman is showing the world exactly what she has to offer on their brand new LP, The Pact, released a couple months ago on Dangerbird Records. There's a darkness to songs like "Planetarium" and "Fever Doggs" that if anything harks back to a pre-90s, pre-Nirvana sensibility. These songs should strike familiar chords for fans of the Meat Puppets, or Green River, and do a great job of demonstrating that Slothrust has more to offer than an unabashed reiteration of what bands like Babes In Toyland and L7 did before (though don't get me wrong, there's a good bit of that in there too).
Slothrust are joined on this bill by Mannequin Pussy, a Philadelphia punk band who've been making a strong impact in Richmond for years now, and have also been growing beyond their noisy punk roots, into a sound that encompasses a variety of genres and combines rage, passion, and melody in an inspiring manner. Their 2016 album, Romantic, moves from roaring blasts of punk fury into moments of breathtaking melody, complete with shoegaze-style guitar swells. One thing that's present on all of their songs is a strong emotional foundation that singer-guitarist Marisa Dabice communicates with everything from a breathy croon to a frustrated scream. No matter where each moment lands on the spectrum of her vocal range, though, all of them are honest, real, and gripping in their intensity. This isn't one you're going to want to miss. Local support by Doll Baby, who have a great deal in common with both touring bands, completes a powerful trifecta. You know what to do.
Thursday, November 8, 9 PM
Roosevelt Collier, Bennett Wales & The Relief, The Bush League @ The Camel – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
If you love to hear people wail on the electric guitar, this is the show for you. Roosevelt Collier is a pedal steel guitarist with roots in the same "sacred steel" tradition that brought Robert Randolph and his family band into the world, but Collier combines that gospel-soul sound with a Hendrix-ian approach that finds him in high demand with heavyweights like the Tedeschi-Trucks Band and the Allman Brothers. He's a core member of Snarky Puppy bassist Michael League's "World Music All-Star Band," Bokanté, and he's finally stepped out on his own this year as the frontman for his own group, which he'll be bringing to the Camel.
Collier and his backing band are on tour in support of his debut solo album, Exit 16, on which he worked again with Snarky Puppy bassist Michael League. The album displays a hell of a range, moving from uptempo workouts to slow, seductive grooves, all with a very heavy bottom end. Collier's playing is always the star of the show, and the man gets some outstanding noise out of his pedal-steel axe. While instrumental music can sometimes feel a bit bare-bones, you'll never miss the vocals when Roosevelt Collier is laying waste to his slide guitar. He joins with VA Beach funk-rockers Bennett Wales and the Relief and RVA's own blues-wailing machine, The Bush League, to tear the roof off the Camel this Thursday, and you should really be there to see — and hear — it all go down.
Friday, November 9, 7 PM
Pale Waves, Miya Folick, The Candescents @ The Broadberry – $15 in advance/$18 day of show (order tickets HERE)
These days when you hear the sort of reverbed guitars and ambient synth sounds that have been a marker of the goth-postpunk sound in vogue at the moment for several years now, you expect to know what you're getting. Dark moods, downcast eyes, sad lyrics full of desolate imagery that connect strongly with your personal alienation as you sit alone in your room in the dark. But haven't we all had our fill of that sort of approach to the mid-80s postpunk sound? After a few years, all those 80s goth kids turned into bouncy New Wavers that would rather dance to New Order than cry to the Cure anyway — isn't it time we found an antidote for our own post-millennial kohl-eyeliner blues?
That's what Pale Waves is here to offer. The Manchester band may trace their aesthetic back to Siouxsie and the Banshees, but their sound is building on the uplifting synth melodies of recent UK postpunk successes CHVRCHES and adding some of the same glittering guitars and melodic bass lines that the original goth bands excelled at. Recently released LP My Mind Makes Noises hits all the right notes for the kids who still want to wear all black but are discovering the thrill of new love and the promise of sunny days. God knows everything is depressing enough these days… don't we need our music to lift the veil at least a little bit? If you're ready to dance with a smile on your face rather than tears in your eyes, come to The Broadberry this Friday night and bounce to the music of Pale Waves. It can't rain all the time.
Eat Your HRT Out: A Trans Health Clinic Benefit, feat. Toxic Moxie, Madison Turner, Wargo, Dad, Jafar Flowers @ Strange Matter – $15-20 suggested donation
I know, I know, I just wrote about Toxic Moxie like two weeks ago. But what was the rule we established the last time I wrote about them? I do believe it was "you will go see Toxic Moxie whenever they play a show." We just had an election, but this one wasn't on the ballot, so it is still very much in force. You want punk rage and disco euphoria? You want serious political views leavened with some good-time party energy? Toxic Moxie have got it all.
And what's more, they're bringing it to you this time in support of a very good cause. Planned Parenthood's Trans Health Clinic is one of the only steady providers of transgender-specific health services in Richmond, and considering that trans people are much more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than the general population, their patients are more likely to face economic strain in finding ways to pay for their medical care. What your donation at the door of this show — which, in addition to the disco party punk of Toxic Moxie, will also feature an always-rockin' full band set from Madison Turner, some electronic dance sounds from Jafar Flowers, and a good bit more — will go toward is helping ensure that prices for Planned Parenthood's much-needed medical support for the trans community remain as affordable as possible. Plus you'll have a great time in the bargain, and who doesn't need more of those?
Sunday, November 11, 8 PM
Video Shoppe, BUTT, Fat Spirit @ Flora – $?
It's always fascinating to see how people find ways to do a band despite lacking some seemingly crucial core members. Providence duo Video Shoppe easily found a way around this particular dilemma. No drummer? No problem — just bring in a primitive electronic beat machine, trigger it with foot pedals, and stack TVs and VCRs around you to when you play to make up for the fact that there's nobody flailing away behind a kit and giving the audience some sudden moves to latch onto.
But that sort of creative problem-solving only goes so far if you don't have some really cool songs to bring to the world when you play, and Video Shoppe's latest EP, Nostalgia Trap(s), finds them filling that need in excellent fashion as well. Their pounding drum machine makes for an interesting contrast with their delicate postpunk guitar sound, just as their singer's moody baritone offers an emotional feel completely different from that presented by their chiming melodies. The result has both power and ethereality, and will glow brightly in the dark room at the back of Flora this Sunday night. Their pairing with local ramshackle garage-rockers BUTT and the glorious grunge fury of Fat Spirit will round out the evening into a blast of rock n' roll fun you'll be willing to pay whatever the heck they're actually charging at the door to get into.
Monday, November 12, 8 PM
Super Unison, NØ Man, Sensual World, Ugly Muscle @ Strange Matter – $10 (order tickets HERE)
This is one I've been looking forward to. Super Unison recently released their second LP, Stella, and it took their already powerful post-hardcore sound to a whole new level. You may know this group from the fact that singer-bassist Meghan O'Neil previously fronted ripping fastcore band Punch, but from their inception, Super Unison have had a great deal more to offer than O'Neil's previous group, as they both retain the hardcore velocity of Punch and integrate the sort of driving, noisy energy of bands like Drive Like Jehu (who inspired the group's name) and Rodan.
Stella finds Super Unison expanding beyond the sound of their 2016 debut LP by incorporating more dynamic shifts within single songs; they've also increased the melodic quotient of their guitar riffs, even as O'Neil's vocals have become harsher and more emotionally-driven. Some might say these guys have been listening to some of the screamo stuff coming out of their home state of California — Vril, say, or Loma Prieta — and I think there's definitely evidence to support that conclusion. Whether you're a fan of passionate screamo, hardcore fury, or noisy rock chaos, though, you're sure to get a lot out of Super Unison's unrelenting attack. Put yourself in the way of it — you'll never regret it.
Tuesday, November 13, 6:30 PM
Classical Revolution RVA presents Trey Pollard, Matthew E. White @ The HofGarden – $7 in advance/$10 at the door (order tickets HERE)
This is about as far as you can get from post-hardcore rage, but like they say, variety is the spice of life. It's also how we keep things interesting here in Richmond, which a lot of people (including me) will tell you is one of the best music cities in the entire country. This Tuesday night sees some tremendously interesting things happening at The HofGarden, as Spacebomb Records head honchos Trey Pollard and Matthew E. White join together with local chamber music collective Classical Revolution RVA in order to present the live premiere of compositions from Pollard's new album, Antiphone, coming later this month from Spacebomb.
Trey Pollard isn't the sort of musician we're used to interacting with here in the indie rock world. He's a true composer, one who has done orchestral compositions and arrangements for everyone from Spacebomb compatriots Matthew E. White and Natalie Prass to Scottish indie-folk group The Waterboys and This American Life-affiliated podcast S-Town. Now he's releasing the first album of his own compositions, which was recorded by a 16 piece ensemble earlier this year with Pollard conducting. For the performance at The Hof, a string quintet featuring members of Classical Revolution RVA will play compositions from Antiphone live for the first time. They'll also accompany Matthew E. White for portions of a solo piano-and-vocal set that he'll treat us all to, before we dive fully into the bold new works Pollard is bringing into the world. This is an evening for people who love all forms of music, and are most excited to see something unlike anything else out there. If you're a true music fan, you're not going to want to miss it.
Bonus Hampton Roads Picks:
Fishbone, Jackmove @ Shaka's – $27 in advance/$32 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Remember how we were talking earlier about the 90s being back? It doesn't just show through in the return of sounds and styles that were popular back then; it also shows up in all the bands that are getting back together and returning to the road after decades away. Strictly speaking, this doesn't describe Fishbone — they've been together the whole time, with founding vocalist Angelo Moore and bassist John Norwood Fisher sticking around through thick and thin. However, this year has seen the group return to their classic lineup for the first time since the late 90s. Or, well, that's not entirely true — no one familiar with the whole saga will be surprised to hear that Kendall Jones isn't back. But other than Jones, the lineup responsible for classic late-80s/early-90s LPs Truth And Soul, The Reality Of My Surroundings, and the unforgettably titled Give A Monkey A Brain and He'll Swear He's The Center Of The Universe is back once again and hitting the road to remind us why we loved Fishbone back in the day.
Of course, some of you are going to wonder what the heck I'm talking about. I hear you muttering: "Who is Fishbone, and why does it even matter?" Here's the deal: back when "funk-punk" was a real, up-and-coming hybrid genre with underground energy and vitality, Fishbone were at the center of it. Never mind Red Hot Chili Peppers (who knew enough to shout Fishbone out constantly on their early albums); tracks like "Party At Ground Zero," "Bonin' In The Boneyard," "Swim," and "Everyday Sunshine" showed a talented group absorbing everything from ska and soul to hardcore and metal, then spitting it all back out in a wave of talented originality like nothing else out there, then or now. The members of Fishbone are quite a bit older now, but the songs they created in their heyday are still great, and their talent (and singer Angelo Moore's boundless energy) are undiminished. This show will be both the perfect introduction for the young 'uns among you and an outstanding opportunity for those of us who know exactly what Fishbone is all about to see the classic lineup in full nutt-megalomaniac form. Hell yeah.
Good Riddance, Bigwig, Ann Beretta, Counterpunch @ Peabody's – $20 in advance/$22 day of show (order tickets HERE)
And speaking of excellent bands from prior eras returning to demonstrate that they've still got it going on… here's an excellent example of not one but THREE melodic punk bands of the 90s doing exactly that. California's Good Riddance are at the top of this bill, nicknamed the "Fall Brawl 2018," and they've got the kind of gritty hardcore feel underlying their more melodic moments to back that name up. Of the 90s Fat Wreck bands that cemented the skatepunk genre as the go-to sound for a generation of rebellious high school freshmen, Good Riddance were always the toughest, the dirtiest, the most hardcore. Returning to action a few years ago after almost a decade away, 2015's Peace In Our Time showed that Good Riddance still had the goods.
New Jersey's Bigwig haven't made a new album in over a decade, but they've stayed on the road, cranking out their brand of metallically-melodic skatepunk for years now, and they're still bringing the fire as well. More momentous news for longtime fans of RVA punk has been the return over the past couple of years of Ann Beretta, who were mainstays here in Richmond back in the late 90s but have been out of action since shortly after the dawning of the new millennium. They came back to us this year with Old Scars, New Blood, a new album of old hits rerecorded for the modern era, and the word is that they're working on another entirely new collection that'll hit town in the near future. This weekend, though, old-school RVA heads and melodic punk skate rats alike are gonna want to gas up the coupe and head down to Peabody's, because this show is going to be full of excellent sounds from the past three decades of punk rock awesomeness.
Email me if you've got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers–this week's column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [and yeah, there's plenty more of my writing to read over at GayRVA — come say hey.]


The MarTech market is growing faster than most anticipated. In fact, Scott Brinker's annual Marketing Tech Landscape Supergraphic grew by 98% to 1,876 vendors between 2014 and 2015. Unfortunately, most marketers, myself included, are still not sure where to start.At this year's MarTech Conference, I met Rishi Dave, CMO at Dun & Bradstreet, and had the opportunity to interview him to learn more about his marketing stack. Our conversation inspired me to think about "customer experiences" as a stack and the need for marketers to look beyond the "products" stack. Let me be clear that I am no Scott Brinker, but this is my humble effort to help myself and other marketers who are overwhelmed with too many products in the MarTech space.
On a flight flight home, I was stuck in a middle seat between two inebriated passengers. I put my headphones and mulled over a conference presentation from Jill Rowley, the social selling expert who stresses the importance of treating potential customers like human beings, not targets. I'm sitting there and I drew a traditional sales funnel on a paper napkin and then I flipped it.
That was the day that #FlipMyFunnel was born.
Essentially, it's a visual representation of ABM. The beauty of inverting the funnel is that you stop thinking about accumulating a huge volume of leads that have questionable value and instead identify your best-fit accounts and go after them with a laser focus. This way, you create a technology stack of ABM-enabling companies that help businesses engage prospects in a personalized fashion.
The traditional B2B sales and marketing funnel is lead-based, i.e. it is based on the fact that leads come in the top and follow a linear path from awareness through purchase. It starts with an untargeted, broad approach with one primary goal: to capture as many leads as possible at the top and drop them in the sea of email communication. It totally ignores deeper engagement at each level and more importantly, it ignores the basic psychology of customers and treats them as numbers. In complete despair, I flipped the funnel on its head in search of answers — and to my surprise, I was presented with a way to align my business goals with the funnel.
1. Identify – First, we need to find our best-fit customers. That might seem like a daunting task, but trust me, it's not as hard as you think. There are plenty of amazing technologies out there today — like SalesLoft, Data.com from Salesforce,RingLead, LinkedIn Navigator, and a few others — that easily allow us to identify a list of companies that fit our best-fit customer criteria. This becomes our target list of companies and roles that we want to get our message in front of. Why start anywhere else?
2. Expand: This is a tough one because most marketers are so stuck in the lead-based marketing world that it's not quite clear how we can expand our reach to people and influencers in our target list of companies. In full disclosure, I am the co-founder and CMO of Terminus, which specializes in the account-based marketing space and helps marketers target influencers within the accounts they would like to reach. But there are other companies like Demandbase that are making this possible for marketers today. LeanDataInc is taking a completely new approach and makes it possible within Salesforce CRM to pull everything under accounts allowing you to start account-based selling.
3. Engage: This is where content and channels come to life. Think about email, webinars, e-books, targeted ads, videos, events, and any programmatic or automated ways you use to get in front of your target audience (yes, your targetaudience, not just anyone and everyone in the ecosphere like the traditional funnel). This is typically the first step in the traditional funnel and how most marketers operate.
4. Advocate: Turning your customers into raving fans is one of the most underutilized strategies of all time in today's marketing, despite the fact that retaining current customers is far cheaper than bringing in new ones. Most marketing teams have ZERO budget to spend on existing customers (yes, zero). In the so-called modern era of revenue marketing, the revenue is only looked at from a new customer perspective and not from existing customer base, which is by far the greatest opportunity to drive demand and buzz around your own products. Salesforce does this beautifully with events like Dreamforce and the Salesforce One Tour all around the world, but you can also turn customers into advocates using tools like Influitive.
So there you have it — a way to start thinking about building a true "customer experience" stack (or as I like to call it, the #FlipMyFunnel revolution), and a few recommendations for each step in the new and improved funnel.


My earliest memory of this music box is that my mother gave it to me when I was a very little girl. During a quick online search I discovered that it was produced in 1980 by Seymour Mann, so I would have been only 3 years old at the time. I remember sitting on the bed with my mom and being completely enchanted by the music box when she would wind it up for me and it would play "You Light Up My Life". It was incredibly precious to me even as a child and I was always very careful while handling it.
My mother and I are extremely close, and one of the many things we have in common is our deep love for cats. She always told me the two cats on the music box were a mother and daughter, her and I. Almost 35 years later that is still what I see when I look at it.
Feel free to play along with the 52 Snapshots of Life Photo Challenge on your blog, and/or social media, just use the hashtags #PBSG and #52Snapshots.
What a special memory photo! Perfect!
That music box is so precious!
Precious memories and precious music box!
Oh, so very sweet. I love it! Thanks for joining us again this week for #52Snapshots!
What a powerful memory and a beautiful story.
What a beautiful music box and such lovely memories. I think you found the perfect cat slant for this week's challenge.
Both box and memory are absolutely beautiful!
That is so sweet and a treasure for sure.
What a lovely thing - and such a sweet memory to go along with it!
I am just so charmed by the fact that your music photo as well as such special memories are cat themed. Purrfect!!!
Thank you for sharing that sweet memory and music box. Perfect choice for combining cats and music.
What a adorable music box and a treasured memory - thanks for sharing!


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I needed to assess the quality and consistency of production before committing what are frankly, large sums of money to an unknown third party. And I also wanted to make sure that the working conditions were good and that my brand likely to be in an acceptable place ethically. I spent a couple of hours on my first factory visit going through the entire production line and seeing exactly how the standards were set, operated and maintained.
Having worked in many factories as a student, a few things from a health and safety perspective stood out; how noisy and smelly was it, were the 'dangerous' processes adequately managed (do workers have missing or mis-shappen fingers? Seriously!), and do the workforce seem happy – and are they able to move about freely? The fact that the owner himself was happy for me to walk around taking photographs unannounced, I also took to be a good sign.
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Satellite Images Confirm Destruction of Sudan Village Before Vote
Enough Team April 19, 2011 No comments
Posted by Enough Team on April 19, 2011
Militia attacks in South Kordofan last week included the deliberate razing of a village, according to analysis in the latest Satellite Sentinel Project report. The images demonstrate the destruction of more than 350 structures in the el-Feid village in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, a heavily militarized Sudanese border state that is weeks away from holding elections.
Following the incident, leading candidate for the state governor's post Abdelaziz al-Hilu accused fellow candidate and incumbent governor Ahmed Haroun of instigating the violence to prevent the vote from taking place. He said the militias, known as the Popular Defense Forces, killed over 20 people. Hilu is the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, or SPLM, candidate for South Kordofan state governor; Haroun is the rival National Congress Party, or NCP, candidate and is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.
Hilu also alleged that militias attacked a second locale called Um Barmbita. In today's report, Satellite Sentinel Project says that satellite images indicate that the area was also burned, but no visible structures appear to have been destroyed.
Both the U.N. and South Kordofan state authorities have said they would investigate the incident.
Learn more about the attack in "The Razing: Intentional Burning Confirmed at el-Feid, Nuba Mountains" and view the full set of satellite images on the Enough Project's Flickr page.


The Northwest Nomad rally was to be held in Crecent City, California. I was going, then not going...back and forth. Then I was able to get the time off....but found out a wedding was happening that weekend that I didn't want to miss! So my plans were in a constant state of flux, but really...I didn't care where I was riding to, as long as I was riding.
So, Saturday morning I met Jared, Quin, Jason and David in Salt Lake and we set out for Pendleton Oregon. What, you say?!? Pendleton is not on the way to Crecent City? And you are right, we are taking the 'Biker's shortcut'! David had Saturday obligations so he would only ride with us for a short time. I had decided I would only stay with the group for two days and then go on my own way to my obligations.
At a gas stop near Pendleton.
Rest stop just a few miles out of Pendleton.
L to R: Jared, Quin, Jason, Me. Where was Jared hurrying off to you ask?
Looking out from our hotel's (second level, very shaky) parking lot.
The next morning, on our way to visit Mt Saint Helens.
We need to cross this bridge, and go into Washington.
Carson, Washinton, We'll go north from here, make a stop in Randle for lunch, then to the Mt Saint Helens site.
On the road to the site. The devastion from the May 18, 1980 eruption is incredible!
Logs blown here from the blast cover a good part of this lake.
The steps leading to the view area...I lost count at 320 and we estimated at least 100 steps remained. I was slightly out of breath at the top.
This tells of two very lucky people who were in a plane over the volcano when it erupted, they survived and the photos they took aided in the study of the event. We go to Portland for the night.


Please note: contains flashing lights, strobe lighting and haze.
Family & Friends offer from 6 Feb: Buy 4 tickets and save 15% (must include 1 adult / child ticket and excludes other offers).
Pre-show workshops for Icarus are available from £120, 28 Jan - 15 Feb 2019.
If you are attending a relaxed performance, you may find our Visual Story useful to help you prepare.
To book designated access seating for the Audio Described performance of Icarus, enter or quote promo code ACCESS1819. If booking online, this will allow you to select a starred seat which has been allocated for access users. Then select the appropriate tickets, including access user ticket types. The pre-show touch tour will begin at 11.30am (approximate time).
The pre-show touch tour will be available approximately an hour and a half before the performance (the exact start time will be confirmed closer to the performance date). A touch tour is for those with visual impairments to explore the set, costume and props before the show. You can book this online as a suggested extra, this will appear after you have chosen your access user ticket type. Places for touch tours are limited and only for our access patrons and their group.
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Do you remember, in elementary school, when you and a classmate had the same favorite color and that automatically made you best friends? No? What about in high school when letting someone copy your notes meant you were best friends? Maybe? You definitely remember the college years, when your best friend bought you shots for your birthday and that's how you knew it was real. Okay, maybe you won't remember that one but someone does.
Best friends are essential throughout life. You can have one, three, or twelve. You can have best friends in different parts of the world or you can have just the one that lives next door. I'm sure you are not friends with them because they help you through life, but it is definitely a benefit that you would never want to give up. Having a best friend at your job is no different. Here are five benefits of having a best friend at the office.
Whether it's emotional or physical support, your best friend has your back. If you were just scolded by your supervisor, your BFF will comfort you and tell you that your boss is an idiot. If you need someone there to help push your idea to the group, your best friend is there to be your hype man. If you need help moving your desk around, your work bestie is there to lift. You name it, they're right there for you.
Because you have a best friend at work, you never have to worry about being alone for lunch. You two can run off to your favorite restaurant or complain about how bad your day is going in the break room. Lunch time will be the highlight of your day.
Two heads are better than one. You and your work best friend know how to bounce ideas off of each other. As you two brainstorm, the ideas get better and better. The bond between the two of you, makes you the perfect team. Collaboration can be a key component to generating innovative ideas.
When the work week is over and Friday afternoon comes, you can grab your best friend and go to happy hour. No need to wait for your other friends to get off work because you have the best, right in the cubicle next to you. When 5 o'clock hits, it's time to get your weekend started.
Sometimes it is a struggle to get out of bed in the morning. Some days, you have a feeling that work is just not going to be that great. But knowing that your best friend will be there, will motivate you to get out of bed. You need a good laugh and they are there to make it happen. Or you might have to tell them about your date last night, so you hurry, to get to work early.
Do you have a work best friend? Could you imagine what life would be like without them around? Tell us how they have impacted your work life in the comments below.


Terrell wasn't able to keep the momentum from last nights win today in Corsicana. The Tigers took an early 1-0 lead but the Cleburne Yellow Jackets evened the score in the second and took the lead for good in the third. The final was 8-1. Cleburne wins the series and advances to the next round.
I will have a compete recap of the game tomorrow and will post my favorite photos from the season starting Monday.


The SNOW collection from COSSTRAdesign is an Opaline mouth blown glass, powdered with shiny metallic particles and covered by Cristallin glass.
The edges are cut cold and polished by hand.
Our Soja wax is natural, our wicks are braided cotton.
Each Family is developed in 12 models and formats.