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Zombie: Ultimate Edition (US - BD)
Gabe revisits Fucli's classic, complete with comparison caps from 4 versions...
A derelict boat floats into New York Harbor. When the harbour patrol boards the ship, they find no crew aboard, just a mess of half-eaten food, body parts, and piles of creepy looking bugs. As they start preparations to bring the ship into port, a mysterious, blood soaked fat man breaks out of a locked cabin door, and chews a gaping hole in one of the cop's necks. The other officer has no choice but to shoot the advancing cannibal, who falls off the boat and into the water. These events draw questions, and one New York periodical sends out their resident British reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) to cover the story. Circumstances lead Peter to Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow), the daughter of the man who owns the derelict boat, and soon the two embark on a search in the Caribbean Islands. Once in the Caribbean they enlist the help of Brian ('Al Cliver' aka Pier Luigi Conti) and Susan (Auretta Gay), a vacationing couple with a boat, who agree to help them search for an elusive island named Matool, where Anne's father was practicing experimental medicine. When they finally find Matool they meet Anne's father's partner Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson), and discover that the island's dead are coming back to life as flesh eating zombies. With their boat broken in the harbour, the new friends are forced to fight their way off the cursed island.
In a perfect world this review would be my 1000th for DVDActive.com. (Well, in a perfect world Lucio Fulci would still be alive and I'd be watching this movie with him in a private theater surrounded by beautiful women that love me for my mind, but I'm aiming low.) As it stands this will settle somewhere in the low 900s. But there's still a large sense of coming full circle here. Just a little over seven years I applied for a job on a British owned website called DVDAnswers.com (I know, what a boring name) with a mock-up review for Media Blaster's imprint Shriek Show's special edition release of Lucio Fulci's Zombie (released under the Italian title Zombi 2 to avoid confusion with Blue Underground's same day release). For some reason Chris, Tom and Mal liked what they saw, and I was brought on to the site. A few months later I cleaned up that review a little bit, and it was the second review of mine that ever went live on the site (read it here and marvel at how terrible the other applicants must have been). Normally I'm lazy enough that I just cut, paste, and slightly re-edit an older review when I'm presented with a new release, but this is a special occasion (and that old review is so old), so I'm going to try to re-work this a little more explicitly.
Lucio Fulci is one of three filmmakers, including Dario Argento and Mario Bava, which I've studied fervently in an effort to approach something of an expert on the subject. I am not an expert, but I'm definitely well versed on the subject of Fulci's career, which, by the way, is much harder than becoming well versed in the careers of Argento and Bava based on the sheer quantity of the director's output. Fulci is credited as first unit director on 56 titles, running from 1959 to 1991, and spanning just about every genre imaginable (at least half these titles are not available on any digital media, and about a dozen of them are not available even on VHS in the United States). But it was his horror output that Fucli will be forever remembered, and the man whose fans know him as 'The Godfather of Gore' broke through the international glass ceiling with Zombie, and enjoyed a brief period of creative freedom following the film's surprise success. As a working director for hire, not an auteur with a history of any kind of power in Italy, Fulci aimed to please the masses with Zombie, which started life as a bogus sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Rather than compete with Romero's complex themes and characterizations, Fulci aimed to one-up Dawn of the Dead's taboo crushing gore. With a little help from make-up designer Giannetto De Rossi, Fulci obliterated audience expectations for the sheer quantity of graphic violence, and for the most part this is enough to secure the film's place in horror movie history.
Even as a hardened (some might even say obsessive) fan, I have to be honest – Zombie isn't an objectively good movie. It's brimming with awkwardly overlong sequences, features an almost mind-numbingly dumb storyline, and the dialogue is brutally asinine. It isn't even Fulci's best. The director would achieve greater personal goals as a filmmaker with Zombie's follow-ups City of the Living Dead and The Beyond, both of which were closer to his concept of 'pure film', and both of which are more genuinely nightmarish. Those looking for more conventionally successful films in the director's oeuvre should focus his gialli thrillers (specifically Don't Torture a Duckling, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin and The Psychic), his westerns (specifically Four of the Apocalypse, They Died with Their Boots On and Massacre Time), or his historical drama Beatrice Cenzi. These films all exhibit stronger narrative skills, better performances, and the director's penchant for widescreen compositions. The value of Zombie isn't in atmosphere or even overall achievement, it's in the odd mix of immaculate genre execution and laughable sloppiness. For every sweeping, brilliant camera move, there is a cheap trick, like a single molotov cocktail explosion awkwardly recycled to appear as many. Zombie is both genuinely good, and so-bad-it's-good, often within the exact same frame.
This unique quality is best embodied in the film's two most celebrated sequences. In the first our heroes take a break from their hunt for the elusive island of Matool so that Susanne may go scuba diving. Topless. In a thong. Before we can get to the truly gorgeous underwater photography Fulci pauses to film every supple inch actress Auretta Gay as she somewhat competently preps for her dive. Topless. In a thong. Entirely aware that he's placating the horny men in the audience Fulci occasionally cuts to Peter, who desperately ties to feign disinterest in the sight, while deflecting accusing glances from Anne. Meanwhile, Susanne's husband Brian appears entirely unfazed by the event, and continues to shovel food into his bearded gob. Having checked gratuitous nudity off his list of requirements for the time being, the director is free to celebrate Auretta Gay's figure in a more graceful light as she swims like a mermaid through colourful coral reefs. After a break for awe and wonder, danger is reintroduced to the narrative as Susanne runs afoul of a shark. While hiding from the beast (who looks pretty lethargic) she's grabbed from behind by a zombie that happens to be hanging out along the reef. The zombie and the shark then engage in mortal combat. The actual scene is more amusing than exciting, but it's an inspired moment of exploitation hucksterism that preys upon the audience's need to see monsters fight. In a truly shocking twist, parts of this scene (a scene from a movie that was banned in several countries only three decades before) were used in a Microsoft television commercial that aired on major network television.
The second celebrated scene is more skillfully put together, and is the ideal example of Fulci's better than expected approach to lowest common denominator filmmaking. The scene features actress Olga Karlatos, who plays Dr. Menard's hysterical wife Paola, is left alone on the 'safe' side of the island. Since there hasn't been a nude scene for several minutes, and won't be another one for the rest of the film, Paola is reintroduced while taking a shower. Fulci cleverly sets a mirror behind the actress, making it possible to film her nude body from the front and back in the same frame, and also films through a window for full voyeuristic effect. But again the audience isn't given too much time to ogle Karlatos' assets, as a dead, blue hand raises into frame and gropes the window glass. Having not noticed the window grope, Paola gets dressed, and is taking a pill to calm her nerves when a loud noise alerts her to the impending danger. She runs to her room, where she's forced to de-finger an attacking zombie with the door, which she then barricades with a large piece of furniture. The attack is suspenseful without showing too much of the monster, and the barricading of the door effectively relaxes and audience that has been conditioned to assume furniture offers at least temporary refuge from oncoming monsters. The real genius of the scene comes next, starting with a crackerjack scare cue as the attacking zombie's hand breaks through the door and firmly grabs Paola by the hair. As she screams, the rotten hand slowly pulls her open eyeball into a long, ragged splinter on the edge of the break in the door. Fulci extends the scene just long enough to relish in the absurdity of the moment, and gives a virgin audience false hope that perhaps he'll cut away before the ooey-gooey impact. There is no cut away. Every agonizing second is captured in loving, lurid detail.
The first time I saw Zombie it was in the form of T-Z Video/EDDE's VHS release (under the non-title Zombie 2). The image was practically black, and the 1.33:1 framing cropped the hell out of Fulci and cinematographer Sergio Salvati's 2.35:1 compositions. I got the gist of the film's look, but was mostly greeted with blobs of light and dark, and maddening close-ups of the bridges of actor's noses. Soon after I watched the slightly better Wizard VHS release, but was still left mostly confused by grit and bad framing. Years later Anchor Bay released a widescreen VHS, and soon after a matching non-anamorphic DVD. These were improvements, largely thanks to the simple inclusion of the full scope aspect ratio. The overall image on both releases was still quite muddled, including bits of major print damage that actually led to minor cuts, and tinting issues. Then in 2004 both Blue Underground and Shriek Show released DVDs featuring new, anamorphic transfers. These were roughly the same, though the Shriek Show release was a little more vibrant, and the Blue Underground release was progressive scan. Zombie has been a hotly anticipated Blu-ray since Blue Underground started re-releasing their catalogue titles in HD in 2008. Clearly Blue Underground head Bill Lustig knew this, because he made it clear from the outset that extra money and effort was going to be put into this new transfer, which wouldn't only be featured on the Blu-ray release, but be a part of a reasonably large scale (for a cult flick) theatrical re-release. This 1080p, 2.35:1 transfer has been scanned from the original negative in 2K resolution, and then restored using the company's patented magic wand technology (which may or may not exist).
A lot has changed over the past seven years. When I first reviewed the Shriek Show release for DVDAnswers I mostly complained about the sharpened and lightened quality of the transfer, bemoaning the loss of those dark and muddy transfers I 'grew-up' with. These days I've been turned towards the thought process that says films should be seen as the director intended, and Fulci probably didn't intend the film to be miscoloured and muddy. Unfortunately I was a year from born upon Zombie's first run, so I have to make assumptions in comparing this crystal clear and finely scrubbed new transfer to Fulci's original intensions. Zombie's production design isn't quite as excessively textured as City of the Living Dead, but there's still plenty of busy background business that goes missing in standard definition. HD doesn't make as much of a difference in close-up details, but when blown up to big screen sizes a decent amount of previously lost fine texture is revealed. These sharper details are a mixed blessing for the film's special effects, as they give up many of the make-up crew's magic tricks, but also allow fans to revel a bit more in the layered artistry. Colours are much more vibrant than older releases, which led me to realize how often Fulci plays with the juxtaposition of nearly monochromatic backgrounds, and primary coloured costumes. There's a lot more red, especially in the warmer hues, which leads to some slightly awkward skin tones, but is an overall improvement over the washed-out look of the various DVD versions. Blue hues are much richer than those found on old releases, and the jungle foliage is so lusciously green you'll find yourself wanting to touch it. The only time I was troubled by the influx of vibrancy was during the underwater scenes, which now feature too many red highlights, and less overall cool tint.
The transfer's most obvious issues all pertain to overall exposure levels. Some scenes benefit from richer blacks that cut nicely against minor highlights that go missing on the SD releases, and create sharper edges in fine details. Other scenes, often those taking place indoors during daylight hours, are way over-darkened, leading to a loss of detail and colour. Still, overall I'm (mostly) supportive of these crushed blacks, because the Shriek Show and Blue Underground DVDs were so light several sequences were deprived of their atmosphere. There should be a wider middle ground, though. Compression artefacts are entirely done away with as far as my eye can tell, but I do have some concerns about the relative lack of grain. The under water sequence, and some of the seafaring shots are reasonably grainy, but for the most part these look 'right'. Other scenes, especially bright daylight scenes show signs of what I think is DNR enhancement in both their lack of grain, and their slightly softened quality (some scenes are even softer than their DVD counterparts). This isn't the waxy, plastic-face brand of DNR propagated by Fox on that hideous Predator release, this is the more subtle brand of DNR, and for the most part it isn't an annoyance, and most viewers are going to look right by it. But sticklers will notice an overall softness to some shots, and some jagged digital noise (possibly from a telecine transfer process?) around many of the edges. It should also be noted for the hardcore fans in the house that the credits were apparently newly created for this release.
Though the strides in video quality have always taken precedence when discussing Zombie's home video releases, the audio quality has gone through some effective changes as well. The film was, like most Italian films made with an international market in mind, filmed largely without sound, and then dubbed (using mostly the on-screen actors) into monaural sound for both the English and Italian language releases. The simplicity of the overall soundtrack made for decent VHS quality audio, though the format's limitations opened the first DVD release up to improvement. Anchor Bay went to Chance Audio for a 5.1 remix, and the final effect was pretty sloppy. Effectively the remix separated Fabio Frizzi's score into the stereo channels, and sloshed a little canned water effect in the rear channels during the scenes on the water. The Shriek Show release worked from the same basis, but was more accurately separated, and the music featured a better LFE presence. It also, along with the Blue Underground release, featured the original English and Italian Mono tracks, which was a good move for the purists in the house.
This Blu-ray features two sort of newly mixed 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio tracks, both English and Italian, along with two somewhat superfluous Dolby Digital EX tracks, and two original mono tracks (that are not PCM or DTS-HD MA according to my system). The English 7.1 track follows the lead set by the older releases, but manages to widen the scope of some of the effects, starting with the sound of helicopter blades and rushing ocean water that opens the film. Gunshots tend over-extend themselves on the LFE channel, but for the most part I was unable to point specifically to any added, or improperly augmented blast effects. The incessant blare of outside wind on the island, and the Darth Vader-like sound of the zombies' breathing are the most effective surround elements, and work well for the mix. The vocal performances are mostly centered and natural, but are occasionally roughly crammed into the stereo channels to create movement, and overall sound very similar to those of the compressed tracks on the DVD. The Italian 7.1 track also spreads the dialogue a bit outside of the center channel, and creates some unfortunately reverb. Frizzi's music is a mixed-to-good bag. The main title theme and other synth-heavy elements are a bit dampened and flat. The less melodic music, specifically the scare cues and the xylophone work fare better, and extend nicely over the speakers without too much inter-channel bleeding. The track's biggest improvement over other releases is found in the placement of the tribal drums that drive through the film. Purists may find them too low on the track at some points, but I quite enjoyed the subtle, almost subconscious manner that they infiltrate some scenes. Fans of the score will want to stick to the English 7.1 track, where it's a noticeably stronger aural element.
Blue Underground has gathered a rather sizable collection of new extras, but they start things off with the same audio commentary that has been recycled through Anchor Bay and Shriek Show's DVD releases, featuring star Ian McCullough and moderator Jay Slater (writer/editor of Diabolik Magazine and 'Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies'). The track continues to age poorly. McCulloch was relatively unaware of the film's impact at the time of the recording, and despite a handful of fun behind the scenes stories his dismissing tone is a major downer. Slater does his best, but there just isn't much here for me to recommend listening to the track, especially now that we have new extras to fill in the behind the scenes story. The disc also features a fun 30 second introduction from Guillermo del Toro, two trailers, two TV spots, four radio spots, and an HD poster and stills slide show set to music from the film.
The second disc in this two disc set features a collection of cast and crew interviews starting with 'Zombie Wasteland' (22:20, HD), featuring actors Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver (aka Pier Luigi Conti) and Ottaviano Dell'Acqua. These interviews were taken at last year's Cinema Wasteland convention, and a lot of footage from the convention floor, including interviews with promoters and con-goers. Johnson and McColloch recall Fulci's bizarre, occasionally violent behavior, recount the fashion in which they were brought into the Italian horror fold, and offer some memories concerning the film's banned status in the UK. Cliver, who speaks in a whisper (hopefully he's just lost his voice), is mostly just happy to feel good about his work after years of relative shame. Dell'Acqua is clearly having the most fun, and mostly talks about the process of become the 'worm-eyed zombie'.
'Flesh Eaters on Film' (9:40, HD) features co-producer Fabrizio de Angelis, who recalls more of the technical issues in making the film, including hiring Fulci and the crew, shooting on location (which mostly involved stealing scenes), and Argento's lawsuit against the film. His most interesting claim, which doesn't line up with anything I've ever read from Fulci himself, was that they intended the film's cornball tone. 'Deadtime Stories' (14:30, HD) features co-writers Elisa Briganti and Dardano Sacchetti. Sacchetti, who's work was uncredited (and who is always a great intellectual interview subject on these sorts of things), reveals that Zombie started life as a western/zombie hybrid (!), but quickly morphed into something resembling the final product, and discusses the technical strengths of Fulci's shooting style. Briganti, who was credited with the screenplay, suggests that she may have been more of a script doctor. 'World of the Dead' (16:30, HD) features cinematographer Sergio Salvati and production/costume designer Walter Patriarca. Salvati talks about the film as a stylistically Italian answer to Dawn of the Dead, and appears to have taken real pride in creating a definitively artistic vision. He talks in mostly technical terms. Patriarca focuses his attention mostly on the processes of dressing up the zombies, and the hospital and church sets (complete with his illustrations).
The second screen of interviews starts with 'Zombi Italiano' (16:30, HD), which features special make-up effects artists Gianetto de Rossi and Maurizio Trani, and special effects artist Gino de Rossi. Discussion here revolves around the process of elimination that lead them to the unique zombie look, which was developed largely out of clay covered in latex, filming the shark vs. zombie scene, and created the eye-piecing and gut-eating effects. 'Notes on a Headstone' (7:30, HD) features composer Fabio Frizzi, who recalls the film as his first fantasy/horror score, and discusses the unique manner Fucli used his music to build atmosphere. 'All in the Family' (6:10, HD) features Fulci's daughter Antonella, who talks briefly about her father's passions and films. The extras come to an end with 'Zombie Lover' (9:40, HD), a delightful discussion with Guillermo del Toro, who delves into his fond memories of the film.
Zombie isn't a movie, it's a shared experience. It's a movie that brings people together. I can't even count how many times I've been approached by people when I've been out in public wearing my 'We Are Going to Eat You' t-shirt. And it's not just hardened horror fans that want to talk my ear off about Italian horror, it's average people in grocery store parking lots shouting 'That's the one where the lady gets a splinter in her eye!' at me from their cars. It played a huge role in my fixation with Italian horror cinema (if I'm remembering correctly it was the first spaghetti splatter flick I ever watched, followed in close succession by Argento's Suspiria, and Fulci's City of the Living Dead), which effectively led me to a fixation with motion picture entertainment overall. This Blu-ray release represents the best home video version of the film to date, but the 2k restoration has some issues with darkness and digital noise. The 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is about as good as I'd expect from the film, and the new extras, most of which are made up of interview segments, are both informative and entertaining. An overall stand-up release, but there continues to be some room for improvement.
* Note: The above images are taken from the Blu-ray and DVD releases and resized for the page. Full-resolution captures are available by clicking individual images, but due to .jpg compression they are not necessarily representative of the quality of the transfer. Thanks to Troy at Andersonvision.com for the Blue Underground Blu-ray screen-caps.
Review by Gabriel Powers
This product has not been rated
Disc Details
Release Date: 25th October 2011
Discs: 2
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.35:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 English and Italian, Dolby Digital EX English and Italian, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono English and Italian
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portugues, Deutsch, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai
Extras: Actor and Critic Commentary, Zombie Wasteland, Flesh Eaters on Film, Deadtime Stories, World of the Dead, Zombi Italiano, Notes on a Headstone, All in the Family, Zombie Lover, Guillermo del Toro Intro, Trailers, TV Spots, Radio Spots, Poster and Still Gallery
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson, Pier Luigi Conti, Auretta Gay
Genre: Horror
Length: 92 minutes
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1964 Topps Stand-UpsTopps most popular 1960's test issue !!!
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*~+++MIKE MAXWELL is showing
28, San Diego,Ca flickr.com/photos/mikemaxwellart
My current work is an investigation into Biology, History, and Theology and the roles those things play in our society.
I have very little time away from the arting. Seems like almost all of my time is spent around the arting. I like to hang out with family and friends when I free time.
Fecal Face is funny, informative, and wise beyond it's years.
Hanging out with my Ma for her 50th birthday in San Diego. Wish I could be there.
I have a groups show called "Tire Painters and Tall boys" coming up at The Neverender Gallery in Reno on Sept 29th Then in February 2008 I will be having my first San Francisco solo show at The Shooting Gallery and that show will be called "Supernatural Selection" http://www.neverenderreno.com/gallery.htm www.shootinggallerysf.com
The best thing that happened to me today was having a little bit of time to paint with my 6 year old niece. She is killing it already!
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The chilling motor neuron disease is one that leads to the rapid degeneration of nerve cells, muscle strength and motor function. Although the disease does not typically affect a person's senses or impair one's mind, the disease invariably results in a premature death several years after the onslaught of noticeable symptoms. The debilitating disease — one that affects approximately 30,000 Americans each day — is one with no known cause and no known cure.
"Both my parents were in absolute shock when they found out the news. They had three different opinions, all of which had the same horrible diagnosis," said Ashley. "We were devastated."
John, a former Navy pilot and retired captain with U.S. Airways, has always embraced the positive aspects of any given situation by his casual, fun-loving approach to life.
"Many times, we resort to humor, as that has always been something my family has been able to rally with in difficult times," she said. "Through everything, he is still such a funny guy, so that has made everything a little easier."
The frustrations of engaging in what once were effortless daily activities and performing seemingly straightforward motor control functions are no longer the simple tasks they once were, however.
"He has lost so much control over his body and is unable to do things that he was once able to. Even the simplest things like writing have become difficult for him. However, we never give up hope," said Ashley. "The four of us are such a close family. When one of us is down, we can always rely on one another to pick us back up. This is no different with my dad's battle."
Although there is never a day like the one before, the Constans family has redefined the daily norm, adjusting their lives to accommodate John's ever-changing needs.
"ALS is a community disease. Once a person is diagnosed, it quickly becomes not just their disease, but the disease of a family and those who support them," Ashley said. "Though it is not a well-known disease, it is probably one of the worst diseases one could be diagnosed with."
One of the many things John Constans will undoubtedly bequeath as a legacy to his daughters is his entrenched sense of what it takes to be successful and his steadfast approach to finding happiness in life no matter the circumstances. These traits are ones that have already been proven to exist in his daughters, exemplified by their own personal achievements.
Ashley, the director of operations at an event production company, Redfearn & Associates, is using her expertise in the field of event production to proactively channel her emotions and energy for the betterment of those battling ALS.
"My partner and I wanted to find a way we could use what we do to help raise money for research, as well as awareness about ALS and its devastating consequences," she said. "We rallied all the people we rely on to make our own business successful and asked them to help us out to make this event both very special and very fun."
The result: an upcoming fundraiser, "Flying for a Cure," on Jan. 19 to celebrate John's life and successes, while also helping to raise funds for Team Godfather, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to raising charitable funds to find a cure for ALS.
"My hope is that through this event, as well as other Team Godfather events, we can help raise money to fund ALS TDI (Therapy Development Institute), the research facility Team Godfather sends some of its funding to, to help find a cause and cure for this horrific disease, as well as raise awareness in the San Diego community," she said. "Patients and families who first get this news should know they are not alone. Though the future may look dark, so many people in San Diego want to help and there are resources that are here for them."
Flying for a Cure will take place at 5:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla Aventine, located at 3777 La Jolla Village Drive. The evening will feature a high-quality array of silent and live auction items, including one of the largest signed guitar collections available in San Diego's history, a cocktail happy hour reception with sumptuous bites from local caterers and restaurateurs, and a special performance by the Paul Cannon Band and a surprise internationally acclaimed musical guest.
"We hope through this event and other Team Godfather events that our community will rally together to help us find a cause and cure for ALS," said Ashley. "We will beat this one day."
Tickets are $250 per person or $2,500 for a table of 10 with VIP meet-and-greet opportunities with the musical guests. To purchase tickets, visit www.teamgodfather.org or call (760) 436-8809.


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When the Northwestern grunge-rock scene suddenly gained national attention in the early 1990s, Soundgarden had already been around for years. But by 1997, both the band and the musical movement it had helped to define had atomized.
Soundgarden's members went on to solo careers and side projects, and for a decade and change, it seemed that was that. Then, in early 2010, singer Chris Cornell took to Twitter to tell fans a reunion was imminent. After a smattering of live performances and smaller releases, the band released King Animal, its first studio album in 15 years, earlier this week. Here, Cornell discusses the reunion and the long road that preceded it with NPR's Guy Raz.
Interview Highlights
On the genesis of the reunion
"We'd all had different experiences where somebody was trying to buy a Soundgarden T-shirt for their child — for me, it was actually for my son — and there aren't any. Other circumstances started to pop up where we realized that some bands are defunct but have a rich history, you continually hear about them. That wasn't happening for us. So that's what got us in a room. Everything else was possible as soon as we were sitting in a room and talking."
On choosing music over high school
"I got a GED based on Catholic school seventh-grade education, really. I didn't make it that far. I have all those regrets now. ... I just kind of went into the blue-collar workforce at a really young age and discovered music, in terms of being a musician, around the same time. The good news is, I was probably 17 when I knew that's what I was going to do with the rest of my life, no matter what that meant. Even if that meant that I had to be a dishwasher or a janitor to support being in a band that I love and writing music that I love, I would be happy with that. So I feel fortunate. In spite of my lack of education, I didn't lack direction."
On what an active Soundgarden means after the grunge era
"I think it's really triumphant in a lot of ways. We sort of again proved ourselves worthy of being a band and releasing music and making records, separate from anything else: separate from a scene, separate from a genre, separate from anything. To be able to come back, especially after such a long break, and create an album that I believe lives up to the legacy of all of the other albums — I think that's a special thing. It's something that doesn't happen very often."
And if you're just tuning in, this is WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. And it's time now for music.
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) Black hole sun won't you come and wash away the rain...
RAZ: If ever a monument to grunge is built, this band, Soundgarden, will find its rightful place chiseled in the granite. For a time in the 1990s, Soundgarden became one of the biggest bands in the world, along with Nirvana and Pearl Jam. And then, as the whole scene started to fade, so, too, did Soundgarden. And the band members split up in 1997.
Front man Chris Cornell went on to form a new band and cut some solo albums. He did the theme song to the Bond film "Casino Royale," but neither Chris Cornell nor his ex-bandmates could shake the memories of Soundgarden. So they decided to give it another try, and the result is their first studio album in 15 years. They call it "King Animal."
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) Promise something. Kill me right away if I start to get slow...
RAZ: Chris Cornell says Soundgarden's reunion is in some ways about reconnecting with their history.
CHRIS CORNELL: We'd all had different experiences where somebody was trying to buy a Soundgarden T-shirt for their child. For me, it was actually for my son. And there aren't any, you know?
CORNELL: And other circumstances started to pop up where we realized that, oh, some bands that are defunct but have like a rich history, you know, you continually hear about them. And that wasn't happening for us. So that's what got us in a room. And everything else was possible as soon as we were kind of sitting in a room and talking.
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) I really, really wanted a break. I've been away for too long. No, I never really wanted to say. I've been away for too long.
RAZ: I mean, did you sort of say, you know, we were part of something really important. We were part of this really important moment in rock history in Seattle. It was 20 years ago, really, that everybody in the world was listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana and Soundgarden. Is that what happened? Did you say, God, we were part of this thing and people are going to forget that.
CORNELL: It actually didn't have anything to do with the scene. It had to do with our musical legacy and us and being proud of what we'd done creatively, artistically, and in a sense almost kind of how we seemed to have a good instinct to walk away from it while it was vital and just kind of believe it, in a sense, sort of elevated where it should be.
RAZ: You know, there aren't that many places and times you can point to and say that was a huge shift in rock. But Seattle, in the 1990s, it was seminal. It was important. It was very important.
CORNELL: Yeah. We had our moment, and we had it on a level that has only happened in a few places. So it's incredible that if there were one kind of defining moment in rock music that will always be in the history books, that one of them came from Seattle. That's something that none of us would have ever guessed.
And probably, that has a lot to do with why it was able to germinate, why the scene was able to grow creatively and organically without what I always referred to as carrots dangling in front of some starry eyed rock musicians. That didn't exist in Seattle because you didn't have a hope to ever become, you know, internationally, commercially successful rock band. That didn't happen. We were the first band that got that kind of bigger music business attention.
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) Though I can't put my hands on you I can feel you now in the bones and the blood flowing needles on the ground...
RAZ: We're speaking with Chris Cornell, the front man for the band Soundgarden. Their first new studio album in 15 years is out now. It's called "King Animal." You went to high school and finished and sort of did a couple of odd jobs and...
CORNELL: Mm-hmm. No, I didn't finish.
RAZ: You didn't finish high school.
CORNELL: No. The last grade I finished was seventh.
RAZ: Wow.
CORNELL: I got a GED based on Catholic school seventh-grade education, really.
RAZ: When you speak and when you talk about your sort of world view, I mean, you sound like a very well-educated...
CORNELL: Like I at least got to the ninth.
RAZ: I mean like a very well-educated person.
CORNELL: Yeah. I didn't make it that far.
CORNELL: But thank you. You know, I have all those regrets now. I didn't know I was going to become a writer and then wished that I had more education. I just kind of went into the blue-collar workforce at a really young age and discovered music, in terms of being a musician, around the same time.
The good news is that I was probably 17 when I knew that that was what I was going to do with the rest of my life, no matter what that meant. Even if that meant that I had to be a dishwasher or a janitor to support being in a band that I love and writing music that I love, I would be happy with that. So I feel fortunate, very fortunate, that in spite of the - my lack of education, I didn't lack direction.
RAZ: Most of you are in your late 40s, which is still young. I'm not making any statement there. But how does that actually change the way you all approach making music together?
CORNELL: I think there's some sort of an aspect of identity that is easy to grapple with as you get older. I think writing and recording music, performing live, kind of figuring out who you are or going through that journey trying to figure it out, all those things seem to be more difficult to grapple with when you're younger.
And as you get older, you kind of realize that, is this cool, am I cool, how will people perceive anything becomes less of a concern.
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) I get an itch and when I am scratching everything can go to hell. And how far is halfway there? I didn't see you on the trail. I've almost become good enough should the good life be so hard won? Is that what our dreams have become?
RAZ: What, if anything, does the release of this record mean for Soundgarden?
CORNELL: I think it's really triumphant in a lot of ways. We sort of again proved ourselves worthy of being a band and releasing music and making records separate from anything else. Separate from a scene, separate from a genre, separate from anything.
RAZ: Just as musicians, people who love making music.
CORNELL: Exactly. And to be able to come back - especially after such a long break - and create an album that I believe lives up to the legacy of all of the other albums, I think that's a special thing. It's something that doesn't happen very often.
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) Don't know where I'm going. I just keep on rowing. I just keep on pulling, gotta row.
CORNELL: And then there are a lot of other things that are really great about it. It's very fortunate, I think, to have these creative relationships and then be able to turn to them after 12, 13 years and in a sense kind of be able to go in and take your kind of evolved self back into those relationships and see what you can do now. I think we all missed Soundgarden. And we all feel fortunate that we have the opportunity to be in it again. I feel that.
RAZ: That's Chris Cornell, front man for the band Soundgarden. They're out with their first new studio album in 15 years. It's called "King Animal." Chris Cornell, thank you so much. And congratulations on the record.
CORNELL: Thank you.
SOUNDGARDEN: (Singing) Can't see the sky, nothing on the horizon. Can't feel my hands and the water keeps rising. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 27th Apr 2012 01:00 UTC
"Former Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz took the stand here today as a witness for the defense, and disputed Oracle's claim that Java APIs were proprietary code from Sun. Google's lawyer, Robert van Nest, asked Schwartz whether, during his tenure at Sun, Java APIs were considered proprietary or protected by Sun. 'No,' Schwartz said in explaining the nature of open software, 'These are open APIs, and we wanted to bring in more people... We wanted to build the biggest tent and invite as many people as possible.'" Whoopsie for Oracle.
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RE: really?
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text:
The $180 million redevelopment of the Sears Crosstown building goes to the Downtown Memphis Commission Design Review Board Wednesday, Nov. 6.
The review board will vote on design elements of the project as proposed by Crosstown LLC. A staff report recommends approval of the changes the group plans for the 14-story building and its detached parking garage.
The critical design elements include replacing original windows and a drive-thru feature toward the rear of the building off North Claybrook Street.
The Crosstown building is not in the Central Business Improvement District governed by Downtown Memphis Commission design guidelines. But it is close enough that the project qualified and was granted a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes arrangement by the Center City Revenue Finance Corp.
The design guidelines call for preserving existing windows and repairing them when possible. But the staff report concludes replacing the windows with ones that match the character of the building is appropriate, given the condition of the existing windows.
The drive-thru feature is also acceptable to the staff because of its location in the rear and its relatively small size compared to the scale of the entire building.
The Design Review Board meets at 4 p.m. in the Downtown Memphis Commission conference room, 114 N. Main St.
UT Medical Group Inc. has named Brad Canada as chief medical officer.
Canada, who previously served as associate chief medical officer and vice president of physician services for UT Medical Group, is a UT Medical Group nephrologist and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Canada also serves as medical director for the Satellite Dialysis clinic.
UT Medical Group is a private, nonprofit group practice affiliated with the UT Health Science Center College of Medicine faculty. Canada earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Mississippi and completed his medical degree, nephrology fellowship and master's degree in epidemiology at UT Health Science Center.
Mid-South Spay & Neuter Services will hold its seventh annual SPAYtacular Gala and Silent Auction Nov. 3.
The event is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the group and will take place from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Downtown's Jack Robinson Gallery, 44 Huling Ave.
Amenities for attendees include mimosas, a bloody mary bar, beer from Yazoo Brewing Co., wine and brunch food, as well as music from Vanessa Winter and Deering and Down, with Ron Childers as the emcee.
Tickets are $40 per person and $75 for a pair and can be purchased at spaytacular2013.eventbrite.com.
All proceeds from SPAYtacular supports the mission of reducing pet overpopulation through affordable spay and neuter surgery.
Gov. Bill Haslam says it is unlikely the state will hammer out a deal with the federal government on Medicaid expansion before the new year.
The Republican governor told reporters in Nashville on Wednesday that negotiations have been hampered by the problems with the online insurance marketplaces.
Haslam said the federal government officials that the state has been in discussions with have been busy dealing with the federal exchange website serving 36 states including Tennessee.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday set a Nov. 30 deadline for fixing the problems that have overwhelmed the website intended to make shopping for insurance clear and simple.
Haslam in March declined $1.4 billion in federal funds to cover about 140,000 uninsured Tennesseans under the terms the money was offered.
Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell for the second straight week and are at their lowest levels in four months.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan declined to 4.10 percent from 4.13 percent last week. The average on the 15-year fixed loan eased to 3.20 percent from 3.24 percent.
Rates have been falling since September when the Federal Reserve surprised investors by continuing to buy $85 billion a month in bonds. The purchases are intended to keep long-term interest rates low.
Rates had spiked over the summer when the Fed indicated it might reduce those purchases later this year. But hiring has slowed since then. Many now expect the Fed won't taper until next year.
The average on the 30-year loan has now fallen about half a percentage point since a hitting two-year high over the summer. The lower rates appear to be sparking a surge in activity by prospective homebuyers and homeowners looking to refinance.
Two giant pandas have a home at the Memphis Zoo for at least 10 more years.
WREG-TV in Memphis reports that the Zoo and the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens and China's State Forestry Administration reached a deal Wednesday morning.
China owns and leases all pandas to other zoos throughout the world and will lease them to the Memphis Zoo for half a million dollars a year.
The process of acquiring giant pandas for the Memphis Zoo began in 1999.
The Memphis Zoo has had Ya Ya and Le Le since April 2003.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell 10,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 340,000, a sign that employers are laying off very few workers.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the four-week average rose 8,000 to 356,250, the highest since April. The 16-day partial government shutdown and backlogs in California due to computer upgrades inflated the average.
Still, a government spokesman said those unusual factors did not affect last week's first-time applications, which appeared to be free of distortions for the first time in two months.
Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have fallen for three straight weeks and are just above the pre-recession levels reached in August.
Fewer applications are typically followed by more job gains. But hiring has slowed in recent months, rather than accelerated.
The economy added an average 143,000 jobs a month from July through September. That's down from an average of 182,000 in April through June, and 207,000 during the first three months of the year.
Nearly 3.9 million people received unemployment benefits in the week ended Oct. 12, the latest data available. That's about 40,000 more than the previous week. But a year ago, more than 5 million people were receiving unemployment aid.
Hiring likely weakened even further in October because of the shutdown, which ended on Oct. 16.
If you have a quality piece of furniture that has seen better days but still has potential, or family heirlooms and flea market finds you've wanted to transform, an Austin, Texas-based upholstery and design expert will be offering hands-on advice in Memphis next week
Amanda Brown, author of the upcoming book "Spruce: A Step-by-Step Guide to Upholstery and Design," will host a book-signing Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 6 p.m. at The Booksellers at Laurelwood, 387 Perkins Road Extended.
She will also host two beginner upholstery classes – a bench class and a lampshade class – followed by a book-signing party on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at Propcellar Vintage Rentals, 4726 Poplar Ave., suite 4.
And on Thursday, Nov. 7, she will hold a book-signing at Me & Mrs. Jones, 889 S. Cooper St.
In the upcoming book, Brown leads beginners through six upholstery projects, teaching the basic skills needed to tackle most furniture makeovers.
Brown launched Spruce, a furniture redesign studio, in 2007. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Metropolitan Home and Southern Living.
U.S. consumer prices increased only slightly in September, as higher energy costs offset flat food prices. The figures are the latest evidence that slow economic growth is keeping inflation tame.
The consumer price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in September, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That's up from 0.1 percent in August. Higher gas, electricity and other energy costs rose 0.8 percent, making up about half the overall increase.
In the past year, consumer prices have increased just 1.2 percent, down from a 1.5 percent annual gain in August. That's the smallest 12-month gain since April, and it's below the Federal Reserve's 2 percent inflation target.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, core prices rose just 0.1 percent and are up 1.7 percent in the past 12 months.
High unemployment and meager wage increases have made it difficult for Americans to pay more for most goods. That has also made it hard for retailers to charge more.
Prices for clothing and hotels fell, while airline fares, new car prices, and rents rose. Fruit and vegetable prices dropped, offsetting increases in meat, breads and dairy products.
September's report also includes data used by the Social Security Administration to calculate cost-of-living adjustments for 58 million Social Security beneficiaries. Mild inflation means benefits will increase 1.5 percent next year, among the smallest increases since the automatic adjustments began in 1975.
The shutdown has likely slowed growth in an already weak economy. Economists expect economic growth at an annual rate of between 1.5 percent and 2 percent from July through September. That would be down from a 2.5 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter.
Shelby County Schools superintendent Dorsey Hopson will recommend the school board expand Barret's Chapel Elementary School to kindergarten through eighth grade starting next school year. The school currently serves kindergarten through fifth grade.
Hopson announced the recommendation Monday, Oct. 28.
Parents of students at the elementary school were concerned about the long bus trip for those students to attend Mt. Pisgah Middle School next school year.
Barret's Chapel had once been a K-8 school.
The school board also approved a memorandum of understanding with Christian Brothers University to consult with the school system on the development of a proposed STEAM optional school at Fairview Middle School, near the CBU campus. STEAM is a curriculum that emphasizes science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics.
Over the five-year agreement, the university will provide consulting engineers and professional development at a cost of up to $25,000 a year, and university personnel will assist in developing the curriculum.
Shelby County Commissioners at first defeated and then approved a plan Monday, Oct. 28, that would convert some temporary county government positions to full-time jobs and eliminate more temporary positions across county government and within the offices of countywide elected officials.
The revenue neutral plan is a reaction to the federal Affordable Care Act, which defines a 30-hour work week as a full-time employee with health care coverage effective with the new year.
The list of 19 temporary positions that would become full-time positions under the plan included the names of those currently holding the positions. That included a social media position at Memphis-Shelby County Juvenile Court now held by the son of court Chief Administrative Officer Larry Scroggs.
Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Kim Hackney said the jobs would be posted and filled after applicant interviews and a process supervised by the administration.
Commissioners voted on the Juvenile Court positions separately and then all the other positions in the plan, and in two separate votes, defeated both items.
The commission then reconsidered that vote, then voted on the plan as a single item and approved it.
RedRover Sales & Marketing has completed its move from South Main to its new home at 22 N. Front St.
The firm looked for a new spot Downtown because it outgrew the space that housed it for the last three years. RedRover founder and CEO Lori Turner-Wilson said this summer that the new space will allow the firm to grow to three times its current staff over the next five years.
The law firm of Rainey, Kizer, Reviere & Bell PLC has renewed its lease in the Raymond James Tower Downtown and expanded its presence there.
Its current expansion brings a larger conference room and more attorney offices, boosting the firm's footprint by 30 percent and providing room for future growth.
Cushman & Wakefield/Commercial Advisors vice president Jeb Fields and associate Neely Mallory represented Rainey Kizer in the lease transaction. Rainey Kizer president John Burleson said many of the firm's Jackson, Tenn.-based attorneys try cases in Memphis and work from the Downtown office during the trials, and being close to Interstate 40 and Interstate 55 also helps serve the firm's Arkansas- and Mississippi-based clients.
With 38 attorneys, Rainey Kizer is one of the 20 largest firms in Tennessee. It was founded in Jackson in 1975 and opened an East Memphis office in 2005. As the firm grew, it moved Downtown in 2008.
Memphis-based Wright Medical Group Inc. will participate in the Credit Suisse 2013 Healthcare Conference Nov. 14.
Robert Palmisano, president and CEO of Wright Medical, will present at the conference, being held in Scottsdale, Ariz. A live audio webcast, along with Palmisano's presentation materials, will be available on Wright's website, wmt.com.
This month, Wright Medical announced it had reached a $75 million agreement to buy the French company Biotech International, a privately held manufacturer of surgical implants and advanced fixation technologies that deal with fractures.
In addition, Wright Medical and MicroPort Scientific Corp. are awaiting regulatory approval for the proposed $290 million sale of Wright's knee and hip division, OrthoRecon, to a division of Shanghai-based MicroPort.
Wright Medical won approval earlier this year to relocate its corporate headquarters from Arlington to Memphis. The company will maintain its manufacturing facilities in Arlington.
Memphis-based EdR, one of the nation's largest developers, owners and managers of collegiate housing, reported increased revenues in the third quarter.
The student housing real estate investment trust posted revenue of $44.2 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, a 34.4 percent increase from $32.9 million in the third quarter of 2012.
Core funds from operations in the quarter were $8.7 million, up 47.4 percent from $5.9 million in the third quarter last year.
EdR recorded same-community revenue growth of 5 percent for the 2013-2014 lease term, with a net rental rate increase of 2 percent.
During the third quarter, EdR completed its previously announced $56.2 million acquisition of the Retreat at State College, a 587-bed community serving Penn State University.
The company also acquired the Cottages on Lindberg, a 745-bed community serving Purdue University in Indiana, for $36 million.
EdR also delivered five new owned development communities with 2,750 beds for an aggregate cost of $192.4 million. Those communities opened 92.4 percent leased. Through the first nine months of the year, EdR reported revenue of $131.8 million, up from $99.2 million over the same period last year.
The State Collaborative on Reforming Education – or SCORE – has included a Memphis charter school, Freedom Preparatory Academy, among the finalists for its third annual SCORE Prize.
The Nashville-based education reform collaborative, founded and chaired by former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, gives an annual award to the elementary, middle and high school in the state that shows the most dramatic improvement in student achievement, as well as one school district in the state.
The collaborative awards the winning schools with $10,000 each, and the school district gets $25,000.
Freedom Prep is the only Memphis school among the finalists. The winners were to be named Monday, Oct. 28.
The school opened in the fall of 2009. It is the school Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam picked to sign into law the bill that did away with limits on the number of charter schools in the state.
The sixth- through ninth-grade school is in the old Lakeview Elementary School in the Westwood area.
Memphian Angela Copeland is launching a career-coaching practice called Copeland Coaching.
Copeland Coaching is offering help at all stages of the job search, including networking, interviewing and negotiation, and is helping professionals of all levels who want a career change.
Copeland also has written an e-book, "Breaking the Rules and Getting the Job," that provides practical advice for job-seekers. The book was released Monday, Oct. 28, and is available at copelandcoaching.com.
For more information, contact Copeland at 270-4969 or email email@example.com.
The Nissan plant in Tennessee that makes the all-electric Leaf stands to benefit from an announcement last week that eight states will work together to dramatically increase the number of zero-emission cars on the nation's roads.
But Tennessee isn't among the states signing the agreement, and Republican leaders say they have no plans to do so.
Meanwhile, a state program offering a $2,500 incentive for electric vehicle purchases expired in January, and Gov. Bill Haslam's administration has made no moves to revive it.
Nissan makes the Leaf and its lithium-ion batteries at its sprawling plant in Smyrna, a Nashville suburb.
The Japanese automaker sold more than 16,000 Leafs through the first nine months of the year – three times as many as through the same period a year ago.
Governors from eight states representing 23 percent of the U.S. auto market pledged Thursday to get 3.3 million zero-emission vehicles on roadways by 2025 in an effort to curb greenhouse gas pollution from transportation sources.
Each state has already adopted rules to require a percentage of new vehicles sold to be zero emission by 2025. California's mandate calls for growing the zero-emission vehicles from the current level of less than 2 percent to more than 15 percent, or 1.5 million vehicles.
The other states involved in the agreement are Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the long-term ratings of Memphis-based First Horizon National Corp. and its subsidiaries.
Moody's affirmed the financial strength rating of First Horizon subsidiary First Tennessee Bank, but the bank's baseline credit assessment was lowered. And the bank's long-term deposit rating also was downgraded.
Moody's said the downgrade mostly reflects the drag of First Horizon's legacy mortgage banking business on the company's performance.
U.S. factories barely boosted their output in September, adding to other signs that the economy was slowing even before the government shutdown began on Oct. 1.
Manufacturing production rose only 0.1 percent, the Federal Reserve said Monday. That's down from a 0.5 percent gain in August, which was slightly lower than previously reported.
Automakers boosted their output in September, but the gain was offset by declines at makers of computers, furniture and appliances.
Overall industrial production increased 0.6 percent in September, mostly because of a 4.4 percent jump in utility output. Utilities had fallen for five months. But September was unseasonably warm, likely increasing air conditioning use.
Mining output, which includes oil production, rose 0.2 percent, its sixth straight increase.
Factory output is the largest component of industrial production. It had shown signs of rebounding over the summer, raising hopes that factories would help drive economic growth in the second half of the year.
But several reports suggest businesses and consumers had both grown more cautious right before the 16-day partial government shutdown.
And overall hiring has slowed. Those factors could keep the economy weak until next year.
A pickup in deliveries helped UPS more than double its profit from a year ago, when Big Brown took a hit from pension-restructuring costs.
UPS delivered more than 1 billion packages in the quarter, an increase of 4.6 percent, led by gains in international-export and U.S. ground shipments.
The company's U.S. business was helped by growth in online retailing, although a slowing in the financial-services industry cut into next-day-air letter deliveries.
Overseas, volume rose due to growth in European exports.
But Asia was flat as international customers continued to shift from priority air service to cheaper but slower delivery options. UPS has been trimming cargo flights from Asia.
"Our third-quarter results improved from the first half of the year even though our business faced similar market dynamics," Chairman and CEO Scott Davis said Friday on a conference call with analysts.
The company added that it plans to hire 55,000 workers to handle the holiday-season crush – about the same as the last two years.
It expects daily volume to rise 8 percent over 2012. UPS believes that the busiest day will be Monday, Dec. 16, when it expects to pick up more than 34 million packages.
United Parcel Service Co. said that net income in the third quarter soared to $1.10 billion, or $1.16 per share.
That was a penny better than analysts expected and an improvement over the $469 million, or 48 cents per share, that UPS earned a year ago.
The 2012 figure would have been $1.06 per share without a $559 million pension-restructuring charge.
Revenue rose 3.4 percent to $13.52 billion, below analysts' forecast of $13.59 billion, according to FactSet.
Expenses declined 4.8 percent, as spending on compensation and benefits fell 8.1 percent without the big pension hit.


text:
|Click here to view the item
|Wilson, Bill (William Bryan), 1914-1993
|General Assembly Committee on Schools, Sibley Commission
View of Jim Cherry speaking during a meeting of the General Assembly Committee on Schools in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1960, Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver, Jr. was faced with a decision to either close public schools or comply with a federal order to desegregate them. To avoid conflict with the federal government, He directed the Georgia General Assembly to create the General Assembly Committee on Schools. The committee was charged with gauging public sentiment regarding school desegregation and reporting back to the governor. Atlanta businessman John Sibley was selected to lead this effort, and therefore the committee was often referred to as the Sibley Commission. Although He believed in segregation, Sibley hoped to minimize support for massive resistance to school desegregation for practical reasons. He held ten public hearings across the state in which the debate was confined to two choices: continuing massive resistance at the expense of the school system or amending state law to allow token integration while keeping segregation largely intact. Most of those in attendance at the meetings supported total segregation of the schools. Sibley recommended that the state accept the federal decision to desegregate the schools despite the commission's findings. In January of 1961, Governor Vandiver introduced a bill that accepted the Sibley Commission's recommendations for desegregation.
|Black-and-white photographs | StillImage
|Cherry, Jim D., 1911-1980 | Segregation--Georgia | School integration--Georgia | School integration--Massive resistance movement--Georgia | Discrimination in education--Georgia | Legislative hearings--Georgia | Committees--Georgia--Atlanta | Meetings--Georgia--Atlanta | Georgia. General Assembly. Committee on Schools | School integration--Public opinion | Public opinion--Georgia--Atlanta | Georgia--Politics and government | DeKalb County School System--Officials and employees | School superintendents--Georgia--DeKalb County | United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.7489954, -84.3879824
|Bill Wilson Photographs, 1938-1979, undated
|Atlanta History Center
|Atlanta History Center
|Original Material:
35 mm black and white negative
Bill Wilson Photographs, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Ga.
|Rights and Usage:
This material is protected by copyright law. (Title 17, U.S. Code) Permission for use must be cleared through the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Licensing agreement may be required.
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text:
NFL teams show interest in ex-Wildcat star
Dalton Botts will graduate from the University of Miami on May 10 with a bachelor's degree in criminology.
But before that day arrives, he's hoping he'll already have his dream job – in the National Football League.
The 2009 Taft High grad, who guided the Wildcats to a Valley championship his senior season, attracted the interest of a handful of NFL teams during a "Pro Day" event at the Miami campus in Coral Gables, Fla.
Scouts representing 30 of the 32 NFL teams and two Canadian teams watched 19 athletes, including 12 Hurricane seniors, showcase their skills.
Botts was pleased with his audition.
"I thought it went really well," he said Tuesday morning tossing a football around as he hung out at his family's gym (Samson's) in Taft during spring break.
In addition to punting, he took part in some of the other drills the pro scouts put the hopefuls through.
"I did well in the vertical jump, ran the 40 and did the bench press," he said. "I wanted to show them I could do more than just punt – that I'm an athlete."
After doing those things, he rested a bit while other position athletes performed, then returned to the field with a bag of footballs to see if anyone was interested in his punting.
They were.
One of the Pro Day leaders told him: "You get five punts. Give me your best five punts."
The pressure was on.
"I did really well," Botts said. "I felt really good. I was on that day."
That caught the attention of others.
"Then some of the other scouts came over and asked me to punt."
A dialog began.
"They asked me to do things like directional punting, kicking to the sideline, things like that," he said. "I actually kicked quite a lot for them. In fact, I had a sore hamstring the next day."
Teams that expressed an interest include the San Francisco 49ers, St. Louis Rams, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs.
Botts had previously heard from the Miami Dolphins.
"I've been invited to work out with the Dolphins," he said.
That will take place April 4 at the team's training camp not too far from the UM campus and a place the Hurricanes once practiced.
"We actually went there to practice once when we had thunder and lightning on campus," Botts said, because the Dolphins training facility includes an indoor practice field.
After that he'll have to wait to see if his name comes up in the NFL draft April 25-27, which will be televised live on the NFL Network.
In the meantime, Botts will keep in touch with his agent – Alex Gavilla of the Epic Agency.
The NFL hopeful did a recent photo shoot and an autograph event for Total Nutrition, a New York-based vitamin supplement and health food company.
"That was pretty cool," Botts said.
So would a call from the NFL.


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A trio of Durfee Hilltoppers leads the way for The Herald News All-Scholatics girls' basketball team. Westport was the only other school with multiple stars, finishing with two. Here's a closer look at the stars:
A trio of Durfee Hilltoppers leads the way for The Herald News All-Scholatics girls' basketball team. Westport was the only other school with multiple stars, finishing with two. Here's a closer look at the stars:
AMANDA HOLEWIAK (Somerset Berkley): The Somerset Berkley junior center, Holewiak led the Raiders in scoring, averaging 10 points and better than five rebounds per game. Holewiak was Somerset Berkley's lone EAC all-star.
BRYNN PASTERNAK (Diman): Pasternak did it all for the Bengals, who were one of only three girls' teams in Greater Fall River to qualify for the state tournament. A Mayflower League all-star, Pasternak was just as effective shooting from the outside as she was driving to the hoop. She averaged 12 points per game.
ALLIE LAKE (Bishop Stang): The Spartans' senior point guard was named the team's Most Valuable Player and was an Eastern Athletic Conference all-star. Lake led Bishop Stang in both steals and assists and was second on the team in the scoring department.
ALLYSON DICESARE (Case): The Cardinals' Most Valuable Player, DiCesare averaged a double-double for the season, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds per game. She also led the team in assists, blocks and steals. She scored 23 points and pulled down 17 rebounds in a game against Dighton-Rehoboth this season.
BRIANNA CAMARA (Durfee): Camara averaged 21 points per game and twice reached 35 this season for the Hilltoppers. "Bri was the game plan for every team we played against and she was still able to lead her team in almost every statistic," said Durfee coach Brendan Kelly. A Big 3 all-star, Camara will enter next season needing just points to become a member of the 1,000-point club.
PAULINA FEITELBERG (Durfee): Feitelberg was instant offense with her 3-point shooting, knocking down 45 of them for the season. She finished with 94 in her three-year career. "While shooting was her best quality, it was her improvement on the defensive end that allowed her to play almost the entire game," said Durfee coach Brendan Kelly.
J'LYNN JACKSON (Durfee): The ultra-quick point guard was the quarterback of the potent Hilltopper offense. A great ball handler and distributor, Jackson averaged better than nine points per game, but was capable of putting up big numbers as she netted 23 points twice this season.
JESSICA FOURNIER (Bishop Connolly): The Cougars' best all-around player, Fournier helped Bishop Connolly collect a couple of wins this season after a winless campaign a year ago. The versatile Fournier was forced to play several positions and be the leader of a young Cougar squad.
SAM MEDEIROS (Westport): A junior, Medeiros averaged a double-double this year, scoring 12.8 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game. A league all-star, Medeiros led the team in both scoring and rebounding and helped send the Cats into the state tournament, where they lost to undefeated West Bridgewater in the sectional quarterfinals.
BRITTANY ARRUDA (Westport): Arruda, a junior, was Westport's major outside threat, knocking down 34 3-pointers on the season, including eight in one game. Arruda averaged 10.9 points per game and help guide her team to the South Sectional quarterfinals.
Honorable Mention: MacKenzie Ferreira (Somerset Berkley), Breanna Wood (Somerset Berkley), Katie McDonnell (Diman), Abby Means (Bishop Stang), Ellie Roberts (Case), Jordyn Gauvin (Durfee), Sam Sando (Tiverton), Avery Pacheco (Tiverton).