I could make a list that would compromise this entire blog!!!
And even then…it is not even all about ME.
During my escapades of interstate traveling, I had conversations with like minded people. Even people who were NOT like minded…but more so , convinced with conviction of their positions of entitlement. People with a purpose. People with goals AND plans to achieve them. People who (like me) are willing to carve their names on the face of Mother Earth…tribal style of course.
I am NOT the only one who has a mission to achieve on this planet.
I AM one of the FEW who knows the value of strength in numbers.
I will be a teacher & a leader before I become a conformist & follow.
I do not wear my proverbial crown year round…so when the Summer ends…I usually take it off…and let the rest of The Royal Family run about & enjoy the throne.
Being a King is easy when Ü know there is a WAR going on that Ü do not have to participate in.
I am a hands on type of individual. I also believe that I connect with people better when I am with them under the same circumstances. One can't ALWAYS give orders and not be willing to takes orders as well. There should be a balance…being a Libra, its only right I take of my crown at the end of the Summer.


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By Lawren Mickenberg Features February 20, 2020
New exhibit opens in Greenspring art gallery
The Greenspring art gallery has a new display, Disposition, featuring several colorful pieces that everyone is welcome to see Monday-Friday from 11 a.m to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m to 4 p.m.
The Greenspring art gallery is located in the Dawson Center building. Disposition is accessible to anybody during the gallery's open hours. (Villager file photo)
The gallery displays art by Susie Brandt, a fiber artist from Baltimore and a teacher at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), where all of the pieces are self-reflection. The artist uses fabrics and patterns to fill in a tracing of herself and, according to Brandt, there is no hidden message in her work since the message is up to the viewer's interpretation.
Only two of the art pieces are handwoven. One of these runs along the wall and the other looks like Brandt is stretching with her hands up in the air.
One of Brandt's pieces is made primarily from pompoms as found materials. (Villager file photo)
The other pieces use fabrics she received from friends or she bought from the store. One art piece is made entirely from pompoms she received from her sister.
All of her art pieces were made within the last five years and were inspired by an exhibition of 19th century carpets of "flayed men" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, primarily from Tibet and China. Thus, most of Brandt's pieces are rugs with an outline of the human body.
However, the final piece, a handwoven piece hanging on the wall, was made especially for the exhibit and is a homage to Anni and Josef Albers, artists who pioneered the modern uses of textiles. According to their Foundation's website, Anni Albers "was a textile designer, weaver, writer, and printmaker who inspired a reconsideration of fabrics as an art form, both in their functional roles and as wallhangings."
According to the art gallery curator, Aden Weisel, Brandt had been previously contacted for an exhibit, but since she was about to go on sabbatical, she declined. Most of the artwork displayed was made during and after Brandt went on her sabbatical.
Brandt has exhibited throughout the country and internationally. The textile artist said that her work is "mostly conceived through the lens of textile." (Villager file photo)
Brandt has received awards for her work from organizations including the Maryland State Arts Council and Creative Capital, according to her MICA website. She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The gallery will be open for the rest of the semester and there will be several events based on those art pieces or on the artist herself. The events are a wet felting self-portrait workshop on March 6 in the Manning Academic Center and an artist's discussion with composer David Smooke on April 2 at the Greenspring art gallery.
Art GalleryBaltimorecolorful piecesdispositionfiber artistGreenspringGreenspring Campussusie brandt
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City Notes
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The Lisboans, Lisbon
Lisa Davidson 22 May, 2019
Our flat whites arrive as we're busy circling numbers and underlining names in biro on a pocket-sized map that spans all from a candle shop whose doors opened in 1789 and Luvaria Ulisses, a glove store with space for just one customer at a time to...
A Cevicheria, Lisbon
Lisa Davidson 30 April, 2019
You're walking along Dom Pedro V—a street between Lisbon's Bairro Alto and Príncipe Real neighbourhoods, lined with some of the city's more modish bars and eateries—when a crowd of people holding a tall glass of pisco sour come into...
Prado, Lisbon
Lisa Davidson 16 January, 2019
Celebrating the finest of Portugal from sea to land, dishes at Lisbon's Prado are fresh, seasonal and pleasing to the senses—chef António Galapito having returned from London (where he worked with the lauded Nuno Mendes at restaurants including...
Santa Clara 1728, Lisbon
Occupying an enchanting 18th century building, accommodation project Santa Clara 1728 features six staggering suites across one imposing 'home' in the heart of Lisbon's historic and cultural centre. Santa Clara is from the same team...
Palácio do Governador, Belém
Lisa Davidson 11 August, 2016
Standing in the shoes of historical figures — where the Governor of Lisbon's Tower of Belém once called home — is the Palácio do Governador, a palatial hotel that has undergone a complete restoration; uncovering roman ruins from the 1st to 5th...
Pousada de Lisboa, Praça do Comércio, Lisbon
Francesca Soler 26 February, 2016
Lisbon is a jaw-dropper of a city. It's one of the world's oldest, Western Europe's by some distance, and you can feel it in the air; its streets are so trodden they shine, its buildings so old they creak under the weight of history. It is majestic,...
Copenhagen Coffee Lab, Lisbon
Rob Wilkes 1 September, 2015
There was a time when an invasion of Danes would have signalled pillaging and plundering and all sorts of other nastiness, but these days the Nordic folk are all just very nice people who want nothing more than to share a bit of coffee know-how with...
O Apartamento, Lisbon
Rob Wilkes 28 July, 2015
Those in need of a stylish location in Lisbon could do a lot worse than consider this pin-sharp property on the Avenida Duque de Loulé in the centre of the Portuguese capital. Launch parties; photo shoots; business meetings; private dinners and...
Hotel Valverde
Rob Wilkes 21 May, 2015
The aristocracy was still very much in the ascendency when, in 1764, the Marquess of Pombal commissioned his architect Reinaldo Manuel to build a public park in central Lisbon. A century later and the nearby Avenida da Liberdade was constructed, 90...
Science fiction city edges closer to reality at Lisbon Architecture Triennale...
Rob Wilkes 4 November, 2013
Giving us the first "is that a badger or a dog?" double-take of the day (it's a wolf), Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen's And Nowhere a Shadow is just one of the interesting elements to Future Perfect, part of the Close, Closer series of...
Memmo Alfama
Rob Wilkes 9 October, 2013
Located in Lisbon's historical centre of Alfama, the hotel Memmo Alfama may be the perfect place from which to take in the sights of the city's old town, such as the cathedral and the São Jorge Castle, and it's certainly the perfect place to enjoy...
The Decadente
Alicja Jakeway 9 July, 2013
We arrived in the heart of buzzing Bairro Alto for dinner at The Decadente, one of Lisbon's most popular eateries for travellers and locals alike. Hearing all sorts of praise for their locally produced and affordable fare, those who discover that...
Juno Calypso's new footy-focussed series leads a stellar line-up of creatives honouring the Women's World Cup through art...
Lisa Davidson 19 June, 2019
After an American scientist developed a shade of pink as a means to temper aggressive behaviour, claiming the specific tone to be a pacifier, establishments including Santa Clara County Jail and a San Bernardino youth clinic painted their walls in...
Bound to the unpredictability of nature, Kiki and Joost talk us through their unconventional and artistic approach to design...
Alicja Jakeway 18 June, 2019
Two of the most highly-acclaimed Dutch designers of the moment, Kiki van Eijk and life partner Joost van Bleiswijk launched Kiki and Joost to create, enchant and to push the boundaries of design; their studio producing work that includes carpets,...
Soho House art curator, Kate Bryan, talks about Redchurch Townhouse's brilliant East London-centric '40 Under 40′ art collection...
A curious collection of art adorns the walls of Redchurch Townhouse and its restaurant Cecconi's. Dotted in corners in clusters, hung across simple walls, corridors and throughout the reception ... the artwork is captivating and spans multiple...
The ancient Portuguese estate brought back to life through tangible authenticity and the sophistication of simplicity...
James Davidson 13 June, 2019
There's an old quote often attributed, without confirmation, to Leonardo da Vinci: "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." Now the great Renaissance polymath may not have been a minimalist in the sense of Donald Judd or Yves Klein, but he...
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Epic public art, unrivalled history and a connection to the cosmos, Northumberland is a quiet county full of big surprises...
James Davidson 17 July, 2019
It's always the quiet ones, they say. As far as off-the-radar goes, Northumberland is as close as it gets. In every sense. The northernmost county of England, it is tucked right up on the country's north east, bordering Scotland and the bracing...
Poker Grace: How the gambling industry defied the financial crisis and confirmed itself as one of the world's leading luxury markets...
Clara Wright 9 July, 2019
In mid-September 2008 the world awoke to the news that the previous stable investment bank Lehman Brothers had collapsed; setting in motion a chain reaction of events that would later be known ominously as the 'global financial crisis'. It was the...
Sónar continue to push boundaries, as the programme for their immersive Sonar360º by MEDIAPRO experience is unveiled...
Lisa Davidson 2 July, 2019
Ever the progressive music and arts festival, Sónar have announced the programme for this year's edition of their immersive Sonar360º by MEDIAPRO experience. Offering an unparalleled A/V extravaganza, the Sonar360º dome spans 19 metres in...
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Michael Turner 20 June, 2019
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Worked as a prosthodontic specialist at Samitivej Hospital and Silom Dental Clinic in Bangkok. Provided treatments of full mouth rehabilitation, removable and fixed prosthodontic works, veneers and dental implants.
Performed as the instructor at Department of General Dentistry, Srinakarinwirot University (SWU), Bangkok, Thailand.
Performed as the instructor at Department of General Dentistry, Srinakarinwirot University (SWU), Bangkok, Thailand. Worked in charitable forums for helping the under privileged people.


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Mister Rogers Comes to Washington
02/27/2018 in DC by Nick Scalera
Fred Rogers, creator and host of the longtime children's television landmark Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, is most closely associated with Pittsburgh, where he produced his program at local PBS station WQED. He made two very significant visits to Washington, D.C., however, one near the beginning of his career, and the second towards the end of his life.
40 Years Ago, TVs Tuned to Watergate Hearings
May 17, 1973 began an enthralling summer of reality television in Washington. That morning Senate Watergate Committee chairman Sam Ervin banged his gavel and launched hearings to investigate the details of the Watergate scandal, which had rocked the nation the previous June. Americans from coast to coast watched with great interest, trying to determine "what the President knew and when he knew it." (Short answer: He knew a lot and he had known it for a long time.)


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Milky Mushrooms
Food Buzz: History of Mushrooms Listen
Milky mushrooms are medium to large in size with rounded caps averaging 10-14 centimeters in diameter that connect to an elongated, thick stem. The smooth, firm caps are convex when young, flattening out with age, and remain pure white through maturity. Underneath the cap, there are many white, crowded gills, and the white stem averages ten centimeters in height and has a dense, meaty consistency. Milky mushrooms are often found with multiple stems growing from a single base and do not lose their namesake color or discolor with age or handling. When cooked, Milky mushrooms are tender and chewy with a mild, oily flavor and an aroma similar to radishes.
Wild Milky mushrooms are available in the late spring through summer, while the cultivated versions are available year-round.
Milky mushrooms, botanically classified as Calocybe indica, are the only mushroom species both native to and cultivated in the hot, humid climate of India. Also known as Dhuth chatta and Swetha mushrooms, Milky mushrooms were named for their milky white color, and their name comes from the ancient Hindu language of Sanskrit where the word for white is "Sweth" or "Swetha" meaning "pure." Milky mushrooms can still be found growing wild along roadsides and in fields and are favored for their nutrient-rich properties, long shelf life, and versatility in culinary applications.
Milky mushrooms are an excellent source of vitamins B2, E, and A, phosphorus, potassium, and selenium, and also contain calcium, vitamin C, iron, and zinc.
Milky mushrooms are best suited for cooked applications such as sautéing, steaming, grilling, and boiling. The thick, meaty texture of the mushroom is suitable for curries, soups, and stews, and they can be used in place of portobello mushrooms for grilled vegetable sandwiches and burgers. They can also be used in egg dishes such as omelets, on top of a pizza, or mixed into pasta, and they are popularly added to Filipino dishes such as pancit, lumpia, adobo, tinola, dinuguan, and sisig. Milky mushrooms pair well with meats such as pork, poultry, beef, and fish, shrimp, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, bell pepper, bok choy, green beans, calamansi, papaya, malunggay leaves, cumin, coriander, curry powder, turmeric, garlic, onion, ginger, rice, and noodles. They have a long shelf life and can be kept at room temperature up to a week before they require refrigeration. When refrigerated, they will keep for an additional five days.
Before commercial cultivation began of Milky mushrooms, people in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal would collect the mushroom from the wild to sell at local markets. Milky mushrooms are a unique variety because most mushrooms cannot thrive in the extreme heat of the Indian climate. Milky mushrooms only grow in regions where the temperature is between 75 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit (25 to 35°C) and where the humidity is also high. They also require far less water than most other cultivated mushrooms. Milky mushrooms provide ample amounts of nutrients and are a source of income for the Indian markets. Many locals take great pride in these mushrooms as they are the first cultivated and commercially available mushroom from India.
Milky mushrooms are native to northeastern India and were initially only found in the wild. Some evidence of early cultivation in West Bengal in the 1970s has been found, but it wasn't until the late 1990s that the mushroom was rediscovered by Dr. Akkanna Subbiah Krishnamoorthy of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and was commercially cultivated. Today Milky mushrooms are predominately found in local markets in India, but they can also be found in tropical regions of China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Recipes that include Milky Mushrooms. One is easiest, three is harder.
The Hungry Chef Lengua in Milky Mushroom Cream Sauce
Food Vedam Mushroom Pickle


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Animal Law Guild Conference 2015 is the second annual conference for the Animal Law Guild. This year's conference will focus on two wide-reaching areas of animal law – criminal animal cruelty and puppy mills – where collaboration has been and continues to be a critical factor in advancing legal protections for animals. This exciting animal law conference will feature leaders from across the nation who have been instrumental in moving the law forward and expanding protections for animals in these areas through legislation, litigation, criminal prosecution, lobbying, education, grassroots advocacy, literature and film.
COLLABORATION IN ANIMAL LAW:
Combating Criminal Animal Cruelty and Puppy Mills
All conference sessions will take place in the Robinson Courtroom (G102) of the Girardi Advocacy Center at Loyola Law School's downtown Los Angeles campus. The Networking Reception will begin directly after the panels conclude, in the patio outside of the Girardi Advocacy Center.
Click HERE for a Loyola Law School campus map
7:30-8:45 a.m. Registration & Continental Breakfast
Patio outside of the Girardi Advocacy Center
8:45-9:10 a.m. Welcome to Loyola Law School & Introduction to Animal Law Guild Conference 2015
• Sande Buhai, Clinical Professor & Director of Public Interest Dept, Loyola Law School
• Nicole Herft, Ph.D., J.D., Senior Associate, Winston & Strawn LLP & Chair, Animal Law Guild
9:10-10:50 a.m. COMBATING ANIMAL CRUELTY THROUGH THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
• Joan Schaffner, Associate Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Sherry Ramsey, Esq., Director of Animal Cruelty Prosecutions, The Humane Society of the United States
• Robert Ferber, Animal Welfare Attorney, retired Los Angeles City Prosecutor
• Introduction by: Deborah Knaan, Deputy District Attorney and Supervisor, Animal Cruelty Division at Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
In this session, Professor Joan Schaffner will discuss how the law can capitalize on the link between animal cruelty and human violence at each stage in the cycle of violence—from pre-abuse through sanction and rehab after the abuser is found guilty—to better protect all victims of abuse and incentivize enforcement of animal cruelty laws. Sherry Ramsey will then cover essential tools in enforcing, charging and prosecuting animal cruelty cases, important sentencing considerations and a discussion of California law. Finally, Bob Ferber will discuss the trials and tribulations of investigating and prosecuting animal cruelty cases and the importance of collaboration based on his work as the first full-time animal cruelty prosecutor in the nation.
10:50-11:05 a.m. BREAK
11:05-11:35 a.m. SPOTLIGHT ON ANIMAL FIGHTING
• Michelle Welch, Senior Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Animal Law Unit at the Virginia Attorney General's Office
• Introduction by: Nicole Herft, Ph.D., J.D., Senior Associate, Winston & Strawn LLP & Chair, Animal Law Guild
Michelle Welch will explore how animal fighting prosecutions have changed after the Michael Vick case and how the dogs are now assessed as individuals. She will address the unique challenges involved in investigating and prosecuting large animal fighting cases and the issues involved with the different types of animal fighting cases. Michelle will also discuss exciting trends in the prosecution of animal fighting.
11:35 a.m.-12:00 p.m. INSPIRING A CULTURE OF COMPASSION: Preventing Animal Cruelty through Humane Education
• Meena Alagappan, Esq., Executive Director, Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART)
Meena Alagappan will provide an overview of humane education laws in the United States, ways to improve their enforcement, and the important role of attorneys in advocating for widespread humane education implementation. Meena will also discuss the work of Humane Education Advocates Reaching Teachers (HEART), sharing some of HEART's animal protection curriculum, student service projects to help animals, advocacy efforts, and program evaluation results.
12:00-1:15 p.m. LUNCH (A few words from our lunch sponsor/provider Whole Foods Market, followed by lunch break in the patio area outside of the Girardi Advocacy Center)
1:15-1:40 p.m. EMPOWERING ADVOCACY THROUGH LITERATURE: Shining a Light on Puppy Mills Through the True Story of One Dog's Journey
• Carol Bradley, Author, "Saving Gracie: How one dog escaped the shadowy world of American puppy mills"
• Introduction by: Sonia Waisman, Partner, McCloskey, Waring & Waisman LLP & Co-Chair, Animal Law Guild Conference 2015
Carol Bradley will introduce puppy mills from an investigative journalist's perspective, having researched the puppy mill industry and tracked the inspection and raid of a large puppy mill, prosecution of the owner/operators through trial, and the journey of one dog from that mill into a loving home, when writing her book. She will provide an overview of the collaborative efforts of many individuals, non-profit agencies and government officials to address the puppy mill problem, including the efforts of some of the Conference speakers and/or their organizations.
1:45-3:00 p.m. FROM LEGISLATION TO LITIGATION: Progress and Hurdles in the Puppy Mill Battle
• Gina Miller, Esq., Manager, Puppy Mills Campaign, ASPCA Anti-Cruelty
• Bruce Wagman, Partner, Schiff Hardin LLP
In this session, Gina Miller will explore the backdrop of current federal, state and local laws regulating puppy mills and pet stores. She will discuss the ASPCA's role in enacting effective local laws that restrict the sale of commercially-bred dogs in pet stores, including consideration of laws targeting four different components of the puppy mill industry, and potential setbacks, as well as successes, with each. Animal law litigator, author and adjunct law professor Bruce Wagman will then discuss litigation that has ensued after enactment of these statutes, including legal arguments raised by both sides, the status or outcome of these cases, and any lessons learned for future legislative efforts.
3:00-3:15 p.m. BREAK
3:15-4:10 p.m. COMMUNITY-BASED COLLABORATION: The Power of Local Lobbying, Advocacy, and Education in Cracking Down on Puppy Mills
• Bob Baker, Executive Director, Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation
• Elizabeth Oreck, National Manager, Puppy Mill Initiatives, Best Friends Animal Society
• Introduction by: C. Sepi Yagoobian, Attorney at Law & Vice Chair, Animal Law Guild Conference 2015
In this session, Bob Baker will explore the tortuous history behind Missouri's Canine Cruelty Prevention Act (CCPA) and its impact in the long-running battle against puppy mills in Missouri, a state with the largest number of puppy mills in the country. He will also discuss the next chapter in the fight against puppy mills on a nationwide scale through the USDA and enforcement of the federal Animal Welfare Act. Elizabeth Oreck will then highlight successful strategies Best Friends has utilized to address the puppy mill problem at the local level through legislation, advocacy, education and adoption, specifically focusing on retail pet sales ordinances, and recent victories and challenges from opposition groups.
4:15-4:40 p.m. NOT JUST IN THE U.S.: The International Puppy Mill Problem and Efforts to Address It
• Thomas G. Kelch, Professor of Law, Whittier Law School
Law professor and legal scholar, Tom Kelch, will present an overview of the nature and extent of, and legal efforts to curtail, puppy mill-type operations outside of the U.S. His presentation will include consideration of any successful approaches to shut down such operations, which may be useful to efforts within the U.S. He will also discuss recent efforts by the U.S. government to end the importation of puppy mill dogs into this country.
5:00-5:50 p.m. "JOURNEY FOR CHANGE": From Dog by Dog to Dismantling the Puppy Mill System
• Shelley Rizzotti, Esq., Co-founder, The Animal Protectorates & Vice Chair, Animal Law Guild
• Christina Ksoll, Executive Producer, DOG BY DOG
• Christopher E. Grimes, Director, DOG BY DOG
In this session, Shelley Rizzotti will highlight different ways attorneys and law students can combat puppy mills on a local level using her own work as an example, which has ranged from rescuing dogs to getting puppy mill legislation passed in her home town of Burbank to formation of the local nonprofit The Animal Protectorates, and to the opening of "Operation Adopt," the first nonprofit rescue-only pet store and humane education center in Burbank. Filmmakers Christopher Grimes and Christina Ksoll will then discuss their documentary DOG BY DOG, which aims to wake up the American public to the horrible realities of puppy mills—by following the money trail across the United States and confronting those that have maintained this corrupt and irresponsible system—in order to move toward a kinder and gentler system.
5:50-6:00 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS
6:00-8:00 p.m. NETWORKING RECEPTION
Join the Animal Law Guild team and conference speakers for appetizers, treats, and refreshments in the patio just outside the Girardi Advocacy Center.


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Tag Archives: The Animals
The British Invasion and American Counterattack
By altrockchick on February 7, 2014 | 6 Comments
A mere handful of the insidious invaders who tried to destroy truth, justice and the American way and did a damn good job of it. Pictured are those left out of the upcoming review series.
I'll give you a very brief summary of what I did during my month-long absence, focusing on how it impacts my work here at altrockchick.com:
The first week was spent in Côte d'Ivoire at what Westerners would call a "battered women's center" or "domestic violence assistance center." All I can tell you right now is that I was thankful I wore no makeup at all during the trip, because I cried myself to sleep every night. I'm still processing the experience and may write about it later.
Then I met my sweetie on Gran Canaria island, where we stayed for a week in a little bungalow near the beach. She had always wanted to take me to the Canaries, because she has fond memories from family vacations taken there during her youth. I slept for two days straight, holding her close to me and healing from the Côte d'Ivoire experience. We spent the next day visiting a bird sanctuary and soaking in the hot tub, then my mojo returned and we spent the last four days fucking.
After the passion play, we flew to Madrid and spent a week with her family. Her brother is a big Kinks fan, so I promised him I'd review Other People's Lives as soon as I got back to writing. Mission accomplished!
We then flew to Nice and spent the rest of the holidays with my mother and father, which brings us back quite nicely to altrockchick.com.
Long before I was born, my anti-capitalist parents imposed a rule on the purchase of Christmas gifts. From the beginning of their relationship, they agreed that they would spend no more than twenty dollars on Christmas gifts for the other. They extended that rule to me, but by the time I came around, the massive inflation of the 1970's had raised the price to forty dollars. After I cheated a little bit a few years ago ($44.95!), they agreed to raise the price to fifty bucks. With the move to Europe, we agreed to a converted limit of €40.
This means you must think hard about the kind of gifts you select, because you have to create maximum meaning with limited resources. With that in mind, I bought my mother a hardcover copy of Histoire d'O to thank her for helping to turn me into a pervert, and a leather peek-a-boo thong (a thong with a strategically placed hole to allow clitoral access). Wasn't that sweet? My dad certainly approved and shouted, "Try it on, Nique!" My mother gave him her cold stare that could cut through ten feet of steel and haughtily replied, "I am not an exhibitionist like your daughter." She then thanked me and gave me a sly little wink.
For my dad, knowing how much he misses baseball, I bought biographies of Smoky Joe Wood and the Waner brothers, and because he's a huge Sandy Denny fan, a replacement vinyl copy of Sandy. My mother shied away from sex toys for her daughter and instead bought me The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake, Dexter Gordon's Our Man in Paris and Art Blakey's Moanin'. My dad knocked it out of the park with the biography Walter Johnson: The Big Train and three CD collections of British Invasion bands.
"Hint, hint," he remarked.
The purpose of the gift was to remind me that I hadn't dealt with the 60's British invasion groups who faded from the scene—bands like The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Them (Northern Ireland is a part of the U. K.), The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Peter & Gordon, Chad & Jeremy, Freddie and the Dreamers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Manfred Mann and The Zombies. I have avoided them because these are the bands he grew up with. People are very attached to the music of their teens and get very ornery when critics, even critics who are family members, pan the work of their childhood heroes. I completely understand the attachment to the music of our adolescence—it's the music you heard the first time you received or gave a positive answer to the question, "Is it in?" Puberty heightens all the senses, so it makes sense that we would find the music associated with body odor, menstruation, pimples and wet dreams endlessly intoxicating.
I know my dad will never get off my ass if I don't go there, so here's the deal. Over the next three weeks I'm going to do a series I call "The British Invasion and The American Counterattack." I've identified five Invasion bands and three American groups who were on the front lines during this epic engagement. Some were pretty good; others are included because I simply can't ignore them in the context of the times. Even with such generous criteria, I could only identify three American bands from that era who had any kind of historical significance. The great American music of the mid-1960's was soul music, not rock music, and the only songwriter the Americans produced who could compete with The British was Bob Dylan, a genre-crosser. Given that, I won't leave you in suspense as to who won the transatlantic war of the rockers—The British, by a very comfortable margin.
This may be a difficult thing for the Yanks to accept. Many Americans still believe they have never lost a war, conveniently ignoring historical facts that indicate otherwise. However, they never suffered as crushing a defeat as they did in the face of The British Invasion, both commercially and artistically. In 1965, the British had half the #1 songs on Billboard and on May 8 had nine of the top ten songs on the Hot 100. In 1966, the Americans shooed the British out of the year-end top ten entirely (the top fifteen, actually), but their counterattack was orchestrated by non-combatants: Sgt. Barry Sadler (number fucking one!), Nancy Sinatra, Daddy Frank, The Righteous Brothers and Roger Williams. The Supremes, The Four Tops and Jimmy Ruffin made it, demonstrating that Motown and the other soul labels had more firepower than the American rock scene at the time. Only two American rock bands (using the term loosely) made the list: The Monkees and The Lovin' Spoonful. Not a particularly strong showing from American rockers. The Mamas and the Papas earned two slots, but they were neither rockers nor a group to be taken seriously.
By 1966, though, the battlefield had shifted to albums, and The British clearly had the advantage there. British rock musicians seemed endlessly inventive, exploring new sounds and styles while Americans were returning to the past, in some cases rediscovering blues and in other cases seeking solace in country, bluegrass and other down home derivatives. This is what led to Credence Clearwater Revival's dominance in the late 1960's, a development that told me that the Americans had given up and gone home, because that music wasn't going to lead anywhere but to the past.
So, Ready Steady Go! The British are coming!
Reviews in this series:
The Dave Clark Five: The Hits
The Animals Retrospective
Herman's Hermits Retrospective
The Hollies Greatest Hits
Odessey and Oracle
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Posted in: Classic Music Reviews	| Tagged: alt rock chick, altrockchick, Bob Dylan, British Invasion bands, Christmas gifts, Cilla Black, Dexter Gordon, female blogger, female music blogger, Herman's Hermits, Manfred Mann, music reviews, Sandy Denny, Sgt. Barry Sadler, Smoky Joe Wood, The Animals, The British Invasion, The Supremes, The Zombies, Them, Waner brothers
The Animals – The Animals Retrospective – Classic Music Review
Way better than The Most of, The Best of collections from bygone days. If you're Animalistic, click to buy.
I've always had a soft spot for Eric Burdon because he picked my mother out of a crowd as a woman he wanted to fuck and had the civility to ask my father for permission first. That's class!
Unfortunately for Eric, soft spots don't earn anyone a free pass from The Alt Rock Chick!
The Animals were the first "bad boys" of the Invasion, though they were soon to be out-grunged by the more dangerous, hide-your-virgin-daughters appeal of The Rolling Stones. The "bad boys" were a group of invaders who based their music more on the work of black blues and R&B artists, whereas the "beat groups" drew more influence from the early rockers and girl group . . . so say those given to racism who have to categorize everything in sight.
The Animals, in various incarnations centered around Eric Burdon, had a comparatively long run of hits, staying on the charts until 1968. They were primarily a singles band, and the only album that reached the top ten in The States was their first. The Animals were generally at their best when they stuck to the gritty scenery that sets the stage for life in the lower classes, average when it came to pure blues or R&B and absolutely ridiculous when Eric Burdon moved to California and transformed himself into yet another tedious spokesperson for the hippie movement. From a musical standpoint, I think they lost a great deal when Alan Price left the band because he had the talent and presence to serve as a counterweight to Eric Burdon. After his departure, the Animals became Eric Burdon's band, eventually changing the name (with two or three variations) to reflect that fait accompli. At first, Price's departure didn't make much of a difference, as some of the The Animals' greatest songs are from the immediate post-Price period. In the long run, The Animals fell prey to Eric Burdon's hunches concerning musical direction, which were hit or miss at best.
As for the degree of influence The Animals had, that's a matter of debate. Some claim that it was The Animals, not The Byrds, who created the genre of folk rock. Talk about a tempest in a teapot! Let's get something straight: musicians don't create genres, marketers and librarians do. Since rock and folk are based on similar chord structures and commonly use some kind of strummed instrument (lute, balalaika, guitar, etc) as a centerpiece, all it took to "invent a new genre" was for some yahoo to plug in a guitar and play already familiar patterns. Big deal. The argument for Burdon and the boys is that The Animals' first two hits were folk songs played with them newfangled electric instruments. Some even credit The Animals with influencing Dylan to add electric instruments to his act. I view that assertion with skepticism, because musicians and critics are always trying to rewrite history to justify their theories or make themselves look good. The evidence cited is that Dylan did "The House of the Rising Sun" on his first album and reportedly "jumped out of his car seat" when he first heard The Animals' version on the radio. In other words, circumstantial evidence at best.
I'll let other people argue over this trivia. My personal opinion is that I don't think they were that influential, in large part because they took too long to start writing their own songs and many of those songs are of questionable value.
Let's get to the music so you can form your own opinions. The Retrospective collection cheats a little by adding "Spill the Wine" to the set, reinforcing the notion that The Animals were Eric Burdon and vice versa. I don't mind. The story of The Animals is the story of the career of Eric Burdon, so I like it that the album ends with his swan song performance and that his exit as a regular on the pop charts was a memorable musical experience. The track order isn't perfect, but it's better than most in following the chronology of their musical development. While the collection doesn't begin at the beginning, we can get there with a literary flourish or two.
Once upon a time there was a band from Newcastle upon Tyne called the Kansas City Five who changed their name to The Animals after the nickname of one of their buddies and traveled down to London to play at the Crawdaddy Club, where they were introduced to an evil fart named Mickie Most who ordered them to launch their recording career with . . .
"Baby Let Me Take You Home": Now I'm cheating a little. This song actually appears third on the CD track list, because I suppose the compilers wanted to open with The Animals' signature song to attract consumers. Harrumph! God damn, I love that opening guitar riff, where Hilton Valentine seems to defy time and space. What happens is that his arpeggiated intro ends one beat early, so when the band comes in it takes the listener by surprise and makes the song that much more exciting. For a rookie singer, Eric Burdon shows surprising sophistication with his sometimes off-beat phrasing and sheer presence. Alan Price helps define The Animals' early sound with his deft touch on the organ and Chas Chandler rips it on the bass in the double time coda. This is a super maiden release that sure beats the hell out of "Love Me Do." The song can be traced back to either Blind Boy Fuller or Reverend Gary Davis, and was later transformed by 60's folk scene presence Eric Von Schmidt into "Baby Let Me Follow You Down," the version "re-arranged" by Bert Russell and Wes Farrell into "Baby Let Me Take You Home." Let's see . . . that makes at least five plagiarism-related lawsuits that are no doubt still working their way through the courts with each dead man's estate fighting for every penny.
"The House of the Rising Sun": After that side trip into the complexities of the legal system, I am relieved to inform you that "The House of the Rising Sun" is of uncertain origin. Instead of wasting our time on competing hypotheses, how about if we just enjoy the damned song? It is absolutely mesmerizing! The repetitive arpeggiated chord pattern combined with the 2/4 time reflects the relentless march of evil that will inexorably and inevitably swallow the soul. Eric Burdon's vocal is a dramatic tour de force and Alan Price's organ adds that eerie feeling that there are certain things in life that are beyond a man's control, especially seething passions and irresistible temptations. Gambling den or whore house, the place is a symbol of consuming temptation and creeping addiction to vice; dissolution becomes "that ball and chain" from which there is no escape. My interpretation is that the original place was where normal people went to have a good time, then returned to "normal" and found themselves drowning in various forms of Christian guilt. There could never be a House of the Rising Sun in a culture that doesn't equate sex with sin. Eric Burdon even manages to stay in character and communicate genuine regret for his character's debauchery. Since we know that the real Eric Burdon propositioned my mother in front of 5,000 witnesses, we have to give him credit for his acting skills.
"I'm Crying": Their follow-up hit bursts out of the gate with the band creating maximum sound with everything they could throw at the studio microphones. The Animals generally did more vocals in unison than in harmony, and here the "ah-ah-ah" vocal pattern is particularly effective in its simplicity: you take the high note, I'll take the low note, let's stay on the same note. I do detect one of Eric Burdon's flaws emerging here: sometimes he hams it up and over-emphasizes rather dull lines with excessive volume and emotion. A simple blues pattern with the flatted third and fourth chords adding a teeny bit of variety, "I'm Crying" is the classic hit carried into the top ten more on the strength of its predecessor than the song itself.
"Gonna Send You Back to Walker": The B-side to "Baby Let Me Take You Home," it's really too bad that 45's weren't three-dimensional, because this song is clearly C-side quality. Based on Timmy Shaw's minor (and only) hit, "Gonna Send You Back to Georgia," The Animals attempt to localize the song for the British market by changing the return destination to Walker, a burb outside of Newcastle where Eric Burdon grew up. They carefully change the directional preposition from "from" to "to" so that the babe who is the object of the song goes south to get to Swinging London, so that Eric can send her home in a northerly direction after her big city experience turns her into a desirable possession whom other men may covet. For all their efforts at pre-GPS triangulation, the song proves to be a bore, and they made a major mistake in removing the most provocative verse from the original: "You run the streets with your bald head/Tryin' to play the high-class game/You'd run those streets on both day and night/You don't have pocket change." Whoa, Nellie! What was that girl up to?
"Boom Boom": Uh-uh (shaking head vigorously)! No way (jaw firms up in defiance)! Look, when John Lee Hooker sings, "I'm gonna shoot you right down" to his woman, he fucking means it, whether the shooting is a euphemism for getting a sassy bitch off her high horse, a fluid he would like to eject from his hardened member, or a small metal object expelled from the barrel of a .44. Eric Burdon doesn't mean it, because he didn't have the life experience to give those words the layers of meaning in the original. Once again, he overdoes the vocal. John Lee's is one of quiet, cocky confidence: he knows that bitch is goin' down.
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood": This time Eric gets it right. His vocal is actually more restrained than Nina Simone's original, and clearly communicates the vulnerability that men often deny. The quicker tempo also helps the song; Nina's version sounds draggy to me, as if the point was to squeeze every last drop of emotion from every syllable. In real life, someone admitting mistakes and flaws in the personality would tend to speak at a faster rate once the words started to tumble out, with brief stutters and stops along the way. Eric Burdon understood those emotional dynamics, even occasionally slipping back into a tone of self-justification that gives his vocal more credibility. I love the unison vocals on the chorus, the quiet humming in the background and Alan Price's work on the organ.
"Bring It on Home to Me": It's tough to measure up to anything Sam Cooke ever did, but Eric does a credible job with this cover. I just hate that little snickering laugh he adds in the second verse: "You know I laughed (ha-ha) when you left." What the fuck is that? I guess no one taught Eric the Count Basie Theory: less is more!
"We Gotta Get Out of This Place": A classic example of how cultures apply art in ways other than the artist intended. This Mann-Weill number is largely famous for the chorus and the repetition of the title line. It's easy to understand why American boys trapped in the dismal jungles of Vietnam made this their unofficial theme song. "We've gotta get out of this place if it's the last thing we ever do" is a powerful double entendre when "the last thing we ever do" may become tragically true. The real story of the song has nothing to do with Vietnam, but the thing we now call "income inequality," hardly a new phenomenon in capitalist cultures. To work your life away and still find yourself trapped in poverty, unable to afford health care and stuck in a tiny shithole of a flat is a humiliating experience of permanent despair ("See my daddy in bed a-dyin'/See his hair turning' gray/He's been working and slaving his life away.") Even high-paid professionals can relate to this song in a more existential fashion, because many of them feel like they're working their lives away in meaningless jobs. Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill were the best of the Brill Building songwriters, and this song is one for the ages. As noted above, Eric Burdon shines when he's singing about the gritty and hard lives of the lower classes. Kudos to replacement organist Dave Rowberry for not overplaying his hand, and to Chas Chandler for one of the most recognizable bass riffs in history. By the way, this is the original American single release, so all those people who have been whining that the versions on "The Most of" and "The Best of" albums were bogus can now rest in peace.
"It's My Life": Continuing with the formula of notable bass runs and life in the slums, we have another Brill Building creation courtesy of Roger Atkins and Carl D'Errico (this one specifically commissioned by Mickie Most for The Animals' next single). The opening combination of Chas Chandler's bass run and Hilton Valentine on a 12-string Ric grabs your attention with the emphasis on the flatted fifth note presaging the dysfunctional nature of the living situation. Because Eric Burdon cared more about feel than precise enunciation, some listeners never realize that the narrator is a poor young stud whose plan is to use his sexual prowess to exploit the fuck out of rich women and get the hell out of a life of "sweatin' rent." Can't say I blame him, and if the women get their rocks off and are willing to pay up, everyone goes home happy. While mutually agreed-upon exploitation is a pretty pathetic way to relate to one another, this kind of thing is going to happen in a world where people are trained to believe that life is dog-eat-dog, no matter what your station in life. Rich women have to get laid like the rest of us, and poor boys with big dicks have a talent that fits nicely in a supply-and-demand economy. I actually prefer this song to "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" from a musical perspective, but both represent The Animals at their best.
"Don't Bring Me Down": There sure were a lot of don't-let-me-down-bring-me-down-put-me-down songs in the 1960's! Living under the constant threat of nuclear war must have made everyone a bit sensitive. I'm not too fond of this piece; the parts never really come together into a satisfying whole. The fuzz guitar seems to have been thrown in because of trendiness rather than fit.
"See See Rider": Yawn. If there's one blues number that has been played to death, it's this one. After the swirling organ opens the song, there isn't much to hold one's interest. Mitch Ryder's version with "Jenny Take a Ride" was way better.
"Inside, Looking Out": Eric Burdon and Chas Chandler took one of the songs discovered by the Lomax brothers in their search for American roots music and turned it into a decent-sized hit in the U. K. The sound is more garage band than studio, which works well for this old work song. There's some very nifty organ work from Dave Rowberry here, and the ham in Eric Burdon must have loved the stop-time structure of the verses.
"Hey Gyp": The unfortunate connection between Eric Burdon and Donovan that would inform the work of Eric's hippie phase began with this cover of a pedestrian song by Donovan that any teenager could have written at the time. Bo-ring.
"Help Me Girl": The original Animals were in the process of breaking up, so this tune appeared on Eric Burdon's solo album Eric Is Here, credited to Eric Burdon & The Animals. I find it very helpful when artists clearly delineate their phases, which is the only thing I like about this song. The horns are so Bob Crewe Generation.
"When I Was Young": The last of the gritty trilogy was thankfully composed by the entire band (now Eric Burdon & The Animals), giving the performance an immediate sense of credibility. My favorite of the three and probably my favorite Animals song of them all, this song frigging works on so many levels I love replaying it just to pick out the parts: the descending distorted guitar opening, the Indian-like guitar riff courtesy of new lead guitarist Vic Briggs, the flashes of electric violin and best of all, Eric Burdon's delivery of one line in particular: "Pain more painful, laughter much louder, yeah." If you listen closely there's almost a hidden laugh behind the vocalization of the word "laughter," and the closing "yeah" is snapped off with street-wise perfection. The modulation of the dynamics from quiet to loud to utter stillness is terribly effective and the mixed-race implications of "she was brown and I was pretty green" were pretty daring for the time.
"A Girl Named Sandoz": While I do like The Smashing Pumpkins' version better, I like the mix of garage feel and San Francisco sound on The Animals' version. It sounds very Haight-Ashbury, as should any song where the heroine is named after the pharma company that brought helped bring LSD into the world.
"San Franciscan Nights": Oh, for fuck's sake. Warm San Franciscan nights? When? I lived in the City for twenty-five years and can remember maybe three warm nights. If you come to San Francisco in July or August and you see hordes of tourists shivering in their tank tops and shorts around Union Square as they huddle closely together in line waiting for the souvenir stores to open so they can buy piles of sweatshirts and sweatpants to protect them from the relentless fog and wind of a San Francisco summer, you'll know whom to blame. "It's summer! Isn't California supposed to be warm in the summer?" they whimper in pathetic explanation of their skimpy wardrobes. The only way you could possibly describe San Francisco nights as warm is through the influence of LSD. Cocaine simply won't do—you need something that completely distorts your perceptual field to believe that icy fog is a warm and snuggly blanket. To use this song as a plug for his buddy Donovan ("fly Trans Love Airways") adds insult to frostbite.
"Monterey": I guess Eric decided to pick up some extra cash as a marketing shill for the music industry. This song defines the regrettable tendency of humans in modern society to define certain happenings as "seminal events," an exaggerative tendency much like the current practice to turn everyone who ever made a record into a "legend." Baby Boomers are particularly prone to attaching excessive meaning to events, from Woodstock to Watergate to the Super Bowl. The most offensive aspect of this song is its elevation of musicians into godlike status. Referring to a drugged-out, unreliable guitarist as "His Majesty Prince Jones" is seriously over-the-top, as is the line "young gods smiled upon the crowd," referring to the performers. The excess of this song is breathtaking, easily making my list of the ten worst songs ever conceived.
Look. Any objective reading of history will tell you that the truly seminal one-time events of the 60's were JFK's assassination and The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The definition of "seminal" is "strongly influencing future developments," and those events created massive change, for evil or for good. Monterey Pop opened up another distribution channel for rock music, period. Woodstock didn't change dick except account balances for the promoters. Some 60's movements produced change, but the big events associated with those movements didn't change shit. Change usually takes time, and a single event simply doesn't have that much power or significance. The 60's were full of big events, but when you follow the path that leads away from the event, you usually wind up nowhere. What did Kent State produce? A shitty CSNY single and a landslide for Richard Nixon.
I don't know if Eric Burdon really cried to Ravi Shankar's music, but I'll bet Ravi didn't cry even after Eric mangled his name to Shank-nar. Ravi had no reason to cry because he was the only musician who performed at Monterey who insisted on being paid for his performance. How fucking spiritual of him.
"Anything": This is the song that Eric Burdon is most proud of writing. Uh-uh. Okay. Better not say . . . anything.
"Sky Pilot": This opus had to be split into two sides on the 45 due to its length. The "sky pilot" is the army chaplain, a job whose existence defies reason and logic. I've always felt that the concept of "Christian Soldiers" is the ultimate oxymoron, and for a man of the cloth to accept a job in the military makes no sense to me at all unless you believe in predestination and are just playing out the string. The theme of "Sky Pilot" is this fundamental contradiction and the inevitable test of faith involved in choosing to serve in such a position. Although the lyrics are sometimes clumsy and the grammar atrocious ("only time it will tell"), it's a compelling performance from the a cappella opening to the clinching line, "Thou shalt not kill." I particularly like the strings here, especially in the passage before the last verse.
"White Houses": One of the most underrated songs in their catalog, this Eric Burdon composition features the usual grammatical difficulties as he twists syntax to create rhyming lines ("Soon another life it will bring"), but is saved by a solid groove and a playful lead vocal. The theme of the song is "look at reality, people!" and as we continue to ignore the presence of poverty a few miles from our doorsteps and accept the daily bullshit fed to us by politicians and media, the message retains its relevance today.
"Spill the Wine": Ironically, a band named War was created with the intent to spread peace and brotherhood. The original mixed racial-cultural lineup, from which the fairer sex was excluded, certainly met their brotherhood goal, she said snarkily. Sexism aside, War proved to be a very solid funk band that carries on to this day. They allowed a woman into the band in the late 70's, to their credit.
"Spill the Wine" is certainly one of the most distinctive pieces ever to land a spot on the higher reaches of the charts. The carefree Latin beat enhanced by splashes of flute and a woman speaking in Spanish (Eric Burdon's girlfriend) provides a much more interesting background for this largely spoken word piece than the programmed beats of rap and hip-hop. The dream state of the song allows for fanciful lyrics that celebrate the amazing beauty of women of all shapes and sizes (appropriate) but goes no further than validating their status as one of the many pleasures available to men (bullshit). Confident in the innate superiority of my gender, I can ignore the slings and arrows of ignorant males and enjoy this fresh and exciting piece of music.
As with the comparison of The Dave Clark Five to The Beatles, The Animals lacked the catalog depth of their leading competition, The Rolling Stones. They stuck with covers and Brill Building songs far too long and never really developed into accomplished songwriters as did Jagger and Richards. Those who survived after the Invasion had petered out possessed two qualities that made all the difference: the ability to write great songs and a sense of curiosity that led to the exploration of new possibilities in rock music. While that was certainly no guarantee of continuity, the artists who lacked those two qualities really had no chance at all.
Eric Burdon and The Animals did leave behind several songs that have an undeniable place in the history of rock music. While they may not have been as accomplished as some of their contemporaries, they gave us some great tunes that have stood the test of time. That's more than you can say about Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick or even Tich.
Posted in: British Invasion, Classic Music Reviews	| Tagged: Alan Price, alt rock chick, altrockchick, British Invasion, Chas Chandler, eric burdon, female blogger, female music blogger, Hilton Valentine, music reviews, retrospective, The Animals


Experts have suggested that only 50% of marketing actually works and the trick is to discover which half is actually rubbish.
In November, twenty Perth artists, many with considerable experience marketing themselves spent an afternoon with CircuitWest trying to unlock some secrets on how best to market themselves and their work.
The Small Business Development Corporation's Andrew Maurice lead the group through a detailed workshop full of pearls of wisdom and tips and tricks on developing and executing a great marketing plan.
Digital Marketing – an essential of 21st C marketing is a quagmire and many have no idea how to make it pay, which platform to choose, how much effort to expend and even where their revenue is coming from. Artist's had dumped platforms and transformed effort across every channel possible. Some had huge success, some none. The wash up was – get a digital plan and test each platform to work our where your effort provided the best return. But more importantly, make sure you tell your story in the digital world.
Unique selling proposition – one of the most ubiquitous marketing tools of the last 40 years is not something widely used. The message from the training was; most artists need to be able to explain a unique benefit they or their artform delivers to market better and demonstrate the one feature that most stands out as different from the competition. If you want to test this theory head into a Fringewold venue and take everyone's leaflets – you'll know in a glance which are the shows that best tell their story. Know what is special about you or your art – and express that clearly.
B2B or B2C markets – whilst some artists are marketing directly to the public , some are aiming at businesses or intermediaries like venues – and then there are those doing both. It was highlighted that there was a need to consider if the messaging you provide should be the same for both – a presenter will care if you have a good marketing pack for your work, but a fan will just care what the art is like. The big message – treat all your markets the same.
One foot in the past and one in the future – whilst there is a justified huge effort in new media marketing like Instagram there is a need to never forget people live off the world wide web as well. If you don't believe this, consider why the newspaper advertising revenue remains at more than $1 billion per annum.
Don't keep your Data in a shoebox – whilst many may choose to maintain their audiences through Facebook or Instagram, there come a time when you may just need to know where they are and how to contact them.Those who are operating without customer relationship management will likely let some important people slip through the cracks.. Many artists can start with using a spreadsheet and there are numerous cheap cloud based CRM solutions can do many jobs for you besides holding your list. Your memory is not as good as you think it is, don't risk overlooking important stakeholders because you don't mange data.
Email works or does it? The advent of Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor have seen email become the communication channel of choice for many. But does it work? The reaction was mixed, but the lessons were clear – don't spam people, use a mail service to manage your lists, and measure how your emails are performing – you can track reactions very easily, if one idea does not work, try a different angle. If you are not used to writing for email marketing, maybe hire someone who it – emarketing success is all in the story telling.
Okay so no one knows what percentage of marketing is actually rubbish – but what we did learn is the importance of developing your plan, your brand (eapecially if that brand is you) , your message and your channels. We also learnt if you are not measuring the impact the things you do are having on the people you want to influence you maybe wasting your precious time, money and effort.
The follow on to this is that the next course, in February 2019, will be on digital marketing. We will annouce on Facebook so make sure you like us so you hear about the next free artist course first.


text:
Q: Where can I find a list of all parameters/variables used in Postfix master.cf? In postfix master.cf, there are entries like this (for dovecot):
dovecot unix - n n - - pipe flags=DRhu user=vmail:vmail argv=/usr/lib/dovecot/deliver -f ${sender} -d ${user}@${nexthop} -n -m ${extension}

As far as i understand it, variables like ${sender}, ${user}, ${nexthop}, ${extension} are provided by postfix, but I was not able to find documentation of a list of all possible parameters. I need to know if there are more variables than these... As I have problems setting up my system as intended. I am looking for a variable that represents the mapping for an email to a virtual mailbox-username...
If someone knows where I can find such a list, I would be very thankfull!
Thanks very much!

A: As you see, the command name is pipe. This is a postfix built-in way to deliver mails to an external program, in this case dovecot.
The accepted parameters as well as the available variables are documented in its man page.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
'Exquisitely preserved' cells found of 125 million-year-old dinosaur
September 28, 2021 Nature
Researchers have claimed that they have identified and isolated cells from a dinosaur that lived 125 million years ago.
Researchers have claimed that they have isolated 'exquisitely preserved' cells of a dinosaur that was alive 125 million years ago.
The research comes from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and from the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature. Researchers have said that they have found organic molecules and fossilized chromatin in the cartilage of Caudipteryx, which was a dinosaur that is believed to be around the size of a peacock. According to the researchers, two types of cells were found; healthy cells and cells that were decaying when the dinosaur was dying.
Additionally, the researchers noted that cells were most likely "exquisitely preserved" by silicon dioxide that was in volcanic ash that covered the dinosaur's body. LI Zhiheng, Associate Professor at IVPP and co-author on the study, explained, "Geological data has accumulated over the years and shown that fossil preservation in the Jehol Biota was exceptional due to fine volcanic ashes that entombed the carcasses and preserved them down to the cellular level."
What does this mean? The researchers explained that the discovery of organic molecules inside cartilage reinforces the hypothesis that cartilage is "prone to nuclear fossilization and a perfect candidate to further understand DNA preservation in deep time," wrote the researchers.
On top of that, Alida Bailleul, IVPP associate Professor and study co-author, said, "Let's be honest, we are obviously interested in fossilized cell nuclei because this is where most of the DNA should be if DNA was preserved. So, we have good preliminary data, very exciting data, but we are just starting to understand cellular biochemistry in very old fossils. At this point, we need to work more."
It seems the researchers are on the hunt for dino-DNA and now some preliminary data to lean upon as they continue their research.
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This page displays sold house prices for Clavell Road in Bristol.
Clavell Road in Bristol BS10 consists predominantly of terraced houses. Properties on Clavell Road typically have values around £150,000 - £200,000, ranging upwards of £200,000 for larger semi-detached houses.


He felt like he was being squeezed.
When his eyes opened, he found himself in a small, damp room, surrounded by complete darkness.
He thought he had successfully transferred from where he was a moment before and reincarnated successfully.
Those present were no more than kids.
He counted roughly ten of them. They sat helplessly on the floor, some shivering as they hugged their knees, others crying in silence.
They all shared a common feature: a black collar.
Even though he ignored its utility, it didn't look promising.
He muttered, so that no one could hear.
Judging by the high-pitched tone of his voice and his limbs, he estimated his age to be around eight years old.
He ignored the reason she jumped in surprise, but now her dirty, blond hair no longer covered her face.
Her voice was trembling, but she looked a bit relaxed. It would seem they were talking the same language.
But at the same time, he carefully thought about her words.
Before he reincarnated… this body was probably dead.
Thanks to the Goddess' intervention, I am now within it.
Before reincarnating, he wouldn't have felt sorry about this.
This is a world where dying like that is normal, where the weak loses their life meaninglessly.
After lightly touching his head, he faced the young girl again.
He started scribbling on the floor to write his name.
Looking at the characters, the girl tilted her head, puzzled.
She wrote it on the floor with her tiny hand.
As expected, Takumi couldn't understand the characters.
He tried to recall various languages from his old world, but no one resembled this in the slightest.
However, satisfied, he smiled friendly.
As soon as she finished the sentence, her expression darkened.
She said sadly, lowering her gaze.
Despair painted her face as she addressed herself as a slave.
Seeing her, Takumi reacted in an calm way, inappropriate for a child his age.
Lilia withdrew her hand, and Takumi started talking to the other children.
He broke the silence wearing the same smile.
They were roughly ten, included the two of them.
At first, they all looked in pain like Lilia, but after talking a little they became livelier.
Everyone was around ten years old.
There were war orphans, those who were sold by their starving family, those who were kidnapped by bandits, those who were left behind after their parents ran away because of massive debts, and those who were lured in by empty promises.
Their stories explained pretty well the actual conditions of this world.
Takumi stored in his mind the information he gathered.
Called so suddenly, she waved her hands frantically.
Being sold was common, but it was unusual to end up as a slave from a position like that.
Hearing about her old family, some children didn't hide their disdain.
Lilia wrote her name like Takumi did before… but none of the other children could read it.
She said that proficiency in literature and mathematic wasn't very important. In the first place, this wasn't necessary knowledge to children, who thought that "living was enough." Studying was reserved to privileged classes, starting from the merchants.
It was normal to ignore how to read and write, as well as how to do math, even for those who weren't slaves.
Takumi clapped his hands to draw attention, preserving carefully that precious information.
He was the leader of the group. His name was Killfer.
He glared daggers at Lilia, who jumped feeling the blood freeze in her veins.
But Takumi replied without hesitation.
His answer was flawless and Killfer fell silent. Children have that kind of attitude, but those present looked smart, as they seemed to understand.
While Takumi was trying to convince the others, a loud clang interrupted him as the room swamped in light.
The children were dazzled, but they managed to recognize the silhouette of a big man as soon as they got used to the light.
He spat on the floor as he looked at them, a vein popping out his head.
"I was going to sell you to the elves, but if you make such a ruckus, forget it.
The moment I find a buyer, I'm done. Keeping you is already a pain.
He snorted and then pointed at someone outside.
A man with a flushed face was standing behind him, holding two figures.
The next moment, they could tell the two had beautiful hair. Golden the first and a glossy black the other.
The kids guessed that those were girls, given their figures and hair lengths.
Other than wearing the same collar, they had shackles bounding their wrists and ankles.
They also looked older than the other children.
The dark-haired one seemed to be fifteen, maybe more, while the other, as petite as she was, must've been around thirteen.
The younger one had big ears and a tail, while the other had long, sharp ears like arrowheads.
Seeing that the girls were slightly moving them, they weren't for show.
But except for those differences, they were slaves too.
They weren't trying to fight back and just moaned, probably due to fatigue.
As Takumi appraised those girls, they were thrown in the room.
The men threw in bread like they were feeding animals in cages.
It wasn't only black and hard as a rock, given the sound it made when hitting the ground, but it looked moldy too.
Takumi started counting the loafs.
He addressed the back of the man.
The man was startled at first. But soon he felt like that brat was mocking him, and snorted.
Laughing loudly, the man looked down on Takumi.
A sadistic smile appeared on his face as he closed the door and left.
Once again in darkness, the young boy sighed.
He directed a forced smile to the other children and then took his share.
She held him tight with a serious face.
In his old world, demi-humans didn't exist.
Takumi noticed that all the kids were afraid of them and understood how they were treated in this world.
He gently gestured her to let him go.
Wearing a friendly smile, he lent them the bread.
The exhausted expression she had until now vanished and her golden eyes started to shine like stars.
Meanwhile, the girl, Kunon, was drooling and wagging her tail.
But the other one… Karin glared at Takumi.
She put on a firm face. After hearing her words, he frowned.
He held her stare for a while… then shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
He confessed honestly, so she instinctively frowned.
After that, he tossed the bread in front of her.
The blondie smiled from ear to ear, then shifted her gaze on her friend.
She hit the ground with her tail, at a loss for what to do.
Looking at her reaction, Takumi guessed their relationship and grinned.
Sweeping her hair back, Karin sighed annoyed.
Takumi pictured them with blonde or white hair. After he spoke his mind, she gave him a deadly glare.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance. Karin took note of his horrible manners, but at least he apologized. Perhaps he wasn't that bad.
Saying that, Takumi moved his face closer to Karin's, looking right into her eyes.
She unintentionally held her breath, but it wasn't because he hadn't the eyes of a normal child reduced to slavery or because his gaze was completely devoid of emotions.
It wasn't simply out of fear.
After that, Karin remembered how to breath.
She frowned and then looked back at him suspiciously.
Takumi smiled as if he was opposing his own words.
He waved his hand and left her with those words, returning to his corner.
1 拓未 = たくみ = Takumi. He writes it with kanjis first, then with hiraganas.
This is just creepy and weird compared to normal mindsets of a slave, i get that the plot armor is strong for our mc but this is just too abnormal of a situation.
I don't really see a 'strong plot armor', honestly.
Why should the memories be erased? He wanted to see if he's capable enough to achieve the same things of his previous life with only his abilities, and not by luck. Abilities you wouldn't have without your memories.
Erase his memories..? Then what's the point of his regret if that's happen?


*PERISHABLE* This is the best sauce for seafood ravioli. It is made from unsalted butter, sweet cream, lobster reduction, flamed sherry wine, Spanish paprika and other spices. Newburg sauce is also good on roasted pepper gnocchi and Cajun spice pasta.


For people in their mid-70s such as myself, the 2020 presidential campaign is an oddly personal experience. Among the front-runners for the Democratic and Republican nominations are two men our age (Joe Biden, 76, and Bernie Sanders, 77) and another just a few years behind us: Donald Trump, 72, the oldest man ever elected president. If Trump had lost in 2016, Hillary Clinton, at 69, would have been the second-oldest person ever elected.
Is this OK? Can politicians our age be effective presidents? It's a question that can provoke strong, often pained reactions from my contemporaries. Any one person's answer reflects their sense of what it takes to be president and what it means to be in your 70s. In my own case — healthy, active, marbles still present but unmistakably 76 — this does not seem like a good stage of life to take on such a huge challenge. I have less energy and less stamina than I did 25 years ago. I find concentration more difficult and naps more necessary. Learning a new subject is much harder than it used to be.
For my generation, the archetypal presidential geezer was Ronald Reagan, the only man ever to celebrate his 71st birthday in the White House. But Reagan was a spry 69 when he won the job. If Biden or Sanders triumphs in 2020, we enter an unprecedented age of — well, of old age in power. If reelected in 2024, Biden would start his second term at 82, Sanders at 83. If Trump won again, he'd still be president at 78 — 15 years older than Franklin D. Roosevelt was when he died in office in 1945.
Several dozen contemporaries with whom I've discussed this article, and half a dozen gerontologists, agree that 50 is a better age than 76 to undertake perhaps the hardest job on Earth. The experts on aging (none as old as I) were generally more sympathetic to the idea that someone in their late 70s might be an effective president, but no one I've talked to thinks this is an ideal age for the role. The specialists know the numerous studies that show, unmistakably, that on nearly every scale of intellectual capacity, people over 70 have less to offer than younger generations. The one exception is the ability to learn and recall vocabulary.
Studies of old people conclude that between 16 percent and 23 percent of Americans over 65 experience some form of cognitive impairment. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that these subjects performed worse than others on tasks involving working memory — the ability to remember information while manipulating it, as when calculating the tip on a restaurant bill — and that they're more impaired when those tasks become more complex. Older adults also have difficulties with tasks that require dividing or switching attention, like cooking while chatting on the phone.
On tests of reasoning, memory and cognitive speed, the average scores for adults in their early 70s were near the 20th percentile of the population, whereas the average performance for adults in their early 20s was near the 75th percentile. A Mayo Clinic study of 161 cognitively normal adults between 62 and 100 years of age showed that declines in learning ability closely track the passage of time. "Research has shown that concept formation, abstraction, and mental flexibility decline with age, especially after age 70, as older adults tend to think more concretely than younger adults," according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, who surveyed several studies. I would hope that impaired executive functioning is not the sort of torture Americans want their president to suffer.
People in my generation have entered the time of dying. Life expectancy for men in the United States is less than 79 years. According to the actuarial tables used by life insurance companies, those of us lucky enough to remain standing at 75 still have, on average, about a decade to go, but of course averages don't apply to any individual. I recently checked on my college class from 1964. We were 1,000 men at the time, and we're about 785 today — more than 20 percent of my classmates are already dead. Per the insurers' tables, a President-elect Biden in 2020 would have a 26 percent chance of dying within the subsequent five years; Sanders in 2020 would face a 29 percent chance of dying within five years; for Trump it would be about a 20 percent chance of death before 2025.
This is a sensitive topic. We live in an age of isms, and ageism (discriminating against people because of how many birthdays they've celebrated) is forbidden by statutes like the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and by political correctness. This bothers some people in the field of gerontology. "If talking about someone's age is taboo and we are immediately accused of ageism, then that shuts down the discourse," argues Jennifer Sasser, 52, a gerontologist at Oregon State University. A 70-year-old candidate "will have 20 more years of lived experience than a 50-year-old, and that translates not only into potential expertise but also a richer mind," Sasser says. But "you can't stay at the height of your capacity forever. That's not the trajectory. We do become less energetic. Our bodies and minds do change."
Sasser's co-author of the widely used text "Aging: Concepts and Controversies," Harry R. Moody, 74 — a gerontologist who was once director of academic affairs at AARP, the lobby for older Americans - also laments the silence about how age can affect politics and politicians. "You find lots of discussions about gender, ethnicity, class, race, trying to explain what's going on with white nationalism, et cetera," he says. "But you never find any discussion of age. This is peculiar."
One reason is the wide range of capabilities of old people. Some 80-year-olds seem and act younger than some 60-year-olds. "Age per se should not disqualify a candidate," says Denise C. Park, 67, a psychologist who founded the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas. "Older brains are packed with knowledge and experiences that may constitute 'wisdom' and would help a president perform well in office," she said, but she added that age obviously brings certain costs, "specifically in their capacity for quick processing of new information, remembering details, and the ability to process and use new information."
Park endorsed the idea that older candidates should volunteer for a neurological assessment, which can reveal precursors to degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, and disclose the results. "All brains show some degradation over time, but the fact that older people have degraded brains does not necessarily mean (they have) less useful mental skills," she observed. "The additional knowledge and experience that comes with age may compensate for this."
A second dissent came from Harold Varmus, 79, who has one of the most remarkable résumés of my generation. Varmus won the Nobel Prize for physiology at 49, then over a 22-year period ran three famous scientific institutions: the National Institutes of Health, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the National Cancer Institute. Varmus told me he wasn't sure that "anyone is competent to be president of the United States," but yes, he thought he could do it. "I'm still pretty good at learning new stuff," he said, and I believed him. He said his judgment, writing ability, perspective and demeanor had all improved in his late 70s.
Yet Varmus highlights the exact problem: Any given human could function at a high level well into his or her dotage. But these are outliers. The overwhelming majority decline. This happens to different people at different ages, but scientists have established that decline accelerates with advancing age: In a study by the University of Virginia, adults between the ages of 61 and 96 showed a decrease in cognitive speed twice as great as adults under age 60, and a drop-off in memory four times as great. Memory loss causes "slowed processing speed, reduced ability to ignore irrelevant information, and decreased use of strategies to improve learning and memory," according to the University of Alabama's meta-study.
Mary Roman, a prominent cardiologist at Weill Cornell medical school, recalled President George W. Bush's early years in office, which he assumed when he was 54. At first, Bush compared the presidency to a CEO's role, and he tried to make it a "nine to five enterprise." But the 9/11 attacks, the rise of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle changed the job. "The president had to be working, responding, all the time," she says. "Look at the photographs of Bush and Obama, and how the presidency changed them." Roman is 67, and she "couldn't imagine taking on a 24/7 job" at her age.
Someone in his or her mid-70s undoubtedly could perform the job of president, but how effectively? The example of our 72-year-old incumbent raises questions about the meaning of "perform." Is there any reason to think that picking someone with at least a 20 percent chance of dying in office is a good idea? Don't we have a great many younger candidates who are more likely to survive and thrive in this most arduous of jobs?
Robert Kaiser is a former managing editor of The Washington Post.


text:
Q: Not a valid TensorFlow Graph serialization: Value for attr 'T' of int64 is not in the list of allowed values: float, int32 I have saved model using tf.train.Saver.save() and then freeze the graph bu using below method:
def freezeModel(modelName):
    input_graph_path = modelName + '.pb'
    checkpoint_path = './' + modelName + '.ckpt'
    input_saver_def_path = ""
    input_binary = True
    output_node_names = "x_indices,x_values,x_dense_shape,unary_scores,transition_params,train_op"
    restore_op_name = "save/restore_all"
    filename_tensor_name = "save/Const:0"
    output_frozen_graph_name = 'frozen_' + modelName + '.pb'

    clear_devices = True

    freeze_graph.freeze_graph(input_graph_path,input_saver_def_path,input_binary, checkpoint_path, output_node_names,restore_op_name, filename_tensor_name,output_frozen_graph_name, clear_devices, "")
    return

Then loading the modelName.pb file in Android using inference api as below:
TensorFlowInferenceInterface inferenceInterface = new **TensorFlowInferenceInterface**(context.getAssets(), MODEL_FILE);

I am getting below error:
Caused by:
java.io.IOException: Not a valid TensorFlow Graph serialization: Value for attr 'T' of int64 is not in the list of allowed values: float, int32**
; NodeDef: Less_1 = Less[T=DT_INT64](ToInt64_2, ToInt64_3); Op<name=Less; signature=x:T, y:T -> z:bool; attr=T:type,allowed=[DT_FLOAT, DT_INT32]>
at org.tensorflow.contrib.android.TensorFlowInferenceInterface.loadGraph(TensorFlowInferenceInterface.java:439)
at org.tensorflow.contrib.android.TensorFlowInferenceInterface.<init>(TensorFlowInferenceInterface.java:98)

Here is the code using to create the graph:
x_indices_t= tf.placeholder(tf.int64, shape=(None, 3), name="x_indices")
x_values_t= tf.placeholder(tf.float32, shape=(None), name="x_values")
x_dense_shape_t= tf.placeholder(tf.int64, shape=(3), name="x_dense_shape")#[len(X_train), max_word_count, feature_count]
shape_unary_score_t = tf.placeholder(dtype=tf.int64, shape=(None, None, None), name="shape_unary_score")#[num_examples_t, max_word_count, num_tags]
shape_t = tf.shape(shape_unary_score_t)

x_t = tf.SparseTensor(indices=x_indices, values=x_values, dense_shape=x_dense_shape)

**To resolve above error i changed the dtype of indices and shapes to int32 then tf.SparseTensor() is givving below error:
File "CRF_POS_Trainer_Tensor - Training.py", line 323, in <module>
    x_t = tf.SparseTensor(indices=x_indices_t, values=x_values_t, dense_shape=x_dense_shape_t)
  File "/home/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/sparse_tensor.py", line 119, in _init_
    indices, name="indices", dtype=dtypes.int64)
  File "/home/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/ops.py", line 676, in convert_to_tensor
    as_ref=False)
  File "/home/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/ops.py", line 741, in internal_convert_to_tensor
    ret = conversion_func(value, dtype=dtype, name=name, as_ref=as_ref)
  File "/home/anaconda3/envs/tensorflow/lib/python3.6/site-packages/tensorflow/python/framework/ops.py", line 614, in _TensorTensorConversionFunction
    % (dtype.name, t.dtype.name, str(t)))
**ValueError: Tensor conversion requested dtype int64 for Tensor with dtype int32: 'Tensor("x_indices:0", shape=(?, 3), dtype=int32)'

So how to I resolve the issue to create SparseTensor with int32 data.
Tensorflow Version: 1.3.0


This is MONDAY, April 30th, Day 5 of the Rhatt Watch. Residents remain concerned about the unauthorized expenditure of massive quantities of funds by Red-face Ratt's lapdog for personal and other legal expenditures. This is tantamount to stealing Town of White Springs funds, apparently with the full knowledge and consent of the Red-face Ratt. What is the total amount of Town of White Springs' funds which have been expended inappropriately? Upon what were these funds expended? Who received the funds and when? How will the Town of White Springs recover its funds? Will Red-face Ratt's lapdog and/or the town clerk/finance director be held responsible for their roles?
By the way, where have Red-face Ratt, his lapdog and other flunkies been hiding since the Council's reorganization meeting? Even Red-face Ratt's family was too embarrassed to be seen with him on Thursday evening. If you have pictures of the Ratt with a bright red face, please send them along.
Why haven't these expenditures been investigated by the White Springs Police Department, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department or the Florida Department of Law Enforcement? When will the Stte Attorney take action? When will Red-face Ratt be indicted (as Michael Avemotti would say, the Red-face Ratt will be indicted soon; he's toxic and if you have done anything with him in the last 20 years, it's coming back to bite you)? How long would Red-face Ratt be behind bars? And will the Ratt's Lapdog and town clerk/finance director be there with him? Or alternatively, will Red-face Ratt and his Lapdog resign? Local residents indicate a team of investigative reporters with camera crew apparently associated with CBS or Fox News has been interviewing knowledgeable witnesses in and around White Springs? It's happening.
It's Day 5 and Red-face Ratt hasn't resigned yet. The Rhatt Watch continues.
AND WHAT DUTIES HAS STACY REALLY PERFORMED?


Actor, producer and DJ Idris Elba is the latest celebrity to join the growing list of stars opening his own bar in October.
The Parrot which is within the Waldorf Hilton hotel in London, will be turned into a cocktail bar and live music venue.
The bar will offer everything from a hidden cocktail menu and delicious small plates, to secret shows and exclusive events. The venue even has its very own chauffeur-driven car, so VIP guests can arrive and leave in luxury.
Nightly entertainment is also on offer, with a professional house band performing popular covers. The bar will also host secret shows and screenings.
It's now common for celebrities to branch out into different business ventures. Idris Elba will open the 60-seater venue in partnership with twin brothers Lee and Nick Caulfield.


text:
namespace Incoding.Block.ExceptionHandling
{
    #region << Using >>

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;

    #endregion

    public sealed class InitExceptionHandling
    {
        #region Fields

        readonly List<ExceptionPolicy> exceptionPolicies = new List<ExceptionPolicy>();

        #endregion

        #region Api Methods

        public void WithPolicy(Func<ExceptionPolicy, ExceptionPolicy> func)
        {
            this.exceptionPolicies.Add(func(new ExceptionPolicy()));
        }

        #endregion

        internal List<ExceptionPolicy> GetPolicies()
        {
            return this.exceptionPolicies;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
package actionerror

type PackageProcessingExpiredError struct{}

func (PackageProcessingExpiredError) Error() string {
	return "Package expired after upload"
}


text:
Behind the Scenes of Ken Block's Rally Car Fire
When the Hoonigan Escort Cosworth burst into flames, it was a challenge to contain and extinguish the fire.
By Justin Hughes July 23, 2018
Hoonigan | YouTube
News of the sudden demise of Ken Block's 1991 Ford Escort Cosworth at the New England Forest Rally spread across the internet almost as quickly as the fire engulfed the car. Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino escaped unharmed, but the burning car threatened to set the surrounding forest on fire, potentially endangering the numerous nearby spectators.
As the journalist I am, I'm not supposed to become a part of the story, but as a rally volunteer, I was part of the team that prevented this from happening and kept both spectators and other competitors safe.
My position at the midpoint relay. The Jetta Ute is an excellent rally support vehicle.
I was one of two amateur radio operators stationed at the midpoint of Special Stage 4, Icicle Brook. This stage is infamous for the start and finish radios not being able to hear each other due to a tall hill between them. We were stationed on that hill, and it was up to us to not only track passing competitors as we usually do, but also to relay information between the start and finish. It was business as usual as we started the stage. David Higgins, Travis Pastrana, and Jeff Seehorn passed us, followed by Ken Block in his Escort.
Ken Block's Escort Cosworth minutes before his fiery crash.
Minutes later my radio blared, "Emergency, emergency, this is checkpoint Bravo, we have a car on fire." Checkpoint Bravo was a spectator area near the finish. Our stage captain was at the start, and the other radio operator and I knew he would not be able to hear Bravo directly, meaning that our job as the midpoint relay was about to get quite busy. Over the next several minutes we listened and relayed as Block's own attempts to put out the fire were unsuccessful. The competitor behind Block arrived on the scene, and their extinguishers proved inadequate as well. The fire was just spreading too quickly.
The stage captain gave the word to shut down the stage and display the red cross to competitors, a universal signal which obligates them to stop for an emergency. This would not only prevent competitors from driving into the area of the fire at full speed but also clear the road for emergency crews. We ended up stopping two cars ourselves and got them off the road. As soon as all competitors were accounted for, fire crews rushed to the fire from both the start and the finish simultaneously. The rally sweep crew was later sent in as well.
Despite their best efforts, the fire had now spread to the surrounding forest, and even more fire crews were called in. It was at this point that we learned that part of the problem was the magnesium components in Block's car. Magnesium is quite quick to burn and extremely difficult to put out. Water only feeds the fire more, but fortunately, everyone had been using extinguishers and foam. The additional fire crews were finally able to contain the fire and start putting it out.
Hanging out with the competitors we stopped while waiting to leave the stage.
As the emergency came under control, attention then turned to the logistics of getting the remaining 50 or so competitors behind Block off the stage and back to the service area. The road by the fire was completely occupied by fire crews, so the debate was whether to wait until the road was reopened to have competitors transit slowly through the stage to head back, or to send them back to the main road from the start and avoid the stage entirely. At this point, there was so much communication going on between officials that I was pulled to a secondary frequency to relay logistics while the primary frequency continued to help coordinate emergency efforts. Finally, as the sun began to set, my partner and I were told (and relayed) that competitors at the start would make their way directly to the main road and leave, while competitors stopped on stage and workers would proceed past the now extinguished fire and through the finish. We sent the competitors first, then made our own way down the stage.
I drove right past the charred husk of Block's Escort on my way off the stage.
Our stage captain would later tell us that this situation was the second worst case scenario that could possibly happen at a rally. Fortunately, no one was hurt (that would be the worst case scenario), and emergency crews were dispatched quickly enough to get the fire under control before it started consuming the forest and put the nearby spectators in danger. Our stage crew was complimented from the highest level at how well we handled it. It was a serious team effort, and it exemplifies why we have the safety net we do in place at rallies.
My Life As A Rallyist
Ken Block's Ford Escort Cosworth Rally Car Burns Up at NEFR Stage Rally
The New England Forest Rally claims Ken Block's beloved '90s rally car.
Watch Onboard Footage of Ken Block Ripping Through the Woods of the Oregon Trail Rally
Shortly after announcing his 2018 race plans, Block attended the Oregon Trail Rally with co-driver Alex Gelsomino.
Watch Ken Block Test His Escort Group A Rally Car
Ahead of his 2018 stage rally race plans, Block takes his Escort Group A rally car to Hungry Valley, California for testing.
Rallycross Driver Steve Arpin Joins Forces with Hoonigan's Ken Block
Steve Arpin and his Loenbro Motorsports team will be pairing up with Ken Block and Hoonigan to take on the new ARX series.
Ken Block Announces His 2018 Racing Plans
With Racing Stage Rally, Americas Rallycross, World RX, Gymkhana GRID, and World Rallycross, Ken Block will be very busy in 2018.