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1. No person shall, after July first, nineteen hundred seventy, commence the preparation of the site for the construction of a major utility transmission facility in the state without having first obtained a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need (hereafter in this article called a "certificate") issued with respect to such facility by the commission. The replacement of existing with like facilities, as determined by the commission, shall not constitute the construction of a major utility transmission facility. Any facility with respect to which a certificate is required shall thereafter be built, maintained and operated in conformity with such certificate and any terms, limitations or conditions contained therein. A certificate may only be issued pursuant to this article.
2. A certificate may be transferred, subject to the approval of the commission, to a person who agrees to comply with the terms, limitations and conditions contained therein.
3. A certificate issued hereunder may be amended as herein provided.
4. This article shall not apply to any major utility transmission facility:
a. For which, on or before July first, nineteen hundred seventy an application has been made for a license, permit, consent or approval from any federal, state or local commission, agency, board or regulatory body, in which application the location of the major utility transmission facility has been designated by the applicant;
b. The construction of which has been approved by a municipality or public benefit corporation which has sold bonds or bond anticipation notes on or before July first, nineteen hundred seventy, the proceeds or part of the proceeds of which are to be used in payment therefor; or
c. Over which any agency or department of the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction, or has jurisdiction concurrent with that of the state and has exercised such jurisdiction, to the exclusion of regulation of the facility by the state.
5. Any person intending to construct a major utility transmission facility excluded from this article pursuant to subdivision four may elect to waive such exclusion by delivering notice of such waiver to the commission. This article shall thereafter apply to each major utility transmission facility identified in such notice from the date of its receipt by the commission.
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Latest family picture taken at my parents house in December. Lord-willing next year there will be a sweet little boy in the picture with us! He is all Jadyn talks about. She and I made snowflakes the other day and she wanted to make him one. She constantly wants to talk about him and prays for him for every meal and bedtime.
I spotted a little the other day bc I overdid it. Of course my mind goes to the worst.... I told my mom I hate thinking that way but the first person I think of is Jadyn .....ok, everything is fine...dont want to chase that rabit.
Jadyn turns four tomorrow. Maybe i'll post some pics of her princess birthday party. The girls are getting their make up done and finger nails and toe nails painted...should be fun...looking so forward to it and for it to be over! haaa

subset: commoncrawl


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We'll have an AWESOME raffle and new this year … A Silent Auction at BunnyFest. This is one of our biggest fundraisers at the event and a great way for you to help the bunnies while you help yourself. Come check out the wide selection of prizes for bunnies and humans!
- Leith Petwerks Bunny Adobe Condo
- Bunny themed clothing and jewelry
- Hand crafted and bunny themed art work and items for your home.
- Bunny toys, food and supplies
- Gift certificates to restaurants, spa services, and family activities.


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We've just about recovered from 3 EPIC days at Craft Beer Rising! It was a tough gig being in the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, hanging out with 155 breweries and over 12,000 guests, all whilst sampling and selling our delicious snacks…!
Our jerky and puffs went down a storm and were a sell-out. Along with our jerky and beer pairing recommendations it was the perfect snack whilst guests wondered around the stalls.
Check out our beer pairings below:


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At the very moment that a nuclear deal with Iran is looking closer to reality, Iran is expanding its influence throughout the Middle East. To the Saudis, the Emirates and Israel -- all of whom see Iran as the greatest threat in the region -- this is a disturbing phenomenon.
Israel has reacted by calling on the United States to link the nuclear negotiations to Iran's broader behavior in the region. In his address before a joint session of Congress, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. should not sign a deal until Iran halts its terrorist activity and ceases its support of extremist groups. More recently, the prime minister has called for no agreement until Iran accepts Israel's legitimacy.
Not surprisingly, the U.S. rejected those proposals as unachievable and saw them as an effort to block any nuclear deal.
The Saudis, in their usual way, took a more restrained approach, saying nice things about the framework agreement while decrying Iran's activities on many fronts in the region. Clearly, at this moment when the U.S. is providing essential support for the Saudi-led military coalition against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, they are not looking for a full-blown confrontation with their main ally and supporter, the United States.
On the other hand, the Saudis continue to express in many ways their frustration with what they perceive to be weak American leadership in the region. While not willing to link their critique to the nuclear issue, they have found other ways to get their point across.
Their most extreme reaction took place in the fall of 2013 when in an unprecedented fashion they turned down a seat at the United Nations Security Council. While they never stated a reason, it was widely understood to be a protest over American policy toward Syria and Iran.
Since then, Saudi concerns have only grown as they watch a continued Iranian role in Syria and Iraq, U.S. cooperation with Iran against ISIS and -- more recently -- the potential for new significant Iranian influence in Yemen through the Houthis.
Both the Israelis and the Saudis fear that lifting the deepest sanctions against Iran through the nuclear deal will further embolden Iranian expansionism.
Moreover, whatever their views on the nuclear deal, they fear that the basic underlying theme, despite U.S. protests to the contrary, is that Iran under President Hassan Rouhani is an evolving nation that can be moved toward a state of normalcy both at home and in its international relations. So they worry that after the nuclear deal is signed, sealed and delivered, the U.S. will be even more reluctant to identify Iran for what is and to take action against it.
What is it that the U.S. administration can do to reassure its allies?
First, its rhetoric about Iranian behavior must be elevated by many decibels. The notion that such a change would jeopardize the nuclear talks does not ring true. The Iranians have a huge interest in the removal of sanctions while also being able to maintain its nuclear infrastructure. They are not very likely to walk away because of a more honest and focused U.S. approach to Iranian behavior.
It was encouraging in that respect that Secretary of State John Kerry on April 8 on PBS NewsHour criticized Iran for supplying the Houthis in Yemen and added that the U.S. "could do two things at once" -- the nuclear deal and containment of Iran's destabilizing activities in the region.
Still, a more sustained U.S. approach is needed, one which recognizes that Iran remains unrepentant and extreme -- including recent statements by its leaders calling for Israel's destruction -- and is the greatest threat in the region.
Calling attention to the huge arsenal of missiles amassed by Iranian surrogate, Hezbollah, is a good place to start.
Using Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 15 to denounce Iran's open call for Israel's destruction, most recently by the head of the Revolutionary Guard, would add to the chorus.
And finally, the president's remarks about having Israel's back in the face of any Iranian threat should be reflected in clear agreements. What exactly does it mean for the U.S. to be there for Israel and Saudi Arabia?
This becomes more significant than ever because of the perception that the eagerness for the nuclear deal was partly motivated by a U.S. desire to pull back from the region. And, it is significant because Saudi concerns about a potentially expanding nuclear Iran could lead them to seek their own nuclear weapons. The consequences for the region and the world of such nuclear proliferation would be disastrous.
Even before the nuclear framework agreement, the U.S. had a lot of work to do to reassure its allies in the Middle East.
The need for such reassurance takes on a greater urgency as the reality of the nuclear agreement and the prospect of an emboldened Iran loom larger.


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2019 Nittany AI Challenge offers grant opportunities totaling $50,000
2019 Nittany AI Challenge offers grant opportunities totaling $50,000
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State students have the opportunity to create solutions to real-world problems and gain hands-on experience with artificial intelligence technology and AI experts during the 2019 Nittany AI Challenge. Participating teams can compete for grant awards totaling $50,000. Proposals are due Jan. 29, 2019.
During the 2018 challenge, a team of undergraduates used AI to develop LionPlanner — an application designed to provide paths for undergraduates to reach graduation. As one of the challenge finalists, the team was awarded $30,000 to further develop their solution. Two other finalist teams, Aspire and ProFound, were each awarded $10,000.
Daren Coudriet, director for the Nittany AI Alliance, said they are looking for participants who represent the innovative ideas and entrepreneurial spirit of Penn State students.
"We are proud to play a role in launching transformational ideas and excited to continue working with teams in 2019 as they leverage programs to create their solutions," Coudriet said.
Teams are selected to advance through three stages of the Nittany AI Challenge based on advancement of their product through each phase, diverse and widespread student representation, product criteria requirements and demonstrated use of AI in their product to solve a problem, advance a solution and/or improve a current service.
Brad Zdenek, innovation strategist for the Nittany AI Alliance, said the challenge opens new opportunities to work with AI.
"We deeply believe in the broad, disruptive nature of AI and the need for faculty, staff and students across all disciplines to develop some form of AI literacy," Zdenek said. "We are offering Immersion Day in February as an opportunity for Penn Staters to access training and workshops ranging from introductions to AI to deep dives into the technology with representatives from Oracle, Amazon, Google and Microsoft."
2019 Nittany AI Challenge key dates:
- Jan. 14: Nittany AI Challenge ideation and team formation workshop; "Competing in the Challenge" webinar
- Jan. 29: participant idea submissions due
- Feb. 20: Immersion Day open to all Penn State students, faculty and staff
- April 3: participant prototypes due
- Aug. 2: participant MVPs due
- Sept. 10: participant MVP demo and pitch competitions
To sign up to compete, visit the 2019 Nittany AI Challenge online.


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Degree Type
Date of Award
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Soil Science; Environmental Science
First Advisor
David A. Laird
Finding solutions to food-water-energy nexus challenges requires a systems approach and integration across scales to address issues of food production, environmental degradation, and energy use. Biochar, the co-product of thermochemical conversion of biomass to bioenergy, is a soil amendment that has the potential to improve soil quality, water retention, and crop productivity, while sequestering atmospheric C. Most of the positive benefits of biochar applications are based on evidence from short-term studies using freshly produced biochars, however, the effect of fresh and aged biochars over longer time periods remains inconclusive. This dissertation presents a series of integrated studies across the laboratory, greenhouse, field, and modeling scales to advance understanding of the impacts of biochar type and biochar aging on soil physical and chemical properties, soil water dynamics, and crop productivity. In the first study (Chapter 2), we developed a modified proximate analysis method that accounted for biochar diversity and found that volatile matter/fixed carbon ratios were a useful measure of biochar C stability. Using soil cores collected from a long-term bioenergy cropping system experiment we showed that crop rotations increased soil C and N, soil C/N ratio, pH and gravity drained water content, and decreased bulk density for soils with biochar relative to no-biochar controls (Chapter 3). A greenhouse soil column study (Chapter 4) showed that aged biochars impacted soil water relations differently than the equivalent fresh biochars. Biochar applications must be made strategically and take into account biochar type, soil type, and biochar age. The final two studies utilized the biochar model within the APSIM cropping systems model. In Chapter 5, we provided experimental verification of the pedotransfer functions currently used in APSIM for biochar amended soils and determined that current quality modifiers that estimate biochars impact on soil water estimates were site-specific. Lastly, model simulations revealed that over 32-years, biochar applications could eliminate negative effects associated with residue harvesting, as evaluated by reduced NO3 leaching and increased SOC levels, while not impacting corn yields (Chapter 6). Overall, biochar applications can contribute to enhancing the long-term sustainability of agro-ecosystems, but biochar age and soil type are important variables to consider.
Copyright Owner
Deborah Marie Aller
Copyright Date
File Format
File Size
207 pages
Recommended Citation
Aller, Deborah Marie, "Scaling understanding of biochar aging impacts on soil water and crop yields" (2017). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 16066.


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President Gomulka of Poland arrives with delegation for talks to Hungary.
Short Summary
Budapest, Hungary.
GV. Crowd waiting at Budapest airport, Hungary. MS. Nose of aircraft as it taxis in. GV. At the airport, crowds and Guard of Honour. Various shots of the members of a delegation of the Polish United Workers and of the Polish People's Republic arriving at the airport. They are led by President of Poland Vladyslaw Gomulka and Joseph Cyrankievicz and are greeted by Janos Kadar, Secretary of Hungarian Socialist Workers Party, and members of the Hungarian Government. Guests inspect the Guard of Honour and make and receive speeches of welcome before leaving airport. Various shots at the meeting between Mr Gomulka and Mr Cyrankievicz with the President of the Hungarian Presidential Council, Istvan Dobi and also Janos Kadar. All the delegates finally sit down at a long table for talks.
Date found in the old record - 26/11/1963. Hungarian voiceover.
- Film ID:
- 3139.10
- Media URN:
- 88438
- Group:
- Unissued unused
- Archive:
- British Pathé
- Issue Date:
- 1963
- Sound:
- Sound
- HD Format:
- Available on request
- Stock:
- Black & White
- Duration:
- 00:01:40:00
- Time in/Out:
- 01:25:14:00 / 01:26:54:00
- Canister:


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Here are some pictures taken by Steve Araujo at the 2019 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim CA.
All shots taken by Steve Araujo using a Canon 6D and 50mm f1.8 lens.
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Land of 3626 m² with planning permission of 1227 m² and solarium on the roof with sea view on the Bay of Juan les Pins, Cannes and the Lérins Islands.
Main house with large reception rooms, kitchen, 7 bedrooms with magnificent terraces, cinema room, indoor swimming pool, gym and various rooms. Pool 16 m x 10 m and pool House. Garage for 4 vehicles.


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High Tech Spectrum Coalition Launched
A widespread industry coalition that includes the Consumer Electronics Association has joined forces to form a new organization called the High Tech Spectrum Coalition (HTSC). The purpose of the group is to grant the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authority to hold voluntary incentive auctions.
Other members include the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), and the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA).
"Broadband is the engine of growth in our innovation-driven economy, and creating a plan for doubling the amount of available spectrum shows that policy makers are embracing new technology as our best path forward," Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA, said in a statement. "Now, Congress needs to take the steps necessary to make this plan a reality."


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Baby Boomers will have a large impact on the economy and should give the Canadian healthcare stocks on our list new life
SmallCapPower | May 18, 2017: Canada's largest population segment, the Baby Boomers, are greying. This demographic consists of people ages 50-69, meaning most of them will likely be entering retirement soon. Baby Boomers will most notably impact the healthcare sector as citizens generally require increasing amounts of healthcare services as they age. Today we have identified four Canadian healthcare stocks that could experience vigorous profit growth as a result of an aging population.
Related: Canadian Biotech Stocks Performing Well Are Under the Radar, Says Portfolio Manager
Centric Health Corp. (TSX: CHH) – $0.80
Healthcare Facilities & Services
Centric Health Corp is a Canada-based provider of healthcare services. Its segments include Specialty Pharmacy, and Surgical and Medical Centres. The Specialty Pharmacy segment includes dispensing, compliance packaging and auxiliary products and services for retirement homes and long-term care residents. The Surgical & Medical Centres segment includes a range of services, including primary care, executive medical, urgent care and diagnostic services, including computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan capabilities. The Surgical & Medical Centres segment also offers surgical specialties, including plastic, reconstructive, cosmetic, orthopedic, gynecology, urology, neurosurgery, bariatric, endoscopic and otolaryngology.
- Market Cap: $162,495,233
- Total Revenue (LTM): $167,363,000
- Debt to Equity: 661.5%
- YTD Price Change: 35.6%
Extendicare Inc. (TSX: EXE) – $10.24
Healthcare Facilities & Services
Extendicare Inc. is a Canada-based company, which owns and operates long-term care centers, and provides publicly-funded home healthcare services. The Company operates approximately 120 senior care and living centers across over four provinces in Canada. Its segments include Long-term Care; Retirement Living; Home Health Care; Other Canadian Operations, and Corporate Canada. The Long-term Care segment operates long-term care centers in Canada. The Retirement Living segment operates over six retirement communities, under the Esprit Lifestyle Communities brand. The Home Health Care segment provides home healthcare services through its ParaMed Home Health Care division.
- Market Cap: $909,350,338
- Total Revenue (LTM): $1,060,758,000
- Debt to Equity: 288.1%
- YTD Price Change: 3.6%
Sienna Senior Living Inc. (TSX: SIA) – $17.64
Healthcare Facilities & Services
Sienna Senior Living Inc. is a Canada-based company, which is engaged in serving the range of independent living (IL), independent supportive living (ISL), assisted living (AL), memory care (MC) and long-term care/residential care (referred to as LTC) communities. The Company's segments include LTC business, Retirement, Baltic, Corporate, Eliminations and Other. Its LTC segment includes over 30 owned LTC homes and the management services business. Its Retirement segment includes approximately 10 owned retirement residences (RR) communities. Its Baltic includes seven Baltic properties in, which the Company's interest is in the Nicola Lodge and Pacific Seniors Management General Partnership (PSM). The LTC segment in Ontario and British Columbia consists of various private, public sector operators and not-for-profit organizations offering a range of services.
- Market Cap: $814,804,212
- Total Revenue (LTM): $497,887,000
- Debt to Equity: 250.4%
- YTD Price Change: 8.2%
Vigil Health Solutions Inc. (TSXV: VGL) – $0.60
Advanced Medical Equipment & Technology
Vigil Health Solutions Inc. is a Canada-based company, which is engaged in the development, marketing and distribution of a hardware and software solution for developing care plans and monitoring the aged and dementia sufferers in long-term care facilities. The Company develops and markets the Vigil Integrated Care Management System (the Vigil System) technology platform. Its technology platform combines software and hardware to provide solutions that guide care of and monitor residents living in senior living communities. The Company's product range includes wireless Vitality Care System featuring discreet mini pendants, a nurse call system, mobile fall, incontinence monitoring, resident check in and Vigil Memory Care System.
- Market Cap: $10,189,429
- Total Revenue (LTM): $4,842,370
- Debt to Equity: 0.0%
- YTD Price Change: 20.0%
Disclosure: Neither the author nor any of the principals at Small Cap Power, or their family members, own shares in any of the companies mentioned above.
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Mumbai: Raheja Group's modern retail major Shoppers Stop Ltd on Saturday announced selling 5 per cent of its equity share (43.96 lakh shares) of Rs 5 face value to e-tail giant Amazon.com at Rs 407.78 per share, aggregating to Rs 179.26 crore on a preferential basis.
"The Board of Directors approved a proposal to issue 5 per cent equity shares on preferential basis to Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC at Rs 407.78 per share aggregating to Rs 179.26 crore," said the company in a regulatory filing on the BSE.
The e-tailor's Investment Holdings firm is incorporated in the US and registered as category III Foreign Portfolio Investor with Indian regulator SEBI in India.
"The preferential issue is subject to approval from the company's shareholders and other regulatory and statutory approvals," added the filing.
The company will hold an EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) on October 18 here for seeking approval of its shareholders for selling the equity stake.


text: In Arizona there is no such formal terminology. At our office, however, we use this term to mean a divorce in which there are no issues in dispute at all stages of the case. If you have such a case, we charge a very low, flat rate. You will know exactly how much your case will cost, because we know there will be no negotiations or arguments in court or out of court. Thus, we can offer a relatively low flat fee. Most divorce attorneys in Arizona do not offer flat fees for contested cases, because it is hard to know in advance how much time and effort each issue will take to resolve.


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Here is the highly fancy pattern you will need for this tutorial (for best results, save the image, and then open it in your computer's image viewer, then print).
I was so sad when I put away our St. Brigid bendy doll. I just loved her, and each time I opened my fall/winter nature table bin, I felt a little guilty. Clearly the only course of action was to give her a spring fairy makeover.
My goal with this craft was to alter Brigid as little as possible, because I plan to use her every February 1 in her original form. I started by carefully snipping off her cape. I pinned the cape to the little hill I made for my St. Brigid's Day centerpiece so it wouldn't get lost. Next, I cut four leaves– two larger ones for wings and two smaller ones for an apron. I used a ladder stitch to connect the wings to each other, and then used a single stitch to tack the wings to the dress. I wasn't too worried about any sewing on Brigid's back since her cape will cover the holes I make.
I used a fern stitch to decorate her apron. I embroidered one leaf and then, without cutting the thread, placed the second leaf over the first and connected them by making sure my needle went through both leaves as I did my second row of fern stitches (gosh, I hope that makes sense!). I wrapped the thread around Brigid's waist and then tied it to the knotted thread on the first leaf.
Any spring fairy worth her wings has a cute flower hat. I started with the stem, wrapping a 3.5 inch pipe cleaner in the same colored floss I used for the leaf details, and bent it so it formed a spiral (a whimsical spiral, guys. It's whimsical). Next, I cut out the hat itself, and sewed a running stitch about 1/8 of an inch from the top. After I stitched across the entire length of the felt, I pulled the thread taut to make my flower (like this). I stuck the pipe cleaner stem through the middle and hot glued it into place. Once the flower was complete (without cutting the thread I used in the running stitch and making sincere apologies to Brigid), I attached it to her head by sticking the needle through the pipe cleaner that holds her hair in place. I made a teeny stitch back through the hat and tied it off. I used my finger to make the petals flip up a little.
And with that, Brigid's makeover was complete! She reports to me that she feels like a whole new woman, and while the ladies at Kildare Abbey might shake their heads at her frivolous flower hat, she is also the Irish goddess of birth, so spring fairy isn't too much of a stretch. I plopped her in my four seasons tree on our nature shelf. She will be our annual sign that King Winter needs to think about packing his bags and Mother Nature should start to wake her root children.
Have you ordered your March envelope yet? I think the felt birds will look great in our tree! Also, don't forget you have until 2/17 to get 20% off nearly everything in the shop with the code SPRINGBLOWOUT (excludes monthly and mystery envelopes; please order those separately).


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In the fifth episode of this season of Doctor Who, The Doctor, Bill, and Nardole find themselves caught up in new dangers as they answer a distress call coming from deep space, the sort of thing that's never just an easy rescue. Especially when big corporate who only cares about the bottom line is involved. And so we have "Oxygen", which feels like a space take on zombies-but-not-zombies. This review is very belated because much like the Doctor's capers, shit happens that puts a wrench in things, like moving apartments and not having a desk or knowing where you packed your laptop for a few days. I digress.
The walking dead in this episode are indeed quite dead; it's more their automated smartsuits that is a the worry as thanks to instructions given to the suits to deactivate their organic components, those wearing the suits (which are the only source of oxygen on the space station) are being killed off. In place of the zombie "bite" is the fact that this signal carrying these instructions can be passed by touch. It's really quite a neat allegory for the zombie story given some hard sci-fi updating.
On the space station, oxygen usage is measured in breaths by the company the deep space miners work for, and ultimately it's said company behind the spacesuits killing people as a means to protect the bottom line aka profit. If sci-fi has taught us anything it's this: never work for big companies mining in space. Or hauling cargo. Because you are signing up to be a red shirt, my friends, and it's all cryosleep and games until an alien bursts from your chest or your space suit decides to murder your ass because reasons.
What this episode does do is further show the thing Bill is coming to learn quite awfully in each episode; traveling with the Doctor is not all fun and games, it can have scary and real consequences. Like seeing children die. Like having your own spacesuit turn on you and electrocute you. Like begging to just be told a joke because you're bloody terrified and the Doctor is leaving you behind with what sounds only half-convincingly that it will be okay and he will save the day. This was something that underscored Clara's last season and was what ultimately was the cause of her (temporary) demise. The mindset that no matter the dangers that the Doctor will always work it out, he'll always come out unscathed and it's so easy to think this luck extends to the companion…but it doesn't. And it was a lesson Clara learned too late in "Face the Raven" and one Bill is learning more profoundly with each episode. And she's new enough still to TARDIS travel and sensible enough to be frightened, to not think it'll be okay. To want her mom when her suit starts turning on her. But, in the end, the Doctor DOES save her and saves the day and seems to overcome the impossible like temporary blindness after sacrificing his helmet outside the station to save Bill the first time.
But, this time it's not that easy, and the consequences actually stick. And when Nardole, who is so very over and not about the TARDIS capers life and the Doctor risking himself when he made the constantly mentioned promise to guard the vault, lectures the Doctor it's only then at the end of the episode we realize that the Doctor hasn't totally won the day scot-free: he's still blind.
Ok show, you have my attention more! It's always frustrated me how little huge consequences have carried across Moffat's Who tenure: Amy and Rory losing their baby to the Silence but it's okay because she grows up to be River so cool story bro! Clara doesn't stay dead and has her own TARDIS times with Me, and because of mindy-wipy, the Doctor can't remember her. He knows he lost her, but he can't feel the loss full force. So for him to actually be experiencing longer consequence for the first time palpably in a LONG time is refreshing. Some fan speculation wonders if his blindness will carry through until he regenerates, and that would certainly be interesting.
As for Bill, she continues to be amazing and I hope if this is her only year she gets a clean break like Martha where she goes about living her life and maybe goes to work for A Charitable Earth with Ace because they would get on so brilliantly. Nardole still bothers me a bit, something about the character just doesn't get on with me. His function seems solely to just nag the Doctor. He is capable out in "the field" but I just don't really feel endeared to him.
Episode Rating: B+
Assorted Musings
- WHO IS IN THE VAULT? If it's just Missy that's a little predictable.
- In the first scene with the pair of space miners outside, I dubbed that scene "Love Actually In Space" because the poor girl reminded me of Sarah trying to stay alive to have babies with her Space Karl. Alas.


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I spent my 23rd birthday in a very different this year. I was always the type to celebrate it with friends and have a big party to welcome it at midnight and then have a quiet dinner with my family on the day itself. I've been doing that for as long as I remember but for some reason, I felt this itch to change the tradition. I slowly did last year when I went to New York and only celebrated it with my cousins and siblings. However, this time, I wanted to be quieter. All I wanted was to fly off to somewhere I've been wanting to go to with the people I love. I wish I got to bring my whole family with me but because of my parents' work commitments, I only got to bring Vern and Vernon with me.
I've been wanting to go back to Phuket since I first visited it last 2015. When I found out that one of the best resorts on the island had an availability on the week of my birthday, I decided then and there that it was the place I was meant to go to. I first found out about KATA ROCKS when we met Michael last year in a travel conference in Singapore and after hearing all his amazing stories about the resort, we immediately included it to our list of places to visit this 2017! Finally, we did and my 23rd birthday was extra special because of it! :)
The resort is located on the other side of Phuket. It's the more secluded and private area of the island and that's what makes this place special. It's perfect for when you're after a weekend of bliss and rejuvenation. Aside from the amazing service and facilities, the architecture is what makes it stands out from the rest. The owner has this special affiliation with yachts so he made sure it was designed to make guests feel like they're spending a few days aboard one :) I mean, it's possible to save to spend a few nights in luxury hotels but literally only one in a million people can ever experience staying on a yacht and these guys made it possible for us mere mortals :P
We were given our own 2 bedroom villa and it had the most amazing view plus our own lap pool to boot. We're pretty sure that what makes this one of the best is that! You literally see different shades of blue :)
Each villa includes breakfast for two and the spread was reason enough to wake up extra early in the morning! Anything that you can think of that can make your breakfast complete, they have it!
We also had a chance to try out their multi-awarded in house spa and their signature massage could be enough reason to stay in the hotel :)
And now, let's talk about the villa, shall we? Each one comes with a complete kitchen (yes, I'm talking about plates, utensils, infrared stove, high tech appliances, the best cookware and a fully stocked mini bar) where you can experience a chef cooking for you, your own pool, a living room, a tub and you can literally control the whole room with an iPad. Amazing.
We spent a total of 4 days there and all we did was eat, threw in our bikinis to chill by the pool and stare at the view with a glass of their specially brewed gin in hand. If my birthday was this special every year, I wouldn't mind turning a year older more often ;)


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We are a mobile company that does hair and make up. By coming to you it keeps the experience of your wedding day calm and personal! We do Bridal and prom hair along with photo shoots. From formal and structured up-do's to editorial our professional team has done many weddings and would love to offer our professional and courteous services to you!
Mississauga, ON


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Chuck Berry – The Great Twenty-Eight – Classic Music Review
After I graduated from college and returned to my childhood home for the we-love you-but-please-get-your-ass-out-of-the-house-dear-daughter ritual, my dad, feeling sentimental as he watched me rip my Iggy Pop poster from the bedroom wall, made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He told me I could help myself to any five LP's from his vast vinyl collection.
"Only five?" I cried.
"I'll leave the rest to you in my will," he said, shaking his head at what a greedy little bitch of a daughter he had raised.
I dropped what I was doing and headed for the living room, where he kept his treasure on every available piece of shelf space. He had over a thousand LP's and I'd heard each and every one during my formative years, with varying degrees of attention. Sighing at the sheer difficulty at the task ahead but somewhat inclined to take a trip down memory lane, I started with the A's (The Allman Brothers) and worked my way to the Z's (Frank Zappa).
I literally spent all day and night fingering through the collection, pulling out possibilities and playing emotional tug of war with myriad possibilities. Should I go for Super Session or East-West? Do I dare break up his Beatles' collection? (I didn't, but I am looking forward to the day he croaks so I can become a proud owner of the original Yesterday and Today cover.) Ogden's Nut-Gone Flake? Face to Face? Wheels of Fire? Pleasures of the Harbor? Stand Back!? Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music? Sketches of Spain? The experience turned out to be harrowing, but finally, drenched with sweat, sentimentality and angst, I called him into the living room to announce my selections.
"The good news is I'm letting you keep Iron Butterfly, Vanilla Fudge and The Grand Funk Railroad," I smirked.
"No surprise there," he laughed. "Show me what you got so I can get started on the grieving process."
I pulled them out one by one. Having a Rave-Up with The Yardbirds elicited a groan. Surrealistic Pillow yielded a tender smile. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band earned a comment, "Thank God it's not East-West." The fourth, Judy Collins' In My Life, caused him to tear up a bit. However, my fifth selection sparked a change in his visage from nostalgic to stern and led to an irresolvable dispute.
"Nope, not that one."
"What? You said any five!"
"Not that one. It's out of print. Pick something else."
"You prick!" I replied.
"I can live with that. Now pick something else."
I knew I didn't have a chance in hell of winning this argument, so I grabbed Live at Leeds and was gratified to elicit another groan. "Serves you right, you welcher," I taunted.
The album in dispute was, of course, The Great Twenty-Eight by Chuck Berry. I knew that Chuck Berry: The Anthology had been released a few years before, but the attraction of good old-fashioned vinyl with that nice big album sleeve was too hard to resist. There were other compilations, but I didn't want anything that had that fucking "My Ding-a-Ling" song on it. I wanted The Great Twenty-Eight in blessed analog format because I wanted to experience what John Lennon had heard as a kid while listening to a crackly radio in his room on Menlove Avenue. I wanted to feel the same kind of inspiration that you won't find in the sound quality, but in the rhythm, in the singing style, in the now-classic guitar licks and in the devil-may-care energy of early rock.
It took me a couple of years to find a relatively pristine copy (in part because I had devoted a large part of that period of my life to sharpening my bisexual fucking skills), but my patience was rewarded. I've also forgiven my father for being an asshole about the whole thing, because if I had been in his place, I would have done the same thing.
I have empathy, people!
Much has been written about Chuck Berry's contributions, and the general consensus is that he's pretty much the "Father of Rock 'n' Roll." His guitar stylings alone would have qualified him for legend status, and the list of guitarists he influenced is a mile long. More importantly, no other early composer made the ironic synergy between black blues and white hillbilly music work so seamlessly, giving early rock a crossover power that few genres have ever had. The Beatles and The Stones covered several of his compositions, and before the critics started labeling Brian Wilson a musical genius, he borrowed "Sweet Little Sixteen" as the musical base for "Surfin' U. S. A." (and was forced to turn over the copyright to the ARC Music Group, owners of Berry's catalog). Of the early rockers who actually wrote most of their own songs (sorry, Elvis), only Little Richard and Buddy Holly can approach Chuck Berry's lasting influence.
While his guitar work and his classic rock patterns were deeply influential, one of his strengths that is often ignored is his ability to write exceptionally compelling lyrics. Most early rock music consists pretty much of variations of "I love you, baby," "You made a fool out of me, you bitch" or songs about dancing. Many of Chuck Berry's songs contained vivid descriptions of life in concrete language in the context of great stories full of humor and narrative tension. While he frequently wrote songs designed to appeal to the white teenage market (that's where the money was), he also wrote about the traditional subjects of love and sexual attraction from perspectives other than the malt shop, often adding discreet social commentary in the process.
Chuck also put out a few stinkers, and when he'd found a gimmick that tickled teenage fancy enough to pull them out of the back seats of their oversized automobiles and spend their allowances at the record shop, Chuck would milk it until the cow ran dry. He frequently re-purposed his own compositions, changing the lyrics and throwing in a musical variation or two. Hence "School Days" was refurbished with a new story line and became "No Particular Place to Go."
The Great Twenty-Eight takes us through Chuck's entire period with Chess, from 1955 to 1965, generally in chronological order. The only inexplicable absence is "You Never Can Tell," which happens to be one of my favorite Chuck Berry songs, dammit! Astute researchers will note a significant time gap between the release of "Come On" in October 1961 and "Nadine" in February 1964. Chuck spent a good part of that time doing a stretch in prison on seriously trumped-up charges involving a 14-year old Native American girl. When he left prison, he found himself riding a new wave of popularity due to the dozens of covers by British Invasion bands . . . but we're getting ahead of our story.
We begin our journey in July of 1955, the year when the Brooklyn Dodgers would finally win their first and only championship (they would not become the Fucking Dodgers until they moved to Los Angeles and were christened thus by fired-up San Franciscans). July was a big month that year, featuring the opening of Disneyland and no less than three significant events in popular music history that exposed the socio-cultural tensions in the United States during the post-McCarthy years of the Eisenhower administration: the national debut of The Lawrence Welk Show, the rise of Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" to the top of the Billboard charts, and the first single released by Chuck Berry, a clever little ditty by the name of . . .
"Maybellene": Based on an old Bob Wills fiddle tune and named after a tube of mascara, Berry's first hit single (heavily influenced by Chess bossman Leonard Chess) was specifically designed to appeal to young, horny hot rodders. When Chess ordered Berry to update the lyrics to achieve that end, Berry exceeded all expectations by coming back with an attention-grabbing narrative filled with you-are-there imagery:
As I was motivatin' over the hill
I saw Maybellene in a Coupe de Ville
A Cadillac a-rollin' on the open road
Nothin' will outrun my V8 Ford
The Cadillac doin' about ninety-five
She's bumper to bumper, rollin' side by side
When I hear the opening guitar lick, my 1990's-programmed ear says shouts to the rest of my brain, "Is he using a distortion pedal?" The part attached to my vocal cords says, "No, silly, they wouldn't be invented for years." If you've ever seen today's guitarists in live performances, you'll see that they all have a huge rack of foot pedals to help them achieve various and sundry effects—few of which are as exciting as the tone Chuck Berry achieved with a relatively cheap amp using primitive recording technology.
"Maybellene" is hot and sassy, and must have seemed like the harbinger of the anti-Christ to all those Lawrence Welk fans who tuned in to hear the sweetly inoffensive Lennon Sisters and go gaga at the sight of a band surrounded by soap bubbles. The comparison to Bill Haley's number is even more telling, as Bill Haley's approach to rock was more "Let's have some fun, kids" and Chuck Berry's approach was more "Let's do the deed, kids!" "Rock Around the Clock" is corny. "Maybellene" is hot. You could say that Bill Haley's sound was the sound of "white people rock" and Chuck Berry's was "black people rock," and had you made that comment back in 1955, you would have been 100% correct. As rock continued to develop over the years, more white artists would begin to approach their work with the joy and abandon of Little Richard and Chuck Berry, effectively blurring the color line (Elvis and Buddy Holly being the original blurrers). Those who chose to remain forthright and uptight could look forward to twenty-seven-and-one-half fucking years of The Lawrence Welk Show.
"Thirty Days": The musical twin of "Maybellene" with a similar guitar intro and the exact same rhythm, so the distinguishing features of this song are found in the lyrics. The thirty-day limit in the first verse is a warning to his woman that she'd better get her ass back home in thirty days. In the next two verses, however, the narrator resorts to the criminal justice system to attempt to get his woman back—an ironic step for a black man to take in the pre-civil rights era. Interestingly, Berry threatens to take his problem to the United Nations, beating Eddie Cochran to the punch by about three years.
"You Can't Catch Me": Another car song (again, when Chuck found a winning formula, he had a hard time letting it go), this one is noted primarily as the song that caused Berry's music publisher to sue John Lennon for ripping off the "here come a flattop" line for "Come Together." Despite the thematic repetition, Chuck's vocal is strong and confident, the piano backing is pretty cool and the song moves exceptionally well.
"Too Much Monkey Business": Chuck's fifth single came out in 1956, the year that millions of boring Americans went to the polls to re-elect a boring president who was lucky enough to run against an even greater bore. While the masses proclaimed "We like Ike," marveled at the wonders of American progress in the field of consumerism and delighted in their white shirt conformity, Chuck Berry argued that conformity was more of a threat to liberty than communism.
"Too Much Monkey Business" is the anti-Happy Days theme. Each verse is devoted to a link in the conformity chain (wage slavery, consumerism, marriage, education, bureaucracy, militarism and the job), and at the end of all but the first verse Chuck symbolically shakes his head in disgust with a growled "aah":
Runnin' to-and-fro, hard workin' at the mill
Never fail in the mail, yeah, come a rotten bill
Too much monkey business, too much monkey business
Too much monkey business for me to be involved in
Salesman talkin' to me, tryin' to run me up a creek
Says you can buy now, go on and try, you can pay me next week, ahh!
In addition to an exceptionally fluid vocal performance, Chuck is seriously hot on the guitar, with a ripping opener, a frenetic, extended solo and some fabulous fills.
"Brown-Eyed Handsome Man": This was the flip side of "Too Much Monkey Business," a pairing that has to make anyone's top ten lists for the greatest singles in rock history. Inspired by a scene he personally witnessed in California where a Mexican man was hauled away by the cops while his woman shouted at them to let him go, Chuck subtly raises the terrifying specter of the non-white man's attractiveness to white women while throwing in subtle digs at fundamentally oppressive and corrupt criminal justice system:
Arrested on charges of unemployment,
He was sitting in the witness stand
The judge's wife called up the district attorney
She said, "Free that brown-eyed man.
If you want your job you better free that brown-eyed man."
In the USA, you're certainly treated like a criminal when you're out of a job, and as a guy who had already done a stretch in reform school for armed robbery, Chuck Berry had some experience with the inherent corruption in the American legal system.
"Roll Over Beethoven": The revolution is now! Compared to the million or so covers of this song, the original shines with its testosterone-dripping vocal serving both as the conveyor of the anti-square lyrics and a vital component of the song's driving rhythm. When the band starts driving the sucker home in the final chorus, Chuck sounds like he's shaking with erotic delight. While concert music appeals to emotions and intellect, I don't think I've ever gotten off listening to Beethoven or Tchaikovsky, and this celebration of the erotic foundation of rock 'n' roll, solidly grounded in the blues, is the perfect cure for any Puritan hang-ups or Catholic guilt hanging around the psyche.
"Havana Moon": Chuck tries to go Latin on us and the result is massive disappointment. Look, if I wanted 1950's Latin, I'd turn on I Love Lucy and hope that Ricky Ricardo does "Babalú" in his set at the Tropicana.
"School Days": While it's apparent that this song was aimed squarely at white teenagers of the time, "School Days" has turned out to be one of Chuck Berry's most timeless compositions. When I reflect on my brief existence, I can think of no greater waste of time than the years I spent in an American high school, an environment characterized by lazy, tenured teachers, whitewashed textbooks, ludicrously rigid schedules and seriously confused adolescents. Chuck captures the ennui of the school day in tone and lyric, and though we didn't have malt shops and jukeboxes in the 90's, getting the fuck out of there at the end of the day definitely qualified as a "lay your burden down" experience after hours of repressing everything from sexual urges to native intelligence. It's comforting to know that the teenagers of the 50's had the same things on their minds that I always have on mine—sex and music:
Drop the coin right into the slot
You're gotta hear somethin' that's really hot
With the one you love, you're makin' romance
All day long you been wantin' to dance,
Feeling the music from head to toe
Round and round and round we go
"Rock and Roll Music": Great song, but we'd have to wait another seven years for John Lennon to do this song justice. Chuck Berry's vocal is surprisingly tame, especially when compared to Lennon's let-it-the-fuck-out performance and Chuck's own performance on "Roll Over Beethoven."
"Baby Doll": Another song for the high school crowd that falls far short of "School Days." Apparently this was recorded during Chuck's "Letter Sweater" phase.
"Reelin' and Rockin'": Chuck gets back in the groove with a driving, swing-your-partner-round-and-round number with a curious opening guitar bit that is reminiscent of the tones I hear in the Jeff Beck era of the Yardbirds. Great piano runs from either Johnny Johnson or Lafayette Leake—both are credited on the album One Dozen Berrys.
"Sweet Little Sixteen": One of the classic singles of the era, "Sweet Little Sixteen" is loaded with socio-cultural ironies. Let's just take the second variation of the chorus as an example:
'Cause they'll be rockin' on Bandstand
In Philadelphia P. A.
Though Chuck Berry appeared on American Bandstand, he sure as hell didn't see any people of color in the teenage dance crowd. That's because station WFIL banned black teenagers from the studio audience, a prohibition that led to brawls between black and white teenagers on the streets outside. The station was located in a West Philadelphia neighborhood that had already been a focal point of the struggle against racial discrimination in housing, as more African-Americans flocked to West Philly, developed vibrant neighborhoods and pissed off the white demographic. You can find an excellent socio-historical analysis of American Bandstand on Matthew F. Delmont's website, The Nicest Kids in Town.
The last verse highlights the hypocrisy regarding the double standard and the strict gender expectations of the time:
Sweet little sixteen
She's got the grown up blues
Tight dresses and lipstick
She's sportin' high heel shoes
Oh, but tomorrow morning
She'll have to change her trend
And be sweet sixteen
And back in class again
The real girl is the one in tight dresses, lipstick and high-heel shoes; the repressed phony is the girl in high school. While most early feminists would run like hell from any honest discussion of female sexuality, here we have a vivid image of a girl wants to feel hot and look hot—and that doesn't have anything to do with oppression or "learned behavior." It's fun to feel sexy, be sexy and look sexy! While this verse may very well reflect male fantasies, what the fuck is wrong with that? People think about sex! Early, late and often! Get over it!
It's important to note that our little girl was very likely to be labeled a slut by the insecure males of the era, but we'll cover that aspect of the male psyche when we explore Dion's contributions to the topic. Cultural complexities aside, "Sweet Little Sixteen" is one hot song with an irresistible chorus and a superb use of stop-time techniques.
"Johnny B. Goode": It's just one classic after another with Chuck Berry, isn't it? From the time Elvis first appeared on Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's Stage Show, young boys have seen the guitar as a powerful and complex symbol. Some saw it as a way to grab attention, others as a way to get girls, and a few others were fascinated by its musical and rhythmic potential. "The guitar is a miniature orchestra in itself," said Beethoven, a very early recognition of the instrument's unlimited potential. While the guitar had been used in jazz and classical music, and was a staple in country, folk and blues music, it was rock 'n' roll—with a huge assist from television—that turned the guitar into something more than accompaniment.
Although some of the early rockers pounded pianos (Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino), the piano could have never become the center of rock 'n' roll for several reasons. One, it was associated with the piano lessons many kids were forced to endure when they would have rather been outside playing baseball or throwing rocks in the pond. Two, in the 50's, the piano was associated with squares like Liberace, and glam rock was years away. Three, you can't hold a piano like you can hold a guitar—you can cradle a guitar in your hands like you'd cradle a lover. Last but not least, guitars were a lot cheaper and a lot more portable than a piano—you can't take a piano to a beach party and you can't pull it out of your trunk and serenade your honey when your more pedestrian attempts to get past second base have failed.
Think about it: can you imagine a video game called "Piano Hero?"
If it comes out, I want in on the royalties.
"Johnny B. Goode" established the archetype of the guitar hero, and appropriately, Chuck lets it rip in an energetic variation of the opening riff to "Roll Over Beethoven." It's a more than suitable introduction, because this is a song that starts with pedal to the floor and never lets up. The story of the poor boy (and his mama) discovering that his guitar playing could forge a path out of poverty and into stardom is a fairy tale that has come true for many successful rockers and still has power today, even with rock in decline. "Johnny B. Goode" is really an updated version of the Horatio Alger myth—and a helluva lot sexier.
"Around and Around": Chuck varies the rhythm and dynamics in this number, similar in theme to "Rock and Roll Music." While I appreciate the slight variation, I wish the instrumental passage had been more than a simple repetition of the background rhythm. The Stones and The Dead both got a lot more out of this sucker.
"Carol": Not my favorite. The lyrics are unusually awkward, the story line confusing and the music is "meh." Apparently neither Carol nor the narrator can dance, which makes for a less-than-compelling dance song.
"Beautiful Delilah": A spunky little ripper with a fab opening riff and serious blue note bends on both chords and single notes, I rarely bother listening to the words when this song comes on. This song is about Chuck Berry, guitarist, and he steps up big time here.
As for the story, the girl in the center of the story is a more mature version of Sweet Little Sixteen, seriously focused on using her sexual power to bring the boys to their knees. She's a precursor of Runaround Sue, and though Chuck doesn't get as apoplectic as Dion does about a woman having multiple partners, he does comment that "Maybe she will settle down marry after a while."
Fat chance, dickhead.
"Memphis, Tennessee": A song that's been covered by more people than you can count, this one doesn't move my needle a bit. The discovery that Marie is a 6-year old kid is one of those corny, sentimental twists that often end Spielberg movies, and I hate Spielberg movies. Yeah, I know it's sad when marriages break up and kids get hurt in the process, but this crosses the line into gross sentimentality without providing much in the way of insight.
"Sweet Little Rock and Roller": Ditto for this one. The lyrics never come together into an interesting narrative and these stories of rock chicks dressed to the nines and ready for action are starting to get irritating. Move on, Chuck!
"Little Queenie": Ah, that's better. It's still the hot girl theme, but here Chuck allows her to play a part in the classic seduction ritual that begins with the innocuous words, "Wanna dance?" Chuck slips into spoken word for the inner dialogue of the lusting male and nails the tone of delightfully evil intent as he plots his way into her pants:
Meanwhile, I was still thinkin'
If it's a slow song, we'll omit it
If it's a rocker, then we'll get it
And if it's good, she'll admit it
C'mon Queenie, let's get with it
"Almost Grown": Chuck Berry rarely used background singers, but when he did, he sure knew how to pick 'em! Etta James with Harvey & the New Moonglows (who had just hired a young kid named Marvin Gaye) knock it out of the park with a soulful combination of call-and-response and scat vocals. Chuck also varied the formula by holding off on the guitar solo until the second instrumental passage, allowing the piano to provide the fills.
Chuck Berry's radar was always focused on shifts in his audience demographic, so here he gives us the story about a guy who's "done married and settled down." Only a few years before, rockers were ripping up movie theaters, but the combination of Elvis going into the army and the multiple tragedies on The Day the Music Died sucked the life out of the party. The 50's teen revolution was an adolescent revolution without purpose; the teens of the time didn't give a shit about politics and never questioned consumerism, segregation or American foreign policy the way their younger sisters and brothers would in the mid-60's. "Almost Grown" is a dismissal of "the silly things we did as teenagers," opening the path that would allow this mini-generation to eventually color the entire era with the pastels of nostalgia and turn the Fonz into an inoffensive folk hero:
You know I'm still livin' in town
But I done married and settled down
Now I really have a ball
So I don't browse around at all
Don't bother just leave us alone
Anyway we're almost grown
"Back in the U. S. A.": If it seems odd that a black man living most of his life under varying degrees of Jim Crow would write a song celebrating the virtues of the home of the brave, it must be pointed out that Chuck wrote this song after doing a tour in Australia, and this song compares his lifestyle to the primitive existence of the Australian Aborigines. In that context, the song mirrors the tone of the argument Martin Luther King adopted in the "I Have a Dream" speech, basically, "We believe in the same things you do." While Dr. King was referring to the rights embedded in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Chuck Berry focused on less lofty benefits of the American experience:
Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner café
Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day
Yeah, and a jukebox jumping with records like in the U.S.A.
On that score, consider me as patriotic as Chuck. The French make lousy burgers and pay very little attention to rock 'n' roll.
"Let It Rock": Chuck rips off his own "Johnny B. Goode" in a song about working on the railroad. Hey! Whatever happened to that ditty? "I've been working on the railroad, all the live-long day . . ." And who was Dinah and why did she blow a horn? Was the horn some kind of sexual euphemism? What was going on in those Pullman cars anyway?
You can see that "Let It Rock" is one of those songs that encourages the mind to wander.
"Bye Bye Johnny": Yecch. I hate sequels as much as I hate Spielberg movies. Chuck should have let us just imagine the poor kid making it big and moved on.
"I'm Talking About You": Covered by The Stones, The Hollies and even Hot Tuna, the song lends itself to multiple variations because of its exceptionally strong groove. But what really knocks me out on this cut is Reggie Boyd's bass. Jesus shit, could that fucker play! He proved to be a challenging person to research, but apparently he was a renowned Chicago jazz guitarist and teacher with exceptional knowledge of music theory and history and gave lessons to guys like Howlin' Wolf and Otis Rush. This is a bass part light years ahead of anything going on in rock during the 50's.
"Come On": Chuck's last single before entering the slammer is one of my favorite Chuck Berry records. I love Martha Berry's (Chuck's sister) harmonies, the sax support and the lyrical depiction of the all-too common experience that one piece of bad news deserves another:
Everything is wrong since me and my baby parted
All day long I'm walkin' 'cause I couldn't get my car started
Laid off from job and I can't afford to check it
I wish somebody'd come along and run into it and wreck it
"Come On" was the Rolling Stones' first single, a version Mick Jagger correctly described as "shit."
"Nadine (Is That You?)": A free man once again, Chuck Berry took "Maybellene," slowed it down a tad, parked the car and pursued his woman on foot and by taxi. Supported by smooth saxophone and a good steady groove, what makes this song one of Chuck Berry's greatest are the remarkable lyrics and Chuck's exceptional phrasing. The lyrics are full of fascinating similes ("She move around like a wave of summer breeze" and "I was movin' through the traffic like a mounted cavalier") and memorable imagery:
I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back
And started walkin' toward a coffee-colored Cadillac
I was pushin' through the crowd to get to where she's at
And I was campaign shouting like a southern diplomat
Chuck also knows how to move a story forward without wasting words:
Downtown searching for 'er, looking all around
Saw her getting in a yellow cab heading up town
I caught a loaded taxi, paid up everybody's tab
Flipped a twenty dollar bill, told him 'catch that yellow cab
Testifying to the strength of Chuck Berry's lyrics, both Dylan and Springsteen adored the words to "Nadine."
"No Particular Place to Go": Obviously impatient to get back in the groove after wasting away in jail—and never a guy interested in reinventing the wheel—Chuck takes "School Days" and turns it into "No Particular Place to Go," a song about sexual frustration triggered by a jammed seat belt. While I would look at such a challenge as an opportunity to test out a new form of bondage, Chuck instead drives home for a date with a cold shower. As on "Nadine," Chuck's vocal is strong, confident and nuanced. I love the way he dampens his vocal on the line "So I told her softly and sincere" and his tension-loaded staccato delivery on "Can you imagine the way I felt/I couldn't unfasten her safety belt." While the tune is beyond familiar, Chuck manages to make it work with his palpable energy and sense of humor.
"I Want to Be Your Driver": This song closed out the album Chuck Berry in London, but really, they should have gone with "You Never Can Tell," which truly qualifies as one of the great twenty-eight.
Chuck Berry's music will never dazzle you with unexpected chord changes and thematic texture: it's classic twelve-bar, three-chord blues with few variations. The music serves primarily as the foundation for the vocal and lead guitar performances. It sounds exceptionally tight and energetic because Chuck was an exceptional musician lucky enough to work at Chess Records in Chicago, where he could work with of the best musicians of the day: Willie Dixon, Johnnie Johnson, Lafayette Leake. Chuck is an energetic guitar player, but what he lacks in precision he more than compensates for with his sense of rhythm.
Though his music might be (and should be) relatively simple, Chuck Berry managed to accomplish something very few musical artists manage to achieve: he changed lives. When you sit down with The Great Twenty-Eight, the first sounds you hear are the lo-fi guitar coming out of a tube amp shoved back against the wall of the studio, all warm, fuzzy and sexy as Berry glides into "Maybellene," delivering a spirited vocal with exquisite enunciation at just the right points. As the song proceeds to that primitive but exciting lead solo, imagine yourself a scruffy kid in far off England in the late 1950's, stuck at the lower layers of the social strata with nothing to look forward to in the future but a dreary sameness, as your life path was determined for you long before you were born. If you were that kid, what you heard in Chuck Berry's music was so much more than fantastic, kick-ass rock 'n' roll.
You heard the way out.
The Connection – Let it Rock – Review
Last week was a drag. All the shit going down at the job was weighing me down, and even with my honey back in my arms again, I still felt antsy, anxious and out of sorts. After a fitful sleep, I awoke as usual to the sound of my iPhone at 5 a. m. and did my usual routine: grab the iPhone, check the blog, check Twitter, grab my cigarettes, go to the kitchen, make coffee, take a sip, light a cigarette and think about the day ahead. I checked my Reminders app to see if I had anything planned and my note read, "Connection." At first, I didn't know what the hell that meant, so I sipped some more coffee, took a few more drags and finally realized it was a reminder to listen to the new album by The Connection, which I'd downloaded the night before. "After work," I promised myself, then went to the bathroom, peed, showered, gave my hair a few blasts of heat, wrapped it in a towel, grabbed my makeup kit and thought about the colors I'd wear that day as I walked over to the makeup table. After some hemming and hawing, I selected the complementary makeup, then gave my face a once-over in the mirror.
I looked like hell. Tired, droopy, blah. I was not happy. I looked down at my makeup kit and told it, "You can't fix this face today." I got up and went back to the kitchen, lit another cigarette and unlocked my iPhone. It opened to the Reminders app and the word "Connection." "Fuck it," I said. "Maybe it's a sign." I still had to wait for my hair to dry anyway, so I put my cigarette in my teeth, walked over to my little music corner, slipped on my headphones, woke my computer from its sleep, got settled, opened iTunes, found the playlist for Let It Rock and clicked the play icon. Wham! Geoff Palmer filled my ears with the most glorious guitar riff I'd heard in what seemed like centuries, riding the waves of an irresistible beat before settling down to rhythm chords. Then Brad Marino filled my ears with a lead vocal that shook me to the core as he belted out a set of beautiful, anti-conformist, fuck-it-all lyrics:
I don't do dishes no more,
Well I just throw 'em away.
And I don't answer my phone
'Cause I got nothin' to say.
Well, I don't need no more friends,
'Cause they just get in the way.
I don't care about nothin' at all
Except myself these days.
I'm on the wrong side of twenty-five,
Just tryin' to stay alive,
All work and no play,
Another wasted day.
People always said it would be this way,
But I always said I'd never live to see the day.
I can't even begin to describe the feelings of elation, joy, relief and excitement that came over me in waves . . . it was like the song set off a chain reaction of soul-level explosions urged on by The Connection's relentless attack. I fucking cried! No shit! Then I listened to it again and this time I started giggling and dancing and shouting out the fragments of the chorus that I'd managed to master. I howled in ecstasy when they did the stutter-beat on the phrase "can't calculate my wage" in the second verse, waking up my partner, who just popped her head into the room and smiled at me. When "Wrong Side of 25" finished, I paused the playback because I knew I had to go to work, but I wasn't dreading it anymore . . . and I had something to look forward to that would help get me through it all: the rest of Let It Rock. And from time to time over the course of the day, a couplet from an old song my mother loved kept popping into my head, bringing a little smile to my now-recovered face:
Oh, gimme the beat, boys, and free my soul,
I wanna get lost in your rock n' roll and drift away.
Dobie Gray understood. There is nothing like rock 'n' roll to clean out the stupid bullshit in your head and get you back in touch with who the fuck you are. Great rock 'n' roll has more healing, sensual and liberating power than any form of music I know, because the fundamental message of rock is "Goddamnit, let yourself go!" And there is no one—no one—on the scene today that does rock 'n' roll better than The Connection. Their music takes us back to the early days of rock innocence and exuberance when people like Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones and The Fab Four sang songs that affirmed the uncontaminated perceptions of youth that a.) sexual desire was nothing to be ashamed of and b.) the system is a joke, so don't let it get you down. Even more importantly, Let It Rock is not just a trip down Nostalgia Lane. The Connection prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that rock still has its vibrance, its power and its relevance in the 21st century.
Boy, this post is already pretty long and I've only covered one song! I'd better get off my beautiful ass and get to work! The first thing you notice about Let It Rock is that The Connection have jacked up the power since New England's Newest Hit Makers. That album featured the thinner sounds of British Invasion 60's singles, while Let It Rock has a fuller, fatter sound. What's cool is they manage to accomplish this transition without falling into the trap of overproduction and taking the life out of the music. It's still great dance floor music, but with more oomph.
If you can pry your ears away from "Wrong Side of 25," you'll find that the rest of the album is chock full of rock 'n' roll delights that cover a wide range of styles in this most flexible medium. "She's a Keeper" opens with that Rickenbacker-Vox guitar tone that characterized the pre-progressive years of the British Invasion, leading into a bouncy, power-driven melodic rocker that takes advantage of the full chord palette of the era, shifting between the majors and minors while never losing the flow. Touches of hand-clapping and harmony add to the flair, and Geoff Palmer continues playing the hot hand with a fabulous lead guitar solo. The coda with its vocal interplay between Brad and the fill vocals is certainly Beatle-esque, but the energy and commitment the band brings to this song raises it way, way above the crap from official Beatles imitators. The Connection take the conventions of the era and breathe new life into them—and hey, great melodic, harmonic rock never gets old.
So, that's two killer songs to open the album, but fuck it—let's make it three! "The Way Love Should Be" is another melodic rocker that features more great vocals, an exciting roll-filled drum part from Zack Sprague and a nifty little piano piece from Kris Rodgers, best known in these here parts for his work with the Fabulous Baker Boy (Kurt, that is). The chorus, with its call-and-response vocals off the classic rock mantra "come on" is to die for, and I love the way the song ends with the singers holding a steady note over changing complementary chords before rising to the closing "oooh," much like the horribly underrated "It Won't Be Long" that opened With the Beatles. It doesn't get much better than this.
Wait, it does! Just when I thought it was time for the typical filler material found on most records these days, they give me "Crawling from the Wreckage (On a Saturday Night)." Well, bring it on, boys—this chick can take it! This is a no-bullshit, party-song rocker driven by solid bass from Bobby Davis and The Connection's endless reserve of pure energy. This is one of those songs that confirm the wisdom of my decision to forgo undies and dress in skirts, a fashion choice that makes it very convenient for a girl to slide her fingers down to the G-spot and release a little sexual tension from time to time. Why let stress mess with the vibe? Goddamnit, let yourself go! And I did! Several times! Here, try it for yourself!
And damn if they don't knock me on my ass again with the next song, "Nothing About Me." If there's one song that demonstrates the growth of The Connection since New England's Newest Hit Makers, this is it. A mid-tempo song that flows like a gentle stream, the lyrics deal with the tension that emerges in a relationship where one party (in this case, the girl) assumes that after the initial excitement has worn off that the other party will settle for good old-fashioned convention, channeling sexual urges into the acquisition of material goods just like every other drone in the U. S. A. In this sense, the internal dialogue expressed in the chorus brilliantly describes the frustration of the person who senses repression lurking in the future: "She thinks she knows . . . she knows nothing about me." That is a powerful and often painful revelation for someone longing for authenticity: it's like the other person has stripped away all of your individuality and turned you into a frail stereotype ready to be packaged into one of the "Little Boxes" that Malvina Reynolds wrote about in the early 60's. The arrangement on the song is subtle, complex and sensitive, with understated but effective drumming, splashes of piano (the opening run is stellar), bits of slide guitar and harmonica, and those always fabulous vocals. Going into the experience of Let It Rock, I was hoping that The Connection's lyrics would measure up to the recent standard set by Sugar Stems, who proved that power pop can handle more complex stories without getting bogged down and burying the energy in abstraction. On "Nothing About Me," the boys came through big-time.
Despite all the excitement so far, I have not lost touch with my acute critical sensibility, so I have to say that "Susan" didn't quite hit the mark for me. A country-tinged tune with a catchy melody, I think I would have liked it more with a two-part Everly Brothers harmony and a less choppy rhythm. The band gets back into the groove pretty quickly with the straightforward rocker, "Thinking About Leaving." Geoff Palmer's lead is notable for not overplaying his hand, breaking up the listener's expectations with sudden pauses in the flow of the solo that have the effect of increasing the listener's interest. I also love Zack Sprague's work on the ride cymbal, the kind of subtle touch that drives me wild.
Speaking of wild, my fingers go wandering south once again with the amazing "Girls in This Town," where The Connection prove they can do R&B rock with the best of them, which in this case means The Rolling Stones. Of course, I'm referring to the real Rolling Stones of the days of Sticky Fingers and not whoever that motley group is on what, their fifth farewell tour? "Girls in This Town" actually sounds more like the style on Exile on Main Street, an album I don't particularly care for because The Stones mucked up the recording process with too much heroin. The Connection don't make that mistake: the vocals are clear, the mix balanced, the piano sharp, the Jagger-Richard-like harmonies in sync. Though I would have liked to hear a bit more growl and volume from the sax, the piece fucking works. The first shift into the chorus elicited another banshee howl from yours truly and triggered the telltale sign that a great rock number is on the air: involuntarily undulating hips. This is such a strong dance number that even the most self-conscious and awkward geeks on the planet will be forced to get up and boogie. Goddamnit, let yourself go!
"Haze" is a song that grew on me over my three pre-review passes through the album. The music reminded me of two quite disparate numbers: Eric Burdon's "When I Was Young" and Penelope Houston's "Secret Sign," but "Haze" is more melodic and delivered with more tightness than either of those numbers. "Day by Day" is an energetic piece, to be sure, but doesn't quite live up to the standard of hit-the-road outlaw songs established by Fastball in "The Way" and by the blessed Richard Thompson in "Shane and Dixie." Much better is the harmonically rich "Not How It's Going to Be," where the percussion sometimes mirrors the sound of a ticking clock, supporting the lyrics that describe the wasting experience of waiting for someday to come. The quirky lead guitar riff adds spice and color to the mix, making this a very intriguing piece indeed. It's followed by one of two cover songs on the album, The Rolling Stones' "Connection," featuring great harmonies and energy but somewhat diminished by overly busy drumming in a song that really calls for something more in the style of Charlie Watts.
"Melinda" is another fascinating song that demonstrates The Connection's growth into new areas of musical expression. The lyrics present an artfully ambiguous slice-of-life story of a fragmented relationship and psychological decline:
Melinda had her second baby,
I haven't seen the first—someday, maybe.
Well, if I make it into that part of town,
You know it's kinda hard for me to get around . . . all right,
I write the songs, she sings along,
I write all of her favorite songs.
I thought I had it all together
Until the mood changed like the weather
Well, yes she used to be my kind of girl,
But now she lives in a whole 'nother world.
We can't tell if the guy is a jerk for abandoning this girl after knocking her up twice or if he's a sensitive soul trying to relate to someone who has plummeted into melancholy and depression, making it difficult to connect except through the unconscious messages of music. The best part is that the tension remains unresolved, as do many uneasy situations in life. The music is fabulous, from Geoff's licks to Bobby's bass, and Brad delivers yet another first-rate lead vocal. The real test of a great lead singer is that even after a dozen songs you look forward to hearing his voice on the next track, and Brad Marino passes that test with flying colors.
The album sadly ends ("NO! NO!" she screamed.) with Chuck Berry plagiarizing Chuck Berry, dropping the chorus on "Johnny B. Goode" for a set of guitar riffs and retitling it as "Let It Rock." The band nails this sucker, hitting all the right notes and driving that beat home to the finish line.
Whew! I'm exhausted! The good kind of after-a-great-fuck exhausted! Cigarette! Let's play it again!
Even though I've entered a ton of words on the page, I don't think I've even begun to describe what a revitalizing experience it is to listen to Let It Rock. When I was listening to Sigur Rós' latest work a week or two ago in preparation for that review, there was something about the experience that I couldn't find words for until now. You know what? I'm fucking sick to death of "dark" music. I'm tired of all the pseudo-intellectual, self-obsessed, let's-crawl-into-our-assholes-and-die music that my generation buys in droves. The pretentiousness and artistic arrogance inherent in such music creates sheltered cul-de-sacs where self-absorbed people can pat themselves on the back for being intellectually superior and for having disconnected themselves from the pettiness of the real world. We live in a time where people are depressed because it's fashionable to be depressed, so you can show everyone how fucking sensitive you are to the existential gloom that surrounds us.
Fuck that. I'll assume I've only got one life to live and I intend to live the fuck out of it. Let me remind the dark forces of artistic pretense that many of the truly great artists who changed the course of music history (Louis Armstrong, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, to name a few) infused their music with a joy that lifts the listener's spirit.
Let It Rock does just that. It is a glorious expression of the sheer joy of unabashed rock 'n' roll, the music that never dies.


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The centerpiece of J.B. Pritzker's campaign for Illinois governor is helping the middle class raise its standard of living by putting more cash into its pockets.
The billionaire Democrat spent almost 40 minutes in a phone interview with the Northwest Herald Editorial Board on Friday talking about the path he believes will take him there.
Pritzker touched on the idea of a graduated income tax system that would raise taxes for rich people such as him and his Republican opponent, incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner. As it stands, he said, people in the middle class pay more income tax than they should.
"It's not fair," Pritzker said. "We should make it easier for middle-class families."
An heir to the Hyatt hotels fortune, Pritzker recently was ranked by Forbes magazine as the third-wealthiest person in Illinois, with an estimated net worth of about $3.4 billion. That easily makes him the wealthiest person in the race, although Rauner is a multimillionaire who has put more than $50 million into his own campaign.
Pritzker – whose full name is Jay Robert – is the founder of Pritzker Group, a venture capital firm that heavily focuses on the technology sector. He also founded 1871, a Chicago hub for tech startups.
The Democrat previously served as chairman of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and he is a vocal advocate for early childhood education, a cause to which he and his wife have donated significant amounts of money. His sister, Penny Pritzker, served as Commerce secretary under former President Barack Obama.
If he wins the election, Pritzker said, the majority of tax-paying people will get a tax break, and the wealthiest people in the state will pay more.
Pritzker's campaign has lacked details regarding his tax plan. The Democrat said it couldn't be any worse than the current system that is driving Illinois residents to flee the state for more affordable living.
"We already have people choosing to leave, and we have this flat tax system," Pritzker said.
The candidate said the state must focus on "kitchen table issues" – struggles that many households navigate every day, including the cost of health care and higher education. Both must be lowered, Pritzker said, because both are sources of unmanageable debt.
Pritzker said school funding must be stabilized to allow public universities to recruit students that don't have to worry about whether their scholarship money will dry up. The funding problem and high tuition costs are powerful drivers of outmigration to states that better manage money flowing to schools.
A proponent of marijuana legalization, Pritzker said the move would be a great one with the right regulatory system that allows the state to create jobs and reform the criminal justice system that for so long has punished marijuana use.
Pritzker said he also would consider legalized sports betting if an equally strong regulatory system were in place.
• The Associated Press contributed
to this report.


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Peter Wieczkowski
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Contact: Susan M. Zahn, WDC Media PR, 877-862-3600, 530-963-3496, firstname.lastname@example.com
LOS ANGELES, April 19 /Christian Newswire/ -- WDC Media, the nation's fastest growing faith and values based public relations firm, announced it has been retained by Operation LifeShield to facilitate public relations, strategic media relations, and marketing communications.
"As a specialist in strategic faith-based media relations, WDC is honored to be named the agency of record for Operation LifeShield," said Susan Zahn, founding president of WDC Media. "WDC is looking forward to a fruitful campaign that will produce tremendous exposure for Operation LifeShield through a targeted national media campaign that will create heightened brand awareness for our new client."
Operation Lifeshield provides transportable bomb shelters to Israeli cities and other areas that lack essential life-saving shelter in the event of an attack. Warnings from an air raid siren give children or other civilians about 30 to 90 seconds to seek shelter before the missiles invoke their carnage. Seeing the immediate need for refuge and safety, Operation LifeShield has created an emergency campaign to facilitate donations for constructing and deploying life saving air raid shelters. "We found that children playing outdoors at the time of a missile attack often could not find adequate and safe shelter before the missiles hit," said Shep Alster, who along with Josh Alder started "Operation Lifeshield" after seeing first hand the devastation to innocent lives. "Operation Lifeshield's" goal is to place shelters next to kindergartens, classrooms, playgrounds, sports fields, youth clubs, golden age centers, houses of prayer and temporary structures that offer no protection from rocket attacks." For more information on Operation LifeShield visit http://operationlifeshield.com/main/.
Zahn reports that WDC Media will be spearheading Operation LifeShield's national publicity campaign. Since its launch in 2003, WDC Media has been effectively bridging the gap between religious America and the media.


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The sacrament of baptism ushers us into the divine life, cleanses us from sin, and initiates us as members of the Christian community. It is the foundation for the sacramental life.
At baptism, the presider prays over the water:
Father, look now with love upon your Church, and unseal for her the fountain of baptism. By the power of the Holy Spirit give to this water the grace of your Son, so that in the sacrament of baptism all those whom you have created in your likeness may be cleansed from sin and rise to a new birth of innocence by water and the Holy Spirit. (Christian Initiation of Adults, #222A)
Freed from Sin
Baptism frees us from the bondage of original and actual sin. Water is poured in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today, the sacrament of baptism is often performed on infants, shortly after birth. Adult baptisms take place at the Easter Vigil through the restored Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. Adults or children who have been baptized in a valid Christian church are not baptized again in the Catholic church. As we say in the Nicene Creed, "I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins…"
The Catechism teaches:
"The fruit of Baptism, or baptismal grace, is a rich reality that includes forgiveness of original sin and all personal sins, birth into the new life by which man becomes an adoptive son of the Father, a member of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit. By this very fact the person baptized is incorporated into the Church, the Body of Christ, and made a sharer in the priesthood of Christ" (CCC 1279).
Baptismal Symbols
- Water – The waters of baptism recall Jesus' own baptism by John the Baptist in the river Jordan. Water is a symbol of cleansing and renewal as we begin a new life in Christ. We are washed clean of sin.
- Oil – At baptism we are anointed into the life of Christ as "priest, prophet and king." A cross is traced on the candidate's forehead as a reminder that we are inheritors of the Kingdom of God.
- Light – The baptismal candle is lit from the Paschal or Easter candle that stands in the church as a sign of Christ's light in the world. At baptism, we receive the light of Christ and are called forth to share this light with the world.
- White garment – The white garment that is placed upon us at baptism is a symbol of Christ's victory over death and his glorious resurrection. Likewise, the white garment or pall that is placed over the coffin at the time of death recalls our baptismal promises and reminds us that we are destined for eternal life.
While in ordinary circumstances, sacraments in the Catholic Church are administered validly by a member of the ordained clergy, in an emergency situation, the sacrament of baptism can be administered by anyone.
In case of necessity, any person can baptize provided that he have the intention of doing that which the Church does and provided that he pour water on the candidates head while saying: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (CCC 1284).
The Catholic Church has set age 7 as the age of reason and therefore defines "infancy" as younger than 7 years old. Once a child has reached the age of reason, the focus of preparation begins to shift toward the child developing a personal understanding of the Sacrament of Baptism and the other sacraments. Before seven, the focus is upon the parents who have chosen baptism on behalf of the infant.
To have your child baptized at St. Clare of Assisi Parish you need to be a participating member of the Catholic Church. We need to be able to get to know you and see that you are ready to take on the duties of Catholic parents and godparents. Thus we ask that you register in the parish at least 3 months before the infant baptism and attend Mass regularly so that we can provide you with adequate faith formation and complete the steps toward baptism. You will need to fulfill the requirements of the Diocese of Phoenix and St. Clare Parish. Call the office as soon as possible to make arrangements for your child's baptism. Baptisms are held the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month, except during Lent.
Read more..... Infant Baptism Information from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix
Once a person has reached the age of reason they are prepared to receive the sacraments with their consent and knowledge. Anyone who is seven years of age or older falls into the group of adult faith formation but is formed according to their age group. If you are interested in "adult" sacraments, please contact the Director of Faith Formation, Brian Guillot. Read more on our pages about becoming Catholic.
Find out more about The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Sacramental Policies in the Diocese of Phoenix for Preparing Children and Parents
Infant Baptism Coordinator for applications, forms and scheduling:
Ginnie Hebert, in the parish office: 623-546-3444
Parent Interviews and Infant Baptism Preparation Class Presentations:
These are done by either of two deacons.
Arrange appointments by calling our parish office, 623-546-3444
Deacon Dave Opsahl
Deacon Mike Pirylis
Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. (John 3:5)
For Catholics, the Sacrament of Baptism is the first step in a lifelong journey of commitment and discipleship. Whether we are baptized as infants or adults, Baptism is the Church's way of celebrating and enacting the embrace of God.
Please call the office at 623-546-3444 for more information.
Call 3 months prior so you can prepare. Please call the office at 623-546-3444 for more information.