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We assume that fans of R&B diva Toni Braxton or holiday rock juggernaut Mannheim Steamroller will snap up their holiday albums. The challenge this time of year, every year, becomes separating the Yuletide wheat from the chaff and pointing listeners to those collections with something to offer those not already converted. Among the new releases below, those rated with three stars or more should fill that bill.
Holiday soundtracks: An article in the Dec. 20 Arts & Books section rating the holiday music of 2015 referred to Brian Setzer as a British guitar ace. Setzer is an American. —
*** The Ellas, "Merry & Bright" (Scat Pack). Credit the jazz-pop vocal trio's ambition: singer-songwriters Jennifer Denmark, Melissa Fuller and Emily James have whipped up 16 original songs — to support their delightfully throwback harmonies. They're all about snow, Santa, holiday lights and keeping warm with someone to love. A sparkling backdrop for your Yuletide gathering.
** 1/2 India.Arie and Joe Sample," Christmas With Friends" (Soulbird/Motown). The R&B singer-songwriter teams with the esteemed jazz keyboardist for a low-key outing. The collaboration is suitably warm, though a few more musical sparks like those brought by Dave Koz and Trombone Shorty on "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" would have been nice. Other guests include Michael McDonald, Kem, Brandy, Tori Kelly, Kirk Whalum, Gene Moore and Khristian Dentley.
** Tony Hadley, "The Christmas Album" (Verve). The Spandau Ballet singer's holiday entry comes with a big-budget production on a broad spectrum of modern-age holiday tunes. There's the Pogues' hardscrabble "Fairytale of New York" (with Nina Zilli), Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "I Believe in Father Christmas," N Sync's "I Don't Spend One More Christmas Without You" and, delving into rock history, Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run." Primarily for the Spandau faithful.
*1/2 Caleb Collins, "Christmas" (Caleb Collins). The Nashville-based Christian pop singer and songwriter takes a Rat Pack-inspired approach, minus any swagger or attitude. The result is competent but thoroughly bland.
*** The dB's & Friends, "Christmas Time Again" (Omnivore). This is an anomaly: A holiday album that continues to evolve over the course of numerous reissues in the last 30 years. The latest iteration opens as its predecessors have with the dB's original "Christmas Time" but now finds room for tracks from
** 1/2 Steven Davis, "This Is Christmas" (First Second). What's harder? Bringing life to hyper-familiar Yuletide standards or crafting new songs that stand a snowball's chance of competing with "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "White Christmas"? Singer-composer Davis and co-writers Alissa Moreno (who also co-produced the album) and Josh Charles take the second path with a batch of jazz big-band numbers that swing under the baton of conductor-arranger Andy Farber. Few seem destined for classic status, but the warmly atmospheric "By the Fireside" probably has the best shot.
** 1/2 Barbara Dennerlein, "Christmas Soul" (MPS). There's an old-school vibe to this modern-day session by Hammond B3 organ whiz Dennerlein and her combo. The organ is centerstage, but Dennerlein often shares the spotlight with woodwind player Magnus Lindgren, who brings a Stan Getz cool to his sax solos, and singer Zara McFarlane. Those not utterly enamored of the B3's charms might start to feel interest fade, however.
** 1/2 Danny Gokey, "Christmas is Here" (BMG). The "American Idol" alum applies his dusky tenor to a batch of mostly upbeat holiday fare, with a nice gospel-by-way-of-Motown arrangement on the album opener "What Christmas Means to Me." Sometimes he veers into Foreigner-ish "I Want to Know What Love Is" territory, but that sort of comes with the Christian adult-pop territory.
*** The Count Basie Orchestra, "A Very Swingin' Basie Christmas!" (Concord). Williiam James "Count" Basie has been gone for 31 years, but the orchestra bearing his name swings on, now under the direction of trumpeter Scotty Barnhart. The band is joined by notable friends: Johnny Mathis, Ledisi, Ellis Marsalis and Carmen Bradford in this collection, which is enlivened by the orchestra's signature punchy horns.
*** 1/2 Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, "Wrap This! A Big Phat Christmas" (MOC). This big-band session is a thorough treat, with imaginative arrangements elevating well-trod tunes into revelatory instrumental excursions. Not just for the jazz-inclined.
** 1/2 Rocknoceros, "Happy Holidays from Rocknoceros" (Rocknoceros). This Washington, D.C., trio specializing in kids' music takes a nicely broad view of holiday music, supplementing the central Christmas and Hanukkah choices with nods to Thanksgiving, Halloween and New Year's. The schmaltz that often sinks kids music for anyone beyond elementary school age thankfully is mostly kept in check here.
*** David Myles, "It's Christmas" (Factor). The Canadian guitarist and singer brings genuine humility to his collection of holiday classics, a couple of below-the-radar covers and three originals, applying a Chet Atkins-like instrumental acumen without a shred of exhibitionism. Totally refreshing in its low-key charm.
*** The David Benoit Trio, "Believe" (Concord). Singer Jane Monheit and the All-American Boys Chorus join the estimable jazz pianist for this eminently tasteful session. He's long been a fan of Vince Guaraldi's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" music and offers a spirited take on "Christmas Time is Here" along with standards such as ""The Christmas Song," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Christmas Waltz."
** 1/2
** KC and the Sunshine Band, "A Sunshine Christmas" (BFD). The good news? There's no "Get Down (the Chimney With Santa) Tonight" on this album from the '70s and '80s pop-disco hitmakers. The bad? They do serve up "Jingle Bell Boogie," a corny ode to "Jungle Boogie." Front man and band namesake H.W. Casey is no Bing Crosby, something that becomes clear on "Do You Hear What I Hear?" But his "Let's Go Dancing With Santa" should elicit a smile from for all but the most committed Scrooges.
*** Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, "The Quality Holiday Revue Live" (Yep Roc). Brit-pop master Lowe turned in a charmer of a holiday album in 2013 with "Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for all the Family," and several of those songs are given live-wire rendition in this collaboration with the Nashville-based instrumental group Los Straitjackets. There are also a couple of chestnuts from Lowe's own catalog, and a knockout run-through the "Linus and Lucy" theme.
** The Braxtons, "Braxton Family Christmas" (Def Jam). Toni Braxton is joined by her sisters and Braxton Family Values co-stars Traci, Towanda, Trina and Tamar on this batch of eight R&B-slanted holday tunes. The overloaded arrangements and overabundance of snap and claptracks tend to smother the singers' earnest efforts to channel the holiday spirit.
*** Judith Owen and Harry Shearer, "Christmas With You" (Twanky Records). Singer-songwriter Owen and her husband Shearer combine three originals with another three holiday-themed tracks recorded live at Largo in Los Angeles, where they'll return for their annual Christmas shows Dec. 19 and 20. Owens' wistful jazz and pop-savvy vocals on "The Best Things" and "(I'll Sing) Silent Night For You" are truly moving, and bring balance to the irreverent humor of "How Did This Thing Get in Me?" and "What Do You Get For the Man Who Has Nothing?"
* Greg Page, "Here Comes Christmas!" (Yellow). The Australian singer best known for his role with children's group the Wiggles lays it on thick. Presumably he knows his audience, but anyone older than 6 is going to find his relentless cheer exhausting over the course of 26 tracks.
*** Rhonda Vincent, "Christmas Time" (Martha White/Upper Management Music). The award-winning bluegrass singer-instrumentalist applies her deft touch to a dozen holiday tunes. The essential humility of stripped-down bluegrass ensemble typically is a good fit with holiday music, and the only time the spirit waivers is in the overly homespun reading of "Twelve Days of Christmas."
*** The Brian Setzer Orchestra, "Rocking Rudolph" (Surfdog). Since Setzer's first holiday recording in 2002, he's found gold with his Yuletide-season tours. Returning to the studio with his big band, the guitar ace benefits from inspired arrangements that bring rock swagger to the kind of large-scale orchestrations used in days of yore by Sinatra and the other Rat Packers. Bonus point for "Yabba-Dabba Yuletide," a great transformation of "The Flintstones" theme song into newly minted holiday classic.
*** Sons of Serendip "Christmas: Beyond the Lights" (Rich Life). There's a heavy production sheen layered on this batch of mostly ultra-familiar seasonsal songs, but this Boston quartet finds fresh ways to explore them with imaginative arrangements. A mostly welcome experiment.
** 1/2 Chris Tomlin, "Adore" (Sixstep/Sparrow). The Texas contemporary Christian singersongwriter brings the kind of reverence you'd expect to his Christmas album, which includes about half traditional carols and half originals. Arrangements are often stentorian, but Tomlin's sincerity usually works its way above the instrumental overdrive.
** Mannheim Steamroller, "Live" (American Gramaphone). Mannheim Steamroller creater Chip Davis' periodically takes his cast-of-thousands synth-heavy approach to holiday music on the road. This set gathers 18 songs recorded in 2014 in Omaha, Neb. and is sure to be welcomed by anyone lamenting the absence of a new Trans-Siberian Orchestra Christmas album this year.
** 1/2 Laura Story, "God With Us" (Fairtrade). The South Carolina Christian-pop singer-songwriter goes off the map with a handful of recent-vintage songs. She blends sincerity with bright Christian pop musical framing that will largely be of interest to the faithful.
** 1/2 Various artists, "Christmas Queens" (Producer Entertainment Group). They're billed as "the top names in the world of drag," and the likes of Violet Chachki, Ginger Minj, Sharon Needles and the #AAAgirls get predictably outrageous in this blend of holiday standards ("Jingle Bells," "Toyland," "We Wish You A Merry Christmas") and skewed originals ("Christmas Sweater," "Christma-Hannu-Kwanzaa-Ka"). The joke stars to wear thin about a dozen tracks into this 16-song collection, but the overall spirit is enlivening.


text:
Paul Colligan proceeded to lay out the essentials for ancestors who deprivation to get serious
about podcasting technology.
How do I get Started? The C2M2 Method, of range.
Colligan advises budding podcasters to emanate a down-to-earth line of attack of bustle that can be executedPost ads:
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2. Creation engine: A group (technology intermediate) that gets your delighted out rapid.Post ads:
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Important to hedge "pod fade" or a wishy-washy engine.
3. Marketing Method: Getting your communication out to a targeted gathering mistreatment effective
traffic generation, list-building, and ad duplicate techniques.
4. Monetization Machine: Achieving a flat of trust, likability, and quality that allows
you to get takings through your podcasting hard work.
Colligan's inside advice: Minimize the cipher of stairs involving first contact near prospects and
human ingestion of your products.
Is Podcasting Really Viable as a Marketing "Vehicle"?
Marketers are superficial to realize "audience intimacy" next to the middle user, but at what cost? Paul
Colligan says that twenty transactions of important podcast ecstatic are adequate to catch a possibility for
life. Eighty proportion of 2007 exemplary period automobiles are iPod-enabled, so ancestors on the change place will be
looking for delighted - your content! With the composition motor in place, dressed ore on a route that
will trounce the energy "shock jock" and verbalize results.
Paul asks us to save up near the changes that thumping corporations time of year on us from
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third delegation employ to label upgrades as they get requisite.
Preparing a Podcast.
In the end, you have to have the amount produced tools to penalize podcasting campaigns. Among the tools
you need:
1. For medium-sized businesses, setup a 1-800 number to toy with service orders.
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5. Tagging (i.e. bookmarking) yourself to outer shell virtuous on the iPod.
In Part 3 of Paul Colligan's interview, cram about:
- Surprising Content Sources.
- Last Minute Hints to Better Podcasts.
and much, much, more than...

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
NEW BEDFORD — A quasi-public state agency wants to help small businesses grow in gateway cities across the state, using a strategy it borrowed from the venture capital world.
NEW BEDFORD — A quasi-public state agency wants to help small businesses grow in gateway cities across the state, using a strategy it borrowed from the venture capital world.
Tools to Grow, a Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation program which got its start in Springfield in October, is being rolled out to 24 designated gateway cities including Taunton, New Bedford and Fall River. The program offers matching consulting grants and individually-tailored financing agreements to eligible small businesses with annual sales above $100,000.
The goal is to grow jobs, according to MGCC President Charles Grisby.
"We're borrowing from venture capital techniques," said Grisby, noting that VC investors first "value a company, make an investment, and then help management do whatever it can to solve and manage problems."
That type of operational assistance hasn't always been included in past MGCC financing. "Typically, we've made a loan and said, 'Good luck, send the check here,'" said Grisby.
Under Tools to Grow, a small business that needs financial help might be teamed with a consultant who can assist with forecasting growth and also shaping a viable financing agreement for MGCC.
All financing will be tailored to the business receiving it, with loans of up to $250,000 offered, according to the MGCC. Additional grant funding will pay for half of accompanying consulting fees, up to $7,500.
Small businesses that apply should be poised for growth, Grisby said, and will be reviewed based on potential revenue growth; potential job creation; and readiness to execute a growth plan. The agency wants to begin offering financing quickly and is implementing a rolling application process, he said.
Locally, the program is seen as a benefit to the city.
"I think it is a fantastic program to provide working capital and technical assistance to companies looking to grow," said New Bedford city councilor Joseph Lopes, also a MGCC loan officer. "A technical assistance 50 percent matching grant is a big thing for companies."
The focus on gateway cities, designated urban centers that drive a regional economy, is designed to boost MGCC lending in these areas, Grisby said. Of the 110 loans that MGCC has made since its 2010 creation, only about five have been made in gateway cities, he said.
"We need to increase our capacity there," he said.
In New Bedford, small business owners can find out more at a 9 a.m. meeting on March 6 at the Quest Center, 1213 Purchase St. Co-hosting the meeting is the New Bedford Economic Development Council, Massachusetts Small Business Development Center and the New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce.
Larger companies might also consider attending to learn more about a related program under the Tools to Grow heading. These loans are open to Massachusetts businesses who have sales above the $1 million mark and may or may not be located in gateway cities. These "growth companies," are eligible for matching grants up to $25,000 and customized loans up to $1 million.
Tools to Grow applications can be found at www.massgcc.com and may be submitted to: Leslie Belay, senior program manager at email@example.com.


text:
During the winter time I alway's kite on a small pool with a maximum depth of 1.8 mtr. So if it get's really cold I stil can stand. In the old day's when I still was windsurfing I had a hyperturmia one time when I went sailing with only 5 °c.
The pool is to small and the wind is very gusty so my question is, is there still somebody kiting at the Brouwersdam during the winter and is it colder then a small pool.


text: sickunt 0 Posted June 30, 2006 Hey everyone, Hows it goin? I am starting roaccutane this sunday coming. I went and got my pills today and i got the roaccutane brand not generic, so its all ready to go. I just have to enjoy this 1 last saturday night off my head for the last time in 5 months . Anyway i have been prescribed 40 mg a day of roaccutane for 6 months i think. But im going back after 2 months to maybe up the dosage. Ill give you guys a few details about myself, Im male, i weigh 70 kg and i am 5'11. My skin has been not too good for the past 2 years or so. I dont have real bad acne as in cysts etc but i just have quite a few little whiteheads and black heads that come and go around the area on my face that i shave, aka my neck and cheeks, chin. Also my nose and forehead tends to get pretty oily. I have tried antibiotics, clearasil, and this clear skin regiem. The clear skin regiem with antibiotics did clear it all up and i was happy but im getting sick of having to put all those creams on everyday. So i figure ill endure 6 months of fucked up skin for (hopefully) a lifetime of nice skin. Anyway, Ill try take some photos over the weekend that show my skin condition a bit better than the ones in my gallery. And ill post my first log on sunday. Catch Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


text:
What is a Lead Magnet?
A Lead magnet, or subscription magnet is a popular way of connecting with people who may be interested in you and your business. The idea is that you offer some really useful information in exchange for someone's email address. But, why do we need people's email...read more
5 Tips for a Sizzling Business Blog
For most small to medium sized businesses writing a business blog is a great way to grow your business. It benefits you in lots of ways if done well. For example, it can boost your search engine ratings, attract more traffic to your website, establish you as an expert...read more
Executive Summary – Most Important Part of your Bid?
When you have written and submitted your bid, the only page you can guarantee will get read is the first page – the executive summary. So, if you don't capture your reader's attention and interest on the first page, your bid won't be successful. The traditional...read more
Using a Technical Writer: Why Outsource?
Have you considered outsourcing some of your documents to a technical writer? Here are the benefits for using a professional technical writer: Out-sourcing the writing means that your developers, engineers and marketing staff can concentrate on their main...read more
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The way that bids are planned, structured and written is very different from any other sort of writing. A bid writing training course is a great way for anyone who is writing a bid, or contributing to it, to improve their bid writing skills. An improvement in the way...read more
To Bid or Not to Bid
Understanding the ITT The most important first step is to study the ITT (invitation to tender). This should tell you whether you should be writing the bid in the first place. There is no point spending time and resources submitting a bid for work which is not...read more
5 tips to speed up your Bid Writing
So, you know there is a bid coming up for some work you really want to win – here are five tips to help you plan for the bid writing process. If you do this preparation beforehand you have much more chance of winning the bid and making the bid writing process a lot...read more


text:
It's Time For... It's Time For... Comic Relief!
Between 1988 and 1995, BBC Radio 1 made a concerted - and highly successful - attempt at introducing a regular speech comedy slot into its schedule. Designed from the outset to help emphasise the station's distinctive identity, this initiative would give valuable exposure to performers and comic styles that would have struggled to get much airtime elsewhere, and amongst its most significant achievements were Loose Talk, Alan Parker's 29 Minutes Of Truth, Lee And Herring's Fist Of Fun, Collins And Maconie's Hit Parade, Armando Iannucci, Victor Lewis-Smith, Radio Tip Top and The Chris Morris Music Show. What is surprising in retrospect is that they never really staged a speech comedy show to tie in with the then-new Comic Relief event. They nearly did, though.
Reasoning that it made more sense to raise awareness in the weeks running up to Comic Relief night than actually doing anything that would compete with the television coverage itself, Radio 1 had marked the first event in March 1988 with a fortnight of guest appearances by comedians on their regular music shows. The following year, they began even earlier and in even bigger style, with a special hour-long edition of their first ever regular speech comedy show, Hey Rrradio!!!.
Fronted by up-and-coming standup Patrick Marber and comic poet John Hegley with his band The Popticians, Hey Rrradio!!! was recorded in front of a live audience at the Hackney Empire (and later the Woolwich Tramshed), as a sixty minute show which was edited down to thirty for broadcast. Developed by producers David Tyler and Bill Dare, it was a vibrant, raucous effort with the emphasis on edgy rather than topical humour, and in a sense was radio's closest equivalent to Channel 4's groundbreaking standup show Saturday Live. Beginning on 7th October 1988, the show's fast and tightly-edited nature was ideally suited to Radio 1 and to Station Controller Johnny Beerling's vision for its comedy output, and amongst the performers who appeared during its substantial run were Arthur Smith, Arnold Brown, Mark Steel, Paul Merton, Steve Punt, Hugh Dennis, Craig Ferguson, Donna McPhail, Jo Brand (then performing as 'The Sea Monster'), Norman Lovett, Sean Hughes, Phil Cornwell, Jim Tavare and Simon Munnery, with their performances interspersed with contributions from mostly 'alternative' musical acts.
Hey Rrradio!!! found a vocal supporter in Radio Times, which - unusually for a Radio 1 show - regularly carried photographs of Marber and Hegley to accompany its listings. However, not everyone was quite so taken with the show; one senior BBC executive was so disgusted by one of Jo Brand's routines that he was moved to voice the opinion in a review board meeting that she should never appear on radio or television again. In itself Hey Rrradio!!! did not mark any revolutionary leap forward in comedy programming – as Bill Dare remarked, "in a sense it was simply a cabaret show" – but it did show what was possible within the confines of Radio 1's output. Keen to build on this, Johnny Beerling commissioned Dare to come up with a new team-based show that would be identifiably Radio 1's 'own' in both tone and format.
In assembling said team, Dare selected two promising double acts that had already been making a name for themselves on the fringes of radio comedy. David Baddiel and Rob Newman had been at Cambridge University at the same time as each other, but had not actually worked together until they found themselves on the writing team of Radio 4's Week Ending in 1986. Through the reputation that they had gained on the show – not something that was particularly easy to achieve on Week Ending, notorious for its long credits lists and high turnover of contributors – they had been approached to co-write some of Patrick Marber's material for Hey Rrradio!!!. As such, they were both familiar with, and perfectly suited to, the style of comedy Radio 1 was aiming towards. Meanwhile, Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis had followed a roughly similar career path. They had both been at Cambridge around the same time - in fact, Punt and Baddiel had both served as President of Footlights - and again found work on Week Ending. However, they had also enjoyed a significantly higher public profile, featuring regularly in Jasper Carrott's Saturday night BBC1 show Carrott Confidential and on a number of radio comedy shows. To complete the lineup, Dare also brought in several performers from the more ideologically charged edge of the live standup circuit; Mark Thomas, Jo Brand and the musical duo Skint Video, otherwise known as Steve Gribbin and Brian Mulligan.
The projected series was named The Mary Whitehouse Experience, in a deliberately disrespectful reference to the veteran moral crusader of the same name. It was intended that this was exactly the sort of programme that Whitehouse herself would not have wished her name to be associated with, and indeed – although the details are somewhat confused and accounts differ – she is said to have threatened legal action against the BBC. The pilot for The Mary Whitehouse Experience was recorded on 20th February 1989, and played to Johnny Beerling on 8th March. Beerling was sufficiently impressed by it to clear a space in the schedules for transmission two days later, coincidentally on Comic Relief night, in what would subsequently prove an atypically early timeslot of 7:30pm. This, of course, coincided with the start of A Night Of Comic Relief 2 itself on BBC1, and it is unclear how many people actually heard the pilot; indeed, some of the cast were under the impression that it had never actually been broadcast.
Nonetheless, this was a fine way in which to end a month's worth of fund and awareness-raising efforts by Radio 1, which had also included a memorable appearance by Lanananeeneenoonoo - in other words, the guise adopted by Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Kathy Burke for that year's Comic Relief tie-in single - on Liz Kershaw's Breakfast Show on 11th February. It is only a shame that, perhaps feeling that their efforts were best concentrated in other directions, Radio 1 never attempted a full scale Comic Relief tie-in show again. That said, The Mary Whitehouse Experience's final appearance on Radio 1, and indeed on radio anywhere, Punt And Dennis Sample Mary Whitehouse, was broadcast on Comic Relief night in 1991. Typically, they didn't quite get around to scheduling it while the news was on.
If you want to hear me talking about The Mary Whitehouse Experience on Radio 1 Vintage, then you can find that here.
paperback or from the Amazon Kindle Store.
Posted by Tim Worthington at Thursday, March 23, 2017
Labels: comic relief, dawn french, fun at one, hey rrradio!!, jennifer saunders, john hegley, kathy burke, patrick marber, radio 1, radio that time forgot, the mary whitehouse experience, week ending