text:
Unsavory
Deb Peterson broke the story in the Post-Dispatch earlier today and Chris Gibson, who went to review Elsie Parker tonight for KDHX-FM (where I'm the senior performing arts critic), confirmed it: Savor is closing its doors after the Debby Lennon/Carolbeth True show on June 28th.
Chris said Jim Dolan - the producer of the Cabaret at Savor series and the master of ceremonies for every performance - wasn't there tonight and the woman who was doing the seating apparently had no idea that he was there to review the show. It's not clear whether she was an employee of Savor or Jim's organization.
This is pretty awful news for the cabaret scene locally. Savor was the best all-around cabaret room in town. I went to the press preview for the Kranzberg Center Wednesday (the 21st) and while their cabaret space is promising, the seating will need to be planned properly if it's going to work at all. I have no idea whether they're going to do that or not.
Jim was apparently caught flat-footed by this. His web site is still advertising shows through August 23rd. It looks like Savor made the decision very abruptly.
UPDATE, June 28th: According to an anonymous posting on Ian Froeb's Gut Check restaurant blog, "the owner only knew 5 days before the doors closed for good" and the business "owed over 50 grand to the state in taxes ". How things could get to the point where that would come as a surprise is a question not yet addressed.
Labels: cabaret at savor, savor st. louis
Troy Weight
William Walton's 1954 opera Troilus and Cressida has had a history almost as unfortunate as that of its protagonists. From the lackluster Covent Garden premiere, sloppily conducted by an ill-prepared and hostile Malcolm Sargent, through repeated revivals and revisions, this tale of star-crossed lovers in the final years of the Trojan War has acquired a reputation as something of operatic problem child. It wasn't until the 1976 revival - once again at Covent Garden and once again beset by production problems - that the composer, now Sir William Walton, finally received the critical praise he had long deserved for this dark, emotionally charged work.
Revision of the opera continued even after the composer's death, and so it is that Opera Theatre of St. Louis is presenting the world premiere of the latest and (presumably) last version of Troilus and Cressida. The road to St. Louis has been long and winding, but judging from the generally splendid results on view at the Loretto-Hilton Center this past Wednesday night, the journey was well worth it.
The libretto, by actor, lyricist and playwright Christopher Hassall, is based largely on Chaucer's poem Troilus and Criseyde rather than on the somewhat more familiar Shakespearean tragedy. Unlike the many previous versions of the story, in which priestess of Pallas Athena is held up as an example of female inconstancy (a favorite theme of male writers), the Hassall/Walton collaboration clearly depicts Cressida as far more sinned against than sinning - a largely powerless victim of male arrogance and foolishness. Like the pawns in the metaphorically significant chess game which she plays in the second act, Cressida is shuffled about by powers far larger than herself.
In both the original and newest versions of opera, the role of Cressida calls for a dramatic soprano with a wide range and powerful voice. Ellie Dehn, making her OTSL debut, has all that and more. Statuesque and displaying an impressive stage presence, Dehn is as fine an actress as she is a singer - and she's a damned impressive singer. Her second act love scene with Troilus - underscored by Walton's sensuous music - is one of the steamier things I've seen on the Opera Theatre stage in many a year.
Tenor Roger Honeywell is equally strong as the Trojan prince Troilus, utterly believable both as yearning lover and valiant warrior. For this piece to work at all there has to be credible chemistry between the title characters. Mr. Honeywell and Ms. Dehn provide that in quantities sufficient to get over some of the speed bumps in the libretto's first act.
Some of the most remarkable singing comes from tenor Robert Breault as Cressida's fey uncle Pandarus, whose attempts to unite the lovers are undone by royal politics. The role was written for and first performed by Peter Pears and it's hard not to hear echoes of the great British tenor's wide-ranging, flexible voice (to say nothing of the music of his partner, Benjamin Britten) in the role's florid vocal lines. Breault - a late substitution for Stanford Olsen, who was sidelined by a torn tendon - negotiates the many difficult passages with ease and is a solid comic actor.
The principal villains of the piece - Cressida's treasonous father Calkas and the arrogant Greek prince Diomede - are played with considerable gravitas by bass-baritones Darren K. Stokes and Mark S. Doss. Both characters are written with just enough depth to raise them above the level of stock villainy, thereby making them all the more repellent. Doss, in particular, does an excellent job of brining out Diomede's smug self-admiration.
Other fine performances include mezzo Elizabeth Batton as Cressida's duplicitous servant Evadne and baritone Aleksy Bogdanov as Troilus' friend Antenor.
Conductor Antony Walker leads the orchestra with great relish, clearly enjoying every minute of Walton's lush, intelligent score. Sandra Horst's chorus appears in only a handful of scenes, but makes a powerful impression when it does so - particularly in the massive ensemble towards the end of the second act.
Director Stephen Lawless and set designer Gideon Davey have given us a Troy that's a gray, claustrophobic mix of classical and modern design elements, contrasting with a starkly bright Greek camp lit by harsh golden light. I'm not convinced that it all works as a concept, especially in the final act when the treacherous Calkas kills Troilus not by stabbing him in the back as called for in the libretto but by having him shot by a sentry. Up to that point, everyone has been brandishing knives and swords, so the sudden introduction of a modern weapon seems bizarre.
Cressida's death scene is also given a curiously anti-climactic staging. Rather than stabbing herself with Troilus' sword, director Lawless has Ms. Dehn wind the crimson scarf that has served as a token of her love for Troilus around her neck and then pull aside a trap door to reveal a dummy hanging from an identical scarf. The actress then runs offstage, leaving the audience briefly wondering what, exactly, has just happened.
These are minor complaints, however, about an otherwise brilliantly realized production of a rarely-seen opera rich in drama and offering an embarrassment of musical riches. It's a work that resonates, to a degree, with the contemporary political scene as well, given its gimlet-eyed, anti-heroic view of war and the way in which a prolonged siege of a weaker nation by a stronger one has a corrupting influence on both. Sometimes there are truths that only fiction can adequately reveal to us.
Opera Theatre's compelling production of Troilus and Cressida runs through June 29th. Of the three OTSL productions I've seen this year (my own performance commitments prevented me from seeing Madame Butterfly) this was clearly the most consistent musical and dramatic success. It's a "must see" for anyone who enjoys intelligent musical theatre. It's also a fitting tribute to Opera Theatre's late Artistic Director, Colin Graham, who was a long-time champion of the work and friend of the composer. For ticket information, call 314-961-0644 or visit the web site, opera-stl.org .
Posted by Chuck Lavazzi at 12:20 AM 1 comment:
Labels: opera theatre of st. louis, troilus and cressida, william walton
Yes, We Have No Bananas
Those of you who have read this here blog in the past (aw, c'mon, there must be at least one of you) are undoubtedly aware of the fact that I lead something of a double theatrical life in that I'm both an actor and a critic. This has made me acutely aware of both the difficulty of accurately critiquing a performance as well as the folly of getting worked up much one way or the other about reviews of the shows in which I'm appearing - so much so, in fact, that I try to avoid reading them whenever possible.
Still, as anyone who has hung around a dressing room knows well, it's virtually impossible to avoid hearing your fellow actors either praise or bemoan the show's notices. Last night, for example, one topic of discussion before the lights went up on the first act of Stray Dog Theatre's Morning's at Seven (in which I'm playing the curmudgeonly David Crampton) were some weird errors of fact in a generally very positive review.
The paragraph in question looks like this:
But there are questions about this staging. Why, for instance, has the time frame been moved from 1922, where Osborn set it, to 1939 (the year the play debuted)? The shenanigans that ensue in this small Midwestern town seem out of place in the Depression-era 1930s. And here's another seemingly minor yet bewildering change: In Act One we see Cory eating a banana. In the script, Act Two begins with Cory's husband Thor (David K. Gibbs) eating yet another banana and suddenly realizing that he hates it. In that character-revealing moment we realize how henpecked Thor is. But because director Bell has switched the Act Two fruit to an apple, the setup is wasted, the moment lost.
What's wrong with this picture? Well, to begin with, the script (which carries a 1939 copyright date) clearly states "Time: The Present". So our director was merely following the playwright's directions. Where the reviewer in question got the notion that the play was set seventeen years in the past is anybody's guess. Maybe it was the pre-show music (which consisted of some classic "Jelly Roll" Morton tracks from the mid-twenties), but I doubt it.
Then there's what Sherlock Holmes might have referred to as the curious incident of the banana in the second act. Referring once again to the script, the stage directions at the top of Act II read as follows:
Scene: The Same. Seven-fifteen the next morning. Bright sun. THOR comes out of the house at right. Is eating an apple, contentedly. Suddenly throws it from him.
THOR: God, how I hate apples!
Yes, we have no bananas.
Your guess is as good as mine as to where the reviewer got these odd ideas, much less why he would devote an entire paragraph to upbraiding the director for making non-existent changes. Could he have somehow gotten his hands on an alternate version of the script? The copy we're working from is the official Samuel French acting edition. I can't find any evidence that there's another version out there, but I suppose anything is possible.
It's a mystery worthy of Holmes himself.
UPDATE: As it turns out, the reviewer in question did, in fact, have an alternate version of the script. Specifically, he had the Fireside Theatre edition, issued in conjunction with teh 1980 revival of the play. That revival made several changes in the text (including shifting the setting back seventeen years) and those changes were reflected in the Fireside Theatre edition.
The Fireside Theatre, however, was never in the business of providing working scripts for theatre companies; that has always been the business of Samuel French, Dramatists' Play Service, and some other, smaller businesses. Fireside Theatre - which folded its tent back in 2003 - was a book club that provided editions of plays intented to be read by the general public. Anyone who has ever acted, directed, or designed for the theatre knows that a company is almost certainly not going to be using a Fireside Theatre edition. Shouldn't we expect professional critics to know at least as much about the business as the average actor?
Labels: fireside theatre, Morning's at Seven, Paul Osborn, Riverfront Times, Stray Dog Theatre
Who Am Us, Anyway?
[Thanks to The Firesign Theatre for the title.]
Through July 5th, Scott Miller's New Line Theatre is presenting the Midwest premiere of the musical High Fidelity. Reviews have been very favorable. One of those reviews, however, included a couple of comments that caused my Inner Curmudgeon to spring to life.
You can read the entire piece on line (at least until the publication in questions moves it to the archives, when you have to pay for the privilege of seeing it), but this is what made me all grumbly:
High Fidelity started out as a delightful novel by Nick Hornby, then turned into a cute movie starring John Cusack. But it's not an obvious candidate for the musical stage. That's because when we think of musicals, we tend to think of flashy extravaganzas.
My first complaint involves the use of the word "we". Who is this word "we"? Did she have a mouse in her pocket? I'm a long-time lover of musical theatre and I certainly don't think of "flashy extravaganzas" when I think of musicals. I'll bet most of you reading this don't either.
Maybe I'm being too picky, but it bugs me to see writers use "we" when they really mean "I" or (maybe) "my friends and I".
As far as whether or not the book was on "obvious candidate for the musical stage", I have to say that if The Lord of the Rings can be turned into musical theatre, pretty much anything is fair game. Would anyone have thought, a priori, that Tales of the South Pacific was a likely candidate for musical theatre? Or Les Miserables? Or Wicked? For that matter, who'd have thought that a painting by Seuralt could be the basis for a musical? It just takes someone with enough imagination to do the adaptation.
Art in almost any form is nearly infinitely transmutable, in my view. The product of any particular metamorphosis may or may not succeed, depending largely on the skill of the artist doing the adaptation, but almost anything is possible.
That's what we (Stuart Little and I) think, anyway.
Labels: firesign theatre, high fidelity, new line theatre, stuart little
Sound Bytes
Every now and then I come across an item that spans the divide between my technology blog and my performing arts blog - which is why I'm publishing this little essay in both. Case in point: this interesting item from the New York Times about the use of all-digital orchestras by small companies.
The technology is intended, supposedly, to supplement a small live orchestra. As the author points out, however, there's nothing to prevent it from replacing live musicians entirely.
On the one hand, it might be a boon to small, cash-strapped companies that can't afford to hire many (or any) musicians or community theatres with volunteer orchestras that leave something to be desired in terms of competence. On the other hand, it could make real musicians an endangered species, which is hardly a desirable outcome.
In any case, you'd think it would be an interesting topic for discussion. I expected, therefore, a flurry of responses when I posted the following question to two local theatre email lists: newlinetheatre and stlouistheatre: Would you use an all-digital orchestra for a production?
What I got was a whopping total of one response from New Line Theatre's founder and artistic director Scott Miller, who stated categorically that he would "never do a musical without live musicians". That was hardly surprising, by the way; I've known Scott for some years now and was well aware of his disdain for canned music.
I'm not sure what to make of that. There are a number of musical theatre producers on both lists. Surely at least one of them has an opinion on this. It's not an academic issue, after all. High schools are already using all-digital or mostly-digital orchestras. Surely it's only a matter of time before those small companies referred to above find themselves asking whether or not they should go digital.
So why the silence? Is it because they're all in agreement with Scott? That would be the happier explanation as far as I'm concerned. Or is it because, given the potential cost savings, they wouldn't even bother to think about it before going digital? Could commerce really have trumped art to that degree?
Scary thought, that. Are we facing a future like the one Walter Miller described in his Hugo Award-winning story The Darfsteller? Film extras have already been supplanted by digital animation in big-budget pictures. Could real, live performers of all kinds go the same way?
Will we eventually get to the point where we have made ourselves obsolete?
Labels: digital orchestra, the darfsteller, walter miller
Rare, Not So Well Done
"[T]hus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges."
- Twelfth Night, V, 1
That bit of Shakespeare jumped unbidden into my mind as I contemplated Opera Theatre's Midwest premiere of Vincente Martin y Soler's bucolic comedy Una Cosa Rara. First performed in Vienna in November of 1786, just six months after Mozart's masterpiece Le Nozze di Figaro, Cosa was, for many decades, the far more popular piece, both in the Austrian capitol and the rest of Europe. It wasn't until the early 19th century that "the whirligig of time" gave Mozart his revenge over Martin. By then, of course, both composers had shuffled off this mortal coil.
It's not hard to understand why Cosa was more popular. It's mostly charming numbers are musically simpler than Mozart's and were probably easier on the late 18th-century ear. Like Figaro, Cosa boasted a libretto by the celebrated Lorenzo Da Ponte. Unlike Figaro, however, the story is pure meringue. What plot there is revolves around the unsuccessful attempts of Prince Giovanni to woo the shepherdess Lila away from her swain Lubino. Lila's fidelity is the "rare treasure" of the title.
In Figaro the aristocrats are a rather unpleasant bunch. In Cosa, they're just silly. Vienna's upper crust probably found that more politically acceptable.
Silly and funny aren't necessarily the same thing, however, and while Washington University musicologist Hugh Macdonald's English adaptation of the Da Ponte's original inserts lots of contemporary language and ideas along with some inside jokes about the opera itself, the result still struck me as somewhat incoherent and, ultimately, a bit dull.
Even in a sitcom - the low end of the farce spectrum - there has to be a sense that something is at risk somewhere in order to provide a little dramatic tension. There's none of that here. How much of that is Da Ponte's fault I really can't say; the only copy of the libretto I could find was in the original Italian and my rudimentary grasp of the language of my ancestors isn't up to the task of reading it. The bottom line is that, despite some impressive coloratura arias, the second act made me want to check my watch more than once.
Director Chas Rader-Schieber and set designer David Zinn seem to lack confidence in the material as well. The former fills every spare moment with movement and physical comedy while the latter has set the entire show inside a sort of cartoon version of an 18th-century drawing room filled with silly props including plastic pink Flamingos, plush animals, and sheep on roller skates. Although the resulting barrage of sight gags struck a good portion of the opening night audience as funny, I found much of it annoying, especially when - as was often the case - it drew focus from some truly wonderful singing and acting. That's just plain discourteous.
I really can't say enough about this terrific cast. Sopranos Maureen McKay and Kiera Duffy are wonderfully engaging as Lila and her somewhat more ethically flexible friend Ghita. Their beautiful voices negotiate Martin's more florid passages and rapid patter songs with ease.
Baritone Keith Phares, whose fine dramatic work graced earlier OTSL productions of Miss Havisham's Fire and Loss of Eden, demonstrates that he's a dab hand at comedy as well in the role of Lubino. Bass-baritone Matthew Burns, of course, showed his comic skills last season as the roller-blading Pish-Tush in OTSL's Mikado, so it 's not surprising to discover that he's equally funny as Ghita's quarrelsome fiancée Tita. Their singing is first-rate.
Tenor Alek Shrader, who was such an impressive Almaviva in The Barber of Seville back in '06, gets to shine once again as a feckless aristocrat in the role of Prince Giovanni. His dramatic aria about the pains of love was a highlight of the second act. Tenor Paul Appleby, a Gerdine Young Artist cast somewhat ironically in the comic geezer role of the scheming Corrado, is also in fine form.
Soprano Mary Wilson, whose supple voice has graced both the Opera Theatre and St. Louis Symphony stages in the past, is a comic delight as the somewhat befuddled Queen Isabella. She, too, is more than a match for some of the elaborate vocal ornaments Martin tosses her way. David Kravitz, another Mikado alumnus, makes the most of the relatively small role of the unscrupulous Mayor Lisargo.
Corrado Rovaris conducts the orchestra with great skill and precision. Maybe it's just the benefit of hindsight, but even in the sprightly sinfonia, I thought I heard echoes of the rapid opening passages of Figaro's overture. The orchestra certainly handles the music with Mozartian grace in any event.
We owe Opera Theatre a debt of gratitude for giving us a chance to hear the kind of music the Viennese thought superior to that of Mozart, but the entire project would have benefited, in my view, from fewer attempts at slapstick and some judicious edits of the score. It's easy on the ear, but I didn't find musically interesting enough to sustain my interest for nearly three hours, including intermission. Cutting around fifteen minutes from second act, for example, would tighten the dramatic structure, such as it is, without sacrificing any valuable musical content.
Opera Theatre's amusing production of Martin y Soler's Una Cosa Rara runs in rotating repertory with the season's other three operas through June 20th at the Loretto-Hilton center on the Webster University campus. For ticket information call 314-961-0644.
Labels: opera theatre of st. louis, una cosa rara, vincente martin y soler
Home Sickness
There's a serious homelessness problem in the St. Louis theatre community.
I'm not talking about homeless actors - although, given what the average stage actor earns in a year, that's certainly possible. I'm talking about homeless theatre companies.
Eight years ago, when the St. Marcus Theatre closed in a flurry of bad feeling following a production of Terrence McNally's controversial Corpus Christi (among other things) my friend Joan Lipkin - whose Uppity Theatre Company was one of the groups left out in the cold - remarked that theatre in St. Louis was mostly about real estate. What she meant, of course, was that there were too many companies chasing after too few spaces.
The situation is at least as bad today. A few new spaces have opened up, but a lot more companies have come into existence while others have extended their seasons. It's still a game of musical chairs, with many smaller companies left standing around when the music stops.
It was, therefore, a cause of great rejoicing among local thespians two years ago when developer Peter Rothschild bought St. Boniface Church at Ivory and Michigan in the city's Carondelet neighborhood from the St. Louis Archdiocese and announced his intention to turn it into the Ivory Theatre. He appeared to be serious about it, spending $1 million on the building and another $800,000 to convert it into a modern theatre space, complete with a handsome and well-appointed lobby. Theatre manager Donna Perrino began contacting local companies, looking for groups who might be interested in making the Ivory their home. It all seemed too good to be true.
Which, alas, it was.
The first storm clouds appeared on the horizon with the inaugural production in the space, New Line Theatre's revue Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll. Convinced that the title presaged an evening of wild debauchery, the theatre's former owners exercised an odd clause in the sales contract that allowed them to prevent the building for being used for an odd collection of purposes, including "human abortion, sterilization [or] euthanasia" (there's a lot of that on stage these days, apparently), tattoos, massages, anything "pornographic or soft pornographic" and "live performances directed to an adult audience rather than the general public."
The opening night performance was cancelled, dueling press releases were issues, meetings were held and, eventually, the Archdiocese got around to actually finding out what was in the show. They blinked, found a face-saving exit, and Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll went on. The drama, however, had just begun.
In the intervening months, every company that had signed up for permanent residence at the Ivory found itself in conflict with Perrino. Agreements were broken, the facility wasn't maintained, sets were damaged, and rehearsals were disrupted by loud meetings in the lobby. Chaos, in short, reigned. By the early months of 2008, all of the companies that had signed up for residency had flown the coop, each with its own tale of managerial incompetence.
I won't bore you with the details, but if you want all the dirt in detail there's a blog dedicated to the entire unfolding debacle. That, along with a recent Riverfront Times article, should provide you with an ample sufficiency of dirt.
The situation could be worse, I suppose. The Soulard Preservation Hall has finally opened after years of gut rehab, but the facility is more suitable for musical or comedy shows than live theatre. Tower Grove Abbey - another church now hosting theatre - is open for business, but its resident company, Stray Dog Theatre, has an ambitious year-round schedule that doesn't appear to leave much room for sharing. The new Kranzberg Cultural Center in the former Woolworth Building in Grand Center promises "two performance spaces seating 100 in the black box theatre and 75 in the cabaret studio", bit it's not scheduled to open until the fall and nobody knows exactly what the facilities will look like or how much it will cost to rent them.
The bottom line, though, is that a number of adventurous small theatre companies are now huddling in doorways, begging for spare change. For a city with such a rich cultural heritage, this is a pretty shameful situation.
Labels: ivory theatre, new line theatre, st. louis theatre


At Christmas I was given an exciting reportage/photojournalism assignment in New Zealand by a Swedish trade magazine, Polisförbundet, the Swedish Police Union magazine. Working with Swedish journalist Ossian Grahn, I was commissioned to photograph a story on the use of non-lethal weapons (tasers) by New Zealand Police. Ossian was in Wellington for one week interviewing members of the New Zealand Police and the New Zealand Police Association, as well as organising permission for us to go on a ride-a-long.
We arrived at Wellington police station at 4pm on Saturday afternoon. We met the two officers who we would be shadowing for the next 12 hours, and followed them into the station carpark to get into the police car. At that moment, a high-ranking cop materialised and brashly told us we were not allowed to take pictures while out on the ride-a-long. Arrangements for the ride-a-long had been negotiated between both the Swedish and New Zealand Police Associations and New Zealand Police in the months prior to our visit and getting pictures to illustrate the story was the main purpose of the assignment (for me anyway!).
So for the first three hours, I followed the police around on their duties while surreptitiously trying to snap images from the hip using the camera's silent shutter function. All the while Ossian was frantically calling his contacts at the Police Association to find out what the misunderstanding was and to try to get permission to photograph as was previously arranged. Three hours later the confusion was over with, and I could take the memory card out of my sock and openly take pictures to my heart's content. Luckily for us, the more interesting events occurred after the photo ban was lifted.
It was an eye-opening experience traveling around with the police and getting to experience how they operate and view the city. It gave me view of Wellington's seedy underbelly that I hadn't seen before!
Having the opportunity to create this reportage and meeting and working with Ossian was also a great experience. Hopefully we will be able to work together on another assignment if the opportunity presents itself.
A portrait of New Zealand police constables Richard Briscoe (left) and Anthony Davidson (right), who Ossian and myself shadowed for their 12 hour shift.
Marque of Excellence: A New Zealand Police vehicle.
Constable Richard Briscoe places suspect white powder into an evidence bag. The powder was found on the floor of a furniture workshop.
Constable Richard Briscoe arrests a young man on Blair Street in Wellington for disorderly behaviour. The man was allegedly caught urinating in the entrance of a retail store after consuming too much alcohol.
Constable Richard Briscoe completes paperwork in the holding cells of Wellington Central police station after arresting a young man for disorderly behaviour for urinating in the entrance of a retail store. Patience is a necessity of the job for Police when dealing with intoxicated people.
A police car parked at the entrance to the holding cells in Wellington Central police station.
Constables Richard Briscoe (left) and Anthony Davidson complete paperwork at Wellington Central police station.
A man who is known to police as a persistent offender and is in alleged breach of his bail conditions is spotted on Wellington's Manners Street by police CCTV operators and is subsequently arrested.
Police constables Richard Briscoe (right) and Anthony Davidson (left) investigate a report of a domestic disturbance in a block of flats in Berhampore, a Wellington suburb.
Constables Richard Briscoe (far right) and Anthony Davidson (front right) talk with a young couple who are known to have a record of historic domestic violence.
The young couple are interviewed separately by Richard and Anthony. It was fantastic to see the negotiating and mediating skills the police have when dealing with delicate and sensitive situations, and in this case, it was handled exceptionally well.
The Taser X26: Non-lethal weapons are routinely carried by New Zealand police to reports of domestic disturbances.
Constable Anthony Davidson performs a routine traffic stop on a vehicle with defective rear lights. Ossian is just visible in the back of the car, writing on his iPad.
Constable Anthony Davidson sits inside the police car during a routine traffic stop and is illuminated by the vehicles interior light.
Constable Richard Briscoe performs a routine traffic stop on a vehicle with defective rear lights.
Patrolling the streets of Wellington's entertainment district on Courtenay Place. An air of intoxicated animosity followed Richard and Anthony as they patrolled Wellington's entertainment district in the early hours of the morning.
Patrolling the streets of Wellington's entertainment district on Courtenay Place.
Constable Richard Briscoe talks to a woman regarding a domestic disturbance outside Wellington City Library during the final minutes of his shift at 2am. It is alleged that the woman attempted to stab her partner in the neck with a plastic fork.
The woman begins to have a seizure and constables Richard Briscoe and Anthony Davidson place the woman into the recovery position while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
Paramedics attend to the woman who is believed to be having a seizure as a side effect of mixing anti-depressant medication with alcohol.
A few weeks ago a few hundred people gathered in Wellington to protest the New Zealand governments proposed asset sales. An economic policy most of Europe experimented with 20 years ago. I used two cameras at this event: one digital Canon 5D mk iii and the other a film camera – a Voigtlander Bessa R3A shooting Ilford HP5 ISO 400 (plus a yellow filter). I find the comparison between the two mediums interesting. The digital is accurate, producing clean, colourful, and crisp pictures, whereas the B&W film produces a rough quality with a graphic contrast. Admittedly with digital I'm always disappointed when the auto-focus misses the subject or when there's slight motion blur to ruin the image. With the B&W film shots, many of the images are not sharp and have a gritty, fluid quality to them. The soft images seem to suit the medium, and I prefer them to the clean digital versions. What do you think?
For all those aspiring photojournalists out there…….
I came across the blog of Chicago Tribune photojournalist Alex Garcia while searching for "How to get photojournalism assignments" on Google. If, like me, you have a compulsion to want to tell stories with your photos, but happen to have the mis-fortune to have your day job get in the way of your photographic aspirations, it can be a long and tough road trying to photograph projects in your spare time. This I experienced last year while working on two projects simultaneously: the 2011 New Zealand Rugby World Cup and the Compassion Centre Soup Kitchen.
Admittedly I felt physically and emotionally exhausted after completing these two projects and for a while, I fell into a bit of a photo-funk and lost my photo-mojo i.e. having plenty of ideas for new projects, but limited energy and motivation. If you ever reach this state, on his blog, Alex Garcia lays out six steps to diagnose this condition (I scored three out of six) and offers plenty of useful tips and advice for aspiring PJ's to stay motivated: six traps to your photographic creativity.
After the last-minute rush trying to get prints organised, blurbs written, and the final few interviews with guests completed, the open-day exhibition at the soup kitchen last Saturday (24th March) went amazingly well. There was a steady stream of people all day, Wellington's weather wasn't as crap as was predicted, and even Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown popped by for a visit. Makes me wonder why I was so nervous! The images were well received with many people stating the images and stories were very moving. But must importantly of all, the soup kitchen guests, without whose co-operation this project would not have been a success, were very happy with the results and enjoyed seeing their pictures on the wall. I would just like to say a big thanks to Philippa and Nikki, and the other soup kitchen staff who helped with the organising of the exhibition, and the pain-staking process of aligning the prints on the wall! Here are a few pictures from the big day.
Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown gives artist Manu a Hongi - a traditional Maori greeting.
Artist Manu and Wellington mayor Celia Wade-Brown pose with some of Manu's artworks.
Towards the end of November last year, Simin (my partner) and I completed our first multi-day tramping trip on the Travers Sabine circuit in Nelson Lakes National Park. This was by no means an easy task. Well, for me at least. Simin is built for stamina. I'm built for small bursts of energy with plenty of rest stops in between! The Travers Sabine circuit is an 80 Km alpine tramp which navigates the Travers and Sabine rivers and head waters of lakes Rotoiti and Rotoroa. The track winds its way from the village of St. Arnaud around lake Rotoiti, through tussock, alpine grasses, and mossy beech forests and climbs from the 600m starting point to 1787m on the Travers Saddle, taking in vistas of 2000 meter plus snow-capped mountain peaks.
We planned the trip to cover the full 8 days to allow for side trips, bad weather and possible rest days (which turned out to be a necessity). Being the committed photographer I am, and having managed to sell the story and pictures to a Nelson based magazine called Wild Tomato, I planned to take a couple of different lenses, and an off-camera flash with remote triggers. Once I'd donned the 20 kilo backpack, I soon change my mind, and stuck with just the single lens. I did manage to squeeze in a few filters for good measure.
Simin navigates her way through tussock en route to John Tait hut from Lakehead hut on the second day of the tramp. Mount Hopeless rests in the background as we follow the Travers river valley into the mountains.
Simin crossing the Travers river on a swing bridge between Lakehead and John Tait huts.
This was one of the many rest stops (not to mention all the photo stops) during that long and painful journey from Lakehead to John Tait hut. The distance on the DOC sign post say's 14.6 Km. I have to say, that doesn't sound very far. The 20 Kilo pack combined with walking a trail that's more obstacle course than footpath, certainly left me feeling seriously exhausted by the time we arrived at the hut. My memory is somewhat hazy here, and I think for good reason, but I do recollect stumbling along for the final few kilometers in a kind of trance. My body running on autopilot, as my mind struggles to deal with the aches, pains, and general mental trauma. Luckily my body (and more importantly, my mind) gradually got used to the aches, pains and tiredness that was my constant companion through out the trip.
Water filtered straight from a mountain stream. This was the first and last day that we used the water filter on the tramp. The mountain water was cold, crisp and fresh. It was the cleanest, most refreshing water I have ever tasted.
Another picturesque rest stop by the Travers river a few kilometers from John Tait hut. Mount Cupola rises in the background.
We arrive at John Tait hut exhausted and euphoric (for we can finally stop moving woohoo!) nine and a half hours after leaving Lakehead hut. A recent avalanche (one of many on the Travers Sabine circuit) leaves its debris of freshly felled tress and mountainous ruble close to John Tait hut.
Simin writes a journal entry after a long day at John Tait hut.
A DOC sign warns of the many avalanche risks which occur all along the Travers Sabine circuit. Avalanche debris fields criss-cross the tramping route at regular intervals and can become significant obstacles to negotiate, especially with tired and shaking limbs.
Mosses hang from beech trees shrouded in fog as they cling to the steep banks of the Travers river on the route to Upper Travers hut from John Tait hut.
Simin crosses an avalanche chute on the way to Upper Travers hut, which has carved its way through the forested, lower mountain slopes, destroying everything in its path, until it reaches the river below.
At a height of 1370 meters, Upper Travers hut is reached after a relatively short climb of 400 meters from John Tait hut taking approximately 3.5 hours. It rained consistently during the walk, which wound its way through beech forests scattered with moss-covered boulders, snared by webs of interwoven tree roots. With the heavy cascade of the Travers river pounding over huge boulders, and the drifting tendrils of fog, this could be the land of Hobbits and Elves, albeit a little less accessible for Peter Jackson.
After a wet and rainy 3.3 hour tramp, our boots, along with those of other trampers, dry by the warmth of a wood fire at Upper Travers hut. We sit in the hut with a warm cup of tea and watch the curtains of low cloud flow across the mountainsides.
The Vegetable Sheep. One of the many rock dwelling carpet plants, resembling cell cultures, which grow in the alpine areas above the tree line.
Simin sits by a tarn on the Travers Saddle, the primary source of the Travers river. I have to admit, the part I like most about tramping was, when I wasn't actually tramping. The opportunity to sit and be still, and to appreciate the sights, sounds and smells of the environment you are in isn't possible when you are constantly looking at your feet, negotiating the next mass of rocks and roots. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the physical and to a greater extent, the mental challenge that tramping poses.
Mountain ranges of the Sabine valley as seen from Travers Saddle.
Simin poses on the Travers Saddle.
I similarly pose on the Travers Saddle.
After our rest day hiking up the 400 meter climb to Travers Saddle (minus backpacks), we retreat back to Upper Travers hut for a sip of Nelson's Blood rum which helps to soothe and relax aching bones and prepares us for the next day's trip over the Saddle, fully laden!.
Are you prepared for Travers Saddle? From Upper Travers hut, Travers Saddle is a mountain pass which sits at a height of 1787 meters, a climb of 450 meters. A different story with a full pack!
Resting for a day at Upper Travers hut was certainly worth the wait, as we woke to clear blue skies and golden sunshine, and the full 2300m peak of Mount Travers, naked and fully visible, hidden by a blanket of fog the previous day. The walk up to Travers Saddle from Upper Travers hut meanders through alpine grasses and scrub, before ascending up a 45 degree boulder field (to the right of picture). Travers Saddle is reached after about two hours of rock hopping and scrambling.
Mount Travers basks in the sunshine above an ice-covered tarn.
The highlight of our journey. Sitting on a small rocky outcrop shouldering Mount Travers, a 180 degree panorama is visible of the Sabine and Travers valleys. Here I was absorbed in the serene stillness and silence of this place. It was deathly quite, except for the odd scream from circling Kea, a form of mountain parrot. The polarising filter causing a distortion in the rendering of the sky in the 10 image stitched panorama.
On the high altitude pass of Travers Saddle, tiny rock-dwelling carpet plants dominate, blanketing rocks and crevices.
.......an 800 meter long river of scree. The decent took Simin and I approximately three and a half hours. When we finally reached the bottom, exhausted, we happily collapsed on the trail for a desperately needed cuppa and replacement knee joints.
When we first started the tramp, the DOC officers at St Arnaud warned us that the swing bridge crossing the Sabine river, linking West Sabine hut to Sabine hut had been destroyed in a recent flood. Having planned the trip in advance, and adamantly not wanting to backtrack up the hideous climb we had descended the previous day, we were glad to find that Mother Nature had kindly provided for us a bridge she had previously destroyed.
Simin demonstrates the many root and rock "staircases", one of the many natural obstacles we had to navigate on the tramping route.
Tree roots capture the remnants of an ancient avalanche.
Boulders carpeted with water-loving ferns and mosses litter mountain streams. The remnants of ancient avalanches now frozen in time, entwined and trapped by the roots of large trees.
The early morning sun filters through the dense canopy of beech forest on route to Sabine hut. A warm gentle breeze meanders through the trees, and a pleasant bird song drifts on its currents. The pleasantries of not tramping.
An ideal picnic spot is formed by a break in the forest canopy and a fallen tree, making the perfect time for snacks and a cup of tea, before we arrive at Speargrass hut. The final hut of the circuit.
Flowers like small explosions dot the alpine floor during a side trip to Lake Angelus.
On the eighth and final day of our tramp we leave Speargrass hut for the final three hour walk through beech forest to Mount Robert carpark, where we are picked up by Nelson Lakes shuttles.
Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to photograph Department of Conservation rangers rescuing a New Zealand fur seal pup in Houghton Bay. I saw the poor little chap the previous evening, lying on the rocks with fishing rope caught tight around his neck. I called the DOC the following morning and I arrived on scene at about 7.45am, just as it was getting light. The DOC rangers turned up about 9am. It was all over in less than 5 minutes – from descending the 20 foot embankment, to returning back to the roadside again – the DOC staff had caught, secured, removed the rope, and released the seal back to its home. The low light required me to shoot at ISO 3200, 125th @ f4 using a 70-200mm lens with a 1.4 teleconverter. Sadly a small amount of camera shake, and the dreaded noise, has crept in in some of the images.
Getting the opportunity to photograph news stories as a freelancer is often down to the luck of tripping over it, as was the literal case in this instance. Finding news stories when you are not affiliated to any news organisations is a case of being in the right place at the right time (and having the camera at hand), unless it's one of those rare events that is publicised before hand.
These images were used by the Dominion Post (Wellington's regional paper) in print and online, and by the DOC.
A New Zealand fur seal pup lies on the rocks at Houghton Bay with nylon rope from a fishing net wrapped around its neck.
Department of Conservation officers Hawea Tomoana (left) and David Moss capture a New Zealand fur seal pup at Houghton bay, before removing the nylon fishing net rope which is caught around the animal's neck.
Department of Conservation officer Hawea Tomoana captures a New Zealand fur seal pup at Houghton bay, before removing the nylon fishing net rope which is caught around the animal's neck.
Department of Conservation officers Matt Barnett (left), Hawea Tomoana (centre), and David Moss capture a New Zealand fur seal pup at Houghton Bay, before removing the nylon fishing net rope which is caught around the animal's neck.
After having the fishing rope removed, the New Zealand fur seal swims happily around after being released back into Houghton Bay.
Seal shots as published online in the Dominion Post on 23 June 2011.
Seal shots as published in the Dominion Post print edition on 23 June 2011.


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An Interview With The Dollyrots' Frontwoman Kelly Ogden: "Just let us be your happy place"
Jack Fermor-Worrell
Pop-punk has always been relatively huge as a genre, and now seems to be on the rise once more as the world undergoes massive change and people look for escapism in music. One band dedicated to cranking out relentlessly cheerful tunes are The Dollyrots, who are on the cusp of unleashing their latest studio album Whiplash Splash – a 13 track explosion of bubblegum pop-punk that simply oozes cheeriness from every pore. We were able to catch up with frontwoman/bassist Kelly Ogden to chat more about the record, recording another album while pregnant, and what the last 12 months have been like in the band's crazy world.
Looking back at your resume for 2016; a live album, an EP, a U.K. tour with BFS, to name just a few things – you guys have been busy!
Kelly: And how! I think kind-of the way Luis and I live life is we just repeatedly bite away more than we can chew and somehow we accomplish it, and so we just keep going crazier and saying yes to more and more things and yeah, so far seems to be working out – I still have a smile on my face, so I think it's all good
I mean, over the last year you've been so busy…
Kelly: Yeah, and then: more touring, pregnant, made a studio record. And now that just came out, and so did the baby.
Would it be fair to call The Dollyrots the busiest band in pop punk over that last 12 months?
Kelly: Absolutely – if there's anyone else who'd like to fight for that title, then I'm in! We could have like a burping contest or something, and I'd definitely win.
Most importantly though, and as you touched on a second ago, you also welcomed your daughter Daisy Moon last year.
Kelly: Yes, she is the coolest little baby ever. She's super chill and easy and I think, come tour, it's going to be crazy because we're bringing both her and River starting in about ten days. And it will be crazy but I think had she been a different baby it would be super extra wild crazy. This way it'll just be a little extra-hard.
No sweat then really.
Kelly: Nah, we got it! I say that, but I figure if I always say stuff like that then it'll come true.
Your sixth studio album 'Whiplash Splash' is due for public release in three weeks time at this point – how excited are you guys to finally be putting this record out there?
Kelly: Actually it feels like we just finished it – so usually we'll finish a record and then we'll get all the promo ready and we're usually late at getting things mass-produced like all the CDs and the vinyl and everything, but I think knowing we were about to have two children, including a newborn, we were just trying to keep one step ahead of the game with every move. And so I'm kinda surprised it's already here and I'm really surprised I'm getting on an aeroplane next week to fly to Chicago to start a tour. I feel like I'm not really living in this moment, I'm like a week behind, but yeah. So far, we gave it to our PledgeMusic supporters last week, and the response has been incredible. People are like "Ah, I listened to it five times in a row" and so we feel really really confident about this one and we love the subject matter, and it feels really spontaneous. It's deep without being not-us and not-pop-punk, and I honestly think it's our best work yet.
You mention the fact it's already available to the pledgers, but what everyone else who hasn't heard the record yet expect to hear from 'Whiplash Splash'?
Kelly: Erm, it's a lot like Barefoot and Pregnant and our first record Eat Your Heart Out, I think in terms of the rock-ness of it. But in the studio we were pretty much finished with the basic tracks by the time we went to Minneapolis to meet our producer and finish the record. So that's kind of just the way we've been making albums for a while now because the last two times I've been pregnant and y'know, we can never tell how much energy I'm gonna have at any given moment so we recorded guitar, bass and most of the vocals at our home studio and then took them into the studio proper. And so once we got there we had some time and we didn't have to waste time on like me tracking bass or something boring like that, haha. Sorry to all you bass players. But instead we had some fun, and our producer, he's an amazing keyboard player and he'd just gotten some of these really weird keyboard patches from some 80's famous keyboard guy or something, I don't remember. But we kinda had fun and put it all over the record, so in the sense that there's some more production-y kind of stuff and keyboard parts on some of the songs, that's a little bit like our self-titled album.
While you were writing for the album, was there any particular vibe or style you were looking to capture this time around, or did you just go in with the basic intention of making a great Dollyrots record?
Kelly: It was kind of like "Oh shit, hurry up, write the record, we don't have any time to think about this – just write songs and we'll take the best ones". And it was actually kind-of a race you know, some nights I'd put our toddler to bed then I'd go to sleep because I was pregnant and tired, and I'd wake up and Luis would be like "I wrote two songs last night!", and he'd have two instrumental tracks ready and he'd be like "Go in there and write all the words!". And so he'd kinda tag me in and I'd go into the studio and I'd spend some time writing lyrics and writing melodies and then we'd go and record and be like "Okay, I'm gonna go do two more". And that's kinda the way it went – it was only a few weeks. And then we had to be done, so it was kinda nuts, and I feel like that energy definitely comes through. And in the subject matter, nothing was predetermined, a lot of the lyrics and things were just dictated by what music Luis had come up with in the middle of the night in a Miller Lite haze, haha. So I'd hear a song and be like "Ah, these words kinda come to mind" and then it'd grow from there really. So it was a very natural and spontaneous album really, not overthought. We didn't rewrite stuff – if something sucked, we would just trash it and move on.
The record ends on a Dollyrots-styled cover of Walking On Sunshine for its closing track as well. What made you choose to cover that song in particular?
Kelly: We always do, as you guys would say, a kind-of cheeky cover and we asked a handful of friends, "Hey, we have a little extra time – what cover should we do?". And two people, Jaret from Bowling For Soup and our friend Drew Carey who's a comedian – which is really funny and weird that he's our friend; both of them said we should do Walking On Sunshine. And we were both like "Alright, I'm not sure but we'll give it a go" and it kinda put a smile on our faces and it made me like the song in a new way – I'd kinda listened to it passively like at a grocery store or walking to the mall or on Mom's radio, but I was like "Wow, this is kinda cool".
Were there any other potential covers you'd thought about to recording for the album in place of that song, or was it always the one?
Kelly: You know, I don't really remember – I could go look at my texts…but I feel, at that point I was 8 months pregnant and I couldn't believe I was in the studio recording, and I probably don't remember much of the last 6 months to be perfectly honest.
This is the second time you've recorded an album while pregnant now Kelly – does something like that add many extra challenges and considerations to the typical studio processes for you and the band?
Kelly: I mean, it's physically difficult because by the end of the pregnancy my whole body's kind of out of shape, and singing takes weird muscles to make the sounds come out right. And that's why people practice so much, because the practice is actually exercising the right muscles, and you know I definitely didn't have the room in my body for my lungs to expand and like my diaphragm to move in the right way so I would have to sing in really short bursts. I mean like, I would sing a verse, then lay down for like half an hour, then do another and then lay down again or go eat. And so, we did the main tracks at our home studio because we knew there was no way I was gonna get to Minneapolis and be able to sing for hours on end every day, so thank god Luis had the foresight to be like "I'm sorry you're gonna hate me this week, but you have to do all the vocals for the record". And so I did – I think I cried when it was all done, I was so relieved.
Just to backtrack slightly, in terms of production, am I right in saying this is yet another album from The Dollyrots to be helmed by John Fields?
Kelly: Absolutely, yeah. We always worked with him in Los Angeles but he moved out to Minneapolis, so we went to his new studio there and spent like a week and a half or two weeks just buttoning up the tracks we'd recorded at home. He just put his awesome Fields sauce on them and they were ready to go.
And you guys have been working together for a long time now.
Kelly: Yeah, I mean, I don't know when Eat My Heart Out came out but it's been over ten years cause Because I'm Awesome turns ten this month. It's probably like twelve or thirteen years we've worked with him.
Given how long you've worked together now, just how integral to the band's signature sound would you say he's become over the years?
Kelly: Y'know, I don't know if it's so much the sound, because we've been fortunate enough to work with other people and there are recordings on our records that're done with other producers – we worked with Linus of Hollywood and we love working with him, and it's always fast and fun and sounds like us. But I think when it comes to making records, there's just something that happens when John and Luis and I are in the room together and I don't know what it is but he's kind-of our band member that doesn't tour with us in a way. And we don't even have to talk to each other, it's almost like an old married couple thing – like, it's all a matter of looks and sound and laughter. And that communication is very very easy, and so I think; to be honest we have that with Linus too, but we always just when it's time to do the record it seems like we call Fields like "You ready?", and then we do another one.
Whiplash Splash is the latest Dollyrots output to be funded via fan contributions. What was it that made you decide to use PledgeMusic crowdfunding once again to make the album?
Kelly: Well, we have found that being an independent band and doing the crowdfunding thing, not only is just a better business choice, but it makes us that much closer to our fans because you know instead of us just disappearing for three months or four months and recording a record and announcing a release date and being like "Hey, we made this record, buy it!", people get to see how we made the record all the way from the announcement to the first demos to the whole thing. And I feel like, as a fan, I love doing that – I love Pledging for other things and seeing how other artists make their stuff and I think it's just a better experience for everybody.
Is this release method something you expect to continue doing for as long as possible now then?
Kelly: Yeah, I think so – I mean, we have distribution in the States through this company called MVD and so they put physical CDs and records into most of the cool Mom and Pop brick & mortar stores, and we do all our own mail order. And so it just makes sense for us to do it ourselves at this point. We've been a band long enough that we're lucky enough to be able to do it.
The Dollyrots have always seemed to try out as many ways of interacting with fans as possible, be it via Pledge or by your StageIt online performances – just how important is that ability to connect with your fanbase to what you do?
Kelly: It's the most important thing next to just actually creating music because it's no fun to make music and it just stay on a computer or in our house, or in our relationship, because Luis and I have been together since we were kids and we've been musical partners our whole lives practically. And so there isn't really that gratification that comes with knowing that other people can enjoy this thing we're making. And so when we actually know the people that like it, it's that much more satisfying for us, it's I guess a selfish thing to do in some ways because we're just looking for people to say "Hey that was cool, you could do it again, go make another record". And then we're like "Oh yeah, we get to go and do it all again!". And our fans are just so completely supportive, we just wanna make sure that even if they don't get to see us on an actual tour, that they can still be connected to us in other ways.
As of us talking right now, the album's been available to PledgeMusic contributors for a few days. What seems to have been peoples' overall reactions to the record so far?
Kelly: I think that everybody loves it – the top song by majority, because we did a poll on PledgeMusic, is Dance Like A Maniac, which is hilarious because it's just kind-of a dumb fast song. I mean, I love that song, it's great. Luis' "Lord have mercy" lyric or whatever is just hilarious, and some of the references in that song – it's just a fun one. A lot of people were surprised by and liked Jump Start This Heart, and I mean, overall people just really love it. My favourite song probably is Mermaid, but that didn't make the top 5 in the poll so I don't know if we're playing it on tour, but it's been a really great reaction and I can't wait until more people get it. And we actually made lyric videos for every single song, so we'll be releasing those this week. Dance Like A Maniac will be the first one and then it'll go in album order every week after that.
The Dollyrots at this point have now been a band for 17 years – what do you think has been the secret to such longevity within the music industry for you?
Kelly: Holy crap, yeah! I think definitely having each other has made us kinda keep going. Because there's definitely been times when either one of us has been like "Oh my god I can't do this anymore", but we've kinda kept going for the other person I think in those moments. And the same in our personal lives, it's a marriage in every single way – there are great times and then there are times that aren't so great but at this point we know we'll get through them and you know, come out on the other side even better. You know, album cycles are weird – it's like, right now we're in this really exciting time and there's all these interviews every day and all these people love the new music and we're gonna start releasing the videos and going on tour and it's all fun, and then we get home and it's kinda like "Okay, well now what? Does anybody still like us?". And it kinda starts over again and we're like "Oh let's do another record". So I mean, it really is a rollercoaster of a life and we're just really lucky to have each other. I think a lot of bands, and it's not necessarily a couples relationship, it might just be best friends, it's just two guys in the band that keep each other going, and you know, I think that's kinda been our secret really.
You're off on tour around the US again in about a fortnight for the first leg of a nationwide tour – it's a two-part run this time?
Kelly: Yeah, we start in Chicago and then go down through the Midwest to Texas, then over to California and that'll be our March dates. And then we start again in May in New York and we'll do some East Coast stuff into Montreal in Canada. Because just logistically with the kids now, we try to keep tours to two or three weeks max, otherwise it's just a little too much for them.
How excited are you to be getting back on the road?
Kelly: Ugh, I am just chomping at the bit and terrified. But I know that the second we get to plug in and be onstage and feel like ourselves in front of people is gonna feel so good. Especially y'know, after having a baby, I feel like it's something that women experience but when you have a baby it's like your body explodes and you get super fat and your hormones are crazy so you don't feel like yourself, and all of a sudden you're mom to this screaming little monkey and y'know, it's easy to forget who you are. And when I go onstage I think that's the only time in my life right now where I can really remember who I am, and I can't wait to feel that way.
Do you have any idea when we might next be able to see you back in the UK and Europe for this touring cycle?
Kelly: We are absolutely positively trying to figure out something in the autumn. So cross your fingers, and that's the plan for sure. River, our toddler, took his first steps in Liverpool so it only seems fair to let Daisy have that experience as well.
Have you guys got anything else at all on the cards for the immediate future, or is it purely just focusing on this album cycle now?
Kelly: I mean it's this album for now; we've been joking we're gonna make a kids' record too. Outside of the band, I'm working on a duets album with Jaret from Bowling For Soup and that's gonna be awesome. The plan is to have that done pretty soon and we're probably gonna launch a PledgeMusic campaign around that. It'll be cool and definitely a departure – we don't want it to just be a pop-punk record, we wanna do different things. Maybe totally different genres for different songs or something, I'm not 100% sure yet exactly – we're just in the writing process right now.
Just to cap things off – is there any message you'd like to give to the readers of Rock Sins who might be fans of the band?
Kelly: Just let us be your happy place – there's a lot of crazy stuff going on, especially in America politically and in personal life, and just all that considered, as a band we just want to be people's happy place. And whether that's just listening through headphones on your computer, or at a show, or on Facebook, we want to be a part of your lives and we want to make you happy. And we feel like that's our purpose so, you know – come at us!
Thanks so much for your time today Kelly
Kelly: You got it, it was great fun talking to you Jack – those were great questions.
The Dollyrots new album, Whiplash Splash, is out now on Arrested Youth Records. All the details about where to buy a copy (digital or CD) can be found at their website.
Kelly Ogden
The Dollyrots
I'm a twenty-two year old writer and metalhead, based in North Wales who enjoys pretty much anything - from thrash and classic rock to post-hardcore and power metal.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This game was close early as both teams played sloppy for the first several minutes. Green Monkeys were able to go into the half down just five points. However, they had an offensive drought the entire second half that allowed the Lions to coast to an easy victory.
Brian Burbank had a monster double double for the Lions with 23 points and 12 boards and added 3 steals. He was attacking the rim at will earning six trips to the line and putting several Green Monkey players in foul trouble.
The Lions remain perfect at 3-0.
VH ballers dominated this game from start to finish thanks to a total team effort that had three players score double figures lead by John with 17 points. Josh added his second straight double double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
With a full roster this week Dorchester's Finest bounced back from last week's loss. It looked like it was going to be a close game but Dotâ??s Finest closed the half on a 11-0 run to go up 32-17 at the break and never looked back. They dominated the glass 46 to 29 with Sam and Evans hauling in 13 and 10 respectively while also scoring six points a piece. Ian lead all scorers with 15 points.
Jefferson lead Red Tree in scoring with 11 points.


American cult animator Bruce Bickford is coming to London for a rare, one-night-only presentation of his films, featuring the exclusive English premiere of his new film that he has been working on for many years - Cas'l.
The evening will commence with a screening of Monster Road, the 80 - minute award-winning documentary by Brett Ingram, which premiered at the 2004 Slamdance Film Festival where it won 'Best Documentary', eventually screening at 85 festivals around the world and winning 16 awards.
This incredibly rare screening will be immediately followed by a live onstage interview and extended audience Q and A with Bruce Bickford. This will mark his first appearance in England.
Bruce Bickford's art - a hallucinatory stop-motion amalgamation of Peter Pan, Ray Harryhausen, and The Wild Bunch - is nothing short of amazing. Rock music iconoclast Frank Zappa first used the incredible talents of self-taught claymation wizard Bickford as visual companions to his music in the films Baby Snakes and Dub Room Special in the 1970's, which made him an international cult figure. More than three decades later, the 62 year-old animator works alone in a basement studio near Seattle. Enchanted forests, animated torture chambers, hamburgers that morph into mythical monsters, and epic battles between giants, fairies and historical figures populate just a small corner of Bickford's animated universe.
Bickford is an underground artist who has mystified animation critics andinspired generations of animators, while somehow eluding fame. He has been described as the world's only "outsider artist" working in the medium of animation.


Earth is the only known planet where fire can burn. Everywhere else: Not enough oxygen.
Hot air balloon festivals are popular around the world. Destinations include Turkey, New Mexico in the United States, Egypt, and Tanzania. A hot air balloon consists of three parts: the envelope which contains heated air created by the burner. The burner is the heat source and creates an open flame by burning a mix of liquid propane and air and the wicker basket or gondola that holds the passengers.
Dad gets very angry every time he pays the electric bill.
Dad breathes fire every time he pays the electric bill.
Once he's calm and stops breathing fire -ask your question.
Our boss is breathing fire today, so I'd be careful if I were you.
The singer is breathing fire over the leaked music.
Do you shout at people when you are angry?
In America, Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13th. Our new theme is…Things my Mother Told Me.
Thank you for listening and the next idiom is… Birds of a feather flock together.


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Q: Git push through Android studio is freezing I've made a lot of commits today to a repository, and all of a sudden Android studio cannot push to the repo. The progress bar at the bottom simply freezes. In version control it says this:
21:53:59.573: [Blastar] git -c core.quotepath=false push --progress --porcelain origin refs/heads/master:master
Counting objects: 28, done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (22/22), done.

Has anyone encountered this before?

A: Push by using git: open project folder path in command prompt.
Do following commands:

*

*git add .

*git commit -m "your message"

*git push -u origin master

*Enter your password.

Done!

A: assumption: you have tried restarting AS and or computer as a fix.
Have you tried to push not using AS? For example open a command prompt and doing it through there? Looks like you are using git, should be real easy just navigate to the folder that contains the hidden git repo folder, type git push and it is done (since you already committed changes)
Have you tried pushing another project as a test? This ensures the issue is not with your repo server.

A: Try pushing from command line.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Akila Berjaoui has chosen to offer her prints in a large format to increase their impact upon entering a room. They will leave you longing for long, hot, summer days, salty hair and girls who can and will break your heart. Akila wants you to feel the heat - and before you know it, she wants you to melt into this dreamscape, alongside these women who are forever chasing the sun.
Prints are printed on Ilford Galerie Prestige Smooth Pearl, Archival Quality, 310 gsm or the Hahnemühle Photo Pearl 310 gsm.
Your limited edition print will either come numbered and signed or you will receive a Certificate of Authenticity with relevant details listed, via email to affix to the back of the print when getting it framed.
All prints offered are limited editions in these sizes only with 30 - 100 copies.
Sizes quoted are for unframed images only.
Free worldwide shipping, insurance and mailing tube.
Please allow 3 business days for printing, 1-3 business days for domestic shipping / 6-10 business days for international shipping.
Custom sizes and framing available upon email request.
The Artist will either hand sign and number your print or you will be issued with a Certificate of Authenticity by the Artist personally.
Every image featured on this website was captured on film. So expect graininess, imperfections, low light and light leaks. This is the true nature and essence of film photography.


On 16 March 2015, the European Union reiterated the position it has taken since the beginning of the crisis in Burundi, that only through dialogue leading to consensus, in compliance with the Arusha Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation of 2000 and the Burundian Constitution, could a lasting political solution be found in the interests of security and democracy for all Burundi's people.
On 18 May 2015, the Council condemned the attempted coup in Burundi and also any act of violence or abuse of the constitutional order, whoever the perpetrators may be, and expressed its deep concern at the situation in Burundi. The Council also expressed its determination to take all measures necessary against Burundian parties whose actions perpetuate violence and hamper the search for a political solution.
On 22 June 2015, the Council expressed its deep concern at both the number of victims and the number of cases of serious human rights violations reported since the beginning of the crisis, particularly those abuses attributed to the security forces and to members of the Imbonerakure. The Council also reiterated that it was determined to adopt, if necessary, targeted restrictive measures against those whose actions might have led or might lead to acts of violence and repression and serious human rights violations, and/or might hamper the search for a political solution within the framework proposed by the African Union and the East African Community.
On 23 July 2015, the European Union regretted that the Burundi government had not fully implemented the relevant decisions of the African Union and the East African Community that would have paved the way for credible and inclusive elections.
The Council has remained seriously concerned about the situation in Burundi. In the current circumstances and, in line with the Council Conclusions of June 2015, travel restrictions and an asset freeze should be imposed against persons, entities or bodies undermining democracy or obstructing the search for a political solution in Burundi, including by acts of violence, repression or inciting violence, persons, entities or bodies involved in planning, directing, or committing acts that violate international human rights law or international humanitarian law, as applicable, or that constitute serious human rights abuses, in Burundi, as well as persons, entities or bodies associated with them.
as listed in the Annex.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not oblige a Member State to refuse its own nationals entry into its territory.
pursuant to the 1929 Treaty of Conciliation (Lateran Pact) concluded by the Holy See (Vatican City State) and Italy.
4. Paragraph 3 shall be considered as applying also in cases where a Member State is host country of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
5. The Council shall be duly informed in all cases where a Member State grants an exemption pursuant to paragraph 3 or 4.
6. Member States may grant exemptions from the measures imposed under paragraph 1 where travel is justified on the grounds of urgent humanitarian need, or on grounds of attending intergovernmental meetings and those promoted or hosted by the European Union, or hosted by a Member State holding the Chairmanship in office of the OSCE, where a political dialogue is conducted that directly promotes the policy objectives of restrictive measures, including democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Burundi.
7. A Member State wishing to grant exemptions referred to in paragraph 6 shall notify the Council in writing. The exemption shall be deemed to be granted unless one or more of the Council members raises an objection in writing within two working days of receiving notification of the proposed exemption. Should one or more of the Council members raise an objection, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide to grant the proposed exemption.
8. Where, pursuant to paragraphs 3, 4, 6 or 7 a Member State authorises the entry into, or transit through its territory of persons listed in the Annex, the authorisation shall be strictly limited to the purpose for which it is given and to the persons directly concerned thereby.
2. No funds or economic resources shall be made available directly or indirectly to or for the benefit of the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies listed in the Annex.
necessary for extraordinary expenses, provided that the competent authority has notified the competent authorities of the other Member States and the Commission of the grounds on which it considers that a specific authorisation should be granted, at least two weeks prior to the authorisation.
The Member State concerned shall inform the other Member States and the Commission of any authorisation granted under this paragraph.
recognition of the decision is not contrary to public policy in the Member State concerned.
The Member State concerned shall inform the other Member States and the Commission of any authorisations granted under this paragraph.
5. Paragraph 1 shall not prevent a natural or legal person, an entity or body listed in the Annex from making a payment due under a contract entered into prior to the date on which such natural or legal person, entity or body was listed therein, provided that the Member State concerned has determined that the payment is not, directly or indirectly, received by a natural or legal person, entity or body referred to in paragraph 1.
provided that any such interest, other earnings and payments remain subject to the measures provided for in paragraph 1.
1. The Council, acting upon a proposal from a Member State or from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, shall establish and amend the list in the Annex.
2. The Council shall communicate the decision referred to in paragraph 1, including the grounds for the listing, to the natural or legal person, entity or body concerned, either directly, if the address is known, or through the publication of a notice, providing such person, entity or body with an opportunity to present observations.
3. Where observations are submitted, or where substantial new evidence is presented, the Council shall review the decision referred to in paragraph 1 and inform the natural or legal person, entity or body concerned accordingly.
1. The Annex shall include the grounds for listing the natural and legal persons, entities and bodies referred to in Article 1(1) and Article 2(1).
2. The Annex shall also contain, where available, the information necessary to identify the natural or legal persons, entities or bodies concerned. With regard to natural persons, such information may include names, including aliases, date and place of birth, nationality, passport and identity card numbers, gender, address if known, and function or profession. With regard to legal persons, entities or bodies, such information may include names, place and date of registration, registration number and place of business.
In order to maximise the impact of the measures set out in this Decision, the Union shall encourage third States to adopt restrictive measures similar to those provided for in this Decision.
This Decision shall apply until 3 October 2016.
This Decision shall be kept under constant review. It shall be renewed, or amended as appropriate, if the Council deems that its objectives have not been met.
Done at Luxembourg, 1 October 2015.
Deputy Director General of the National Police, responsible for undermining democracy by making operational decisions that have led to a disproportionate use of force and acts of violent repression towards peaceful demonstrations that started on 26 April 2015 following the announcement of the presidential candidacy of President Nkurunziza.
Head of Cabinet of the Presidential Administration (Présidence) responsible for matters relating to the National Police. Responsible for obstructing the search for a political solution in Burundi by issuing instructions that led to disproportionate use of force, acts of violence, acts of repression and violations of international human rights law against protestors demonstrating from 26 April 2015 onwards, following the announcement of the presidential candidacy of President Nkurunziza, including on 26, 27 and 28 April in the Nyakabiga and Musaga districts in Bujumbura.
Officer of the National Intelligence Service. Responsible for obstructing the search for a political solution in Burundi by inciting violence and acts of repression during the demonstrations that started on 26 April 2015 following the announcement of the presidential candidacy of President Nkurunziza. Responsible for helping train, coordinate and arm the Imbonerakure paramilitary militias, including outside Burundi, who are responsible for acts of violence, repression and serious human rights abuses in Burundi.
Former 'Chargé de Missions de la Présidence' and former army general. Responsible for obstructing the search for a political solution in Burundi by participating in the attempted coup d'état of 13 May 2015 to overthrow the Burundi Government. Responsible for acts of violence — grenade attacks — committed in Burundi, as well as for incitement to violence. General Léonard Ngendakumana publicly supported violence as a means to achieve political goals.


JOHANNESBURG – Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is trying to reignite the spirit of entrepreneurship among young South Africans, which he says was almost extinguished by the apartheid system.
Ramaphosa was speaking at a youth development expo attended by at least 6,000 grade 11 and 12 pupils in Soweto on Saturday.
The deputy president has stressed not only the importance of seizing educational opportunities, but also encouraging entrepreneurship.
He's told young people that they have a large role to play in the growth of South Africa's economy.


Welcome to the Chelsea Supporters Club South Africa's website. Congratulations, you have finally found us. We would like to invite you to sign up as a member and get to know us. For membership news, check out our page.
Feel free to browse around and if you'd like to become an official member, click here.


Attractive licensing terms and a revamped acreage map have put Côte d'Ivoire firmly back on the radar for explorers. But the country could do with an early discovery to persuade international oil companies (IOC) to convert positive plans into substantial drilling campaigns.
Abidjan has been pushing hard to ensure that IOCs maintain interest in an upstream sector that has promised much but delivered few oil and gas discoveries in recent years. A dry well drilled by Ophir Energy in 2017 paved the way for that company's exit from the country.
These days, terms for explorers in Côte d'Ivoire are viewed as being amongst the most competitive in Africa. Bernard Looney, BP's head of upstream, praised the country's "low cost access with minimal financial commitments" in a December investor presentation. The country usually allocates blocks via an open licensing system, rather than via specific rounds.
Côte d'Ivoire has also redrawn parts of its licensing map, notably expanding the size of blocks in deep-water acreage in an effort to attract investors to areas that are more costly to develop. Meanwhile, the settling of the country's maritime border dispute with Ghana in September 2017 has already paid dividends—in early 2018, Tullow acquired Block 524 on the Côte d'Ivoire side of the boundary adjacent to its existing TEN oil development in Ghana.
Tullow has been analysing data there and is planning this year to carry out seismic surveys across part of seven onshore blocks along the country's coast it has acquired since 2017. Meanwhile, BP and Kosmos have said they could start drilling in 2020 on acreage they acquired at the end of 2017. They were awarded five blocks covering some 17,000 km2 in deep water off the central coast.
However, a big hope for 2019 will be the Kossipo exploration well, which Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) has said it plans to drill in the second quarter. Any oil found there could be tied back to the existing floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel on the Baobab field in Block 40.
Baobab and the CNR-operated Espoir field in adjacent Block 26 are the country's only producing developments, dating back some two decades, which produce fewer than 50,000 bl/d of oil and around 70mn ft3 of gas between them. CNR also plans to start the delayed Phase 4 expansion development at Espoir in late 2019, with first production targeted in early 2020.
Exploration success at Kossipo may spur others to speed their drilling plans, according to Lennert Koch, a sub-Saharan Africa upstream analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie. But he warns that the upstream sector's prospects remain fragile.
"While improved fiscal terms and growing confidence in the country's hydrocarbons potential are both positive for the Ivoirian upstream, oil-price volatility may yet deter investment, slowing growth," he says.
The sector has already been unsettled by the sacking in December of respected energy minister Thierry Tanoh, the main architect of the upstream restructuring. There has been speculation in Abidjan that his departure was in part due to concerns in the upper echelons of government that IOC terms have been overly generous, potentially reducing the government take too much.
However, his dismissal was more the product of the collapse in 2018 of a political alliance between the parties of President Alassane Ouattara and former president Henri Konan Bedie. Tanoh is a close ally of Bedie within the opposition PDCI-RDA party and could be a candidate to succeed the 84-year old in 2020 elections, if Bedie decided not to stand.
"Tanoh was criticised for—amongst other things—granting exploration licenses at unsuitable prices, but this was really just cover for the dismissal of a minister that the government wanted to remove for political reasons," Felix Bony, editor-in-chief of Ivorian newspaper Soir Info told Petroleum Economist.
Little is known about the likely approach of Tanoh's successor Abdourahmane Cissé to the oil sector. However, the government is expected to tread cautiously with any change of tack, for fear of losing investment at a time when it is pushing to diversify its largely agriculture-based economy.


Our work is made possible by kind and compassionate supporters whose donations fund the nutritional, environmental, medical and enrichment programs that primates living in captivity require to thrive. Without generous donations, we simply could not provide the livelihood these animals deserve. In order to show our supporters just how important their generosity truly is, we invite all of our sanctuary members to come witness their gift of sanctuary ONE day every year at our Annual Member Event.
If you are a member of the Primate Rescue Center, you will have the opportunity to visit the sanctuary on June 8th. This day is one we look forward to all year, as it is the ONLY day that we have the opportunity to share with our members the amazing work they make possible!
If you have been a member in previous years, be sure to renew your membership in order to receive an invitation to this year's event. As always, members have the option of increasing their donation amount in order to bring guests along.
At the event, members will enjoy a silent auction stocked with unique items, a raffle, a gift shop full of PRC merchandise, food trucks with delicious grub and much, much more! Most importantly, our members will witness the gift of sanctuary firsthand as they learn about the most important facet of our sanctuary – the primates! If you'd like to know more about what takes place at our Annual Member Event, take a look at this blog recapping last year's event.
Stay tuned for more details regarding Member Event such as the schedule and what items you can expect to find in our silent auction, gift shop and raffle! Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.


Pit Bull Talk • View topic - Win a free leash!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lead-Me-On/378637774556 ). I'm talking true puppy dog eyes where your dog is trying to convince us you don't feed him/her EVER! Obviously no pictures of true abuse. Once you post your picture, get your friends and family to "like" it. On June 10th at midnight EST, the picture with the most "likes" wins!