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Category Archives: Major League Baseball
THE BEST TEAM EVER?
November 25, 2018 Major League Baseball, Red Sox, Uncategorized, WORLD SERIES WRAPUPBASEBALL, RED SOXbaseballworldbjt
Were the 2018 Boston Red Sox 'the Best team ever to walk the planet' as Chris Sale said in August, or were they just another really good team?
They won 108 games in the regular season and defeated a Yankee team that had won 100 games in the ALDS, three games to one, easily. They defeated the Astros, who were the defending World Series Champions and had won 103 games in the ALCS, four games to one, easily. They beat the Dodgers, who had won the National League pennant, in the World Series, four games to one, easily, and would have swept them had not the turf given way under Kinsler's foot in the13th inning of Game 3.
As a team, they had the highest batting average in baseball, at .268, the most runs scored, 876, only five teams gave up less than the 647 they gave up, the most doubles, 355, the best on base percentage, .339, the best slugging percentage, .453, the highest OPS, .792, the third most stolen bases, 125, and were at or near the top in most other offensive categories.
There is an old adage in baseball that every team, no matter how good, has at least one slump every year, this year's Red Sox were the only team in baseball that never lost more than three games in succession all year.
In Interleague Play, they won 16 and lost 4 against National League opponents, the best Interleague record in baseball.
They had everybody's Most Valuable Player in Mookie Betts, who led the league in batting average at .346, runs scored with 129, slugging percentage at .640, extra base hits, 84, and was the first player in baseball history to win the batting title and join the 30-30 club with 32 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same year. He also won a Gold Glove as the best fielding right fielder and a silver slugger as one of the three best hitting outfielders.
They had J. D. Martinez, who finished fourth in the MVP voting, but most experts felt should have been second behind Betts. He led all of baseball in runs batted in, with 130, in total bases with 358, finished second in the batting average race, .330, and second in home runs, 43, and came that close to winning the Triple Crown, which has been done only once in the last fifty years. He also won the Silver Slugger as an outfielder and as a designated hitter, the first person in baseball history to win the award at two positions in one year, and the Hank Aaron Award as the best hitter in the League.
They also had Chris Sale who, despite missing most of August and September with a shoulder problem still won 12 and lost 4 with a 2.11 earned run average and managed to strike out 237, sixth best in baseball. Rick Porcello won 17 and lost just 7, David Price was 16-7 and Eduardo Rodriguez who also missed a lot of the season with injuries, was 13-5. Their Closer Craig Kimbrel saved 42 games in 47 opportunities with a 2.74 ERA with 96 strikeouts in 62 innings.
The bull pen won 40 games, third best in the league and had the least losses, at 16. They had the fourth best ERA in the league at 3.72 and the third most strikeouts at 628.
Jackie Bradley, Jr., won a Gold Glove in the outfield as did Ian Kinsler at second base. Bradley also had the highest success rate in stealing bases in all of baseball at 94.44%. Andrew Benintendi was tied for first in the league in outfield assists with 12.
Their shortstop, Xander Bogaerts, had an outstanding year at the plate and in the field, hitting .288 with 23 homers and 103 runs batted in while left fielder, Benintendi, hit .290 with 16 homers and 87 runs batted in.
Their depth was an important part of this season. They had 15 position players who had 100 or more at bats and 12 who played in over 80 games. In addition, eight players hit 10 or more home runs and there were 10 grand slam homers hit during the year
Manager Alex Cora, who led the team to its fourth World Series win of the century, and its highest win total in history, 108, finished second in the American League Manager of the Year voting.
They did all this without their leader, Dustin Pedroia who spent almost the entire year recuperating from knee surgery. It is expected that he will be back at full strength to lead the 2019 Sox.
There is no question that the 2018 Red Sox were the best team to play the game that year. Were they the best team ever? That seems a question that no one would ever be able to measure accurately enough to give a definitive answer.
They have been compared with the Yankees of Murderer's Row, the Reds' Big Red Machine, and many others, including the 2004 Red Sox.
There is no question that the players of 2018 are bigger, faster, better conditioned and throw harder than the players of a century or even a decade ago. The players have evolved over time like every species of animal does but each eras players played against similarly equipped players.
Trying to compare players or teams from different eras is like the proverbial comparison of apples and oranges.
The game is still played on the same size diamond, with 90 foot base paths, there are still three outs to an inning, nine innings to a game and the team with the most runs still wins but the players and the equipment they use to get ready and play the game are different.
The only realistic comparison we are able to make accurately is in the area of statistics and, in that area, this team was at least one of the best.
The bottom line is, we will never know if it was the best team ever but anybody who saw them play can testify to the fact that this was as exciting, motivated and talented a team that has played in Fenway Park, or any park for that matter, in a long time.
That should be sufficient for any baseball fan. I know that I feel fortunate to have watched this team do their thing and, whether they were the best team ever or not, they gave me a season for the ages, and that is enough for me.
DIMAGGIO AND WILLIAMS 1941
November 11, 2018 JOE DIMAGGIO, Major League Baseball, Ted Williams, Yankees, Red Sox, Uncategorizedbaseballworldbjt
Seventy-seven years ago today, on November 11, 1941, Joe DiMaggio was named the American League Most Valuable Player and Ted Williams was the runner up. Joe received 291 points in the balloting and Ted got 254, with Joe being named number one on 15 ballots and Ted on eight of the 24 cast.
That year, only months before the attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the nation into war, these two were responsible for two of the most memorable performances in baseball history.
On July `15 of that year, Joe had gone 3 for 4 to extend his consecutive game hitting streak to 56 games, the longest streak in Major League Baseball history and one of the few records that will never be broken. The next day, Joe went hitless against the Cleveland Indians, ending the streak. He was robbed twice of base hits on back handed stabs by Cleveland Indians third baseman, Ken Keltner as he went 0-4 on the day and the Yankees lost 2-1. During the 56 game streak, Joe had 91 hits in 223 at bats for an average of .408.
On July 16, when Joe's streak ended, Ted Williams was batting .395, en route to a final batting average of .406, the last time anyone had hit .400 or better in a season. Ted had played in his first 73 games and had gone 96-243, with 16 home runs and 63 RBI's.
The 56 game streak had started on May 15, 1941 and lasted through July 16. In the 73 game stretch that included both streaks and the 0-4 against Cleveland that ended the first streak, Joe went 120 for 295 for an average of .406, coincidentally, exactly the same average that Ted hit for the entire 154 game season.
When the streak started, on May 15, the Yankees had won 14 and lost 14 and were in fourth place in the American League, five and one half games behind the first place Cleveland Indians. When the streak ended, the Yankees had won 55 and lost 27 and were in first place by six games over Cleveland. During the streak, the Yankees had won 41 and lost just 13.
The Yankees would end the season with 101 wins and 53 losses and would beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, four games to one. The World Series win was the Yankees fifth in six years after winning four in a row, from 1936 until 1939. They would win again in 1943, over the St Louis Cardinals, for a total of six wins and seven series appearances in eight years.
Wee Willie Keeler of the Baltimore team in the old National League had held the consecutive game streak with 45 games prior to Joe's streak. Keeler had his streak over two seasons, from 1896-1897. The closest anyone has ever come in the modern era was Pete Rose's streak of 44 games in 1978.
Joe was no stranger to hitting streaks. He made his debut in professional ball with the San Francisco Seals of the AAA Pacific Coast League in 1932 and, the next year, he had a consecutive game hitting streak of 61 games which lasted from May 27 until July 25. That streak, according to Baseball Almanac, had only been exceeded once when Joe Wilhoit hit in 69 consecutive games in the Western League in 1919.
Yankee and Red Sox fans can and do argue all day about who was the better hitter or the better all around player between the two of them. The fact is that the year 1941 saw two of the greatest performances in the history of baseball by two of the greatest players ever to play the game.
Ted, The Splendid Splinter, and Joe, The Yankee Clipper, had 997 at bats between them that year. Ted came up 456 times and struck out just 27 times. Joe had 541 at bats and 13 strike outs. In 997 at bats, they struck out a total of 40 times between them, an average of one strikeout in every 25 at bats. Ted hit .406 and had 37 homers and 120 RBI's while Joe hit .357 with 30 homers and 125 RBI's.
Ted's performance over the entire year will probably never be equaled and neither will Joe's streak. Ted's career batting average was .344 over 19 years and Joe's was .325 over 13 years. Ted lost four of his most productive years while serving his country in the military in the Second World War and Joe lost three.
eventy-seven years ago today, on November 11, 1941, Joe DiMaggio was named the American League Most Valuable Player and Ted Williams was the runner up. Joe received 291 points in the balloting and Ted got 254, with Joe being named number one on 15 ballots and Ted on eight of the 24 cast.
THE OTHER CURSE
March 11, 2018 Major League Baseball, Red Sox, Uncategorizedbaseballworldbjt
On December 26, 1919, in perhaps the most talked about transaction in the history of baseball, the Boston Red Sox sold George Herman 'Babe' Ruth to the New York Yankees for the princely sum of $100,000. That transaction would be blamed for the many failures of the Red Sox for the next 85 seasons.
The year before, 1918, with the Babe winning 13 and losing 7 as a pitcher and hitting .300 with 11 home runs, which tied him with Tillie Walker, of the Philadelphia Athletics, for the lead in all of baseball, the Sox had won the American League crown with a 75-51 record. They had gone on to win the World Series beating the Chicago Cubs in six games. In 1919, despite the Babe hitting .322, leading all of baseball with 29 homers and winning 9 while losing 5 with a 2.97 ERA while on the mound, the Sox had slipped to sixth place with a 66-71 record.
Red Sox fans couldn't believe that the Babe was gone, to of all places, the Yankees. And so, the Curse of the Bambino was born. Red Sox fans would blame The Curse for every bad thing that happened to their Sox, until 2004, when the Sox finally broke The Curse winning the World Series for the first time in 86 years. That year, as all Red Sox fans know, the Sox were down to the Yankees three games to none and facing elimination in the American League Championship Series but came back to win four in a row to defeat the Yankees and then went on to sweep the Cardinals in the World Series.
Few, if any, Red Sox fans would be able to name the trade which was perhaps the second worst the Red Sox ever made. Four years after trading the Babe to the hated Yankees, on January 30, 1923, the Sox traded right handed pitcher Herb Pennock to the Yankees for Norm McMillan, George Murray and Camp Skinner and $50,000. cash. McMillan, an infielder, played one year with the Sox and hit .253 with no homers and 42 RBI's. Murray, a pitcher, won 9 and lost 20 in two years in Boston with a 5.48 ERA. Camp Skinner, an outfielder, lasted just one year, getting 3 hits in 13 at bats.
On the other end of that trade, Pennock, who had won 62 and lost 59 with a 3.67 ERA at Boston in the eight years from 1915 to 1922 went on to win 162 while losing 90 for the Yankees in the next 11 years.
In that time, he played in four World Series with the Yankees. In 1923, when the Yankees beat the New York Giants in the Series, he started two games, won them both and had one complete game. In 1926, when the Yankees lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, he started two games, pitched complete games and won both. In 1927, when the Yankees beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, he started and completed one game and got the win. In 1932, when the Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs, at age 38, he didn't start a game but relieved in two and got the save in both. In four World Series with the Yankees, he was 5-0 with 4 complete games, 2 saves and a 2.07 ERA.
It probably didn't hurt Pennock at all that, during the 11 years he played for the Yankees, he had an outfielder named Babe Ruth who hit .346 with 448 homers, 1,365 RBI's and a .694 slugging percentage, playing behind him.
To make matters worse from a Red Sox point of view, Pennock had remarkable success against the Red Sox while with the Yankees. In his first year at New York, he won 19 and lost just six games but, remarkably, only faced the Sox once, in relief, pitching one inning and giving up one hit and no runs, with no decisions.
The next year, 1924, the Red Sox began to pay dearly for the trade. Pennock faced them in five starts, won four of them and the other was a tie called after five innings. He pitched two complete games, one of them a shutout, beating the Sox on September 3, 5-0, on five hits. He won 21 and lost 9 that year and finished fourth in the Most Valuable Player voting and had a 40-15 record overall since coming to New York from Boston.
In 1925, he started six games against them and won four while losing two, four of them, including one of the losses, were complete games. They beat him on May 26th, 3-2, despite him throwing a complete game and giving up only eight hits. In his first three years as a Yankee he had beaten the Sox 8 times while losing just 2 and had six complete games. His overall record slipped to 16-17 that year.
In 1926, while posting a 23-11 regular season record for the American League Champion Yankees, he started against the Red Sox five times, won four of them, all complete games and had one no decision. He finished third in the Most Valuable Player voting that year.
He only started against the Red Sox three times in 1927, beating them 7-3 on June 3rd in a complete game, 7-4 on July 1st and 14-2 in another complete game on September 6th. He had now won 15 and lost 2 against the Sox in the last four years, while compiling a 98-61 record.
In 1928, at the age of 34, he won 17 and lost 6 overall with a 2.56 ERA. He started four games against the Sox, beating them with a complete game, 7-2, on April 19th, losing to them 7-1 on June 23rd and shutting them out, on three hits, for a complete game win 8-0 on August 12th. He also started and went seven innings with no decision against them on July 24th, leaving behind 3-1 in a game the Yankees scored four runs to win 5-3 in the ninth.
From 1929 until 1933, his last year with the Yankees, Pennock won 47 and lost 33 and was 13-5 against the Red Sox with 11 complete games in 18 starts.
After the 1933 season in which he won 7 and lost 4 but was used mostly in relief, starting only five games, at age 39, he was released by the Yankees on January 5, 1934. The Red Sox signed him as a Free Agent on January 20th. That year, he started only two games and had a 2-0 record as a reliever. Ironically, after winning 30 and losing just 8 games for the Yankees against the Sox, he faced the Yankees three times in relief for the Red Sox and got no decisions but the Sox lost all three games. In games in which he pitched that year, the Sox won 6 and lost 24. He retired as a player after the 1934 season.
Herbert Jefferis Pennock was born on February 10, 1894 in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. He was signed as a Free Agent by the Philadelphia Athletics in May of 1912 at age 18 and went right to the Major Leagues. In four years with the Athletics, used primarily in relief, he pitched in 70 games and won 17 and lost 13 with a 3.77 ERA.
He spent 1912 until June of 1915 with the Athletics. In 1914, he won 11 and lost 4 as the Athletics won the American League League pennant with a 99-53 record. They were swept in the World Series by the Boston Braves and Pennock only got into one game in relief, pitching three scoreless innings and giving up two hits.
On June 6, 1915, the Red Sox claimed him off waivers from the Athletics and he won 55 and lost 52 with a 3.68 ERA from 1916 until 1922.
He had won 10 and lost 17, with a 4.32 ERA in 1922 and the Red Sox traded him to the Yankees and the Knight of Kennett Square, as he was known, made them pay for it in the next 11 years. In the 11 years Pennock and Ruth teamed up on the Yankees, they finished first five times, second four times, third once and seventh once. In the same period the Sox, without Ruth and Pennock, finished in last eight times, seventh once and sixth once.
Pennock was named to the Hall of Fame in 1948. In his career, he won 241 and lost 162 with a 3.60 earned run average. After he retired from play, he became General Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies and stayed in that position until he passed away in 1948.
The Curse of the Bambino got the publicity but the trade of Herb Pennock may have hurt the Sox just as much.
THE RIGHT TIME FOR J. D.
February 25, 2018 Major League Baseball, Red Sox, Uncategorizedbaseballworldbjt
On the surface, it looks like the Red Sox got J. D. Martinez at just the right time in his career. He started the 2017 season with the Detroit Tigers and was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 18. He had missed the first 33 games of the season after suffering a sprain in his right foot in Spring Training.
After coming back, he played 119 of the two teams' 129 remaining games, a larger percentage of his teams' games than he had played in any of his seven seasons with the exception of 2015, when he played 158 games for the Tigers. In his 119 games, he hit 45 home runs and drove in 104 runs while posting a .303 batting average and a .690 slugging percentage which was the highest average in the Majors but he did not have enough at bats to qualify for number one.
Forty-five home runs in 119 games is the equivalent of 61 home runs in a 162 game season and 104 RBI's is the equivalent of 142 over the whole season. In addition to playing more than he usually does, he was more productive than he had ever been.
Martinez, as I am sure every Red Sox fan knows, was signed by the Sox on Monday of last week as a Free Agent for five years at $110. million. He is a 30 year old right handed hitting, outfielder/designated hitter that everyone expects will take over the role of DH in the Sox lineup to fill the hole that has exited since David Ortiz retired at the end of the 2016 season.
His doing so will allow the Sox to platoon the right handed hitting Hanley Ramirez and left handed hitting Mitch Moreland at first base. Neither of those two were very productive last year. Moreland hit .246 with 22 homers and 79 runs batted in, just about his average over the past five years, after a good start. Ramirez, who had hit. 286 with 30 homers and 111 RBI's in 2016, fell of to a .242 batting average and 62 RBI's. If one of the two should have a good year, the other may get lost in the shuffle. Ramirez can opt out of his contract and become a Free Agent in 2019 if he gets less than 497 at bats and the Sox may want that to happen to free up his salary to use to retain other players.
This may have to be the year the Red Sox make their move to go all the way as anyone who thinks that the young nucleus of this club, Betts, Bogaerts, Bradley, Vazquez and company are all going to be here for many more years does not understand the lure of Free Agency that will be facing them all soon.
This week, the man that I think of as 'The Idiot in the Commissioner's Office' announced his latest attempts to tinker with the game of baseball, which he appears to know less about than a young Tee Ball player.
In an attempt to speed up play, he and his Pace of the Game Committee have convinced the Major League Baseball Player's Association to agree to changes in the rules which will take effect at the start of the 2018 season.
Manager's, Coaches and players will be limited to a maximum of six visits to the mound during each nine inning game. If a game goes into extra innings, one additional visit will be allowed for each inning. These six visits will not include trips for purposes of cleaning cleats on rainy days, injuries or visits caused by an offensive substitution. It will not include communication from players to pitchers if either does not leave his normal position. Umpires will also be allowed to grant an exception where a catcher and pitcher have gotten crossed up on a sign.
Breaks between innings will be limited to 2 minutes five seconds for locally televised games, 2 minutes 25 seconds for nationally televised games and 2 minutes 55 seconds for tie breaker or post season games. The pitcher will not be limited to eight warmup pitches between innings but the amount he gets will be limited to the amount he can throw up to 20 seconds before the start of play. The pitcher must deliver the first pitch and the batter must be ready for it before the end of the break. The timing above applies to relief pitchers as well and the time starts when the pitcher crosses the warning track on his way in.
Given the fact that baseball's previous attempts to make a pitcher deliver a pitch in a timely fashion have failed because of the umpires inability or unwillingness to impose penalties, this will probably fail, too. The next step will probably involve some other stupid idea like setting up time clocks in the dug outs, bull pens and batter's box so that players can sign in.
Trying to fix some of the problems caused by lengthy instant replay delays, each team will be provided with slow motion cameras in the club house and telephones between the clubhouse and the dugout to relay information about questionable calls. Of course, because the communications systems could be used for sign stealing, all calls will be recorded.
If the instant replay system, which slows down the pace of play, were never started, we wouldn't have to worry about this. What would have been wrong with leaving baseball as the one place where the technological explosion did not rear its ugly head?
On Wednesday of this week, John Healy, reported in the New York Daily News that, according to Rich Eisen, on his radio show, said "an MLB executive told him of an idea about allowing the manager of the trailing team to bat whomever he chooses in the ninth inning in an effort to ramp up more excitement."
"Baseball is the only sport by mere randomness and happenstance, the best players are not out on the field with the game on the line," Eisen said. "Potentially down by two, ninth inning, you got 7-8-9 up."
There have been some ludicrous ideas disguised as methods to make the game more exciting but this one literally takes the cake. Get ready because the next idea may be participation trophies for everybody who doesn't make the playoffs to keep the weaker teams' fans excited and involved.
On a brighter note, here we are on February 25th, just 32 days from the Red Sox opening game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field and things look a lot better for the Sox than they did a week ago.
THE 2018 RED SOX
Last year, at this time, with Spring Training ready to start, Red Sox fans were wondering what their boys were going to do without David Ortiz and the huge offensive boost he gave them in 2016, his last year. Big Papi, at age 40, in his final year in baseball, had put together a last season unmatched in the history of baseball. He had hit .315, with 38 homers, led the league in runs batted in with 127, doubles with 48 and slugging percentage with an average of .620.
With him leading the way, the Sox had won the American League Eastern Division with a record of 93 wins and 69 losses but had been swept by the Cleveland Indians in the American League Division Series. They had led all of baseball with a .282 team batting average, a .348 on base percentage, a .461 slugging percentage, 1,598 hits and 878 runs scored. They had the Cy Young winner in Rick Porcello, who won 22 and lost 4, the runner up in the Most Valuable Player voting, Mookie Betts who had hit
.318, with 24 homer and 102 runs batted in and led the league in total bases with 359.
Until the meltdown in the last week of the season, when they led by 5½ games with six to play and lost five out of their last seven and still won by four games, and the collapse in the playoffs, 2016 had been a magical year. Xander Bogaerts had hit .294 with 21 homers and 89 runs batted in, Hanley Ramirez, out of left field and playing first base, hit .286 with 30 homers and 111 runs batted in, Jackie Bradley, who had a huge hot streak mid season, batted only .267 but had 26 homers and 87 runs batted in, Dustin Pedroia hit .318 with 15 homers and 74 runs batted in and Sandy Leon had a career year, batting .310.
In addition to Porcello's great year, David Price, although not living up to expectations, won 17 and lost 9, Steven Wright, although he missed the whole month of September, won 13 and lost 6. Craig Kimbrel had 31 saves with only two blown saves.
Over the winter, before starting Spring Training in 2017, the Sox got left handed starter Chris Sale from the White Sox. Sale, in five years as a starter with Chicago, had won 74 and lost 50 and had finished in the top six in the Cy Young voting each year. They also picked up Mitch Moreland, a left handed hitting, first baseman, who had batted .262 with 110 homers and 354 runs batted in in seven years with the Texas Rangers.
In the 2017 season, the offensive production of several key players in the Sox lineup fell off dramatically. Mookie Betts hit .318 in 2016 and just .264, in 2017, Xander Bogaerts fell from .294 to .273, Hanley Ramirez from .286 to .242, Jackie Bradley, from .267 to .245, Sandy Leon from .310 to
In addition, Betts fell from 31 homers in 2016 to 24 in 2017, Bogaerts from 21 to 10, Ramirez 30 to 23, Bradley 26 to 17. On top of this, Dustin Pedroia who played in 154 games in 2017 and batted .318, missed a large part of the 2017 season with injuries and hit just .293 with 82 less hits and 8 less homers. These five players had 42 less homers than they did in 2016.
Mitch Moreland, the first baseman who was acquired from Texas and was expected to provide a boost offensively, batted just .246 with 22 homers and 79 RBI's. Between Moreland and Hanley Ramirez, there is bound to be more production this year than last in the first base/designated hitter slot.
Sale, despite faltering toward the end of the season, won 17 and lost 8 with a 2.90 ERA and Drew Pomeranz, after a 3-5 season with a 4.59 ERA in 2016, won 17 and lost 6, with a 3.32 ERA. The rest of the staff left a lot to be desired. David Price after a 17-9 season, won just 6 and lost 3, Rick Porcello went from his 22-4 Cy Young season to 11-17 and David Wright, who had won 13 and lost 6 in 2016, won only one game and lost three before being lost for the season to surgery.
With all the disappointments of 2017, the Red Sox managed to win 93 and lose 69, the same record as the previous year and won the American League East for the second consecutive year, edging out the surprising, young Yankees by two games, despite losing five of their last seven games again in a collapse as bad as that in 2016. They then faced the Houston Astros in the ALDS, the eventual World Series winners, and lost in four games to end the season.
All through the winter, there has been speculation that the Sox would pick up a power hitter and some pitching help but, as of this writing, there have been no significant acquisitions in those areas. There is the possibility that they might resign Eduardo Nunez, who became a Free Agent at the end of 2016, but is still available as of this writing.
Nunez, who hit .321 with 8 homers and 27 RBI's in just 38 games, while playing second base, third base and all three outfield positions, after being acquired late in the season, should be brought back. When he played his first game for the Sox on July 28th last year, the Sox had won 56 and lost 47, a .544 win/loss percentage. From then until September 25th, when, if you remember, John Farrell tried to play him when he could barely walk, the Sox were 35-18, a .660 win/loss percentage. Even on one foot, he doubled off the wall in his first at bat and lined out in his second before having to be helped off the field, ending his season. His bat and versatility could be key to the success of this team. If Moreland and/or Ramirez should fail to produce he could fill in at either first or DH.
The position players, Moreland at first, Pedroia at second, Bogaerts at short, Devers at third, Benintendi in left, Bradley in center and Betts in right, with Vazquez and Swihart or Leon behind the plate, all have the ability to produce offensively at a higher level than they did last year.
Sale has never had a bad season, Price appears to be healthy and Porcello should rebound from last year's off season. With those three Cy Young winners and Pomeranz who seems to have come into his own, Rodriguez, if he can stay healthy, and Steven Wright regains close to his 2016 form, the Sox have, potentially, as good a starting staff as anybody in baseball.
The bullpen, with Closer Craig Kimbrel, Matt Barnes, Blaine Boyer, Heath Hembree, Joe Kelly, Kyle Kendricks, Carson Smith and my favorite youngster Austin Maddox, can compete with any team in baseball.
This Red Sox team, if they stay healthy and produce to levels at or close to levels at which they all have shown they can, could win the Eastern Division again. If they produce as they have shown they can, even that young powerhouse in New York will have trouble staying with them.
WILBER'S 3 HISTORIC SWINGS
January 21, 2018 Major League Baseball, Uncategorizedbaseballworldbjt
In 1951, a field level box seat for a baseball game in Shibe Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, was $2.50, a reserved seat cost $2. and the average price of a ticket in the ballpark, according to the Sabre Project was $1.45. A hot dog and coke cost the princely sum of 35 cents.
In those days, before doubleheaders required two admissions, a single ticket got you into both games of a doubleheader. So, for $2.50 you could see two major league games and I won't even begin to compare those prices with today's because everybody in the world, including me, has already done that.
On Monday, August 27, 1951, the Phillies were hosting the Cincinnati Reds in one of those doubleheaders, the second in two days. For $5.00 you could have seen a doubleheader two days in a row. The Reds won Game 1 of the Sunday doubleheader by a score of 4-2. Two of the top pitchers in baseball pitched the game. Ewell 'The Whip' Blackwell pitched a complete game for the win, besting the Phillies' Robin Roberts, who had led the Phils to the pennant the previous year. Roberts went eight innings, giving up three runs on ten hits for the loss.
The Phils, behind a three hit, complete game, shutout by Rookie Niles Jordan, won Game 2, 2-0. Jordan, a 26 year old left hander, was pitching in his first Major League game. After such a great start he would lose three and win just one more that year before being traded the Reds after the season. He would pitch in just three games the next year losing one, and never pitch in the Majors again. The losing pitcher in that game was Willie Ramsdell, who also threw a complete game three hitter but gave up two runs, one of which scored on a line drive out to center field by the rookie pitcher Jordan.
If you had a second $2.50 to spend, in Game 1, on Monday, Jocko Thompson of the Phillies pitched a complete game shut out, giving up three hits, to best the Reds' Herman Wehmeier, who pitched a complete game four hitter as the Reds lost again, 2-0. The second consecutive game in which both starters had pitched a complete game.
In the second game of the Monday doubleheader, Ken Johnson started for the Phils and Ken Raffensberger started for the Reds. Johnson pitched a complete game shutting out the Reds on seven hits and Raffensberger giving up three runs and nine hits in seven innings for the loss. Pitching was not the whole story of the game, though.
Johnson held the Reds scoreless in the first three innings and Raffensberger shut out the Phils in the first two. In the bottom of the third, however, the Phils' catcher Del Wilber, leading off the inning, hit the first pitch he swung at high over the left center field wall for a solo homer to put the Phils up 1-0. The score stayed that way until the sixth. In the last of the sixth, Wilber led off again and, this time, again hit the first pitch he swung at over the left field wall for his second homer, and it was 2-0.
In the bottom of the seventh, with the score still 2-0, Raffensberger got the first batter, Putsy Caballero, to ground out. With one out, Wilber came to the plate again and hit the first pitch he swung at over the left field wall for his third home run of the game, on three pitches.
Unfortunately, we'll never know what would have happened if Wilber had come to bat again in that game. He would have been the second batter in the last of the ninth but the game ended after 8½ innings with the Phils winning 3-0.
As best I can determine, no other player in the history of baseball has hit three home runs on three swings, driving in and scoring all of the runs scored in a game. In his eight year playing career, Del Wilber hit a total of only19 home runs but, on that one day, he was a power hitter and came as close to having a perfect game as any hitter ever did.
He would be traded to the Red Sox the following year and play three seasons in Boston, getting into 129 games and batting .231. His career average for his eight years playing was .242. He managed and coached in the minors and coached in the major leagues for many years after his retirement and, as an interim manager with the Texas Rangers in 1973, won the only game he managed giving him a perfect 1.000 winning percentage as a manager.
With six complete games pitched in the space of two days, three shutouts and Wilber's remarkable feat, the fans who paid $5.00 for their tickets to those four games certainly got their money's worth.
Del Wilber and his family had a long love affair with baseball. Two of his sons, Del Wilber, Jr. and Bob Wilber, manage the family's The Perfect Game Foundation which provides funding to 'open doors and create opportunities for those who aspire to a business career in sports'.
Bob contacted me after reading my column about 80 Years of Loving Baseball and we have had some interesting correspondence about players in that era. He was the bat boy for the AAA Denver Bears when his Father managed there and my friend Jimmy Driscoll from New Hampshire played for him. You can bet that Del Wilber, another of those special people that devoted his life to this great game, will end up in Volume IV of THE BASEBALL BUFF'S BATHROOM BOOKS, which will be out this spring.
CATFISH HUNTER'S LEGACY
Thirty years ago yesterday, James Augustus Hunter, was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, getting 315 of the 413 ballots cast, just 76.3% of the vote, barely surpassing the required 75% for induction.
In the eight year period from 1971 until 1978, James 'Catfish' Hunter won 149 games and lost just 79, a .654 win/loss percentage; played in the Post Season seven times; played in six World Series', five of which he was on the winning team, three times in succession from 1972-1974, with the Oakland Athletics and twice with the New York Yankees. He started 268 games in that period and finished an amazing 130 of them, with 29 shutouts, was named to the All Star Team five times and won the Cy Young Award in 1974. He averaged 19 wins and 10 losses per year, 34 starts, 16 complete games and 254 innings pitched per year.
From 1971 until 1974, with the Oakland Athletics, he won 20 or more games four years in a row for a total of 88 wins and just 35 losses and went 4-0 while leading Oakland to three consecutive World Series' titles.
There have been pitchers who had better careers in the history of baseball than Catfish Hunter but few, if any, have had a run of consistent success like Catfish had in those periods. His plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame reads
' The bigger the game, the better he pitched. One of baseball's most dominant pitchers from 1971-76, winning over 20 five straight years, Compiled 224-166 mark with 3.26 ERA before arm trouble ended his career at age 33.'
Jim Hunter was born in Hertford, North Carolina on April 8, 1946. He led his Perquiman's High School teams to state championships in baseball, football and track and was signed by the Kansas City Athletics on June 8, 1964, shortly after he led his high school team to the state championship.
He played for the Athletics team in the Florida Instructional League in 1964, compiling a 3-5 record with a 3.76 ERA, starting eight games and pitching five complete games, one of them a shut out.
The following season, he made the huge jump to the Majors and made his debut on May 13, 1965, in relief. He finished that year with an 8-8 record and a 4.26 ERA but had three complete games and two shut outs in 20 starts. Not a particularly good start for a future Hall of Famer but not bad for a 19 year old with no Minor League experience. Over the next two years, 1966 and 1967, with a Kansas City team that won just 136 and lost 185 to finish seventh and tenth in the American League, he won 22 and lost 28 with a 3.30 ERA and 17 complete games and five shutouts in 60 starts.
On May 8, 1967 he pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins in Oakland at age 22, only the seventh perfect game in the Modern Era.
The Athletics moved to Oakland in 1968 and, during his first three years in Oakland, Catfish won 43 and lost 42 with a 3.51 ERA, 30 complete games and 10 shutouts.
In 1971, led by 25 year old Hunter with a 21-11 record, a 2.96 ERA, 16 complete games and four shut outs, the A's won the American League West with a 101-60 record. In the ALCS, they were swept in three games by the Eastern Division Champion Baltimore Orioles and Catfish started and lost Game, 5-1, despite pitching a complete game.
Over the next three years, the A's won the pennant and World Series each year. In 1972, he won 21 and lost 7 with a 2.04 ERA, finishing fourth in the Cy Young Award balloting. In the ALCS, against Detroit, he started Game 1, going eight innings and giving up just one run on four hits in a game the A's eventually won in 11 innings 3-2. In Game 4, Catfish started again and lasted 7 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on six hits in a game the A's lost in 10 innings, 4-3.
In the World Series that year, which the A's won in seven games against the Cincinnati Reds, he won Game 2, going 8 2/3 innings and giving up one run on six hits and started Game 5, leaving ahead 4-3 in the fifth in a game the A's lost 5-4 but he came back to get the win in Game 7, relieving in the fifth and pitching 2 2/3 innings giving up just one run as the A's won the game and the series.
In 1973, he had a sensational 21-5 record with a 3.34 ERA and finished third in the Cy Young voting as the A's won the West again. In the ALCS, he started and won Game 2, 6-3 and four days later, came back to throw a complete game five hitter in Game 5 to send the A's to the World Series again. In the Series, he started Game 3, which the A's won in 11 innings, 3-2, going six innings and giving up just two runs on seven hits. In Game 6, with the A's down 3 games to 2 and facing elimination, he started and held the Mets to one run on four hits through 7 1/3 innings and got the win as the A's won, 3-1 to extend the Series to seven games. The A's won Game 7, 5-2, to take their second consecutive Series.
The A's went all the way again in 1974, with Catfish winning 25 and losing 12 and posting a league leading 2.49 ERA with 23 complete games of 41 starts and 6 shutouts. He was named the Cy Young Award winner. In the Playoffs, which the Athletics won, four games to two, against the Orioles, he started and lost Game 1, leaving in the fifth, behind 6-1, after giving up a homer to Brooks Robinson and a grand slam to Paul Blair. He came back in Game 4 and pitched a three hit shutout for seven innings and the win to take the A's to the Series.
In the Series, in which the A's beat the Dodgers in five games, Hunter came in in relief with two outs in the ninth and the tying run at the plate in Game 1 and struck out Joe Ferguson for the game and the save. He started and won Game 3, holding the Dodgers to one run on five hits as the A's won 3-2 to go up four games to one.
After the 1974 season was over in the disposition of a dispute over Finley refusing to pay some benefits in his contract, he was declared a Free Agent and signed with the Yankees for $3.75 million for five years and became the first Free Agent.
In his first year with the Yankees, he won 23 and lost 14 and led the league in complete games with 30 and innings with 328. He had a 2.58 ERA and 7 shutouts and finished second to Jim Palmer in the Cy Young balloting. He went on to help the Yankees to three World Series appearances in the next four years, two of which they won. He won 63 and lost 53 in his five years in New York but the toll on his arm and his diabetes that reduced his effectiveness those last years caused him to retire at 33. He was one of only four pitchers to win 200 games by the age of 31.
After the 1979 season, in which, at age 33, he won just two and lost nine with a 5.31 ERA, Catfish was forced to retire due to his diabetes. He passed away from Lou Gehrig's disease on September 9, 1999. Despite his career being cut short, Catfish Hunter had one of the most productive careers of any pitcher in Major League history.


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About Us » Equalities
Equality Objective
The public sector Equality Duty (PSED) came into force in April 2011 and requires organisations to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations.
The duty has a key role to play in making sure that fairness is at the heart of public bodies' work and that public services meet the needs of different groups.
The general equality duty
Section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 puts various requirements on academies when exercising their functions. The general duty requires academies to have due regard to:
eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited under the Act
advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it
foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
Having "due regard" means consciously thinking about the three aims of the PSED as part of the process of decision-making. This means that consideration of equality issues must influence the decisions reached by academies, such as:
how they act as employers
how they develop, evaluate and review policy
how they design, deliver and evaluate services
how they commission and procure from others.
We have agreed the following equality objectives:
All pupils will have personalised curriculum offer built around their specific needs;
Staff will ensure that all pupils are able to take part in extra-curricular activities and residential visits, and the school will monitor uptake of these visits to ensure no one is disadvantaged on the grounds of a protected characteristic;
The school will ensure that all forms of prejudice-motivated bullying is taken seriously and dealt with equally and firmly;
There will be a clearly defined behaviour management system, which will be consistently applied;
The school will take all necessary steps to meet pupils' needs by using a variety of approaches, enabling our pupils to take as full a part as possible in the activities of the school;
The school will ensure there is adequate access to the physical environment of the school;
Throughout the year, the school will plan ongoing events to raise awareness of equality and diversity;
The school will consult with stakeholders, i.e. pupils, parents/carers, staff and relevant community groups, to review equality objectives. These equality objectives will be reviewed annually;
Bullying and prejudice will be carefully monitored and dealt with accordingly. Regular training will be given to both existing and new staff to ensure that they are aware of the process for reporting and following up incidents of prejudice-related bullying.
A copy of the school Equality & Diversity Policy can be accessed here.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Edible Communities: Building Relationships One Meal at a Time
Eric Cardenas
Food & Drink, Lifestyle
We arrive at the headquarters of Edible Communities, a two-story Santa Barbara home nestled above the town's historic mission. It's a colonial-style structure flanked by native oaks, with a scattering of lemon trees and potted herbs. It's also the base of operations for a network of over 70 locally-based food magazines preaching the power of good food and community across North America.
Co-founder Tracey Ryder greets us at the driveway. As we follow her inside, she smiles as she warns us about a pair of ferocious golden retrievers. We follow her inside. The smell of roasting chicken fills the air. The dogs are friendly, with wagging tails and inquisitive noses.
Edible Communities founders, Carole Topalian and Tracey Ryder (from L to R)
In the living room, we meet the other half of Edible's founding team – photographer Carole Topalian. She helped start Edible Communities with Tracey while they were living and working in Ojai ten years ago. The concept kicked off on a premise and a dream that food should be celebrated, shared, and enjoyed as a way to build and support local communities.
Both ladies grew up in families with strong connections to food and food production. Tracey's family farmed for generations in upstate New York while the Topalians owned a restaurant business in the Los Angeles area. This upbringing, coupled with a desire to break away from the routine of owning a successful design firm, gave way to what is now a force among foodies and farmers alike.
"Part of our inspiration came from a lesson we learned on life being too short," says Tracey. "My mom always said 'do what you love' – and that's exactly what we've done." And how the dream has grown: Edible Communities is now a nationwide network of 72 independently-licensed publishers, with over 15 million readers.
Backyard pizza oven ready for some home baked pizzas!
The Edible model is all about working with local resources. Individual publications have their own staff and design teams and are locally owned and operated. Edible Communities provides training, contract and advertising assistance, and logistics; as well as an in-house network allowing Edible partners to share information nationwide. The network continues to grow at a rate of ten new community-based magazines each year.
"This is all about the power of community relationships," says Carole. "We've established a community among communities. The talent lies in being curious and positive."
Both ladies feel they've found a great home base for their network in Santa Barbara, CA. After leaving Ojai and spending brief periods in Portland and Santa Fe, both Carole and Tracey are in comfortable territory living and working in the progressive environment of the Central Coast region.
"Pride in community – it's something unique to special places," says Tracey. "Santa Barbara has that, and we like it."
The annual Edible Institute now takes place in Santa Barbara, giving hundreds of Edible partners and food advocates from around the country a chance to network, share stories, and learn about emerging food culture.
Tracey Ryder at home with friends.
The Edible founders keep a close include the eye on food trends. Emerging trends on the Edible radar increased interest in heirloom varietals of fruits, vegetables and meats, old world style foods and flavors, and "do it yourself" (DIY) food security projects.
"The DIY/punk domestic trend is amazing," says Tracey. "Everyone is canning, preserving, freezing, and dehydrating everything … It used to be something that your grand- mother would do. Craft brewing, the 'garagistas' we're seeing. People now have a manifesto rather than a mission."
For Edible Communities, mission and manifesto are one and the same: to become a conduit for more than food – to build relationships through personal interaction, and to revive and keep alive the concept of vibrant and thriving communities.
As we wrap up our interview with the Edible founders in their office, we couldn't help but ask about the chicken roasting in the kitchen next to us.
"We're about to publish an app that will hold 100 recipes," says Tracey. "Fifty of them are our own, and fifty are from various Edible partners. We wanted to try them all and today we're tasting the chicken. With this recipe complete, the ladies were only two recipes away from re- leasing the app on iTunes.
So what's next? "In five years, "we'll have 50 more Edibles," says Tracey. "It's that simple.
To find out more about Edible Communities, visit their website: www.ediblecommunities.com.
Written by Eric Cárdenas | Photos by Matt Perko
Editor's Note- This article appeared in Vol. 1 (Fall) of LoaLiving Magazine. For clarification purposes, individual Edible publications (e.g. Edible Santa Barbara, Edible Brooklyn, etc.) are owned and operated by community members residing in those areas where Edible publications exist. Edible Communities serves as the broader collaborative network that provides for increased resource and information sharing among the 70+ independent Edible publications.
Community, food
Sin City—Beyond the Strip
Focusing on Santa Barbara's Funk Zone
Pingback : Edible Communities: Building Relationships One Meal at a Time | loatree.com | Food issues | Scoop.it


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Add Internet Crowdsourcing to the Choreographer's Toolbox
February 18, 2013 by Nichelle Suzanne (owner/editor)
Hundreds of submissions are being considered.
If you used the Twitter hashtag #DiabloWebBallet to suggest your choreographic ideas before Valentine's Day, yours is among them and could be one of seven used to create Diablo Ballet's new "Web Ballet."
Throughout my 5 years as a dance writer and blogger, I've witnessed plenty of choreographer experimentation with the social medium. This is the first time I've encountered an Internet audience collaboration which will result in a fully-staged ballet work. Not surprisingly, this project comes from Diablo Ballet, a small, California-based ballet company that's taking big strides in step with a big mission: to make dance more accessible to everyone, including the online audience.
Diablo Ballet – Robert Dekkers and Hiromi Yamazaki; Photo by Ashraf
Diablo dancer and founder of San Francisco's Post:Ballet dance company, Robert Dekkers, will choreograph the ballet in time for its March 1st premiere, less than two weeks away. Still, Robert took some time this weekend to talk with us about The Web Ballet project and his development and process as a choreographer.
Dance Advantage: How was the idea of doing a "web ballet" presented to you? And what was your initial reaction?
Robert Dekkers: The concept started with an activity Diablo Ballet regularly does during outreach performances where audiences are asked to choose a setting, character, and title for a new ballet. The piece is quickly constructed and, using live music, the two dancers act out the new ballet — always to the audience's amusement!
Dan [Meagher, Diablo Ballet's marketing director] thought it would be fun to recreate the experience online, and so Lauren [Jonas, co-founder and Artistic Director] approached me and asked if I'd be interested in participating. I was immediately interested in the project, but wanted to discuss it further before committing.
I was eager for people to submit choreographic limitations that would define my creative path as the choreographer, and after we met to brainstorm about the project we decided to blend these two ideas together and solicit suggestions of any type; mood, specific steps, thematic concept, rules for the dancers to follow. We suggested emotional state, mood and dance moves to get people's gears turning. I look forward to selecting a final group of seven ideas to incorporate into the new piece.
DA: Do the 'question marks' scare you just a little bit?
RD: Honestly, I am more scared that people won't submit enough out-of-the-box ideas, which is what I'm looking for. I want dance aficionados and novices alike to be a part of this process, so even if someone isn't knowledgeable about dance, I want their idea! I've had lots of non-dance friends tell me their ideas for a dance piece. We wanted anyone who has ever thought "they should do this!" during a dance performance to speak up.
DA: Are you able to do any choreographic or mental preparation, or will the starter gun just go off in your head when the winning submissions are selected?
RD: I am trying not to do too much prep work so as not to steer the piece in a particular direction before submissions are selected. However, I am definitely thinking a lot about limitations, both self and externally imposed, and think that this concept will probably be present in one way or another in the work since it's so integral to the entire process. Limitations can restrict us, but they can also provide direction and the opportunity to look at things in a different light.
I also know that the piece will include seven dancers and will be set to one of three pieces of music, so that helps my thought process. Regarding the musical selections, I selected these three pieces of music because I choreographed to each of them when I first started creating work.
When I was younger, my choreography was very balletic, I didn't stray far from the classical movement vocabulary or musical selections, but over the years my work has developed into what some would call "modern ballet." I still work with classically trained dancers and utilize this technique, but my movement sensibilities and conceptual creative approach is more closely aligned with modern dance. I'm interested to see how I reuse one of these pieces of classical music to create something entirely different!
DA: It's been said that audience expectations of creators have changed; that they expect conversation, or its equivalent, not lecture. What do you think?
RD: It's true, we are no longer content to be simple observers, we want to participate! A recent exhibit at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art featured Rafael Lozano-Hemmer's 2003 work "Frequency and Volume," which actively engaged viewers to create the artwork using their own bodies. The piece was a great example of how artists are actively engaging their audiences to make work that is relevant and relatable.
DA: You regularly create new work for your company Post:Ballet. I'm inferring that the company's name has some relationship to the term postmodern. What does "postballet" mean to you?
RD: You are totally right on with your inference. As a classically trained dancer and choreographer who's fascinated with modern art, I have been questioning more and more the direction that ballet is going. Neoclassical ballet and contemporary ballet are both terms that now define a specific aesthetic and time period, and I'm really interested in what's happening today, right now. Post is what comes after, and that's where I want my company and my work to be. On the cutting edge, never complacent and always eager to challenge the status quo and express the voice of today.
DA: From where does your inspiration for new work typically come?
RD: My inspiration to create is never the same twice. Sometimes I'm inspired by a mathematical principle or scientific theory, sometimes I want to make an observation about a particular social situation or topic, and sometimes it's the dancers and collaborators who initially inspire me. Wherever the inspiration comes from for a particular piece, I find that my work always ends up evolving into something very personal and connected to my own life and experiences.
DA: When did you first begin to think of yourself as a choreographer?
RD: [Laughing] I made up dance routines for my neighbors and myself all the time when I was a kid — true confession — and started making dance pieces for the stage when I was 16. About five years ago, I feel like my choreography began to shift from "making pieces" to actually creating work that had glimmers of originality and substance. Every time I create a new work I learn and grow from the experience, so maybe in another decade I'll be able to call myself a choreographer!
DA: Throughout your early experimentation with choreography, what were the experiences that most helped you develop your skills or craft?
RD: Having so many opportunities to work on my craft of choreography over the years has really helped me strengthen my skills. I started by creating works on pre-professional students and then began to choreograph short pieces for professional dancers to perform at ballet competitions or festivals.
After I was given an opportunity to present a work at the Ballet Builders Showcase in NYC using Ballet Arizona dancers — I was dancing in the company there at the time — I was invited to create a new work on Novaballet, a contemporary company based in Phoenix. The following year they invited me to create two more new works for the company as Resident Choreographer, and the year after, I decided to start Post:Ballet so that I could push myself further as an artist and work with a diverse group of collaborators on the development of new and innovative work.
There have been many incredible opportunities along the way, and so many wise and gracious mentors who have taught me so much. I look forward to continuing to develop my skills and grow as a choreographer for decades and decades to come.
DA: How does your role as a choreographer affect your process as a dancer, and visa versa?
RD: My natural movement qualities certainly influence my work as a choreographer, but I try to provide opportunities for the dancers to be creative as well, so that their own movement sensibilities are incorporated into a work. This gives the dancers a sense of ownership and allows each piece to develop a uniqueness inspired by the particular dancers involved.
As a dancer, my choreographic viewpoint definitely has a clear influence on my movement, but I always try to be respectful when working with another choreographer as I want them create the work that they are envisioning, not one that I might be seeing!
Some choreographers encourage dancers to explore their movement and interpret it in their own way, while others have a very clear idea of what they are looking for aesthetically and prefer for dancers to perform the choreography exactly as it's given. Every choreographer's stance on this matter is slightly different.
I find that I am somewhere in the middle; I want the dancers to maintain the specifics of my work while exploring the in between moments and finding ways to express the movement organically. As I gradually shift from a dancer to a choreographer, I will be interested to see how my work continues to develop and change. I hope that I'll be able to maintain my unique sense of movement while collaborating with the dancers in an ever greater capacity.
The Web Ballet will be performed March 1 and 2, 2013 as part of Diablo Ballet's Inside The Dancer's Studio. Diablo Ballet will announce the seven winning submissions tomorrow, so stay tuned to their Twitter or Facebook page for the news!
As an audience member, have you ever been a participant in the choreographic process?
What are some other ways choreographers could use the Internet or technology to make dances?
Kindly follow, like or share:
Nichelle Suzanne (owner/editor)
Nichelle Suzanne is a writer specializing in dance and online content. She is also a dance instructor with over 20 years experience teaching in dance studios, community programs, and colleges. She began Dance Advantage in 2008, equipped with a passion for movement education and an intuitive sense that a blog could bring dancers together. As a Houston-based dance writer, Nichelle covers dance performance for Dance Source Houston, Arts+Culture Texas, and other publications. She is a leader in social media within the dance community and has presented on blogging for dance organizations, including Dance/USA. Nichelle provides web consulting and writing services for dancers, dance schools and studios, and those beyond the dance world. Read Nichelle's posts.
https://danceadvantage.net
Filed Under: Beyond the Bubble, Blog, Dance Choreography, Dance Companies, News and Events Tagged With: audience expectations, audience participation, career as a choreographer, choreographer's craft, collaboration with the audience, crafting choreography, crowdsourcing, danc and technology, dance and social media, dancers becoming choreographers, developing skills, diablo ballet, diablo's web ballet, internet and dance, making dances, postballet, robert dekkers, the web ballet, using twitter to choreograph
Love..love..love this idea! Amazing and cool. How wonderful to let people in on the creative development of art.


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Shop Talk | December 12, 2011
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Faulkner meets HBO
by Celeste Ng
David Milch, the creator of NYPD Blue and Deadwood, will be bringing Faulker's
literary works to HBO. Yup, you read that right. Reports the New York Times:
"I'm not, probably, the first person they would have thought of approaching them," Mr. Milch said in a phone interview, referring to his months-long discussions with the William Faulkner Literary Estate. "But a number of conversations were fruitful and here we are."
But the Times points out Milch isn't as far-fetched a choice as you might think:
But before he started putting colorful words in the mouths of Andy Sipowicz and Al Swearengen, Mr. Milch made his literary bones as an undergraduate at Yale University and a graduate student at the Iowa Writers' Workshop of the University of Iowa; he worked with Robert Penn Warren (who shared a biographer, Joseph Blotner, with Faulkner), Cleanth Brooks and R. W. B. Lewis on a history of American literature, and contributed fiction and criticism to publications like The Southern Review and The Atlantic Monthly.
More recently, Mr. Milch said, his daughter Olivia had been studying Faulkner's novel "Light in August" at Yale and "renewed my engagement with the material," eventually leading to discussions between his company, Red Board Productions, and the William Faulkner Literary Estate.
Milch and the estate will work together to select some of Faulker's works to adapt. The Sound and The Fury is an obvious choice—but how about a version of "A Rose for Emily" or "The Bear"? Which Faulkner works would you want to see?
adaptations, Celeste Ng, film adaptations	Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Save Instapaper Pocket
Celeste Ng is the author of the novels Everything I Never Told You (2014) and Little Fires Everywhere (2017). She earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan), where she won the Hopwood Award. Her fiction and essays have appeared in One Story, TriQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, the Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, the American Library Association's Alex Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Also from Celeste Ng
Messy Experiments, Elegant Solutions Smudging the Boundaries of Otherness: An Interview with Hasanthika Sirisena Guilty (Dis)Pleasures: 3 Things I Just Can't Get Into
Messy Experiments, Elegant Solutions
Stories We Love: Empathy and Omniscience in Paley's "Samuel"
J.T. Bushnell
Rebecca Scherm
Shop Talk Editor
Brandon Bye
Founding Editor
Anne Stameshkin


This gallery is a small collection that reflects upon some of the interesting people and experiences I have witnessed during life. Sometimes the lens was ready when the moment occurred and the photograph moved me enough that I wanted to share it in this gallery. The photography here was intended to be a document of an experience or an event which included people. Much of my other art does not include people.


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I Need My Monster
Written by Amanda Noll
Illustrated by Howard McWilliam
Publisher: Flashlight Press
Review and Lessons Plans
Every kid has had a monster under his bed at some time or another, or maybe it was a monster hiding in the closet or stuck in a drawer or trapped under the blankets. But it was there – somewhere – and it was scary. No doubt!
Monsters aren't real – or are they? In the mind of a small child, monsters can be very real. I remember a long, white, flowing monster in my bedroom when I was about eight. It didn't help that I lived across the street from a funeral home. I thought a ghost escaped. But it was only my curtains flapping in the night breeze. My mother tried to reassure me. My father said that monsters weren't real. But I knew ... it was a monster.
Ethan had a monster too – a long-clawed, ragged-breathing monster that oozed green slime. His monster was perfect. Ethan and his monster lived in harmony, until one day his monster went fishing leaving Ethan all alone. How was Ethan to live without his monster? How was he going to sleep? Ethan did what he had to do. He searched for another monster.
Ethan found monsters with names like Herbert and Ralph. He found a blue monster with a purple tongue. He found monsters with nail polish and pink bows. He even found a yellow-spotted, girl monster. But none of these monsters were Ethan's monster. He needed his monster! The rest simply were not scary enough.
This review can also be seen on: SmartWriters.
"Ethan's monster's name is Gabe," said Rosie.
"His monster had sharp claws and a spiked tail," said Daisy.
"He had green slime, too," said Abby.
"Ooze … green ooze," corrected Rosie."
"I think Gabe was the scariest monster ever," said Mark making a face.
Mikaela shook her head in amazement. "I think it's weird that someone needs a monster under his bed," she said.
"Yeah," said Diego. "If I had a monster under my bed, I wouldn't get up."
"I would feel scared," said Juliana. "Who wouldn't? I would scream my lungs out and turn blue."
"But, Ethan could not sleep without his monster," explained Brayden.
"He needs his monster," agreed Abby.
"But his monster went fishing," said Juliana.
"So he got "sub" monsters," said Rena. "Just like teachers do."
"Their names were Ralph, Cynthia, Herbert, and Max," said Tala.
"Herbert was a pretty funny monster," said Mikaela. "He had a really pointy moustache."
"The girl monster looked almost like a caterpillar … a really, really big caterpillar," said Rena.
"She had six arms," said Brayden, " … and nail polish," he added disgustedly. "You could tell she was a girl, right?"
"Of course that monster was a girl. Girls wear nail polish," explained Callie.
"Why would a monster wear nail polish?" wondered Jewel.
"That would be crazy," agreed Callie.
"The problem was that Ethan did not want those substitutes," said Lucy.
"He thought they weren't very monster-like," said Rena.
"Right!" said Rosie. "He wanted a scary monster."
" … A monster that had claws," explained Danae.
" … A freaky monster with a long, long, long tail," said Mark.
" … And green ooze," repeated Rosie.
"He wanted Gabe back," said Lucy.
"If I wanted a monster I would want a green monster," said Brayden.
Danae shook her head. She had a totally different idea. "If I had a monster, I would have a girl monster," she said. "My monster would have long hair and her skin would be pink."
Abby giggled. "My monster would be pretty and have two bows on her head," she said.
"… And lipstick," added Callie laughing, too.
But she wasn't good because she was a girl," said Juliana.
Everyone thinks that girls are not as scary as boys," said Abby."
"Girl monsters can be just as scary as boy monsters," said Danae with conviction.
"But, why would you even want a monster?" asked Jewel cynically, in her usual way.
"Yeah!" agreed Callie. "Ever since I was really young, I was scared of monsters. I'm nine years old right now, and I am still scared of monsters," she said and shivered.
Danae agreed. "I used to be afraid of monsters when I was little, too.
"I am not afraid of monsters," interrupted Abby.
"Now that I am eight years old, I'm not afraid of monsters, either," said Danae. "They're not really alive."
"If monsters really existed and they were in my room," said Mikaela. "It would be a little creepy."
"I don't believe in monsters," said Callie, "but I am scared of them."
Mikaela could barely contain herself. "I never believed in monsters," she said, "because there are no such thing as monsters. Everybody who believes in monsters actually thinks that monsters are going to do something to them. So if they actually exist, there would not be so many people on this planet … because the monsters would eat them or hurt them."
"Well …" said Brayden putting an end to the discussion. "I seriously don't believe in monsters."
MY MONSTER- Made to Order: Language Arts/Art
Have children design their own monsters. They can be scary or sweet. Ask the children to think about what their monster will look like.
• Give each child the worksheet below and have him or her fill in the answers to
describe his or her monster.
• Next have each child write a short paragraph using the descriptive answers he or
she wrote on his or her worksheet.
• Last have the each child draw a picture of his or her monster. (Encourage the
children to use as many descriptions as they can.)
List of possible questions: (Add as many more as you like.)
What is your monster's name? ____________
How old is your monster? ____________
What color is your monster? ____________
How big/little is your monster? ____________
How many arms does your monster have? ____________
How many eyes does your monster have? ____________
How many legs does your monster have? ____________
What does your monster like to eat? ____________
What does your monster like to drink? ____________
Is your monster scary or sweet? ____________
Where does your monster live? ____________
What kind of hair does your monster have? ____________
Example of possible paragraph:
My monster's name is Huggy. She is purple with green stripes and yellow dots. Huggy has pink hair. She has three arms, five legs, and only four eyes. She likes to eat sunflowers and pickles under my bed.
Whose Monster is Whose: Language Arts
Post the monster pictures that the children drew in the above lesson on the wall or on a bulletin board. Then have each child bring his paragraph to the circle-meeting group. Have each child take a turn reading his or her paragraph to the group while the other children try to guess whose monster is whose.
Build a Monster
Preschool Education Music & Songs: Monsters
ZOOM There's No Such Thing as Monsters PBS Kids
Clyde Monster by Robert L. Crowe, illustrated by Kay Chorao
Monster Musical Chairs written by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrated by Scott Nash
The Very Worst Monster written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins
Monster Math written by Anne Miranda, illustrated by Polly Powell


Where it all began and where it is now.
Having my own radio show was a dream of mine when I was growing up. I can remember sitting at a friend's house with a little boombox pretending to be a radio DJ. One time two of my friends and I wrote a script for a comedy news show. Unfortunately no one will ever hear it because the tape has disappeared.
Years later, that dream was still kind of a thing lodged in my mind, but podcasts weren't a mainstream thing. I knew about them, but had no idea how to even make one. Finally, thanks to Apple getting into the podcast game, I found The Audacity to Podcast and decided to start my own.
The original title for the show was Geek This, Nerd That and I originally wanted it to be part random news, part geek opinion piece. When you listen to the first few episodes, you can definitely hear that come through. I think I was trying to do a geek-themed version of the Relevant podcast.
Over time Geek This! has changed. As a creator, that's something I'm proud to say. The show has gone from being a one-man show to a duo to multiple hosts back to just me in front of a microphone, talking about the things I'm geeking out about.
It has also gone from this weird hit-and-miss podcast that was on the verge of disappearing, to a show I look forward to making every single week. It's a little show, but I want big things for it. The biggest thing is for people to listen to it. I'm proud to say that people do. That's what matters.


For the "handy-mans" amongst us...my site Fat-cell.com was the first site to receive the mobile software, which I reported upon a few weeks ago, as being the future mobile solution for this website and my other sites.
That means, if you are interested, you can have a look how the site- fat-cell.com- looks on your iphone or android device now, since that will be a preview of whats to come with this site ...probably but not certain.
Also -if you visit the site with a tablet, you will get the "mobile version" first, but at the very bottom of the page can switch to "desktop version".
Hey -guys- in the past three days there were NILL ticks on adsense...already forgotten??


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Ballet Folklorico Tonantzin
La Misma Luna
Mariachi Media Luna
Mexitli Education Program
Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, or ALAS began as a grassroots program in 2011. Since that time we have grown to who we are today as a California non profit, 501c3. ALAS Board of Directors give countless hours of time to develop and create vision for this program that has become a healing space for so many of us.
Every day parents, community leaders, teachers and our youth are giving back to make ALAS a community reality. We are also proud to collaborate with many different community partners and organizations that builds a program built on community support, involvement and relationships..
ALAS is a Latino centered non profit that combines the cultural arts, mental health and social justice advocacy to support healing, wellness and honor the rich Mexican traditions of our families on the Coast. We are proud of our programs that include Ballet Folklorico Tonantzin, Mariachi Media Luna, Mexitli Education and La Misma Luna Mental Health which all exist because of the hard work of our community , families, board and staff who contribute to making ALAS a dream come true.
Our Mission is to honor the cultural strengths of our families and be an extension of healing and wellness. We believe that the cultural arts inspires the soul, heals and grows our spirit of leadership and familia with the belief in "Cultura Cura". ALAS is building educational bridges to success. We are creating healing spaces that include counseling, wrap around services, immigration support, and social justice advocacy. We work hard to inspire trust, build safe spaces, advocate for our community and support the healthy development of our children. We value each family and honor the immigrant journeys that many have traveled to bring a wealth of leadership and cultural wealth to our community. At ALAS, somos familia!


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Distinguishing Cured Hams Produced in Spain
Diferenciación de los Jamones Curados elaborados en España
Miguel Huerta Dana
General Secretary of the National Meat Industry Association of Spain (ANICE)
Spain is a country of cured hams. Each year we produce 35 million pieces, 15% of which are exported, with 85% remaining for domestic consumption.
We can distinguish two main groups of cured hams produced in Spain:
The first includes hams produced from Iberian pigs, a race unique to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) characterized by its black hide and by its generally black hoof.
Iberian hams produced from these animals are classified by the type of feed the Iberian pigs have been given, and are divided into three categories:
Hams from acorn-fed Iberian pigs, which have been pasture-fattened exclusively on acorns and grass.
Recebo hams from Iberian pigs, which have also been pasture-raised but which have been fed with grain-based feed, in addition to acorns and grass.
Cebo Iberian hams, which come from Iberian pigs raised on pig farms and fed with grain-based feed.
Within this group of Iberian hams we should distinguish the four Designations of Origin which exist in Spain, which I will list in chronological order:
Guijuelo: a town in Salamanca with a long tradition of pork products.
Dehesa de Extremadura: which, as evidenced by its name, covers the production of Iberian pigs in the region of Extremadura.
Huelva: includes Iberian hams produced in the sierra of Huelva, with such well-known towns as Jabugo, Aracena, Cortegana and Cumbres Mayores.
Los Pedroches: covers Iberian ham production from Los Pedroches Valley in the province of Cordoba.
The other important group of cured hams produced in Spain comes from what are called White pigs, which is the race of pink pigs found throughout the rest of Europe which generally have a white hoof.
This is a more numerous group which includes Serrano ham, a quality product recognized by the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) seal of the European Union.
This means that Serrano ham forms part of a select group of foods acknowledged by the European Union both for its quality and for the production process and strict quality controls it must undergo.
In order to produce a good Serrano ham, the highest quality raw materials must be used, selected for their freshness, weight and fat content which will allow them to successfully complete the production process. The Serrano ham is then transformed according to the guidelines established for the controlled production system. Finally, it is guaranteed that the end product, the Serrano ham, fulfills all quality requirements regarding reduced salt content, flavor and aroma, texture, time and degree of curing and so on.
Only those hams which fulfill these requirements and control processes to the full satisfaction of the producer can be designated "Serrano Hams".
The aim of the Fundación del Jamón Serrano Español is to select the highest quality Serrano hams to bear the "Fundación Jamón Serrano Español" counter label.
And to wrap up with this group of cured hams which are produced from the White pig, we should mention Designation of Origin Teruel hams and Trevélez hams, due to their particular quality and meticulous production process.


The book is going to be about Emily trying to find love but all her brothers are way to over protective...........So you will just have to read to find out what happens next.
Kira has a whole summer to face with her overprotective brothers.Will she be able to survive the crazy summer that includes cute boys,brothers,and lots of drama!!!
My name is Maddison Montgomery, but everyone calls me Maddie. I'm 15 years old and I live with my 12 older brothers and dad. I know it sounds crazy but it's true. If you want to know my whole story and how I live with 13 guys then read this story about me and my family.
Shawn is a 16 year old girl who has 13 overprotective brothers. She is the only girl in the family other then her mom. Her brothers won't let her date guys. But what happens when she falls for one of their friends. Will they find out?  Is there a pregnancy? You will have to read to the end to find out.
Life with 9 brothers is not the easiest thing in the world. When they are all older than you than life is torture and relief. My family and I have just moved from Tennessee to California.
This is a story of Alexandrea and her 9 older brothers.
they live in a house with 15 brothers and without a mother. She has a boyfriend but her brothers are very protective.
What happens when Blake comes to her life?? Will they fall in love??Will Lucy and Ian breake it off?? Will her brothers let Blake near her?? or will they sneak???
Savannah Carter is 15 years old. She is the only girl in her family. Find out what happens when Savannah is a sophomore in high school. Will her brother let her have some space. Or will they never let her pro what she wants to do.
Maddie is going into 3rd year of high school, and she still hasn't had her first kiss, her first party, and definitely hasn't had her first boyfriend. I mean, how could she with having her 5 older brothers watching her every move?
So what happens when she finally befriends a boy?
Step in the life of Linna Medon, who has seven brothers. She find them annoying, stupid, over-protective and much more.
(Sorry for this crappy summary. I am a dutch girl and my english is not very good. But I am trying to do my best!
13 year old Jordyn has 5 older brothers. They all get into food fights, adopt dogs without telling their parents, have prank wars and so much more! Responsible adults and teens? I think not.
All the credit for the cover goes to aamayzing_05 she's seriously so awesome!


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A church warden and a magician have been charged in connection with the murders of an Edinburgh-born teacher and his elderly neighbour who died 18 months apart.
Thames Valley Police launched a double murder inquiry in January into the deaths of 69-year-old Peter Farquhar, from Edinburgh, who worked as a guest lecturer at the University of Buckingham, and 83-year-old Ann Moore-Martin.
The two pensioners lived three houses apart in Manor Park in the village of Maids Moreton, near Buckingham, and died within a year and a half of each other.
Mr Farquhar died on October 26, 2015 and Ms Moore-Martin died on May 12, 2017.
A police statement, released by Thames Valley Police today, said that both Field and Smith will appear at High Wycombe Magistrates' Court today.
Field, of Olney, Buckinghamshire, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to murder Ms Moore-Martin and Mr Farquhar, one count of murder of Mr Farquhar, one count of attempted murder of Ms Moore-Martin, two counts of fraud and three counts of burglary.
Smith, of Penhalvean, Redruth, Cornwall, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to murder Ms Moore-Martin and Mr Farquhar, one count of murder of Mr Farquhar, one count of attempted murder of Ms Moore-Martin, one count of fraud, and two counts of burglary.


Today, a general definition of new media art would encompass an umbrella term which generically describes artwork that incorporates an element of new media technology. It is a rather broad term that includes, on the one hand, a new media art which is very much in service to industry and which demands the skills and aesthetics required by commerce, still incorporating 1990's techno optimism, and on the other hand, a new media art which is not only focused on technology, but also on conceptual strategies and their social and cultural context. New media art is often trapped in a vicious circle of fetishization of the individual's relation to the machine and over-aesthetization of the interface. Orchestration of software and electronic devices development and "information super-highway" mantra applied to the Internet often leads to a commodified corporate advertising euphoria of artist practices.
Context-based art practice often includes processes such ascollaborative work and free sharing and addresses a wide spectrum of political themes tackling technology today, such are privacy, public domain, free access, identity, (dis)embodiment, locality, commercialization, etc. It usually employs technical expertise which treats the social, cultural and political context as a channel for reflection, resulting in inscription and grounding of new media art practices historically and socially.
There is a belief that new media art and its criticism could preserve the public dimension of the Internet. If the Internet is seen as today's leading agent of modernization with all possible inequalities that it could produce, then certainly there is an urge for art which would discuss this problematics through experimental and critical practices, continuously migrating to unknown terrains of criticism. These practices employ strategies of interruption of authorized cannons of creativity and aesthetics, striving to realize their political potential.
Art based projects of Public Netbase employ two important notions of new art practices: collaboration and change of perspective in understanding the critical potential of art today. The intertwining of critical collaboration and performative actions undertaken in public micro-social spaces while bringing changes in behaviour, perception and understanding of art, is what gives Public Netbase art practices a political potential and deep understanding of contextualization of art itself.


Last week was pretty much lost to that stomach virus, but the weekend was great. I'll post pictures later today or tomorrow. We were lucky enough to have the NY Palmers visit. Jesse took them on the whirlwind super insane extra tiring tour of Maine (think FUNx3 days straight). I had to wake the kids up at 8 to make it in time for school. I'm feeling bad for our guests because they had a huge drive as well.
I've already flaked a bit with this week, forgetting my dentist's appointment. We have a dance recital, playdate, activity days, gymnastics, field trip, haircut, primary activity, and rescheduled dentist's appointment this week. Oh. And I need to get serious about moving as the kids will be out of school next week. EEEeeek! Should be fun!


HONDA JAPAN has outlined the company's future plans, which include increased development of electric motorcycles, as well as bold moves to take on Japan's main competitor: China.
In his 2010 mid-year speech, company President and CEO Takanobu Ito said Honda will begin lease sales of the battery-powered EV-neo two-wheeler to businesses and individual business owners in Japan later this year. Ito also said Honda will strive to improve technology and reduce costs to make zero-emission machines available to a wider audience.
Honda's move towards enhancing zero-emission technology is serious. The company is in collaboration with electromotive specialists to study the possibilties of solar-powered energy stations, for plug-and-charge systems which can be used by battery-powered machines.
Honda is planning to conduct testing and demonstration of the system first in Japan, hinting the United States will follow. The project is aimed at showing how plug-in hybrid vehicles can benefit our environment and daily life.
Using experimental models of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles as well as the EV-neo electric scooter, Honda will verify the effectiveness of such personal mobility to realise low-carbon mobility.
By monitoring the positional and operational information of participating Monpal ML200 electric carts, Honda will verify how such personal mobility will contribute to the quality of the daily life and health of local residents in the face of an aging society.
By establishing and utilising recharging stations that use thin-film solar cells manufactured by Honda Soltec, Honda will verify the effectiveness of the system which reduces CO2 from the energy-supply phase.
The company also plans to target China with electric and petrol-engined motorcycles next year, stating they will introduce a new zero-emission machine into China in 2011.
Honda will also expand its annual motorcycle production capacity in Indonesia to 4 million units by building a new plant with a capacity of 500,000 units, which will become operational in the latter half of 2011.
The expansion will see Honda's annual motorcycle production capacity in Asia (excluding Japan) increase from approximately 16 million units to 18 million units by the end of 2011.


text:
Category: Missy Elliot
Posted in "Love Me Back", 'Holding You Down (Goin' in Circles)', Album Cover, Jazmine Sullivan, Missy Elliot
Album Cover: Jazmine Sullivan Unveils Album Cover for "Love Me Back"
Posted on September 22, 2010 October 13, 2010 by JNEL & J. Magazine
She's been known to bust the windows out the car, but Jazmine Sullivan puts down the crowbar on the cover of her sophomore album "Love Me Back." The fragile songstress, dressed in all black, leans against an old-school Chevy Impala in the artwork from the November 2nd release, which contains the Missy Elliott-produced single 'Holding You Down (Goin' in Circles).'
"I was a little angry on the first album, busting windows and things," said the 23-year-old Sullivan. "I'm not quite as angry on this one. You see a different side of relationships, the more loving side."
Do you love Jazmine's new album cover? Let us know below!
Check out her single 'Holding You Down (Goin' in Circles)' below…
Source: Rap-Up.com/Soundcloud.com
Posted in "What is Love", Alja Jackson, "Acapella", "Already Taken", "I'm the Prettiest Girl", "Jesse Jane", "LeftField", "The Prettiest Girl", Beyonce, Beyonce Knowles, Beyonce', Chuck Cha-Loa, Diddy, Dirty Money, Download It, Ester Dean, Geffen records, Ike Dirty, Interscope Records, Jimmy Iovine, Kelis, Lil Wayne, Mad Scientist, Maxi Priest, Missy Elliot, Music News, New Talent, Nicole Ehrlich, Pharrell Williams, Pussycat Dolls, Sean Paul, Sharaya, Trey Songz
Music News: Newcomer Alja Jackson Writes for Beyoncé's New Album
Posted on September 20, 2010 September 21, 2010 by JNEL & J. Magazine
Newcomer Alja Jackson has confirmed that she has done some writing for the new Beyoncé album.
"I'm listening to the record I wrote for Beyonce" she says "Oh mane! Sh*t snappin! So Pretty Girl Bad! 'Bout to have B on dat PGB! She on it!"
More on Alja after the jump….
Alja Jackson is a new, up and coming singer/songwriter/rapper signed to Interscope Records/Geffen Records. She even runs her own label "LEFTFIELD"…
Alja Jackson has been in this music game for more then 5 years now. She is known for going against the norm, using guerilla tactics & strategies with a new sense of style & flair, with her eclectic musical taste.
"When my mother would drive me around in that old Toyota Corolla, all we had was that broken car radio. It was stuck on one station and that only played pop music. I listened to that a lot and then we got home I listened to R&B and hip-hop. That's the music I knew I wanted to do when I became an artist. I knew I wanted to be an R&B/soul star".
What she didn't know is that pop music would make its influence known when she started writing and shaping her sound. Alja moved to NYC to be in the heartbeat of music and to be where she thought she would find fame and fortune. She sang background vocals for iconic artists like Maxi Priest and Sean Paul. She took meetings with labels, knowing that one day she would be a star. But NYC wasn't the dream for Alja' Jackson and than she moved to ATL
"I knew that I had to go home because I just wasn't feeling the vibe. I knew that ATL was the new hotspot for music, so I moved." Alja' was motivated but everyone wasn't digging her sound. "It's not that they didn't like my music. They liked my music, but I didn't have a sound. Every artist needs to know their own voice, their sound, and I didn't really have one..You have to take a minute to find out who you really are. A lot of artists don't want to struggle, but that advice opened every door. I started working with all these producers and artists and it changed everything. Then, one day I was in the studio working with the Pussycat Dolls and the next day, I was in an artist meeting with Jimmy Iovine." Alja' slouched in the chair, sure that this was just another "we don't get you and your style" meeting, but "Jesse Jane," her vibrant alter ego, knew that this was it. "Jesse Jane" was right.
Interscope Records got it and signed her the next day.
As a songwriter Alja has written songs for Diddy-Dirty Money, Trey Songz–"Already taken{Co-wrote it with Ester Dean}", and Sharaya {Missy Elliott's new artist}-"What is Love". And she has worked with many big names in the music industry such as producers Mad Scientist, Ike Dirty, Chuck Cha-Loa, MissyElliott, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. It's just been confirmed that the singer will release "I'm the Prettiest Girl", as the first single off her upcoming debut album. It's also been confirmed that the single will have an alternate remix that will feature Lil Wayne and Missy. The video is said to be directed by Nicole Ehrlich who also directed Kelis's video "Acapella".
You can listen to the single below, with lyrics that go like "I'm Hotter Than Electricity In A Wire":
DOWNLOAD IT: "The Prettiest Girl"
Bio info source: toyaz-world.net
Posted in 'Show the World', 'Take It Off', 'Under the Radar', Brian Cox, Drake, Entertainment, Entertainment News, G-Unit, Hip-Hop News, Maino, Missy Elliot, Mixtapes, Music News, Ne-Yo, Olivia, Serani, SOHH.com
Music News: Olivia Opens Up About New Album 'Show the World'
Posted on May 1, 2010 by JNEL & J. Magazine
Former G-Unit singer Olivia has opened up about what she plans to include on her upcoming new album, 'Show the World', and who fans can expect to hear as guest features. According to Olivia, the project will feature cuts from Missy Elliot, Ne-Yo, Brian Cox and more.
The album 'Show The World' is coming soon; it's completely done. We're still working on a date. I got Missy Elliot on there, Ne-Yo, Brian Cox. The album is real sexy but I'm also talking about love, dabbling in a little heartbreak, things of that nature. I believe in approach. I might say things that are a little bit nasty but because I sing so sweet, you can't really tell [laughs]. But I'm also not saying any outlandish things. I'm just speaking from my heart and saying how I feel. Majority of my music is a true story. It's usually relateable to either myself, a best friend or someone really close to me, so it's always gonna be personal." (Hip Hop N More)
In late December, the singer talked about taking a sexy approach to the album.
"I got a single called 'Take It Off' and it was actually leaked," Olivia explained in an interview, "which was a good thing so it's been picking up really really good. The album is completely done. The single is basically talking about taking it off, obviously…I keep the studio really really hot so most people who know me know that if you come into the studio with me, you gonna be sweating. So I think that's where [the concept] came from…I'm a very sensual person, so that's usually what I write about and that's where I'm going with it. The album is real sexy but I'm also talking about love, might dabble a little heartbreak, not me of course, stuff like that." (Vlad TV)
Earlier this year, Olivia hit up SOHH.com to discuss her new mixtape, 'Under the Radar'.
"Probably only three joints are remixes, everything else is original," Olivia told SOHH. "It's crazy, it's crazy. And that's where you see me with most of my collabs because on the actual album I personally didn't want any collabs because I felt like every time you saw me, it was with a collaboration. So I just threw them all on the mixtape and the album, you'll get all me." (SOHH)
Her underground release features guest appearances by Maino, Drake, Serani and more.
Checkout her tracklist below…
1. Intro with Ed Lover
2. Take It Off (Remix) (feat. Maino)
3. Control (feat. Drake)
4. When it's Real
5. Interview with Ed Lover
6. In My Bedroom (feat. 50 Cent)
7. Lonely Girl
8. I Got You (feat. Webstar)
9. Rub Me Up (feat. Serani)
10. Get It In (Freestyle)
11. Next 2 U
12. Never 2 Far
13. Rich Dollaz Speaks
14. Here We Go Again *Bonus*
15. Mike Epps Outro (Hip Hop Press)
Source: SOHH.com