text:
Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band Smolders at Smoke
Not to disrespect everything that pianist Orrin Evans has done with smaller combos, whether as a bandleader or with tenor sax titan JD Allen, but his greatest moments so far could well be with his Captain Black Big Band. Over the past couple of years, that mighty group has earned a reputation as arguably the hottest straight-ahead oldschool postbop big band playing original material anywhere in town. So it made sense that their debut album would be a concert recording. But the the album release show for their sophomore release, Mother's Touch, last night at Smoke uptown, brought into focus a considerably different side of the band, as elegant, sophisticated and in the moment as it is towering and lush.
Their new stuff has as just much in common with the lustrous colors and cinematic swells and ebbs of Maria Schneider's best work as it does with Ellington at his most boisterous and regally emphatic. As Evans alluded with a wry shrug, running a big band is an enormous task pushed to extremes by its members' changing itineraries. Finding his lead trumpeter unable to make the gig, Evans snagged John Raymond for the job, and Raymond played like he'd jumped at the chance of a lifetime, soaring and bobbing and weaving and trading bars animatedly with the high-powered sax section at the front of the stage. Likewise, baritone saxophonist Lauren Sevian's long, lurid, red-neon solo was another of the first set's many highlights, midway through the subtly Cuban-tinged Gianluca Renzi composition Here's the Captain. This fourteen-piece edition of the band used that number to close it down, singing warmly casual aah-aahs together as they wound it out on a warmly triumphant note.
The new album's title track is a two-parter, and it's essentially a couple of long intros with tantalizingly short solos for piano and tenor sax. On album, the two are separated; in concert, Evans did the logical thing by playing them back-to-back and stretching them out a little, letting his own precise, glimmeringly lyrical phrases linger up to an animated, breathlessly clustering, stairstepping tenor sax solo (the club was pretty packed; from the very back of the bar, it was hard to see who was playing what). The rest of the set was a roller-coaster ride punctuated by express-train bursts from the brass, incisively lyrical passages for just piano, bass and drums, and frequent artful, animated pairings of brass and reeds over some fantastically subtle drumming, especially considering the heft and bulk of this band – was that Anwar Marshall having a great time hitting the clave and all kinds of implications of it? This is what happens when you show up late for the Captain, a powerful reminder why the guy's so popular.
April 29, 2014 Posted by delarue | concert, jazz, Live Events, Music, music, concert, New York City, review, Reviews	| big band jazz, captain black big band, captain black big band review, Captain Black Big Band smoke, Captain Black Big Band smoke review, concert, concert review, jazz, john raymond trumpet, lauren sevian, Music, music review, orrin evans, Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band, Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band smoke, Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band smoke review | 1 Comment
Amir Nojan's Persian Classical Concert Transcends the Romantic
[republished from Lucid Culture's younger sister blog New York Music Daily]
Saturday night at Roulette was date night. Classical Persian music is romantic! There were a lot of couples in the crowd for California-based setarist Amir Nojan and the Nava Ensemble's two dynamic sets of poems by Hafez, Rumi and others set to dynamic, often impassioned, artfully improvised themes. Taghi Amjadi sang affectingly and poignantly in an expressive, melismatically nuanced baritone, the brother percussion team of Sina and Samandar Dehghani propelling the songs with a hypnotically boomy groove.
The first part of the show was the soul set; the second half was the dark night of the soul. The concert followed a typical Persian classical trajectory, improvisations giving way to conversations – between voice and instruments, and among the instrumentalists themselves – followed by a long, lively drum break and then a couple of darkly bristling, concluding dance numbers. As the long opening crescendo peaked, Amjadi rose to an imploring intensity against a steadily marching, jangly groove that built agitatedly to match the vocals.
The early part of the concert illustrated an ancient poem by Hafez. Here's a rough translation: "If the army of sadness invades to destroy the lovers, the bartender and I will take care of the troops with sweet wine." Even the nation whose language was the lingua franca of the educated classes for centuries throughout the Middle East had to cope with invaders and fascist dictatorships. As with so much of classical Persian poetry, the subtext screams quietly.
When he wasn't trading bars or verses with the other musicians, Nojan closed his eyes: he's the rare musician whose command of the fretboard is so complete that he can play anything by touch. His flurrying, chord-chopping crescendos both built an riveting intensity, evoking both surf music and Sonic Youth noiserock, even if the melodies and the method he was using went back six centuries beforehand – that's how evocative this music is. The second set built to an angst-fueled call-and-response with the vocals over a hypnotic, relentless dirge. The Roulette sound system had smartly been set up to catch all the nuances in the music, because when Nojan went down to the most whispery, delicate phrasing, the awestruck audience was still able to hear every note. A twin frame drum solo gave way to a couple of hauntingly fiery dance numbers at the end to send the crowd out into the street, literally singing along to the bitingly catchy four-chord hook of the night's final number.
Promoters Robert Browning Associates' next concert of global music is here at Roulette on May 3 at 8 PM with visionary Turkish multi-instrumentalist composer Omar Faruk Tekbilek and his hauntingly danceable ensemble; tix are $25 and worth it.
April 28, 2014 Posted by delarue | concert, Live Events, middle eastern music, Music, music, concert, review, Reviews	| Amir Nojam, amir nojam nava ensemble, amir nojam nava ensemble review, amir nojam review, amir nojam roulette, amir nojam roulettte, Amir nojan, amir nojan nava ensemble, amir nojan nava ensemble review, amir nojan review, amir nojan roulette, amir nojan roulettte review, concert, concert review, iranian music, middle eastern music, Music, music review, persian music, robert browning associates, Samandar Dehghani, Sina Dehghani, Taghi Amjadi, Taghi Amjadi review, world music | 1 Comment
Mighty Majestic Brilliance from Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band
Big band jazz is not the most lucrative style of music: after paying twenty guys for the gig, you're lucky if there's anything left over for you. But some of the most exciting composers in jazz persist in writing and recording large-ensemble pieces. Darcy James Argue is probably the most cutting-edge. Of all the purist, oldschool, blues-based big bands playing original material, pianist Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band is without a doubt the most powerful and entertaining. For those who don't know his music, Evans is a vigorously cerebral tunesmith and one of this era's most distinctive pianists: think of a young Kenny Barron with more stylistically diverse influences and you're on the right track. Evans' initial recording with this band was a roller-coaster ride through lively and often explosive, majestically blues-infused tunes. His new one, Mother's Touch, is arguably even better, and has a broader emotional scope. Evans and this mighty crew play the album release show at Smoke jazz club uptown (Broadway between 105th and 106th) with sets at 7 and 9 PM on April 28. Get there early if you're going (a seat a the bar is your best bet) because this will probably sell out.
The album's slow, torchy first track, In My Soul, is amazing. It's the most lavishly orchestrated oldschool soul song without words you'll ever hear. Evans' gentle, gospel-infused piano, Marcus Strickland's searching tenor sax solo, and an artfully arranged conversation between groups of horns lead up to a joyously brass-fueled peak. By contrast, Explain It to Me is an enigmatic, pinpoint, Monk-ish latin groove, guest drummer Ralph Peterson doing a good impersonation of a salsa rhythm section on his big kit.
The album's title track is a relatively brief two-parter: it's basically an intro, guest pianist Zaccai Curtis spiraling around majestically on the first and then leapfrogging on the second over a dense wall of sound and Anwar Marshall's tumbling drums.The best song on the album – and maybe the best single song that's come over the transom here this year – is Dita. Throughout its long, impressionistic crescendos, elegant solo voices peeking in through the Gil Evans-like lustre and gracefully acrobatic outro, the pianist has a great time alluding to both the rhythm and the blues.
Tickle, written by Donald Edwards, works variations on a series of big, whirling riffs echoed by Stacy Dillard's clustering tenor solo and then some wryly energetic call-and-response among the orchestra. An Eric Revis song, Maestra builds off a trickily rhythmic, circular riff underpinning a casually funky groove and a tersely jaunty Fabio Morgera trumpet solo. The band has a blast with the droll, bubbly bursts of Wayne Shorter's Water Babies, a long trumpet solo giving voice to the most boisterous of the toddlers in the pool. The album ends with the epic Prayer for Columbine, an unexpectedly optimistic, cinematic theme grounded in unease – it has the feel of a longscale Quincy Jones soundtrack piece from the mid 60s. Pensive trombone over a similarly brooding vamp eventually gives way to a massive funk groove with a long, vividly animated conversation between aggravated baritone sax and a cooler-headed counterpart on tenor. It's not always clear just who is soloing, but the whole thing is a sweeping, passionate performance from a big crew which also includes trumpeters Tanya Darby, Duane Eubanks, Tatum Greenblatt and Brian Kilpatrick; saxophonists Mark Allen, Doug Dehays, Stacy Dillard, Tim Green and Victor North, trombonists Dave Gibson, Conrad Herwig, Stafford Hunter, Andy Hunter and Brent White, with Luques Curtis on bass.
April 25, 2014 Posted by delarue | jazz, Music, music, concert, review, Reviews	| album review, Andy Hunter trombone, anwar marshall, big band jazz, Brent White, Brian Kilpatrick trumpet; Mark Allen, captain black big band, captain black big band mothers touch, captain black big band mothers touch review, captain black big band review, Conrad Herwig, Dave Gibson trombone, duane eubanks, fabio morgera, jazz, luques curtis, Marcus Strickland; Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band Mother's Touch revoew. orrin evans, Music, music review, orrin evans mothers touch, orrin evans mothers touch review, Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band Mother's Touch, ralph peterson drums, sax Doug Dehays, Stacy Dillard, stafford hunter, Tanya Darby, tatum greenblatt, tim green sax, todd bashore, victor north, zaccai curtis | Leave a comment
Wickedly Fun, Adrenalizing Sounds from the Puppeteers
The Puppeteers' debut album is packed with the kind of fun you would expect a bunch of guys to be having at their local. Which is where the band came together, and where they got their name, from the now-defunct South Slope, Brooklyn jazz bar. The ringleaders of the band are polymath pianist Arturo O'Farrill and Jazz Passengers vibraphone powerhouse Bill Ware, with Alex Blake on bass and Jaime Affoumado on drums. It's a wild, adrenalizing, tuneful ride.
Ware sets the stage with an impossibly machineguning solo that O'Farrill just has to match, and he does, and then he leaves it to the rhythm section. That's the lickety-split swing tune, On the Spot, that opens the album. Another tune by Blake, Jumping, puts O'Farrill in the driver's seat, and he owns it all the way through its clenched-teeth noir swing to a crash of an ending. In Whom is a distinctive, chromatically-charged O'Farrill tune, and another blast of adrenaline from the pianist. He gets plenty of high-fives for his role leading the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, a unit that doesn't give him as much room to cut loose and show off his blazing chops like he does here.
Ware fuels the agile, waltzing Peaceful Moment (peaceful, yeah, right!) with a tightly wound baroque-tinged intensity, O'Farrill's sizzling righthand spirals contrasting with the minimalist bass solo and then the vibraphone-driven ballad that the song morphs into. Bio Diesel, by Ware, has a lively, bracing offcenter sway, as if to say, "We're fueled by something weird, but it's working."
O'Farrill elevates Affoumado's ballad Dreams of Dad with rapidfire, bluesy spirals that keep going even as the drums drop out: the adrenaline just won't stop. Likewise, O'Farrill's jackhammer lefthand propels Papo Vasquez's Not Now Right Now up to a clever, intricate interweave of upper righthand bustle in tandem with the vibes. Then Ware's latin-tinged Lonely Days Are Gone (a Box Tops reference) contrasts O'Farrill's spins and dips with Ware's tersely swinging lines. They wind up the album with another Ware tune, The Right Time, with a similar dichotomy, Ware playing voice of reason to O'Farrill's cyclotron pyrotechnics. Has the word "adrenaline" appeared here yet?
A word about the venue the band takes their name from: wrong place, wrong time. Situated about equidistant from Barbes and I-Beam (and now Shapeshifter Lab), Puppets had good sound, great food and the best veggie burger beyond the outskirts of Rastafarian Crown Heights. But they were never able to catch on with the youngish crowd that comes out to I-Beam for cutting-edge sounds and the latin-inclined acts favored at Barbes – or with an older neighborhood crowd that might have been into Puppets' more oldschool postbop acts. Charging more of a cover than their neighbors probably had something to do with that too. Until tourists other than those who live there start to make the South Slope a destination – or the neighborhood is taken over completely by a Wall Street crowd – would-be impresarios should take notice.
April 23, 2014 Posted by delarue | jazz, Music, music, concert, review, Reviews	| album review, Alex Blake bass, Arturo O'Farrill, bill ware, bill ware vibraphone, Jaime Affoumado, jazz, jazz passengers, melodic jazz, Music, music review, puppeteers band, puppeteers band review, puppeteers review | Leave a comment
Dana Lyn Plays an Ocean of Melody at the Firehouse Space
Violinist Dana Lyn is as adept at Bach and Celtic dances as she is at searchingly acerbic string music. There's a lot of the the latter on her latest album Aqualude. Last night at the Firehouse Space in Greenpoint, she and her shapeshifting band from that album – Clara Kennedy on cello, Jonathan Goldberger on guitar, Mike McGinnis on clarinet and bass clarinet and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums – aired out some of the spiraling, entrancing pieces on it as well as a number of even more intriguing new compositions. One of those Lyn had just finished earlier in the day, but the group approached it with relish, Kennedy's stark solo intro giving way to a lively balletesque theme that worked back and forth through all kinds of permutations, Goldberger hinting at skronk against an uneasy wash of strings.
Another began with an elegant eight-note clarinet hook that Lyn and Goldberger used as a springboard for lilting, dancing harmonies. One of Lyn's main tropes is to loop a phrase and then use that to anchor an intricate interweave of voices. and the band did that often throughout an expansive set that went well over an hour. Lyn also has a fascination with the ocean and its creatures, carefully and wryly explaining how those often very strange beings influence her music. The guardedly explosive centerpiece of the Aqualude album, she said, was inspired by the hairy crabs who frequent the volcanic vents on the seabed. Another piece drew on the plight of the octopus, whose male and female basically go insane and die after they mate (does that remind you of another species?).
Kennedy opened the show with a stark intro that grew into a metrically tricky loop in tandem with the guitar, McGinnis adding counterrythmic staccato accents as Lyn's violin wafted overhead. Sperrazza – who felt the room's sonics instantly, keeping his masterfully counterintuitive accents and colors low-key with his brushes and sometimes just his hands – kicked off the next one as loudly as he'd go, with an almost baroque counterpoint from the clarinet and strings.
Along with the web of melodies, there's a lot of contrast in Lyn's music, and the band worked those dynamics with a comfortable chemistry: hazy atmospherics versus a kinetic drive, loud/soft and calm/agitated dichotomies, Goldberger hitting his pedals for an unexpected roar or McGinnis leaping from the murk of the bass clarinet to the top of his register. Lyn also counters the pensiveness and gravitas of her music with a surreal sense of humor. It was her birthday, so she supplied paper and pens so that everyone in the crowd could draw a cadavre exquis. Some of the audience came up with intriguing or amusing stuff; from an artistically-challenged point of view, it was impossible to concentrate on drawing for very long because it was such a distraction – and a lot more fun – to watch Lyn's magical sonic tableaux unfold.
April 21, 2014 Posted by delarue | concert, jazz, Live Events, Music, music, concert, New York City, review, Reviews	| clara kennedy, concert, concert review, dana lyn, dana lyn firehouse space, dana lyn firehouse space review, dana lyn review, indie classical, instrumental music, jazz, jonathan goldberger, mike mcginnis, Music, music review, string music, Vinnie Sperazza, violin jazz, violin music | Leave a comment
Magos Herrera and Javier Limon Hold the Crowd Rapt in an Intimate Duo Show
Mexican singer Magos Herrera reaffirmed her presence as one of the most eclectically compelling singers in any idiom in an intimate duo performance with guitarist Javier Limon for media and a select group of friends at a Chelsea gallery Thursday night. Her previous album Mexico Azul celebrated the African roots of much of Mexican music and culture. Dawn, her new collaboration with Limon, she said, made the connection between Mexico and Spain seem "perfectly natural," a rather brave assertion for someone whose career has advocated so strongly for the people of her native land. But it's a quietly stunning move for her: throughout an all-too-brief, set, she and Limon enjoyed a casual chemistry but also an intense focus and commitment to finding the most subtle shades in the music.
Herrera sang in her signature, minutely jeweled contralto until finally going way up, further than you would expect someone with such command of her low register would be able to. Limon played sparingly and judiciously, letting his phrases breathe, matching the singer's penchant for not wasting notes, which made his occasional flamencoesque flurry all the more intense. They opened the set with a syncopated tango of sorts, Herrera's delivery managing to be both misty and disarmingly direct at once. Then they reinvented Skylark as a richly suspenseful, spaciously contemplative mood piece with hints of both flamenco and Andalucian music.
Throughout the rest of the set, Limon would sometimes shadow the vocals, following Herrera's crescendoing, upward ascents with his own. On occasion, he'd light up a slowly swaying theme with a sputtering crescendo much in the way that Herrera would add gracefully scatting accents to bring a chorus to a gentle peak, singing in both Spanish and English. This approach maintained the flamenco influence without the cliches that so many acts who didn't grow up with the music employ for over-the-top affect. They ended with a number that began with a rainy-day theme that wouldn't have been out of place in the Sade catalog and then took it out almost as a march, with a series of hypnotically shifting vamps.
And speaking of Sade, there's been a void where that singer once reigned as the queen of artsy, sophisticated romantic chanteuses. Which would give Herrera room to take over that role, if she wanted. Obviously, she might find that limiting: she's a more subtle and diverse singer than Sade, and her interests run far beyond romantic balladry. But she's got the torchy delivery, plaintiveness and sense of longing. What if Herrera – or someone like her – decided to take the Mexican bolero and reinvent it as American torch song? Wouldn't it be cool if the default boudoir music of the west was a style refined and brought to its pinnacle by Mexicans? Forget about Obama's lip service about immigration reform: there are an awful lot of places in this country where Mexican-Americans are under fire. What a pleasant and subtle way to fight back against all that repulsiveness – and to jumpstart the reconquista. Just a thought…
April 19, 2014 Posted by delarue | concert, gypsy music, jazz, latin music, Live Events, Music, music, concert, New York City, reggae music, review, world music	| concert review, flamenco jazz, flamenco music, javier limon, javier limon review, jazz, latin jazz, latin music, magos herrera, Magos Herrera javier limon, Magos Herrera javier limon review, magos herrera review, mexican music, Music, music review, musica mexicana | 1 Comment
Richard Hagopian and Band Sell Out Symphony Space with Their Otherworldly Armenian Sounds
It's hard to think of a more likeable ambassador for the thrilling, chromatically charged sounds of Armenian music than Richard Hagopian. During his sold-out show Sunday night at Symphony Space, the virtuoso oudist took a moment to proudly reflect on how just about every household in the global Armenian diaspora had at least one of his longtime band Kef Time's albums. Otherwise, Hagopian's sense of humor was more self-effacing. As he explained, he joined his first band at age nine: "We weren't very good, but the older people thought we were," he grinned. His next gig came at eleven, playing with a group whose members were about seven decades older, an early immersion in the kind of obscure treasures that he'd bring to a global audience over the decades to come.
A record-setting two-year run with Buddy Sarkissian's showband on the Vegas strip led to the birth of Kef Time and endless touring: meanwhile, Hagopian ran a music venue in his native Fresno. This concert also featured his son Harold, an equally brilliant musician, doubling on kanun and violin and served as emcee, giving his dad a chance to reflect on his career and explain the songs both for the Armenian and English speakers in the audience. Ara Dinkjian played guitar, sometimes doubling the melody line, other times supplying what were essentially basslines when he wasn't anchoring the music with brisk chordal rhythm. Percussionist Rami negotiated the songs' tricky 9/8 and 10/8 time signatures with a hypnotically kinetic aplomb, playing both goblet and frame drums.
Considering how much Turkish-language material there was on the bill, Harold Hagopian reminded that there's no more cognitive dissonance in an Armenian listening to Turkish music – or vice versa – than there is for a Jew to listen to German music. The quartet opened with a couple of lush, windswept classical pieces, the first by blind oudist Udi Hrant Kenkulian, the group often playing the same lickety-split, spiky, microtonally-spiced phrase in unison. Being on the Silk Road and culturally diverse, the music of Armenia is something of a cross between Arabic and western sounds – while in Arabic music it's usually the microtones that make it so haunting and otherworldly, in Armenian music it's often the passing tones, neither major nor minor in a western scale, which enhance its enigmatic magic.
Hagopian opened a couple of later numbers with pensive improvisations – otherwise, he fired off wild flurries of tremolo-picking, flying joyously through the songs' bracing modes. His son has a similar, wickedly fast, precise attack on the kanun, switching to violin for the later part of the show and getting to show off his command of tersely resonant, atmospheric lines. Several of the vocal numbers had an ironic humor: Hele Hele, a folk song – about "a guy who likes a girl but who can't get to first base with her," as the senior Hagopian put it – along with an insistent "dragon dance" inspired by Indian music, and Her Hair Was Blonde, the sadly swaying lament of a New Jersey immigrant whose first choice of fiancee has just been promised to another guy with more money.
Nane Suyu, an elegant tribute to one of the first jazz oudists, Chick Ganimian, was more subdued. After that, the band picked up the pace with Nihavent Longa, a tribute to to another legendary oudist, George Mgrditchian. They ended with Drumsalero, a vaudevillian fanfare of sorts in tribute to Sarkissian – an innovator known for employing a full kit's worth of goblet drums onstage – which gave Rami a chance to cut loose in between jaunty riffs from the rest of the band.
The World Music Institute, who put this bill together, has a similarly enticing program coming up at Symphony Space on May 7 at 7 PM. Titled Strings of the Black Sea, it features Crimean Tatar violinist Nariman Asanov, Brooklyn accordionist Patrick Farrell, Cherven Traktor's Bulgarian gadulka fiddler Nikolay Kolev and Christos Tiktapanidis on the pontic lyre. Tickets are $30 and available both at the box office and through the WMI. Here's what most of this cast of characters sounded like playing this same program four years ago.
April 15, 2014 Posted by delarue | concert, Live Events, middle eastern music, Music, music, concert, New York City, review, Reviews, world music	| ara dinkjian, arab music, arabic music, armenian music, central asian music, concert, concert review, folk music, gypsy music, harold hagopian, kef time, kef time band, middle eastern music, Music, music review, richard hagopian, richard hagopian review, richard hagopian symphony space, richard hagopian symphony space review, world music | Leave a comment
Dave Douglas and Chet Doxas Take It to the River
[republished from Lucid Culture's Americana-fixated sister blog New York Music Daily]
What's become clear from the past decade's Americana explosion is that whether people admit it or not, pretty much everybody likes country music. And more and more musicians, whether they genuinely enjoy it or not, seem hell-bent on trying to capitalize on that. Groups that would have been stone cold top 40 or Warped Tour punk-pop back in day have traded in the drum machines and Strats for banjos and mandolins. And a lot of jazz people are following suit. Some of it's good to hear – and some of it's pretty dubious.
When you consider an artist from a previous era like Bob Wills, it's a reminder of how much less of a divide between jazz and country there used to be. What trumpeter Dave Douglas and reedman Chet Doxas are doing on Riverside, their turn in an Americana direction, is as much a toe-tapping good time as it is sophisticated. But it's 2014 jazz, not western swing. They take their inspiration from reedman Jimmy Giuffre, who was jazzing up riffs from country and folk music fifty years ago. And they're not afraid to be funny: there's only one aw-shucks cornpone number on the new album, but there's plenty of subtle, tongue-in-cheek drollery throughout the other tracks. The group, which also includes Doxas' brother Jim on drums and former Giuffre sideman Steve Swallow on bass, kick off their North American tour for the album at the Jazz Standard Tuesday and Wednesday, April 15 and 16 with sets at 7:30 and 9:30 PM; cover is 25 and worth it.
Although the grooves on the album are more straight-up than you might expect from your typical current-day jazz outfit, the band doesn't always stick to a 4/4 beat and Jim Doxas finds plenty of wiggle room when they do. The two-horn frontline will typically harmonize and then diverge, both Douglas and Chet Doxas approaching their solos with judicious flair: as is the case with every Douglas project, this is about tunes rather than chops. Swallow is the midpoint, sometimes playing chords like a rhythm guitarist, other times grounding the melodies as the drums or horns will go off on a tangent. And he opens the warmly wistful, aptly titled jazz waltz Old Church New Paint with a solo that begins as swing and then segues into the old folk song Wild Mountain Thyme.
A handful of tracks, like the shuffling, ragtime-tinged Thrush and the joyous song without words Handwritten Letter, blend New Orleans and C&W into contemporary themes. The lone Giuffre cover here, The Train and the River mashes up bluegrass, gospel and jazz, while Big Shorty is a swinging platform for high-energy soloing from the horns. Front Yard and Back Yard are a diptych, the initial warmly summery tableau giving way to a devious party scenario with all kinds of lively interplay among the band. There's also a tiptoeing blues number, Travellin' Light, Douglas playing with a mute to raise the vintage ambience. The album closes with a brooding, hauntingly bluesy, shapeshifting tone poem of sorts. In its own quiet way, it's the album's strongest track and most evocative of the clarity and directness that Douglas typically brings to a tune, and Doxas' sax is right there with him. The whole album isn't up at Douglas' music page yet but should be as soon as the album releases tomorrow.
April 14, 2014 Posted by delarue | jazz, Music, music, concert, review, Reviews	| americana jazz, bum review, jazz, jim doxas drums, Music, music review, riverside band, riverside chet doxas, riverside dave douglas, riverside jazz, riverside jazz standard, steve swallow | Leave a comment
The Personal As Political: Ulrich Hartung Uncovers the Hidden Meaning in Schubert's Winterreise
If you're in a quirky mood, or want to jumpstart your brain, you can always resequence album tracks. And if you're tired, or just lazy, you can always hit "shuffle play." But would you consider reversing the order of the movements of, say, a Beethoven symphony, in concert? As a joke, maybe.
But what if rearranging the order of an iconic suite brought a hidden meaning to light? That's what baritone Ulrich Hartung did with Schubert's Winterreise suite Friday night at the Liederkranz Society, revealing it as not only a classic of proto-existentialist tunesmithing but also as a thinly veiled political broadside. Over the years there's been a tempest in a teaspoon over how the suite should be performed: in the order that Schubert followed (the traditional way), or in the original sequence of Wilhelm Muller poems that the composer set to music? Hartung chose the latter and let the songs validate his claim, in the process raising the suite's already haunting intensity several notches. What became inarguably clear only a few songs into it was that Schubert's music follows precisely the same trajectory as the lyrics.
We often forget the brutal repression that so many classical composers toiled under. In the extensive program notes for the concert, an excerpt from his doctoral dissertation, Hartung reminded that both Schubert and Muller were subject to routine censorship under the pre-1848 dictatorship. Was it possible that Schubert shuffled the deck a little to get it past the censors? It would seem so. Schubert hasn't been remembered as a freedom fighter: one simple move by Hartung, and the numerous others in his camp, changes that view considerably.
The suite has come down to us tagged as a Herrmann Hesse-like depiction of alienation and lovelorn angst, and that's how it reads on the surface. "Fremd bin ich einzegogen, Fremd zieh ich wieder aus [I arrived a stranger, I left a stranger]", Hartung sang with elegant restraint but also haggard bravado to open the suite. By the end. he'd reached the point where Muller's protagonist is out on the ice with the hurdy-gurdy man, pondering if he should beseech the guy – who's probably drunk and homeless – to play these songs. Awash in moody nocturnal ambience, Hartung maintained a steely, resolute calm that he only rose from occasionally during the performance, singing and then playing crystalline, resonantly measured lines on alto sax at the end. The cruel surrealism was shattering.
The foreshadowing on the way there made that conclusion all the more powerful. Especially during the opening songs, a subtly sarcastic, anthemic sensibility rose to the surface, pianist Juan Pablo Horcasitas playing Stefan Kozinski's arrangement with a gracefully deadpan matter-of-factness, joined by Eric Lemmon on viola, Lenae Harris on cello, Lis Rubard on horns and Shelly Bauer on reeds. A handful of suspiciously jaunty waltzes are interspersed among Schubert's lustrously terse balladry, Hartung and Horcasitas teaming to raise their sardonic edge, letting the subtext and symbolism speak for themselves. Antiwar and antifascist imagery appeared everywhere, Hartung's precise, cantabile diction especially helpful for those in the audience with limited command of German. In so doing, he gave every reason for reading the traveler's exhaustion and emotional depletion as an exile in his own land railing against the occupation. The brief, next-to-last song in Muller's sequence is Mut (Courage): on the surface, it reflects on abandonment, but on a political level it's a call to arms. So many composers from throughout the ages have had to battle with repressive regimes: it's time to acknowledge Schubert for his contribution.
April 11, 2014 Posted by delarue | classical music, concert, Live Events, Music, music, concert, New York City, review, Reviews	| art song, chamber music, classical music, Eric Lemmons, Juan Pablo Horcasitas, Lenae Harris, Lis Rubard, Music, schubert, schubert winterreise, Shelly Bauer clarinet, Ulrich Hartung, ulrich hartung liederkranz, ulrich hartung liederkranz review, Ulrich Hartung review, ulrich hartung winterreise, ulrich hartung winterreise review | Leave a comment
Tragedy and Transcendence with the Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola
The high point of the Mozart Requiem, as generations of concertgoers and fans of biopics know well, comes midway through the mass where Mozart realizes that he's going to die. A cynic would say that Mozart, ever the egotist, saved his best for a self-penned obituary, but the music transcends that. It's horrifying without being macabre, one of the most chilling existential moments in the classical repertoire. Wednesday night, in the wondrous sonics of their Upper East Side home base, the massive Choir and Orchestra of St. Ignatius Loyola left the audience literally gasping when they reached that moment. Getting there was almost as intense and thrilling. Despite the fact that much of the crowd was obviously familiar with the work, people were exchanging stunned glances in amazement at its angst-ridden power and the ensemble's pinpoint, precise command of it.
Hearing the orchestra and 37-piece choir up close reminded what a hodgepodge it is – and how difficult it is to perform, with all the dynamic shifts, Mozart's shivery strings and elegant foreboding up against Franz Sussmayr's pedestrianly pleasant passages added after Mozart's death to complete the work as a fullscale Catholic mass. But music director K. Scott Warren and his mighty group were up to the challenge, the explosive vocal bursts of the towering Dies Irae passage giving way to the pensively dancing Andante and then the ever-present, achingly imploring Rex Tremendae section on the way up to the central crescendo. The soloists – soprano Tami Petty, mezzo-soprano Sara Murphy, tenor John Tiranno and bass-baritone Kevin Deas all stepped up with power and steely focus when their moments arrived.
Getting to the Mozart was a lot of fun too. The concert opened with baroque composer Heinrich Schutz' remarkably forward-looking, tersely elegaic Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ, a partita for chamber ensemble and fifteen-voice choir plus soloists. Standouts among the performers included but were not limited to baritone Elliott Carlton Hines, with his gretty, plaintive edge; Elisa Singer, whose soprano delivered spine-tingling range and power; contralto Heather Petrie, who dazzled with her split-second ability to shift between registers; and tenor Steven Caldicott Wilson, who raised the ante with equal parts color and poignancy.
And the fun maxed out with an unrestrained, joyous performance of Bach's Jesu, Meine Freude, BWV 227. This piece is a little more straightforward than the typical Bach cantata, which allowed for the group to make an unselfconsciously dancing hymn out of it; that might sound like an oxymoron, but in this group's hands it seemed perfectly natural and impossible to resist, through a stiletto staccato fugue, lilting sways, mellifluous volleys of arpeggios, a bit of a bittersweet nocturne and then its concluding ode to joy. Throughout this piece and the rest of the concert, the sound was seamless yet balanced to a minute degree, keening highs against brooding lows, awash in lustre and rapture, further enhanced by cathedral's magnificent sonics.
April 9, 2014 Posted by delarue | classical music, concert, Live Events, Music, music, concert, New York City, review, Reviews	| bach, choir saint ignatius, choir saint ignatius review, choir st ignatius, choir st ignatius review, choral music, classical music, concert, concert review, Elisa Singer, Heather Petrie, Heinrich Schutz, John Tiranno tenor, k scott warren, Kevin Deas, lliott Carlton Hines, mozart, mozart requiem st ignatius, mozart requiem st ignatius review, Music, music review, orchestral music, Sara Murphysoprano, Steven Caldicott Wilson, Tami Petty | Leave a comment


text:
Hamsa Gita (Sanskrit) (also referred to as Uddhava Gita) consists of Krishna's final discourse to Uddhava before Krishna draws his worldly 'descent' (Sanskrit: avatar) and 'pastimes' (Sanskrit: lila) to completion. Though the Uddhava Gita is often published singularly as a stand-alone work, it is also evident in the Eleventh Canto of the Bhagavata Purana commencing from verse 40 section 6 through to the end of section 29, comprising more than 1000 'verses' (Sanskrit: shloka) and is considered part of the Purana literature proper. This discourse importantly contains the story of an Avadhuta and though it does not state explicitly the name of this personage within the section or the Bhagavata Purana as a whole, Vaishnava tradition and the greater Sanatana Dharma auspice ascribe this agency to Dattatreya.

Manuscripts and textual notes
The names Uddhava Gita and Hamsa Gita are popularly interchangeable but Hamsa Gita also specifically denotes  (xi. 13- 16) a subset of the Uddhava Gita and the Bhagavata Purana proper.

Nomenclature, orthography and etymology
Hamsa Gita (Sanskrit) (also referred to as Uddhava Gita) where the hamsa is a metaphor for the Paramahamsa as well as a natural teacher of grace evident in nature. The hamsa (हंस, in Sanskrit and often written hansa) is a swan, often considered to be the mute swan (Cygnus olor). It is used in Indian culture as a symbol and a decorative element. The term 'gītā' (literally "song" in Sanskrit; Devanagari: गीता).
The swan is metaphorical representation of one's discriminative capabilities referring to the swan's ability to sieve out its nourishment from the composite material around.

English discourse
Tigunait (2002: pp. 39–45) render the narrative of the 24 teachers of Dattatreya in the Uddhava Gita into English.
Though the consensus of scholars hold the Bhagavata Purana  to be a composite work of the oral tradition of many mouths, the Vaishnava tradition as well as the Bhagavata Purana itself uphold that it was scribed by Vyasadeva. That said, the narrator of the Hamsa Gita is the sage Shuka, son of Vyasadeva. It is important to note that even if the work is composite, that it  "...does not show the lack of cohesion or compactness that must mark the work handled by many writers..." says Upadhyaya in the Foreword to Brown & Saraswati (2000: p. 8) and then Upadhyaya moreover opines that whosoever the poet of the Hamsa Gita and the Bhagavata Purana may be that "[h]ere is a poet who uses pattern and metaphor in a complex craftsmanship to create a ritual of celebration."
Haigh (2007: p. 127) in his opening paragraph to his work on the Uddhava Gita frames its import as a model of environmental education:
Sri Dattatreya, who Lord Krishna quotes in The Uddhava Gita, has been evoked as a guru for environmental education. Sri Dattatreya gained enlightenment by observing the world, which provided Him with 24 instructors. These taught Him the futility of mundane attachments, the benefits of contemplation and forebearance [sic], and a path towards the spiritual self-realization of the Supreme. Sri Dattatreya, an incarnation of Trimurti, features in several Puranas where His teachings involve direct challenges to the pretensions and prejudices of the learner. His core message is "never judge by surface appearances but always seek a deeper Truth": the Earth is sacred, an aspect of God, and a puzzle that challenges the spiritual self to awaken to its true nature.

Paramahamsa (2008: unpaginated) arrays a suite of Gita literature enshrined and subsumed within the auspice of the Srimad Bhagavata and holds that they are all songs of Monism:
"The Gitas that find place in Srimad Bhagavata such as the Uddhava-Gita, the Rudra-Gita, the Bhikshu-Gita, the Sruti-Gita, the Hamsa-Gita propound Monism as the essence of their philosophy."

English renderings

Upadhyaya, in the Foreword to Brown & Saraswati (2000: p. 8) holds that Saraswati (that is Ambikananda) who herself is a sannyasin and took this ashrama from a very young age, writes thus:
Swami Ambikananda's success in rendering the work into metrical composition is a tribute to the versatility of Sanskrit and the lucidity of the original writing. The method of her translation is marked by two considerati ons. She has sought to find close equivalents, keeping in view both the formal and dynamic aspects of the language; and her interpretative translation aims at complete naturalness of expression, pointing the reader to the modes of behaviour within the context of his or her own culture.

Sarasvati in Brown and Sarasvati (2000: p. 14) holds that it was both Venkatesananda (1921 - 1982) and his guruji Sivananda (1887 - 1963) that opened her heart to this work:
It was Swami Sivananda and Swami Venkatesananda who opened my heart to this sacred text, and their teaching that enabled me to undertake this translation, which attempts to convey its message to all spiritual seekers.

Primary resources

Sanskrit
Uddhava Gita @ Wikisource in Devanagari Unicode
 Hamsa Gita @ Wikisource in Devanagari Unicode

English
The Uddhava Gita by International Gita Society - PDF version

Notes

References
Haigh, Martin (2007). 'Sri Dattatreya's 24 Gurus: Learning from the World in Hindu Tradition'. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education; volume 12, number 1, 2007: pp. 127–142. Source:  (accessed: Monday March 8, 2010)
Paramahamsa, K. R. (2008). Ekam SAT 5. TotalRecall Publications, Incorporated. , 9781590958735 Source:  (accessed: Monday March 8, 2010)

External cites

 Read the Uddhava Gita English translation.

Hindu texts
Sanskrit texts
Krishna

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
package org.lwjgl.vulkan;

import org.lwjgl.system.*;

import static org.lwjgl.system.Checks.*;
import static org.lwjgl.system.JNI.*;

/**
 * This extension allows applications to query an opaque handle from an image view for use as a sampled image or storage image. This provides no direct functionality itself.
 *
 *
VK_NVX_image_view_handle

 *
 *

 *
Name String

 *
{@code VK_NVX_image_view_handle}

 *
Extension Type

 *
Device extension

 *
Registered Extension Number

 *
31

 *
Revision

 *
2

 *
Extension and Version Dependencies

 *

 *
Requires support for Vulkan 1.0

 *

 *
Contact

 *

 *
Eric Werness ewerness-nv

 *

 *

 *
 *
Other Extension Metadata

 *
 *

 *
Last Modified Date

 *
2020-04-03

 *
Contributors

 *

 *
Eric Werness, NVIDIA

 *
Jeff Bolz, NVIDIA

 *
Daniel Koch, NVIDIA

 *

 *

 */
public class NVXImageViewHandle {

    /** The extension specification version. */
    public static final int VK_NVX_IMAGE_VIEW_HANDLE_SPEC_VERSION = 2;

    /** The extension name. */
    public static final String VK_NVX_IMAGE_VIEW_HANDLE_EXTENSION_NAME = "VK_NVX_image_view_handle";

    /**
     * Extends {@code VkStructureType}.
     *
     *
Enum values:

     *
     *

     *
{@link #VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_HANDLE_INFO_NVX STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_HANDLE_INFO_NVX}

     *
{@link #VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_ADDRESS_PROPERTIES_NVX STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_ADDRESS_PROPERTIES_NVX}

     *

     */
    public static final int
        VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_HANDLE_INFO_NVX        = 1000030000,
        VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_IMAGE_VIEW_ADDRESS_PROPERTIES_NVX = 1000030001;

    protected NVXImageViewHandle() {
        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
    }

    // --- [ vkGetImageViewHandleNVX ] ---

    /** Unsafe version of: {@link #vkGetImageViewHandleNVX GetImageViewHandleNVX} */
    public static int nvkGetImageViewHandleNVX(VkDevice device, long pInfo) {
        long __functionAddress = device.getCapabilities().vkGetImageViewHandleNVX;
        if (CHECKS) {
            check(__functionAddress);
        }
        return callPPI(device.address(), pInfo, __functionAddress);
    }

    /**
     * Get the handle for an image view for a specific descriptor type.
     *
     *
C Specification

     *
     *
To get the handle for an image view, call:

     *
     *

     * uint32_t vkGetImageViewHandleNVX(
     *     VkDevice                                    device,
     *     const VkImageViewHandleInfoNVX*             pInfo);

     *
     *
Valid Usage (Implicit)

     *
     *

     *
{@code device} must be a valid {@code VkDevice} handle

     *
{@code pInfo} must be a valid pointer to a valid {@link VkImageViewHandleInfoNVX} structure

     *

     *
     *
See Also

     *
     *
{@link VkImageViewHandleInfoNVX}

     *
     * @param device the logical device that owns the image view.
     * @param pInfo  describes the image view to query and type of handle.
     */
    @NativeType("uint32_t")
    public static int vkGetImageViewHandleNVX(VkDevice device, @NativeType("VkImageViewHandleInfoNVX const *") VkImageViewHandleInfoNVX pInfo) {
        return nvkGetImageViewHandleNVX(device, pInfo.address());
    }

    // --- [ vkGetImageViewAddressNVX ] ---

    /** Unsafe version of: {@link #vkGetImageViewAddressNVX GetImageViewAddressNVX} */
    public static int nvkGetImageViewAddressNVX(VkDevice device, long imageView, long pProperties) {
        long __functionAddress = device.getCapabilities().vkGetImageViewAddressNVX;
        if (CHECKS) {
            check(__functionAddress);
        }
        return callPJPI(device.address(), imageView, pProperties, __functionAddress);
    }

    /**
     * Get the device address of an image view.
     *
     *
C Specification

     *
     *
To get the device address for an image view, call:

     *
     *

     * VkResult vkGetImageViewAddressNVX(
     *     VkDevice                                    device,
     *     VkImageView                                 imageView,
     *     VkImageViewAddressPropertiesNVX*            pProperties);

     *
     *
Valid Usage (Implicit)

     *
     *

     *
{@code device} must be a valid {@code VkDevice} handle

     *
{@code imageView} must be a valid {@code VkImageView} handle

     *
{@code pProperties} must be a valid pointer to a {@link VkImageViewAddressPropertiesNVX} structure

     *
{@code imageView} must have been created, allocated, or retrieved from {@code device}

     *

     *
     *
Return Codes

     *
     *

     *
On success, this command returns

     *

     *
{@link VK10#VK_SUCCESS SUCCESS}

     *

     *
On failure, this command returns

     *

     *
{@link VK10#VK_ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY ERROR_OUT_OF_HOST_MEMORY}

     *
{@link VK10#VK_ERROR_UNKNOWN ERROR_UNKNOWN}

     *

     *

     *
     *
See Also

     *
     *
{@link VkImageViewAddressPropertiesNVX}

     *
     * @param device      the logical device that owns the image view.
     * @param imageView   a handle to the image view.
     * @param pProperties contains the device address and size when the call returns.
     */
    @NativeType("VkResult")
    public static int vkGetImageViewAddressNVX(VkDevice device, @NativeType("VkImageView") long imageView, @NativeType("VkImageViewAddressPropertiesNVX *") VkImageViewAddressPropertiesNVX pProperties) {
        return nvkGetImageViewAddressNVX(device, imageView, pProperties.address());
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Aluva is an industrial city in Kerala, and is the center of various industries, that requires several raw materials and other goods on daily basis. For this, it is well connected to the rest of India by national highways and major road. The distance of various major Indian cities with Aluva is provided below that guides and helps various organizations and travelers to take important decisions related to transport. Distance of Aluva from various major cities like Calcutta, Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, etc is provided below.


Comments Off on Yes You Can – Get Fit Now!
Yes You Can - Get Fit Now!
Some people find that adopting a fitness routine is second nature, whereas others will struggle to stay motivated; both types are capable of succeeding. This article features a handpicked selection of tips and tricks that are ideal for nearly any fitness routine.
Keep your workout routines interesting by changing it up occasionally. If you usually exercise indoors, try playing basketball or walking outside. The body will experience different things when going up a hill or running on various terrains. If you have a lot of variety in your exercise routines, you'll keep your body from getting too used to your routine and you'll be able to continue losing weight.
Counting calories is helpful when trying to lose weight. The number of calories you take in every day will determine weather you're on track to gain or lose weight. When you only use calories at your level of maintenance or lower, and you lose some while you exercise, you will find you are fitter sooner.
Don't focus exclusively on crunches to work out your abdominal muscles. A study at a prominent university revealed that even 250,000 crunches only burns enough calories to lose just one pound. Thus, crunches alone are clearly insufficient. Work at developing your abdominal muscles in other types of exercise as well.
In order to reduce the risk of injury you should be careful to use proper form when you are walking. When you walk, make an effort to stay erect and keep the shoulders pulled back. Keep your elbows bent at a angle that is about 90 degrees. The arm swinging outward should be on the opposite side of your body from your forward foot. First let your heel touch the ground then put the rest of your foot forward.
Working out while enjoying your favorite t.v. show can take your mind off the exercise and increase the number of calories you burn in a day. You can use commercial breaks as opportunities to workout. Another option is to use weight bands while remaining seated. Squeeze exercise in whenever you can.
No matter the type of fitness-prone person you are, you are sure to benefit from the great advice in this article. Pay attention to these tips and incorporate these ideas into your fitness routine. If you set aside time for fitness, you will enjoy the benefits for the rest of your life.


There is nothing quite like a good cupcake. Lorraine's are pretty traditional although once they've baked you pour a warm sugar syrup into which is meant to make them moister. Yet again the quantities prove that you can make more that you think, I made the twelve and got a couple more out and even the first twelve were overflowing in the oven. I made these for a coffee morning at Zoe's playgroup so I didn't get to taste one, seems strange buying back a cake that you've made yourself. I did have a little taste without buttercream and they did seem light but I found that the syrup made them quite greasy. But all in all a nice cake, and as usual a decent portion size!!


text:
The Sapphires | Miranda Tapsell, Jessica Mauboy, Deborah Mailman, Chris O'Dowd, Shari Sebbens | Review
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Sapphires
The Sapphires was a big hit when it premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. I can see why. With its captivating blend of drama, humor, infectious music, and effective performances, the film is, by all means, an irresistible crowd pleaser.
Inspired by a true story, director Wayne Blair's first feature film, set in the late sixties against the backdrop of racial unrest, political turmoil and assassinations, revolves around a quartet of talented young aboriginal women who had a brief fling with fame when they entertained troops in Viet Nam.
Co-written by Tony Briggs it is loosely based on the experiences of his mother and aunt, two of the original Sapphires.
At a time when racism was prevalent in Australia and native dark skinned Aborigines where considered less than human and treated awful, three vocally gifted sisters and their cousin refused to let anything get in their way of pursuing their dream as pop stars with the help of their Irish born manager and mentor.
The sisters, comprised of sassy, party girl Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell), pretty lead singer, Julie (Jessica Mauboy, runner up on 2006's"Australian Idol") with the best pipes, and Gail, (a standout performance by Deborah Mailman) the most outspoken, strong willed and eldest, had been singing together since they were children growing up in the Australian outback. One day, they decide to go into town to compete in a talent show in a bar, where they are dissed and ridiculed by an all white audience, regardless of their obvious vocal talent. The contest is fixed and although they had no chance of winning, the girls catch the attention of the show's emcee, scruffy looking Irish piano player Dave Lovelace (the ever charming, Chris O'Dowd) and former cruise ship entertainment officer, who sees an opportunity for the girls, as well as himself. Taking them under his wing as their manager and mentor, he begins to mold and shape them, which of course, includes a fashion and hair makeover and teaching them dance moves.
A chance of a lifetime comes in the form of an ad in the newspaper calling for entertainers to perform for the troops in Viet Nam. But, before the the girls land an audition in Melbourne, Dave insists they stop singing country and instead turn to the more soulful R & B. To complete the group, the girls reunite with and recruit their light-skinned cousin Kay (Shari Sebbens), who, as a child, was forcibly taken from her family by government officials and sent to Melbourne to be raised by a white family and assimilate into white society, as part of a despicable program that lasted into the 1970s. These children were referred to as the "Stolen Generation".
As the quartet heads to Viet Nam where they face life threatening dangers of performing in a war zone, jealousy, friction, conflict, romantic entanglements, and Dave's problem with booze come into play along with the lingering effect that Kay's forced displacement left on the girls, especially Mama Bear, Gail.
I couldn't care less if the story is formulaic and predictable because it has so much more going for it. With all the struggles, racial and otherwise, you can't help but become emotionally invested in the characters and their uplifting story. The entire cast is believable, pitch perfect, have great chemistry and possess dynamite vocals. As a big fan of Motown music, I must say they do a powerful job belting out cover versions of classic Motown hits such as "Land of a Thousand Dances" and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."'I'll Take You There,' 'What a Man' and 'I Can't Help Myself". The great music alone is enough of a draw.
Just like the title, The Sapphires is a sparkling little gem. Odds are if you liked Dreamgirls, you are going to enjoy The Sapphires, filled with heart and "soul" in more ways than one.
You are here: Home Judy Thorburn The Sapphires | Miranda Tapsell, Jessica Mauboy, Deborah Mailman, Chris O'Dowd, Shari Sebbens | Review

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Not all cars are crafted the same. There are cars that are designed to be functional, aesthetically appealing, or economical, but there are few that can be all of the above and then some. During my recent trip to Seattle, I had the opportunity to test drive the new 2016 Mazda3 S Grand Touring for a few days and I was very impressed with this fashionable, yet functional vehicle.
1. Perforated leather-trimmed sport seats– The seats on this car are AH-MAZING! Not only is the almond colored leather a fashion statement, the perforated finish gives the car an instant luxe feel, while still remaining sporty. Bonus: They are heated too, which was necessity for this Florida gal while in Seattle!
2. Active Driving Display- This little display is snazzy feature, which I've never seen in a car before. It pops up behind the steering wheel and gives you your real-time speed, as well as turn-by-turn directions, so that you can stay focused on the road while you drive.
4. Commander Control Knob– Jamming when I'm in the car is one of my favorite things to do and this handy little knob makes it easy to control the sound, without having to even look that the in dash display.
5. Bose Audio System – Speaking of jamming, what's a good jam session without killer sound? This beauty comes loaded with a 6- speaker Bose sound system that any music enthusiast will appreciate.
6. Sleek Exterior Design- The Mazda3 S Grand Touring is designed with Mazda's "Soul of Motion" design, sculpted to catch the eye. Every curve on the car works in perfect synergy with the next, to compose a carefully curated work of art. While we are on the subject of exterior design, I have to mention the 16-inch ally wheel that complete the stunning exterior appearance.
7. SKYACTIV® Technology- This vehicle is engineered to be beautiful with brains and delivers driving dynamics with efficiency. The 184 horsepower 2.5L 4-cylinder motor gets phenomenal fuel economy, without sacrificing performance. It averages 38 highway miles per gallon, which is perfect for road trips! Especially since it has the 5-doors to easily accommodate all of your travel essentials!
What is your favorite feature about the new Mazda3 S Grand Touring?


You might want to consider something along the lines of Real.com's SuperPass - it includes the 24/7 "ABC News Now" as well as other music and video channels. You can also add a Starz video on demand service for an additional fee. Some people also find they get by with an over-the-air antenna and digital tuner (in many areas you can receive multiple channels free with the appropriate tuner, even if you have an older analog TV set). Another alternative is Netflix, a DVD rental service, or even Peerflix, a DVD swapping service, which can be cheaper if you want fewer than 11 different DVDs during a given month - or would like the option of keeping and owning any DVD you receive.
It's also worth noting that Scripps Howard content (from networks like HGTV, DIY, Food Network, etc.) is available free (on an ad-supported basis) at Living.com.


It's the age of open platforms. From Google's Project Tango to Autodesk's 3D printer, technology companies want developers to take their ideas and build upon them to improve the industry as a whole. And now Samsung is on-board with its new digital health initiative.
Samsung has unveiled the Samsung Digital Health Initiative at a San Francisco event today. It's both a hardware and software open platform from the company's Strategy and Innovation Center team. The initiative's goal is to "accelerate the development of advanced sensors, algorithms, and data collection and analysis". Sounds complex, right? It's not.
The initiative currently involves a wearable wristband called Simband, but it's just a reference design or blueprint to show how other companies could make similar devices to track heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. etc. The wristband, which Samsung demoed in San Francisco, uses an open software architecture called Sami to collect data from a variety of sources and display it in an attempt to educate consumers about their bodies.
"Samsung's Digital Health Initiative provides an exciting opportunity for the brightest minds in the technology world to come together to develop the products that will, for the first time, put individuals in the driver's seat in understanding their own health", said Young Sohn, an executive at Samsung Electronics, in a release. "Digital health is an incredibly important area for innovation. We believe this initiative is an essential first step".
Samsung's Simband is capable of being designed in a modular way and can integrate the most advanced sensing technologies in the world. Samsung is hoping developers and innovators will use it to create their own advanced sensors, algorithms, and other technologies. The company clarified that the Simband would never be sold commercially. As for Sami, it allows devices and sensors to securely store data in the cloud.
Both of these hardware and software components make up the initiative's open platform. Samsung not only showed off how they both work today but also announced an agreement with the University of California, San Francisco that could validate the health-focused technology and therefore help companies and entrepreneurs bring similarly innovative products to market in the near future.
"Simband-designed sensor technologies and algorithms and SAMI-based software will take individual understanding of the body to a new level – for the first time giving voice to a deeper understanding of personal health and wellness. In addition, through the development of new sensing technologies and software, it's possible that entirely new and previously unimagined insights into health and wellness could be generated," explained Samsung in a release.
In other words, with Samsung's Digital Health Initiative, you can expect the people of tomorrow to sport better health-tracking gadgets.


text:
Q: How to handle major structural change in your code in SVN? I have a project which is under trunk in my SVN. I have been working on it for last 2 months and its in stable state. Now I want to completely change the way my code is organized or structured keeping the implementation of the business logic same. I also want to keep the current state of my code stored at some place. I have tags, branches and releases folder in my repository apart from trunk.
I want to know what is the best approach to handle this scenario. I am little worried because if I just create a tag for my old code than it will not create a complete copy but will create links to the code available in trunk which I eventually going to change completely.

A: You do not need to worry about this "links" subversion will copy your files into the tags folder.internally it does not duplicate these files, as they are already in your repository, but subversion tags are copys, not links.
Also keep in mind that the tag is pointing to a specific revision of your sourcecode, so even if you want to follow this link analogy, the link will always point to a revision and an old revision will never change in subversion.
So go ahead and change the source as you like, but create a tag before you start. In this way you can always go back.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


British Youth Postponed: Originally planned for May 31, the British Youth Go Championship has been pushed to the fall of 2015. The UK Go Challenge Finals (13×13 boards) is going ahead though on Saturday 18th July in Letchworth Garden City. All young players are welcome to attend.
Challengers' League: This year's Challengers' League, played between the top 8 available players coming out of the Candidates' Tournament, took place at the Goddard Arms in Swindon on May 23-26. Andrew Kay (the reigning British Champion) won all of his games to lead the field, followed by Andrew Simons who won all of his games except for his game against Andrew Kay. Charles Hibbert, playing in his first Challengers' League, finished with 4 wins in third place. Andrew Kay and Andrew Simons will now go on to play for this year's British Championship title.


The number of individuals with dementia in Norway is more than 78,000, and, as in all other European countries, this figure is expected to rise over the coming decades. The Norwegian Health Directorate encourages municipalities to make use of 'welfare technology' in order to contribute to independent living and quality of life in older adults, to increase the quality of community health care, to save time when providing community health services and to reduce costs, e.g. admission to a nursing home. Introducing welfare technology to care recipients requires innovation on the part of the community health care service with regard to increasing the competency of the staff in the operation of the technologies, as well as in establishing an infrastructure for 'digital communication'. Research has shown that access to assistive technology may support individuals with mild cognitive impairments, as well as in an early phase of dementia. However, it is crucial that the technology addresses an identified need, and that the device is tailored to the person's preferences and context. Therefore, it is important to train health professionals to assess the user's needs and preferences and to identify resources and limitations in the particular context. Alma's House in Oslo is a demonstration site and education center for welfare technologies. The education program for the certification of Alma supervisors has become an important strategy in educating occupational therapists (OTs) and nurses on how to assess user needs, identify appropriate technology and implement this into the care recipient's home.


Oh my goodness, look at this adorable family! During their mini session along the Sammamish River Trail it was so evident that baby E is well loved by her parents. There was an ease in their movements and joy in their eyes. Even a small spit up was greeted with laughter and "well, we knew that would happen!" Thanks for sharing this cutie with me.
When I first met with Lauren and Kate, they stated that they were having bright, bold, and fun wedding. They wanted a giant party for their friends and family and they totally nailed it. Their wedding is one that I play back in my head - the happiness that constantly radiated from them; the laughter as Kate took Lauren's last name by surprise; the quiet moments by the water where they forgot that we were there and just soaked in the setting sun together. I'm beyond thrilled that their wedding is featured in Seattle Bride's Fall / Winter 2017 Issue!


text:
require_relative "test_helper"

class AssociationsTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase

  test "archive archives 'has_' associated archival objects that are dependent destroy" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    child = archival.archivals.create!
    archival.archive!

    assert archival.reload.archived?
    assert child.reload.archived?
  end

  test "archive acts on all objects in the 'has_' relationship" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    children = [archival.archivals.create!, archival.archivals.create!]
    archival.archive!

    assert archival.reload.archived?
    assert children.map(&:reload).all?(&:archived?)
  end

  test "archive does not act on already archived objects" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    archival.archivals.create!
    prearchived_child = archival.archivals.create!
    prearchived_child.archive!
    archival.archive!

    assert_not_equal archival.archive_number, prearchived_child.reload.archive_number
  end

  test "archive does not archive 'has_' associated archival objects that are not dependent destroy" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    non_dependent_child = archival.independent_archivals.create!
    archival.archive!

    assert     archival.reload.archived?
    assert_not non_dependent_child.reload.archived?
  end

  test "archive doesn't do anything to associated dependent destroy models that are non-archival" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    plain = archival.plains.create!
    archival.archive!

    assert archival.archived?
    assert plain.reload
  end

  test "archive sets the object hierarchy to all have the same archive_number" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    child = archival.archivals.create!
    archival.archive!
    expected_digest = Digest::MD5.hexdigest("Archival#{archival.id}")

    assert_equal expected_digest, archival.archive_number
    assert_equal expected_digest, child.reload.archive_number
  end

  test "unarchive acts on child objects" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    child = archival.archivals.create!
    archival.archive!
    archival.unarchive!

    assert_not archival.archived?
    assert_not child.reload.archived?
  end

  test "unarchive does not act on already archived objects" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    child = archival.archivals.create!
    prearchived_child = archival.archivals.create!
    prearchived_child.archive!
    archival.archive!
    archival.unarchive!

    assert_not archival.archived?
    assert_not child.reload.archived?
    assert     prearchived_child.reload.archived?
  end

  test "unarchive acts on 'has_' associated non-dependent_destroy objects" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    independent = archival.independent_archivals.create!
    archival.archive!
    independent.archive!(archival.archive_number)
    archival.unarchive!

    assert_not archival.reload.archived?
    assert_not independent.reload.archived?
  end

  test "unarchive doesn't unarchive associated objects if the head object is already unarchived" do
    archival = Archival.create!
    prearchived_child = archival.archivals.create!
    prearchived_child.archive!
    archival.unarchive!

    assert prearchived_child.reload.archived?
  end

end