text:
Our Own Voices, an O, Miami Poetry Festival Performance
Spring, 2018
What draws me to poetry is the impact of a succinct verse; a few phrases strung together speaking so boldly. With folk music, which I love deeply, I am also drawn to its open, outward voice. For this most recent show with O, Miami, "folk" was the focal point of the performance; specifically, a wide variety of voices emerging and coming together.
This song makes me feel like I'm in the sky
sitting on the clouds and eating a strawberry
-D'Metrius Johnson (Miami)
The performance featured individual works of newly written poetry (Miami elementary school students; Miami poet Annik Adey-Babinksi), new prose (Simon Nicholas), and newly composed musical works (Shawn Crouch, Abby Swidler, Daniel Pencer, Borey Shin). The poetry flowed throughout these works - sung and spoken.
At the center of the program was a piece with no poetry attached: "Strum," by Jessie Montgomery. And at the end, another work with no words -the Fourth String Quartet by Bela Bartok. But the visceral and also lyrical elements of the pieces were so fearless that they grounded the evening in their strength.
For me, the variety of the pieces of the voices - young and old, vulnerable and insistent - created its own folk narrative. As if at the end of the night, a group of storytellers parted ways, an unspoken understanding among them.
I will believe in snail mail/but can't survive on stamp glue
send me a picture/taken from your street
and I'll step into it
-Annik Adey-Babinski (excerpt from On MC Hammer's Birthday)
Perspectives in Counterpoint: Arabic and Jewish Music at UTEP
Winter, 2018
In January, I spent several days in El Paso, Texas, with my friend and musical duo partner Layale Chaker, composer and violinist. Layale and I met at the Banff Centre in March 2015, and had not seen each other in several years, besides a brief and purely coincidental day in Lucerne, Switzerland, in the summer of 2015. We have remained in touch, working together on many projects, including several premieres. Over Skype, Layale taught me Arabic songs and coached me on the styles of some of the pieces she wrote me. And together we came up with this most recent project - a program of Jewish and Arabic music and new compositions inspired by people, places, and music that are close to us. It is hard to find the words to describe how impactful our time was together, after three years apart but remaining so close in between.
Upon arriving in El Paso, Andrea Shaheen Espinosa, the director of Layali Al-Sham, the Arabic music ensemble at UTEP, brought us into the openhearted world of her ensemble. The ensemble feels like, and in many ways is, a family, and welcomed us both to join.
Below are some highlights from this experience, small samples of what I hope will be a project that continues.
From Day 1
The evening I arrived in El Paso, I went to rehearsal. Everyone in Layali Al-Sham was warm and open. The ensemble consisted of two violinists, a bass player, an accordionist, two guitarists, two percussionists, a flutist, and a small choir, gathered together in a semi-circle. Layale led the ensemble on several new pieces and arrangements of Arabic music, building in room for improvisation.
Once the rehearsal was in full swing, I took the choir outside of the theatre to a quiet spot to teach them a Sephardic song, entitled "Los Bilbilicos" (The Nightingales). I taught the song completely by ear: I would sing, they would repeat. Since the song is in Ladino, which overlaps strongly with Spanish, there was a familiarity to many of the ensemble members, but the free nature of the song was new to them. We repeated the melody over and over, until it started to stick. I looked at the group of people in front of me - who I'd just met for the first time and who were trusting me completely - and asked who would be willing to try to sing solo. Taking it one step further, I suggested that they improvise on the melody. A shyness took hold of the group, in spite of their ease and comfort in their surroundings. I gave a demonstration, making small changes with the ornamentation and the syllable placement within certain words, to show how subtle the improvisation could be. A couple of members volunteered to try, but mostly stuck with the given melody.
We finally gave the piece a rest, after an endless amount of repetition of an already very repetitive song. During the rehearsal break, I walked out into the hallway, and heard two of the female vocalists practicing the song together - one of the more confident singers was gently nudging the other singer into believing that she could indeed sing the piece. Their voices were beautiful.
From Day 2 - Talk and Performance at the El Paso Holocaust Museum, "Music as Resistance"
When we arrived at the Holocaust museum, I expected a small gathering of people, an intimate crowd. As I unpacked my viola and started to mentally prepare for my talk, I saw people beginning to line up outside the room. Soon I was getting nervous, and I decided to slip away into an office space and let the crowd enter; when I returned to the room, it was packed - people were even standing in the doorway. I began by playing Bach, because this felt like the only way that I could introduce my Great-Grandfather, Arthur Bloch, the focal point of the talk. He was a lawyer, violinist, and an instrument collector living in Berlin who escaped with his immediately family to the United States in 1937 to flee the Nazis. Most of all, he was a music-lover deeply embedded in Western classical music community. And music, as it turned out, saved our family.
Most astoundingly, Arthur Bloch continued his tradition from Berlin of Friday evening chamber music gatherings in his home upon settling in New York.
Later on in the talk, Layale and I performed a piece together by the composer Ilse Weber, who wrote children's poetry and music, even when she was in a concentration camp. She worked in a children's infirmary in one camp, where there was no medicine, simply beds. She would sing lullabies to the children, including "Weigala," which Layale and I loosely arranged for our two instruments. I sang the last verse, without words. Here was music as a form of love, of all that was left; of escape, and certainly of resistance.
At the end of the talk, several of the audience members remarked on their own experiences of crossing the border, and of choosing to stay their homes, especially in Juarez. They spoke of what it would mean to have to leave their home - and to how much they related to the strength of community and also of music in their own lives.
When I described what I can only imagine was the sense of comfort and home that my Great-Grandfather felt when he was amongst musicians, I realized, very plainly, that I feel the same.
From Day 3: Juarez
Part of what was so special about crossing the border into Mexico was our two guides, Omar and Federico, who are simply two of the most thoughtful and caring musicians and artists I have ever met. They first took us to have a traditional meal, complete with enchiladas, mole, and tamales (and after a while…some tequila and mezcal in a bar downtown). Our next destination was a stretch of fairly new murals, bold and contrasting with the strip malls that we had driven past before arriving downtown.
As we headed back towards the border crossing, we passed a stunning church, and soon after I began to drift close to sleep. Before we knew it, we were at the border, with a mix of familiar and unknown ahead.
From Day 4: Perspectives in Counterpoint
Our concert filled me with joy and also sadness. Layale's solo piece for violin that opened the evening captured that exact combination of feelings for me - the line was so melodic and beautiful but also tinged with something true and dark.
We premiered a three-movement duo by Layale, "Gemellar, impressions from the brown texts." The second movement is a cadenza for solo violin and solo viola - very open to interpretation, and with only the briefest overlap between the two instruments. We also premiered a work by one of my dearest friends and a composer whose voice is always in my heart - Sahba Aminikia. This piece was entitled "Red Rose," reflecting the title of the poem it is based on, by Iranian poet Forough Farrokzhad. The intensity of Red Rose came from the consistency of the underlying rhythmic figure that one of us always had, and from the melodic voice calling out above, that is always reaching and always unfulfilled.
We performed the entire second half of the program with the ensemble, Layali Al-Sham. Many of the instrumentalists and vocalists took solos, and their performance drew upon various styles.
At the very end of the concert, the percussionists began playing a rhythm. Above that began a long improvisation, solos trading off among different members of the ensemble. I think that this was the moment that filled me with the most joy. The energy in the atmosphere was something to constantly strive for, and something I will not forget.
Red Rose
by Forough Farrokzhad
Red Rose. Red Rose. Red Rose.
He took me to the garden of red rose. In the dark, hung a red rose on my wild hair, then, made love to me on the petal of a red rose.
O paralyzed doves, virgin barren trees, blind windows! Look! Beneath my heart, deep inside my womb now grows a rose; red, red rose. Rose, red like a flag --
a revolution.
A child.
A child.
-Translated by Sholeh Wolpe
Modern Muses, an O, Miami Poetry Festival Performance
Spring 2017
Over the next several weeks, I am working with four different composers to put together newly composed works for my concert for the O, Miami Poetry Festival on April 12. The concert is a free event, held at the CIC Miami, at 8pm, with wine, beer and snacks generously provided! No tix required. Click here for details - Modern Muses: O, Miami 2017.
As part of this collaboration, I am discussing the inspiration, and muses (!) behind these four distinct works with each of the featured composers - Ljova, Layale Chaker, Abby Swidler, and Sahba Aminikia - and also posting videos from performances that provide context for what this concert is all about!
Interview #4: ABBY SWIDLER, "The Dust Beneath" (2017) for String Quintet/Two Voices
I was first drawn to Abby's music when I saw her graduate recital in Contemporary Improvisation at NEC (New England Conservatory) several years back. The music, which was very eclectic, flowed naturally from one piece to the next, and every aspect of the performance was personal. For our O, Miami collaboration, I sent Abby a poem that I had been working on as a basis for the piece. The idea was very open – the text was a launching off point. Talking with Abby, I asked her what her process was like once she received the poem:
A general thing for me when working with a story, or a painting, or a poem: to familiarize myself with the work, I do a "free write." When I got your poem, I took each stanza, and spilled out whatever words, or colors, or ideas came to mind. That was my jumping off point for turning it into sounds, for figuring out which words resonated with me and that I wanted to include in the piece. For example, the first stanza: "Bury my soul in a bookshelf/And let the dust begin to settle/For all the music that I make /Spews out into something vast and empty." I just wrote down a bunch of words that reminded me of that, without thinking, like free-associating. I wrote down "dark, lost, air, dust, pressed, hidden, hiding." And I did that for each of the verses. From there, I figured out which musical sound would really fit each section. For that particular section (the first stanza) I wrote down "harmonics, or pizzicato" and from there I wrote a little melody… I kind of like to immerse myself in the world of the piece. Words help me to get my imagination running.
This piece was a unique experience for me. So far in my composition life, I have a set of songs that I've written, and a set of instrumental compositions that I've written. I've done a few arrangements for ensembles (turning songs into instrumental works) but this was one of my first experiences writing a piece that combines both of those elements. I sort of turned your poem into a song, but it's also kind of an instrumental piece.
Recently, I've been writing a lot of pieces writing instrumental pieces without words, so it was fun to go back to song, and work in some of those elements. I enjoyed using different techniques from the strings to bring out the sounds that I wanted and needed. When I did that word-association with the poem, it created a form, and a trajectory for the piece, and I figure out how to order the themes and moods that came out...the form revealed itself that way.
This is my first time setting a text from someone else. I have definitely drawn rhythmic inspiration from words before. It's mostly been for songs, but I want to work on this idea more. There was one assignment in grad school where I used the rhythm of a James Brown song, of a specific set of lyrics that I used as a jumping off point rhythmically for piece. I've used many different processes in writing pieces, and songs. But words as a way to ground the piece is something I always come back to, in order to capture the mood, or story, or character. Words can be a concrete – like trills – or vague, like a color, like "blue" – that might remind me of a specific word. It's fun to just come up with those words as a palette. Having those specific ingredients keeps the piece focused on the character and world that I want to be in.
Abby has an individual voice and direction as a composer, songwriter, and performer (multi-instrumentalist and singer), and I was curious about how these different elements come together and influence one another:
My concerts of late have been multifaceted, including film, theatre, and dance. It's been a whole array of different kinds of things. I've played my music with a lot of different kinds of ensembles – I've been performing instrumental pieces in conjunction with songs, which I think is really fun. I enjoy working with sets of musicians in different places to bring my music alive. I like the voices of the amazing musicians that I get to work with, and that performers are going to make decisions that will be interesting and beautiful and the piece can morph with each interpretation.
I would say that in general my songs use a lot of space. I enjoy letting notes ring, and having silence as part of the music. I think my music has a lot of subtlety. I've written some of my songs where I am playing violin and singing, where I'm playing guitar and singing, tenor guitar and singing …sometimes I write on piano. But it depends on which instrument I have in mind to play, or a tool to write on…this changes the sound. A few of my songs are re-compositions of other pieces. I wrote a song that's on my EP that is inspired by Lady Madonna by the Beatles, but it sounds completely different. Mine is a bluesy, slow version.
At this point, my music has taken many different forms. I've written everything from fully notated minimalist string quartets to large structured improvisations (textural). I've played songs that maybe someone listening to it would say – that's progressive folk, or indie-rock. I think you can hear all my influences in my music, and that I play contemporary classical music as well. I love gamelan, I love playing Ravel quartet … you can hear all these elements. Meredith Monk, Benjamin Britten, John Cage, and songwriters Soledad Bravo, Shara Worden, Xenia Rubinos, Carla Kihlstedt, Sam Amidon…there's a wide array of influences.
As a performer, it takes openness and vulnerability…it's scary to learn new and different musical languages and it takes a lot of time and patience. I think there's a lot of discomfort that comes along with creating something that is unlike anything you've heard before, or that's outside of one particular genre. I've learned to love that discomfort.
I like that it's hard to say what genre my music is. I have had a diverse set of musical experiences. I want whatever sounds are necessary to make the piece come alive. I'm not afraid to utilize something to (a new technique) to make a particular color, even if it might be something that a performer might have never tried. When a musical sound is necessary, it's worth giving it a try.
-April, 2017
Interview #3: SAHBA AMINIKIA, "The Book of Jackals," a collaboration with Mario Alejandro Ariza (2017)
Sahba and I have worked on several projects that integrate poetry and music, with recorded narration as well as narration that comes from within the ensemble (The Wind Will Blow Us Away, 2016). This most recent collaboration is something new for us: we were connected with Mario Ariza, poet, through O, Miami festival. Mario sent us some of his recent works that he had written, and they were striking. After a preliminary discussion about what the themes of the work might look like, Mario set upon writing a new poem - "The Book of Jackals," inspired by Indian/Persian fables, to be the basis of Sahba's musical composition. Below are some of Sahba's thoughts on this most recent collaboration, and important works that preceded it:
I'm very interested in storytelling. It has a huge effect on the audience; it takes them from one place to another. That comes with responsibility – I wanted this piece to be a story that comes from an ancient text but that resonates with people now.
Mario's poem – "The Book of Jackals" – is based on the ancient Indian text, entitled "Panchatantra" (The Five Devices"). The book was translated into "Middle Persian" during the Sassanid Period, around 570 CE, and called "Kalīlah wa Dimna." The original book was written by a philosopher, for a young Indian prince, as a way to teach him how to act and behave. The stories are animal fables, and all of the characters are animals. They speak like human beings, but are strongly attached and bound to their own nature, creating twists in the story. Aside from evolving from their origins, they are always chained to their own nature.
The Persian adaptation of this book contains 10 interwoven stories. It is a mix of prose and poetry. In Iran, we use them as casual conversation to make a point. We grew up with these stories; we know them all.
I wasn't really interested before in using old text. I was born after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and there was already this gigantic story there that I was interested in. However, in 2014, I worked on a piece that was based on an old story, "Sooge Sohrab" (The Tragedy of Sohrab), and I realized that these stories still resonate today. I wrote this piece as a response to my own arrest, interrogation, and torture in December of 2012 in my homeland, Iran:
The stories that survive that many years – they contain some sort of eternal truth, having to do with human nature, and how we get addicted to the loop of our own lives.
I asked Sahba about working with poetry as a medium, and discovered that poetry holds deep roots in his life:
I grew up with poetry. In every Iranian household you can find Hafiz. Iran is such an old civilization, and there's a hierarchy when it comes to making art. We have such a strong poetry tradition, that it's hard for contemporary poets to stand out. They are constantly being compared to these gods of poetry (Rumi, Hafiz…) It's hard to hear a very unique voice – you have to be strongly bound to the past, or you aren't validated as a poet. Recently I have been looking into contemporary poets, especially female poets, who have a more marginalized voice in Iran. People who have been under some sort of pressure in their own societies often have a more flavorful sound or voice. It comes from the deepest place in human beings, and that resonates with everyone.
Since I've been living in the States, I'm interested in translation of these poetic forms and texts. I want to find the best translation of texts and present them to American audience. Poetry is so bound to the language, and hard to translate. One of the best translations is Fitzgerald's of the poet Khayyam:
Ah, with the Grape of my fading Life provide,
And wash my Body whence the Life has died,
And in a Windingsheet of Vine-leaf wrapt,
So bury me by some sweet Garden-side.
(LXVII from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, translated by Edward Fitzgerald)
Sahba recently completed a major collaboration with Kronos Quartet, the San Francisco Girls' Chorus, and the choir from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), on a piece entitled "Music of Spheres." This piece also uses text as a mode of bringing people together:
I am just coming out of the Kronos Festival 2017, held at the SF Jazz Center between February 2 and 4. Four of my works were completely new, and for "Music of Spheres," I reached out to the schoolmaster, Ahmad Sarmast, of ANIM. He was very receptive to the idea of collaboration. I gathered 3 Persian Lullabies, transformed them into a certain meter and into one melodic line, and asked the Afghan students to record them. Every aspect of doing this in Kabul is a huge deal; people are dealing with different needs and priorities; they're constantly alert. Over 6 months, they recorded the lullabies. A friend of mine, Lauren Braithwaite, organized all of the rehearsals in Kabul, including two studios sessions, and sent me the videos, clips, and images.
The language, Farsi, was the common thread – we could understand each other. The students from ANIM were coming from a religious background (Sunni), and I grew up in a Shi'a country, so the text was the biggest concern. I had to find something that would speak to these opposite ways of looking at Islam. Everyone in the world can connect to lullabies, nothing can provoke. They have to do with the first days of someone's life, before we become bound to our own stories.
The way I write music, it is a process for myself – when I'm stuck in sorrow, in uncertainty, I try to make music out of it. I immerse myself in those emotions. The space that can be found in music and poetry creates a platform for us to stay in tune with ourselves. I am dedicated to works through I can project human suffering in spite of the darkness; to people who are striving for beauty, when their actual needs are water and food.
-March, 2017
Interview #2: LAYALE CHAKER, "Orison," for String Trio (2017)
Several months ago, Layale worked on a sketch of a string trio with members of Bang on a Can. Three of us from the New World Symphony will give the premiere of this work on Modern Muses. "Orison" is based upon the vocal drones that characterize Oriental liturgy chants, including Byzantine and Syriac chants that Layale grew up hearing in Syriac Church, in Lebanon. In our interview, Layale discusses the unique aspects of this work, and the meaning that it holds for her.
"Orison" is inspired by ancient text, referring to the practice of divine love. The chant that the piece is based on is written in an ancient language, Syriac, an Aramaic language – very close to Hebrew. The piece takes the idea of divine love and turns it into something more profane, more raw. It has a human life. The rhythm, the percussive elements, and the improvisation at the end of the piece – it feels sensual, somehow. This old manuscript is disintegrating from the beginning to the end of the piece.
The piece gets as far as possible from the old language. It goes from something very exclusive to something very inclusive. The first movement, "Orison" is a kind of prayer. The movement is based on a drone upon which the music develops. The drone creates this tension because it's always there, and everything is happening on top of it. Every time there is a dialogue between two instruments, the third instrument is there, grounding them, acting like the drone. There is always this two against one.
In, "Jathis," (the second movement), the idea of two against one continues. But this time, I use different accents, desynchronized among the instruments, to create rhythmic tensions, so there is a more hectic feeling. Whereas the first movement sounds like a sacred madrigal, the second movement is like particles of the first movement all over the place. Jathis refers to the Karnatic tradition from South India. I was working a lot on South Indian music, and was starting to integrate techniques from that into my writing. I come from a very melodic tradition, and tend to explore these ideas of tension from a melodic perspective. I thought, how do I break to do that, adopt a different logic?
Athar Kurd is the third movement. It refers to a mode that I really like. I discovered, by chance, that this mode, which is found in the Arabic tradition, has an equivalent in South Indian music. I thought this was an interesting meeting point. In Arabic music, this mode is barely used – it sounds like it's from somewhere else. It is similar with South Indian music; the mode is quite unusual. It sounds almost like Messiaen, for my ears. The disintegration of the chant continues through this third movement, until nothing remains but colors. Just colors of the chords, and remnants of something rhythmic. What remains is quite calm. Even the melody of the violin disappears, and the piece ends in a kind of rebirth. When the last bit of the melody is gone, then everything can happen.
The chant that the piece is based on is written in a very strong tradition,"Syriac." I grew up with this tradition, something very old, and very heavy, and there is the idea of having to preserve it. I heard it so much – it haunts me somehow. It accompanies me all the time. When I hear Good Friday chants, it still moves me; it moves me to the core. In everything I write, there is a bit of an homage to this music that I grew up with. I want to be free from the text – that's why I don't go back to it in the piece. But it's something emotional for me.
This past fall, I premiered a solo viola piece by Layale, called Tied Up To Your Name by Water, based on text by Mahmoud Darwish. While working on the piece together, Layale showed me some techniques on violin that she uses to explore different sounds, to attain a wider palette of colors.
I feel like the violin is my medium, not my end. It's the means of expression that I have, at the moment, at the tip of my fingers. It frustrates me sometimes to hear instruments that make a specific sound; I wish that I could play that instrument to make that timbre. One of the biggest challenges is how to recreate specific instrumental gestures. For example, on the duduk – the vibrato is very specific to Armenian tradition and to that instrument. But there's nothing saying that it can't be done on the violin. It's interesting to explore and expand the language of our own instrument by adding to it, different timbres from different traditions.
I really love when I hear a solo, and at the end of the piece, I look at the CD and it's not the instrument I thought it was – it's an amazing feeling! Sometimes I wish I were a percussionist, or a wind player. Thinking about breath changes my whole idea of phrasing. But there are many things you can do, with the grip of your bow, how much hair, how much you press with your left hand – to create that flautando feeling – you can spend hours trying to do that. And the instrument can sound many different ways, just by trying to recreate a certain sound or a certain color.
When I was working with Dhruba Ghosh (sarangi player) I noticed he uses a bass bow – it's amazing! I was just looking at his fingers, and wondering how his bow sounded even lighter than mine, and it's a bass bow! It's about allowing yourself to do what you have been not been taught. He was getting this sound that comes from nowhere, just flowing in, like it's coming from the next room.
I really like the idea of making the violin sound like not the violin. Like a duduk, like a mouth organ, like a sarangi….
binds me
to your name ...
Nothing takes me from the butterflies of my dreams
to my reality: not dust and not fire. What
will I do without roses from Samarkand? What
will I do in a theater that burnishes the singers with its lunar
stones? Our weight has become light like our houses
in the faraway winds. We have become two friends of the strange
creatures in the clouds ... and we are now loosened
from the gravity of identity's land. What will we do … what
will we do without exile, and a long night
that stares at the water?
(Excerpt from "Who Am I, Without Exile?" by Mahmoud Darwish Translated by Fady Joudah)
-March 2017
Interview #1: LJOVA, Clarinet Quintet, "The Refugee" (2017)
Last spring, I performed a piece by Ljova called Plume, arranged for string quintet and percussion. I knew I wanted to explore more of his repertoire, and he recently sent me one of his newest works, his Clarinet Quintet (premiered in winter of 2017 in LA, with Joshua Rubin on clarinet). I immediately was drawn in by the solo in the opening of the piece. The pacing and the contour of the clarinet line are beautiful, moving in the most natural and improvisatory way.
I asked Ljova about the inspiration behind the piece, and how the music is shaped by its inspiration. Below are excerpts from Ljova's responses:
I grew up listening to the Brahms Clarinet Quintet and Golijov's "Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind", and wanted to see if I could contribute in a meaningful way to the genre. Of course, as a violist, we've also shared the Brahms Sonatas and the Clarinet Trio.
As a young orchestral player (I grew up as a classically-trained violist), the clarinet was my least favorite instrument in the orchestra -- I didn't understand how it could blend in with the rest of the wind section. As a standard orchestral sound, the clarinet has a relatively plain tone, whereas the rest of the wind instruments have a beautiful natural vibrato. Then as I grew up, I started listening to other kinds of music, and found the lack of vibrato to be an asset. I started thinking that the clarinet is wonderful, and it does have vibrato in some contexts, and it has so much inflection, flavor, and of course, immense range. It eventually became my favorite wind instrument.
Then I discovered some incredible players – one of my favorite performances at Juilliard was playing in the orchestra on Corigliano's Clarinet Concerto with soloist Alex Fiterstein. Some of my favorite recordings are with jazz clarinetist Michel Portal, and the bass-clarinetist Michael Lowenstern. And then over the years, I also got to know Kinan Azmeh, as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble, as a composer on his own. I've had him as a guest with Ljova and the Kontraband several times. I always learn from him, from his incredible musicianship the openness with which he gives and contributes, not only as a player but as a human soul and human being. Kinan and his story, his musicianship and his citizenship, as a citizen in the world and as a citizen of music, were a major part of the inspiration.
As I was writing this piece, the world was changing. The view toward immigrants was changing. The view towards multiculturalism was changing towards something more fearful, something unsympathetic and unkind. This was definitely something I wanted to discuss musically, and as part of that, I wanted to see if I could frame a piece by asking questions – by constructing phrases that were questions that would lead into more questions. Phrases that left each other unresolved, structures that would end up as a question mark. So much of the way we talk has a definitive cadence which leads to a period, or an exclamation point, some kind of certainty. I wanted to see if I could avoid these cadences, and find a way to keep the questions leading to bigger questions, and spin out continuously. This piece keeps coiling out from its beginning note all the way until the very end —before finishing almost on the same note where it began — but transformed.
I wanted to subtitle the piece "The Refugee" because it is inspired by the plight by people who are running from persecution, from disrespect, from danger, from hunger, from lack of opportunities and basic needs. It is inspired by stories of people leaving their homeland, trying to find a home somewhere else, trying to find answers, to find basic ways to continue their life and find some level of comfort.
My parents and I left my native Moscow, Russia, in 1990, during a growing wave of instability and anti-Semitism. My father, Alexander Zhurbin, was (and remains) a celebrated Russian composer and performer -- he was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where his family was evacuated during World War II; my mother Irena Ginzburg is a writer, poet and translator. Members of her family were shot by Stalin during his regime, her mother and uncle grew up as orphans.
I am a member of this refugee community. I feel much kinship with the community, and with the plight of the people running from uncertainty in their own homeland and trying to make a home here.
The poem that Ljova chose to pair with his work, which will be read aloud in the performance, is by the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva. I asked Ljova about how he encountered this poem:
Marina was one of Russia's greatest poets of the 20th Century, a unique voice. My father (Russian composer Alexander Zhurbin) wrote 2 song cycles on her poetry. The first cycle — on a double LP with a cycle on Velimir Khlebnikov's ("Two Portraits" ) was one of the popular LPs of 1983. Then my father wrote another Tsvetaeva cycle in the last few years. Just by chance, at St. Mark's Bookshop in NY (now closed), there was a volume of Russian poetry called The Stray Dog Cabaret. It was a collection of this intimate and interwoven community of Russian poets - Tsvetaeva, Khlebnikov, Esenin, Mandelshtam, Mayakovsky -- with a wonderful translation by Paul Schmidt. Eventually, I want to write a song cycle based on some of these poems, and so every couple of years I take it off the shelf and see if I can structure something off of it. I love the collection in this book and the translations, they carry so much flavor.
All things are strange.
All faces. And perhaps what once
Was closest is strangest of all.
All signs upon me, all traces
and all dates seem wiped away.
A soul. Born. Somewhere. Or other.
(Excerpt from the poetry of Marina Tsvetaeava, 1934; translated by Paul Schmidt)
Finally, I asked Ljova about the specific musical influences, on his composition and on his life as a performer. He has been influenced by a huge array of artists and cultures:
I'm influenced by everything. Sometimes things are like a lightening switch. I went to a concert, for example, of Ethiopian music at Lincoln Center a couple years ago. It was the giants of Ethiopian music, and I fell in love it. Since that concert, my use of diminished chords have increased by 1000%. It's the greatest thing ever – a song built on a single super crunchy chord diminished chord — what could be better?…I love it.
As a kid, I listened to tons of classical music, because that's what we had in the house. I loved the sound of the orchestra, of the fiddles. It was the world I grew up in, the world I loved.
There is so much music in 4/4. I wondered about the other kinds of music. I felt I could make a difference with more angular music – make it more accessible and make it fun. Perhaps that's how I readily fell in love with Cuban music – it's in 4 (most of the time), but the bass is never on the downbeat! The bass in its own world. Everything is suspended over the downbeat.
I was at Juilliard in the late 90s, to study classical music. On weekends, I played weddings, all over New York. I played in a group of Russian immigrants, who were 10, 20, 30 years older than I was. We played Jewish music, Russian music, Italian music; all sorts of music. We played Indian weddings, Danish, Finnish, Haitian weddings…the requests were from completely all over the map. Sometimes these requests didn't have sheet music. So I would get a CD and I would have to write it out. I didn't know that I could, but I learned how to do it on my own. Little by little I learned how to arrange for strings. I learned how to arrange by ear, so it sounded exactly like the record, but with a string quartet instead of a big band.
My cousin, Johnny Gandelsman, asked me to arrange several selections for the Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, focusing on Romanian Gypsy music. I had been listening to that music for years. The composer Osvaldo Golijov heard my arrangements that summer at Tanglewood, and asked if I'd consider helping him on some arrangements for the Kronos Quartet and to play viola in his new song cycle "Ayre", for Dawn Upshaw and Carnegie Hall. We made a record of that piece, and went on tour with it. Later, I became Golijov's assistant on several film scores for Francis Ford Coppola.
I often work as a composer for film and contemporary dance. All of these collaborations continue to influence me, pull me in different directions musically, strategically... These projects and influences keep intersecting and creating their own crossroads and cross-relationships, enriching the palette of things that I draw from all the time.
-March, 2017
Amid the Mountains: Banff Centre Residency
Below is some writing from my time at the beautiful Banff Centre, in Canada, during the residency and Persian and Eastern Music Traditions.
The First Days (Week 1)
Tonight, after a bonfire and s'mores, 10 of us squeezed into a practice cabin and jammed, sang, and danced for 3 hours. I learned Arabic, Persian, and Andalucian songs. And this was after a day that started with a morning jog up the mountain with Cam, an incredible bluegrass/jazz/world music fiddler in my program.
I feel inspired here, in a way that is completely different and eye-opening: there are almost 30 musicians in the world music residency, and each of us has a unique and personal style of music-making. In our workshops, we learn by ear, occasionally notating phrases or using a chart for reference. Most of our work involves taking a phrase of Persian or Turkish music and imitating the notes, style, and ornaments. Once we understand the phrase, we each improvise upon it. We often play in large ensembles, learning a song all together and then opening up the music for improvisation.
I am surrounded by instruments that include the Indian sarangi, 2 ouds, a medieval vielle (the precursor to baroque instruments!), and the setar. I love the different timbres and hearing how each instrumentalist finds a way to make an ornament or gesture.
During one of our very first group improvisations, one of the vocalists, Roya, began her solo almost from nothing, eyes closed and her voice hushed and low. But as she began to sing out, intensifying her expression and deepening her voice, I found myself on the verge of tears.
I don't know exactly where this music will take me, but I know that I am surrounded by musicians whose individual voices I will never forget.
Impulses (Week 2)
This morning, we had our second workshop with Dhruba Ghosh, the incredible vocalist and sarangi player who came all the way from Bombay. Dhruba talked about impulse: musical impulse, which is really our natural, personal, and very human impulse that comes through our voices and our instruments when we make music.
We started out by humming one note - an "A" - in unison, as softly as possible. Then we parted our lips slightly, allowing our sound to forms soft "oh" vowel. From there, we simply sang that same note, coming in and out of the sound as it felt natural. Every person breathed at a different moment, entering the gentle music at his or her own pace.
Afterwards, we picked up our instruments. Staying on the same pitch, we played as soft as possible we possibly could until a natural feeling took over - a thought, or a punctuation in our phrase - an impulse. The impulses took form in a slight swell in the sound, just barely coming out of the gentle texture of our group sound.
From there, we began using the other notes in the scale. Notes overlapped and intersected, but we reminded unaffected by anything but our own impulse. We moved into shorter, more staccato sound briefly, until concluding with our long, barely audible, sustained "A" until the sound completely faded.
I kept my eyes closed throughout most of this warm-up, focusing on my breath and the timbre of the quiet sound emerging from my voice, my viola, and the musicians surrounding me.
For me, this idea of impulse, of reaching inward to bring out our most natural and personal expression, is a way to connect with ourselves even amongst our hectic thoughts, our influences, and our environment. And I wanted to share the experience from this morning, to put it in words and hopefully never forget its significance!
Final Moments (Week 3)
There were many beautiful moments in the final days of Banff, and for me, they often involved the voice. Every single musician sang at some point during our residency, and our voices revealed expressions that were personal and completely, un-selfconsciously, our own. Listening to Kiya, our program director, at the final concert, playing his heart out on the setar until finally joining in with his voice, was transformative: at the very instance that he began singing, the music filled the space with indescribable vividness and clarity.
Something that one of the faculty artists mentioned early on in the residency was that in his musical tradition, the instrument simply serves to mimic the human voice as best as it possibly can. This statement has stuck with me. Working on the opening statement of "Hora Lunga," from Ligeti's solo viola sonata, which is based on a folk melody, I started to think about the simplicty and power of the voice that is behind that phrase. Feeling the music in this way has opened up more possibilities, and more freedom, in a sense, from the notes on the page.
In our last days, I felt every musical moment with heightened senses. The amount of joy that arose in Bentley, the rehearsal space where we spent countless hours playing and improvising together, goes beyond any describable feeling. For me, the joy went beyond the music itself: I could just sit and watch the unqiue way that the setar sways back and forth, and basque in the moments of anticipation before the clarinet or saxaphone would enter with a solo that that might start from nothing, or might cry out boldly.
It has been a new, wonderful, and difficult thing to share some of these thoughts and moments on "paper." I will hopefully be able to share some of the music itself, as well as some photos, now that we have finished our residency. This experience in Banff has been deeply humbling and deeply joyous, and I only hope that I will see and play music with each beautiful musician that I met there in the very near future.


text:
Things I am a sucker for: hole-in-the-wall diners; horror novels that depend on suspense rather than gore; any piece of fruit dipped in chocolate; men who resemble Charlie Sheen; smiles on anyone under the age of six; salt-and-vinegar potato chips; cheap, good Mexican food.
Obviously I can't indulge in all of these things, or I'd weigh 400 pounds, be afraid of the dark, have a terrible complexion and be divorced. So I limit my vices to a manageable few. But the profusion of little Mexican restaurants around town may be my downfall yet.
El Torito Mexican Grill is especially dangerous. It's a tiny little place, spotlessly clean, and way too close to my home for my own good. It's almost hidden in a little strip mall on the west side of Circle, between Platte and Galley. Most everything is prepared fresh on the spot (the one notable exception being the store-bought tortilla chips), and the care in the food preparation really shines through. The menu isn't all-inclusive with 97 different combination plates, but it doesn't need to be. What they offer is done right and done well.
We sampled the enchilada plate ($6), which came with rice and a tasty mound of cheese-covered refried beans. We skipped the chicken and had ground beef, which was nicely seasoned and not overly greasy. The enchiladas are covered with a fresh, snappy red chili sauce, not too hot but far from bland. And the carnitas ($6) are something else altogether. If you love a really good pork roast, even if you don't care for Mexican food, you must try El Torito's carnitas. The huge pile of braised pork was so tender that it fell apart into smaller chunks when the fork went near it. And the flavor -- deep and earthy and rich -- made me wish I could eat this dish every day.
The salsas at El Torito are pretty good as well. The red is hot, with that really intense flavor of freshly ground chiles that isn't totally lost in the heat. The green sauce is much milder, tangier with tomatillos. I'm anxious to try both sauces on the tacos, especially since they can be made with the carnitas. I'm also curious about the carne asada, to see if the beef fares as well as the pork. But I'm sure my husband will be urging me back on the weekend, because on Saturdays and Sundays they serve one of his favorites, menudo.
My other weakness is Alfonso's Mexican Food, which opened in the same strip as Target, Safeway and Ross at the corner of Union and Academy. The first thing about this place that immediately impressed me was that the kitchen is flawlessly spotless. It has to be, because while you're standing at the counter agonizing over what to order, the kitchen is right there in front of you, where the cook is calmly assembling the order before yours.
The menu at Alfonso's is a little larger than El Torito's, with a little more variety. They offer breakfast burritos (available all day) and several specials, like two fish tacos with rice, beans and a small drink for $3.95. The chips here are fried fresh when you order them, lightly salted and sprinkled with a pico de gallo of finely minced tomato, onion and fresh cilantro. The salsas here are also red and green, with another chile-infused, tongue-tingly red sauce and milder but sassy green sauce.
I can't pretend to be an aficionado of rolled tacos, but I know what I like, and I like these. Corn tortillas are tightly rolled around seasoned ground beef and fried to a crispy crunch. You get three topped with cheese for $1.65, or topped with guacamole for $2.50. I highly recommend the extra splurge for the guacamole.
Be hungry when you order a combination plate. The beef burrito and cheese enchilada plate ($5.40) is almost enough food for two people. The burrito is gargantuan, stuffed with juicy, flavorful, tender shredded beef and onions, topped with a wonderful red sauce. The beans here are to die for, velvety smooth but studded with tender chunks of bean full of slow-simmered flavor. The tamale plate ($4.25) is almost criminally underpriced. You get two beautifully cooked tamales, with perfectly cooked masa dough surrounding tender chunks of pork and olives, with a dollop of the same wonderful red sauce on top, accompanied by a pile of fresh pico de gallo.
There are a lot of menu options at Alfonso's that I haven't explored yet. I'm intrigued by the ham and jalapeno quesadilla, because it sounds like an ideal breakfast. I haven't had a chance yet to ask what the machaca plate or the savavidas burritos are, and I might even try one of the more expensive shrimp items on the menu, the Camarones Rancheros or the Camarones a la Diablo ($9 each).
Despite my own personal battle with the bulge, I hope these little shops prosper and multiply, even if I do have to put down my trashy novel long enough to eat my burrito.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Apple Watch's Affect on the Tech Industry, and More
How has the Apple Watch unveiling changed the tech industry's outlook? Plus, support for gay marriage is rising at unprecedented rates, according to the latest WSJ/NBC poll. Photo: Getty
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... morning everybody and welcome to the new sub I'm Simon Constable Apple rolling out its warnings of small watch is ... now on tech observance fueling the product range ... while one eye and its past Whitmore head of will have Insights Strategy joins us now from Austin Texas ... A past rate you would an the eighth and yes today ... I how low do you think this changes things for the company ... how ... Apple ... it really ... to discussions overall is it ... can be cruel profitable market share in products at its center and work in a clean new segments ... then yesterday I think the combined book is that yesterday with what they said in September ... I'm pretty convinced that the star watch category is ... is truly a new product category ... and Apple is the leader in right now ... now it's it's a little but I also know that it's been a very long standing trend away from wristwatch this time I look around the office and a lot of people ... the weapon like they may be did forty years ago ... they really think bag on the town that around ... one thing I like the reader is and and and smartphones and feature phones a a a ... the key is providing a good in the value proposition to do ... certain BKE or ... that they need not be on track ... to do before the new product that came across an ... apples to use a few times ... out there and if you're ever to ... know why and people said that the PC market ... I was in that order has taken up a MacBook Air ... maybe they haven't way of bringing out the big cats ... in spaces that you would normally expect ... to go dance on intuition ... that said the ... situation and they've really done a lot subject to change the landscape ... does this go against that does the sunlight push push against that intuition I'm really ... change things in your view I know you had a lot of skepticism ... about aam that ... what you are a lot of questions that wanted you wanted and something about smartwatches ... below those of the massive money side ... I didn't have ... to be there were a lot of issues the first crop of wearable standing there with the annoyance factor ... which unplanned city year ... at a conversation with you and a new change comes through the screen lights up ... the first thing to ... do is look that display and it just doesn't work ... with a ... shiney nature ... is a good thing is that the ... Premier Li there were a little ... bit like something you'd actually want to wear an ... online ... sales only trap crowded beach stay in your pocket ... why it is always on your wrist ... perpetually ... and um ... this is to get it taken away a lot of of of these objections ... now one other things that that is that Apple is a very large company the biggest in the wall by market cap that has a lot of cash ... on hand is this going to be able to move the needle for the company financially ... and based on that would you recommend buying the stock ... so if you're looking at Apple in the long term I think this doesn't use a needle and what you say can certainly over the next three to five years and gained three hundred million unit mark it ... essentially that would mean a ten percent to ... ten percent ... almost every person on planet would would need to have a semi compare that to ... the billion ... units in its core market it actually ... seems reachable so you know I believe that I've always been positive on Apple to eat this reinforces our positive stance ... write stuff thank you Brian much so ... that momentum will have ... insights and strategy ... banks ... will be back in thirty seconds ... what about the new sub I'm Simon Constable ... well it's time for a quick look and the markets and the economy will Chris Dieterich and from Barron's thank you Brian much thing has some points and was or was it was a pleasant me on the show ... aam we're looking at some aam some things to die the fuss of which is the futures will summon now ... it's a pretty downbeat day so far if you look at U S stock futures down disappeared in the Dow Jones industrial average futures both down about ... one percent this morning so ... after Connor the selloff on Friday ... many rebound yesterday were ... resuming this downward pressure that we get some ... interesting news out today at about ten am just ahead of the MoneyBeat show will be the ... one knows a thing to the JOLTS of into the job openings and Labor turnover that what what do we look for in Napa so important ... was it but what one thing would if I looking for especially in the in the in the mindset of the labor market improving is that ... this sort of job openings is really the ... the the sense of what ... how people are able to move around is there if they have the ... the where with all that to feel like they're able to leave the existing position haven't looked for other things so ... you know it so this other flip side of the labor market their capital according it's good news so let's say five jumps up equipped to quit right ... coverage to quit rather coverage to quit aam which is ... good for a so list if we see that happening on the euro on the havin' of them about time what's going on now that that that is what a way that that was one of thirty seven the low oil ... prices is ... where the action is and most of this morning and what's what's bad for the euro has been really good for the for the dollar and we have really two things going on one is this ... it's sorta persistent worry that the Federal Reserve is going to hike interest rates and that's it seems to linger and it's been ... so TVs brought up again and multiple articles here so a city thank you to five dollars in my pocket does not mean I can go buy a whole will in all some think it certainly is good if you are ... an American traveling abroad yes that's can be ... lower prices at the hostel they are staying in lower ... floor train tickets it's bad of course if you're ... you know on Etsy or something selling products abroad because it's gonna make it more expensive but certainly if you're traveling abroad and for imports do I can buy a great stuff from abroad right aam in Europe European products with ... that's right that one one thing it's interesting to watch if you're an investor in your own stay in neutral fund that owns European stocks are essentially ... long the euro and that's that's going into your returns in a big way so ... folks that have ... and U S traded ... exchange traded funds are these other things that on European stocks ... gains or army that a lot but this currency move so effects not only what what what ... consumers are buying what businesses are doing but also investors who own the scary since it's a bit the currency was that we've seen or are putting forth across the board ... to heal him three stalks the fuss the witches Apple aam they made the big announcement yesterday on a of the smartwatch ... and also which we have had a bit less about the Iraq ... the MacBook ... right that would start with the MacBook or MacBook is can it be ... two pounds it's it's tiny the battery runs all day there's a new ... and another new core and that the year helped by ... Toko son of another new something what a lot people are saying this would is quite special ... yet it's quite special and I think ... with the watch and interest on sales with with phones ... aam and in a new MacBook certainly is is is good to move the needle in terms of what people are doing it'll be interesting to see ... um what the doctor it is just given the youth is hurting you need a phone in order for them to make it to make the watch run properly so ... whether they're attracting sort of new buyers are or only those that are so fun that Apple and legs look so this is the two major things the up and the Apple Watch IMB I'm I'm Akami Apple Watch starts at a ... reasonable price for Apple products that's right there was the third thing which is that HBO has a new round ... of the streaming service that that will only now run exclusively with Apple TV so that so the other thing especially headed into ... a communal fronts He's and Ducre Qualcomm what some enough ... Bocom this continues a trend that we've seen which is the authorized share repurchases as well as raise the dividend fifteen billion dollars that's right it is a cute among the engine on the money's there to be stepping in the money to buy their own shares ... over the course of ... the next year and that's that's that's about to about two percent in premarket trade that will your soul can extend Senate fund all gold stalks ... aam ... it's a bit of a sinking failing ... right so this is another one of them and certainly a roller coaster ride it's been falling precipitously but started the year off quite well and won the culprits that we have here again is the dollar ... so if we go that gold is priced in dollars right so for foreign buyers in a slow but Dom pricier so when the dollar goes up gold tends to go down was seen as the dollar has Excel or is this gold mining stock ETF is just simply ... saying it was up at ... over twenty percent in January for the year has now turned negative so that's one to watch ... it looks like there could be a ... on ... the steep decline again today ok ... great stuff as always by Kiran much Chris Dieterich told Barron's ... will be back in thirty seconds ... welcome back I'm Simon cost will slam sex marriage is getting acceptance at a clip close to six in ten Americans now support them that's ... that's approximately double the figure a decade ago ... that's according to the latest data from the waist J NBC News poll ... so if a gentle joins us now she has the D tells Jack thanks obeying map ... to be here so we've we've got I can laugh aka hair which we shows the figures and have been starkly a ... fifty nine percent say ... the flavor of core oppose gay and lesbian couples and same sex marriage of the year yes please specify Eva ... Andretti of the small minority saying no and only eight percent singer ... did not show all this is a remarkable change from a decade ago ... guess I really think that this is clearly one of the most dramatic ... Simon ... attitudes and social change we've seen ... up in the country has told generation are pollster Frank game he's the Democrat who helps to Dr Cole ... said that he went ... back inside at the rate of change is even much sharper than it was in terms of the changes in attitudes about ... interracial marriage that is now nearly unanimously supported ... but it's a really long time to get there ... he did detect a really long time now ... this is even that this is ... very much supported among Democrats and young people but it's even changing Amon Republicans tell a small ... it's on it's the power of Republicans and Democrats that um you know our poll found that forty percent of Republicans ... that were supporting gay marriage ... and that's up from ... twenty seven twenty nine percent just two years ago ... so why create change is as remarkable as the level of change ... no one but one thing that is interesting is that how these views a however this is the one we talk about political candidates among the big election coming up ... in less than two years so ... how would you view a presidential candidate who supports same sex acts above the ECB's some wobble federal somewhat less favorable it's a it's a little bit different matter isn't it still be held close to forty percent for intense a more favorable ... than the it's not quite as unanimous as same sex marriage the years ... I ... shows that Republican presidential candidates real balancing act as one chance for ... the same sex marriage is going up ... core ... Republican voters it's still pretty low ... we asked the question what your attitude towards Kennedy change ... he knew that they supported same sex marriage ... eighty percent of the Republicans said that it would make them less likely to support a candidate ... so ... we see a presidential campaign actually a lot of the candidates are ... not ... where canteen there are changing their position on same sex ... marriage ... they're downplaying them or they're different and say no that's a matter for the state's decided ... Jana I was listening to an old radio program from from the ninety seconds of the early nineties last night that it was interesting they were talking about day Maxim there was ... a lot of skepticism about it could cut you predicted that twenty years ago ... the the massive change we see meaning in any way ... is this unprecedented would you say ... you know I can't get any other Uncarrier were social attitudes change is quickly ... um ... what ... one other ... finding of our poll that helps explain it is the increasing number of people who know someone who's gay ... Republican Democrat independent ... everybody ... there were people know the people now than they did ten years ago and seventy percent of all of this political groups ... the issue when you know someone who's gay it changes your attitude ... and can added some ... Global people are open about it now thank you foreign much John of very interesting the seven results that we appreciate time ... Iran ... time Simon Constable ... that's that


text:
By TONY STINNETT/ Courier Sports Editor
CARTHAGE - No. 4-ranked Cannon County captured the District 8-AA championship despite a 56-42 setback against Smith County in the regular season finale.
The Lionettes (24-4, 9-3) shared the regular-season title with Livingston Academy, which suffered a setback at Central Magnet Friday. Cannon County earned the No. 1 seed and automatic berth into the Region 4-AA Tournament by virtue of sweeping the Lady Wildcats during the regular season.
Abbey Sissom led the Lionettes with 22 points against Smith County. She was the only Lionette in double figures as the Lady Owls completed the regular-season sweep and dealt the Lionettes half of their four losses.
The Lady Owls were the beneficiary of charity. Smith County went to the free-throw line 32 times as opposed to only 10 for the Lionettes. It marked the fourth straight game an opponent has attempted 25 or more free throws against Cannon County.
Smith County capitalized by knocking down 27 of its 32 attempts. Callie Hackett led Smith County with 27 points despite hitting just four field goals. She was 17-of-18 from the free-throw line. Lady Owl Casey Gregory was 9-of-12 from the line.
Abby Jakes scored eight for the Lionettes. Jordan Hollis netted six, and Madison Walkup and Arianna Kailiponi scored three each.


text:
Hotels near Eden Park are shown in the list below ordered by distance (closest at the top). Explore our hotel guide to find lodging near Eden Park (Eden Park) for your leisure or corporate trips.We show the best motels and hotels close to Eden Park so you can review the discounted Eden Park accommodations below and uncover the perfect hotel. Need a room block for a meeting? Find a Eden Park group discount
How should we direct your call?


text:
P&H Services Inc., is a Brandon Communications Company located in Bangor, WI, serving the tri-state area of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Together, we've provided local police, fire departments, emergency medical service providers, schools, farmers, businesses and contractors with radio communications and emergency lighting solutions for over 45 years.
In addition, our experienced technicians install and service light bars, sirens, AstroStart remote car starters, AVL/GPS Vehicle Watch & Fleet Tracking systems, Intoxalock, cellular car kits and antennas. We also have an IT staff with Network Administrators and Engineers available to assist in any IP-based environment.
The P&H Services business office is located at 1501 Pearl Street, Bangor WI 54614. For sales inquiries please call the business office at (608) 486-2263.


text:
Grinding to a Halt
A Tangled Web
Good Morning, Breakfastpoppers. Today is Monday, August 15, 2016. Our creative friend, Spider Harlotte, is at the breakfast table this morning. Her web is a mess, her thoughts are scrambled and she is in dire need of an audience to rant to. Please join us for breakfast this morning. Harlotte is bringing bagels, lox and cream cheese. I will be mixing up a batch of Bloody Marys for one and all. We hope to see you soon.
A Dose of Reality
Thank you all for coming this morning. I think we have almost reached the point of no return in our nation. Just take a look around and signs of decay, hatred and dysfunction are all around us. Do you feel safe? I don't. Do you believe that our troubled cities will implode one by one? I do. Do you trust the government to protect you from terror? I don't. Are you confidant that our government is functioning as it was meant to? I'm not. Do you have faith in your economic future? I don't. Do you believe that our schools are preparing our students for a bright future? I don't. Do you believe that our institutions of higher learning are turning out graduates who can't function in the real world? I do. In other words, we are falling apart in this country. Our leaders don't lead, and when they attempt leadership they march us in the wrong direction. These last almost eight years under Obama have been an unmitigated disaster. He single handedly ruined our reputation as a country that could be depended upon in times of trouble. He kissed the rings of those who wouldn't mind one bit if we were wiped off the face of the earth. Under Obama our relationship with Israel has been deeply scarred. His deal with Iran made a fool of us and insured that within ten years at the most, Iran will be a nuclear power. He along with Clinton gave a leg up to terrorists, and made sure that our lives would never be the same again. This nation's response to the threat from ISIS has been half-hearted and tepid. Obama does not want to defeat our enemies. He ordered those responsible for assessing the danger from ISIS to change the truth into twisted lies in order to support his unsupported claim that we are winning the war on terror. We are losing the war, because their strategy has changed and Obama does nothing in the face of the changes. ISIS has brought the fight to our door. Here and in Europe they are encouraging lone wolf attacks. We are more vulnerable to attack than ever before, but in the face of this threat Obama insists our borders welcome in Syrian refugees who we know nothing about. While all this swirls around us, the fools we put in Washington to represent our interests sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing. President Obama told the nation that things are pretty good. Do you believe him? I don't.
Hiding the Truth
Given all the problems we are facing in this country, it is reprehensible that our press and media have morphed into propaganda machines for the Obama administration, and probably the Clinton Administration. It pains me to say that, but it's time to realize that we are simply not as free as we are supposed to be. The notion of a "free press" is a term without meaning or truth. The press and the MSM lie to us on a continuous basis. Once upon a time a journalist reported the news, and let the people decide where they stood on an issue. That is no longer the case. Today's so-called journalists are unprofessional and irresponsible. They twist the news, report only the parts they personally approve of, and leave the actual truth buried under a pile of lies. Hilary Clinton is unfit to run for the presidency on so many levels that it would take years to present her deceptions. She is not to be trusted, and is not trusted but she will still get her troops out to the polls to punish us all with at least four years under her "leadership." There is a major disconnect in this nation. Far too many citizens yawn in the face of corruption. Far too many citizens turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to blatant manipulation of the truth. Far too many people have lost their moral compass, and the end result is the kind of country we have now. We have rioting in the streets and police being shot almost on a weekly basis. We don't fix anything anymore. We let things fester until they explode. Did you feel this way eight years ago? I didn't.
Finger Pointing Time
It's time for a little truth. Let's point some fingers. I blame the parents and the schools for graduating students incapable of critical thinking. I blame the universities for filling their ranks with leftist lunatics who prepare students for a world they will be at odds with. I blame voters who go to the polls like zombies, push a lever and never think of the consequences of their vote. I blame the electorate for putting people in office at every level who don't fulfill the job they were elected to do. I blame the public for staying silent in the face of such treatment. I blame President Obama for dividing this country along racial lines. I blame the poor cities who have endured miserable and ineffective leadership under the Democrats for decades. Milwaukee has been under Democrat control, and not a damn thing has happened to change a thing. I blame big government for making false promises to people who don't know enough to spot a lie when they hear one. I blame us all, because in the end this is our nation and it is up to us to save it. Are you happy with the status quo? I'm not.
Harlotte's Song
Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive
Sir Walter Scott
Great way to end this post "Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive" It is what has happened over the years. We must all get out there and vote for justice this time around!
Pop and Harlotte,
You have described a once great nation that may have already gone past a tipping point. If not we are perilously close and delay in putting things upright is no longer an option. Things look dire.
I used to live in Milwaukee - it was dangerous back then, I shudder to think what it would be like now...in the age of Obama
Isn't it ironic when you step back and take a wider angle view of the snapshot of today's history. Look back at the Liberal agenda that started 20 years ago specifically focused on "no blame," "participation awards," and like matters; it demonstrated the groundwork for this administration, the press, the punditry class to be able to say and do whatever they wanted with no fear of being singled out for blame and certainly not expected to take responsibility for their actions.
It was a calculated plan to give the elitists free reign to do as they please and play regular people like disposable pawns.
Good morning Pop and Harlotte
If it makes you feel any better I continue to discuss all of the above with my kids so when they become adults they see though all the bull. It's only Monday
Good morning Pop and Harlotte. This hub is refreshing by the fact that you are telling it like it really is. Now we just need a few million more people to take off the rose colored glasses and see the real picture.
It is sad but the Media is a huge part of the problem because they selectively choose what they report and fail to report. And the Media publishes the reported numbers that they know are phony numbers to make Obama and this administration look good.
There are days when I actually think the party is over and nobody has bothered to let us know. Can this 8 or more years of damage to our country ever be repaired? I don't know the answer but don't have a great deal of confidence.
And I agree with your last finger point: I blame us all. To all of those who stand on the sideline and whine: shut the hell up and become an instrument of change.
Happy Monday my friend!


text:
Key Features for your
Business Sector
Modules developed by
Business Sector
Log in / Sign up
Your cart
Your cart is empty
price excl. tax
Selected Filters
PrestaShop Compatibility
E-merchants reviews
Page Cache Ultimate
Reduce loading time of your shop in optimal way with this full page cache! Go from some seconds to some milliseconds and get more happy users! The strategy of our module is to cache the whole page so browser cache can be used and it's extremly fast!
PrestaSpeed - Image/site/database optimization
PrestaSpeed optimize your Prestashop database, images, some modules and configuration to increase the front office and back office access speed,and free space on disk.
Cache Manager
Decrease your loading page time generation
Image Compressor With TinyPNG
Compress JPG and PNG images in your store with TinyPNG, reduce your store's page size, make your store load much faster and save a lot of disk space. You can setup CRON Job to automatically compress your images.
The First AMP module built for PrestaShop is finally on Add-ons. Over 80 prebuilt features. 100% Template Independent - will work with any template used. 7X times faster Mobile Page based on Google's AMP project.
Google PageSpeed Insight
Fast and optimized pages lead to higher visitor engagement, retention, and conversions. Increase page load speed. The Page Speed Module help you to get a passing grade in Google Page Speed Insight.
Redundant Image Cleaner
Free up disk space on the server of your shop by clearing redundant images with this module. Redundant images are images not needed and not used anywhere in your shop and taking disk space on your shop for no reason.
Optimization and Cleaning
This moduleis an extremely versatile toolkit for your online store. Deleteold or unused data, check your configuration and check the speed of your Prestashop - and relaxknowing that you're protected by the integrated data recovery system.
Deleting unnecessary product images
The "Deleting unnecessary product images" module allows you to clean your server from product images from the catalogue. This often happens due to CSV imports or deletions of product in database.
AWS CloudFront / S3 - Speed up your website + SEO
Do you want to load your site faster? Then you are in right place!
Image Compress Optimization - Improve your Speed
Compress your shop images to improve your speed. Improve the SEO of your store by optimizing your images!
Redis Cache
This module provides a solution for integrating Redis as a caching mechanism into your PrestaShop store.
Optimizes performance, clean and accelerates DB
The module for prestashop optimizing deletes data that are stored in the database. You can reduce the database to 90%. Speed up your Prestashop store.
ReSmush Image Compression for large catalogs
Compress JPG and PNG images in your store with SmushIt, make your shop load faster, save space and rank better in google. You can setup CRON job to automatically compress your product images.
Lazy loading / Load your images on demand
Improves your site's performance by loading your product images on demand.
Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) PRO
Improve your mobile google ranking thanks to an AMP version of your shop and customize it for a better user experience.
AN Lazy loading: Delay load of images
Improve a page loading time with the AN Lazy Loading module. Images are loaded only when they are visible to the user.
Auto clean useless carts
The "Auto clean useless carts" module allows you to automatically clean up your database every X days and thus significantly speed up your store.
Advance PWA | Offline, Push Notification, App, Firebase
Our Prestashop Advanced Progressive Web App makes your website super fast, enabling once loaded page to be reopened on offline mode as well.It very well supports push notification enhancing your website functionality further more.
Sirv - Image CDN, Optimization and JS/CSS minifier
Speed up your website with Sirv CDN. It optimizes images in the best possible format and size for each user, delivered from a fast global CDN. The reduced load makes your server faster too. Get happier users, better SEO and a faster website.
Page Speed Ultimate
Improving your site's speed will get you a better score on major speed testing services such asGoogle PageSpeed,GTmetrix,YSlow,Pingdom,Webpagetestand will also improve your overall site's usability.
Advance cache module, efficient with simplified configuration.No knowledge required, install and activate to operate.
Duplicate Image Cleaner
This module allows you to delete duplicate images which are identical images linked to the same product.
Leverage Browser Caching
As it's name, it will fix Leverage Browser Caching issues in your Prestashop website. Also it improves page speed score in website testing tools like: Pingdom, GTmetrix, PageSpeed, Google PageSpeed , Google Analytics Cache , Insights and YSlow.
Modules impact
In ecommerce, time quite literally equals money. Amazon finds a 100ms slowdown can mean a 1% decrease in revenue. So you need to find what can slow down your site. This is the aim of this module.
GZIP Compression
GZIP compression is bundling (zipping) pages on a web server before the page is sent to the visitor.This saves bandwidth and therefore increases the loading speed of the page significantly.
Leverage Browser Caching - Ultimate
Page load times can be significantly improved by asking visitors to save and reuse the files included in your website
Ultimate Database Optimizer
Module that optimizes, defragments and repairs the database. Monitor the status of the Database. Performs periodic maintenance.
The module Cloudflare is a solution that allows you to speed up your Prestashop website and optimize automatically the loading of your pages elements.
Critical Path CSS Manager
Inserts above-the-fold (critical path) CSS in the header and moves the regular CSS to the footer. For home-, product- and category pages seperately.The CSS is to be obtained from free online services and has to be pasted into the module.
Fake Carts Cleaner
The Fake Carts Cleaner module for PrestaShop allows you to schedule a cleaning of abandoned carts that severely affect the overall performances of your shop.
Disable CDN media server over SSL security certificate
If you have a SSL certificate and static CDN servers configured, the images probably won't load properly on page with https. Deluxe SSL Media will provide you the solution to this issue.
ArchiveBox : Archive old orders
ArchiveBox allows you to archive orders validated automatically after a certain date, with the possibility of consulting them without making your site slow.
RedisCache Ultimate
RedisCache Ultimate is the successor of RedisCache addon, extended with real-time statistics of the cache back-end, like number of connected clients, cache hits, cache misses, and more. It also provides a user interface to disable caching per table.
Regenerates the entire shop cache and offers a greater user experience.
PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed insights reduce loading time of your website. Automatically compress product images and use advanced JS/CSS minification options to improveyour website performance and get higher score in Google PageSpeed Insights.
Take advantage of this module which performs Mr Clean's job for you! Make store launches and store migrations a great success by avoiding cascading bugs! Improve your store performances my giving it a Spring clean regularly!
Clear Cache Cron Task Scheduled
Automatic task to clear your prestashop cache, and faceted search / layered navigation module index.Easy to set up, and compatible with any cron tab manager.
fasterImage Image Optimizer
Optimize your images & speed up your website! Your images are automatically optimized while keeping their quality.
PS SpeedUp
PS SpeedUp is a great plugin to implement to install and forget about the page load speed issues
Stats Data Cleaner
This module allows you to clear stats data that are collected by your store and take very huge space in database. It may reduce store database upto 90% depending on how long you have been running your store.
Google Page Speed Optimizer
Automatically compress product images and use advanced JS/CSS minification options to improve your website performance and get higher score in Google PageSpeed Insights.
Advanced Editor HTACCESS (Increase website performance)
Increase web speed, performance and security. Prevents hotlinking. Optimize the performance of the Back-Office. Insert custom code in the .htaccess file. Improve SEO
PrestaShop debug toolbar
Adds an unobtrusive interface for debugging output on a PrestaShop store. Replaces default Profiler and Template Debugger provided with PrestaShop.
Cache Browser regenerator
Tired of telling your customers to clear their browser 's cache so they can see the design changes made to your project?With our module you can avoid this useless warning to your clients (loss of time and bewilderment).
Clear cache css and js
Having problems with your customers seeing recent changes to the site?Just by activating the options of "Clean css" and / or "Clean js" you will be able to appreciate the changes made in the site.
Advance compression module, efficient with simplified configuration.No knowledge required, install and activate to operate.
Remove needless images, save disk space
This module allows you to clean quickly the "img" folder in your shop : it's as simple as a click ! It lists and removes all the needless images of your products, categories, manufacturers and suppliers..
10,000 modules, graphic themes and services
Your purchases and personal data are 100% secure
The modules you bought appear directly in your back-office
check You are almost done! You only have to click on the link which has just been sent to you by e-mail.Thank you for registering with us!
Cookies ensure the smooth running of our services. Using these, you accept the use of cookies.
Learn more


text:
Finance Options Available
Product Ref. 75-04-210 Part Exchanges Welcome
Ladies Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust 68274. This is the popular midi size in truly immaculate condition, the watch has a stunning Jubilee pattern dial with silver Arabic numerals, the fluted bezel is in 18ct white gold. The watch comes with inner and outer boxes, Rolex paperwork dated 30/11/1996 (almost a '97) also has a 2 year guarantee. Not to be missed.
We will endeavour to process orders on the same day if ordered by 2pm. For special postage requests, destinations or general help please email us first.
Standard postage and packing costs for UK delivery (except the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) are free of charge for none bulky items with a total order value over £50
UK Orders - All watches and Faberge items purchased from our website will be sent out by Royal Mail Next Day Delivery - This service is fully tracked and insurance is included.
Other orders will be sent via Royal Mail Signed Delivery
For all orders overseas please email us for more details at firstname.lastname@example.com
We operate a 14 day no quibble returns policy as long as the item is returned in original packaging and in perfect condition. Please contact us before returning any item. Buyers returning items are responsible for return postage, please see our full returns conditions by clicking the link Delivery & Returns under Customer Care


text:
Month: September 2016
Specifying Wheelchair Lifts: Avoid the 2 Most Common Mistakes
Mistake Number 1: Failure to Educate Your Client As an architect, you already know about accessible facility design. You probably also know a fair bit about vertical platform lifts (VPLs)....Read More
The Premiere Wheelchair Lift for University Stages
Count the Stages in Your University Whether your university has an auditorium, a recital hall, a theater, an arena, a stadium, or perhaps all of the above – you surely have at least one stage. When you have a stage, you also have a responsibility to provide ADA wheelchair access onto it....Read More
How the ADA Affects Renovations
Any renovation could potentially trigger ADA requirements. If you remodel a building that is not a private home, chances are the ADA will apply. From schools to conference centers, churches to hotels, restaurants to corporate offices, hospitals to performing arts complexes… the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) plays a role in all of them. ...Read More


text:
Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) was right to call former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon a white supremacist, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) contended on Sunday.
"I agree that Steve Bannon is a white supremacist, and [senior White House adviser] Stephen Miller seems to be. And I know that studies have shown that they have their allies sprinkled around the White House," Brown said on CNN's "State of the Union," without naming the studies.
Brown's comments come after Wilson, who is black, charged that President Donald Trump's attacks against her over a phone call he placed to the widow of a black soldier were racially motivated.
"The White House itself is full of white supremacists," Wilson told The New York Times on Friday.
In a separate appearance on MSNBC on Sunday, Wilson demanded that White House chief of staff John Kelly apologize to her for "character assassination."
Kelly on Thursday criticized Wilson at a White House press briefing, calling her an "empty barrel" who wrongly took credit for securing funding for an FBI field office in Miami. A video published by the Sun-Sentinel, however, showed that Wilson had not done so.
"Not only does he owe me an apology, but he owes an apology to the American people," Wilson said on MSNBC's "AM Joy."
Trump again attacked Wilson in tweets earlier on Sunday, calling her "wacky" and "the gift that keeps on giving for the Republican Party."
The back-and-forth between Wilson and Trump stems from a phone call the president made last week to Myeshia Johnson, the widow of one of four soldiers killed in an ambush in Niger earlier this month.
Wilson, a friend of the Johnson family, was with the widow when Trump called and heard the conversation on speakerphone. Wilson said the president told Johnson that her husband "must've known what he signed up for." Wilson publicly criticized the comment, saying it showed Trump has "no feelings for anyone."
Trump denied making the comment and started blasting Wilson, though her account of the call was backed up by others who heard it. Kelly, whose son died while serving in Afghanistan, made a rare appearance at Thursday's White House press briefing to his criticize Wilson for publicizing Trump's call.
In his interview on CNN, Brown lamented that Trump engaged in fights as often as he did.
"I would say it's sad, it's worse than sad, that the president engages in this kind of name-calling," Brown said. "I just wish he'd apologize ... he could say, you know, it didn't come out right, I'm sorry it came out that way, of course I respect, and then mention the congresswoman by name and mention the widow by name. It would be a nice touch if the president would once in a while act that way instead of always attack, always attack, always demean the way he does, too often."


text:
Miami-Dade County
Miami-Dade County swimming advisory reduced
Miami-Dade County scaled back a swimming ban Friday at Oleta River State Park triggered after 3.5 million gallons of treated sewage washed out of a nearby treatment plant last weekend.
County officials said the park's beach area, as well as Biscayne Bay from Haulover Inlet, would reopen. Swimmers, however, should avoid Maul Lake, Oleta River proper, the Intracoastal Waterway south to the Haulover Marina and north to Dumbfoundling Bay. Anglers and boaters should also avoid the area, a statement said.
Warnings to stay away from the area were issued after heavy rainfall on Feb. 28 near the North District Wastewater Treatment Plant overwhelmed pumps, spilling the partially treated sewage.
The Florida Department of Health and the county's Division of Environmental Resources Management are testing the water to determine when to lift the ban.


text:
About Made.By.Jess
Made.By.Jess features the latest Product Reviews and Giveaways, Book Reviews and Giveaways, and Cash Giveaways. I have been blogging for about two years now. If you would like a product Reviewed or would like to host a giveaway please email me.. at MadebyJessblog(at)gmail dot com or use the contact form below.
Thanks, Jess
Thanks, Jess


text:
Why? Because you can! And pickle, and jam, or otherwise celebrate the resurgence of the domestic arts our forebears held so dear. Put on your best apron and step into our kitchen, won't you?
A preserving checklist: prepare ahead for the onslaught of summer produce!
7 practical ways to avoid burnout during canning season.


text:
We definitely recommend taking a good look at the sustainability activations Volcom had in place at this year's Pipe Pro, which earned the contest a Deep Blue Event designation from Sustainable Surf for the fifth year running.
Volcom went above and beyond in 2017, focussing their sustainability efforts so that they delivered direct and tangible benefits to local communities and the Hawaiian economy, while also addressing the broader environmental impacts of the event. Want to know how to make your Earth Day event Deep Blue? Below is a snapshot of what you will find in the event report:


text:
So day 0 was pretty great I took a late flight from Boston to get here and landed around 12AM PST so I was tired. but the LIGHTS were awesome , Vegas is a lot to take in if you have never been here before, this is my first VMworld and my first time to Vegas. Day 0 was a pretty straightforward day registration was the only thing opened for the first couple of hours but the exhibitor halls opened around 5. Walking into the exhibitor hall as overwhelming there was a lot of vendors with some pretty elaborate booths.
After the exhibit closed I headed over to the VMUG party at the house of blues in Mandalay bay, the band that was playing was great playing a mix of old school feel good 80's to more modern tunes. really a good mix of songs. Then all of the sudden Michael Dell comes out. and in my opinion is was a classy move. To me it showed that he was taking community into consideration and was willing to talk about the future of VMware and the community directly to the people looking for that kind of reassurance. Real classy Michael Dell.


text:
The next person who will be entering the Love Island villa has been revealed.
Georgia Steel a 23-year-old from London is set to enter the villa but she already looks like someone who's already on the show.
Georgia look's so much like Dani Dyer who started her Love Island journey on Monday.
Georgia will be entering the villa to shake things up for the next recouplerling.


text:
Is it okay to do more days of lower body then upper at the gym?!
Question: Is it okay to do more days of lower body then upper at the gym?
I don't want to become leg heavy. This would suit my weekly schedule better though, if I could do two days lower and one day upper.
There should be a balance. Try and work the whole of the body during the time you are in the gym,
Personal experience
working the legs burns more calories cos the leg mucles are the biggest in the body, if u dont want to get big legs dont lift heavey weights, the key is hi reps low weights or running


text: How to Stop a Kitchen Fire Before It Gets Out of Control 27 January 2017 Categories: , Blog Kitchen fires are scary, dangerous, and damaging. It's true that you can sometimes stop them before they take hold, but you're likely to still have smoke damage that will need to be professionally dealt with. You'll have to catch the igniting fire very early on in order to prevent this. If you're in the kitchen when the fire starts, you're in the danger zone but you also have a chance to halt the damage. Read More


text:
Stay at a Ringgold, Texas Bed and Breakfasts and Inns for the personal attention you desire. A Ringgold B&B is a great alternative to hotels or motels while visiting the state of Texas!
Visit our Ringgold, Texas bed and breakfast directory of historic, romantic, and adventure B&B's. You can browse through our detailed listings of Ringgold, Texas bed and breakfasts and inns with nearby city listings that include pictures, room rates, booking information and area activities. Every Ringgold, Texas b&b inns has complete contact information and a direct link to the innkeepers.