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Gregg Allman, whose hard-jamming, bluesy sextet the Allman Brothers Band was the pioneering unit in the Southern rock explosion of the '70s, died Saturday due to currently unknown causes. He was 69.
As recently as April 24, reports surfaced claiming Allman was in hospice. His manager previously denied those reports to Variety, which Allman then substantiated in a Facebook post. However, he had suffered a number of ailments in recent years — including an irregular heartbeat, a respiratory infection, a hernia and a liver transplant — and cancelled many scheduled tour dates in recent months due to undisclosed health reasons.
For his work with the Allman Brothers, the legendary band he cofounded with his late brother Duane, and as a solo artist, Allman is one of the leading lights of Southern Rock. While the group's greatest work was done before and shortly after Duane's death in 1971, they stayed together, off and on, over 45 years and remain a singular influence on Southern rock and jam-band musicians. They were a top-drawing touring outfit until October 2014, when the group finally closed the book on their career with a series of dates at their longtime favorite venue, New York's Beacon Theatre.
With his older sibling, guitarist Duane Allman, the singer-keyboardist-guitarist-songwriter led one of the most popular concert attractions of the rock ballroom era; the group's 1971 set "At Fillmore East," recorded at Bill Graham's New York hall, was a commercial breakthrough that showed off the band's prodigious songcraft and instrumental strengths.
After Duane Allman's death in a motorcycle accident weeks after the live album's release, his younger brother led the band through four more stormy decades of playing and recording. The Allman Brothers Band's latter-day history proved tumultuous, with other fatalities, disbandings, regroupings and very public battles with drugs and alcohol on the part of its surviving namesake.
Though Gregg Allman's highly publicized addictions, his tabloid-ready marriage to pop vocalist Cher, and his equally public disputes with co-founding guitarist Dickey Betts came under harsh and sometimes mocking scrutiny over the years, Allman prevailed as the linchpin of an act that maintained popularity over four decades and opened the commercial door for such other Southern acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Marshall Tucker Band.
As a member of the Allman Brothers Band, Allman was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
He was born Gregory LeNoir Allman on Dec. 8, 1947, in Nashville; brother Duane was born 13 months earlier in the same hospital. In 1949, his father was shot to death by a man he offered a ride to in a bar. As their mother was studying accounting to support the family, the brothers were sent to a Tennessee military school at an early age.
The Allmans became attracted to music after seeing a 1960 concert by R&B singer Jackie Wilson in Daytona Beach, FL, where the family had moved the year before. Using money from a paper route (augmented by his mother), Gregg bought a guitar, and taught Duane his first chords. Both played guitar in the bands they founded after returning to the military academy in their teens.
Their pro bands the Escorts and the Allman Joys, which favored R&B, blues and rock covers, found work on the Florida club circuit in the mid-'60s; Gregg began playing keyboards in the latter unit. The Allman Joys were playing without success in St. Louis when Bill McEuen, manager of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, met them and offered to set them up in Los Angeles.
Renamed Hour Glass, the L.A.-based group cut two unsuccessful pop-oriented albums for Liberty Records in 1967-68. Duane chafed at the direction being forced on the combo and fled for Alabama, where he became a prominent session guitarist at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Gregg remained in L.A. to fulfill obligations to Liberty, but was summoned to Jacksonville, FL, in 1969 by his brother, who envisioned a new blues-based band with two guitarist and two drummers, featuring members of another local combo, the 31st of February.
Calling themselves the Allman Brothers Band, the new unit – the Allmans, guitarist Betts, bassist Berry Oakley and drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson – was signed by Otis Redding's former manager Phil Walden for management and as an act on his Macon, GA-based label Capricorn Records. The group moved to Macon, which became its base for the duration.
Neither of the ABB's first two albums was an enormous success: Its self-titled bow peaked at No. 188 in 1969, while sophomore set "Idlewild South" topped out at No. 38 in 1970. But they established Gregg Allman as a vocal, instrumental and songwriting power: His compositions included such future staples of the band's live set as "Not My Cross to Bear," "Dreams," "Whipping Post" and "Midnight Rider."
Though problems with hard drug abuse were already surfacing in the band, the Allmans became a huge concert attraction in the South; the enthusiastic sponsorship of promoter Graham led to high-profile gigs at New York's Filllmore East (where the band attained a rabid following) and San Francisco's Fillmore.
The Allmans made their commercial mark with "At Fillmore East": The expansive, Tom Dowd-produced two-record set, recorded during two nights at the venue, shot to No.13 ultimately sold more than 1 million copies and became one of the defining concert recordings of its day. However, Duane Allman's tragic death at 24 on a Macon street on Oct. 29, 1971, cast a shadow over its success.
The band completed a follow-up two-LP set, "Eat a Peach," as a quintet, with live numbers featuring Duane filling out the contents. The 1972 package rose to No. 4 nationally and went platinum, but disaster again struck: In a mishap eerily similar to Duane Allman's fatal crash, hard-drinking bassist Oakley died after driving his bike into the side of a truck that November.
Shaken by the deaths of his brother and Oakley and increasingly incapacitated by heroin, cocaine and alcohol, Gregg Allman ceded much of the band's songwriting and front man duties to Betts; as he noted in "My Cross to Bear," his 2012 memoir, "Up until then, we'd never really had a front man; Dickey took it upon himself to create that role."
The ABB released its only No. 1 album, "Brothers and Sisters," in 1973; the record was powered to the top by the Betts-penned No. 2 single "Ramblin' Man," the group's only top-10 45.
Allman retreated from the group to cut his solo debut "Laid Back" in 1973; rising to No. 13, it would be his most popular work away from the band for nearly 40 years, and it spawned his only top-20 solo single, a down-tempo remake of "Midnight Rider."
On the heels of the lugubrious but popular "Win, Lose or Draw" (No. 5, 1975), the group set out on its biggest, and costliest, tour to date. The ABB flew to its dates on a lavishly appointed private jet previously used by the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin; in his book, Allman recalls, "The first time we walked onto the plane, 'Welcome Allman Brothers' was spelled out in cocaine on the bar."
The ABB returned from the 41-date tour with a mere $100,000 in hand, owing to over-the-top spending. This financial catastrophe was compounded by the indictment of the group's security man (and Allman's drug bag man) Scooter Herring on cocaine distribution charges; Allman testified against Herring before a grand jury and at his trial, which netted a 75-year prison sentence.
Addicted to heroin and embroiled in inter-band conflict with Betts, Allman began spending more time in Los Angeles with Cher, whom he had wed in June 1975. The incongruous couple was followed avidly by gossip columnists. In the wake of an unsuccessful 1977 solo album, "Playin' Up a Storm" (No. 42), Allman and Cher released their only duo album, "Two the Hard Way"; embarrassingly credited to "Allman and Woman," the set failed to chart, and its accompanying tour witnessed scuffles between hostile camps of fans in the audiences. Allman and Cher divorced in 1978.
Membership in the ABB rotated repeatedly for the remainder of the group's career, which saw ever-diminishing contributions from writer Allman. He authored just one song for the group's final Capricorn album, "Enlightened Rogues" (No. 27, 1979); the financially unstable imprint crashed within a year of its release. Allman was also a minor contributor to a pair of slick, poorly received albums for Arista Records in 1980-81.
During the band's protracted hiatus of the '80s, Allman issued a pair of solo sets; the more popular of the two, 1987's "I'm No Angel" (No. 30, 1987), spawned the titular radio hit.
Encouraged by airplay on the burgeoning "classic rock" radio format, the ABB reconvened for a 1989 tour. In 1990, the group recorded "Seven Turns" (No. 53) with "Fillmore East" producer Tom Dowd; the group also began multi-night residencies at New York's Beacon Theatre, which became an annual tradition. They issued four commercially unrewarding albums – two studio sets and two concert releases – between 1991 and 1995.
Following a drunken appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York in January 1995, onetime junkie Allman, after 11 stints in rehab, finally stopped drinking on his own, under the 24-hour watch of two nurses.
Following the exit of longtime guitarist Warren Haynes and bassist Allen Woody and the recruitment of Butch Trucks' young nephew Derek Trucks on guitar, the ABB cut the live "Peakin' at the Beacon" in 2000. Tension within the band had reached the breaking point, and, following a severely worded fax to Betts from the other members and subsequent legal arbitration, the Allman Brothers Band's other founding guitarist made his exit.
The front line of Allman, Haynes and Derek Trucks and the group's founding drummers were heard on the Allman Brothers Band's studio collection "Hittin' the Note" (No. 37, 2003) and the live "One Way Out" (No. 190, 2004). After 45 years in business, the band was formally dissolved after an October 2014 show at the Beacon.
Allman's old habits caught up with him in the '00s. Diagnosed with hepatitis C – a disease common to intravenous drug users – in 2007, he learned that he was suffering from liver cancer in 2008. He underwent successful liver transplant surgery at the Mayo Clinic in 2010.
Before his surgery, Allman entered the studio to record his first solo album in 13 years. "Low Country Blues," a striking and powerful recital of old blues songs, augmented by one Allman-Haynes original and produced by T Bone Burnett (Alison Krauss/Robert Plant, Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, "O Brother Where Art Thou?"), garnered the best reviews of his career, collected a Grammy Award nomination and became his highest-charting solo release, reaching No. 5 in early 2011.
However, health problems and catastrophe continued to dog him. He cut short a 2011 European tour because of respiratory issues, which ultimately mandated lung surgery. He faced a drug relapse spurred by painkillers, and did a stint in rehab. In 2014, a film based on his 2012 memoir, "Midnight Rider," ceased production after a camera assistant on director Randall Miller's feature was killed by a freight train on the first day of shooting.
Married and divorced six times, Allman is survived by three sons and two daughters, all by different mothers. Four of the children are professional musicians.
Gregg Allman
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|Gregg Allman
Allman performing in 2011
|Gregory LeNoir Allman
December 8, 1947
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
|May 27, 2017 (aged 69)
Savannah, Georgia, U.S.
|Cause of death
|Complications from liver cancer
|Years active
|Shelley Jefts (m. 1971; div. 1972)
Janice Mulkey (m. 1973; div. 1974)
Cher (m. 1975; div. 1979)
Julie Bindas (m. 1979; div. 1984)
Danielle Galliano (m. 1989; div. 1994)
Stacey Fountain (m. 2001; div. 2008)
|5; including Devon and Elijah Blue
|Musical career
|Associated acts
Gregory LeNoir "Gregg" Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter.
He is best known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. He was born and spent much of his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee, before relocating to Daytona Beach, Florida. He and his brother, Duane Allman, developed an interest in music in their teens, and began performing in the Allman Joys in the mid-1960s. In 1967, they relocated to Los Angeles and were renamed the Hour Glass, releasing two albums for Liberty Records. In 1969, he and Duane regrouped to form the Allman Brothers Band, which settled in Macon, Georgia.
The Allman Brothers Band began to reach mainstream success by the early 1970s, with their live album At Fillmore East representing a commercial and artistic breakthrough. Shortly thereafter, Duane was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1971. The following year, the band's bassist, Berry Oakley was also killed in a motorcycle accident very close to the location of Duane's wreck. Their 1973 album Brothers and Sisters became their biggest hit, and Allman pursued a solo career afterward, releasing his debut album, Laid Back the same year. Internal turmoil took over the group, leading to a 1975 breakup. Allman was married to pop star Cher for the rest of the decade, while he continued his solo career with the Gregg Allman Band. After a brief Allman Brothers reunion and a decade of little activity, he reached an unexpected peak with the hit single "I'm No Angel" in 1987. After two more solo albums, the Allman Brothers reformed for a third and final time in 1989, and continued performing until 2014. He released his most recent solo album, Low Country Blues, in 2011, and his next, Southern Blood, is set to be released in 2017.
For his work in music, Allman was referred to as a Southern rock pioneer[1] and received numerous awards, including several Grammys; he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. His distinctive voice placed him in 70th place in the Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time".[2] Allman released an autobiography, My Cross to Bear, in 2012.
Early life
Allman was born Gregory LeNoir Allman at St. Thomas Hospital on December 8, 1947 in Nashville, Tennessee, to Willis Turner Allman and Geraldine Robbins Allman.[3] The couple had met during World War II in Raleigh, North Carolina, when Allman was on leave from the U.S. Army, and were later married. They moved to Vanleer, Tennessee, in 1945.[citation needed] Their first child, Duane Allman, was born in Nashville in 1946.
In 1949, Willis Allman, having been recently promoted to captain, offered a hitchhiker a ride home and was subsequently shot and killed.[4]Geraldine moved to Nashville with her two sons, and she never remarried.[5] Lacking money to support her children, she enrolled in college to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)—state laws at the time, according to her son, required students to live on-campus.[6] As a result, Gregg and his older brother were sent to Castle Heights Military Academy in nearby Lebanon.[3] A young Gregg interpreted these actions as evidence of his mother's dislike for him, though he later came to understand the reality: "She was actually sacrificing everything she possibly could—she was working around the clock, getting by just by a hair, so as to not send us to an orphanage, which would have been a living hell."[7]
While his brother adapted to his surroundings with a defiant attitude, Allman felt largely depressed at the school. With little to do, he studied often and developed an interest in medicine—had he not gone into music, he hoped to become a dentist.[8] He was rarely hazed at Castle Heights as his brother protected him, but often suffered beatings from instructors when he received poor grades.[9] The brothers returned to Nashville upon their mother's graduation. Growing up, he continually fought with Duane, though he knew that he loved him and that it was typical of brothers. Duane was a mischievous older child, who constantly played pranks on his younger sibling.[10] The family moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1959.[6] Gregg tended to look forward to his summer breaks, where he spent time with his uncles in Nashville, who he came to view in a fatherly regard.[11] Allman would later recall two separate events in his life that led to his interest in music. In 1960, the two brothers attended a concert in Nashville with Jackie Wilson headlining alongside Otis Redding, B.B. King, and Patti LaBelle.[8] Allman was also exposed to music through Jimmy Banes, a mentally challenged neighbor of his grandmother in Nashville. Banes introduced Allman to the guitar and the two began spending time on his porch each day as he played music.[12]
Gregg worked as a paperboy to afford a Silvertone guitar, which he purchased at a Sears when he saved up enough funds.[6] He and his brother often fought to play the instrument, though there was "no question that music brought" the two together.[13] In Daytona, they joined a YMCA group called the Y Teens, their first experience performing music with others.[14] He and Duane returned to Castle Heights in their teen years, where they formed a band, the Misfits.[15] Despite this, he still felt "lonesome and out of place," and quit the academy.[16] He returned to Daytona Beach and pursued music further, and the duo formed another band, the Shufflers, in 1963.[14] He attended high school at Seabreeze High School, where he graduated in 1965.[17]However, he grew undisciplined in his studies as his interests diverged: "Between the women and the music, school wasn't a priority anymore."[18]
Music career
Early bands (1960–1968)
"We would rehearse every day in the club, go have lunch, rehearse some more, go home and take a shower, then go to the gig. Sometimes we would rehearse after we got home from the gig too, just get out the acoustics and play. The next day, we'd go have breakfast, go rehearse, and do it all over again. We rehearsed constantly."
—Allman on his musical evolution[19]
The two Allman brothers began meeting various musicians in the Daytona Beach area. They met a man named Floyd Miles, and they began to jam with his band, the Houserockers. "I would just sit there and study Floyd […] I studied how he phrased his songs, how he got the words out, and how the other guys sang along with him," he would later recall.[20] They later formed their first "real" band, the Escorts, which performed a mix of top 40 and rhythm and blues music at clubs around town.[21] Duane, who took the lead vocal role on early demos, encouraged his younger brother to sing instead.[22] He and Duane often spent all of their money on records as educational material, as they attempted to learn songs from them. The group performed constantly as music became their entire focus; Allman missed his high school graduation because he was performing that evening.[23] In his autobiography, Allman recalls listening to Nashville R&B station WLAC at night and discovering artists such as Muddy Waters, which later became central to his musical evolution.[19] He narrowly missed being drafted into the Vietnam War by intentionally shooting himself in the foot.[24]
The Escorts evolved into the Allman Joys, the brothers' first successful band. After a successful summer run locally, they hit the road in fall 1965 for a series of performances throughout the Southeast; their first show outside of Daytona was at the Stork Club in Mobile, Alabama—where they were booked for 22 weeks straight.[25] Afterwards, they were booked at the Sahara Club in nearby Pensacola, Florida, for several weeks.[26] Allman later regarded Pensacola as "a real turning point in my life," as it was where he learned how to capture audiences and about stage presence.[27] He also received his first Vox keyboard there, and learned how to play it over the ensuing tour.[28] By the following summer, they were able to book time at a studio in Nashville, where they recorded several songs, aided by a plethora of drugs. These recordings were later released as Early Allman in 1973, to Allman's dismay.[29] He soon grew tired of performing covers and began writing original compositions.[30] They settled in St. Louis for a time, where in the spring of 1967 they began performing alongside Johnny Sandlin and Paul Hornsby, among others, under various names. They considered disbanding, but Bill McEuen, manager of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, convinced the band to relocate to Los Angeles, outright giving them the funds to do so.[31]
He arranged a recording contract with Liberty Records in June 1967,[32] and they began to record an album under the new name the Hour Glass, suggested by their producer, Dallas Smith. Recording was a difficult experience; "the music had no life to it—it was poppy, preprogrammed shit," Allman felt.[33] Though they considered themselves sellouts, they needed money to live.[33] At concerts, they declined to play anything off their debut album, released that October, instead opting to play the blues.[34] Such gigs were sparse, however, as Liberty only allowed one performance per month.[35] After some personnel changes, they recorded their second album, Power of Love, released in March 1968. It contained more original songs by Allman, though they still felt constricted by its process. They embarked on a small tour, and recorded some new demos at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.[36] Liberty disliked the recordings, and the band broke up when Duane explicitly told off executives. They threatened to freeze the band, so they would be unable to record for any other label for seven years.[37]Allman stayed behind to appease the label, giving them the rights to a solo album. The rest of the band mocked Allman, viewing him as too scared to leave and return to the South.[37]
Meanwhile, Duane Allman had returned to Florida where he met Butch Trucks, a drummer in the band the 31st of February. In October 1968, the 31st of February, aided by Gregg and Duane Allman, recorded several songs.[38] Allman returned to Los Angeles to fulfill his deal with Liberty, writing more original songs on the Hammond organ at the studio.[39] Duane began doing session work at Fame in Muscle Shoals during this time, where he began putting together a new band. He phoned his brother with the proposition of joining the new band—which would have two guitarists and two drummers. With his deal at Liberty fulfilled, he drove to Jacksonville, Florida, in March 1969 to jam with the new band. Allman at first thought two drummers would be a tortuous experience, but found himself pleasantly surprised by the successful jam.[40] He called the birth of the group "one of the finer days in my life […] I was starting to feel like I belonged to something again."[41]
The Allman Brothers Band and mainstream success
Formation and touring (1969–1971)
The Allman Brothers Band moved to Macon, Georgia,[42] and forged a strong brotherhood, spending countless hours rehearsing, consuming psychedelic drugs, and hanging out in Rose Hill Cemetery, where they would write songs—"I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my way with a lady or two down there," said Allman.[43][44] The group remade old blues numbers like "Trouble No More" and "One Way Out", in addition to improvised jams such as "Mountain Jam".[45] Gregg, who had struggled to write in the past, became the band's sole songwriter, composing songs such as "Whipping Post" and "Black-Hearted Woman."[46] The group's self-titled debut album was released in November 1969 through Atco and Capricorn Records,[47] but received a poor commercial response, selling less than 35,000 copies upon initial release.[48] The band played continuously in 1970, performing over 300 dates on the road,[49][50] which contributed to a larger following.[51] Oakley's wife rented a large Victorian home in Macon and the band moved into what they dubbed "the Big House" in March 1970.[52] Their second record, Idlewild South (named after a farmhouse on a lake outside of Macon they rented),[53] was issued by Atco and Capricorn Records in September 1970, less than a year after their debut.[53]
Their fortunes began to change over the course of 1971, where the band's average earnings doubled.[54] "We realized that the audience was a big part of what we did, which couldn't be duplicated in a studio. A lightbulb finally went off; we needed to make a live album," said Allman.[55] At Fillmore East, recorded at the Fillmore East in New York, was released in July 1971 by Capricorn.[56] While previous albums by the band had taken months to hit the charts (often near the bottom of the top 200), the record started to climb the charts after a matter of days.[57] At Fillmore East peaked at number thirteen on Billboard's Top Pop Albums chart, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America that October, becoming their commercial and artistic breakthrough.[57] Although suddenly very wealthy and successful, much of the band and its entourage now struggled with addiction to numerous drugs; they all agreed to quit heroin, but cocaine remained a problem.[58] His last conversation with his brother was an argument over the substance, in which Gregg lied. In his autobiography, Allman wrote: "I have thought of that lie every day of my life […] told him that lie, and he told me that he was sorry and that he loved me."[59]
Shortly after At Fillmore East was certified gold in domestic sales, Duane was killed in a motorcycle accident in Macon.[60] At his funeral the next day, Gregg performed "Melissa", which was his brother's favorite song.[61] After the service, he confided in his bandmates that they should continue. He left for Jamaica to get away from Macon, and was in grief for the following few weeks.[62] "I tried to play and I tried to sing, but I didn't do too much writing. In the days and weeks that followed, […] I wondered if I'd ever find the passion, the energy, the love of making music," he remembered.[62] As the band took some time apart to process their loss, At Fillmore East became a major success in the U.S. "What we had been trying to do for all those years finally happened, and he was gone."[63] Allman later expanded upon his brother's passing in his autobiography:
|"When I got over being angry, I prayed to him to forgive me, and I realized that my brother had a blast. […] Not that I got over it—I still ain't gotten over it. I don't know what getting over it means, really. I don't stand around crying anymore, but I think about him every day of my life. […] Maybe a lot of learning how to grieve was that I had to grow up a little bit and realize that death is part of life. Now I can talk to my brother in the morning, and he answers me at night. I've opened myself to his death and accepted it, and I think that's the grieving process at work."[64]
Mainstream success and fame (1972–1976)
After Duane's death, the band held a meeting on their future; it was clear all wanted to continue, and after a short period, the band returned to the road.[65] They completed their third studio album, Eat a Peach, that winter, which raised each member's spirits: "The music brought life back to us all, and it was simultaneously realized by every one of us. We found strength, vitality, newness, reason, and belonging as we worked on finishing Eat a Peach", said Allman.[66] Eat a Peach was released the following February, and it became the band's second hit album, shipping gold and peaking at number four on Billboard's Top 200 Pop Albums chart.[67] "We'd been through hell, but somehow we were rolling bigger than ever," Allman recalled.[68] Betts had to convince the band members to tour, since all other members were reluctant.[69] The Allman Brothers Band played 90 shows in 1972 in support of the record. "We were playing for him and that was the way to be closest to him," said Trucks.[69] The band purchased 432 acres of land in Juliette, Georgia for $160,000 and nicknamed it "the Farm"; it soon became a group hangout.[70] Oakley, however, was visibly suffering from the death of his friend,[71] and he too was killed in a motorcycle crash in November 1972.[72] "Upset as I was, I kind of breathed a sigh of relief, because Berry's pain was finally over," Allman said.[68]
The band unanimously decided to carry on, and enlisted Lamar Williams on bass and Chuck Leavell on piano. The band began recording Brothers and Sisters, their follow-up album, and Betts became the group's de facto leader during the recording process.[73] Meanwhile, after some internal disagreements, Allman began recording a solo album, which he titled Laid Back. The sessions for both albums often overlapped and its creation caused tension within the rest of the band.[74] Both albums were released in the autumn of 1973, with Brothers and Sisters cemented the Allman Brothers' place among the biggest rock bands of the 1970s. "Everything that we'd done before—the touring, the recording—culminated in that one album," Allman recalled.[75] "Ramblin' Man", Betts' country-infused number, received interest from radio stations immediately, and it rose to number two on the Billboard Hot 100.[67] The Allman Brothers Band returned to touring, playing larger venues, receiving more profit and dealing with less friendship, miscommunication and spiraling drug problems.[67][76] This culminated in a backstage brawl when the band played with the Grateful Dead at Washington's RFK Stadium in June 1973, which resulted in the firing of three of the band's longtime roadies.[77] The band played arenas and stadiums almost solely as their drug use escalated. In 1974, the band was regularly making $100,000 per show, and was renting the Starship, a customized Boeing 720B used by Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.[78] "When [we] got that goddamn plane, it was the beginning of the end," said Allman.[79]
In between tours, Allman embarked on another tour to promote Laid Back. He brought along the musicians who helped record the album as his band, and hired a full string orchestra to accompany the group.[74] A live album of material from the tour was released as The Gregg Allman Tour later that year, to help recoup costs for the tour.[80] It went up against Betts' first solo record, Highway Call, prompting some to dub their relationship a rivalry. Their relationships became increasingly frustrated, amplified by heavy drug and alcohol abuse.[81] In January 1975, Allman began a relationship with pop star Cher—which made him more "famous for being famous than for his music," according to biographer Alan Paul.[82] The sessions that produced 1975's Win, Lose or Draw, the last album by the original Allman Brothers Band, were disjointed and inconsistent. Allman was spending more time in Los Angeles with Cher.[83] Their time off from one another the previous fall "only exaggerated the problems between our personalities. With each day there was more and more space between us; the Brotherhood was fraying, and there wasn't a damn thing any of us could do to stop it."[84]
Upon its release, it was considered subpar and sold less than its predecessor; the band later remarked that they were "embarrassed" about the album.[85] From August 1975 to May 1976, the Allman Brothers Band played 41 shows to some of the biggest crowds of their career.[86] Gradually, the members of the band grew apart during these tours, with sound checks and rehearsals "[becoming] a thing of the past."[86] Allman later pointed to a benefit for presidential candidate Jimmy Carter as the only real "high point" in an otherwise "rough, rough tour." The shows were considered lackluster and the members were excessive in their drug use.[87][88] The "breaking point" came when Allman testified in the trial of security man Scooter Herring.[67]Bandmates considered him a "snitch," and he received death threats, leading to law-enforcement protection.[89] Herring was convicted on five counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and received a 75-year prison sentence, which were later overturned as he received a lesser sentence.[89] For his part, Allman always maintained that Herring had told him to take the deal and he would take the fall for it, but nevertheless, the band refused to communicate with him.[89] As a result, the band finally broke up; Leavell, Williams, and Jaimoe continued playing together in Sea Level, Betts formed Great Southern, and Allman founded the Gregg Allman Band.[90]
Mid-career and struggles
Marriages, breakups, and music (1977–1981)
Allman married Cher in June 1975, and the two lived in Hollywood during their years together as tabloid favorites.[4] Their marriage produced one son, Elijah Blue Allman, who was born in July 1976.[91] He recorded his second solo album, Playin' Up a Storm, with the Gregg Allman Band, and it was released in May 1977. He also worked on an collaborative album with Cher titled Two the Hard Way, which, upon its release, was a massive failure.[73] The couple went to Europe to tour in support of both albums,[92] though the crowd reception was mixed.[93] With a combination of Allman Brothers fans and Cher fans, fights often broke out in venues, which led Cher to cancel the tour.[94] Turmoil began to overwhelm their relationship, and the two divorced in 1978.[95] Allman returned to Daytona Beach to stay with his mother, spending the majority of his time partying, chasing women, and touring with the Nighthawks, a blues band.[96]In a 2011 interview with WBUR's On Point, Allman told host Tom Ashbrook that he was also uncomfortable with his wife's celebrity lifestyle.
The Allman Brothers Band reunited in 1978, hiring two new members: guitarist Dan Toler and bassist David Goldflies.[90] Betts had approached Allman during his time in Daytona regarding a reunion.[97] Allman remembered that each member had their own reasons for rejoining, though he surmised it was a combination of displeasure with how things ended, missing each other, and a need for money.[98] The band's reunion album, Enlightened Rogues, was released in February 1979 and was a mild commercial success.[99][100] Betts' lawyer, Steve Massarsky, began managing the group,[100] and led the band to sign with Arista, who pushed the band to "modernize" their sound.[101] Their first Arista effort, Reach for the Sky (1980), was produced by Nashville songwriters Mike Lawler and Johnny Cobb.[101] Drugs remained a problem with the band, particularly among Betts and Allman.[102] The band again grew apart, replacing Jaimoe with Toler's brother Frankie.[103] "One of the real blights on the history of the Allman Brothers Band was that Jaimoe, this gentle man, was fired from this organization," said Allman later.[104]Not long after, "the band changed managers, hiring the promoter John Scher after Massarsky eased himself out, reportedly saying, 'It's a million-dollar headache and a quarter-million-dollar job.'"[105]
For their second and final album with Arista, Brothers of the Road, they collaborated with a "name producer" (John Ryan, of Styx and the Doobie Brothers), who pushed the band even harder to change their sound.[106] "Straight from the Heart" was the album's single, which became a minor hit but heralded the group's last appearance on the top 40 charts.[107] The band, considering their post-reunion albums "embarrassing," subsequently broke up in 1982 after clashing with Clive Davis, who rejected every producer the band suggested for a possible third album, including Tom Dowd and Johnny Sandlin.[108] "We broke up in '82 because we decided we better just back out or we would ruin what was left of the band's image," said Betts.[108] The band's final performance came on Saturday Night Live in January 1982, where they performed "Southbound" and "Leavin'."[109] "It was like a whole different band made those records […] In truth, though, I was just too drunk most of the time to care one way or the other," Allman would recall.[110]
Downtime, a surprise hit, and another reformation (1982–1990)
"No two ways about it, the '80s were rough. […] It was seven years of going, "What is it that I do?" Being self-employed your whole life, that becomes a certain rock, a reinforcement. When that's gone, not only are you bored stiff, but you just want to cry—"What do I do? I know I used to serve a purpose."[111]
—Allman reflecting on his career in the 1980s
Allman spent much of the 1980s adrift and living in Sarasota, Florida with friends Marcia and Chuck Boyd.[112] His alcohol abuse was at one of its worst points, with Allman consuming "a minimum of a fifth of vodka a day."[113] He felt the local police pursued him heavily, due to his tendency to get inebriated and "go jam anywhere."[114] He was arrested and charged with a DUI; as a result, he spent five days in jail and was charged $1,000.[111] While he did not consider himself "washed up," he noted in his autobiography that "there's that fear of everybody forgetting about you."[111] Southern rock faded from popular culture and electronic music formed much of the pop music of the decade. "There was hardly anybody playing live music, and those who did were doing it for not much money, in front of some die-hard old hippies in real small clubs," he later recalled.[115] Nevertheless, he reformed the Gregg Allman Band and toured nationwide.[116] He often went to Telstar Studios to rehearse and write new songs. At one point, he attempted to reconnect with his children, though, according to him, "it just wasn't a good situation."[117]
By 1986, he felt tired of having little funds, and teamed up with former bandmate Betts for several performances together. It led to two Allman Brothers reunion performances that summer. Eventually, tension would arise and they would spend time apart again.[118] After recording several demos in Los Angeles, Allman was offered a recording contract by Epic Records.[119] He recorded his third solo release, I'm No Angel, at Criteria in Miami. Released in 1987, the title track became a surprise hit on radio. Allman released another solo album the following year, Just Before the Bullets Fly, though it did not sell as well as its predecessor. His alcohol abuse continued in the late 1980s, as he moved to Los Angeles and lived at the Riot House.[120] He married Danielle Galliano in a midlife crisis wherein he felt he would one day be too "old and ugly" to get married.[120] The marriage began with Allman overdosing at the Riot House—"so our marriage started off with a bang," he said.[121] He dabbled in acting for the first time, taking a small part in the film Rush Week (1989),[122] and he sang the opening track to the film Black Rain (1989).[120]
The Allman Brothers Band celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 1989, and the band reunited for a summer tour, with Jaimoe once again on drums.[123] In addition, they featured guitarist Warren Haynes and pianist Johnny Neel, both from the Dickey Betts Band, and bassist Allen Woody, who was hired after open auditions held at Trucks's Florida studio.[123] The classic rock radio format had given the band's catalog songs new relevance, as did a multi-CD retrospective box set, Dreams.[124] Epic, who had worked with Allman on his solo career, signed the band. Danny Goldberg became the band's manager; he had previously worked with acts such as Led Zeppelin and Bonnie Raitt.[125] The group were initially reluctant to tour, but found they performed solidly; in addition, former roadies such as "Red Dog" returned.[126] The band returned to the studio with longtime producer Tom Dowd for 1990's Seven Turns, which was considered a return to form.[67][127] "Good Clean Fun" and "Seven Turns" each became big hits on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The addition of Haynes and Woody had "reenergized" the ensemble.[128] Neel left the group in 1990, and the band added percussionist Marc Quiñones, formerly of Spyro Gyra, the following year.[129]
Reforming the band and breaking addictions (1991–2000)
The band began touring heavily,[130] which helped build a new fan base: "We had to build a fan base all over again, but as word of mouth spread about how good the music was, more and more people took notice. It felt great, man, and that really helped the music," Allman recalled.[131] Their next studio effort, Shades of Two Worlds (1992), produced the crowd favorite "Nobody Knows".[132] Allman took his second and final acting role in Rush (1991), a crime drama. Allman greatly enjoyed the experience: "It was a different facet of the entertainment industry, and I wanted to see how those people worked together."[133] The band grew contentious over a 1993 tour, in which Betts was arrested when he shoved two police officers.[130]Despite the growing tension, Haynes remained a member and Betts returned.[134] Their third post-reunion record, Where It All Begins (1994), was recorded entirely live.[134] The band continued to tour with greater frequency, attracting younger generations with their headlining of the H.O.R.D.E. Festival.[107][135] Allman's daughter, Island, came to live with him in Los Angeles, and despite early struggles, they eventually grew very close.[136] "Island is the love of my life, she really is," he would later write.[97]
For much of the 1990s, Allman lived in Marin County, California, spending his free time with close friends and riding his motorcycle.[137] The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in January 1995; Allman was severely inebriated and could not make it through his acceptance speech.[138] Seeing the ceremony broadcast on television later, Allman was mortified, providing a catalyst for his final, successful attempt to quit alcohol and substance abuse. He hired two in-home nurses that switched twelve-hour shifts to help him through the process.[139]He was immensely happy to finally quit alcohol, writing later in his autobiography: "Did I get any positive anything out of all that? And you've got to admit to yourself, no, I didn't. You can see what happened and that by the grace of God, you finally quit before it killed you."[139] Allman recorded a fifth solo album, Searching for Simplicity, which was quietly released on 550 Music.[73]Despite positive developments in his personal life, things began declining among the band members. During their 1996 run at the Beacon, turmoil came to a breaking point between Allman and Betts, nearly causing a cancellation of a show and causing another band breakup.[140] Haynes and Woody left to focus on Gov't Mule, feeling as though a break was imminent with the Allman Brothers Band.[141][142]
The group recruited Oteil Burbridge of the Aquarium Rescue Unit to replace Woody on bass, and Jack Pearson on guitar.[143] Concerns arose over the increasing loudness of Allman Brothers shows, which were largely centered on Betts.[142] Pearson, struggling with tinnitus, left as a result following the 1999 Beacon run.[144] Trucks phoned his nephew, Derek Trucks, to join the band for their thirtieth anniversary tour.[145] The Beacon run in 2000, captured on Peakin' at the Beacon, was ironically considered among the band's worst performances; an eight-show spring tour led to even more strained relations in the group.[146] "It had ceased to be a band—everything had to be based around what Dickey was playing," said Allman.[147] Anger boiled over within the group towards Betts, which led to all original members sending him a letter, informing him of their intentions to tour without him for the summer.[148] All involved contend that the break was temporary, but Betts responded by hiring a lawyer and suing the group, which led to a permanent divorce.[147] That August, Woody was found dead in a hotel room in New York,[149] which hit Allman particularly hard.[150] In 2001, Haynes rejoined the band for their Beacon run,[149] setting the stage for over a decade of stability within the group.
Later years
Touring and health problems (2000–2014)
Allman moved to Savannah, Georgia, in 2000, purchasing five acres on the Belfast River.[151] The last incarnation of the Allman Brothers Band was well-regarded among fans and the general public, and remained stable and productive.[67][107] The band released their final studio recording, Hittin' the Note (2003), to critical acclaim.[107] Allman co-wrote many songs on the record with Haynes, and he regarded it as his favorite album by the group since their earliest days. The band continued to tour throughout the 2000s, remaining a top touring act, regularly attracting more than 20,000 fans.[67]The decade closed with a successful run at the Beacon Theater, in celebration of the band's fortieth anniversary.[152] "That [2009 run] was the most fun I've ever had in that building," said Allman, and it was universally regarded within the band as a career highlight.[153][154][107] The run featured numerous special guests, including Eric Clapton, whom all in the band regarded as the most "special" guest, due to his association with Duane.[155]
He was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2007—which he attributed to a dirty tattoo needle.[156] By the next year, they had discovered three tumors within his liver, and he was recommended to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville by a Savannah doctor for a liver transplant.[157] He went on a waiting list and after five months, he underwent a successful liver transplant in 2010.[158] He was reluctant to pursue a new solo album after the death of longtime producer Tom Dowd in 2002, but eventually recorded with producer T-Bone Burnett on his seventh release, Low Country Blues.[159] He was initially reluctant to Burnett's suggestion to not bring his normal band, but he eventually became very positive about the recording, later calling it "a true highlight of my career."[160] It went unreleased during his health problems, and during that time, it became something of a confidence booster: "When things got real bad, real painful, I would just think about this record and it was kind of a life support system."[159] Upon its release in January 2011, it represented Allman's highest ever chart peak in the United States, debuting at number five.[161]
He promoted the album heavily in Europe, until he had to cancel the rest of the trip due to an upper respiratory condition.[162] This infection led to a lung surgery later that year.[151] He went to rehab in 2012 for addiction following his medical treatments.[163] That year, Allman released his memoir, My Cross to Bear, which was thirty years in the making.[164] It eventually got optioned to be turned into a feature film—titled Midnight Rider—that was eventually canceled after a train accident on set caused the death of a member of the crew. In 2014, a tribute concert was held celebrating Allman's career; it was later released as All My Friends: Celebrating The Songs & Voice Of Gregg Allman.[165] The same year, the Allman Brothers Band performed their final concerts, as Haynes and Derek Trucks desired to depart the group.[166][167]
Recent events (2015–2017)
After the dissolution of the Allman Brothers, Allman kept busy performing music with his band, releasing the live album Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon, GA in 2015.[168] His health problems remained; he had atrial fibrillation. As a result, he attempted to grow healthier, switching to a gluten-free vegan diet.[165] He attempted to keep a light schedule at the advice of doctors, who warned that too many performances might amplify his conditions. Allman's mother, Geraldine, died in July 2015 at the age of 98.[168] On April 6, 2016, Allman's tour bus carrying his crew and horns crashed into a hillside in Jackson County, West Virginia. Allman was not among those injured.[169] One month later, he received an honorary doctorate from Mercer University in Macon, presented by former President Jimmy Carter.[170]
Allman recorded his last album, Southern Blood, with producer Don Was at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The album was recorded with his then-current backing band.[171] It is set for a January 2017 release.[172]
Personal life
Allman's brother Duane died in a motorcycle accident in Macon, Georgia, in October 1971. "Duane was the father of the band," Gregg Allman later told Guitar Player magazine. "Somehow he had this real magic about him that would lock us all in, and we'd take off."
While enjoying great commercial success, Allman was in a downward spiral in his personal life. He became a heroin addict and was arrested on drug charges in 1976. To avoid jail, Allman agreed to testify against Scooter Herring, his road manager. Herring was later found guilty on narcotics distribution charges and sentenced to 75 years in prison.[173] Allman's testimony was seen as a betrayal by his bandmates, who swore that they would never work with him again.
In 2007, Allman was diagnosed with hepatitis C. The condition "was laying dormant for awhile and just kind of crept up on me. I was worn out. I had to sleep 10 or 11 hours a day to two or three [hours]," he explained to Billboard. He had a liver transplant in 2010.[174] In April 2017, he denied reports that he had entered hospice care, but was resting at home on doctor's orders.[175]
Marriages, relationships and children
Allman's partners included Shelley Kay Winters, Janice Blair, Cher, Julie Bindas, Ganielle J P Galiana and Stacey Fountain. In 2012 he announced an engagement on the Piers Morgan show to Shannon Williams.[176]
Allman had five children – son Devon Allman, 44, lead singer of Honeytribe, from his marriage to Shelley Kay Winters, Elijah Blue Allman, 40, lead singer of Deadsy, from his marriage to Cher, Delilah Island Allman, 35, from his marriage to Julie Bindas, Michael Sean Allman, 50, from a relationship with former waitress Mary Lynn Green, and Layla Brooklyn Allman, 23, from a relationship with radio journalist Shelby Blackburn.[176]
Following a series of health problems,[177] Allman died at his home in Savannah, Georgia, on May 27, 2017 due to complications of liver cancer. He was 69.[178][179][180][181]
- Studio
- Laid Back (1973)
- Playin' Up a Storm (1977)
- I'm No Angel (1987)
- Just Before The Bullets Fly (1988)
- Searching for Simplicity (1997)
- Low Country Blues (2011)
- Southern Blood (2017)
- Live
- The Gregg Allman Tour (1974)
- Gregg Allman Live: Back to Macon, GA (2015)


text:
Education in Indian Country:
Running in Place
Like many Native American students, Legend Tell Tobacco, a 10-year-old on South Dakota's Pine Ridge reservation, must outrun the odds against his educational success. READ THE STORY ▼
Education in Indian Country: Running in Place
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, S.D.
Ten hours after leaving in the dark for the 15-mile ride to Loneman School, Legend Tell Tobacco bounds down the steps of the yellow school bus and runs back home.
He takes off in a full sprint, black hair flopping, down Tobacco Road, a half-mile-long stretch of dirt named for his family. He slows to a trudge when the rutted road rises steeply to reach his house on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a place where the promise of youth is often stifled by the probabilities of failure.
Legend just turned 10 and is in the 4th grade, and yet, he must constantly confront obstacles that could cause him to stumble into one of the grim statistical categories for which Pine Ridge—like much of the nation's Indian Country—is well known:
High school dropout.
Dead before 50.
Legend grins widely when announcing that he reads the same "chapter books" as 7th and 8th graders. He likes math, too, especially multiplication.
"Most of all," he says, "I love to run."
After a long day at Isna Wica Owayawa, the Lakota name for Loneman School, the laughing shrieks of his cousins beckon. But his aunt, Mary Tobacco, asks about homework. "I don't have any," he says quietly, stubbing his silver sneakers into the dirt. She raises an eyebrow and asks again. "No, really," he says.
"Be back at six for dinner," she tells him firmly, as he darts off to play in the horse corral.
Ms. Tobacco, a college graduate, prays this nagging and nurturing will keep her nephew on a course to high school graduation, a college degree, and a decent job. More urgently, she prays she'll get a call from Red Cloud, the private Jesuit school where she believes Legend would get the best shot at succeeding. He's on the waiting list.
"The two most important things I want for Legend," she says, "are for him to get his education and for him not to drink. But I don't know if I can completely protect him from ending up on a path that so many other youth on this reservation take."
On the 2.8 million-acre Pine Ridge Indian Reservation—home to nearly 40,000 members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux nation—alcoholism and suicide, especially among young people, occur at alarmingly high rates. Families that have been poor since the U.S. government forced tribes onto reservations more than 120 years ago see few prospects for breaking out of seven or eight generations of profound poverty.
Outrunning those odds for Legend and other American Indian youths living on and off reservations is perpetually challenging. Over the past decade, as the high-stakes school accountability era saw every other racial and ethnic subgroup of students make steady, if small, improvements in education outcomes, Native American youths, on the whole, stalled or lost ground.
"The state of American Indian education is a disaster," says David Beaulieu, a professor of educational policy and community studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe-White Earth.
An aerial view of South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which spans 3,500 square miles.
American Indian Students Lose Ground
While such historically disadvantaged groups as African-American and Latino students have seen their graduation rates accelerate in recent years, American Indians and Alaska Natives, who constitute one subgroup for federal education data reporting, have not. According to analyses by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, American Indian graduation rates have been on a downward trend since 2008.
The achievement situation is not much better in the earlier grades. Between 2005 and 2011, American Indian and Alaska Native students were the only major ethnic group to demonstrate virtually no improvement on the 4th grade reading exam administered as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, although the rate of improvement posted by white students was not significantly greater than that of American Indian and Alaska Native students, according to an analysis from the Education Trust.
On the 2013 NAEP, American Indian and Alaska Native students posted gains in 8th grade mathematics, but otherwise did not demonstrate significant reading growth at that level, or on the 4th grade reading and math exams.
"It's been almost 12 years since No Child Left Behind was implemented, and we essentially have no appreciable results to show for it," said Mr. Beaulieu, who was the director of the office of Indian education in the U.S. Department of Education from 1997 to 2001.
"What we see are declines not only in measures of achievement, but declines in the overall quality of educational programs."
Painfully, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the southwest corner of South Dakota showcases those educational struggles.
Spanning nearly 3,500 square miles, Pine Ridge is bigger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined. Rumpled grasslands unfold for miles, offering unbroken views of hills crowned with rocks and scoured-out badlands.
Many families, like the Tobaccos, live outside the main population centers of Pine Ridge, Kyle, and Oglala, in remote communities with names like Slim Butte, Calico, and Red Shirt Table. Long school bus rides like Legend's—30 miles round trip—are typical.
That isolation can make travel to school a major challenge, especially during extreme South Dakota weather, when heavy snowfall can bring buses to a halt and persistent rainstorms turn hundreds of miles of dirt roads into mudslides.
Most adults on Pine Ridge don't have paid work. The tribal government puts the unemployment rate at around 80 percent, and Shannon County—which lies entirely within the boundaries of the reservation—has a per-capita income of less than $8,000 a year. The tribe operates a small casino, with slots, poker, and blackjack, and offers guided hunts to tourists, but its economy—like that of so many other Indian reservations—is almost completely dependent on federal funding.
Four of the five poorest counties in the United States fall either wholly or partly within American Indian reservations, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. And the populations of those communities are overwhelmingly young. Because of relatively high birthrates and some of the lowest life-expectancy rates in the Western Hemisphere, nearly 40 percent of the residents of Shannon County, for example, are 18 or younger, compared with 25 percent for the state.
"We have a lot of young people on the reservation and not nearly enough jobs," said Christopher G. Bordeaux, the executive director of the Oceti Sakowin Education Consortium, a group of tribal schools on the Pine Ridge and other South Dakota reservations. "So that presents challenges to us as educators when we are trying to convince our young people to stay in school, to do well in school, to graduate, to go on to college."
'Not A Rez Statistic'
The dearth of jobs exerts a powerful effect.
Luzahan White Horse, 19, graduated from Pine Ridge High School in June 2012. It took him an extra year to finish. Passing one English class was especially difficult, he says, "because reading is not my strongest skill." Still, with the encouragement of one teacher, he pushed through, he says, even as his own family told him he'd never do it.
"That's what motivated me more than anything—them saying I couldn't do it," Mr. White Horse says.
More than a year later, though, he spends most of his days playing basketball with friends in a Pine Ridge park, about a half-mile from the high school. He has no formal job. "I make money, I get by," he says.
One Thursday in late October, he and his friend Louis Whalen, 17, are shooting hoops. It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and Mr. Whalen, a junior at Pine Ridge High, says he has been suspended for fighting. Another friend, Leonard Blackfeather, 18, joins them to play a game of 21, while Mr. White Horse and Mr. Whalen rib him for skipping out on school early.
"I mostly went to school to chill with my friends because there's nothing else to do on the rez," says Mr. White Horse.
"I got my diploma, so I'm not one of the rez statistics," he says, referring to Pine Ridge's dropout rate. "But I don't see that my life is going to be that much different in 10 years. I'll probably still be here, playing basketball."
No matter if they're in schools on reservations, inner cities, or suburban communities, Native American students are struggling academically.
In South Dakota, which has the highest proportion of Native American students of any state, they lag on every academic indicator. According to the state's 2012-13 report card, 42 percent of American Indian students scored "proficient" or "advanced" on state math exams, while 80 percent of white students did so. In reading, 47 percent of American Indian students scored proficient or higher, compared to 79 percent of white students. The four-year graduation rate for South Dakota's American Indian students in 2013—49 percent—paints an even grimmer picture. And while the high-school-completion rate, which includes getting a diploma in more than four years or a GED, was much better, at 64 percent, American Indians still trailed every other major subgroup in the state by 17 or more percentage points.
In 2009-10, the four-year graduation rate at Pine Ridge High School, the biggest high school on the reservation, was 45 percent.
A Pine Ridge Family Struggles
Legend's father, Sylvester Tobacco, struggles to maintain sobriety, says Mary Tobacco, his younger sister. Legend's mother died nearly two years ago, at age 37, from the effects of alcoholism. Mr. Tobacco says he has been sober since her death, but is suffering from throat cancer. He hopes to make his small trailer suitable for children by installing electricity and running water.
"As soon as I can get it fixed and hooked up, I want them to come back to live with me," he says of Legend and Legend's 6-year-old sister, Essence.
So Ms. Tobacco, 45, has stepped in for now to raise "Tell," as most of Legend's family calls him, and Essence. Ms. Tobacco is also raising two other nephews and a niece for similar reasons. She has no children of her own.
Men in the Tobacco family, she says, have fought mightily with drinking, an affliction that affects as much as half of Pine Ridge's adult population.
So when Legend and the other children aren't in school, Ms. Tobacco tries to keep them close to home and busy. She signs them up for youth sports and takes them to Rapid City—two hours away—for special occasions, like a Halloween event. She monitors their schoolwork and tries to make them do a half-hour of reading each day.
Ms. Tobacco's own story echoes the generations of hardship on the reservation. Her father is mostly a face in photographs and in stories her mother and nine older brothers and sisters told her. He was killed by a drunk driver on the reservation before she turned 2.
Her mother, who left school after 7th grade, cooked and cleaned at Red Cloud Indian School, the private school run by the Jesuit religious order that Mary Tobacco wants Legend to attend. It's also where Ms. Tobacco became a standout basketball player before graduating in 1986 and heading to Huron College in Huron, S.D.
Now, she works two jobs. She's the athletic director and women's basketball coach at Oglala Lakota College on the reservation, and she works with the South Dakota High School Activities Association to recruit, train, and schedule officials for Pine Ridge's middle and junior varsity teams.
"We were really poor when we were growing up," Ms. Tobacco says. But she says her mother "was always reading Louis L'Amour books and magazines. She was also sober. She just gave us a really stable environment that a lot of families didn't have."
Of the five children Mary Tobacco is raising, all but Legend go to Red Cloud.
Legend's school, Loneman, is in the community of Oglala and has 240 students in grades K-8. After a decades-long wait for federal funding to move from an aging, asbestos-laden campus that has since been boarded up, Loneman is housed in an expansive, light-filled building where horses graze around the flagpole.
Moving the Needle
Loneman faces a marathon task to move student achievement off the bottom. In 2011-12, the school struggled to nudge a little more than 25 percent of its students to proficient reading levels as measured by the South Dakota state assessments. In math, just 12.5 percent reached proficiency. After leaving Loneman at the end of 8th grade, students scatter among several high schools on the reservation or just west of it.
Though it has a locally elected school board, Loneman is utterly dependent on the federal government for funding, and has had to stomach deep cuts this year because of budget sequestration.
The new principal, Charles Cuny Jr., has taken on the challenge. He grew up on the reservation and returned this past summer after a decade in Southern California working as a teacher, coach, and administrator at two Bureau of Indian Education schools.
"What I see children dealing with here on Pine Ridge are the same issues I saw with my students in California," Mr. Cuny says. "The same questions of identity, cultural isolation, and poverty. What I really want for our students is for them to feel positive about being Native American. I want them to see that as their biggest strength from which they can build on."
Loneman, like all of Pine Ridge's schools, has Lakota-language classes, and many of its teachers are Lakota themselves. Its mission statement emphasizes equally the importance of promoting academic achievement and Lakota identity.
Research studies have shown that Native American students who are taught their native languages and in ways that connect directly to who they are and where they live, perform better academically than their peers who are not.
But across the country, meaningful language and culturally relevant instruction for American Indian students still tends to occur "in pockets of excellence," says Mr. Beaulieu, the University of Wisconsin professor. The accountability pressures on schools to improve reading and math achievement, as well as a lack of resources for developing curricula and training teachers, keep those pockets of excellence from spreading, he says.
Teacher Maka Clifford, 26, returned home to Pine Ridge earlier this year to teach Lakota Studies at Red Cloud Indian School after finishing his master's degree at Columbia University in New York. He has already seen the powerful way students engage in his class when they begin to understand the full picture of Lakota history and, more specifically, the history of the reservation.
"They want to know why things are the way they are today," Mr. Clifford says. "As long as students learn about their history, I think they, too, can get a sense of the responsibility to be a Lakota, and to interpret what that means for them."
In Montana, Denise M. Juneau, the state superintendent of schools in Montana, agrees. She is a member of the Mandan and Hidatsu tribes.
"If you don't see yourself reflected in your school and don't have a place where you see people who look like yourself, and where you learn about the history that you know exists, it casts you as an outsider even though you are inside the building," she says. Still, Ms. Juneau says, a school environment that's infused with tribal culture and Native-language learning also has to be as good at delivering instruction in reading, math, and science.
"It always comes down to a caring adult, the relevancy of their learning, and engagement," she says. "For Indian children, that engagement is a sense of belonging, but they've got to have the good math instruction, too."
Red Cloud's Track Record
Legend, Ms. Tobacco believes, would get all of that at Red Cloud Indian School.
Even though every student who attends Red Cloud lives on the reservation, it's considered the elite school and, in some ways, is a symbol for the haves and have-nots of Pine Ridge. It charges a modest administration fee—$100 a year, though that is waived for families who can't afford it—and has admission standards. Between two K-8 campuses, and the high school, it serves 600 students.
And by nearly every measure, it vastly outperforms the other 24 schools on the reservation. Last June, 81 percent of the senior class graduated on time. Eighty-eight percent of those graduates are enrolled in a postsecondary program, according to school officials.
For more than a decade, Red Cloud leaders have aggressively pursued Gates Millennium scholarships for their students. More than 50 Red Cloud graduates have won the prestigious, full-ride awards since 1999. Alumni are enrolled at Stanford University, Dartmouth College, and Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.
The school opened 125 years ago after Chief Red Cloud, the Oglala Sioux leader who led his followers in opposing the U.S. military presence and the expansion of white settlements across the Great Plains, requested that the Jesuit "black robes" he had encountered open a school for Lakota children.
But for some older Lakota, the school has a painful history. For decades, Red Cloud—originally called the Holy Rosary Mission—was a boarding school that served not only Oglala Lakota, but also American Indian students from as far away as Wyoming and New Mexico. Children were separated from their families for extended periods and taught to read, write, do math, and speak English. Afternoons were devoted to physical labor.
It wasn't until 1969 that the school changed its name to honor Red Cloud and began teaching the Lakota language. In the late 1970s, the school appointed its first Lakota principal and created a governing board with a majority of members from the Oglala Lakota tribe.
Now, every Red Cloud student receives Lakota-language instruction. Roman Catholic teachings are taught alongside Lakota spirituality. The school, working closely with specialists in Native languages at Indiana University, has developed the nation's first comprehensive K-12 Lakota-language curriculum, according to Robert Brave Heart Sr., Red Cloud's former superintendent and current executive vice president for operations.
"We are teaching our students to walk in two worlds as Red Cloud wanted for them," says Mr. Brave Heart.
The school closely evaluates prospective students.
"We don't take many [special education] students," Mr. Brave Heart says. "And we do look for signs of a family support structure because if the parents aren't interested in a college-preparatory education or aren't interested in the Catholic and Lakota spiritual formation that we do here, students are going to struggle to succeed here."
Though Red Cloud must hustle annually to privately raise 90 percent of its roughly $14 million budget from individual donors, the school is free from dependence on federal money and its attached requirements.
"We get to decide what an effective education for a Lakota child looks like," says Mr. Brave Heart.
The Painful Legacy of Boarding Schools
The relationship between sovereign tribes and the U.S. government derives from a series of treaties that were signed in the 19th century—agreements that promised tribes that education, housing, and health care would be provided to them in exchange for giving up their lands.
During most of the 19th century and well into the 20th, much of that education was delivered at day and boarding schools run either by the government or religious institutions like the Roman Catholic Church.
Assimilation was the primary goal, through suppression of students' native languages and cultural traditions and practices. U.S. Army Capt. Richard H. Pratt, the founder of the first off-reservation boarding school—known as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, in Pennsylvania—famously wrote in an 1892 speech that the education of Native Americans was essential to "kill the Indian in him, and save the man."
For many tribal elders, the painful memories don't recede, says Mr. Bordeaux, the executive director of Oceti Sakowin, who in 3rd grade left his home on the Rosebud reservation to attend St. Joseph's Indian School, two hours away in Chamberlain, S.D.
"For many of us, school was about trying to make us something that we aren't," says Mr. Bordeaux, 63. "And it really created generations of parents who weren't raised by their own people and didn't really know how to parent when they had their own children."
It also created generations of parents who associated education mostly with suppression of Indian identity and who haven't pushed the need to attend school and graduate, Mr. Bordeaux says.
Even after high-profile findings—such as those from a 1928 study known popularly as the Meriam Report—exposed many problems in the government and religious boarding schools, those issues continued for several more decades. It wasn't until the late 1960s, when a U.S. Senate subcommittee report called "Indian Education: A National Tragedy, a National Challenge" coincided with a period of intense American Indian activism, that tribes gained more control over the education of their own children.
That same period of self-determination also led American Indian educators and parents to push back against mainstream notions of how success and schooling should look.
"There's all of this focus, especially under No Child Left Behind, on data and scores, when that isn't who people are," Mr. Bordeaux says. "Academics is just one part of [education], but to the rest of whitestream America, it's the whole part of it, the only way you can show success. Well, we want our children to be good relatives."
On Tobacco Road, a Family Hopes for Success
It's late afternoon again on Tobacco Road, and Legend Tell Tobacco has arrived at Aunt Mary's house—a bright burst of azure amid rusted cars and amber prairie grass. His relative Gabe Wright, 11, is waiting for him, perched bareback on a family horse.
The two boys goof off around the property, where an art easel is propped next to the table where Legend likes to sit and draw pictures of his father and himself riding broncs. The boys debate whether to go sliding down a 12-foot dirt embankment or shoot hoops. The basketball game starts, but quickly sputters. All the balls are flat.
Inside, Ms. Tobacco has pots of potatoes and carrots cooking on the stove for dinner. Anjah Lamont, her 10-year-old niece, sits on a bean-bag chair with an open book, and Ms. Tobacco reminds her that she's got 10 minutes left of reading. Soon, her 15-year-old nephew Dylan will be calling her to pick him up from cross-country practice at Red Cloud.
Legend, says Mary Tobacco, is having a good year at Loneman, with an A in physical education, a C-plus in math, and B's in everything else. But he has to be pushed to do his homework. At times, though, Ms. Tobacco eases up on the structure she tries to impose so he can spend time with his father, whose trailer is a few hundred feet from her house.
"He remembers his mom, and he's close to his dad, so I think it's been a little bit hard for him after his mom passed away," she says.
But any exposure to alcohol, she believes, is a huge threat to his future. So she interrogates him about his homework, requires him to read every day, and prays he can raise his reading score enough to meet Red Cloud's admission requirements.
But she doesn't know whether her dreams for Legend will be a powerful enough wind at his back to help him outrun the odds.

subset: commoncrawl


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FAS Program Management Office for Emergency Management (EM PMO)
The Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Program Management Office for Emergency Management (EM PMO) is part of the Office of Transportation and Logistics (TTL). The EM PMO serves as a partner to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), GSA's Office of Mission Assurance (OMA), and GSA's Regional Emergency Coordinators.
FAS combined three primary emergency functions under the EM PMO as part of the January 24, 2011 GSA Order consolidating FAS emergency management functions. The EM PMO provides emergency resource support to FEMA and is the liaison to OMA for the planning and oversight of the FAS Continuity of Operations (COOP) and Continuity of Government (COG) plans.
Under the National Response Framework, GSA and FEMA are co-leaders of Emergency Support Function # 7 (ESF-7), Logistics Management and Resource Support, which provides assistance and coordination of resources, and performs logistical operations as part of the federal disaster response and recovery effort. As co-lead of ESF-7, GSA provides resources to FEMA for federal agencies, and state, tribal and local governments that need support prior to, during, and/or after emergencies.
The EM PMO manages the FAS ESF-7 emergency support effort both during activation for emergencies and through a wide range of steady state activities in between emergencies. During steady state posture, the EM PMO provides ESF-7 emergency support through training, pre-planning, strategy formulation, standard operating procedure development, creation of contingency acquisition vehicles and enhancement of communication channels.
When activated for an emergency, the EM PMO oversees the FAS Emergency Support Teams, which work together to provide a variety of commodities and services as resource support to FEMA. The EM PMO leverages the expertise and supply chains of Office of General Supplies and Services (GSS), and coordinates with other FAS business lines to procure and deliver emergency supplies and services such as hygiene kits, cots, blankets, generators, meals, water and shelter support equipment and services. The EM PMO also partners with TTL programs to mobilize support for emergency lodging, rental vehicles and freight shipping services.
All requests for FAS emergency assistance should go through the EM PMO to prevent duplication of efforts across the agency. The EM PMO is also responsible for tracking all FAS emergency support for the GSA Administrator.
The shortcut to this page is www.gsa.gov/fasemergencyresponse.


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DENVER, April 21 (UPI) -- Gerardo Parra's sacrifice fly sent home A.J. Pollock with the go-ahead run in the ninth inning Sunday, boosting Arizona over Colorado 5-4.
The Diamondbacks were trailing 4-3 in their final at-bat when Didi Gregorius collected a lead-off single against Wilton Lopez (0-1) and Pollock sent him to third with a double.
Pinch-hitter Alfredo Marte drove in Gregorius with a groundout, sending Pollock to third, and Parra's fly to deep center field allowed him to come home with the decisive run.
The rally made a winner of Heath Bell (2-0), who had tossed a scoreless eighth, while J.J. Putz worked out of jam in the bottom of the ninth to rack up his third save.
Gregorius also smacked a solo homer for the D-backs, who avoided a three-game sweep at Coors Field.
Troy Tulowitzki went 2-for-4 with a bases-empty shot and Carlos Gonzalez supplied two RBI as the Rockies saw their seven-game winning streak snapped.


text:
See what questions
a doctor would ask.
ARDS: Acute respiratory distress syndrome. See detailed information below for a list of 39 causes of ARDS, Symptom Checker, including diseases and drug side effect causes.
» Review Causes of ARDS: Causes | Symptom Checker »
The following medical conditions are some of the possible
causes of ARDS.
There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor
about your symptoms.
See full list of 39 causes of ARDS
» Review Causes of ARDS: Causes | Symptom Checker »
Home medical tests possibly related to ARDS:
Listed below are some combinations of symptoms associated with ARDS, as listed in our database. Visit the Symptom Checker, to add and remove symptoms and research your condition.
See full list of 501 Symptom Checkers for ARDS
Some of the possible treatments listed in sources for treatment of ARDS may include:
Review further information on ARDS Treatments.
Real-life user stories relating to ARDS:
Some of the comorbid or associated medical symptoms for ARDS may include these symptoms:
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Research the causes of these more general types of symptom:
Research the causes of these symptoms that are similar to, or related to, the symptom ARDS:
Read more about causes and ARDS deaths.
Chronic lung diseases hard to diagnose: Some of the chronic lung diseases are difficult to diagnose. Even the well-knowns conditions such as...read more »
Read more about Misdiagnosis and ARDS
Other ways to find a doctor, or use doctor, physician and specialist online research services:
Research extensive quality ratings and patient safety measures for hospitals, clinics and medical facilities in health specialties related to ARDS:
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Other medical conditions listed in the Disease Database as possible
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causes of ARDS
- (Source - Diseases Database)
NIH: Respiratory distress of any etiology, excluding neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.
- (Source - Diseases Database)
ARDS is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of
Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH). This means that ARDS, or a subtype of ARDS,
affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
- (Source - National Institute of Health)
The list below shows some of the causes of ARDS mentioned in various sources:
See full list of 39 causes of ARDS
This information refers to the general prevalence and incidence of these diseases, not to how likely they are to be the actual cause of ARDS. Of the 39 causes of ARDS that we have listed, we have the following prevalence/incidence information:
See the analysis of the prevalence of 39 causes of ARDS
The following list of conditions have 'ARDS' or similar listed as a symptom in our database. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.
Select from the following alphabetical view of conditions which include a symptom of ARDS or choose View All.
The following list of medical conditions have ARDS or similar listed as a medical complication in our database. The distinction between a symptom and complication is not always clear, and conditions mentioning this symptom as a complication may also be relevant. This computer-generated list may be inaccurate or incomplete. Always seek prompt professional medical advice about the cause of any symptom.
Ask or answer a question about symptoms or diseases at one of our free interactive user forums.
Medical story forums: If you have a medical story then we want to hear it.
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This information shows analysis of the list of causes of ARDS based
on whether certain risk factors apply to the patient:
Adult respiratory distress syndrome, Shock lung, Acute lung syndrome
- (Source - Diseases Database)
Medical Conditions associated with ARDS:
Breathing difficulties (2922 causes), Respiratory symptoms (5166 causes), Breathing symptoms (3381 causes), Breath symptoms (3023 causes), Respiratory tract symptoms (5166 causes), Lung symptoms (3280 causes), Throat symptoms (3410 causes), Mouth symptoms (6864 causes), Head symptoms (10192 causes), Face symptoms (8109 causes)
Symptoms related to ARDS:
Breathing difficulty (2922 causes), Respiratory symptoms (5166 causes), Breathing symptoms (3381 causes), Surfactant deficiency, Breathlessness (1528 causes), Brochospasm, Tracheostomy
Doctor-patient articles related to symptoms and diagnosis:
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Copyright © 2014 Health Grades Inc. All rights reserved. Last Update: 13 August, 2015 (0:33)


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Shaun White was arrested on charges of public intoxication and vandalism Sunday in Nashville. White was staying at a hotel and allegedly got just wasted enough where he trashed his room, pulled a bunch of fire alarms, smashed a phone and then bolted.
Cops say ... a concerned citizen tried to stop the 26-year-old from leaving the scene in a taxi ... but White allegedly kicked the person and proceeded to flee on foot.
According to police, the alleged victim says he chased after White ... and collided with the snowboarder .... causing White to fall backwards and slam his head against a fence.
White was arrested in the hospital because he was so banged up. The result is the mug shot you see above which is just, like, the most depressing-looking thing ever. It looks like picture three in one of those faces of meth images. Where have you gone flying to-ma-to? Extreme sports turns its lonely eyes to you.


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The Women's Building: Narcotics Anonymous
May 24, 2019 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
|Recurring Event (See all)
An event every week that begins at 12:00 pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, repeating indefinitely
NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean.


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30C is selected when the condition is very active (acute) and/or when there is an emotional element to the condition, such as occasional sleeplessness. 30C remedies should be taken as a short course only, unless prescribed by a practitioner.
Cantharis 30C homeopathic potency in 100mg Lactose/Sucrose tablets
How To Use
ADULTS: 2 tablets; CHILDREN:1 tablet, to be dissolved under the tongue. For acute cases, 1 dose every 2 hours for up to 6 doses. For less acute cases, 1 dose 3 times a day between meals until the condition improves. If symptoms worsen or persist for more than 7 days please consult your doctor.
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text:
I sprinted out my cube, into the parking lot, and partook in the 4SQRP club 4X4 Sprint.
Here's what that means:
|20m Vertical
I get QRV^ on twenty because some time ago, I acquired an SW-20+ from AL7FS. He had an unbuilt kit, and was offering it at a fair price on QRP-L. I decided to buy it. I swapped the Killer Watt Radio* out for this, and have been using it for a while now. Turns out, I'd been a real QRP operator with that radio, because I thought I was putting out a buck and a quarter (1.25 watts) with it, but in reality, I was putting out 250 milliwatts! I had about 5 QSOs in the log with it before the 4x4 contest. After retweaking it to put out 1 watt with 8AA batteries for a power supply, I hit the field, hoping for a QSO. When I use the bench power supply, it's about 1.8 watts. The SW+ line is most efficient at 1.25, but can usually be tweaked out to about 2.2 watts without stability issues, if you heat sink the final transistor. I may decide at some point in time to put a diode in line with the bench PS, just for the drop in supply voltage, but not just yet. The Killer Watt Radio is in the wings though, it abides, waiting for the day I aquire Molex KK crimp terminals, but when they get here, and they are installed on the ends of my connectors... it will be awesome.
I needed an antenna that required minimal fuss to get put up. I tried the St Louis Vertical before, and while it's a great antenna for field ops, it requires some fussing with to get up up correctly. I've got some ideas for fixing it up right, but it's going to be a while before I get ready to work those issues out. When I get the Killer Watt Radio back in action, I'll go back to the SLV, until then, I use a 20m vertical. I choose to use the vertical design because they 'radiate equally poorly in all directions' or something like that :) I took a collapsible fishing pole I'd been using as a field antenna for 6m when I had an FT-817, and adapted it for 20 after building the radio months ago. I quickly discovered that I had been using poor math when planning the antenna. I knew I would be using just over 16.5 feet of speaker wire when setting the antenna up. I also knew that my fishing pole was 16 foot long, and that was close enough for me. Yippee, no worries! right? Wrong! When I initially created this antenna, I created it with with an elevated feedpoint. I did this on purpose. Why, I don't remember, but I know I had a reason! That shortened the usable amount of antenna length by about two and a half feet. I decided to ditch the top part of the antenna. It's Florida, and if I'm not at the beach, chances are, there's a tree near by, so I just stretch the radiator part up, and use the tree to keep it high. At home, I was able to get the SWR down to near perfect. In the field, I find that getting the radials deployed right is a little tougher, so I use an Emtech ZM-2 antenna tuner.
|Battle Station!
20m is a Daytime band, it needs some sunshine to really be effective, and I got outside at 19:30 UTC, 3:30 pm local. Tuning around I could hear several stations calling CQ 4S, and threw my call out there to answer them. Three of them actually heard me well enough to call me back!
I worked KB4QQJ who was the loudest signal I heard, a genuine S-9 Plus, and there must have been a pipeline to his QTH in North Carolina because he gave me a 599 too. I tried really hard for about 15 minutes to work WA5BDU but just couldn't do it. He was loud, about 579, but there was QSB, and I think that's what got him down. I did work WA0ITP. WA0ITP was the weakest station I could copy. He was usually about 229, occasionally he was 559. I gave him a 229, and he gave me a 559. Unfortunately, that was it for my operating time, so QRT for me, and I clocked back in. I went back out after checking to make sure nothing had exploded, and managed to work KG3W who was 559 to me during my second 15 minute break. I tore the antenna down, and was content with my three QSOs. After the sprint, my membership in the 4SQRP club was approved, so next year I will be worth more points!
When I got back inside, this dude was sitting by the badge access reader:
|You Can't See Me!
^ I make extensive use of Q-codes. Q-codes are a kind of short hand when using Morse code. A list of common Q codes is here.
* The Killer Watt Radio is an SW+ on 40m, originally given to me as a gift for my birthday the year we moved to the current QTH. It may only radiate 1 watt of RF, but that 1 watt is 1 killer watt! Once again, this is humor. Laughter is appropriate.


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Chicago landlords, tenant advocates and aldermen agreed Tuesday that the city needs to take on a proliferating bedbug population but failed to agree on the approach.
The bedbug issue surfaced during a three-hour hearing held by two City Council committees mulling a proposed ordinance that would allow fines of up to $1,000 a day against landlords who fail to take the required steps to wipe out bedbug infestations.
"Bedbugs are a serious problem, regardless of economic stature, and the city of Chicago has the authority to declare a public nuisance and regulate it," said Brian Bernardoni, the government affairs director for associations that represent real estate agents, building owners and managers. "The issue must be addressed head on."
But the lobbyist raised questions about the costs of battling bedbugs, the level of responsibility for tenants and how the new measures would be enforced. Other speakers questioned if tenants would end up being unfairly evicted or whether the proposed ordinance would ensure protection for everyone, including the disabled, elderly and folks staying at homeless shelters.
Ald. Ray Suarez, 31st, chairman of the Housing Committee, said changes would be made to the proposal as he noted that bedbug infestations can plague all segments of society, from the least fortunate to world travelers.
"Just don't think that the finest or the highest level of society are immune from bedbugs, because no one is immune from this problem," Suarez warned.
At times, the hearing became emotional with personal tales of woe caused by bedbugs feeding on the disabled and poor, ailing people.
"If I were able to take my shirt and clothes off, you could see what the bugs have did to me," said a diabetic, arthritic man who lives in a subsidized senior citizen building who identified himself as "Mello" Sam Clora. "They have practically eaten up my body. . . . It's kind of difficult for me to sit here and talk about this, cause I'm in constant pain from these bites."
Ald. Harry Osterman, 48th, one of the ordinance's sponsors, said the final version should ensure "shared responsibility" among the city, landlords, tenants and condominium associations.
Twitter @ReporterHal


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THE CANADIAN PRESS -- LONDON - One British newspaper has already been felled by the escalating scandal over the interception of public figures' voicemails.
Now storm clouds are gathering over the Trinity Mirror group, the publisher of Britain's left-leaning Mirror tabloid, amid allegations that phone hacking was rife there as well.
James Hipwell, who used to work at the Mirror, said hacking was a common tactic among his former colleagues.
"It was seen as a bit of a wheeze, slightly underhand but something many of them did," James Hipwell was quoted as saying by The Independent on Saturday.
"After they'd hacked into someone's mobile they'd delete the message so another paper couldn't get the story," Hipwell said.
Hipwell declined comment when reached by The Associated Press, saying he was seeking legal advice before revealing anything more to the media. But he confirmed that the interview was accurate.
The allegation isn't exactly new. Hipwell, who was fired from the Mirror in 2000, first aired the claim nearly a decade ago. His dismissal from the Mirror, coupled with a conviction for market manipulation several years later, may have also gone some way toward denting his credibility.
Still his claim has received renewed attention given the intense focus on Britain's media following the eruption of a phone hacking scandal which has shaken British politics, tarnished the reputation of the country's top police force and weakened Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
It's been backed by allegations of misbehaviour at the Mirror's sister tabloids. The New York Times last week quoted five former journalists at The People, a Sunday newspaper which is also published by Trinity Mirror PLC, as saying that phone hacking was commonplace there from the late 1990s to early 2000.
Trinity Mirror PLC itself has repeatedly declined to address claims of past misbehaviour at its titles, sticking to a one-line statement saying that "our journalists work within the criminal law and the (U.K. press watchdog's) code of conduct."
"That is our only response," Trinity Mirror spokesman Nick Fullagar said in a recent email. CNN star Piers Morgan, who was in charge at the Mirror when Hipwell was working, has said that any suggestion that he was involved in phone hacking is "a falsehood and I suspect maliciously done."
The phone hacking scandal exploded earlier this month with revelations that journalists at the News of the World tabloid hacked the phone of a 13-year-old murder victim while police were still searching for her and broadened to include claims reporters paid police for information.
That set off a firestorm which hit at the highest reaches of British society. It forced Murdoch to shutter News of the World, prompting a spate of high-profile resignations and departures at News Corp. and delivering the 80-year-old media baron and his son to be grilled before lawmakers.
So far Hipwell is the only journalist who has gone on the record with his claims. In an online message, Hipwell denied having an axe to grind, saying he's speaking out because he was "bored of the lies/dissembling/denials."
In any case he's not alone in alleging other papers shared in the News of the World's dishonourable practices.
"I believe it to be widespread," said Max Clifford, a celebrity publicist who got a hefty payout from the News of the World after his phone was hacked in an earlier scandal.
Clifford, who gave Hipwell a job after he was fired from the Mirror, said the News of the World may have been the worst offender — but it wasn't the only offender.
"They weren't isolated. They weren't the only ones."


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Several of you have asked about the whole lap band experience so far. Thus far, not much has happened except healing. I spent a week eating only liquids. Then 2 weeks on mushies. Food with the consistency of refried beans. For the past week and a half I have been on solid food. My band is empty right now. Which means my stomach is pretty much back to normal. I can eat what I could eat before the surgery. This afternoon I have my first "fill" where saline is put into the band through a port. A needle is inserted into port and saline is injected. It goes through a line into the band. It will probably take 2 or 3 fills to find the spot where I am consistently losing weight. Will keep you updated. So far I am down 10 pounds.
This week the kids have been out of the house a lot more because of the whole school thing. Yesterday, I caught myself, a couple of times, reminding my kids that there were "real people" around us. Just a general reminder that they were not the only people on the planet and to be aware of others around them. This is usually given when they are running through groups of people that we don't know.
Last night I was on the phone with a dear friend who lives in Maine. His kids have just entered middle school and high school this year. He and his wife are the same age as Kevin and I. As we were trying to talk, 4 of my kiddos were running around the table screaming while Grace sat at the table trying to do her homework. Her solution to this? To alternately yell at them to stop and at me to stop them. Never mind that she has a homework desk upstairs in the quiet with a lock on the door so she can do her work without distraction.
Have I mentioned how much I love these 'unreal people' or how much they make me yell and laugh at the same time??
In case you are wondering what "unreal people" look like, check out the following:
Oh, and yesterday's headache, named Headache Gustav by my sister, is still hanging in but is more a tropical storm that the level three hurricane it was yesterday