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History of the Municipality
Proof of a human presence in the locality since the Neolithic period is furnished by the extensive burial grounds at Alcalar and Monte Canelas and by other archaeological finds scattered across the municipality. The recent discovery at Vila Velha de Alvor of what are probably the remains of a village dating from the 2nd or 3rd century B.C. and the archaeological and maritime artefacts recovered from the Arade river and the coastal areas of the municipality throw new light on the importance of the region during the period when Atlantic trade routes with the Mediterranean and North Africa were developing, following the emergence of Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian trading posts.
Although theories that variously identify Portimão with Portus Hannibalis, Portus Magnus and Porcimunt remain controversial, there can be no doubt about the Roman presence in the city and the surrounding municipality. Amphorae, coins, fish-salting tanks, bronze objects, cisterns, sundry building materials, the remains of buildings at Vale de Arrancada, Montemar, Baralha and above all the major "villa" site at Abicada bear eloquent witness to this fact.
Evidence of the Arab presence in the area can be found in occasional finds of pottery and coins and in the influence it had on the distinctive shape of chim- neys and water wheels, on buildings made of "taipa" (a mixture of clay, rubble, sand and lime) and marabouts, on the region's agriculture and some of the types of vegetation to be found.
Modern Portimão came into being in the reign of D. Afonso V (1463) with the granting of certain privileges to a settlement which would come to be called Vila Nova de Portimão and around which a ring of defensive walls would later be built. Portimão was ideally placed to enjoy the fruits of the boom in international trade stimulated by the great Portuguese voyages of discovery and prospered as a haven for ships plying the African coast.
The earthquake of 1755 destroyed much of the town and prompted an economic decline that was reversed only towards the end of the 19th century by the return of trade, exports of dried fruit, milling, fishing and the fish-canning industry, activities which would continue into the 20th century. Portimão was made a city in 1924 by the then President of the Republic, the writer Manuel Teixeira Gomes, himself a native of Portimão.
In the last three decades tourism has been the motor driving Portimão's economy and the city can now claim to be the second most populous in the Algarve.


text:
Hidden Jerseys,Balls,Teams ect.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Welcome to RG3 Iowa!
At RG3 Suspension, we strive to provide you with the best in suspension services and performance parts, such as our patented Four Post Rubber Mounted triple clamps, to our Smart Valve™. The same technology and products we use with our race teams is available to you and can be adjusted to your needs.
Product development and innovation changes with the release of each year's bikes, but at RG3 one thing remains constant, a devotion to racing and building products capable of winning. With over 25 AMA National & International Championships under our belt, this philosophy has been successful and that translates into better products and services for our customers. For a list of our current contenders, visit our rider's page.
Want to learn more about a product or service that you are thinking about purchasing? Want to see what our customers and magazines have to say about us? Visit the reviews and testimonials page (further testimonials can be found in the store). Feel free to call or email us (info can be found at the top of the page) with any questions you may have, or to place an order.
Phone: (563) 652-9180
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Told from the perspective of an unseen documentary filmmaker, the series offers an honest, often-hilarious perspective of family life. Parents Phil and Claire yearn for an honest, open relationship with their three kids. But a daughter who is trying to grow up too fast, another who is too smart for her own good, and a rambunctious young son make it challenging. Claire's dad, Jay, and his Latina wife, Gloria, are raising two sons together, but people sometimes believe Jay to be Gloria's father. Jay's gay son, Mitchell, and his partner, Cameron, have adopted a little Asian girl, completing one big -- straight, gay, multicultural, traditional -- happy family. Written by Jwelch5742
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Frank Lambert is a construction worker and a single father of 3 kids: J.T., Alicia Al, and Brendan. Carol Foster, a beautician, also has 3 children: Dana, Karen, and Mark. After Frank and Carol run into each other on vacation and spontaneously get married, they and their children (who appeared to have known and hated each other) have to learn to live together and love each other. It's not easy, but they are trying to do this step by step. Written by Boris Shafir [email protected]
Parody of television soap-operas--the show's humor relies on exaggerating soap-operas' characteristic plot implausibility and melodrama to ridiculous extremes, then adds a fair bit of the truly bizarre, including some remarkable characters. Written by Tad Dibbern [email protected]
Will and Grace are best friends. Will is a gay lawyer and Grace is a straight interior designer. They both live in New York. Grace is engaged to a real jerk, but when that relationship falls apart, she moves in with Will. This is only supposed to be until Grace finds a place of her own, but she and Will end up with each other as permanent roommates. Also in the cast are Jack, Will's flamboyant gay friend and Karen, Grace's secretary/assistant who doesn't really need to work because she married money several times. Written by Mike Hatchett [email protected]
Dr. Martin Ellingham, a London-based surgeon, relocates to the picturesque seaside village of Portwenn, establishing himself as the area's general practitioner. He grew up in the area having been raised by his now widowed Aunt Joan Norton. His reasons for leaving London and the high-paid life of a consultant are not clear initially but related to a phobia he has recently developed. He soon meets several of the locals and eccentricity abounds. Martin's situation is made more difficult by what can only be referred as an almost complete lack of an acceptable bedside manner. He is gruff, abrupt and intolerant, not only in issues related to medicine, but to life in general. He and the headmistress of the local school, Louisa Glasson, are clearly attracted to each other and despite their awkwardness, slowly develop a relationship. Written by garykmcd
Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole.
Annie and Jake finally get engaged after six years, but her larger-than-life personality and his laid-back approach to life will severely test the theory of opposites attract. They quickly realize getting engaged was the easy part.


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There's an old saying on Wall Street about insider buying: there are many possible reasons to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy. Back on May 18, Heckmann Corp's Vice Chairman, Robert Simonds, invested $34,500.00 into 10,000 shares of HEK, for a cost per share of $3.45. Bargain hunters tend to pay particular attention to insider buys like this one, because presumably the only reason an insider would take their hard-earned cash and use it to buy stock of their company in the open market, is that they expect to make money.
Click here to find out which 9 other energy stock bargains you can buy cheaper than insiders, at EnergyStockChannel.com »
In trading on Monday, bargain hunters could buy shares of Heckmann Corp (NYSE: HEK) and achieve a cost basis 2.3% cheaper than Simonds, with shares changing hands as low as $3.37 per share. Heckmann Corp shares are currently trading up about 1.2% on the day. The chart below shows the one year performance of HEK shares, versus its 200 day moving average:
Looking at the chart above, HEK's low point in its 52 week range is $2.60 per share, with $7.05 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $3.37. By comparison, below is a table showing the prices at which insider buying was recorded over the last six months:
|Lou Holtz
|Robert Simonds
|Vice Chairman
According to the ETF Finder at ETF Channel, HEK makes up 2.01% of the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF (AMEX: XES)which is trading up by about 0.4% on the day Monday.
See what other ETFs contain HEK »
See what other stocks are held by XES »
Special Offer: Receive our best dividend ideas directly to your inbox each afternoon with the Dividend Channel Premium Newsletter


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M.T. Jones was a widely known and wildly successful lumberman, who started his firm, the M.T. Jones Lumber Company, around 1880, in Houston, Texas. Jones was probably best known as the uncle of Jesse H. Jones, Houston politician and businessman, who went to work for the Lumber Company's branch in Hillsboro in 1895. Jesse Jones later managed the Dallas branch and, as stipulated by his uncle's will, in 1898, moved to Houston to manage M.T. Jones's estate and business holdings.
The company, beyond having multiple lumber yards throughout Texas, did extensive business dealings in Mexico, and M.T. Jones was involved in other business enterprises in the United States as well. In 1890, Jones started the Cow Creek Tram Company in Call, Texas, with George Adams and Dennis Call, and in 1892 he started the Emporia Lumber Company in Houston with Samuel Fain Carter. He was the operator, along with Thomas W. House, of the Galveston, La Porte and Houston Railway from 1896 until 1898, when it was sold under foreclosure to L.J. Smith of Kansas City.
Another famous Houston entrepreneur, James Rockwell, started working for Jones at the age of 20 at the lumber branch in Albany, Texas, and was soon the manager of all the Jones lumber yards. Rockwell, along with Jesse Jones, moved to Houston after M.T. Jones's death, in 1898, to manage his estate and maintain the business headquarters.
Rockwell Fund, Inc.
The M.T. Jones Lumber Company Records, 1883-1914, consist of correspondence, business records, letterpresses, invoices, journals, analyses and reports, purchase orders, check registers, acknowledgements and receipts, contracts, ledgers, financial statements, and shipping records. The records pertain to the day-to-day operation and administration of the lumber company as well as to the ever-expanding Jones enterprise and to the lumber industry in general, during the late 19th century. Additionally, the records contain minutes, a constitution, and by-laws of the Company and its meetings, as well as multiple company journals. The records also contain the Jesse H. Jones papers as they relate to the lumber company, including correspondence and business records. Overall, the M.T. Jones Lumber Company Records document the founding, growth, and influence of one of the biggest lumber companies in Texas in the late 19th and early 20th century.
The collection is open for research.
M.T. Jones Lumber Company Records, 1883-1914, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center's
See also the
See also the


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24 hours left and I leave my cares behind me and it couldn't come soon enough. Verizon is installing fiber optic cable in my neighborhood and ripping up everybody's lawn and landscaping. My pond-shaped island of pear and tulips trees, nine bark and burning bushes along with one newly planted hibiscus is in grave jeopardy. I mistakenly planted them in the line of what the town calls "Eminent Domain Territory" so roping myself around the small saplings surely won't stop the bulldozers. Sun, shade, wind, these are factors I considered before planting but forgetting the all important Eminent Domain. So, with time ticking, I'm frantic about rerouting my Garden of Eden to a safer location. The thing is I can't get too upset with Verizon – our deregulation-driven Government, lo and behold, actually decided that competition is a good thing for consumers. Three cheers for common sense. Verizon will finally offer cable and broadband as a much cheaper alternative to TimeWarner's RoadRunner monopoly.
The M/V Explorer
Crashing my head against the bunk bed, stubbing my toe in the shower stall, and tripping on a growing pile of sweaty laundry – yes, my cramped quarters are home to me already. Luckily I spend very little time here. The MV Explorer is a floating education vessel built a couple years ago by a German based ship yard. She's strong, well equipped and the second fastest ever built. She has all the amenities and technologies college kids would need, including a large quantity of STD protection when you first enter. I started my documentary focusing on the Captain and his crew. Polishing brass, hand scrubbing pool bottoms, vacuuming 7 decks of wall-to-wall carpet, this crew takes immeasurable pride in their duties. In the galley, food prep is an under-appreciated exercise in restaurant management. Hundreds of pounds of potatoes peeled, chickens cleaned and full salad buffets prepared. The cuisine may be prepared cafeteria style but the taste is comparable to fine dining at its best. During rush hour it 4 minutes to walk from the helm to the aft and that's sticking to one floor. Nextels are useless so Ali, the Crews Head Carpenter from Guiana, fixes me up with a cork board for messages. It can take days to finally track down a shipmate but unlike dry land, its reassuring to know they aren't going very far is you give up looking. Tomorrow the metamorphosis begins. As we hit the high seas with 750 "young adults" (The Executive Dean promptly corrected me when I used "kids") turns my floating bliss into a scrambled, chaotic, party zone. This should be interesting.
Nassau's Niceties
Let my travels commence. First stop – a walking tour of the island followed by a much needed dip in the Caribbean Ocean. My camera befriends several little Nassau natives jumping off a pier at the beach. Back flips, front dives, cartwheels off the pier, even triple Lindys, these kids are as adept at water sports as we are at basketball. The temps here are a scorching 98 degrees. Two coats of SPF 30 and I'm still as red as the lobster the fishing crew are catching off the side of the ship. The island is a dichotomy of riches and extreme poverty. Toward the north end is the famed casino and hotel resort Atlantis. Sheer splendor, out of control opulence and creature comforts appealing to the wealthiest of customers. On the south side exists the real world. Decrepit buildings, dirty streets, poverty and stray dogs pillaging garbage cans. I wonder up to an old fort on the highest point on the island. For a couple bucks, a toothless homeless man in his seventies wants to play historian and describe the area to me. A shipmate encountered him the day before and recounted how the poor soul fell asleep mid sentence during his speech. Minutes later the narcoleptic returned with "…oh, and gratuities are greatly appreciated mon." I drop him a coin but pass on the tales. Maybe its a pick-up-line of sorts but several Bahamians slow down to complement me on my smile. Indeed, I'm happy here but it's because of the people's wide eyed grins that welcome me here – despite the imbalance in our lifestyles.
Hello High Seas
With the most captivating sunset melting over the horizon the MV Explorer set sail for the Lesser Antilles. 750 students aboard race to the bow of the ship to worship this day; along with next 100 that follow. I feel like I'm finally free! Free of corporate America, free of materialistic America, free of reality-tv America. It's so liberating to not know what the next day will bring and still stay committed to something. My mission includes 6 hours of camera work a day followed by 2 hours of logging tape. It's backbreaking work but I'm my own boss, crafting a 2-hour documentary, with 10 countries on the itinerary. The gentle rocking of the ship puts me vast to sleep in minutes. My cabin, 3303, is at the very front of the ship, where high rocky seas slam the ship without mercy. Around midnight the slamming begins. After the fourth turbulent bounce, my fear turns to anticipation for the next. I'm liking this, I'm truly liking this. Dramamine – who needs it! Sunrise comes quickly as we scramble to catch the first sunrise of the journey. I'm part of the newly formed "Storage Possy" and elect to sleep in this first morning. The '"Storage Possy" includes 15 staff members, some old, some young, all bonding because we all quit our day jobs to be here. In the evenings, we talk shop, swap horror stories, and laugh about what fate might have in stores for us. It's Cuba! Indeed, it is Cuba in the distance. Fidel, Cigars, Communism, the Bay of Pigs – all so close enough that I could almost reach out and touch it . It used to be a regular stop for the SAS Voyage but not today, not since Bush put the kibosh to U.S. tourism in Communist countries, even for academic purposes. The ship is coasting at 21 knots, a great speed for flying a kite or waterskiing. Instead I attend Geography and Global Studies classes with 15 laptop-toting Senior Students. No, I am not exempt from exams and essays just because I'm shooting a documentary. Constant companionship is building a communal feeling between staff, faculty, crew and students. How does anybody ever go back to living alone after this?
Sunrise Folly
An early morning wake-up call jolts me out of bed at 6am to join a dedicated group of sunrise shooters (nickname still pending). We skip changing clothes, eye glasses or shoes and race to ship's port side. Violent winds, humid and sticky, tear my eyes from my face and I nearly lose my lens cap again. The wind is strong enough to stand into at a 45 degree pitch and not fall over. This makes for some crazy albeit childish stunts. Within minutes the Captain warns us to stop setting a bad example for the students…oops. 30 minutes later and my fat camera lens is still foggy. Humidity wreaks havoc with tech gear straight out of an air-conditioned cabin. But still no sun…. There's a heavy layer of clouds and mist blocking the view and by the time it appears it's well off the horizon. The Executive Dean pops his head out to see what we're up to. "Go back to bed for God Sake, there's no photo ops here." He's right. With sighs of disappointment and regret, we stumble back to bed and pray that one of the next 98 days left will spoil us with golden skies.
First Stop: Venezuela
The fire drill from 3 days ago seems like a distant memory now. We're all so busy on our floating educational vessel, a.k.a home. My doc is finally taking shape and my ship routine is in place. By 800 hours (all military time) I wake to banging doors on each side of my cabin. I take 3 steps away from the covers and I'm in the shower. I take 2 more and I'm out the door. From there, I walk the narrowest of halls, up 5 flights, and through the port door to see blue. 360 degrees of deep intoxicating beautiful blue. Bluer than the bluest sky I've ever seen in N.Y. I meditate here briefly and then pinch myself to know it's real. Some 130 miles away is Venezuela. Tomorrow we dock at her shores
and travel the countryside. 750 students managed to replicate their college lifestyle in less than 3 days. Last night they partied till dawn and got caught in a brief downpour sleeping on lounge chairs. "Knock, knock." "Who's there?" "Rise and Shine Everybody, it's your friendly Videographer!" The girls manage to make it to the door for an impromptu on-camera interview. But the boys….oh the boys! The boys need a lesson in modesty. Ever proud of their masculinity, it's like I'm back in the men's locker room after covering a hockey game for the news. Ok, I decide to rethink my surprise tactics and let the rest of them sleep in that morning. The ship has a wellness spa too. Body massages, haircuts, steam rooms, even mud treatments aboard. I'm hoofing 70 pounds of gear through the capital city of Caracas tomorrow so a pending massage might keep going – that – or my infamous wake-up call! To be continued… 😉
Samping Caracus
Venezuela is a land of superlatives! It boast the highest waterfalls, the most delicious cacao beans, the longest cable car ride, the best coffee, the longest tunnel in South America and the best scuba diving in the Caribbean. I just finished up on a 5-day whirlwind adventure doing most of these activities with more to come. Arriving in around 8am Saturday morning we all sat enjoying scrambled eggs and OJ on Deck 6 overlooking the Andes Mountains. The Capital megacity of Caracus was my first orientation destination. It's a city of terracotta shanties clinging to the surrounding hillsides, bumper-to-bumper congestion and the highest murder rate in South America. The UN personnel warned us the night before of pickpocketers and rough neighborhoods. I hurled my whopping 35 pound camera and tripod over my shoulder and began my exploration. Before long I was denied access to major sites like the National Pantheon, art museums, President Hugo Chavez's headquarters and poorer neighborhoods or Barrios. US and Venezuela political relations are strained right now and I experienced first hand the consequences of that tension. 24 hours later my camera is even confiscated by the government but that's another story for the next blog. The tasty cuisine and welcoming faces made me more flexible and less stressed and I was expecting difficulties anyway. After years of covering hard news it comes naturally. Arepa is cornmeal bread, Tustones is green fried plantain and Yuca is root like a potato. All are Spanish stables followed by Torta De Nata or dessert spongecake with vanilla frosting. I ate everything without hesitation followed by 4 slices of dessert. Good thing I'm burning off calories lugging gear around! Unleaded gas here is only 12 cents a liter but inflation is high and oil is a commodity that keeps those in power rich. Despite the lack of traffic lights, stop signs, speed limits and vehicle inspections, traffic runs smoothly and reliably. And here's a shocking fact: there are almost as many cars in Venezuela as there are people – 7 million and growing.


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Also known as Suckerfish, Shark Sucker, Common Remora, Swordfish Sucker, Spearfish Remora and Whalesucker.
Found from estuaries to the ocean.
Often attached to large fish such as sharks, but can be found free swimming.
They feed on scraps of food from their hosts or parasites found on their hosts.
Length - 40cm
Depth - 0-200m
Worldwide warm waters
Remoras have a sucker on top of their heads to attach to anything that moves!
They spend their days Hitch hiking between large fish such as sharks, manta rays, turtles etc.
They are quite keen to hitch a lift with divers as well!!
If they do attach push forward to remove!
They feed on scraps of food from their hosts or parasites on their hosts.


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Web Only Bonus Material
Q&A Session
Students from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business and other invited guests had the opportunity to question David Peterson after the program taping. The questions covered a wide range of topics including from hiring, consultancy and start-up capital.
Download the Q & A transcript (PDF)
The episode this comes from April 13, 2008 Georgia's Business


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About your vision care plan and your medical insurance:
There are two types of health insurance that will help pay for your eye health services and products. You may have both types and Eye Desire and Roth Eye Care accepts most vision care plans and insurance plans in both categories:
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Vision plans cover only routine wellness exams and may include eyeglasses,sunglasses and contact lenses.
Vision plans do not provide for medical eye health care needs (such as glaucoma testing, macular degeneration, cataracts, red eyes, dry eye, conjunctivitis, emergency visits, further diagnostic testing). For these additional tests or office visits your medical insurance can be billed if applicable. Please keep in mind that if you havent met your deductible for the year yet you will most likely not be covered and have to pay out of pocket. If this is the case we will gladly provide you with a receipt of services or we can send in your expenses to your insurance provider so that it can be applied towards your deductible.
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- Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Leo a typical hero character who is morally upright and tries to help bystanders as well as his Love Interest, or is he an amoral psychopath who is willing to throw everyone else under the bus for Leah's sake?
- Crowning Moment of Funny: Everything the enemies say when you don the Bug Suit. Especially the plants.
Plant: Die, insect scum! The revolution has begun! Viva les flores!
- Crowning Music of Awesome: The Battle Theme Music for the Final Boss.
- The battle music for the Unexpected Shmup Level which makes a reappearance at the end of Chapter 5.
- Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The ending.
- Nightmare Fuel: Chapter 4, especially The Void.
- Also, Brandy's Villainous Breakdown and chapter 6.
- The random suicidal Yummyhop in chapter 5, especially after the horrific You Bastard scene involving Yummyhops in The Void.
- Tear Jerker: The ending of chapter 2. Sure, Leo survived, but Zara, who was already a heartbroken wreck because of Zinn abandoning her, is brutally killed by Brandy as soon as she tries to go home.


text: On Fri, 12 Sep 2003, Vesa Norrman wrote: > Hello, what is a convenient way to first make a list of packages > installed on one computer and then compile and install the same packages > in another computer? Using pkgsrc of course. The computers will have > different OS which makes compiling necessary. One idea is to do something like: pkg_info -B -a | grep ^PKGPATH= | cut -c 9- | tee my-packages Then on other system: cd /usr/pkgsrc while read pkg ; do (cd $pkg && make install ) ; done < my-packages (This will end up attempting the same multiple times, because of dependencies.) Jeremy C. Reed http://www.reedmedia.net/


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Jessica Goldstein
Jessica Goldstein is a producer on NPR's Science Desk. Her work can be heard on all NPR's award-winning programs, and experienced on NPR.org where she produces radio and multimedia projects including audio slide shows.
From 1994 to 2007, Jessica helped produced the NPR/National Geographic Society collaboration Radio Expeditions, and was part of the Radio Expeditions team that was awarded the 2001 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Award for the yearlong "Geographic Century" series.
From the shores of Patagonia, Argentina, to the slopes of the remote Tambora volcano in Indonesia, to the coral reefs off Heron Island, Australia, Jessica has produced pieces about threatened cultures and environments as well stories on mucus, achy joints, curly hair, and these daysH1N1.
Before coming to NPR in 1993, Goldstein interned at the Hebrew/English production of Sesame Street. She also traveled around the world collecting oral histories of people in war-torn neighborhoods - from Crown Heights, Brooklyn to Jerusalem - for publications and museum exhibitions.
A native of New York City, Goldstein is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in History and History of Culture with a minor in English.
She lives in Washington, DC, with her family.


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High street spending is set to reach £1.2 billion in a single day as festive shoppers hit the stores on "Panic Saturday".
An estimated 13 million consumers will spend £2.1 million for every minute the shops are open on last-minute gifts and groceries at an average of £92.31 per person, according to a report by the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) for Vouchercodes.co.uk.
The report says delayed fulfilment of online orders, poor weather in some areas and earlier sales are expected to drive 60.9 million shoppers to the high street between Saturday and Christmas Eve - up 14% on last year.
The CRR predicts in-store sales will reach £4.74 billion over the five days before Christmas - a 21% increase on last year with the additional shopping day contributing an extra £870 million.
Vouchercodes.co.uk managing director Claire Davenport said: "With Christmas Day falling later in the week this year, consumers feel that there is still plenty of time to complete their shopping.
"Panic Saturday kicks off a big week for retailers and we're expecting to see a huge increase in traffic to our site this weekend."
Data from payment processing company Worldpay suggests Britain's department stores can expect to double their takings this weekend, with outlets in the north of England set to benefit the most from Panic Saturday.
It said the number of card payments processed by department stores in some parts of the UK just prior to Christmas rose by as much as 224% this time last year, with even better figures expected this year.
Worldpay UK managing director Dave Hobday said: "Department stores are magnets for shoppers who find themselves in the last-chance saloon in the final few days before Christmas.
"Many of these eleventh-hour shoppers will be breaking into a cold sweat at the thought of heading to the high street on the busiest shopping day of the year and praying for someone to take the pain away."
But those averse to crowds are advised to stay home on Tuesday next week for what is expected to be the busiest single high street shopping day ahead of Christmas.
Visa Europe predicts shoppers will spend £1.3 billion on Tuesday alone on the high street, or £15,278 every second, on its cards.
It estimates 34 million transactions will take place, with numbers peaking in the lunch hour break between 1pm and 2pm.
Despite the rise of Black Friday, which saw high street spending of over £1 billion this year, Visa predicts that the high street will continue to see its busiest day two days before Christmas.
Overall, the seven day period before Christmas Day is predicted to see a 7% increase in spending and an 8% increase in transactions on the same period last year.
Visa Europe managing director for the UK and Ireland, Kevin Jenkins, said: "Black Friday kick-started Christmas on the high street and online this year but the busiest bricks and mortar day will likely remain in its traditional slot close to Christmas.
"Retailers' multi-channel approach should cause a surge in footfall from click-and-collect sales too, with the opportunity for further shopping in-store when consumers arrive.
"Across Tuesday December 23 we are likely to see £1.3 billion spent in total. Lunch hour should prove the most popular time for a shopping trip, either for last minute gifts or final ingredients for Christmas dinner."
More from AOL Video


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Seahawks linebacker Leroy Hill, who suffered what coach Pete Carroll called a "minor sprain" of his knee in Tuesday's practice, is now going to sidelined for several weeks.
Hill wasn't even on the sidelines Thursday for the second straight day and is one of three linebackers — along with Lofa Tatupu and Joe Pawelek — who won't play in Saturday's preseason opener against Tennessee at Qwest Field.
Carroll said Aaron Curry will play as he's now recovered from a concussion, while Matt McCoy — who also sat out Friday with an undisclosed injury — will be available as well.
But the Seahawks are so thin at the position that Tyjuan Hagler and Alvin Bowen, two players signed in the last few days, were working with the second unit Thursday and will get considerable playing time against the Titans.
Hill's situation continues to evolve. The sixth-year veteran already has been suspended by the NFL for the season opener for a marijuana arrest and is awaiting trial on an unrelated domestic assault charge in Issaquah.
Now his health is uncertain.
"It's going to be a bit," Carroll said. "He sprained his knee a little bit and it's going to be a few weeks probably before our guys will want him to go out and go full speed.
"He's reacted great to it and can get around alright, so the signs are all positive. But we've got to make sure and do this right because a little something happened there. So we'll take care of him and get him back when we can."
As for Tatupu, who has now missed nine straight days himself with a sore hamstring?
"What I've heard is for a couple years going back, he's had a little hamstring problems in camp," Carroll said. "He ran really well (after practice Thursday) and if we were playing in a regular-season game, he'd be lying on my doorstep or whatever he had to do to make sure he can play.
"But we'll make sure to take care of him because it has been something that has nagged him over time."


text:
Minnesota-based Maurices Inc.
clothing stores will close its Johnston distribution center this fall in order
to consolidate shipping and warehousing in 0hio, according to the Johnston
Economic Development Corp. newsletter. Morey Knutsen
of CBRE|Hubbell Commercial has the 363,736-square-foot industrial building on
the market for $15.2 million. The building sits on about 26 acres of land at
6600 Merle Hay Road.


text:
Free-agent wide receiver Victor Cruz has agreed to a one-year deal with the Chicago Bears, saying Thursday he believes he has "a lot left in the tank" after seven years with the New York Giants.
"I'm excited, man," Cruz said during an appearance on Waddle & Silvy on ESPN Radio. "I'm excited to come and have a fresh start and a new home and a new place. I'm excited to work with [quarterback] Mike Glennon and coach [John] Fox and everyone there."
While calling his career with the Giants "amazing," Cruz said the opportunity to impact the Bears was the deciding factor in his decision.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/1946 ... ictor-cruz


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Top line shines in Wings' 7-4 victoryby Bill Roose / Detroit Red Wings
|David Legwand scores his first goal in a red Wings' uniform, helping Detroit to a 7-4 win over the visiting Devils Friday night. (Photo by Dave Reginek/Detroit Red Wings)
DETROIT – Well, it was about a game and a half.
That's how long it took the Red Wings' new power line to flip the switch on the offense since David Legwand was acquired from Nashville at the trade deadline earlier in the week.
Legwand was plopped onto the top line with Johan Franzen and Gustav Nyquist, which was relatively silent in Thursday's 3-2 overtime loss to Colorado. But Friday had a far different outcome.
The trio combined to score four goals and 11 points in a 7-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils Friday night at Joe Louis Arena. The seven goals is Detroit's season-high and the most its scored since an 8-3 home win over Vancouver last season.
"Obviously two great players, world-class players and it's an honor to play with them and we had the puck tonight, we were moving it and I think obviously when you can move and skate it's going to create some chances and opportunities," said Legwand, the game's first star, who had a goal and two assists.
With back-to-back home games on the schedule since his arrival this week, Legwand hasn't had the luxury of practicing with his new linemates. But the Detroit native as instantly found a comfort level with Franzen and Nyquist.
"They play a give-and-go game, it's something you know it's good," Legwand said. "I played it before and it's nice. Obviously Gus is a player that likes to skate and move his feet and Mule's a huge body that can shoot the puck and he's going to get in front of the net so they did a great job tonight and we got pucks to the net."
The Red Wings are now 9-0-1 when they have scored five goals or more this season.
Detroit took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on Brendan Smith's first regular-season goal at The Joe in more than two years.
Franzen, who finished the night with four points, scored his first of two goals on the night when he deflected Nyquist's wrist shot at 5:34 of the second period. The goal kicked started a flurry of goals to come as the teams combined to score seven times during an 11/ ½ minute stretch.
Since battling back from a concussion that he sustained in December, Franzen has been nearly unstoppable, producing 12 points in his past six games.
"The Mule's been good, he didn't get to play very much, that's all," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Now that he's playing it's real obvious why he's so important. Leadership-wise he has to be a huge factor for us. When you're one of the best players in the league you have to play like that each and every night."
Like Franzen, Nyquist had a four-point night. In all, six different Red Wings scored, and eight collected assists, including Todd Bertuzzi who had two.
The Red Wings managed to wade through a poor 2 ½ minute stretch in the second period when the Devils took a 3-2 lead on goals by Patrik Elias, Jaromir Jagr and Adam Henrique (two goals). Babcock used the Red Wings' timeout after Jagr's goal at 10:20 but it didn't do much good, at least not immediately, as Henrique scored 1:24 later to give New Jersey its only lead of the game.
"Babs called a timeout, we settled down and we got back at 'em," Legwand said. "We got up 5-3, we got three quick ones ourselves and moved on and we did a good job of coming in here and locking it down in the third period."
In little more than three minutes, Detroit got a power-play goal from Franzen and even-strength tallies from Nyquist and defenseman Kyle Quincey to take a 5-3 lead into the second intermission.
Legwand got his first goal as a Red Wing at 4:48 of the third, and Drew Miller scored just his second goal in the last 20 games to give Detroit a 7-3 cushion at 12:52.
It was the first time in 133 career starts that Devils goalie Cory Schneider allowed more than five goals in an NHL game.
Red Wings backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson stoped 21 shots to stretch his record to 15-4-3 this season.
With 71 points in the standings, Detroit is now two points ahead of Columbus for the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"The points are huge. So much of it is if we start the way we did and lose the game it's the negative side," Babcock said. "You don't have to overcome anything and suddenly there's energy in the room, you can hear it back there. The energy you get out of it is so good."


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Long story short, I have this shadow priest in my raid "Ambrosiá" that is not pulling the numbers he should. I'm rather concerned as to why on Ultraxion he is only pulling 25k. If you require anymore information that may help you figure out the issue, please post and I will reply with said information.
Any advice or things you can see him doing wrong would be greatly appreciated.
Armory: us.battle.net/wow/en/character/earthen-ring/Ambrosi%C3%A1/advanced
World of Logs (Ultraxion): worldoflogs.com/reports/rt-z1aiymb3edtl60m6/analyze/dd/source/?s=12674&e=12995


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Chance with her???Visitor's Question from a 16-20 year old Male
I like this one girl and we been talking on the phone sometimes, and she got a BF and when she feels depressed and sad, she tell me about her problems and secert stuff even about her bf too. One time she said i wish all guys were like you and i dunno that had me thinkin.... so ya i give her 2 gifts b4 one for her bday and christmas and she felt bad cuz she didnt get me anything so ya, ya i met her at school so we just start talking and we joke around sometimes. sometimes i call her to see if she wants to hang out but she thinks im too old haha we only like 2 year apart, so ya its hard to hang out with her but i did hang out with her once, we got some coffee but her bf was there so i didnt accpet for him to come. ya i am the one that usually calls her first cuz she doesnt call me. so i be the first to call her. we talk for like 30 mins or more, sometimes we just stay on the phone and say nuthin haha but ya she a really good friend, but i wanna to be more than her friend, i really like this girl. ya im just curious about this friendship that we have
The main thing is she said we a lot in common and she tells me her problems and she said she trust me and trust her bf only. she said i wish all guys were like u. but the funny thing is sometimes i dont think she wants hang out for other wut reason, not sure wut the reason is so ya
So the question does like me? or have little tiny crush on me? do i have chance? What should i do? should i give up?
RomanceClass.com Advice
Remain her friend... it's a wonderful relationship to have.
She may have a little crush on you but you will have to wait until she shows more signs than she has shown so far. When the time comes that you think she is very interested in you or she has broken up with her BF, then tell her that you are developing feelings for her. That will bring things out in the open and you can find out.
But until one of those things happens, maintain your friendship.
Good luck! George
-- from George
One of Your Friendly Advisors at RomanceClass.com
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Written on the Body is primarily a love story, and at a basic level it follows a very simple and recognisable plot: Two people meet and fall in love. The lovers are parted in a way that seems beyond their control. Time passes; obstacles are conquered. The lovers are reunited in a 'happily ever after' moment.
But because this isn't just any love story (this is a Jeanette Winterson love story) the book works on so many more levels. It is a tragi-comic discourse on the measure and meaning of love; a picaresque novel of tall tales; an achingly beautiful love poem; a study of human anatomy; an exploration of ungendered writing; and a minefield of double entendres and double-takes.
The story itself is very stream-of-consciousness and episodic, with the highly unreliable (and ungendered) narrator continually calling into question not only his/her actions but his/her memory too. The stories of the narrator's exploits with past lovers seem somewhat fanciful in nature, and perhaps too comedic to be completely believable. Conversely, the memories of Louise seem romanticised to a highly poetic level, and yet at the same time they feel earthy and all too real. Winterson somehow manages to make her writing both fleshy and ethereal, and perhaps this is the realisation that the narrator finally comes to about the nature of love.
This is a novel where the beauty is in the detail; the choice and placement of words leaving a reader musing over a sentence, and returning over and over to a crystal-cut and shimmering phrase.
In exploring the marks that love and life make on our flesh, the 'secret code' that is 'written on the body', Winterson takes us on an emotional journey that is both uplifting and heartbreaking, and ultimately unforgettable.
Other Reviews
Review Quotes from RandomHouse:
"Winterson displays awe-inspiring control over her materials - over language - and a gift for the most searing insights into human nature." —The Globe and Mail
"Fun, challenging, often astonishing." —The Toronto Star
"Overall, the novel is a cleverly worked and lively meditation on finding love and being lovers, a book that leaves out neither the glory nor the limitations." —The Kingston Whig-Standard
"More immediate and more accessible than anything Winterson has written before. The simple elegance of Written on the Body becomes the author's already impressive oeuvre wonderfully well." —Calgary Herald
"Boldly explores that elusive language of love with characteristic versatility, wit and precision." —The Montreal Gazette
"A gorgeous, intensely sensual novel that celebrates the most inescapable fact of human existence in all its beauty, pain and impermanence." —The Vancouver Sun
"Winterson's writing, with all its vivid detail, startling intensity and aching intimacy, leaves an indelible impression." —Now magazine
"As well written as it is intelligent, as funny as it is compelling." —Xtra!
"A hymn of praise to erotic passion...the book has an unforgettable virtuosity. Winterson is an exciting writer. She has literary talent of a high order." —Victoria Glendinning, Vogue, U.K.
"An ambitious work, at once a love story and a philosophical meditation...a work that is consistently revelatory about the phenomenon of love. Winterson has been compared to an unlikely pantheon of literary figures from Flannery O'Connor through Gabriel García Márquez...The hyperbole seems not only imprecise; it obscures the originality of her voice, her distinctive mix of romanticism and irony, erudition and passion." —New York Times Book Review
"A comedy that delves deeply into our most sacred desires. A tragedy that reads like a playful narrative." —San Francisco Chronicle
"The best evidence yet to [support] Gore Vidal's oft-quoted declaration that Winterson is 'the most interesting young writer I have read in twenty years'. She has once again proved to be a storyteller of compelling interest and exceptional grace." —The Atlantic
"Moving and compassionate, a love letter as much as a love story." —Harper's Bazaar
"We've all been there, done that, and read the book when it comes to broken hearts and love affairs gone wrong, but it's the way Winterson tells 'em that makes this particular love story so original and compelling." —New Woman
"The most highly esteemed writer of her generation." —The Guardian
"Written on the Body charts love with the fresh precision a mapmaker might bring to a new territory...With equally inventive imagery, the book celebrates the sublime joys of physical love...A love story that has no need to tell its name. Fruity and frank, tender and poetic - it's a gem." —She, U.K.
"Many consider her to be the best living writer in this language....In her hands, words are fluid, radiant, humming." —The Evening Standard, U.K.
"Often very funny, like a stand-up comic turn...Winterson, with characteristic and endearing effrontery, wants to take all the tired old language and make it new." —The Observer, U.K.
"One of the most breathtaking novels of this year." —The Good Book Guide, U.K.


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Local photography contest set to capture Village Creek State Park
Published 8:53 am, Friday, July 12, 2013
Attention photographers: The Village Creek State Park volunteer association is hosting a contest.
Deadline for submission is 5 p.m. Aug. 7.
A cash award of $25 and a ribbon will be awarded to the Best of Show. Ribbons will be given in each category for First, Second, Third, and Honorable Mention, and a Viewers Choice ribbon will be awarded Aug. 10. Photos will be displayed at Village Creek State Park in the Nature Center from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 10.
For more information, visit Texas Parks and Wildlife - Village Creek XtaState Park on Facebook or stop by Village Creek State Park between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., or call (409) 673-5440.


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SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS Live @ BUMBERSHOOT 2012
Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival 2012 [DAY 2]
Key Arena
Seattle, Wa
Parking in downtown Seattle can be pretty fucked. Parking during labor day weekend is even more of a pain in the ass. Parking near Seattle Center over labor day weekend while the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival is going on is the worst. I was able to land a ride the first day and it made things a lot easier, so I took the same approach for the following one. The problem is that, when you're at the mercy of someone else's generosity, you're also at the mercy of which speed they choose to dispense that generosity and I was already late. The day was kicking off with one of the most important acts for me to catch all weekend, in Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and once I entered the festival premises, I still needed to head over to the press check-in area, before I could head over to the Key Arena where they'd be performing. None of the vehicles in front of us seemed to be in any hurry; they were creeping incredibly slow. I was overreacting. Most of the acts had a 3 song photo limit and I didn't want to miss my opportunity, but it looked like I was gonna make it fine. Everything was cool. I needed to relax. That's when I realized that I had forgotten my ticket and was going to have to turn around and head all the way back home to get it.
Once I got my pass, I immediately rushed over to the side/press entrance at the arena to try and catch as much of the show as I still could. My bag was searched and, as I stepped through the doors, a staff member tried to give me some information about a "meet and greet" with the artists and press, which was to take place over by some tree, 15 minutes prior to each of the main stage performances. "Great, great… out of my way lady, I'm late!" I scurried down a staircase down to the concrete level below, toward the entrance that I was informed would lead me down to the main floor. In past years, the main stage for the festival was held in the Memorial Stadium, with bleacher seating and the actual stage located at one end of a football field. The Key Arena is where the Sonics used to play, before they were taken. The arena has been regularly used for Bumbershoot shows in the past, but, apparently, it wasn't until the year before last that it took on the status as the venue for the main acts, eliminating Memorial Stadium from festival usage altogether. The Key has also been utilized as a concert venue for larger events (Prince, Radiohead, Madonna), both since and prior to the city losing its basketball franchise, but it was definitely designed to operate as a sports arena, first and foremost. And, in typical sports arena fashion, there are circular levels peppered with concession stands, between the various, numbered walkways to seating divided by stairways/aisles, which lead down to the main floor. I was sent to section 104. Flashing my pass, I stepped through the mini hallway and looked down at the mainfloor, where rows of folding chairs had been assembled facing a stage. There was hardly anyone in them. I looked around to the seats around me; it was the same situation. It turns out that this show didn't even start until 1:45. After all of that, I was way too fucking early.
The "meet and greet" situation out front was actually just a Bumbershoot staff member checking off names of photogs and then escorting the group down to shoot in the pit. Being a writer instead of just a photographer on assignment from a larger publication, it's not uncommon to get shut out of the mainstage photo pit at festivals such as this. While every other photo pit is completely open for us to shoot; due to limitations in space, fire code, etc.; the main stage pits are often designated to a set number of photographers who gain that approval. Depending on how you view it and depending on the setup, this can be an inconvenience or it can actually work in your favor. Like most shows, there would be a "first 3 songs, no flash" photo policy, but there were no song limit restrictions from the audience. This means that, if you can catch a solid vantage point from the crowd, you would be able to maintain it throughout the show. It's true that the photo pit generally provides for the best angles, but you're climbing around dodging the other photographers and, once your 3 songs are up and you're escorted out, it's generally not the easiest move to get back up towards the front through a crowd. This time the crowd was seated. I was going to need to find a folding chair up front.
There were substantially more people in the crowd by the time that I came back in, but I actually managed to locate a spot way up in the second row and posted up next to a borderline elderly couple. As I snapped my 70-200mm lens onto my camera body in preparation, the husband of the couple said something to the effect of, "You can climb into that and live in there." I didn't know what to say. "Yep." Seated in the row directly in front of me was a woman with, who I could only guess was, her younger brother. He looked to be in his twenties and his mannerisms suggested that he had some level of mental disability–what some still might refer to as being "slow." I looked around a bit more, but I really wasn't sure what kind of crowd to expect at a Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings preformance anyway. Many folks will just show up to anything that's playing on the main stage at a festival, but the indoor enclosure didn't seem like it would be much of a benefit to such a beautifully sunny day at 1:45 in the afternoon. My guess was that the folks next to me had probably shown up early to catch the Tony Bennett performance that was scheduled to take place on the stage next.
When Sharon Jones took the stage, it was already filled with a backing band that was 10 members deep. The Dap-Kings, are essentially the house band of NY-based soul revival label Daptone Records. They have gone through a handful of personnel changes over the years, sharing and/or losing members to other Daptone groups like Antibalas, The Budos Band, and The Menahan Street Band. Tonight's lineup still included bandleader and Daptones records co-founder, songwriter/producer/engineer Gabriel "Bosco Mann" Roth, on the bass, while accompanied by 2 backing vocalists (the Dapettes), a pair of guitarists (including Binky Griptite), a percussionist, a drummer, and a 3-man horn section. They were all dressed incredibly sharp, with an elegant draped velvet stage curtain as their backdrop. Jones herself was donning a shimmering black Missoni patterned mini dress with a section of feathers hanging diagonally across the lower front like black fringe. It was definitely the type of outfit that Tina Turner would have sported in her prime.
Jones commanded the crowd from the very moment that she first appeared, effortlessly strutting about in her heels. Beyond her dress, her powerful vocals and the way that she worked the stage helped to reinforce any similarities between her and Miss Anna Mae "You wrote the motherfucking song and now you can't remember the got damn words" Bullock even further. That's not to claim that her style is an imitation of Turner, because nothing could be further from the truth–if there's one thing that Sharon Jones exudes besides soul, it's authenticity–but there is not another female performer that embodies that fierce, mesmerizing, physical stage presence more equally or potently than Aunty Entity. Meanwhile, her deep howls and chocolatey smooth vocals put Jones on par with other greats like Aretha.
I think that it's important to emphasize that nothing about Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings feels like an imitation. The term "revivalists" gets thrown around quite a bit in reference to the group and to the Daptone label in general, and, while it may be the most technically accurate descriptor available, I still feel as if that term can come across as somewhat misleading. It's true that Daptone expresses a strong focus on "reviving" the funk/soul sounds of the 1960s and 70s, and it's also true that the label's official website even describes it in the following manner: "Musician-owned and run, our Brooklyn-based family of soul-drenched talent channels the spirits of bygone powerhouses like Stax and Motown into gilded moments of movement and joy…" The production of Daptone albums also rely on more analog techniques to obtain their vintage quality and early 45s from the label were even said to be pressed without dates on them, leaving folks uncertain of what period in time they were originally recorded. With so much "reviving" taking place elsewhere, often with so much contrivance and by people that never even experienced the era the first time around–this 80s synth-pop with matching throwback acid-wash/neon fashion movement is one trifling example–just the idea of any exhumed time period can be off-putting.
There are a few things to remember, however. The first is that Soul isn't a musical movement that ever really lost it's respectability; it's dated only by it's failure to maintain mainstream popularity. It is not a genre that has been viewed as a temporary cultural misstep, or musical novelty, fertilized by marketing and a shallow pop-culture; such as disco, happy suburban Kriss Kross and Vanilla Ice rap, or the Electric Slide. When Medeski, Martin, and Wood became pseudo-ambassadors of jazz for a younger generation of listeners in the 90s, it wasn't as if they were pulling from a completely dead genre, because jazz never really went anywhere, it just went smooth for a minute. What seems much more forced and inauthentic is so much of the music of our current times, which is being created by those that are emulating what has already proven itself to be popular and marketable, simply for those very reasons. It's not unlike how the band BUSH, all the way out in the London, instantly and magically formed as a group with alternative, grunge-esque qualities just to rake in the loot with poorly crafted radio friendly tunes. These aren't issues for the Dap-Kings, as everything that they touch really does feel timeless, as if it could have originally come from one of those old labels 40 or 50 years ago. What may be even more important to realize is that, while some of the musicians may be slightly younger, Sharon Jones is 56 years old and has been performing this type of music for the majority of her life. Similarly, breakout star and labelmate, Charles Bradley (read our review of his performance at this year's Sasquatch Festival HERE) has been struggling to get a soul singing career off the ground since he was 14, but only just now found success in his 60s. Lee Fields (also on the label and performing at Bumbershoot this year) was already a deep funk legend–Sharon actually began her role as a frontwoman after performing backup on one of his tracks. There's been a bit of a revival of the soul/funk sound with albums like Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, on which the Dap-Kings actually provided the instrumentation, but these aren't sounds that have been pulled out of thin air or out of the past by people who have no history with them. The reason that the music sounds so solid and legitimate, is because it's being created by people who never forgot about it or let it go. Just because legends like Otis, Marvin, and Sam Cooke are no longer on this Earth, it doesn't mean that people have stopped possessing the voices, musical inclinations, or the soul to create and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are at the forefront of the soul/funk revivalist movement, because no one has been better at demonstrating that fact or at providing this music to those who have missed quality representations of it for so long.
It's truly awe inspiring to see a band that's so well rehearsed that everything that they do becomes natural again. The Dap-Kings were so tight and fluid that it was easy to forget how good they actual were. The real spotlight was on Sharon, where it was supposed to be. Her presence was so strong and her attitude so confident that the audience had no choice but to keep their focus locked tight on her every move/word. In fact, if I could only use 3 words to describe her, "strength" would have to be one of them. It felt as if she would enter the audience at any moment and her wide, almost maniacal, eyes were both confident and empowering. Her voice is amazing, but it isn't the delicate sort that floats above the crowd or dissipates into the ether; it's powerful and grabs the listener firmly, pulling them up out of their seats by the spine. It comes from somewhere deep. Everyone around me was on their feet and, whether they came to the show as fans or otherwise, they were definitely becoming them now. The audience was experiencing authenticity and there was something universal and unifying about it.
One of the greatest moments for me came from the young man seated directly in front of me with his sister. He may have been "differently-abled," but this kid was losing his goddam mind throughout the whole show and getting down like a damn fool, exactly the way that he should have been. He was so into it that it and his unbridled passion was both awesome and infectious. After each and every song, he would make these broad, slow, very deliberate claps with his hands as if he were trying to crush clusters of gnats. At one point, he turned around and, facing towards the older man standing next to me, he casually reached out with a straight arm and closed fist. The arm was extended in front of me with his sister standing diagonally on the other side and both of us watched intently as her brother relentlessly attempted to get the bewildered older gentlemen to bump knuckles with him. First, the man raised his hand slightly, almost waving in response. Then, he looked around a few times, assuming that this kid was pointing at something behind him(with a closed hand, no less). There were some half-mumbles under his breath, but everything in his face read, "Hey, I… I'm not exactly sure what you want. Should I… or, is it this? Did you want this? Or… really, I have no idea what's going on here." Eventually, he put it together enough to tentatively raise a fist back and mirror the action directed towards him. The kid slowly pushed his hand forward, connecting knuckles with the old man's awkwardly suspended arm and finished off the greeting by opening his fist with an explosion sound. The interaction was both comical and endearing, truly demonstrating the range of the crowd in attendance that day. Of course, the old guy still looked baffled, even after the fact.
The Dap-Kings tore through one soul jam after another, from the title track off of their 4th studio album, I Learned the Hard Way, to a cover of the Gladys Knight version of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine." Her deep powerful vocals displayed plenty of range, cutting through upbeat funk-tinged gems to more emotional cuts, like "She Ain't a Child No More," which tells a tale of a young girl growing up through and surviving physical abuse at the hand of her mother. Toward the end of the set, Jones really picked up the momentum, utilizing the almost spastic, grooves of "When I Come Home" to transition into an all out dance medley/breakdown. Entering into the track with some banter about what it's like being on the road, the Dap-Kings locked into a groove with trumpeter, David Guy and his two fellow members of the horn section stepping side to side and accenting the track with brassy jolts in unison. Maintaining a steady gallop over the beat, Sharon informed the crowd that we all needed to go back in time with her to the year 1965 and the vessel that we would be boarding to make that trip would be a "soul train" time machine. From there, she let the audience know that she was going to share with us some dance crazes of the era. Beginning with the Bugaloo, she'd set us up to know what was coming and then perform the move over a quick musical breakdown, until the band stabilized the groove again, sending her back into her on-deck strut. Next came the Pony, the Funky Chicken, the Jerk, the Mash Potato, the Wobble, the Peppermint Twist and, finally, the Swim. We all reboarded the fictional train until we returned to present-day Seattle, where the music merged back into the track and Jones finished it off in style.
Before leaving the stage, Sharon brought attention to the fact that Tony Bennett would be the next performer to take their place on it that day. She mentioned that she once had the opportunity to open for him in the past and, while she knew that he was not likely even in the building yet, she wanted to let "Mister Bennett" know that she's seen how he continues to do all of these duets with every one else and that she'd finally like the opportunity for a duet with him of her own. The song that she wants to accompany the crooner on is "Moonriver" and she sang a few bars of it solo, before segueing into the closer of "100 Days" off of her album of the same name.
It was a bit disorienting stepping out into the daylight after the show was over. Granted, I was fairly close to the stage, but, riding on the undeniably solid foundation provided by the Dap-Kings, Sharon Jones' persona–complete with intense penetrating eyes and the ferocity of her movements–managed to absolutely tower over the 16,600 plus capacity arena. I may not have traveled all the way back to 1965, but I definitely experienced a time shift–it was hard to believe that it was still a sunny, early afternoon outside–and the show that I experienced took place in a sultry and intimate, yet lively, nightclub environment, rather than a sterile corporate-sponsored event center in the middle of a huge Summer festival. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings not only transcend eras, they transcend everything within their immediate environment. I wouldn't catch a better performance all weekend.


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Senate discusses student safety
Sarah Mervosh | Thursday, October 1, 2009
Student body president Grant Schmidt told members of Student Senate he plans to present to the University's Board of Trustees on student safety off campus, and asked senators to share questions and concerns about the topic at the meeting Wednesday.
"We've gotten a lot of e-mails and people talk to us daily about this," Schmidt said. "It's been an issue for awhile."
Schmidt said he leaned towards student safety off campus, because it is an issue that student government will not be able to tackle on its own.
Schmidt, along with student body vice president Cynthia Weber and chief of staff Ryan Brellenthin, will present to the student affairs division of the Board of Trustees in mid-October. It will be the first of three presentations this year.
"The direction that we're planning on looking into is what is the role of the administration? What is the role of Notre Dame off campus? What is the role of student government?" Schmidt said.
Schmidt said he is most often asked if Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) can go off campus. The considerations that accompany that request focus on jurisdiction, he said.
"Where would we want them? Would we want them just at Irish Row, and Irish Crossings? Would you want them in the Northeast neighborhood?" he said.
"The question also comes up, how would you have NDSP respond to something that wasn't necessarily student related? Should they be responsible for protecting those people as well?" Schmidt said.
Pasquerilla East senator Taylor Ruby Gagan said she was concerned that if NDSP went off campus, more students would get in trouble for underage drinking.
"What would they be doing regarding students who are underage but who are at those off-campus locations? Is it going to be easier for students to get in trouble?" she said.
Schmidt said other questions that he has been asked include whether would Notre Dame ever provide off-campus housing and whether more pressure should be put on the South Bend Police Department (SBPD).
Crisiti Yanker of Lewis Hall said strengthening SBPD would be effective since they are already in the off-campus area.
"SBPD would be the best option, to put pressure on them because they are already in that area," Yanker said. "Most incidents that I've heard of have been in that area of Notre Dame Avenue. Maybe we could get higher patrol of SBPD [in that area]."
Matthew Robinson of St. Edward's Hall suggested allocating money to improve SBPD.
"Of that $5 million that we're donating to the community, could we earmark some of it to uplift South Bend police force on Friday and Saturday nights?" he said.
Gagan also suggested increasing the number of telephones on campus for the blue light emergency.
Keough Hall senator Marc Anthony Rosa asked if there were funds to increase lighting in some of the darker off-campus areas to improve safety.
Schmidt said he would not answer the questions, but would take them into consideration for the presentation to the Board of Trustees.
Andrew Bell of Knott Hall said it was important to emphasize to the Board of Trustees that student government was doing all it could to improve off-campus safety.
"I think that it's important when you approach the Board to emphasize what we're doing and not just asking, asking, asking," he said. "Like saying, this is really important to us and this is what we're doing but we can't do it on our own. We have to ask you as the Board to help us because we obviously can't do it on our own."