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Researchers Show Ionic Liquids Effective for Pre-Treating Mixed Blends of Biofuel Feedstocks
Winemakers have long known that blending different grape varietals can favorably balance the flavor characteristics of the wine they produce. In the future, makers of advanced biofuels might use a similar strategy, blending different feedstock varieties to balance the energy characteristics of the transportation fuel they produce.
Winemakers have long known that blending different grape varietals can favorably balance the flavor characteristics of the wine they produce. In the future, makers of advanced biofuels might use a similar strategy, blending different feedstock varieties to balance the energy characteristics of the transportation fuel they produce.
A collaborative study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a bioenergy research center led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has shown that an ionic liquid proven to be effective for pre-treating individual biofuel feedstocks is also effective at pre-treating multiple different feedstocks that have been mixed and densified into a blend.
"Our results show that an ionic liquid pre-treatment can efficiently handle mixed feedstocks that have been milled and densified into pellets, and can generate high yields of fermentable sugars regardless of upstream processing," says Blake Simmons, a chemical engineer who heads JBEI's Deconstruction Division. "This indicates that blending and densifying a wide range of feedstocks has significant potential for helping to make biofuels a cost-competitive transportation fuel technology."
Simmons and his JBEI colleague Seema Singh, director of JBEI's Biomass Pretreatment group, led the JBEI/INL study in which four biomass feedstocks, representing the general classes of plants well-suited to serving as fuel crops, were mixed and milled into either flour or pellets then pre-treated with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2mim][OAc]), the ionic liquid used at JBEI as a benchmark for biomass processing. The objective was to determine the impact of mixing and densification on the efficiency at which the complex polysaccharides in cellulosic biomass could be converted into fermentable sugars for fuel production.
(From left) JBEI's Jian Shi, Seema Singh and Blake Simmons successfully used an ionic liquid to pre-treat mixed blends of biofuel feedstocks, a key to future commercialization. Photo credit: Roy Kaltschmidt |
"Lignocellulosic biorefineries must be able to efficiently process available regional feedstocks at cost-competitive prices year round, but feedstocks markedly vary from region-to-region," Singh says. "Also, individual feedstocks within a given region are also quite variable, depending on weather conditions, handling, storage and crop variety. Blending and densifying different feedstocks to create a single uniform feedstock has been proposed as a solution, but not much scientific attention has been paid to the efficiency of converting mixtures of feedstocks into fermentable sugars and fuels."
Given that global temperatures are now setting record highs and that the burning of fossil fuels is releasing an additional 9 billion metric tons of excess atmosphere-warming carbon each year, both the planet and the American economy stand to benefit from a large-scale domestic advanced biofuels industry. Produced from the microbial fermentation of sugars in lignocellulosic biomass, advanced biofuels are clean, green and renewable, and could displace gasoline, diesel and jet fuel on a gallon-for-gallon basis and be directly dropped into today's engines and infrastructures.
The sugars in lignocellulosic biomass, however, are complex polysaccharides that are deeply embedded within a very recalcitrant material called lignin. To break apart the complex lignocellulose and help hydrolyze the released polysaccharides into sugars that can be fermented by microbes, researchers at JBEI and elsewhere have been studying biomass pretreatments with ionic liquids – environmentally benign organic salts often used as green chemistry substitutes for volatile organic solvents.
Researchers at INL have been investigating ways to increase the energy densities of biomass feedstocks and make delivery to refineries much more economical. Milling feedstocks into flour or pellets is an effective process for large-scale energy densification, but before this latest study it was unknown as to how densification of single or mixed feedstocks would impact ionic liquid pretreatment and sugar yield.
The JBEI/INL collaboration mixed switchgrass, lodgepole pine, corn stover and eucalyptus in flour and pellets and within 24 hours of saccharification were able to obtain sugar yields of up to 90-percent for both forms. Pellets, because of their higher energy density, would be the preferred form.
"Our work is the first demonstration that ionic liquid pretreatments can effectively handle mixed and densified feedstocks," Simmons says. "We're continuing the collaboration to next identify the most economical pelletized feedstock mixtures based on targeted regions of the United States. We'' then determine how efficiently our process can convert these mixtures into fermentable sugars."
The collaboration has published their results in the journal Biofuels in a paper titled "Impact of mixed feedstocks and feedstock densification on ionic liquid pretreatment efficiency." Co-authors, in addition to Simmons and Singh, were JBEI's Jian Shi and Vitalie Stavila, and INL's Vicki Thompson and Neal Yancey.


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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Bassist Reuben Radding Explores Free Dimensions in Download Series
Reposting from Gapplegate.com, March 2009. We've been through enough lately to know that you must keep your eyes open and your powder dry. But it's a new season, so savor the moment, for those of you who have some sun. If not, revel in our existence if at all possible. It's all a big mystery whatever you might believe. And it is a privilege to exist, when you think of it.
What's on the docket today? Bassist Reuben Radding, an East Coast fellow. He did the unthinkable in 2007. Once a month he posted an entire CD's worth of unreleased music free for download. (You can still get these at www.reubenradding.com.) Mr. Radding is an imaginative, skillful bass principal in the improv mode. And his downloads show him off effectively in a variety of settings: solo, duo, small groups of various configurations. One of my favorites is his November offering, a duet performance with alto saxist Travis Sullivan. It's a wide ranging gallop into various mood-zones, always musical and filled with great two-way dialogs. I don't know anything about Travis, but based on this recording he surely deserves more attention. And Reuben is right there with him. It's a quite fetching slice of spontaneous music making.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Michael Gregory (Jackson's) Masterful "Clarity" Reissued
Michael Gregory Jackson, now known simply as Michael Gregory, made an album back in 1977 that established him as a rising star in the new jazz and improvisation world that had emerged full blown from the vital loft, non-traditional scene. The album, Clarity, had the makings of a classic and today, with the reissue of the album on ESP (3028), it can be said with no hesitation that it is among the most important and profound recordings of the era.
Well why, you ask? It framed Michael Gregory the guitarist, vocalist and composer in a very excellent light, both by himself and with the very best of the then emerging players of the movement, namely, Oliver Lake on reeds and miscellaneous percussion, David Murray on tenor, and Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet, fluegelhorn, etc.
What was (and continues to be) rare was Michael Gregory's combination of great lyricism and puckish chamber avant singularity. There are sharply memorable ensemble pieces of great fluency, there is a song (part of the title cut) for Michael's vocal instrument, accompanied by guitar (and it is unforgettable for its content and artistry) and there are some remarkable solo acoustic guitar moments. Finally, there are passages of free improvisation that show the considerable gifts of the musicians while still fitting perfectly with the lyrical quality throughout.
Jackson's mostly acoustic guitar style is in abundant evidence all through the album. You'll no doubt be captivated (like I was and still am) when he gives out with arpeggiated lines that show his totally gifted approach to the instrument, his unique way with picking out particular phrases that hang together as a coherent statement yet are beautifully different.
The album worked for me from the first hearing I gave it back then. It was most definitely one of the standout albums of the later part of the '70s. Listening today, I find that the music does not diminish in stature but in fact sounds even better and more original than it did back then. It's prime for Michael Gregory, his guitar and his music, it's prime for the really excellent sympathetic performances of his fellow improvisers, and its prime as an artistic statement of where the music can be (and of course is). This one gets my highest recommendation. Bravo to ESP for re-releasing it; bravo for Michael Gregory for making it!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Bassist-Composer Jamie Ousley's "Back Home"
Bass players used to be a more or less unsung lot. Yes, Paul Chambers, Charlie Mingus and Oscar Pettiford (OK, yeah, also Red Mitchell and Curtis Counce) led groups and made great records, but there didn't seem to be many of them that could sustain or maintain prolonged attention. All that changed a while ago and these days you find quite a few good players fronting bands.
One of them making a bid for the limelight is one Jamie Ousley, who has a beautiful tone, a matter-of-fact melodic solo style that has something in common with the great Charlie Haden in it's deliberation.
And he has a new, second album that will be hitting the stores this summer, Back Home (TIE 1076). For that effort he relies on the basic piano trio of himself, pianist Phillip Strange on piano, and Larry Marshall on drums. This is a most pleasing, melifluent nucleus that gets some heavy company: Ira Sullivan, on fluegelhorn, soprano, and alto flute, sounding as good as ever, Ed Calle on soprano, three different vocalists on three songs, and a number of others. The emphasis is on Ousley's compositional aplomb. He writes some very nice tunes that don't fade into a generic woodwork. They stand out as lyricism with grit, not sentimental but always tuneful. They range from Latin-tinged episodes like "Pasaje Tennessee," the balladic memorability of the title cut, and a range of other feels and formats, always effective and melodically distinct. Oh, and there are a few unusually treated covers, like the flamenco steeped "My Favorite Things," or a calypso version of one of Chopin's well-known Nocturnes.
Ousley comes up with a knockout. You might be finding yourself flat on your back on the canvas while someone counts, or no, that's the drums. But you'll just be happy anyway. Happy that you're hearing some very fetching music. Sorry that that will have to wait until its August 1st release date. It's worth a few days. It's good!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Vintage Soft Machine: "Drop" with Phil Howard
March 4, 2009—When an established working band changes a member the result is unpredictable. And when that member is the drummer, the entire attack and direction of the band can alter dramatically. The classic Coltrane Quartet, for example, sounded quite different when Roy Haynes substituted for Elvin Jones. The same thing can be said about Soft Machine in 1971. Original founding member, singer and drummer Robert Wyatt was gone. In for a time to replace him was Phil Howard, a musician with a very different approach to time. We can be thankful that the Howard version of the band was faithfully captured on tape while on tour in Germany that Fall for a full hour of music. This recording of the group in full flower has just been released for the first time on MoonJune Records.
Drop shows vividly what can happen when the chemistry of the group alters. Howard was less concerned with laying down a rock groove and was more of a free-floating, boldly bashing, loose-limbed dynamo. He's in and out of time on this set, cajoling and catalyzing band members to play with high energy and driving them a bit more over the top than they had been used to with Wyatt. It inspires reedist Elton Dean to blow harder and less introspectively; it gives Mike Ratledge an increased number of rhythmic options in response to the wide wash of accents laid down with drums and cymbals; and it challenges bassist Hugh Hopper to become ever more of a rock-solid anchor (which he was anyway) in the looser dialogue that develops.
This band just doesn't groove as much, but we have that in abundance with the Wyatt version of the band and, later, with the equally brilliant drumming of John Marshall. But that is OK; there is plenty of all that. Drop gives us a glimpse of what Soft Machine was all about at the time, and what they might have become. It's a valuable document in the evolution of the band and a very listenable excursion into the higher realms of jamming. Soft Machine aficionados will jump at this one; those new to the band who like a free rock approach will appreciate it as well. It's a nicely different moment in the band's relatively long tenure. A good recording can take us back faithfully to a slice in time. This one really does that and we get something to ponder in the deal. Give it your ears and you'll be rewarded.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Necks' "Hanging Gardens": Play it Again Sam, and Again, and Again
Australia produces its share of music worth hearing. The Necks are one of its more interesting exports in recent times. They are a keys-bass-drums trio that specializes in a kind of jazz-rock minimalism with long trance-like grooves that owe something to the early, more rock oriented minimalist endeavors, like Riley and Cale's Church of Anthrax. Yes, and the classic first phase of electric Miles Davis too.
Their 1999 Hanging Gardens (Fish of Milk 02677) shows all that pretty clearly. It's a one-hour-long cut. It begins with a high-hat tatoo and bass riff that pretty much continue through the piece. Chris Abrahams comes in on Hammond as well as piano, electric piano and various other keys. After a while I realized that the whole project took more than a little something from Miles Davis's In A Silent Way, especially the Hammond work combined with high-hat pulse. The differences are just as dramatic though. Of course there's no ravishing Miles, but really no solos at all. The riff and the drums continue ad infinitum and the level of the music gradually raises through the sound color ambiance of the keys and, sometimes, some counter riffs.
It's looking to develop a trance-through-repetition effect. That's what the Necks do so well. In spite of the fact that an hour is a rather long time to keep up a particular schtick, the Necks' strong suite is they sustain it by various event clusters, an additional variation on the riff, for example, a section where the drums lay out, prepared piano rattle-drones, and so on.
In the end, the Necks create a musical world you can inhabit gladly, provided you do not impatiently await some sort of foreground (soloing). It's a long mesh of background complexities brought forward. But it would fail utterly if it didn't evolve over time in ways that keep one's interest. It does not fail!
ambient music,
hanging gardens review,
the necks
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Michael Bisio and Collar City Creatology: Dynamic Chamber Jazz
March 3, 2009—The loudness factor in music seems to be ever increasing. The first brass marching bands were hugely loud for their time. They had to fill the open air and often were a kind of representation in sound of the power and might of the military unit to which they were attached. The Mannheim Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the classical era must have shocked audiences with their ability to crescendo to comparatively dramatic decibel levels. By the time they reached a flat-out, triple fortissimo tutti a few powdered wigs may have been dislodged. Closer to our times the development of more powerful guitar amps led to ever louder rock groups. And now of course most commercial CDs are mastered to deliver maximum volume through super-compression. I'm not complaining though. All this can be very stirring. Of course not all CDs have that super-loud-all-the-time quality. Some aim to carry the full dynamic range of the music being performed. That's because some musics of course still capitalize on bringing out the dynamic-range possibilities of the material performed.
Nonetheless, jazz and improv can get pretty loud these days. So when a group comes along that plays pretty quietly for much of the time, one takes notice. And when they kick it up a notch, the contrast is that much more effective. Such a group is Collar City Createology, who has recently put out a download-only release on MJB Records, available at cdbaby (http://cdbaby.com/cd/mbgmds). The group is comprised of master bassman Michael Bisio (whose excellent CIMP CD we looked at earlier in the year), guitarist George Muscatello and drummer Dean Sharp. The music is advanced, free and rather quiet most times. There is excellent interplay between the three musicians. Muscatello has a spacey but pure-toned sound, not entirely unlike John Abercrombie but with his own musical vocabulary. He plays some wonderful lines and forms a double melodic tandem with Mr. Bisio that is sensitive and smart, mindful of sound and silence, creative and accomplished. Bisio is a bass player's bass player, which he shows admirably throughout this disk. And drummer Sharp is a beautiful team member, not stepping on any music toes and making a true contribution with a palpable sensitivity to his aural and rhythmic role in the mix.
Collar City Creatology bases itself in the upper New York State town of Troy, known in the 19th century for its manufacturing of detachable collars. Troy deserves now to be known for producing this group. It's a wondrously subtle trio. With very nice arrangements and compositions (mostly penned by Michael Bisio), some great improvisational variations and a finely crafted sense of trio sound, Collar City deserves a close listen and will bring increasing rewards and enjoyment as one becomes more and more familiar with the CD. Kudos to this group! May it put Troy back on the map.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Sonando Yo. Spirited Son from Sierra Maestra
Sierra Maestra plays in the traditional Son style of Afro-Cuban origins, and they do it quite well. They consist of a strong instrumental grouping of Latin percussion, trumpet, bass plus a Spanish style acoustic alternating or playing in tandem with the tres, a traditional guitar-like instrument with multiple courses of strings that give out a 12-string like sound. A vocal group handles the call-and-response grooves and take turns with the lead vocal.
What's important of course is the quality of the music. Sierra Maestra's CD Sonando Ya (World Village 450011) gives you an excellent set of Son. The songs are strong, the vocals have that lyric yet rhythmic quality, trumpet solos are right where they should be, percussion in the pocket and then there's the tres. Emilio Ramos gives a textbook lesson on how to set up the all-important riffs and his solos really come across as excellent.
This is no musical preservation society music. It breathes, it drives, it is vitally alive. The band floors me. I think you be very pleased with them too!
Monday, June 21, 2010
John Butler Trio: Free and Legal Download
March 2, 2009—We return to some jamband coverage today. I've reviewed the John Butler Trio on a couple of studio releases in this blog. www.archive.org has a very generous sampling of their live shows in the "Live Music" section. These are available for streaming or download at no cost. So long as you don't try to to sell them, they are legal and covered under the Creative Commons umbrella. I chose an earlier show from his listings because I wasn't as familiar with that period. The March 5, 2002 date has two full CDRs worth of music, recorded off of the soundboard at the Starr Hill Brewing Company in Charlottsville, Virgina.
The sound is quite good and the band is in an expansive mood. Although they may not be considered an officially sanctioned jamband by some, they do a pretty fair amount of improvisational junkets here. The electro-acoustic playing of Butler is worth hearing and the whole band is atuned. The jams are not typical rockouts; there are jazzy and acoustical components and even raga-ish passages that set them apart. The tunes were integral to Butler's repertoire of the time and he delivers them with conviction. It's all quite good. It's free too!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Julie Slick Talks About Her New Album, Her Music & Playing the Bass
Julie Slick is a much-in-demand bassist and stylist of importance in the advanced rock worlds out there. She has been working as a member of Adrian Belew's power trio among other things. Her debut album (Julie Slick) just came out and it's a stunner. We'll be reviewing it in a few days but today I post a most interesting conversation we had via e-mail concerning her music and the making of the album.
GREGO EDWARDS: What brought you to take up the bass guitar? Did you have any model players that inspired you?
JULIE SLICK: My whole family is comprised of musicians and music lovers. My grandfather played trombone in many great jazz bands (including Buddy RIch's and Billie Holiday's) and my dad collects vintage guitars - we have over 30 in our quaint Philly row house. My brother Eric was always a drummer, so growing up, I'd just pick one of his awesome axes up and mess around.... Eventually one day (when I was 11) I picked up his fretless Gibson Ripper and thought to myself "Hmm, I don't have to learn chords, or solo, and I can just hide in the background..." I was a really shy kid, and it was the first time Eric would allow me to jam with him and his friends. My parents also collect vinyl records, so once I started to get serious about playing bass, my Dad would play me the music of some of his favorite bass players - Jack Bruce, Paul McCartney, Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke, John Wetton, Greg Lake... the list goes on...
GREGO: You've played with an impressive assortment of alt/prog masters. Was it a matter of one set of associations leading to another or a kind of musical logic based on what you yourself heard in your mind's eye? Or both?
JULIE: Hmm. . . well, coming up through the School of Rock, I got to meet and play with Ann Wilson, Alice Cooper, Stuart Copeland, Eddie Vedder, Napolean Murphy Brock, and Ike Willis, among others - it was amazing! Two years passed and I was going to Drexel University (for their new Music Industry program), when one day I got a call from Paul Green (the founder of the school) and he asked me "How are your chops? I'd like for you to fly down to Nashville next week and audition to be in Adrian Belew's new power trio." I was stunned - I had been such a HUGE fan of Ade's growing up. I even bought my first serious condenser mic - a Shure KSM32 - because he endorsed it in their ads. Obviously touring with a luminary like him, I got to meet and perform with a lot of incredible artists like Pat Mastelotto, Tony Levin, Robert Fripp, Bela Fleck, Umphree's Magee, Les Claypool... I know - I am unbelievably lucky!
GREGO: Do you keep your chops up with a regular practice routine or is it a matter of just playing as much as you can?
JULIE: I pretty much play every day, from anywhere to ten minutes to several hours. Sometimes I'll practice one of Adrian's songs, or a Zappa riff to keep my chops up, and other times I just improvise. There are days where I don't play at all though, just to remove myself from any routines I'm getting into. I like to think it keeps my ideas fresh. Or I could just be more in the mood to cook that day, haha!
GREGO: Haha! Food is good, to paraphrase the (Young) Frankenstein movie. Your first album is a keeper! Is it a kind of first step, a culmination of where you've been and where you are now?
JULIE: Thanks!!! I recorded as I wrote, using Logic and my Roland VB-99 as tools to compose. I'd come up with an idea, track it, and build it up from there. So I suppose it's more of a collection of my influences - bassists, composers, and producers. I wanted to make a cool-sounding album that could be easily digested, not just a self-indulgent frenzy of bass chops. Of course I love progressive music, so obviously the compositions have that quality to them, but I also enjoy electronic and simple pop-rock, so I think one can hear those impressions on my style as well.
GREGO: Your bass sounds great on the tracks. Did you mostly record by miking off your amps or was some of it recorded direct to the console?
JULIE: Actually I have a really awesome old Ampeg B15 - but it was getting repaired when I was making the album, so I just put the bass directly into my Keeley compressor and Sebatron VMP-4000. I had all of these intentions to re-record or re-amp my direct tracks, but I often mix as I record, and the process went pretty quickly, so once the amp was ready, I was pretty much already finished and satisfied with the sounds!
GREGO: How did you come to use such a varied grouping of musicians from piece to piece? Did each combination suggest itself via a sound you were after?
JULIE: Well after writing the first couple of songs, I realized I needed real drums desperately on certain tracks - others I could get away with just using Logic's Ultrabeat. So I wrote to Marco Minnemann, and he sent me his drums for "Many Laughs" overnight. Once I saw how quick and easy the process could be, I started asking some of my favorite players (who have home studios) to see who'd be interested in helping me out. I was in shock when Robert [Fripp] wrote back, allowing me to sample any of his soundscapes. It was a lot of fun to explore that library, and figure out ways to incorporate them into my pieces to provide new textures (and for some, new directions). The first track, "Mela" has the most contributors because it has the most complex arrangement - and it sounded really cheesy with just software samples!
GREGO: It seems that post-prog or whatever one calls it has really blossomed further lately into new and exciting avenues. Of course you are a part of that. Is there something in the air? Is it just a matter of a good time for creative work?
JULIE: Honestly, I was just trying to figure out how to work some of my new pedals (specifically the Roland VB-99). One day in late January, I was getting some cool sounds looping my bass, and playing it as guitar through the '99. I thought it sounded pretty neat, so I set up some mics and next thing I knew, I was starting to compose what would become "Shadow Trip." The process was exciting and new for me - I hadn't written anything in years. I became addicted to it, and we were getting a TON of snow in Philly anyway, so I just stayed inside and worked on it for several hours everyday. I'm still amazed at how quickly it all came together - I had the CDs in my hands by early May!
GREGO: Where do you go from here? What's coming up for you in the near future?
JULIE: Well, as said, I'm pretty addicted to the process now, so I hope to create another album soon. For the next one, I'd like to work with some vocalists so that it's not totally instrumental, and I think it would be a lot of fun and different for me.I'd also be interested in getting some of the music licensed for use in TV or film. And of course I love touring and performing, so perhaps I'll put some more shows together... I'm already opening for Adrian June 30th (at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck) and July 1st (at World Cafe in Philly).
GREGO: Thanks Julie!
Tuner Weaves Complex and Fascinating Musicscapes
February 26, 2009—We seem to be on a roll. Today's CD is another gem, continuing an unbroken string of goodies lately.
Tuner's latest brings a brainy sense of adventure to the progressive genre without slighting the sensual side of things. Muut—Live in Estonia 2007 (Unsung) takes some of the innovations in sound and approach that came out of earlier musics—Miles Davis's psychedelic period, Terje Rypdal's large-eared psycho-romanticism, King Crimson's keen sense of sound texture and sprawl—and synthesizes them to generate something altogether different. Add an all-important, thoroughly developed knack for producing electronically altered orchestral-sized musicscapes and incisive live playing. There are no wasted musical moments.
Tuner is the very musical drummer Pat Mastelotto (a fixture in King Crimson—we met up with him earlier this month on the Live Crimson set) and guitarist, mastermind and producer Markus Reuter (who studied with Robert Fripp and his Guitarcraft learning system). These two musicians generate intensely interesting music that stays with you and does not pander to the infantile expectations that most pop-slop generates in the casual listener. That's because it is NOT pop-slop. It is genuinely innovative sound forging and one of the best progressive CDs so far this year. The fact that it was recorded live makes it all the more impressive. Keep going, Tuner. You sound great!!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Phil Sargent Brings Good Songcrafting and Musical Guitar Artistry to New Album
With all the influences bouncing about in guitarland these days, we have today a practitioner of the art that doesn't wear his influences on his sleeve. I refer to Phil Sargent. His album, release just this month, drives that point home.
A New Day (Sargent Jazz) puts Mr. Sargent in the company of a readily responsive bass-drums trio context with added keys on two tracks and the quite pleasing wordless vocals of Aubrey Johnson. Songs generally feature Ms. Johnson taking the lead melody and Phil doubling or accompanying her. There are seven Sargent compositions represented and they are lyrical, melodically distinctive and quite attractive. They occupy the interstices between fusion and electric jazz. Phil's playing is quite impressive. He alternates between sub-shred subtleties and melodically oriented fuze-shred. He is an true artist of lyrical yet sometimes forceful lining. He sounds modern without sounding anything more than obliquely influenced by those who have great cache in guitar circles these days (Metheny. Abercrombie. . .).
A New Day gives you a damn fine set. It has joy, it has a quiet intensity and it has very expressive musical content. This is music for those who love well-developed, sophisticated electric jazz. Well worth hearing!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Bruce Soord of Pineapple Thief Talks About the Band's New Album and Musical Direction
The band Pineapple Thief has amassed an impressive track record of albums and acclaim over the years. Their new recording Someone Here is Missing (KScope) came out yesterday. It's a further development in the band's evolution and should get the attention of a new group of listeners. Gapplegate Music recently had a conversation with band principal Bruce Soord. He spoke rather eloquently on the making of the new album, the direction the band is taking, and the big picture ahead.
GREGO EDWARDS: Did you have any idea ten years ago that you'd be where you are now as a group? You've developed an extremely loyal and zealous group of fans. Have they bolstered you all in your determination to keep going, seemingly on the brink of a much wider audience?
BRUCE SOORD: Yeah, I keep trying to rewind my brain to where I was 10 years ago, alone in the spare room of my mid-terraced house with a sampler, crappy synth and a very slow and unreliable PC. I remember a recent blog post where I imagined going back in a time machine and telling myself what I'd be doing in 10 years time (ignoring the paradox of meeting myself of course). I wouldn't have believed me. So yeah, I'm thankful.
GREGO: Did you have an overriding vision of the music you wanted to make when you first started out? Has it changed? How, if so?
BRUCE: I always wanted to fuse ideas and genres within the rock envelope without making it sound contrived. I think my vision has always stayed the same: the music has to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Whether that is because of a lyric, a beautiful series of notes or a kick arse heavy section it really doesn't matter. It's a personal thing to each listener who "gets it."
GREGO: It seems that your new album Someone Here is Missing keeps the sort of spacey and original sounds you have always featured so effectively and adds a crisper, more compact approach to the song form. Do you think? If so, was that change deliberate or did it just kind of evolve over the years?
BRUCE: It was definitely deliberate. When we took the songs on the road I realized how much I needed to strip the arrangements back so they worked live. A lot of the time I tended to hide my less successful compositions behind layers of sounds and "ear candy" production. Strip it all back and a song should work with just me and my guitar. That was the rule for Someone Here is Missing – it had to work as a song when I "hummed and strummed" it.
GREGO: When you are in the studio do you have a particular sound you aim at for each song or do you experiment until you are happy with the sonic direction? Or both?
BRUCE: I'd say both. Most of the time I go into the studio after mulling over the arrangement with my acoustic guitar for a few days, carefully thinking where I want to travel with it. But often, I'll end up taking a completely different path by accident and end up with a totally different sonic experience! "Waking Up The Dead" is a prime example. The bass and beat came by accident and the song appeared without very much effort at all.
GREGO: Was it therapeutic and/or symbolic to sum up the first phase of the group on the 3,000 Days anthology album? Did you feel like you were entering a new beginning for the group after that was compiled?
BRUCE: I think it really helped me sculpt a new sound for Someone Here is Missing. After compiling work from seven albums it really hit home that I needed to move on to a serious new territory, away from the layered, gentle melancholia of old TPT. I still love that sound, but I needed to try something new to keep the passion going.
GREGO: In the studio how do you tend to lay down tracks on a song? Is there a kind of standard grouping of live instruments/rough vocals for the first step of a song or does it vary?
BRUCE: I always track some basic drums first to play along to, then lay down guitars and vocals – that's when I know whether a song is going somewhere great or should be sent to the "crap_bag" folder on my studio PC. Once I have a basic arrangement down I usually leave the studio and run the parts over and over in my head. Sometimes I can try out ideas in my head without the need to be sitting in the studio. It's good fun but can drive me a little crazy. I can't even go shopping without my songs.
GREGO: Where do you see Pineapple Thief going in the second decade of its life??!!
BRUCE: For the first time in my career I can see the music really getting out there to a new generation of fans, young and old. That has always been my raison d'être, not to make tons of cash (although that would be nice!) or to be mobbed every time I stepped out my front door, but for as many people as possible to hear the music. It's frustrating for me to hear fans telling me how they've only just discovered us. How many more people like that are out there?
GREGO: By the way, the cover art for your new album is just stunning. How did the idea come about?
BRUCE: It wasn't my idea – it came from Storm Thorgerson and his studio. When he offered to do our design (which was a great moment for me) he invited me up to his studio to interrogate me on the meaning of my songs. He and his team then sketched a series of ideas while listening to early demos of Someone Here is Missing very loudly. One of the sketches was the "post-it man." Before I knew it I was on a train to London to be covered with post-its. . .
James Blood Ulmer Gets Root-sy
There is the blues and there is James Blood Ulmer. Do not confuse the two. Mr. Ulmer has been an artist who can go in any number of directions over the years. Funky things, more outside electric excursions, and music that has a rootedness in the blues, but really is James Blood Ulmer music.
Some of this is quite clear in his recent album In and Out (In and Out 77100-2). He plays guitar in his own inimitable way. It is not blues guitar exactly, at least in the sense of the urban blues traditions coming out of the '50s and beyond. The same goes for his vocals and his songwriting. These are songs sometimes drenched in the blues. Like Hendrix before him he flirts with the blues but rarely actually directly launches into the medium per se. Now if you don't care for definitions of what is or isn't in cases like this, I don't blame you. The point is that he should not be pigeonholed because he has his own thing going on.
In and Out gives you several sides of the Ulmer approach. He's working with a trio of himself plus bass and drums and they kick things along nicely. Mark Peterson plays both the electric and the upright in ways conducive to the Ulmer bag; drummer Aubrey Doyle is right there as well.
There are root-boppish numbers, mostly instrumental, a few flights into the stratosphere for his guitar, and rooted, blues inflected rock-funk of a high order. If I once called him a sort of John Lee Hooker for today (in a Cadence review) it was meant in terms of how he can pare down to the elemental core of soulfulness when he chooses, saying-playing more with less.
He does that on this record. And he does it so well, so much in his own way, that perhaps the comparison doesn't seem necessary anymore. James Blood Ulmer is James Blood Ulmer is James Blood Ulmer. And that's a good thing to be. In and Out finds him in excellent form, pared down to fighting trim.
bluesy rock,
james blood ulmer,
post-jazz guitar
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Florian Larousse, Young Classical Guitarist
French guitarist Florian Larousse won the Guitar Foundation of America Competition in 2009. One can hear why on his wide-ranging recital disk (Naxos 8.572565). The program covers a broad spectrum of pieces in the repertoire: a little John Dowland, 19th century composers Giulio Regondi and Napoleon Coste, transitional 20th century figure Antonio Jose and a modernist, one Nuccio D'Angelo.
The first thing that strikes me about Larousse is his beautiful tone. It sparkles. His phrasing is astonishingly fluid, no matter the style at hand, and he shows an interpretive knack that is on a par with the best of the modern classical pianists. That is to say, his rubato is unexaggerated, his tonal nuance subtle and varied according to the needs of the composition.
Jose's Sonata (1933) showcases Larousse's finessive flair in a wonderful way. The sonata's traditional Spanish guitar passagework segues smoothly back and forth in alternation with the more contemporary sounding motifs. He makes of it all an organic unity that breathes life into the music and lets you fully appreciate the beauty of the sonata.
Mr. Larousse does not choose to wear his technique on his sleeve. All that is subjoined to what is important: the composition at hand and the most expressively subtle realization of the notes as the composer conceived of them.
Larousse's considerable talent and a selection of lesser performed gems from the repertoire make for excellent listening. It is a most successful and attractive outing!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Univers Zero Returns to the Studio After A 14 Year Hiatus
The band Univers Zero made their last studio album in 1986. We are fortunate that they've been back to the grind, putting out a new and fascinating album they call Clivages (Cuneiform 295). Like the return of Ulysseys, we rejoice first, then worry later about the adventure they no doubt have been on. I'm sure that is an epic story in itself. We welcome the wandering heroes with our ears open. And our reward is great.
Universe Zero makes a kind of post-Zappa mix of modern classical and rock. They do it so well that the stitches are not showing. Listening, you forget to care what is what and just revel in the fine musical flow. Clivages weaves together the two styles in ways that give the new hybrid a feeling of organic inevitability. It's how the music is arranged, which is quite skillfully, and the pieces themselves, which are inspired. There are interesting ostinatos, a rock pulse, various contrapuntal intricacies and shifting meters for a sort of rock-classical chamber effect. Band members take turns with the composing. It all has such clear vision and fine-tuned execution that you feel like they all have internalized the sort of music they want to do, and then have gone ahead and done it. And done it extraordinarily well. If Univers Zero hadn't come up with this album, we would all be the poorer. That's how much I think of it. It is simply superb!
After Frank Zappa, Universe Zero produces the very best rock-classical music out there. Thank you Belgium for giving us so much wonderful music over the centuries! Please, Univers Zero, don't let so much time go by this time. Get right back in the studio. We want more!
Highly recommended.
rock-classical fusion,
univers zero
Friday, June 11, 2010
An Obscure But Good New Lost City Ramblers Album
February 23, 2009—As I greet the morning sun and another day, I am accompanied by the sounds of a music not often covered on these pages, but no less appreciated for that.
Sometime between the 1700s and the 20th century a new music sprung out of the hills and dales of Appalachia as well as far and wide in the surrounding area. It was born of a life adapted to this land and the mixture of styles that various immigrants carried with them when they arrived, not to mention sheer musical imagination. I refer to country (and western). The old ballads, string-band songs and early bluegrass gave the US one of its truly original musical identities. (And of course country music thrives today, with or without rootedness in the original styles, depending on the performer.)
The folk revival of the '50s and '60s covered some of this music, and of course there were plenty of local players who kept the tradition alive in itself. Somehow those two strains found their perfect synthesis in a band known as The New Lost City Ramblers. This was a superb group both vocally and instrumentally, in no small part thanks to the talents of Mike Seeger, but everyone involved did a great job with finessing and directly communicating what was (and is) so wonderful about this music. There's the deceptively plain, unique sound of the vocals and that special twang that many singers today have lost. There's the wonderful fiddling, and the special picking of guitars, banjos, and mandolins.
The New Lost City Ramblers made a number of albums for Folkways in the late '50s-early '60s, then broke up. Folkways-Smithsonian has made them all available again and they are highly recommended (there's also a box set. . . ). I'm listening now to one I never had in my vinyl days, Gone to the Country (Folkways 02491). It covers songs not found much if at all on other modern recordings and those songs often have that outrageous nonsense humor and all-knowing naivety spawned from everyday local life. It's the superb delivery of the songs though that makes this group special. These guys blew the folk revivalists into the dust. The music was and is breathtakingly alive in their hands. Thanks to Folkways you can download or buy their records online at decent prices. Use your favorite search engine and type in Smithsonian Folkways and check them out.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Hector Martignon's "Second Chance": For Some Smart Latin Jazz
Hector Martignon plays some really fine Latin jazz piano, writes very interesting music and arranges it and some choice covers skillfully for a mid-sized group on his new album Second Chance (Zoho 201006).
Martignon's pianism is quite in evidence on this disk. He has both rhythmic drive and harmonic-melodic sophistication. His band here is excellent. Ludwig Afonso stands out as a drummer steeped in the Latin and the jazz side of the equation. Reedman Xavier Perez and trumpet-fluegelist John Walsh add nice solo work. Bassists Armando Gola and Edward Perez both have that post-Jaco line-weaving strength (though there is also some steaming upright on "Alone Together;" I'm not sure who is playing when) that spices the proceedings considerably. And then the guest spot by Edmar Castaneda on harp (for "Coqueteos") can only be classified as brilliant! Traditional South American (Colombian) harp combines in his solo with a jazz context and it's quite impressive. I would love to hear more of him.
But this is Hector Martignon's outing and he shines brightly, while showing us the flexibility of his musical leanings. There is samba and other Latin feels mixed with nicely turned fusion elements and well constructed compositional lines. Listen to their version of Mancini's "Hatari" and Hector's piano solo on it to find a congenial first entrance into this fine set. Mr. Martignon gives us some very good music on Second Chance. It is music to live with, happily.
hector martignon,
modern latin jazz
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Trey Gunn's "Modulator" Breaks Ground in Advanced Electric Music
As was discussed in our interview with Trey Gunn several days ago (see below), Modulator (7d Media 1011) was created in novel circumstances. Marco Minnemann recorded a 50-minute drum solo with his own rhythmic muse guiding him. It's free ranging and very exciting drumming. He challenged multi-instrumentalist, touch guitarist and musical composer-conceptualist Trey Gunn to create a musical work based on the solo, using only Gunn's quite fertile imagination and the flow of drumming from the original track.
Trey responded with some of the most ambitious, interesting and satisfying music I've ever heard in the post-prog mode. Using guitars, touch guitars, bass guitars, keys and samples, he painstakingly built up a piece of orchestral dimensions. The stream of consciousness aspect of the drumming helped lead to a work that traverses an enormous amount of territory: rocking passages, incredibly complex rhythmic-melodic segments of rare beauty and interludes of reflective charm. It's not easily described because it has so much going on musically.
This is the kind of complex yet directly accessible music you could listen to for years and still get more out of each time. Every listen for me hits my ears in a different way than before; I hear more connections and underlying pattern and so enjoy an ever more rewarding listening experience. I would have to say that this one is a masterpiece of sonic sprawl. And there is some incredible guitar work, too. It's just fabulous!
marco minnemann,
post-progressive rock,
trey gunn
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
A New One From Carlos Barretto Lokomotiv
The Carlos Barretto Lokomotiv is a modern-day Portuguese equivalent of the old Gateway Trio, meaning that the music is ambient, electric, freely played, with a rock component and plenty of improvising. Their new album Labirintos (Clean Feed 179) showcases their music with recorded brilliance and it engages from beginning to end. The compositional vehicles are solid and interesting, all penned by Mr. Barretto, with the exception of one collective improvisation. They help create the mood and tone of the set, which is forward moving and gutsy or, alternately, more reflective and seeking a sheer sensuality of tone.
Carlos plays a very nimble and tasteful acoustic bass and heads the outfit. He is one that can bow with grace and good tone and his pizzicato solos are right on the money. Mario Delgado plays in a modern sounding electric guitar style, with good use of space and the ability to make musical statements that bear up under continual listening. He can rock or string together a solo of a freer-er sort without recourse to cliches. Drummer Jose Salgueiro swings, rocks and freetimes his way through the set with sophistication as well as push.
Here is yet another example of a very good group on the Portuguese scene. Thanks in great part to Clean Feed, we get a gradually unfolding picture of a musical center, not in any way a backwater, but rather a home for a vital group of improvisers. And Lokomotiv is right up there with the best of them.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Ernie Krivda Group in New York
February 20, 2009—Tenor saxist Ernie Krivda has been on the scene for years. If he has not gotten a huge amount of recognition for his talents, it is not for want of consistent excellence in performance. He can be counted on to come through with energized, full-throated improvisations seemingly whenever the opportunity presents itself. His recent Cadence release Live in New York City (Cadence Jazz 1195) is a case in point. Captured by band guitarist Bob Fraser one January night at Sweet Rhythms in NYC, Krivda and company turn in one of those performances where they do not so much think of the recording in progress and let loose with unselfconscious mainstream jazz with hell-for-leather intensity.
The quintet is primed and the audience urges them forward in a really nice set of originals. Trumpeter Dominick Farinacci and aforementioned guitarist Fraser contribute first-rate solos, and Krivda insistently brings out his exuberant, extroverted note-streaming at its best. He has the hard lyricism of a Coltrane, but his own sound and musical vocabulary. This is a band on one of those nights where it all comes together. You'll wish you had been there. Check the Cadence site (www.cadencebuilding.com) for more information.
contemporary mainstream jazz,
ernie krivda
Friday, June 4, 2010
King Crimson Live on a Good Night, 1996
February 19, 2009—King Crimson has been a band that, during its active periods, never stands still. The music is always developing, while the personnel configurations give a particular character to the music at any given time. Fripp seems to find musicians that can contribute solidly and change the sound of the band from lineup to lineup. One of the more impressive configurations was the double trio: Fripp and Belew on guitars, Trey Gunn on touch guitar (see a recent entry on these pages for an interview with Trey and what he is up to now), Tony Levin on bass and stick, and drummer/percussionists Bill Bruford and Pat Mastelotto. That very group is wonderfully represented on a 2-CD reissue of a London concert in 1996, The Collected King Crimson, Volume Three: Live at the Shepherds Bush Empire (DGM). This is no stock run through of greatest hits. There's an opening soundscape by Fripp, some great drum routines and a cross-spectrum of their repertoire, digging back as far as "21st Century Schizoid Man" through to the Talking Heads-like "Elephant Talk."
There's plenty of music and the band is in top form. This wasn't a group that featured hours of guitar solos. The experimentation tends to be collective and the expansion of their recorded versions takes place in terms of drive and a modification of the arrangements. The set has great sound and reminds us all of what we missed back then if we didn't go see them.
king crimson live,
preogressive rock,
robert fripp
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Bassist John Hebert and his Trio Combine Acoustic and Electric Soundworlds
John Hebert seems to be the double bassist of choice on more and more projects in the modern jazz field lately. His new trio CD Spiritual Lover (Clean Feed) gives you some reasons why as it also shows a strong group conception in the fee-er yet tonally rooted zone. Pianist Benoit Delbecq shares the pre-arranged melodic roles with Hebert and also does some very nice exploratory, loosely horizontal soloing. Listen to him on "Le Reve Eveille," a lovely sort of modern ballad with some beautiful piano and bass improvisations. Benoit adds clavinet and synthesizer to the piano work, sometimes in combination to give the trio a more broadly expansive sound, sometimes to rock out a little in a free way.
Drummer Gerald Cleaver sounds terrific on this one, whether he's adding delicate Asian sounding percussive flourishes, using his brushes sensuously or madly swinging, freely accenting or bursting forward on some of the free-rock numbers. And John Hebert gets a beautiful sound, which is often tied to the ensemble context of the songs in a way that gives the music a fullness and drive that only a master of the art can manage. All in all, though, it is the compositions-concepts that distinguish this one as fully of our time, thoughtful but also forcefully climactic at the right moments.
This is a record that covers a good expanse of stylistic territory yet manages to sound distinctive and cohesive at all points. It combines the acoustic and the electric in a kind of organic unity. Good music is the aim, and that's what you get. I'll bet this band can be exciting to hear live. They are on this CD anyway!
contemporary jazz,
jazz piano trio,
john hebert
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Impressive German Electricity from the Season Standard
February 17, 2009—In my earlier days I came across an idea by I forget who. The tempo of a music, the thought goes, increases parallel to the amount of social upheaval present in the surrounding society. For the world we inhabit there are times of that sort. And today's CD is packed with music of a rapid density, for the most part. Now I don't think such an idea can be proven and there may be nothing to it ultimately, but the debut album of the German group The Season Standard (Squeeze Me Ahead of Line [Unsung]) speeds up the passing musical landscape to a captivating, exhilarating blur at times.
We're talking about a progressive rock quartet: guitar/guitar-keys/bass/drums with vocals. The drummer Simon Beyer is a remarkable anchor and fire branding energizer for the group sound. He plays a very busy, sometimes asymmetrical and always driving brand of funk-rock rhythm that sets up the band's pieces irresistibly. The music is complex and at the forefront of what can be done with what has been. Think of the funky elements of Yes, Beefheart, Zep and what followed only intensify it in a boiling, bubbling cauldron of notedness, like Mars Volta hooked up to a sophisticated music machine. There's a lot of music contained in any given minute of this disk and it is nothing throwaway. It's very good and very interesting. It rarely stops to look around. It's going somewhere relentlessly, excitingly.
Mathias Jahnig has a good sense of his instrument (guitar) and the others are similarly situated. Mathias' vocals have kind of a half-speed anchorage in the swirling musical pattern and give the band a second pivoting point (with the drums the first) in this multi-centered music. It's fascinating. It's great. I am impressed and want to hear more.
progressive rock,
the season standard
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The National: An Album of the Era
The National? I don't know how many albums they have out but their new one, High Violet just slays me. Where to start? The singer, one Berninger, has a baritone voice that has a familiar ring in its tone, Bowie, later Iggy Pop. It's direct and a little laid-back, which contrasts nicely with the lyrics, which are haunted, alienated, lost.
The songs have an alt-indie excellence that doesn't come along very often. It's a dark mood The National are in, and musically the support to the melodies is quite interesting. The songs just pop out at you in the best sort of way.
My wife is a kind of barometer for a kind of "people's" ear. When she notices what I play. even though our space is bombarded hour-after-hour with a constant deluge, I know that there is an appeal there that might be common to any hip listener. The fact that she was out in the yard (OK, I was playing this one loud) and came in and asked, "what is that?"....That says something. This is a completely irresistable record. I wont say it's a classic. It just came out, right? Well it does make me want to hear their other records. That means it tops my ear chart. You think you like? You get.
alt rock,
indie rock,
the national
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subset: commoncrawl


text: The German language is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. German is closely related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. Around the world, German is spoken by ~100 million native German speakers and also ~80 million non-native German speakers, and Standard German is widely taught in schools and universities in Europe. Worldwide, German accounts for the most written translations into and from a language. German is spoken primarily in Germany (95%), Austria (89%) and Switzerland (64%) together with Liechtenstein, Luxembourg (D-A-CH-Li-Lux) constituting the countries where German is the majority language. Other European German-speaking communities are found in Italy (Alto Adige/Südtirol), in the East Cantons of Belgium, and in some border villages of the former South Jutland County (in German, Nordschleswig, in Danish, Sønderjylland) of Denmark. Some German-speaking communities still survive in parts of Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and above all Russia and Kazakhstan, although forced expulsions after World War II and massive emigration to Germany in the 1980s and 1990s have depopulated most of these communities. German is also spoken by German-speaking foreign populations and some of their descendants in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Siberia in Russia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia).In Luxembourg and the surrounding areas, big parts of the native population speak German dialects, and some people also master standard German (especially in Luxembourg), although in the French regions of Alsace (German: Elsass) and Lorraine (German: Lothringen) French has replaced the local German dialects as the official language, even though it has not been fully replaced on the street. |


text:
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Source: KM Careers


text:
Genres: New Adult, Romance, Suspense
Instead of Prince Charming, I got Him.
I promised I'd save myself for my wedding night.
Of course, I didn't know it was going to be a fake marriage to a heavyweight MMA fighter. I couldn't have known how good it would feel to be pinned under all those muscles and tattoos, squirming, panting, and even whimpering in ecstasy.
None of us knew how deeply he was involved with the mafia.
When he disrespects them, they think they can use me to punish him.
They're wrong.
He's a tank in human form.
And he's coming for me.
Men tap out inside the ring, women surrender themselves outside of it. That's always been my specialty.
I chose Skylar because she was so innocent. A good girl like her would help sell my reformed image to the public. To corrupt her and leave her ruined for all other men would be my hottest conquest yet.
But I found more in Skylar than that. Who'd have thought that the first woman I wanted to lay more than once would be my wife?
Now they think they can take away what is mine?
Even if I have to kill every last member of the Bertolini Crime Family…
I'm coming for her.
Purchase Book 1:
I felt like I was sitting inside my own head watching a movie play out as I dropped the remains of my apple in the trash and headed towards the Tier-1 fighters' area. Uncle Malcolm wasn't here to show me what to do. All I had was less than a year of study and a general appreciation of massages to rely on. It would have to do.
The Tier-1 wing had a guard at the door who looked mean enough to actually fight for NHBFC, but he let me through when he saw my uniform and heard that Gordon had sent me at Henry's request. The hallway behind said door was just as chaotic as the ones I'd just left, but for a completely different reason.
With a smaller group of fighters to look after, and an already smaller staff diminished by illness, it was the MMA groupies making the most noise over here. Clusters of some of the most stunning girls currently in the city hovered around their favorite fighters' doors, giggling and talking loudly. It wasn't official of course, but the guard knew only to let in the best of the best.
The intensity of their beauty only served to make me feel self-conscious, as I awkwardly nudged my way through them to Austin's door. Most of them were taller than me and the tops they wore made absolutely sure to show off their breasts, at my eye-level, to maximum effect.
They made me feel like a potato in a diamond display case as I sheepishly knocked on the door. A few moments later an older guy, Austin's coach, snatched the door open.
"I told you bitches he isn't ready yet!"
"Uh, Gordon sent me? Henry said you-"
"Oh, right, yeah. He's just in the shower-"
The groupies in earshot all squealed and started talking at once.
"You come in, he'll be ready in a second, I'm stepping out. Lock it behind you. Which of you girls wants to do me a special favor so I put a good word in for you with The Killer?"
I squeezed past him as a chorus of "I do!" "I will" rang out behind me. One of them said "How come the cleaning lady gets to go in?" Another said, "I'll deepthroat your-" just as the door clicked shut.
Stepping into a Tier-1 dressing room after working on the other side for so long was like stepping into first-class on an airplane after only ever flying coach. They had all the same stuff that we had, but instead of bare concrete, there was actual paint on the walls, a permanent massage table, a brand new heavy punching bag hung from the ceiling on a chain. Plenty of bells and whistles.
Steam poured out of a cracked-open door and I could hear a shower running. I walked over and paused by the door, before knocking even more tentatively than I had on the other one.
"Austin? I'm here for the-"
"I told Ross to tell you I wasn't ready!" he yelled out.
"Uh… no I'm not… uh… I work here? Henry said you needed a massage?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll be right out."
The sound of running water stopped and I caught a flash of movement in the steamed-up mirror through the opening. Quickly, I turned and faced the other way, ashamed at the flush of excitement that came unbidden and made me bite my bottom lip without thinking about it.
After a couple minutes I felt the waft of air as the door was pulled open behind me, and turned to face him. Standing there, wearing only a towel, with beads of water dripping down his neck and torso from his hair, was fan (and my) favorite, Austin "The Killer" Aquila.
That perfectly sculpted body looked like it was made from granite by an artist with an eye for sin, then decorated with ink in designs that curled all over. His thick arms had contours that drew my eyes up to his broad shoulders, and then sent them down across his pecs and over each and every bump of his abs.
His lower abdominals formed lines that narrowed as my eyes roamed lower… lower… lower until the visual ride was abruptly cut off by the towel, which he held up by one hand.
I looked up and heard my jaw click shut when our eyes met. I only hoped I'd closed my mouth before I drooled. If I was looking at him like a piece of art, he was looking at me like a piece of food, and it took all my willpower not to find a plate to climb on to.
All heavyweights have a certain presence. It would be hard not to when you're a tank that has briefly assumed human form, but Austin had presence that almost seemed to make the air crackle between us and around him. His eyes, they were looking at me in a way that would give my dad a stroke. That brought me partway back to reality.
"Um… over there?" I pointed at the massage table.
"You sure you work here?" he asked.
"Yeah, I… I normally work in Tier-2…"
Austin closed the distance between us and leaned down towards me. My heart tried to jump up my throat to get a better view out my mouth at all that solid muscle so close to me, and my ability to breathe be damned.
"Because, if you're another girl that stole a uniform just to get in here… well, I'll have to do to you what I did to her."
A drop of water fell from his head and landed on my ear, making me flinch. The scent of soap and the faint musk of him filled my lungs as I took a deep breath to offer whatever reassurance I could.
"I promise I work here," I squeaked.
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Medal of Honor Warfighter preview
Medal of Honor: Warfighter looks to freshen up multiplayer shooters by putting players in the boots of real-life Tier 1 operatives from 10 different countries.
Ozzie MejiaJune 6, 2012 1:00 PM4QUICKTAKE: Medal of Honor: Warfighter looks to freshen up multiplayer shooters by putting players in the boots of real-life Tier 1 operatives from 10 different countries. Each of these soldiers sport different abilities and perks. One of the most enticing features is the use of fire teams, which is essentially a buddy system for two friends. Tactics and teamwork from fire teams are rewarded with quicker respawns.THE DEMO: Public demo attendees were greeted with a recorded message from Warfighter's executive producer, Greg Goodrich. After a brief introduction to Warfighter's multiplayer, attendees were thrust onto the PC battlefield for a 4v4 Sector Control match in Somalia's Pirate Town. The objective was to capture and control three different control points until one team reached a certain score or time ran out.DETAILS: Goodrich offered up a brief overview of the 10 countries who will offer their Tier 1 soldiers to Warfighter–the United States, Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Sweden, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Each of these operatives has their own advantages, perks, and abilities meant to appeal to different play styles. For example, the Polish GROM has balanced attributes suited to all-around players while the U.S. Navy SEAL is better suited for snipers.With the introductions out of the way, it was time to spring into action. I went with the Canadian JTF2, not out of a particular affinity for our neighbors in the Great White North, but because of their special suppression ability. Finding cover allowed me to set up a light machine gun atop a tripod and suppress incoming enemies with rapid fire. This was made all the more easier thanks to the infinite ammo granted by this ability. I couldn't protect my backside, so I was often at the mercy of melee attacks, but suppression fire was a blast and got me a good number of kills. It also allowed me to better cover teammates attempting to capture or protect control points.
Getting the enemy in your sights
The addition of fire teams made this round of multiplayer more interesting. Before the round started, I introduced myself to my buddy next to me and we went into the game watching each others' backs. Fire team buddies will always spawn next to one another, emphasizing a sense of camaraderie. There's also an incentive for revenge kills added, in that avenging your fallen comrade will instantly respawn them next to you.There are some kinks to work out with some of the multiplayer mechanics. One instance saw me watching through my respawn camera as my fire team buddy was exchanging bullets with an enemy player. He quickly died, but I respawned next to him a second later and took out the enemy. He never saw me coming and even I had to admit it was a cheap kill. Another issue involved the Black Hawk helicopter ability of the JTF2, which changes spawn points to inch closer to a target and can be easily abused. I was able to sneak up to the Black Hawk's deployment area, so I started picking off spawning players like fish in a barrel.Despite some of these hiccups, the Warfighter Sector Control match was a lot of fun. There was still the occasional fragfest, but the players in this demo all worked cohesively, combining perks and abilities to complete the objective. It was fun to watch my suppression fire back up a U.S. SFOD-D calling in backup in the form of a strafe attack from above.Medal of Honor: Warfighter arrives for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 on October 23.


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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A woman who lost her job at a clothing embroidery plant while she was pregnant said she had no idea of federal laws designed to protect her employment until she contacted a lawyer, and she has filed a federal complaint against the company.
Gillian Thomas, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told The News & Observer of Raleigh that Kendall Todd should have been advised about federal protections by her employer.
"That's what an employer should do," said Thomas, who has taken up Todd's case. "Kendall Todd should not have been put through this."
Todd worked at Royal Threads, an Aberdeen-based company that embroiders logos on promotional products and apparel. She had to stand for most of her 10-hour shift, which paid $8.75 an hour, she said, adding that the job also required lifting boxes of apparel that could weigh 20 pounds.
When Todd became pregnant in August 2015 and developed morning sickness, she had difficulty sleeping at night, sometimes had to make urgent trips to the restroom outside her work breaks and once needed an ambulance to take her to the hospital because of abdominal pain.
"As a result of my severe pregnancy symptoms, I sometimes arrived late, had to leave early, or had to stay home," Todd said in a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "I never was informed that my attendance was jeopardizing my job."
Thomas said Royal Threads violated the federal Family and Medical Leave Act by punishing Todd for attendance infractions while not taking similar actions against workers who weren't pregnant. She said the company further violated the act by not offering Todd a less strenuous job while she was expecting.
The company declined to comment to the newspaper, and Royal Threads owner Lori Pry didn't immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.
With no income and a young son to care for, Todd applied for unemployment in December. That's when she learned her former employer was contending she walked off the job and was ineligible for benefits. Todd's boyfriend then contacted the ACLU, and she learned of the federal protections she said she was never told about.
The couple was forced to live for several months in a homeless shelter before family helped them pay for an apartment in Durham. Her daughter was born in the spring.


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This offseason hasn't gone exactly to plan for the New York Yankees. They uncharacteristically backed off of pursuing big time free agents and are trying a "bargain bin" approach for 2013. Then it was released that Alex Rodriguez was going to need hip surgery, again. Then came the Biogenesis mess which - and, of course, this was going to happen - A-Rod was linked too. Then Curtis Granderson took a fastball off of the forearm in a spring training game, breaking said forearm. Then, Mark Teixeira strained his right wrist while working out with Team USA in preparation for the WBC. Last week however, ESPN reported that Tex's injury is a more serious partially torn tendon sheath. Michael Pineda still can't find his way to a mound, and might have the only shoulder that is worse off than Tommy Hanson's, and none of this would be complete without mentioning how Derek Jeter is likely to start the season on the DL for the first time since 2001. Are you with me so far? It's a lot to digest, I know, but this really has been the offseason from hell for the pinstriped ones.
Enter Jerry Dipoto, Vernon Wells and a panicking Brian Cashman.
According to Buster Olney, the Dipoto had approached Cashman at the winter meetings about a possible deal that included sending Wells to New York. And at the time, as any GM not named Tony Reagins would do, Cashman said "No." Of course, at the time, Cashman had a full roster of veteran players and had no real use for a fourth outfielder who would be making as much as Vernon Wells would. My, oh my. What a difference three months can make, because now, not only is Cashman willing to trade for Wells, but he's also willing to take on - reportedly - $13MM of the remaining salary as well. I imagine the conversation went something like this:
Dipoto: So, Brian, how about we talk about Vernon Wells again? You've had quite the slew of...
Cashman: I'll do it, but I'm only eating $13MM of the salary he's owed.
Dipoto: *Turns to Arte Moreno and whispers* Um, Arte, he's going to give us money to take Wells off of our hands.
Moreno: ¿Cuanto?
Dipoto: 13 sir.
Moreno: ¡HIJO DE PUTA! Do it mijo!
Dipoto: Ahem. Yeah, Brian, That'll wor....
Cashman: OK, good. Now let's talk personnel.
Dipoto: ..........
I asked Jerry Dipoto if there were any transcripts of the conversation between him and Brian Cashman. He asked me how I had gotten his cell phone number.
Twitter, of course, exploded. Angels fans rejoiced and Yankees fans were last seen mobilizing for a march on Times Square. I guess that's what happens when a team trades for a player who over the last two seasons has only been good enough for a -0.3 bWAR and posted a slash line of .222/.258/.409. At least he got to hang out with Mike Trout and Captain Morgan during that time. So far, there has been no news of any player(s) heading out to Los Angeles (Anaheim) as part of the deal, but at this point, I doubt Angels fans actually care. The last stamp from Tony Reagins' reign has been removed, which is probably plenty good enough for them.


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It was the year 1937.
The freight car stood all day beneath a row of trees in China to protect them from enemy planes. It was filled with missionaries feeling the approaching Japanese army. The Chinese landscape was bleak, the heat oppressive.
A lone Japanese guard walked the platform—back and forth, back and forth—eyeing the occupants each time he passed.
His face was inscrutable. The staccato comments to a few nearby soldiers sounded threatening. The missionaries prayed silently, expecting the worst, praying for darkness so they could move on.
Darkness came, and as the train began to move, the guard approached and quickly handed his holding fan to one of the missionaries.
As the train picked up speed, the missionary gratefully unfolded the fan to find relief from the unrelenting heat. Inside the fan was written:
"God bless you. I too Christian."
Taken by permission from "Legacy of a Pack Rat," By Ruth Bell Graham. ©1989, The Ruth Bell Graham Literary Trust.


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I have no excuses. Not only have I not blogged in almost a month, I haven't baked in almost as long. A few years ago this would have been unheard of! But at the moment it's an unfortunate side-effect of my life. The last baking I did was for a dear friend's wedding in January, they asked me to make some personalised macarons for them and I was super excited to make something special. The requested macarons were purple elephants and black skulls, which was quite an interesting challenge. I just had to share the purple elephants with you guys, they are so darn adorable I can't stand it. I think they might be my favourite of all the animal macarons I've made so far (though the cats are a close second). They were also the hardest to pipe, I had to use a stencil on my baking paper for the first time.
The tusks are made from slivered almonds (I was pretty proud of this, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment in a supermarket aisle while trying to figure out what to use), and the ears are big heart sprinkles. I made about 80 of these stumpy, cute, fat little elephants, which was a rather slow and painful process. But totally worth it in the end. The filling was a blueberry ganache, while the black skulls (I didn't remember to take any photos of them unfortch) were filled with a mango buttercream. I think (hope) the macarons went down well at the wedding. Anyway I finally got off my bum and edited the few shots I managed to grab of these little dudes before I shipped them off to the wedding, so here you go!
Blueberry Purple Elephant Macarons
(recipe adapted from Trissalicious)
For the macarons:
Note: this method uses an Italian meringue. If you prefer, you can continue to use the French method I normally use. If you are a beginner with macarons read up and practice plain macarons first. BraveTart has lots of useful advice and info on the subject
Almond Meal Paste:
125g almond meal
125g icing/confectioner's sugar
50g egg whites
Italian Meringue:
125g caster (granulated) sugar
35g water
50g egg whites
Pinch of egg white powder
Purple powdered/gel food colouring, heart sprinkles and slivered almonds + black food colouring to decorate
- To achieve the elephant shape, I cut an elephant shaped stencil out of cardboard and traced the shape on to sheets of baking paper for piping. Remember you need to make half the elephants piped to face the left, and the other half to face to the right so that you have mirror images that can be sandwiched together.
- In a food processor, blend the almond meal, icing sugar together for a minute, then add egg whites and blitz for a couple seconds to form a paste. Set aside.
- To make the Italian meringue, place the caster sugar in a saucepan. Add the water and make sure that the sugar is dampened. Heat the mixture and bring this to a boil (do not stir). Place a candy thermometer in the syrup and take the temperature of 118°C (245°F)
- While the sugar is cooking, beat the egg whites and egg white powder using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat at medium speed until the eggs become foamy. Continue beating on high until stiff peaks form.
- Stop the syrup from cooking once it reaches 118°C (245°F) and take this off the heat and let the bubbling subside for a few seconds. Pour the syrup in a thin, steady stream over the beaten egg whites while the continuing to whisk at medium speed.
- When all the syrup has been added, (add food colouring here) continue to beat until glossy and meringue has cooled to room temperature (around 10 to 15 minutes).
- Using a silicone spatula, fold a third of Italian meringue into the almond mixture to loosen it. Then, fold in the rest of the Italian meringue. (You really want to beat all the large bubbles out of the mixture, which is easily done by smearing the mixture on the bottom and side of the bowl with your spatula) Continue folding and stirring until the batter is glossy, and fluid. Take care not to overmix, the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after about 30 seconds.
- Place 1/3 of the mixture in a piping bag with a very narrow tip (1-2mm) and the remaining mixture in a piping bag with a slightly wider (about 0.5cm) round piping tip. Use the wider tipped bag to fill in the body of the elephant, then the narrower tip to add on the legs and trunk of the elephant. Tap baking trays carefully and firmly on the benchtop a couple times to remove any large bubbles.
- Decorate each shell with a half piece of slivered almond for the tusk and a pink heart for the ear (if you can't get big enough sprinkles, you can also use rolled pink starburst chew lollies or pipe royal icing on the baked shells).
- Leave to dry for about 60 mins, until when you press the surface of one gently it does not break/stick to your finger. This will help prevent any cracking and help the feet to form on the macs.
- Preheat your oven to 130-150°C (265-300°F), depending on your oven (fan-forced ovens may need to be set as low as 100°C, it really depends) . You can place the tray of piped shells on top of an upside-down roasting tray or another baking tray, for better heat distribution.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Carefully test if the base of the shell is ready by gently lifting one and if it's still soft and sticking to the baking paper, then it needs to bake for a few minutes longer.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Use a black edible ink pen or a skewer dipped into black food colouring to draw on the eyes.
For the Blueberry Filling:
Note: You can replace the blueberry sauce with store-bought blueberry jam to save time
100g (1.7oz) blueberry (fresh or frozen), pitted and diced
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
A few drops of pure vanilla extract
3 tsp cornflour (cornstarch) + 1 tsp cold water
3 tsp powdered gelatine
100g (3.5oz) good quality white chocolate, finely chopped
- Prepare the blueberry filling first; place blueberries, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a small saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir over heat until sugar dissolves.
- Mix cornflour and water together in a separate small bowl then add to the saucepan with gelatine powder and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens and gelatine dissolves, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside to cool then blitz mixture in a food processor.
- Place blueberry mixture and chopped white chocolate in a heatproof bowl and stir over a pot of simmering water until the chocolate melts and the mixture combines (if chocolate splits, add 1 tsp of water at a time and stir over heat until mixture reincorporates).
- Chill mixture until it thickens (if it is too runny, you can melt more white chocolate into it), and then pipe mixture between macarons shells.
- Chill macarons in an airtight container overnight to allow flavour to mature. Serve at room temperature.


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I'm excited to announce that Caroline Simard, Ph.D., associate director of Diversity and Leadership at Stanford School of Medicine and a STEM diversity consultant, will be this year's keynote speaker at the Red Hat Women's Leadership Community Luncheon. This complimentary luncheon is open to the public and will take place on Wednesday, April 16, 2014, during Red Hat Summit 2014 in San Francisco.
Simard leads Diversity and Innovation Services for Exponential Talent LLC, a human capital and diversity consulting firm. She also serves as associate director of Diversity and Leadership at the Stanford School of Medicine, where she is responsible for the implementation of a pilot initiative to increase the work-life integration and career development of faculty.
Prior to joining Stanford, Simard led the Anita Borg Institute's research and executive program initiatives. Her research on the barriers facing women in technology received national attention. She led the design, data collection and analysis, writing and dissemination of the Institute's first major research initiative, "Climbing the Technical Ladder: Obstacles and Solutions for Mid-Level Women in Technology." In addition, she has published major reports on underrepresented minorities in technology, employee retention strategies, attributes of senior technical women and issues facing K-12 computer science education. She is on the board of the Ada Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women in open source technology.
Simard holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from Stanford University and a master's in Communication and Information Studies from Rutgers University. She is a board member of The Ada Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the representation of women in open source technology, and an advisor for Global TechWomen, a newly formed organization dedicated to supporting women in technology around the world.
Simard is passionate about building better workplaces for women and underrepresented minority talent in STEM fields. She hopes to help create a worldwide platform for women to successfully realize and achieve their own definition of success.
Space at the luncheon will be limited. If you're interested in attending, please pre-register by sending an email to email@example.com.
Hope to see you there!
- WHAT: Red Hat Women's Leadership Community Luncheon
- WHEN: Wednesday, April 16, 2014, 11:50 a.m. – 1:10 p.m. PT
- WHERE: Golden Gate Ballroom, Marriott Marquis, Red Hat Summit 2014
- REGISTER: Email email@example.com
我们是世界领先的企业开源解决方案供应商,提供包括 Linux、云、容器和 Kubernetes。我们致力于提供经过安全强化的解决方案,从核心数据中心到网络边缘,让企业能够更轻松地跨平台和环境运营。


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The Modular Controller provides a platform that can be updated to operate in a wide variety of applications by simply plugging in I/O modules that meet the requirements of the application. Upon installation of modules, the CSMSTR automatically identifies and addresses connected slave modules simplifying deployments and reducing technical requirements. The CSMSTR automatically configures modules if they are replaced, by storing configuration files of each associated module.
The CSMSTR Modular Controller provides high-speed RS232/422/485 communication ports and a 10/100Base-T(X) Ethernet port for connection to PCs, PLCs, and SCADA systems. An extensive list of master and slave protocol drivers are available to allow the CSMSTR to share and exchange variable data with external devices.
The CSMSTR offers a virtual HMI feature allowing for monitoring and control of an HMI from any networked PC. The virtual HMI is available in three different resolutions (320 x 240 or 640 x 480 or 1280 x 720).


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Hi Everyone! I'm Lissie and this lovely lady in pink is my partner in awesomeness Sawako Lilly! Welcome to our blog and all the wonderful secrets it contains! Please look at the tabs on the top to navigate. You can go and read all the episodes of Lissie & Lilly and see our adventures in full color glory, as well as see where our little sister Josie is now in her travels and read her travel log. It's no easy thing for a mini doll to travel so far and wide you know, as we're all jealous of the cool places she gets to go.
Perhaps you covet with a shameless heart our wonderful closet of magic and mystery. Learn more about the outfits in the reviews, and see how the outfits look on all the girls at L&L in our closet! In the links section is a plethora of wonderful resources and other blogs that we love and stalk discreetly. Come meet all of us heroic, dashing, fearless girls at L&L and learn more about who each of us are!
There are also paper dolls and color pages for those who are looking for something to do. Or mayhap you want to peruse the history of sales that AG has had in the past? The the Sales History is the place for you. Eyes are the windows to the soul so come stare into all our eyes and compare the different colors AG offers in eyes. We're constantly growing and adding more pages and content so check back often for the latest fun and gory excitement!
Enjoy your stay here and be sure to follow us to stay up to date on all of our antics! ^_^


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There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing my children enjoying a good book! Well, almost nothing. A simple craft project that has a great purpose is also one of my favorite things! Today's craft project of Pom-Pom Bookmarks (which can be for your kids and you) is just that: simple and totally functional.
Plus, anything is adorable with a pom-pom attached to it, right? Paper and paint chip bookmarks, with a handmade pom-pom attached, are so adorable to look at, you will want to hand these out as gifts or favors. Just make certain to keep some for yourself so you can cozy-up with your favorite story and mark your place when you take a break!
Ready to learn how to make these bookmarks? Great! Let's begin.
Paint Chip & Pom-Pom Bookmarks
Supplies for Paint Chip & Pom-Pom Bookmarks:
- Paper (Construction Paper, Craft Paper, Card Stock Paper) and Paint Chips
- Hole Puncher
- Scissors
- Yarn
- Markers or Crayons (optional)
1. Cut a rectangular strip of paper. The size doesn't really matter but should about about 3 inches wide by 7 or 8 inches long.
2. Cut a small triangle (upside down "v" shape) on one short side of the rectangle to form the bottom of your bookmark. This is really an optional step and smaller children may need help from an adult. This step makes the bookmark look more ribbon-like.
At this point children can draw on the bookmark or even write their names.
3. Next punch two holes (one right next to the other) at the top of the bookmark.
You can also use paint chips to form your bookmarks but remember to cut away the portions of the "chip" that may have wording on it.
4. Now you are ready to make your pom-poms! To do this gently wrap yarn around two fingers and continue wrapping until you have wrapped a pretty thick bundle. Normally between 25 to 35 wraps will do the trick. Snip off the yarn keeping the wrap around two fingers then slip the wrapped yarn off of the fingers.
5. Your yarn will look like a little bundle of yarn in a circle. Around this "circle" in the center tie a longer piece of yarn tightly.
6. Snip the loops on either side of the center tie to form your pom pom. Trim if you wish to make a thicker looking pom pom.
7. Thread the long yarn ends through each of the punched holes on the same side then tie in the back into a knot or a bow.
You are finished and your pom-pom bookmarks are complete! Now you can keep making them with endless possibilities of color combination in both your paper (or paint chip) choices and your yarn color.
Now go and grab your favorite book because you have just made the best bookmark on the planet to keep your place!


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