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Gapplegate Music review by Grego Edwards
Posted on October 30, 2009 by cleanfeed | Leave a comment
Weightless – A Brush with Dignity (CF 154)
Weightless, A Free Quartet in a New Recording
Of all the instruments to play, the piano is one that poses particular challenges. You sit down to it and all the notes are available to you simultaneously. You only have ten fingers, plus your arms for clusters if you play like Don Pullen (or Henry Cowell), so choice becomes critical. The moment you push down the keys the piano immediately gives out with a sound, one group of sounds really, that has to do with that particular piano and its characteristics. To get "your" sound takes many years, if you ever get there.
A child when first fooling around with the instrument can immediately and un-selfconsciously pull off a bad Cecil Taylor imitation. Tinkle-slam-chop-blur. Again to get any good at going at it in this way takes considerable time and practice. To go beyond that second level, to be a truly individual stylist in this mode is even more difficult.
This brings me to the CD at hand today. It's by a group called Weightless and the CD is entitled A Brush with Dignity (Clean Feed). Weightless consists of Alberto Braida on piano, John Butcher on tenor and soprano, John Edwards on double bass and Fabrizio Spera on drums.
Weightless engages in carefully executed sorts of free improvisations that owe something to new concert music though there is a strong foundation in the "jazz" orientation, whatever that means anymore.
Braida's playing reminds us of what it takes to get a personal sound and a kind of free playing that goes leagues beyond the "kid-slamming-at-the-piano" fundamentals. He picks his way painstakingly through the possibilities. . . a cluster here, a phrase there, an overall attempt not to be automatic or banal and an avoidance of any overt key center. He has tangible success in the "what" category; the "how" category (the personal sound) is not fully present, at least on this recording according to my own take on it. That is not a problem to the music in any sense. Because also to consider is that Braida succeeds in interjecting himself into a set of collective ensemble improvisations, and in that context he is not supposed to stand out but to meld together with the others.
The four players as an organic whole succeed in creating group structures that are not uninteresting. Butcher's tenor steps out alone on occasion, not to blaze with incandescent speakings of the tongues, but with more considered note making. That is true of the group at large as well.
I would not go so far as to say that Weightless has achieved total individuality as yet. That may come. What they have done here is created an hour of interesting free music. This is not a high-energy, high density slam-dunk sort of freakout. It's a bit more thoughtful. Those who like the quieter areas of free music and sensitive group interplay will find it pleasing. http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com/
Tagged Alberto Braida, Fabrizio Spera, John Butcher, John Edwards, Weightless
Lucid Culture review
The Samuel Blaser Quartet – Pieces of Old Sky (CF 151)
This is what free jazz ought to sound like. While there's definitely plenty of composition here, there's also an extraordinary amount of listening and the smart, thoughtful playing that good musicians do when they're all tuned into each other. Trombonist Samuel Blaser leads the crew and gets extra props for putting this particular unit together. This is one of those albums that the drummer absolutely owns: Tyshawn Sorey rumbles underneath, methodically like a subway (by turns a steady local train, a work train inching by or an occasional express roaring along) as guitarist Todd Neufeld and bassist Thomas Morgan add shade and color in a stunning display of minimalist precision. No wasted notes here!
Blaser gets the over seventeen-minute title track to work off a stately, thoughtful five-note riff punctuated by stillness and deftly placed accents by Neufeld and Morgan. As with the rest of the tracks here, there's more following and echoing than there is actual interplay, the musicians taking turns building off a minute, intricate phrase, almost a contest where the winner is he who can say the most with the least. Which with generally quiet music is an admirable goal. On this song, guitar and then bass maintain suspense two steps behind the beat, which at a lento crawl is a lot harder than it sounds. Blaser's unexpectedly triumphant windup to the song actually adds an undercurrent of unease (that device will recur later to rousing effect).
The second cut, Red Hook scurries without actually scurrying – Blaser's trombone runs it alone as the rhythm section stays terse and deliberate with vivid washes of sound from Neufeld's guitar. They follow it with the pensive, plaintive Choral I (which they return to as a concluding theme), and then the aptly titled Mystical Circle, Blaser remaining defiantly casual, even out-of-focus throughout a series of methodical descending progressions. The dark, murky, minor-key Mandala is nothing short of phantasmagorical; by contrast, Speed Game is tongue-in-cheek, more a series of relays than any kind of sprint. This quiet, deft display of talent is nothing short of a stealth contender for one of the best jazz albums of 2009. http://lucidculture.wordpress.com
Tagged Samuel Blaser, Thomas Morgan, Todd Neufeld, Tyshawn Sorey
Free Jazz review by Stef
Pinton / Kullhammar / Zetterberg / Nordeson – Chant (CF 156)
Recorded live in Coimbra, Portugal, this Swedish quartet and the enthusiastic audience do exactly what you would expect: play music and have fun. The four musicians have played together before in one or the other constellation. Alberto Pinton plays baritone saxophone, Jonas Kullhammar tenor, Torbjörn Zetterberg bass and Kjell Nordeson drums and vibes. As Zetterberg writes in the liner notes "This band is half of my own octet, half of Jonas's quartet, half of Kjell and Jonas's quartet "Nacka Forum" and more than half of Alberto's quintet", so there is no big surprise that there is a perfect fit, even if Clean Feed boss Pedro Costa asked them to perform together. The band does not break any new ground. Even if the music is largely improvised, themes and rhythms are part of the agreed musical concepts. But they play well, and what is more, with lots of intensity, interaction and enthusiasm, really enjoying themselves … and the audience, whether they play uptempo or downtempo, jazzy or bluesy, 60s or 00s, dark or light-footed. Fun.
http://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/
Tagged Alberto Pinton, Chant, Jonas Kullhammar, Kjell Nordeson, Torbjorn Zetterberg
Cadence Magazine review by Phillip McNally
WHO Trio – Less is More (CF 135)
The name of the Who Trio, while it clearly is made up of the band members' initials, also seems to imply the group sound. This is not the Gerry Hemingway trio, or the Michel Wintsch trio. So even though this little collective might appear to be just another piano trio, The Who Trio is actually an extremely sensitive threesome playing mostly group improvisations. They are hearing one another and responding, intuiting directions and evolving the group's music together. Wintsch has a very light hand on the piano, favoring few notes and slowly appregiated chords, but he has a strong single note melodic sense. What an impressive range of technique and color bassist Banz Oester brings to the trio, and always in the service of the music and the group sound. And of course Hemingway's ability to "lift the bandstand" is well known. So "Less is More" is a sensitive recording by an amazing trio, and it leaves me wishing all collective improvisation could be this rich and coherent.
©Cadence Magazine 2009 www.cadencebuilding.com
Tagged Bänz Oester, Gerry Hemingway, Michel Wintsch, Who Trio
Cadence Magazine review by Jason Bivins
Paul Dunmall Sun Quartet – Ancient and Future Airs (CF 138 )
Denman Maroney Quintet – Udentity (CF 137)
Dunmall's visit to New York's The Living Theater (1) finds him in a slightly unfamiliar setting given his recent work on Slam. With a trio of longtime associates, this Vision Festival set finds him in a more reflective mood alongside Malaby, whose blend of melancholy and fire has become ever more singular of late (not least in his work in Helias' Open Loose trio). Norton's vibes are absolutely central to the textural range of these long pieces. While "Ancient Airs" opens rather slowly, the race is on after a while, with contrapuntalism firing up the engine. Dunmall and Malaby make for a wonderfully contrastive tenor tandem, fierce in the right measure without resorting to mere burning. I reckon it's hard not to wail once Norton hits the traps and gets things churning with Helias, but this music never loses its focus and there's always something lyrical happening. As ever, I find it quite an exhilarating experience when Dunmall rocks the pipes, but he does so quite judiciously. After the piece plateaus, it sounds as if the band is cycling through some refracted version of Coltrane's "One Up One Down," audible especially with Malaby's vertiginous solo at about the 35-minute mark. Helias' sweet bass solo is pleasantly modal after the fury preceding it, and it cues up a somewhat (yes) airy ending. The second improvisation, at a mere 10 minutes, is a tad bitty and doesn't really get going anywhere. But this one's a keeper nonetheless.
Having long been a fan of Denman Maroney's unique sound world—his "hyperpiano" is the most radically prepared innenklavier imaginable—I confess that it's really only with this recording (2) that I realized how rhythmically acute a musician he is. His bowls, and buzzing devices, and blocks have created a richly tex-tured idiomatic extension of the piano, but these nuanced, percolating compositions are bouncing inventions that recall some fusion of Rothenberg's Double Band, John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet, and Mark Dresser's Force Green band from the 1990s (of which Maroney was a key member). This high praise is emphatically deserved. Beyond this general appraisal (and really, just go get this one), I have to give it up for the engine room specifically. Radding and the superb Sarin are so good, with power and grace combining almost imperceptibly, that you could risk overlooking everything else as you simply concentrate on their playing. But then there's the exceptional contrast between the clarion lines Ballou reels out, and
Rothenberg's intense playing, with horns as rhythmic generators fueled by circular breathing, overblowing, and more. And the tunes are pretty fabulous too, with the post Bop line on "II" sounding almost like a late 1960s Ornette tune. The loping pulse of "III" is a perfect context ready to be agitated by the heady sound of scraped metal, a continual staggering which eventuates in a stunningly inventive "piano trio" improvisation. Absolutely killer alien tones! There are soft percussive thwacks and layered tempi from the horns on "IV" and a post-Dave Burrell mutated stride thing that opens up "V." The disc eventually loops back to the feel of beautifully fractured post Bop on "VII," with a brilliant piano trio section again. A fantastic disc, and a strong candidate to show up on my year-end list.
Tagged Dave Ballou, Denman Maroney, Kevin Norton, Mark Helias, Michael Sarin, Ned Rothenberg, Paul Dunmall, reuben radding, Tony Malaby
Nobuyasu Furuya Trio – Bendowa (CF 158)
The Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet and Flute of Nobuyasu Furuya
You can depend upon Clean Feed Records consistently to come up with interesting releases in the advanced free improv jazz genre. That doesn't mean you've heard of everybody on the label. That's a good thing because it means they are offering up some fresh faces to the international scene and that's how growth happens in music. One of the ways, at least.
Nobuyasu Furuya. There's a new name to me. He is a Japanese expat residing in Portugal. He's studied Ottoman classical music. He plays vibrantly. There's his new album Bendowa (Clean Feed). It's a trio affair with Hernani Faustino on bass and Gabriel Ferrandini on drums. They do a fine job.
Nobuyasu has a good sense of linear drama and absolute control over his sound. Some people say he sounds like Archie Shepp on tenor. Well, there IS that sort of near-speech inflection he sometimes evokes. But there's a little Ayler there too. Maybe some Dolphy as well. On flute he has a shakuhachi like purity. His bass clarinet is snaky. To me though, it's his dramatic sense of space, of sound and silence, of color and darkness that stands out. The phrasing lengths, the pauses and the trajectory of his drive show a great sensibility.
There is plenty of good music on Bendowa. It tends more towards the exploratory than the frantic. But there is plenty of energy to be had as well. Here is a player to watch. Or rather to listen to. This CD will give improv enthusiasts a good adventure. I would say to you "go get it" if you are looking for a different sort of free player.
http://gapplegatemusicreview.blogspot.com/
Tagged Gabriel Ferrandini, Hernani Faustino, Nobuyasu Furuya
Cadence Magazine review by Marc Medwin
Michael Blake / Kresten osgood – Control this (CF 136)
Trinity – Breaking the Molde (CF 139)
Check out these veterans of the diverse Alternative/Hardcore/Free Jazz scenes as they place two very different but equally engaging platters in Clean Feed's ever-increasing catalog. The duo disc (1) comes courtesy of tenor saxophonist Michael Blake, whose alto work as heard here is new to me. His tenure with the fabled Lounge Lizards afforded him lightning-fast reflexes, and these are on display throughout these improvisations. Kresten Osgood is every bit his equal, stopping over and over on the proverbial dime Danilo Perez by Jimmie Jones seemingly with no path left behind him. The title track distills all that is best about the collaboration. Blake lays down some motivic
pointillisms, spitting forth multiphonic bursts along the way. Osgood picks up immediately on an almost hidden military vibe, rendering it apparent with some quasi-cadences. The veteran partners man-age to hold it all together as they dabble in Funk, new thing and Bebop tropes, often breathing as one musician. At other points on the disc, Osgood's tuned drumming conjures the beautifully scorching Flaherty/Edwards duos on Cadence Jazz Records as a bassist becomes superfluous. Their sense of history is manifest in an unusual way as they glide through a version of the late 1920's Ellington classic, "Creole Love Call," which begins every bit as slinkily as the original before blasting into the stratosphere.
Trinity's contribution (2) brings volume and raises the density factor considerably. When the quartet is in high gear, as they are from the first moments of this widely diverse disc, they're in Ayler/Taylor/Trane mode, Moster even invoking Meditations with his shofar blasts. The second track finds the aggregate in entirely different territory, soft shards of electronic sound riddled with percussive puncture wounds and long-breathed multiphonics. All seems to be leading up to the final epic improvisation, enthralling in its sudden shifts in tempo, intensity, and non-conventional timbre. These discs are definitely for lovers of adventurous music, who will be rewarded with each listen.
Tagged Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Kjetil Møster, Kresten Osgood, Michael Blake, Morten Qvenild, Thomas Strønen


Compare cross rates between Singapore Dollar And Indian Rupee. Main daily foreign exchange rates: reference rates provided by the European Central Bank (ECB).
The currency exchange rates cross table from singapore dollar to indian rupee.
The currency exchange rates cross table between indian rupee and singapore dollar .


Recently engaged and planning a wedding, set for May 23, 2015, and finishing up the car show season - it's a little hectic. In three weeks, car shows are finished for the season, and things will relatively settle down. Of course, then it's the holidays, and I just have to keep going. I can't lose any time for all that's going on. I have a lot of planning to do! I already know I want a small wedding - close family only - with a large reception! I have an idea of the dress I want (and I've already been disappointed a few times as well). The real question is: where do I start?
Martha Stewart to the rescue! With entire collections on everything, Martha Stewart has a whole website devoted to everything wedding, as well as multiple books on the subject: everything from cakes to flowers, etiquette and colors, Martha has you covered. My favorite thing is this simple timeline guide - it shows exactly what to worry about and when. The best part? The wedding planner guide is free! You can search for it (martha stewart wedding planner) or get the pdf here. How awesome is that?! There's so much to do but now it's in manageable bits to reduce being overwhelmed and stressed out.
Finalized the wedding date - Saturday May 23, 2015.
Decided on the type of wedding - informal, small.
Compiled guest list & organized addresses.
Out of 16 items (2 of which I'm not doing) with 4 completed, I still have 10 items remaining which I intend to finish within the month. One item in particular, ordering my dress, is becoming most difficult. I know what I would like - it's finding it.
The dress - inspired by Liz Taylor (and bearing my name) - is out of my price range. *sad panda* The wedding skirt suit is something I've dreamed of forever. My grandmother told me she eloped with my grandfather (in the 50's). They had a civil union service and she wore a simple wedding suit. I've always wanted to do that ever since...and I thought I had found said suit. The skirt is available in my size and on sale! However, the top, is only available in sizes 4 and 6. Here, let me crush my ribs. There that's better. No. Not likely. The search continues. If anyone comes across any wedding style suits in a size 10 or higher (I can always have it tailored) please leave it in the comments or email me, whichever you prefer. Thanks!


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Why is Apple dropping 'Store' from the name of its stores?
Image: Apple, Apple Union Square
Angela Ahrendts Apple Products Brands Retail Concepts Store Formats
by George Anderson
The Apple Store is no more. Recent store openings have seen Apple drop "Store" from the name as part of a subtle branding effort.
According to MacRumors, Apple sent a memo to retail personnel to let them know that it was dropping store from name of its stores. Now, stores are identified at their entrances as Apple with the name of the location such as Apple Union Square. The tech giant had previously removed store from its online site.
The name change may have to do with Apple's recent moves to try and turn locations into more of a community hub incorporating more plants and places to sit for visitors and customers.
Apple's newest generation stores developed under Angela Ahrdents include more wood and floor to ceiling screens that show product videos. An area within stores known as "The Avenue" includes items such as Beats headphones, speakers, Apple Watches and other accessories in displays that change seasonally. The Verge described it as Apple attempting to give its retail business more of a boutique feel.
Apple Drops 'Store' From Apple Store Branding – MacRumors
The Apple Store is now just called Apple – The Verge
Apple owns next-generation stores – RetailWire
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Do you understand why Apple dropped Store from its retail banner's name? What do you think it is hoping to accomplish with the change? Will it be successful?
"This strikes me as a simple attempt to be mindful of vocabulary that is becoming obsolete."
Keith AndersonSVP, Strategy & Insight, Profitero
"On the other hand, their mall location that once stood for innovation is now where I go to get things fixed; usually not a pleasurable experience."
Christopher P. RameyPresident, Affluent Insights & The Home Trust International
"The idea of the word "store" is indeed becoming obsolete. "
Anne HowePrincipal, Anne Howe Associates
30 Comments on "Why is Apple dropping 'Store' from the name of its stores?"
Tom Redd
Global Vice President, Strategic Communications, SAP Global Retail Business Unit
The drop is smart. First, when you walk in the door you know it is a store. I always wondered why Apple had to tell us it was a store. It is a location. A hang out, a union point for Apple freaks.
The change will make no huge performance impact and it will make location promotion easier — say Apple Union Square vs. Apple Store at Union Square. Easier in simple words to know the Apple store location. They may stop saying it but humans (non-Millennials) will still say, "I am headed over to the Apple store for my class on how to use the keyboard."
Jasmine Glasheen
Principal Writer & Content Strategist, Jasmine Glasheen & Associates
It is true that, for millennials, less is more with wording. I blame it on Prince changing his name to a symbol during our developmental years. Bonus points if it's in a language nobody else understands.
Chris Petersen, PhD.
President, Integrated Marketing Solutions
When you generate more revenue and profit per square foot, I'm not sure that you need to be bound by the name "store." The Apple logo is in itself iconic. Consumers need don't anything else to navigate to an Apple location.
The new term being bandied about is the "unstore." Unstore is a new descriptor for "places" where you can experience products, as well as click and collect. With rumors of the Apple vehicle, perhaps this new "unstore" will become a "dealership."
Bottom line, why be bound by labels? Kudos to Apple for shrugging off a moniker that it does not need … and increasingly does not apply in an omnichannel world.
Max Goldberg
President, Max Goldberg & Associates
Does it really matter? Everyone knows that these are stores. They sell Apple products. Having the word "store" was a little redundant.
Keith Anderson
SVP, Strategy & Insight, Profitero
This strikes me as a simple attempt to be mindful of vocabulary that is becoming obsolete.
Much of the retail lexicon is declining in relevance. Retailers and brands organize around concepts like channels, stores, shoppers, consumers and categories — but the boundaries of these traditional ideas are blurring more every day.
Apple may not have clarity on what comes after "stores," but they seem conscious that their physical locations are something different.
Lyle Bunn (Ph.D. Hon)
Strategy Architect – Digital Place-based Media
"If it walks like a duck … it's a duck." But the Apple locations are moving beyond being stores, browsing locations and service depots to a place where community can connect. My experience (being an Apple user) is that the staff count at Apple locations is proportioned to almost guarantee that patrons do not get into conversations with each other, which is not conducive to building and leveraging the community of users. The new format with relaxation areas is, I suspect, aimed not just at reducing wait time anxiety and frustration, but connecting those who are/can be brand ambassadors.
Ian Percy
President, The Ian Percy Corporation
Lyle, your comment that "the staff count at Apple locations is proportioned to almost guarantee that patrons do not get into conversations with each other, which is not conducive to building and leveraging the community of users." is most insightful. I hadn't thought of that before. You're right, customers don't talk to each other so no community is developed … OTHER than signaling that one is an Apple user. That seems to be enough, i.e., just having a reason to be there is a treasured identity. That may be the pinnacle of customer connection found nowhere else other than perhaps a Ferrari dealership.
Frankly, I don't want to listen to other customers whine about their Mac or iPhone problems … though I'm happy to whine about mine!
Ryan Mathews
Founder, CEO, Black Monk Consulting
Ian, you make a subtle but critical point here. Millennials, for example, have developed a form of nonverbal, digital community based on proximity — geographic or ideological. Doubt this? Go to any Pokemon Go stop and observe a nonverbal digital community at work. The kind of complex relationships that community is built on don't necessarily require traditional signals of socialization. Just being there means you are in the club.
Ryan and Ian: you are really onto a key point about "being in the club." Who doesn't empathize with the scene from Pretty Woman when she returns, shopping bags in hand, from the store that didn't treat her as being in the club? The American Express "castaway" commercial of the man being restored to his former well-coifed self makes the point about "the club" well. Does it say something more that consumers have far fewer loyalty cards in their wallet and apps on their phone than the stores they frequent?
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Patricia Vekich Waldron
Contributing Editor, RetailWire; Founder and CEO, Vision First
Apple has always been ahead of the curve in connecting with customers through it's products, offerings and stores. This latest iteration, as Lyle points out, is about taking Apple's community from the digital world into the physical one.
Steve Montgomery
President, b2b Solutions, LLC
Apple owns a unique positioning in the consumer's mind. Unfortunately, the word store implies a place where people try to sell you something. By dropping "Store" and adding their site's location to the marquee they remove that connotation and add a sense of being local versus being part of a multi-billion dollar company. I am not sure the changes will make any difference to Apple's legion of advocates.
Kim Garretson
Advisor, MyAlerts
If I'm not mistaken, Ahrdents is following the same evolution as Burberry. If you look at a store page like Burberry Chicago, you see the store has evolved into more of an interactive community gathering place.
Lee Kent
Principal, Your Retail Authority, LLC
I never understood why they had "Store" in the name in the first place, but I don't think removing it will make any difference. How many people look at the label above the door? They call the brand what the retailer tells them to call it.
Smart move? I guess so. It makes sense, but is it worth the expense? The brand has already been branded.
But that's just my 2 cents.
I can only guess, because Angela hasn't spoken to me directly. In keeping with many previous discussions that even this panel has had, the stores of old need to become more entertaining destinations. If you look at an Apple store (you should pardon the expression) it is not only a selling place, it is a gathering place for Apple geeks. It is also a classroom for elementary school students. Apple may have more ideas in store (again, pardon me) for these locations that are outside the traditional "store" environment. Wait and see. Something is definitely going on there and we have been subtly prepared to expect it.
Looks like we're all going to say basically the same thing. "Store" is redundant and old as most have pointed out, and dropping it adds to Apple's cool-ness.
The most interesting thing in this thread is Lyle Bunn's insightful observation, one I haven't thought of before. I'll add my thoughts to his submission above.
Anne Howe
Principal, Anne Howe Associates
Think about the origins of retail: community, experience, trade and gathering. These are the foundational elements of physical retail that the human mind has desire for. The idea of the word "store" is indeed becoming obsolete. The idea of an experience-based hub that serves as a community marketplace is exactly akin to the feeling one gets from being a part of the Apple franchise. A smart and timely move that is sure to be copied by other retailers as time goes on. Kudos to Apple for being brave and ahead of the pack.
Doug Garnett
President, Protonik
I don't think it's a badly destructive move but it also strikes me as silliness.
In fact, it's getting very hard to shop at Apple.com because similar changes are taking place on the website. But as a consumer, when I want to go buy a product I go to the store. As they have obscured the store on their website it has become hard to find prices and places to browse options — to shop. And we need to remember that shopping is a very human activity that started the first time an ancient hunter chose one rock over another.
This move is reminiscent of why Ron Johnson didn't make it at J.C. Penney's — relying on a theory that simply isn't reflective of consumer reality. Consumers like stores and understand that companies want to sell them products. The more honestly we treat them in the process the better our sales are. Ideas like this that are too clever for their own good may not hurt badly, but they definitely don't help.
At the last earnings call, their description of the new store was less merchandise-focused and increasingly service-driven. I think its an internal signal.
I doubt many consumers will know or care.
Nothing to see here, move along …
It's funny that they made that comment in their earnings call. Because in the last few months, my store experience has been that employees are putting up-sell pressure on customers. I've had two experiences where the employees went far out of their way to pitch me products that I didn't want, told them I didn't want, and yet they kept pitching.
Given Apple's superb past, this can't be anything but an intentional strategy to increase store revenue at risk of customer satisfaction. And it's intensely "merchandise-focused" (unless in Apple Speak bugging customers with up-sells is considered "service").
Lee Peterson
EVP Thought Leadership, Marketing, WD Partners
Apple gets it. Here's the premise: we don't have to go to stores anymore, we have to WANT to go to stores. The future of brick-and-mortar is not about "stack it high and let it fly," it's about giving the shopper reasons to come to the space OTHER than just buying stuff. Apple already excels at this strategy with their classes, informed associates and Genius Bar — they're way ahead of the game and have been since day one.
Others executing the "store-as-space" strategy are Starbucks with their Roasteries and Urban Brands with their "Space" concept (see Space 24 in Austin) and even Nordstrom's "Space" category is close. Well done, can't wait for more to follow suit.
James Tenser
Retail Tech Marketing Strategist | B2B Expert Storytelling™ Guru | President, VSN Media LLC
So what was I missing? I just searched dozens of Apple place exterior pics on Google Images and I didn't find the word "store" on any of them.
Too bad, because I was planning a snarky comment about how much money they'd save in signage. But no luck. The Apple is just the Apple and it has been just that from the beginning.
I suppose calling its walk-in locations "stores" was originally a signal to the investor community. Now that it's clear the locations are as much about service delivery as product sales the word is at least redundant — at worst inaccurate.
This is a fine little press-release moment for the Apple folks, but I don't think it changes a darned thing.
Shawn Harris
Senior Director, Global Retail and Hospitality Strategy & Business Development, Turing.ai
It's a simplification for CX, opening the door for a broader purpose to the locations. I'm sure coffee will show up in the larger formats.
Christopher P. Ramey
President, Affluent Insights & The Home Trust International
Apple is a unique brand. "Store" was obviously not necessary.
On the other hand, their mall location that once stood for innovation is now where I go to get things fixed; usually not a pleasurable experience. "Store" is better than "phone repair."
Everybody wants to build a community. It's the new buzz phrase after we get tired of "experience." But customers aren't automatically a community. It's fair to suggest that Apple already has a tribe. But a tribe doesn't mean a community. My experience is Apple's rigidity is inconsistent with building a community. Tribes overlook shortcomings. Communities lose interest.
I think this is a wise move on their part. Dropping "store" from the name on the building is not earth shaking; and possibly overdue. Adding the location name is smart. But is it going to make a difference? No.
Gajendra Ratnavel
CEO, L Squared Digital Signage
Simplifying the identification of the brand! I love it. It's also easier to say when communicating with people. Dropping the "store" forces people to use the location for identification so it's more clear. For example, someone might say "Try the Apple Store" vs "Try the Apple Sherway Gardens." The first is ambiguous.
Dropping the "store" from the name of Apple stores is a smart move from two perspectives.
First, calling a store a store is kind of awkward. You don't see any other retailer branding their physical locations as store — Target Store, Walmart Store, Home Depot Store, etc. The extra word is unnecessary.
Secondly, Apple stores are much more than a store — they are an experience. Apple doesn't want consumers think of their physical locations merely a place to purchase things, as it is truly a unique experience. It is a great example of what we call the theater of shopping. People go to Apple locations to enjoy the hip atmosphere, try the latest electronic devices, learn how to use their Apple products more effectively and sometimes buy products.
It is a clever move by Apple and I am just surprised it took so long.
I'm not sure most people will even be aware of it … don't they just look for the giant bitten apple? But, wow! What a testament to the power of the brand that something this — frankly — insignificant is a source of discussion.
Don Snyder
So, will they be dropping the word "Store" from the name "App Store" too?
This is more of a fait accompli than some sort a revolutionary move. Nobody says "I'm going to Starbucks Coffee Shop" or "McDonald's Hamburgers." Those are redundant. It was a more impressive move when they stopped calling themselves a computer company — but I think they'll be stuck with the "Store" label by consumers UNTIL more of the strategy is revealed. This is likely the first in a series of larger moves intended to evolve the lowly storefront into more of a community gathering place. I'm betting we'll see coffee shops and pubs and athletic clubs all under the Apple banner before they're done. Perhaps even a trendy neighborhood with all those things wrapped in a community of iOS-driven "smart loft" living spaces.
Tom Dougherty
President and CEO, Stealing Share
Language is important and often underestimated by marketers. It is the scaffolding upon which we all build meaning and place brands in our preferred set. Apple has been better at this than most brands. They demonstrated this thoughtfulness when the brand changed from Apple Computer to Apple Inc.
The old store concept is quickly passing away (much to the chagrin of retailers) and instead we are embracing portals to the brands. Apple, as a moniker for the old brick-and-mortar retail location, is the harbinger of the future. Smart. Very smart.
Will Apple dropping "Store" from the name of its retail business prove a net branding positive or negative for the company over time?
Very positive
Somewhat positive
Somewhat negative
Very negative

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


him as nobody else recognize such designated about my difficulty.
birthday for the October 2008 fatal shooting of 21-year-old Timothy Smith in Fresh Meadows.
all of which ended in mistrials.
"It's been a long time," Banks told The News Wednesday.
"Knowing that you're an innocent man and that you were wrongfully (accused) to be out free now after all the years . . . It's a huge relief."
the prosecution's star witness changed her testimony that she saw Banks shoot Smith before the first trial in 2010.
testimony identifying Banks in subsequent trials.
Banks' third and final trial ended in March 2014 with a hung jury.


text:
Q: Properly escaping shell arguments in Ruby Here is the code:
desc "Find 301 errors on production servers"
task :find301 do
  command = "grep 'HTTP/1.1\" 301' /var/log/httpd/*ssl-access.log | grep -v 'gclid' | awk '{print \$7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr"

  production_servers.each do |server|
    sh "ssh root@#{server} #{command}"
  end
end

Is there a better way to escape the shell command, preferably in a format that allows sh "ssh root@#{server} #{command}" to be used with arbitrary commands?

A: Use require 'shellwords' and Shellwords.escape
You can find more info on these in "shellescape" and "Shellwords"

A: You can use the %q and %Q versions, but you still need to specify a delimiter.
%Q|these don't need to be escaped /\"'"'{}[]-_+=()!@#$%^&*`~;:<>.,|

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Albeit being in a tough competition with other movies starring impeccable actors, Azaadi has become arguably the most anticipated movie to come out this Eid-ul-Fitr.
Azaadi sheds light on a topic no one ever managed to talk about in their respective movies. The movie revolves around the spellbinding valleys of Kashmir but it also delineates the ongoing atrocities and struggle, our Kashmiri brothers and sisters are going through. The upcoming flick is not just confined to sorrow and action, it also delineates a beautiful love story of a British-Pakistani journalist and a Kashmiri freedom fighter.
The movie incorporates a breathtaking cast from the veteran actor Moammar Rana to the absolutely stunning, Sonya Hussyn. The maestro, Nadeem Baig is also playing a pivotal role in the movie along with the gorgeous Mariam Ansari, playing Moammar Rana's younger sister.
As the movie is scheduled to be released this Eid-Ul-Fitr, the cast has already sat on the bandwagon of the promotional spree. Besides the presence of the ever-dapper, Moammar Rana, the female protagonist, Sonya Hussyn is also garnering an immaculate love for her bubbly persona and her outstanding style statement.
Having started from the Media Junket of Azaadi at a cafe in Karachi, Sonya never missed an opportunity to look chic.
#azaadi #azadigirl #mediajunket #bloggers #meetup #sonyahussyn ????
Just have a look at her, donned in all white with these trending odd shoes.
In spite of choosing bulky dresses, our Azaadi girl opts for comfy but stupendous apparels like this one. She looks fascinating in this Monochrome outfit.
Oh! Did you see the Khussa she's wearing? Absolutely cute!
She looks captivating here, dolled up in this blue traditional attire on a warm May morning.
From the exquisite jewelry to the light makeup, the prima donna has everything on point.
In order to ignite enthusiasm in the hearts of all the youngsters, she, along with her team, has visited a local university clothed in light gray, having precise make-up.
This shade of red lip shade is what makes this lady exhibit sheer beauty.
???? Go #sporty!! #sonyahussyn #azaadigirl #azaadi #ilmauniversity ?
Setting a new benchmark, team Azaadi has visited Edhi center in the holy month of Ramadan in order to have Iftaar with these cuties and to distribute goodies. On this instance, the diva pulls off this white dress with an ace.
?? ???? ?? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?? ????? ??? ??? ???? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ?????????? My last wish! Every mortal will taste death, only some will taste life… and this is life ,this is what we are meant to do… May ALLAH give us strength. Aameen????????
On another promotional day out, Sonya carries a traditional outfit with absolute mastery.
Our favorite thespian arrayed herself in black to look completely surreal with this pose being a cherry on the top.
No matter what, she is always on the verge of stealing the limelight with an ultimate grace.
This look of the Azaadi sensation is undoubtedly summer goals!
Desi or Western, you name it! The Azaadi girl is capable of sprucing up in any thematic appearance.
Sonya is hands down one of our most favorite fragments of Azaadi for her flamboyant acting skills and her adroit style statement. Perhaps, Azaadi will arrive in the arena to stay for a long, long time.
What are your views on all her appearances? Tell us in the comments below.


text:
Q: How can I execute a cmd command through windows run prompt box? (win+R) How can I start a program that I usually run from terminal, right from run prompt? (win key + R)
Example:
Instead of pressing:
win + R, type "cmd", press enter, type "jupyter notebook", press enter

I would like to
win + R, type "cmd; jupyter notebook", press enter

Maybe something like:
cmd, jupyter notebook
cmd: jupiter notebook
cmd; jupyter notebook

Is this possible?

A: Just type:
cmd /c "jupyter notebook"

This will close the command prompt after the command has been executed. If you don't want to close the command prompt use /k instead of /c.


Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott appeared at the Grammy Awards last night, and everyone was too busy, like, watching the actual show to pay too much attention. & # 39; Because yes, they're completely combined together.
In the Words of Elton John at The Lion King CAN YOU LOVE TONIGHT? Say say if these two are not yet engaged, a proposal seems to be imminent based on PDA vibes al one.


Status of Honorary Consul of Slovenia received by Vladislav Burda and the opening of the Slovenian Consulate in the Head office of RedHead set a new diplomatic vector in the development of the Corporation.
The activity of Honorary Consul will contribute to the deeper cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia with the region, primarily in the field of trade and tourism. Under the responsibility of the Honorary Consul come search of business partners in Odessa and region, establishment of the contacts with organizations and enterprises of Slovenia, and also activation of mutual exchange in the field of science and culture between Slovenia and Odessa region.
Close business relations between RedHead and Slovenia arose in the beginning of the company's activity, and today RedHead Family Corporation is in Top-10 major exporters of Slovenian goods (cereals Bebi, pates Argeta, water Donat, juices Frutek, toys Mehano).
Emir Hrkovich, CEO of Russian representative office of Atlantic Grupa and partner of RedHead since 1995, assisted in establishing contacts between RedHead and Slovenian Embassy.
One of the first meetings within the frame work of the Consulate was a reception of Slovenian delegation on July 18-19. Natasha Prah, Chargé d'affaires pro tempore of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Ukraine, Emil Tedeschi , the owner and CEO of Atlantic Grupa, who owns production facilities in Slovenia, and Srecko Nakich, Vice-President of Atlantic Grupa, visited RedHead office .
During this meeting, together with RedHead team, there were identified new directions of mutual integration between Ukraine and Slovenia. In addition to development of business cooperation with Slovenian partners and promotion of Slovenian products in Ukraine, the program includes projects related to personnel training and exchange of experience between RedHead and Slovenian companies.


HELP believes in engaging with the community to create awareness around sexual abuse and to work together towards the prevention of sexual violence.
Eradicating sexual abuse takes a community and HELP is proactive in engaging the Auckland community meaningfully.
HELP offers the We Can Keep Safe programme as a five-module safety education programme in Auckland preschools, play centres and kindergartens.
The programme presenters use drama, games, songs, role-playing, story telling and puppetry to engage children in an age –appropriate way.


text:
composed
^^^^^^^^

.. automodule:: kapre.composed
    :members:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Visa abandons $5.3 billion acquisition after DOJ objections
2020 was the best year for PC shipments in a decade
Amazon buys planes for the first time to expand its cargo air fleet
The Morning After: Mobile video service Quibi launches today
Music streaming subscriptions grew by nearly a third in 2019
Apple TV Channels offers free Epix until May 2nd without signing up
AMC's free streaming TV includes 'The Walking Dead' and 'MST3K'
Streaming now accounts for 80 percent of the US music market
It made up just seven percent in 2010, according to RIAA stats.
Kris Holt, @krisholt
Billy Steele/Engadget
Streaming has completely reshaped the face of the music industry over the last decade, with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music proving to be overwhelmingly popular with music fans. The Recording Industry Association of America has revealed some stats that underline the mammoth sea change. The organization says streaming accounts for 80 percent of the US music market, compared with seven percent in 2010. Streaming subscriptions rose from about 1.5 million to around 61 million between 2010 and the first half of 2019, according to the RIAA.
Over the course of the decade, streaming has surpassed both digital downloads and physical products 🎼 , now accounting for 80% of the market. #RIAAMusicData pic.twitter.com/q04FeQBT5a
— RIAA (@RIAA) December 30, 2019
Spotify landed in the US in 2011 and Apple Music debuted in 2014. There are many other streaming options around, including Tidal, Pandora, YouTube Music and Amazon Prime Music to name a few. Around 81 percent of Americans now have a smartphone, compared with about 35 percent in 2010. Since it's much easier to use a streaming service than buy digital albums or load MP3s onto a phone (or carry around a separate music player), smartphone adoption has played a key role in the streaming shift.
In 2010, physical sales accounted for 52 percent of the US music market and digital sales 38 percent. Both are now down to a nine percent share. The market share of synch (i.e. licensing music for use in other media) hasn't changed over the last nine years at three percent. But while people aren't buying CDs so much anymore, vinyl's back on the up. Sales rose from a little over $50 million in 2009 to almost $450 million in 2018.
What was once considered a classic format of listening to music, has made a resurgence. Vinyl 🎶 album sales continue to grow. ⬆ #RIAAMusicData pic.twitter.com/SIo7f4NKdD
Meanwhile, Taylor Swift (who famously pulled her music from Spotify for a while), Adele and Drake claimed eight of the top ten selling albums of the decade between them. It's not quite clear how their sales figures break down between streams and digital/physical album sales. However, given some of their songs have hundreds of millions of plays on various services, streaming certainly played an important factor.
In this article: amazon music, amazonmusic, apple music, applemusic, business, entertainment, music, music streaming, musicstreaming, pandora, spotify, tidal, youtube music, youtubemusic