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NEW: Oldboy's Shawn Brewster releases new EP as Shawn and Shelby
Shawn has an incredible sense for folk melody, but a few months ago when he started writing music that didn't quite fit his "day job" at Oldboy, he began working with another member of the group, Shelby Sangdahl, to create a totally different atmosphere. The song below, "Hold on to Me," is a perfect example of what you can find on the EP, Sleeping in a Spell: evocative cello, genuine vocal delivery that allows Brewster to connect with the audience, great lyrics, and more than anything, a strange space that seems to create room for the listener to dream and build on the music. Shawn & Shelby are doing my favorite thing folk music does: they are somehow evoking a nostalgia for a time that probably never really existed. Through this, though, the audience gets to time travel.
My favorite moment in the EP is the last section of "The Sound of You Breathing"– the song builds on itself until it finally feels like it will explode, but it's a controlled explosion, one that reflects both joy and pure energy. When I talked to Shawn and mentioned it, he told me, unbelievably, that they'd done the whole thing in one take because they couldn't imagine doing it any better. I can't either– and while initially I was surprised, upon reflection, I wasn't. This is the kind of magic that happens at a live show when a song unfolds right in front of you, and they've managed to capture that lightning and put it on the record.
While this is folk music, which means it is occasionally somber, the addition of the cello makes it feel distant and strangely lovely, almost like a ghost. Between that and Brewster's straightforward lyrics and delivery, this EP is perfect for winter mornings where you are almost ready to open your eyes and be a part of the waking world, but your brain hasn't quite warmed up to the idea. I absolutely recommend these songs for both office listening and driving while looking through a still-icy windshield.
SUFJAN STEVENS TOUR, NEW RECORD "Carrie & Lowell" (3/31, Asthmatic Kitty)
This fall was the rebirth of my excitement and love for Sufjan Stevens's Illinois, most especially the songs "Chicago" and "Casimir Pulaski Day." I became obsessed with them, playing almost nothing else on my office turntable. So much so, in fact, that my husband got us tickets to MusicNOW in Cincinnati, and I'll finally be able to see Stevens live! (My obsession stretched into the Christmas season when "That Was The Worst Christmas Ever" was my favorite, despite it being a pretty literal title. I also love the fire and anxiety in "Seven Swans," and his records carried me through the anticipation of seasonal affective disorder quite nicely.)
Here's a little bit of the sound of the record and an album trailer
In serendipitous timing for me, Stevens has announced a new record, Carrie & Lowell, on his record label Asthmatic Kitty. A return to the folk sound, the record is already being heralded as a stunning contribution to his diverse body of work. Of course the good news for you guys is he's going on tour, so I won't be the only lucky person seeing him this year! I'll post the new single when it's out, and I anticipate reviewing it as soon as it's out in March.
April 10 Philadelphia, PA Academy of Music
April 11 New York, NY Beacon Theater
April 12 Hartford, CT The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts
April 14 Portland, ME Merrill Auditorium
April 15 Albany, NY The Palace Theater
April 16 Cleveland, OH Cleveland Masonic Auditorium
April 17 Columbus, OH Palace Theater
April 18 Indianapolis, IN The Murat Theatre
April 20 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
April 21 Kansas City, MO Midland Theater
April 22 Minneapolis, MN Northrop Auditorium
April 23 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater
April 24 Chicago, IL Chicago Theatre
April 27 Detroit, MI Masonic Temple
April 28 Grand Rapids, MI Covenant Fine Arts Center
April 29 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
April 30 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier / Place Des Artes
May 1 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre
May 4 Boston, MA Citi Performing Arts Center – Wang Theatre
May 5 Washington, D.C. DAR Constitution Hall
May 6 Richmond, VA Altria Theater
May 7 Durham, NC Durham Performing Arts Center
May 9 New Orleans, LA Saenger Theatre
May 10 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre
May 11 Houston, TX Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
May 12 Austin, TX Bass Concert Hall
June 2 San Diego, CA Copley Symphony Hall
June 3 Los Angeles, CA Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
June 5 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
June 8 Portland, OR Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
June 9 Vancouver, BC Orpheum Theatre
June 10 Seattle, WA The Paramount Theatre
RECOMMENDATION: Corin Ashley, "New Lion Terraces"
One of my favorite things about putting Corin Ashley's psychedelic record on in the office is, inevitably, someone will walk in and say, "I used to love this song!" It's fun for me to say, "You love it now, but I bet you don't know it." I've actually had people argue with me before realizing that I was right– that his music was new to them.
I think people feel such an immediate kinship with his music because it is both reminiscent of the best of the pop music of the '60s, and because it has updated that sound in a way that is naturally easy to click into as a listener. His harmonies and lush orchestrations are moving but lovely; they are both easy to listen to and compelling. From the first swelling intro of "Geez Louise" on side A, it's clear that Ashley is a master of his own sound: when the chorus kicks in with percussive lyrics and sounds, it is triumphant. Before the end of the song, every listener I've watched is tapping along. Some sing. It's striking how immediately New Lion Terraces becomes a part of a listener's vocabulary.
Corin Ashley was part of The Pills in the late '90s and early 2000s, which was surprising information for me when I had the good fortune of seeing him live at CMJ this fall. I was a huge fan of Wide Awake with The Pills and was a little starstruck, actually, which is a weird feeling for me. I was more starstruck after seeing him perform: Ashley is an electric performer, commanding all the gravity in the room while the music is on, but making friendly conversation through the breaks. The whole set was phenomenal, but the material of New Lion Terraces shone bright even live. When I grabbed the record later, I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of my favorite songs from the set were on there.
Adam Duritz (wearing an old Pills shirt) watching Corin Ashley upstairs at the Bowery Electric
New Lion Terraces, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, is packed full of upbeat, up-tempo pop songs. At its most exciting moments, this record has undertones of Badfinger, The Turtles, the Kinks, and Big Star. There's a freshness to the way the instruments come together that seems to enrich every sound and make them all stand out from each other. It seems like each song has something that makes it special: "Meet Me on the Ledge" (not the Fairport Convention song) has an awesome female vocal line that gives the song a buoyancy. The slinky "God Shaped Hole" has brass parts that make the song feel like a sad duet. "Marianne" has a wobbly, psychedelic breakdown in the middle that is really stunning: it is almost like the room is spinning.
One of my favorite tracks on the record, "Badfinger Bridge," shows what Ashley is best at: creating an entire world within the space of a song. With a chorus as simple as, "You are returned to me/ address unknown," Ashley goes through objects and items that remind him of a past love:
A faded old receipt form a favorite restaurant
for an audit not likely coming
and in my winter coat a ticket stub reveals
there's a sequel to the last film we saw
as passers by chatter I chance to hear your name
and you are returned to me, you are returned to me
address unknown
As good as the writing is, though, what makes it exceptional is that, to me, the line, "As passers by chatter, I chance to hear your name" feels like a flash-forward, like it's catching the audience back up to the present time. Everything else feels like it's in the past, trapped in some kind of a mottled photo frame. There's a clarity in the chorus of the song that is messier in the verses; it's a song that somehow evokes a feel of nostalgia both in lyrics and in tone.
And perhaps it's that brilliantly-evoked nostalgia that makes the record so popular among my office mates. New Lion Terraces is that record you used to love, somehow, even before you knew it.
RECOMMENDATION: Daniel and the Lion, "East" and Live at the Bowery Electric (1/14)
Daniel and the Lion is one of the most talented American bands out there right now. There's no exaggeration when I say that, since we first started listening to them a few years ago, Andy and I have put at least one of their records on during every road trip we've been on since. They're great traveling music, but more than that– they're good "going forward" music. For whatever reason, every time Jimmy's soulful voice comes out of the speakers, my life feels imbued with a (sometimes false) gravity: like I'm an important figure for a moment, even if it's just in my own life.
Unsurprisingly, their most recent EP, East, is brilliant. One of my favorite things about Daniel and the Lion is their lyrics are always imagistic– painting a blurry picture of the whole situation, allowing there to be water spots and holes in the text. I'm not sure many people pull this off as well as they do: it's almost a Beck-esque technique. Lines like, "I dreamt about a poet and a king/ they taught me almost everything/ I thought that I might tell you when you woke/ But you were gone" have a heavy gravity, one that pulls all the oxygen out of the room when Jimmy goes back into the high mournful line, "Erase me now." That song, "Better Off," is one of my favorites of theirs–
better to hold my own
alone here, empty handed
than struggle in earnest
reaching out
above the quicksand
better to bite my tongue
an inch off, nothing new
than tell you the truth
that we were long gone
erase me now, phase me out
lost out loud
and better off
It reminds me, musically, a bit of some of the lo-fi Harvey Danger B-sides, most specifically, "Big Wide Empty," which has the same sparse music built up with percussion and vocals. The female backing vocal on this song is transcendent, as well: attributed to Micaela Thomas, they give Jimmy's lines a strange suspension, one that gives the song a sad tension.
All four songs are phenomenal– the pure pop beauty in "Overthrow" is palpable, and the piano seems to give the song a nest from which to grow from. One of my favorite things about Jimmy is he can say literally any word (including, apparently, "dude") and it seems inherently musical. Our language sounds better when put together and sung by Daniel and the Lion.
"Game of Hearts" exemplifies that sparse, strange lyrical quality that some of my favorites of theirs (like "Death Head") have:
storm child,
mind on horizons
and you know it's wrong
but you drown in the silence
none of this is real
give it a name
give it a name
this is insane
what are we doing
The rhythm on that "give it a name, give it a name" is basically addictive. It feels like the first little bit of spring coming back, even though I know spring is actually 67 days away (and counting!).
But the real selling point here is that the EP is only a few dollars. I can't imagine not having something this beautiful in my collection if the only thing stopping me was $4 or $5 bucks. You are able to purchase this as a jewel-case CD with album art and everything, or you can buy digital copies on their Bandcamp. While you're there, check out some of their shirts– Andy and I bought the Death Head design which was designed by my good friend Frank Germano of Manonfire Design.
IF YOU ARE IN NEW YORK CITY: Daniel and the Lion is playing the Bowery Electric this Wednesday night, 1/14, at 7:30 p.m. You really don't have an excuse not to go.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Big Star Box Set, "Keep an Eye on the Sky"
The cover of the Big Star Box Set, Keep an Eye on the Sky
PROLOGUE: A few days ago, I was cleaning out my bathroom and throwing things out and I came to a bottle of perfume. I don't wear perfume, ever, so I went to put it in the pile with the rest of the trash, when I caught the label on the side– Clinique's "Happy." Something outside my conscious thought opened the lid, sprayed some, and all of the sudden, I was a teenager. When I was a teenager, I remembered all at once, I did wear perfume. I wore this perfume. And I'm not sure if I smiled when I sat it back in the cabinet, but I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.
I will never be that young again, I thought. Maybe I was never that young in the first place.
I can't help but think of Big Star in the same way– just a few notes, and I'm all the selves I've been before.
All the awesome things that come in the box, including a book full of pictures and four CDs
REVIEW: I've been listening to Keep an Eye on the Sky since I was sent a review copy in the beginning of December. I've listened to it on long drives to Cleveland, and through finals week; I've listened to it in my office, and in my living room, and in my bathroom. Big Star is good music for every day, which anyone who has listened to the band instinctively knows. But this collection seems to go further than that– growing roots into the back of your brain, somehow triggering how young you were once, impossibly.
Of course it does. Because the ghost-voices of who Chilton and Bell were are both genuine and haunted, and because drummer Jody Stephens and bassist Andy Hummel balance that out with brilliant musicianship and pacing. (In fact, all four members contributed to the songwriting, but Chilton/Bell dominated even from the beginning– sort of a "Lennon/McCartney" situation.) The story of Big Star is handed down from musician to musician, as much legend as cautionary tale– because it is compelling and tragic. Alex Chilton, who had hit it big with the Box Tops at only sixteen years old (famous for "The Letter") walked away from fame as a very, very young man to make music he could believe in. With record titles like #1 Record and Radio City, they were practically daring the music community to notice them. And while critics did– saying things like, "Every song on this record could be a single"– few others did.
One of my favorite Big Star songs, "The Ballad of El Goodo," live on the radio in 1974
Due to label problems (at both Stax and Columbia) and difficulties with marketing, favorable critics and devoted fans weren't able to elevate Big Star out of cult status. Drugs and alcohol fueled the already-tense recording sessions, and after several physical fights (and instruments being destroyed), Chris Bell left the band to record his own solo record, I Am the Cosmos (which has also recently been re-released). His car accident death in December 1978 at age 27 still ranks as one of the saddest losses in rock; he was clearly producing better and better music, and is considered an exceptional songwriter even with a relatively small body of work.
However brief Big Star's life was, with and without Chris Bell, they were able to hit a sweet spot of what it's like to be a human being growing into a full-fledged person: songs like "My Life is Right" are both sweet and thoughtful. Big Star elevated what pop music could be by being direct in their lyrics but expanding the sound; by playing with different genres but creating songs that are instantly memorable.
You can hear in this demo that there's something raw and truly hopeful in this demo: I don't know that you can get away with lyrics this blunt without really believing them, at least in some part of you.
Lonely age of uncertainty, they disappear when you're near me
When you're around my life's worthwhile, and now I live to see you smile
You give me light, you are my day, you give me life
And that's right, so right
My life is right
This collection was compiled with help from the unfortunately late John Fry of Ardent Records, who had a tremendous amount to do with the overall sound and direction of the band. He says in the (expansive, brilliant, worth the money for these alone) liner notes that he hopes people enjoy not just the songs, but the story. For me, the two are permanently intertwined. This naivety and innocence comes from the same voice that knows hard work doesn't always pay off; it comes from a young man who was never really young, whose experience with an early success rang hollow and then could never be replicated. Of course, in terms of musicians today, Big Star is far, far more influential than The Box Tops were. But what continues to surprise me, over and over again, is how delightfully playable and fun the music is. These songs are beautiful and light; they are bluesy and dark; they play with exciting sounds and lyrics, and they drift in and out dreamily.
Why start with this collection? Simply because it is exhaustive. Several final versions of songs appear, but there are also many unreleased tracks and demos. Some of them have become my favorite. There's also a phenomenal live disk that features some great covers (the rocking "Hot Burrito #1″ cover abandons its country roots to become something else entirely, Todd Rundgren's "Slut") but the songs that really stand out are Big Star originals. Anyone who has ever heard "Thirteen" knows that it is potentially the most innocent song about first love ever written:
Won't you let me walk you home from school?
Won't you let me meet you by the pool?
Maybe Friday I can get tickets for the dance
And I'll take you…
More than any love song, this one defined the way I thought of love songs: I've heard it covered by countless musicians (some of whom do very convincing versions– I always point to Elliott Smith's as a beacon of cover songs, one that proves that the desire to love and be loved is a common thread that runs through all good music), but Chilton's original vocals are stunning. Something that is stunning to me as a music listener is that in the live venue, even up against much more world-weary tracks, this song maintains its sheen and beauty; it somehow gets to travel back in time and still be, somehow, thirteen. And this whole collection feels that way: like going through snapshots of a life you mostly lived. These songs are Alex Chilton's and Chris Bell's, but they are also a whole generation's. Big Star is a music fan's shared history, and this box set captures that beautifully.
"Give Me Another Chance" from #1 Record
Perhaps my favorite song on the disk is "Give Me Another Chance," a song I knew, but for some reason didn't hit me until I heard it placed in this collection. The alternate mix is so deliberate and so slow. It seems stripped over almost any vocal modification– as if Chilton is singing alone in an empty room. One of my favorite things Big Star does in their songs is name exactly how they feel and exactly why– this isn't a band that relies heavily on metaphor– and it seems to be most effective in the short, sad lines that open this song:
You feel sad 'cos I got mad, but I'm sorry, I'm sorry
Things I said made things seem bad, but don't worry
It's gonna be all right, now, be OK…
Don't give up on me so fast
It could be reductive in another band's hands, but it's one of those weird occasions where naming the feelings makes the song universally relatable, and somehow specific enough to carry a narrative. That's a really tough spot to hit. I think what breaks me here, though, is when Chilton sings, "It's just so hard to stay alive each day." It's one of those lines that seems simple, but it's not. Everyone listening to Big Star already knows this. They have experienced it at different times and in different ways. Chilton's communion with the listeners is why Big Star endures, why they will never go away.
Big Star is one of the most important pop bands of all time, and it's because their songs were written at the height of emotional and philosophical experience– the transition from "Let me walk you home from school," to "It's just so hard to be alive each day." And I am still both of those people, really: the person who wants to be asked to the dance, and the person who knows it's hard to get by. This collection is essential to a music lover's collection because it encompasses the best of what music can be: it can be a friend, sure, but it can also be therapy. Plus it sounds so damn good. From the demos to the alternate takes, the album versions to the live cuts, there's not a thing on this set that doesn't sound phenomenal. All of the versions of "Don't Lie to Me" are stellar, fueled by unfiltered anger and frustration. All of the versions of "The India Song" are dreamy in their own way. Having different examples side by side is amazing– it's almost like seeing the rough drafts, if you can call these incredibly polished, beautiful versions "rough."
Plus– if you're like me and box sets are completely unaffordable– this is a great starting point. For under $40, you get four CDs and an incredible book full of essays and pictures (which, the geek that I am, is the selling point for me). I have spent more time with this set than any other record I've bought in a long time, and that's saying something– there have been some incredible records for me this winter, new and old. If you haven't listened to much Big Star, this is a perfect introduction (and even includes a starry-eyed version of Chris Bell's song "I Am the Cosmos"). If you have listened to Big Star all your life, you will enjoy the nuance, subtle changes, and even drastic revisions that you're allowed to hear through the new versions. I can't recommend this set enthusiastically enough. It's already getting me through a really cold winter.
(*I can't begin to recommend each song I want to because there are NINETY EIGHT TRACKS, but a few I'm really, really enjoying include: "Try Again (Early Version)," "In the Street (Alternate Mix)," "Watch the Sunrise (Single Version)," "Back of a Car (Demo)," every version of "Give Me Another Chance," every version of "With My Baby Beside Me," "El Goodo," "Thirteen," and "September Gurls," "I Got Kinda Lost," "Nighttime," "Big Black Car (Alternate Demo)," and every single track on the live record. Literally all of them.
TO READ MORE ABOUT BIG STAR, I RECOMMEND BUYING THE SET AND READING THE LINER NOTES. THEN HIT ME UP ON TWITTER (@kwdarby) AND WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT.
UPCOMING SHOW: The Animal Years, Brooklyn Bowl 11/28
I had the great fortune of being a part of Ryan Spaulding's amazing Outlaw Roadshow again this year, and I have a lot of reviews forthcoming– especially Corin Ashley's record, which has become a favorite of mine in the last few weeks. But one of the biggest surprises of the showcase for me was Brooklyn's The Animal Years, a band that wasn't officially on the Outlaw roster, but who recorded a Garden Session. They are like canned heat– their style of folk-rock is easy to imitate but hard to have ring authentic, but they are exceptional and powerful live. But don't take my word for it– you can see what I saw.
So if you're looking for a way to escape an uncomfortable family Thanksgiving– or better yet, avoid any Black Friday madness– you should stop by the Brooklyn Bowl on Friday, November 28th. The doors are at 6 and the show starts at 8. For 20$ a ticket, you can't beat the value. (Have I been watching too many commercials?)
Just do me a favor, if you do get to go see this band, please come back and let me know in the comments. This was one of the saddest guest-list invites I've ever had to turn down (but man, it's hard to get to Brooklyn from southern Indiana…)
RECOMMENDED: Robert Ellis, "The Lights from the Chemical Plant"
The first time I saw Robert Ellis, I'd never heard of him– he was opening for the Old 97′s in Nashville on the Grand Theatre tour. I remember when he took the stage, my husband and I were both skeptical: he looked like a kid. And more than just a kid, with hair down to his waist, he looked like a kid in the wrong century. We knew we were two sets from the Old 97′s– I just wasn't prepared or ready for another act. And then he opened his mouth.
Something about Robert Ellis's voice is more striking to me than almost any contemporary vocalist: sure, it's full of the ghosts of all the country singers who've come before, but there's something so unique and gorgeous in his delivery. It's at once mournful and thoughtful; not maudlin, but reflective. And I remember that night, being a little nervous to approach the merch table even though I knew I couldn't leave without his record, because he actually intimidated me from the stage. That's kind of difficult to do. But watching Ellis is like watching a master– it's hard to know how to react when you're not ready for it. (Also, I eventually got over that nervousness and had the good fortune of doing a great interview with Robert here.)
The Lights from the Chemical Plant is an amazing follow up to Photographs, but more than that, it is the promise that Ellis is going to be one of the strongest songwriting voices to come out of this next generation. It's one thing to put out one great record– but to immediately follow that up by making an even more striking and musically innovative record is a loud statement that confirms everything I thought I heard the first time I heard a note come out of his guitar. Every song is tightly crafted and exact, spinning narratives with rich characters and nuanced emotional responses. The title track, especially, is chilling–
A love song that spans a lifetime, Ellis uses the permanence of the lights from the chemical plant as a backdrop to discuss mortality against. Not just mortality, though– about what it means when a love is permanent and how, even that miracle is fleeting. The rhythm of the chorus is just slightly off what I would expect, and between that and the tone– the crest and fall, the constant swell and ache that feels like a lighthouse– this song is emotionally gutwrenching, but it's also hopeful and lovely. It's rare there is a chorus that is both this specific and musical:
As if to keep each other safe
They spent the night locked in embrace
And the lights from the chemical plant
Burn bright in the night like an old kerosene lamp
When all else seemed unstable
I could watch how they were there
The lights from the chemical plant
But I'm ahead of myself. This is the part of the song that is on permanent loop in my head, but to not discuss the way he's structured the song generally would be an oversight. Perhaps part of what is so effective about this track is that it's set up perfectly: first the setting, aided by the foggy feel of the music; then the characters and the love story; then the reflection. It's at once incredibly personal and the story of every true love. By starting it, "In a small town/ Down the highway to the coast/ Factories and churches laid on dusty gravel roads/ This is where they first met, such a long time ago," Ellis creates everyone's childhood home. (My husband and I had a strange conversation about this– he said he wished there weren't coastal images because he could see the lights from the chemical plant in Ohio, where he grew up. I said I loved it, because I saw Corpus. We both cracked up– why is it so important that every town is "ours" (And I'm not from Corpus, but as a Texan, the whole state is mine)? But Ellis does such a good job weaving the story in that the listener desperately wants to connect and be part of the narrative.)
What is it about Ellis that makes me want to be a part of the story? I wonder if it's his voice, which is full of pathos, certainly; maybe it's the accent, which is soothing and "home" to me. Maybe it's just that the things he talks about are familiar to me.
As we talked about in the last interview, Ellis grew up with a religious background that he's now conflicted about. Sin and hell aren't ever too far from his lyrics, but neither is redemption or joy– Ellis manages to bring both aspects into his music and has been able to all along. You rarely get to see this kind of critical thought in action in lyrics: it's hard to find a story in the reflection. Ellis manages to raise the flames of hell with an electric guitar and a banjo, all while exploring what that kind of old-time religion does to a young mind:
Nobody talks too loud in my hometown
Nobody stands too tall for fear of getting knocked down
Just follow straight lines and teach your children how
Well, you just do your job, and conceal your doubts
The flames of hell seem so high
When I can barely see over the pew
I was just a boy when they told me that lie
But Lord, it felt so true…
And that's a hell of a thing to do to a kid
Just to teach him right from wrong
You can burn in hell the rest of your days or you can learn to sing along…
Honestly, I could have printed every lyric to this song and it would have been more effective than my editorializing because the ruthless honesty and directness is refreshing. I think between the unflinching look at what indoctrination does to a young mind ("A child believes whatever they're told/ A pillar of flames/ A street of gold") and the fast-paced bluegrass sound, Ellis has taken an interesting risk with this track and it pays off. If there was a train in hell, I feel like it would be going about this speed and feel about this hot. I love the balance between knowing there is a difference between right and wrong and being overwhelmed by what that is and how you know. (Any one who has read my fiction, I suppose, has seen that this is the dichotomy that I'm most interested in writing about, haha.) Another fun surprise on the record was his cover of Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years"–
"Still Crazy After All These Years" is an important song to me for a lot of reasons– first, I'm a huge Paul Simon fan and he was one of the first people I ever got to see live. Second, this is my mother's favorite song of all time (except sometimes when she says "In My Life" by the Beatles) and so it's one that I only think about fondly. Some of my all-time favorite lyrics and vocal lines. You don't listen to Ellis's voice and naturally think he should be covering folk artists from the 70s, but it is such a natural, warm thing to hear these words come out of his mouth. (I also recommend listening to his insane version of "Hearts and Bones" which I'm going to include at the bottom of the page– I've spent more than one morning crying in my office to his wailed, "You take two bodies/And you turn them to one"– good God.)
All of that said, I haven't even talked about what I think the standout on the record is. The whole thing is beautiful– the almost-calliope-esque opening to "TV Song" that opens the record with a deceptive simplicity and leads into one of the most complicated, lovely reflections on TV and isolation culture I've ever heard– the final song, "Tour Song," which is so dark and hard to listen to I almost can't, and I tense up in that weird, instinctual fear and sadness every time he says, "Soon she'll start to wonder/ What it is I provide" and the blunt pain of, "And I need her now"– the genuine sweetness in "Steady As the Rising Sun." There is not only not a bad track on here, this is a nearly perfect record– one you can listen to without skipping anything.
But the best song, in my mind, is "Houston," which has a lyrical depth and maturity that seems surprising for a second record.
"Houston" is, at once, a love letter and a breakup letter– not to a woman, but to the city that helped the narrator become who he is.Through his youth and his young relationships, the city is a constant, and it's shaped him:
When I was afraid, your lights did not fade
No they shone through the night
We shared an apartment on the verge of downtown
Two kids so in love but in vain I had found
Well, when our love turned to rust
Then all I could trust was the cover of the blanket of the night
I owe it to you, I would have come unglued
Had it not been for the city and her light
But the line that crushes me is his goodbye: "You remind me of too many things." How often do we have to leave a person or a place for that reason? "I've got to pick up and wipe the slate clean"– but leaving is going to be as bittersweet as staying. This song, perfectly underscored by the occasional whine of the pedal steel, seems to be the most nuanced look at how we deal with place in our lives. We are always "from" our home, whether we stay or not– but the identity and longing in the song seems to really sum up what it feels like to miss home, for me. This song isn't so much nostalgia for me as it is a calculated, thoughtful move: but one that the narrator understands will be painful, like every other choice in life. It is so rare that in life any person can make a painless decision, one with nothing but good outcomes. Ellis explores this divide time and time again in his music, which adds layers, depths, and the most satisfying pain.
The Lights from the Chemical Plant is one of my favorite records I've bought in a long, long time, and it is gorgeous. I can't recommend highly enough that if you like folk/country or any mix of the two that you explore Ellis's work and catch on. I predict this guy is the next Jason Isbell– he's got that level of talent and he's young. He's an incredibly writer, a gifted guitarist, and he's put out one of the best records of 2014.
Oh, and here's "Hearts and Bones." Tell me that's not the best Paul Simon cover you've ever heard.
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Felipe Molina of Molinaart.com
Sons of God, Felipe Molina. Paper size is 20″ x 15″; Image size 13″ x 8.5″
This website has opened up so many opportunities that I would have never otherwise had. One of the most exciting to me has been all of the different kinds of artists and creators I've been able to meet. This summer when I saw the Counting Crows in Cincinnati, I had the pleasure of meeting Felipe Molina, whom many will recognize as the artist and designer behind the Counting Crows' most recent album artwork. He had one of the paintings he'd done for the record there with him, and when we walked into the green room, we got to see him unwrap it and share it with the band. It was stunning. It was almost like all the oxygen in the room was in the frame, and when he unwrapped it, breathing was better, more vivid. So when he recently announced he was making a new etching available for the public in late October, my first reaction was to ask my husband, "What do we pawn?" And that was BEFORE I saw it. I have never really written much about art, partially because I don't have the vocabulary. That's why, when Felipe asked if I'd be interested in reviewing his work, I was both stunned and honored. I told him I didn't know what I was doing (so there was full disclosure!) but he insisted that was fine with him, probably because Felipe is a really nice man and he could see how excited I was about his work. That's one thing I can bring to this review– absolute excitement. In fact, over the last few weeks, I've started writing this several times, but I always stop– I wanted this review to be the best it could be, because I feel like Felipe's art warrants that.
Scarecrow album art, Felipe Molina
So first, I want to talk a little about Felipe's art in general, and then I'd like to talk about his forthcoming etching, "Sons of God," which was the most instantly stirring piece of art I have seen in a long time. Counting Crows fans have been familiar with his work for a long time (the live album from Heinekin Music Center is also his), but what is most impressive about Felipe's work to me is how it speaks for itself. After watching him tell a story in New York last month, I was stunned to realize that the reason I react to his artwork the way I do is because his work, while technically brilliant and compelling, is also a very visceral form of storytelling, which is another art at which he excels. Felipe knows how to weave humor into serious passages, how to balance dark and light, in a way that is reflected in every piece of his I've seen.
Felipe showing album artwork to videographer Ehud Lazin
What jumps out to me immediately in his paintings is the way he uses color: generally, the paintings feel warm and earthy in a way that envelopes the viewer. When I look at the "Scarecrow" artwork or the "Earthquake Driver" painting, I escape into the world he's created as effortlessly as I do when I'm listening to the song. This is pretty incredible for me: Felipe's artwork actually feels to me like the music does. In the prints from the record, I see longing for connection and fulfillment; the desire to find a place to call home; what it means to run out of reasons to be hopeful; and also the strong, concrete reasons that people keep surviving. If you look again at "Scarecrow," you can see the main figure has details on the arms– what looks like a ghost town on one arm and cacti on the other. This in no way resembles a tattoo sleeve: it's so imagistic and symbolic that it almost feels like the figure has been turned inside out, the places and moments that made him who and what he is reflected externally. That makes the guitar in the center even more stunning: the idea that music is the connection, the thing that grounds this person in the sparse, harshness of the real world– it's almost overwhelming.
A chalk recreation of Felipe's "Palisades Park" artwork
The really stunning thing about Felipe's paintings for Somewhere Under Wonderland, though, is that as well as they fit together, they are each perfect for the songs the suit. Again, "Scarecrow" winds up with what feels like sharp, angular pieces sticking out, almost like hay in a flannel shirt– it is at once shaggy and exact. However, the painting for "Palisades Park" uses more greens and blues, some beautiful moments of red and orange, and perhaps most stunningly, makes use of circular shapes that guide the viewer through the action of the painting. It's much more meandering in the same way the song is: it tells a longer story, one that loops around and comes back on itself. There's more enjoyment and engagement with the journey of this picture: instead of a knee-jerk intense reaction like I have to the "Scarecrow" painting, I feel like I could spend hours traveling these hills and remembering the story of the song. In fact, I almost can't see it without hearing in the back of my head, "On a crosswalk in Reno, Nevada/ Wearing nothing but air/ And grey paper wings/ Andy says, "Man, I got nothing to wear." This is incredible to me because, obviously, that's not literally what Felipe painted.
That's why Felipe's art is so meaningful to me: he's able to show something with shapes, colors, and symbols that tells a complete story. I'm not sure how to do that– that's why it takes me thousands of words to review an album or a painting or to write a short story. But Felipe's art is a gut-punch: it is completely engrossing. And I'm not going to lie, as someone who hasn't been around a lot of art, I was shocked by the absolute layers and textures of his paintings: perhaps one of the reasons I can't get enough of the paintings is because they have so many stories, moments, and paint colors layered on top of each other that I feel the same way I do about a good song: I could listen a hundred times and it never get old.
So now that I've talked generally, I want to show you a larger picture of the first image, "Sons of God"–
Every time I see this lithograph, I am stunned. I felt like, when I saw this for the first time, it was an external portrayal of my heart on long days. The first thing I saw was the moon: I am always looking for the moon, anyway, and the way he highlights it by circling it with darkness and then fading into a sunset or an orange sky in the background is stunning. All of its light is exemplified by the way it is, almost exactly, a hole in the sky. But my eyes move vertically down the painting, and the next image I am struck by is the men, constantly walking away from each other down the hill, home. The way they are set out from the background, too, puts them on the same level as the moon for me: these are things that do not blend into the background. These are things that cannot blend in or be forgotten. They are similar looking, which makes it even more telling: they can't just be individuals, obviously, this is representative of something much more universal.
But maybe my favorite part of the print is what happens in the lower third of the painting. The black and white lines of the land and the stark dark shapes of the homes feel both nostalgic in terms of coloring and shapes– they are so intentionally not poker-straight lines and movements, but blurry like a memory and comfortable like a song or a picture of something you can only sort of remember. This is the destination not just of the people, for me, but for the moon. This is the redemption in the piece. I know I'm out on a limb (and there's a fifty percent chance Felipe will read this and think I'm nuts), but this piece is a reflection of the constant work and yearning that seems to coincide with what it means to go or create a home, and the moon and the universe looks on it all with cool, calm indifference. And it's stunning. I love this image more every time I see it. It's been the background on my phone for a month and every time I see it, I think of one of my favorite James Wright poems, "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota," which has the lines:
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
But in the same way I've always seen the last line of Wright's poem as a triumph, not a giving up or a giving in, I see this print as a triumph: the continual motion, the destination of home, the destiny of the moon and the world we live in. Plus, the title "Sons of God" makes it feel even more like the people are halfway in between their two homes, one of the world that gave birth to them and one of the society they are a part of. I get capital-R Romantic every time I see it.
It winds up, I really like talking about art, haha, and it's easy when you have friends as talented as Felipe Molina and Frank Germano of manonfire design. My life is consistently made better by the beautiful visual art that I'm exposed to, and I'm grateful to be part of a world that not just accepts it, but honors and elevates their contribution.
You can actually buy the "Sons of God" print on Felipe's website, and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter, too. (And seriously– you probably should follow him. When he tells stories and shares pictures, they're always excellent.)
A subscription box for music lovers: The JukeBox Box
My friend Tim Slusher is an innovative music lover in San Antonio, TX. He's worked on showcases like the Nekkid Armadilla at SXSW and he is also involved with the non-profit M.U.S.I.C. Project. Overall, he's just a cool guy (who happens to have once shared the best donut I've ever eaten with me, so he's also got that going for him).
Which is a big part of why, when he told me he was starting a monthly subscription box for music lovers called JukeBox, I knew it would be a success. One of the coolest surprises I've had in a long time was getting this in the mail. The boxes feature tons of music, but they also have fun products like trading cards, Legos, and other music-themed stuff (that all lives in my office, now). Tim has great taste, so of course the music is all top-notch (and in fact, this box had a Golden Bloom CD), but really, the whole thing feels like Christmas morning.
CDs from The Canvas Waiting and Golden Bloom
Along with hard copies, there are download codes and plenty of suggestions for things to listen to. In this box, there was a link to an Ali Holder record– between that and the CDs, you've already saved money on the box, which will run you from 19$ a month (one month commitment + shipping and handling) to 17$ a month (six month commitment + shipping and handling.)
Trading cards– note Soundgarden, Clapton, and Kravitz in the front.
I think the thing I had the most fun with was going through the trading cards. I didn't know there were music trading cards, and wouldn't have known to seek them out, but boy, it's been fun having them in my office. I especially like the old school Soundgarden card, as I'm currently immersed in all things grunge.
I recommend signing up for the boxes because (a) you're going to get good music delivered to your door once a month– you don't even have to try! and (b) the other products Tim has found are a lot of fun, and will delight any music fanatic. I have enjoyed my JukeBox Box a lot.
RECOMMENDATION: Cameron McGill, Canyonlands
I'm a long-time Cameron McGill fan, and in the last couple of years, he's released nothing but brilliant material. About a week ago, he released outtakes from the Gallows Etiquette sessions, and they are both instantly memorable, provocative tracks.
The first few seconds of "Canyonlands" is so arresting that before the vocals even start, my husband said, "Oh, I really like this." Like always, McGill's lyrics are impressive– individual images are stunning, like "Daddy's a tornado man, he chases dreams." Even the repeated lines, "This is honest work/ Oh, and I'm a good liar" are interesting.
However good the writing is, though, it's impossible not to tap along with this song, even on the first listen. After one listen, by the next day, I was singing the chorus in my head. The music is stunning: the piano part is dynamic and the rhythm is in places, steady, and in places, jarring. It's the perfect balance– but then, oh God, the brass comes in, and the whole thing becomes fireworks. So many of his songs feel that way to me– like they were already perfect, and then the brass comes in and lights the whole thing on fire. McGill has an ear for arrangement, and this song is a perfect showcase.
So it's weird to me that this song was my instant favorite on the single. It's much darker, and the lyrics span too much time to work in such a short song– but somehow, it does more than work. It's incredibly thoughtful, but it's also almost mournful due to a droning piano part.
In the beginning, there was blood and guts, then there came the mind.
When Lucifer had a change of heart they put the heart inside.
Man crawled out the pond
and ate the garden green. On the seventh day he took a love when
God was fast asleep
When a sacrifice was needed
On top of the mount
They grabbed the nearest knife and boy and asked for mercy now
I'll do what you please
said a man under a spell
Just give me some of that
Outside of the obvious Biblical imagery, he has some of the most visceral pictures I've seen painted in soft piano ballads– "When we moved outside the mountains/ And our red teeth they turned white/ And they dulled with every meal/ Sharpened with every lie." This song feels magnificent and authoritative, which is furthered by the steady percussion– it feels like a march towards the inevitable.
But what did I tell you? Then the brass comes in, providing almost a hopeful sound. The vocal moderation on the bridge is impressive too– it gives it an underwater feel.
I recommend you immediately buy this single, and really, chip in more than the 2$ he's asking for. This is a great single, and ten years ago, we would have all been lining up to pay at least 4$ for it. He's one of the best songwriters out there right now and this is a good representation of why. And if you haven't bought Gallows Etiquette yet (which is the best title I've heard in a long time) you can do that while at his Bandcamp, too.
And just in case anyone here hasn't heard my rant about "Athena, fate isn't very fair" being one of the best songs I've ever known, I'm including it, too. You should also buy it.


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Available NOW!
This comprehensive self-study certification course is designed to teach the novice or pro everything they need to understand and succeed in every phase of the public utilities business.
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Marija Ilic
The operations and planning rules for integrating variable resources aren't the same across the electric power industry in the United States at present. Opinions are somewhat divided about what these should be, as well as the assessments of potential benefits and costs. In order to support sustainable deployment of variable resources at value, it's critical to identify major sources of potential problems and to proactively design and implement a systematic framework for managing their unique characteristics as reliably and efficiently as possible.
Michael T. Burr
American voters dashed the nuclear industry's hopes for a renaissance last November—or so it seemed. Recent developments in Washington have rekindled those hopes, but will climate-policy brinksmanship lead to a sustainable future for nuclear power?
William Atkinson
Capture and sequestration will help ensure the future of coal-fired power plants. Demonstration projects are allowing utilities to kick the tires on the latest technologies, and to learn how CCS will affect operations and economics at state-of-the-art plants.
Larry G. Berg
Utilities are struggling to predict the costs of greenhouse gas regulation. In the quest for a greener planet, how much should consumers be asked to pay for environmental benefits that might be difficult to measure?
Kris R. Nielsen, Patricia D. Galloway and Charles W. Whitney
Proving the need for new infrastructure construction for energy purchases has become more complicated for utilities. State commissions reserve the right to revisit rate-base investments after the fact, even when they've been pre-approved.
Paul Alvarez and Benjamin Hodges
Utilities traditionally have met renewable portfolio standards with power purchases from IPPs. But new approaches are allowing utilities to build their rate bases with investments in solar generation.
Scott M. Gawlicki
Like other California electric utilities, San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has been scrambling to meet the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires suppliers to obtain at least 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2010. Though the RPS includes a variety of technologies, renewables developers are choosing utility-scale solar power more than any other resource, says Hal La Flash, PG&E's director of emerging clean technologies.
(December 2009)
With the administration and Democratic lawmakers in Congress pushing to enact greenhouse-gas (GHG) regulation, nuclear power has taken center stage as both a clean technology solution and a political bargaining chip. Consequently, the industry's hopes for new construction projects have brightened considerably. Whether this policy momentum can usher in a sustainable nuclear renaissance, however, remains questionable at best.
Stephen Maloney
For more than 50 years, the federal government has failed to manage spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW), imposing the burdens for this critical function on the private sector. Nuclear plant operators incurred upwards of several hundred million dollars per reactor in uncompensated expense and risk premiums, and potentially face decades of additional costs and risks coping with SNF and HLW.
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Publishers Weekly08/12/2013
Unapologetic rhymes with splenetic, and that's one aspect of British writer Spufford's (Red Plenty) rhetorical tour de force, in which he not only takes on the new atheists but also the secularism of his own culture (6% of Britons regularly attend church, the author notes early on). Spufford stakes out ground for arguing the value of Christianity that is neither ontological, teleological, or any-ological. God, he asserts, is the ground of being, experienced emotionally, as one might experience Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Having moved the boundaries of the argument, Spufford has at it, swearing, skewering, and bringing a sense of humor to bear on the question, "Why bother to be Christian?" A gifted writer, the author is closer to the American William James, who grasped the psychological payoff of religious belief, than he is to fellow Englishman and revered Christian apologist C.S. Lewis. The rhetorical pileup is wearing at times, as are so many contemporary arguments about religion. Spufford's style is as bracing as a cup of real English breakfast tea—strong enough to satisfy believers. (Oct.)


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It's Friday. The big boys were at school this afternoon. 2 sticks of butter have been patiently waiting on the counter for me. Since Sunday . 104 more words
Tags » Kids & Families
Fire and Water must mean Spring
Spring clean up here today. The creek is running, green is sparsely sprouting. Muddy boots, but NO snow pants and mittens! A Wisconsin March day in the 50's means clearing the creek and burning the leaf piles from last fall to make room for new growth. 39 more words
Sunshine and Dresses
From national policy to your kids' lunchroom: How King County nutrition directors worked together for healthier school meals
After the President signs a health bill into law and the celebratory press conferences are over, the real, on-the-ground work begins. Here in King County, nearly 3,000 miles away from Washington, DC, schools and school districts are continuing to implement an instrumental healthy food policy that was passed over four years ago. 638 more words
Batman Saves the Day
April 5 - Easter Egg Hunt
Following the 10am Easter Worship will be an Easter Egg Hunt. Please donate (especially parents) plastic Easter Eggs filled with candy. Bring them to the 10am Easter Worship. 62 more words


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The Care-O-bot 3 - always at your service
By Mike Hanlon
July 10, 2008
July 11, 2008 The one-armed robot glides slowly to the kitchen table. With its three fingers, it carefully picks up the bottle of apple juice and puts it next to the glasses on the tray in front of it. Then it glides back into the lounge and serves the drinks to the guests. This is how artificial assistants might work in future. Only 1.45 meters high, Care-O-bot 3 is the prototype of a new generation of service robots designed to help humans in the household. The quick-to-learn assistant was developed by research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart.
But how does the robot know where to find the items it needs? And what has been done to make sure the robot does not inadvertently touch a human with its arm? It is fitted with numerous sensors to prevent this from happening. Stereo-vision color cameras, laser scanners and a 3-D range camera enable Care-O-bot® 3 to register its surroundings in three dimensions in real time. If a person moves into the radius of its arm, it stops moving. Another feature of the small, flexible helper is that it can move in any direction. "This is made possible by an omnidirectional platform with four separately steered and driven wheels," explains Birgit Graf, who heads the domestic and personal service robotics group at IPA. "In this way, the robot can even pass safely through narrow places in an apartment." The new Care-O-bot® has a highly flexible arm with seven degrees of freedom and a hand with three fingers. This allows it to pick up bottles, cups and similar objects and to operate machines. Force sensors prevent it from gripping too hard. The arm and the grippers were developed by Schunk.
A tray is mounted at the front of the robot, on which Care-O-Bot® can carry items such as the requested cup of coffee. Integrated in the tray is a touch screen via which the assistant can be controlled. "But the robot can also be directed by spoken commands. Unlike its predecessors, it can even recognize and respond to gestures," explains Graf. Numerous household articles are stored in the robot's databases. It knows, for example, what a cup looks like and where to find it in the kitchen. It can also learn to recognize new objects. The user simply places the unfamiliar object in the robot's hand so that it can gain a three-dimensional impression of the item. However, the new robot does not look like a human being. "We deliberately moved away from the existing, humanoid service robots when we designed Care-O-bot® 3," stresses Care-O-bot-3 project manager Christopher Parlitz of IPA.Share
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'Smash' Recap: Episode 9, 'The Parents'
Karen's dad and Ivy's famous mom enter the picture in this week's episode of "Smash."
'Smash' Recap: Episode 9, 'The Parents'
Karen's dad and Ivy's famous mom enter the picture in this week's episode of "Smash."
'Smash' Recap: Episode 8, 'The Bells and Whistles'
This week on a slightly less frenetic episode of "Smash," Karen has some growing pains at "Hit List," Ivy is now starring in "Bombshell" as a short, manly-voiced Marilyn, and Tom is directing.
'Smash' Recap: Episode 6, 'The Fringe'
This week on "Smash," guys! "Hit List" is getting staged at the Winter Fringe Festival; "Bombshell" is still lumbering its way toward Broadway, "Liasons" is a total mess; and all of the people in all of these shows are still a lot less intelligent and articulate than you need them ...
Jeremy Jordan, Jonathan Groff, Christian Borle On Dream Roles and Talents
Christian Borle, Jeremy Jordan, Jonathan Groff, Krysta Rodriguez, and Victor Garber share their impossible dream roles, some great advice, and the talents they wish they had.
'Smash' Season 2 Preview Features Jeremy Jordan, Jennifer Hudson (Video)
Season 2 of "Smash" is going to be full of new faces playing rising and established stars on the behind-the-scenes Broadway drama.
'Smash' Reloads for its Second Season
Jesse L. Martin and Nikki Blonsky join "Smash," Jeff Brolin gets cast in "Community," Freddie Highmore is young Norman Bates, and Joan Collins and Robert Wagner visit "Happily Divorced."


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Pool Gate Access Readers
Posted on Friday, January 02 @ 10:20:25 CST (25 reads)
Please be advised that the pool gate access readers are added to the clubhouse pool make sure you fill out these documents. This form will also be used to issue parking stickers on January 2nd, 2015. Any car without an updated sticker will be towed off the property( )


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Furniture > Futons
Black Futon
Taylorsville, UT | 1 Day
Black futon. Metal frame. Brand new. It's been in my extra room for 6 months. Never been slept on. None smoker.
New Black Futon Metal Bunk Bed Frame
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Only $229 Text me anytime at 385 888 3161 We are open M-TH from 8-5, Friday from 8-3-Closed Weekends. Located at more...
Classic Wooden Futon Frame
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Solid wood very sturdy 8 feet long Couch by Day and folds into a queen bed for the nighttime.
Nice oak futon $50.00
Lehi, UT | 1 Day
Nice and solid oak futon $50.00 in Lehi. Please look at my other listings.
Vienna Java Euro Lounger - 910871 - Brown Pillow-top F...
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$449.99 Retail Value. We have one Vienna Java Leather Adjustable Futon #910871 available.This Java pillow-top Chaise/Sofa/Bed Futon is New! Futon come more...
Olive Green Futon in great condition
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Only had it for a little over a year and not used much since it was in a spare room. Has a good spring mattress and turns into full size bed. Need to more...
**Further Reduced Price ** Ravenna Euro Lounger - Blac...
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** We have further reduced our already discounted price on this Ravenna Euro Lounger from $100.00 to only $79.00. $669.99 Retail V more...
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Its a sofa. Its a good-sized bed capable of sleeping two large people or 7.4 very small people. And with three upright positions (in addition to l more...
Espresso Phoenix futon frame with mattress
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Espresso Phoenix futon frame with mattress brand new asking $450.00 call if interested 8016528440
West Elm Futon
North Salt Lake, UT | 3 Days
Need to get rid of this futon, rarely used. comfortable and in very good condition. Let me know if you have any questions.
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I for sale futon bed frame wood very sturdy in good shape no mattress.
Nice All Wood Black Futon
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We have a nice all wood futon that has been painted black. It comes with covers and sheets. Nice shape.
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Pitching hurts Rangers the most in bowing low to A's
Ron Washington, possibly the most optimistic man in the game, can find a silver lining in any loss, and, indeed, he found something positive in the Texas Rangers' 4-2 defeat Wednesday afternoon.
Heck, a two-run loss to the best team in the American League doesn't sound all that bad. But only long man Scott Baker, who worked three scoreless innings, was granted immunity.
Otherwise, Washington said, the offense wasn't good enough, and the defense wasn't good enough. Those two facets have shown that they can find a way to work things out.
But the problems on the mound — not pitching deep enough and not providing shutdown innings — have become a way of life.
It wasn't just starter Nick Tepesch, who pitched just five innings Wednesday and couldn't deliver a badly needed zero in the fifth. It happened in all three games, including staff ace Yu Darvish on Tuesday.
The Rangers aren't going to survive if they have to count on their bullpen to deliver three and four innings a night. Like the rest of the club, that unit isn't at full strength, and at the rate Jason Frasor and Neal Cotts are going, their batteries will need a recharge before the All-Star break.
They can avoid that, though, if Darvish and crew can deliver innings. Darvish will, of course, more times than not. But the other four starters need to prove they can do it, too.
"No. 1, we've got to get more out of our starting pitching than five innings," Washington said. "We have to get better on the mound."
Tepesch allowed all four runs in five innings, allowing nine hits. That's not the end of the world, and Washington relented some by saying that Tepesch pitched well while he lasted.
But he hit a wall on a warm day at O.co Coliseum in the fifth after the Rangers had just pulled even after trailing 2-0 after three. The momentum would stay in their dugout with three quick outs and one big zero.
Instead, Yoenis Cespedes singled with one out and raced home as Brandon Moss followed with a double into the right-field corner. Josh Donaldson was next, and his single moved Moss to third ahead of a sacrifice fly by Stephen Vogt.
Two A's runs countered the work the Rangers' hitters had just done, collecting two walks and two singles for two runs against Sonny Gray. Tepesch conceded that he had failed to deliver.
"Anytime they put up runs, your job as a pitcher is to go out there and put up a zero," said Tepesch, who burned through 99 pitches. "I didn't do that."
Tepesch, though, shouldn't shoulder all the blame.
The A's two-run rally in the third started on an infield single by speedster Craig Gentry that should have been an out. But shortstop Elvis Andrus mishandled the chopper as he raced to throw, and that brief bobble let Gentry reach.
John Jaso followed with an RBI double and scored four batters later on a two-out single by Donaldson.
"We should have been off the field," Washington said.
At the plate, the Rangers were 2 for 4 with runners in scoring position, but they had two-out chances evaporate in the fourth when Brad Snyder struck out and in the fifth when Adrian Beltre flied to center field with runners at the corners after the Rangers had scored twice.
"We just couldn't do much besides the first day [of the series]," right fielder Alex Rios said.
The Rangers fell nine games out in the American League West after dropping two of three games to the first-place A's. The standings aren't yet an issue with 90 games to go, Rios and Washington said.
The starting pitching, though, is trending the wrong way. It's up to them to keep the Rangers afloat.
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Security Breach! Security Breach! LOL
There's evidence that my Celsiana rose was snacked upon last night by (probably) a baby deer. A few branches have been nibbled...but only where there was a small gap in my lavender. I have two Hidcote lavender plants from Lowe's that I was going to put in the kitchen garden, but now they're going in the front bed. Also will probably put my hyssop and other herbs in the beds in front of the house and porch.
Luckily, there were no flowers on the damask, just some new growth, so nothing tasted that good to the deer. Some more lavender and herbs should encourage them to go back out to the pasture.
No problems yet with the fairy garden...I think the blueberry bushes are working just fine. The butterfly bushes and lilacs are helping, too. Like I've said before, the deer aren't hungry, just curious. As long as the plants in the field, taste better than the plants on the edges of the garden, I should be okay.
Anyone ever seen Disney's animated movie, Rescuers Down Under? There's a great line, where the bad guy is telling his animal....my mental capacity is twice that of yours---you pea brain! I joke with my husband, I think that might be me trying to outsmart my deer! (LOL)
ll, you need to read Cameron's Blog; she is the expert on deer resistant plants!
Now if I could just find an expert on Japanese Beetle resistant Gardens............
I am glad they didn't completely chomp down your roses!
Here is a link that might be useful: Cameron's Blog on Deer Resistant Plants
No nibbling last night :)
I planted the lavender and put out a few pots of hyssop around the roses. I'll plant those later today, along with the other herbs. I've seen the babies and they're so cute! I can't get too upset with them, they're just trying new foods. They sample all kinds of things on the edges of the kitchen garden, but this is the first time up by the house. I think the lavender should keep them away, from now on.
I'm pretty sure it's the babies trying the food, since they've snipped off little pieces of the butterfly bushes, a tomato plant, a few strawberry leaves and even a few small branches of the pontillia (sp?). They've also tried a few peas and even a coneflower or two. Since they rarely try the same plant twice, I'm guessing the little ones are discovering these are not plants that deer like to eat :)
Thyme- The Hidcote lavender has worked really well. Great fragrance, very winter hardy and keeps the deer away from the rest of the garden. Lavender, salvia, cosmos, alyssum, they all seem to be keeping the deer away. Also, the lilacs, butterfly bushes and blueberries have kept them out of the fairy garden...at least, so far.
Now, I just need to find some garlic to get rid of the aphids that have suddenly appeared on my roses. I have ladybugs, but they're all in the kitchen garden on the weeds I'm trying to get rid of this weekend. Maybe I can move the ladybugs up to the front garden, by shaking them off the weeds and onto the roses :)
I'm not saying lavender would keep out hungry deer, just that these deer don't like the smell...and they're not hungry deer, just curious. Very cute, though. Two moms and three babies (who still have their spots) that travel back and forth, along the creek, between our place and a few other places down the road.
Deer do not like to walk through lavender because the oil gets on their hair and then they smell too good to attract mates! :-) Same with rosemary and some (not all) agastache, btw.
It would take thickly planted rows of lavender to keep the deer out. If they can go around a few plants, or reach over a plant, they will. A friend of mine owns a lavender farm and she grows it thick enough around her roses to keep the deer out.
Those cute but frustrating deer! I just bought a landscaping rose on clearance. I thought it would look great in the new bed outside my garden fence. I tested it for a few days in the spot I wanted to plant it. And, well.....all the ends of the leaves got a little nibble. So, it gets to go into my deer test reject garden inside the fence which is really beginning to fill in now. haha.
Ali-b, In the kitchen garden, the deer have chewed on the Therese Bugnet, but not really come back to it. The only roses they haven't shown any interest in are the snow pavement rugosa roses. They're nice little roses and they look great with purple clematis. They're supposed to be deer resistant...and they are, so far :)
Here is a link that might be useful: Snow Pavement Rose


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OP Senior Member
Thanks Meter: 8
116 posts
Join Date:Joined: Mar 2012
Can we have carrier logo like I phone, where we can have fancy batman logo on top left corner of the phone. Is there any module for Xposed. It would be nice to have like that one.
Thank You.
Last edited by GermainZ; 25th June 2014 at 11:34 AM.


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Clarksville TN Online is the voice of the people of Clarksville Tennessee.We take you beyond the ordinary in local news and gives the Extras: diverse political coverage including individual opinion pieces and editorial work, activism, local and regional arts and theater, municipal and county news and events, and more.
[Read more]
To submit Clarksville Tennessee area news, story leads, tips, or press releases send us an email
Murfreesboro, TN – The holidays are over and everyone is recovering from the barrage of gifts, food, family and friends. Now that you're past that, it's time to think about theft because State Farm® says January is the top month for theft claims.
There are a couple of reason for this. Everyone is getting their December credit card statements and reporting fraudulent charges or identity theft following the holiday shopping season, and many people travel for vacation to warmer climates during this month, leaving their home exposed to burglars. «Read the rest of this article»
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security's Identity Crimes Unit urges all citizens to protect themselves against identity crimes, including theft and fraud, this holiday season.
"Millions of shoppers will take advantage of 'Black Friday' or 'Cyber Monday' holiday sales this year. We just want to encourage consumers to take extra precautions to prevent fraudulent use of their personal information," Tennessee Highway Patrol Major Stacy Williams said. He oversees the department's Identity Crimes Unit. «Read the rest of this article»
Clarksville, TN – Clarksville Police have been trying to identify two individuals that took over $500.00 worth of merchandise from a business on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard.
The two suspects have been identified as 23-year-old Michael Hodges and 23-year-old Lacey Sanders. They are both from Clarksville. Both were already wanted by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office for a burglary.
«Read the rest of this article»
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has obtained an indictment for a Montgomery County woman accused of stealing from a charity fund she managed.
At the request of 19th District Attorney General John Carney, TBI Special Agents began investigating Christie Overstreet Hill on June 20th.
During the course of the investigation, Agents, along with the Clarksville Police Department, developed information that in July 2011, as manager of the Wounded Warriors Project Fund (which is not affiliated with the National Wounded Warrior Project), Hill transferred $20,150 from the group's bank account to a personal account she opened in her name.
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has obtained an indictment for a former account clerk at the Tennessee Prison for Women who is accused of manipulating inmates' accounts to siphon off more than $200,000 over a three-year time span.
At the request of 20th District Attorney General Victor S. Johnson, III, TBI Special Agents along with investigators with the Comptroller's Office and the Tennessee Department of Correction Office of Investigation and Compliance began investigating Mary M. Williams on June 18th, 2014. «Read the rest of this article»
Clarksville, TN – Clarksville Police Detective Nicholas Newman has Felony Theft Warrants on file for Kaitlin Patterson and Gary Brian Gunnels, who goes by Brian Gunnels.
They are responsible for stealing a new Husqvarna riding mower from a Clarksville business between August 15th and 24th of this year.
Gary Brian Gunnels and Kaitlin Patterson are wanted by Clarksville Police for theft of a Husqvarna riding mower.
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has obtained indictments for a former Humphreys County teacher accused of using a school-issued credit card for her personal benefit.
At the request of 23rd District Attorney General Dan Alsobrooks, TBI Special Agents began investigating Heather Wardlaw on November 26th, 2013.
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) has a new fugitive on TBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list, Nathan Lennon McCollum of Sevierville, TN.
Nathan McCollum is wanted by the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for a Violation of Probation for Attempted Aggravated Kidnapping, Possession of a Weapon by a Convicted Felon, Violation of an Order of Protection, several counts of theft and traffic charges.
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has again arrested a Lebanon man accused of running a scheme to steal money from investors.
At the request of 15th District Attorney General Tommy Thompson, TBI Special Agents began investigating Brad Moss on November 13th, 2013.
During the course of the investigation, Agents developed information, that since 2010, Moss operated an investment scheme in which he sought investors for a planned carwash.
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has obtained indictments for a Charlotte, Tennessee woman accused of stealing money from the paychecks of her subcontractors.
At the request of 19th District Attorney General John Carney, TBI Special Agents began investigating Sally Dawson on April 10th, 2014.
The 66-year-old owns Dawson & Dawson Heating and Cooling, LLC in Clarksville.


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The future of television is very vivid in some senses, and utterly obscure and muddled in others.
At last week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the latest cool thing rapidly gave way to the next cool thing. With four times the sharpness of the hi-def set you already own, ultra-high-definition TVs, on display for the first time at virtually every television maker's booth, were brilliant, crisp, and electric.
But at Sharp 6753.to -1.2605042016806722% Sharp Corp. Japan: Tokyo JPY235 -3 -1.2605042016806722% /Date(1427832000000-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 20m) : 18585000 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap 404889140250 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 56918700 More quote details and news » (ticker: 6753.Japan), which had a gigantic booth at the Las Vegas convention center just as did the other stalwarts, Samsung Electronics (005930.Korea) and LG Electronics (066570.Korea), there was a "proof-of-concept" that left people awe-struck. What Sharp calls "8K" actually has 16 times the resolution of a hi-def set. It is unbelievable. To look at it up close, you could study each leaf on a tree in the pastoral scenes that Sharp played on the 85-inch demonstration model, as if scrutinizing a moving painting by a 19th-century master such as John Constable.
From a normal distance, watching an 8K TV, with each ripple on the lake really oozing, each crack in a mountain side defined, and the wool on the sheep grazing in the foreground clearly swaying in the breeze, it feels like you're watching in three dimensions without glasses.
That's all good, but it will take a long while for 8K or even UHD to become widely available. In the meantime, what captured most of the headlines was the computing industry's continued effort to produce so-called smart TV. That effort, quixotic and confusing, is far less likely to advance the basic act of television viewing anytime soon.
WHAT WAS READY TO BE rolled out last week were sets, and set-top boxes, that turn TV into a pastime filled with non-TV things, like conducting Google goog 0.6729401466243572% Google Inc. Cl C U.S.: Nasdaq USD552.03 3.69 0.6729401466243572% /Date(1427749200251-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1271838 AFTER HOURS USD552.03 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 12120 P/E Ratio 27.240159287057185 Market Cap 376343753218.795 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 1228170 More quote details and news » (GOOG) searches, sending your home movies to the TV, or browsing what's variously known as a "hub," or "home screen," a gaggle of icons that are supposed to provide recommendations of shows you might like.
The computing and television industries are in an awkward embrace, throwing lots of stuff against the wall to see what sticks.
As I watched the demonstrations of how to send pictures over a cellular network from my smartphone to my LG television set, or from the TV set to, believe it or not, the display on an LG refrigerator, I thought, "This is very complicated," even for a tech reporter with years spent fiddling with gadgets.
Samsung made much noise here with its latest smart televisions, showing off ways to speak commands to your TV from a smart remote control, and to have a "recommendations" service tell you what to watch. LG's "Magic Remote" will let you press a button and ask "what's the weather like?" and see the results displayed on screen.
Google, whose smart TV was met with lackluster results the first time around, has rebooted the effort, and there were several models on display, including set-top boxes from Netgear ntgr 2.109181141439206% NETGEAR Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq USD32.92 0.68 2.109181141439206% /Date(1427749200072-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 218506 AFTER HOURS USD32.92 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 8515 P/E Ratio 164.6 Market Cap 1119211663.18741 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 1342060 More quote details and news » (NTGR), Asus, China's Hisense, Sony sne 1.157580283793876% Sony Corp. ADS U.S.: NYSE USD27.09 0.31 1.157580283793876% /Date(1427749361023-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 1339497 AFTER HOURS USD27.09 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 29337 P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap 31373442257.4126 Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee 539683 More quote details and news » (SNE), Vizio, and TCL, along with a television set from Lenovo Group (992.HongKong), the world's second-largest PC maker, that actually runs a full-blown version of the Android operating system that Google provides for smartphones.
All of the chips that run those set-tops, and the Lenovo TV, are being provided by Marvell Technology Group mrvl -0.3937007874015748% Marvell Technology Group Ltd. U.S.: Nasdaq USD15.18 -0.06 -0.3937007874015748% /Date(1427749200206-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 4570553 AFTER HOURS USD15.18 % Volume (Delayed 15m) : 31724 P/E Ratio 17.858823529411765 Market Cap 7789163976.03607 Dividend Yield 1.5810276679841897% Rev. per Employee 517515 More quote details and news » (MRVL), which won the business when Google decided to switch from the Intel intc -1.6875% Intel Corp. U.S.: Nasdaq USD31.46 -0.54 -1.6875% /Date(1427749200409-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 50960706 AFTER HOURS USD31.47 0.00999999999999801 0.03178639542275906% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 430835 P/E Ratio 13.108333333333333 Market Cap 151552000000 Dividend Yield 3.0514939605848697% Rev. per Employee 523618 More quote details and news » (INTC) chips that Sony and others used in the first version of the Google TV. Google writes its software for Marvell chips and Marvell sells those chips to Sony and the others.
It's a coup for Marvell to be the sole supplier of microprocessors for the vast majority of Google TV boxes, and it could give the stock a real lift if consumers warm to Google TV 2.0.
Shares of Marvell are down 44% in the last year, amid worries about the disk-drive industry, for which Marvell supplies chips that control the operation—and a massive patent judgment against the company. Marvell is also suffering from the collapse of Research In Motion (RIMM), a prominent customer, for whom it supplies BlackBerry microprocessors.
But as I watched demos of how to use the remote to move through Google's menus on screen, it was apparent how far this vision of TV is from the beauty of UHD or 8K, turning it into what amounts to a bad Website.
The television is a social medium unlike any other in computing, points out Phil McKinney, the head of CableLabs, the R&D arm of Comcast cmcsa 1.6520021547854193% Comcast Corp. Cl A U.S.: Nasdaq USD56.61 0.92 1.6520021547854193% /Date(1427749200873-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 12751763 AFTER HOURS USD56.63 0.0200000000000031 0.03532944709415298% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 703914 P/E Ratio 17.47222222222222 Market Cap 142035165954.424 Dividend Yield 1.7664723547076489% Rev. per Employee 494784 More quote details and news » (CMCSA) and the other cable operators around the world. McKinney, who took over as CableLabs' CEO last June, after many years at Hewlett-Packard hpq 0.2540489044140997% Hewlett-Packard Co. U.S.: NYSE USD31.57 0.08 0.2540489044140997% /Date(1427749267142-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 10864497 AFTER HOURS USD31.51 -0.0599999999999987 -0.19005384859043395% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 254063 P/E Ratio 11.868421052631579 Market Cap 57234931233.1637 Dividend Yield 2.0272410516312958% Rev. per Employee 363454 More quote details and news » (HPQ), is in charge of steering many projects with a long, long horizon. They include problems such as how to adapt the cable plant to send as much as 10 gigabits of data per second to every home.
But many of the goals of enhancing that social experience in the living room are at an uncertain pass, McKinney tells me. After traipsing the halls of CES, he tells me that the industry is clearly coalescing around the view that the smartphone will be the remote control for many of us. You already have it with you all the time, and you understand how to operate it, which is more than can be said for the various remotes that ship with Google TV or Samsung's "hub" TV center. Those things are now seen as complex as what pilots contend with.
Why couldn't we just have the TV listen to us when we say, "TV, get me the last Giants game," I asked McKinney. Decades of research, he points out, including at CableLabs, have shown accurate natural-language commands to be a very difficult nut to crack.
LIKE THE TALE OF "Where's Waldo?" everyone wanted to know when the mythical Apple aapl 2.5314401622718052% Apple Inc. U.S.: Nasdaq USD126.37 3.12 2.5314401622718052% /Date(1427749200851-0500)/ Volume (Delayed 15m) : 46530466 AFTER HOURS USD126.45 0.0799999999999983 0.06330616443776213% Volume (Delayed 15m) : 569204 P/E Ratio 16.917001338688085 Market Cap 717900196777.344 Dividend Yield 1.48769486428741% Rev. per Employee 2153110 More quote details and news » (AAPL) television set would arrive. McKinney is skeptical, in his personal opinion, that Apple will go head to head with Samsung or LG selling large glass.
Longtime tech observer Rich Doherty of Envisioneering tells me that he saw numerous Apple employees wandering the floor in Las Vegas. "They were here not to glean ideas but to make sure the company is not blindsided," he tells me. It is a matter of when, not if, Apple will offer its own smart set, Doherty believes. But, he notes, it is also in Apple's interest to bide its time, keeping a muddled market guessing, until it sees what things really work in this new world of social television.
Tiernan Ray can be reached at email@example.com or at blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily or www.twitter.com/barronstechblog


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Archive for the 'Cancel/Renew ABC Shows' Category
January 29th, 2013 at 9:10 am
ABC: 'Last Man Standing,' 'Malibu Country' Still "Toss Ups" To Be Canceled Or Renewed
Guessing at the ratings threshold for the renewal of Friday sitcoms Last Man Standing and Malibu Country is tricky because there is[Read-More]
January 23rd, 2013 at 9:20 am
ABC: 'Nashville' Now Certain To Be Renewed
After two episodes in 2013, Nashville has elevated its relative ratings enough to move its status from "likely" to "certain to be[Read-More]
January 15th, 2013 at 9:05 am
ABC: 'Scandal' Now Certain To Be Renewed
With the strong finish to its Fall ratings and its spring ratings start, ABC's Scandal has moved into the "certain to be[Read-More]
January 8th, 2013 at 8:57 am
ABC: New Year's Burnoff Signals 'Happy Endings' Is Likely To Be Canceled
The accelerated burn off of Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23 and Happy Endings' began on Sunday. Both shows' ratings[Read-More]
December 18th, 2012 at 8:26 am
ABC: A Lump Of Coal In Their Stocking? Which Show(s) Would You Cancel? (Poll)
We're into the holiday season for the Renew / Cancel Index and the mid-season break is one where readers get to opine[Read-More]
December 11th, 2012 at 8:30 am
ABC: 'Happy Endings' Still A Toss Up To Be Canceled Or Renewed
The news that Happy Endings' will leave ABC's schedule after January 15, with no scheduled return, coupled with its woeful ratings is[Read-More]
December 4th, 2012 at 10:11 am
ABC: 'Don't Trust The B---- In Apt. 23' Is Certain To Be Canceled
Sophomore sitcom Don't Trust The B---- In Apt. 23 didn't start well this season, and its ratings completely tanked in its later[Read-More]
November 27th, 2012 at 11:50 am
ABC: 'The Neighbors,' 'Nashville' & 'Scandal' Are Likely To Be Renewed
With nine weeks of the season behind us, I've seen enough of the ratings for The Neighbors, Nashville and Scandal to move[Read-More]