text:
We are surprised and elated — dare I say, clapping our hands saying "yeah!" — that our pal April got responses not just from the manager of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah but also a member. Read the previous post if you're lost, then, judge these responses for yourself.
First, from the dude in the band:
Hi April,
Thanks for coming to the show last night. We're very sorry for the misunderstanding. We agree that local music and the people who support it are vital to what we do and what we've done. I am continually amazed by the enthusiasm of music fans and the variety and depth of talent in each new city we visit. Our band has absolutely benefited from local support in NYC and Internet buzz and we'll never forget it. We're thankful and flattered to be able to do this music thing full time, whether it be in Kansas or NYC.
To set the record straight, we were indeed unaware that any band besides the Brunettes was opening last night until about 5pm. As I understand it, this was the venue's (i.e. local promoter's) oversight. They failed to inform us (and our booking agent) that a third band had been added. You ask if this is normal. I can only speak for the touring I've done since August, but I can say that in all of those situations (save for the gong-showesque CMJ and South By South West festivals), the headliner chooses the openers. We were chosen along with Talkdemonic to open for the National this past fall. We toured with Dr. Dog and the Brunnetes in Europe and stateside. Again, these bands were hand-picked. Out of the around 90 shows we've played since then, I can think of once or twice when we've played with a local opener. (As an aside Lee and Tyler's band before this one was "scheduled" for months to open for The Sea and Cake only to be cancelled last minute due to an oversight by, you guessed it, the promoter). This fact has nothing to do with any disdain for local bands, it's more about making sure that you're putting on a good show.
With no malice towards ad astra per aspera, we'd never heard their music before. I don't think it's unreasonable for a headliner to have control over whom they choose to play with. Again, with no offense to ad astra per aspera or the local music scene in Lawrence, just because a band is local and "indie" doesn't make them good. We had no way of judging either way, just a couple of hours before the show while we were soundchecking and getting ready to play. I don't think putting a local opener on the bill necessarily has anything to do with the quality of the show, and that's what we're concerned with.
I would hope that you came to see our music last night because you genuinely liked it, not because Pitchfork, the internet, or the scene told you to. While, all of these entities have undoubtedly accelerated and augmented the recent success of our band, I think at the base of it all, the songs are good and that's all that should matter.
I'm not really sure what "attitude" you're projecting upon us in your note. I can't really say that any of us have been affected by our moderate success, and your suggestion otherwise is too bad. Would we be justified in having an "attitude" if we'd sold more records? I don't get it. Personally, I'd prefer to play in a place like the Bottleneck to a theater or larger venue any night because of better sound on stage and proximity to the audience.
Sorry for the longwinded reply. Hope this sheds some light on your questions.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless handheld.
And now, the manager's reply:
i'm sorry, but we don't even know who ad astra per aspera is....our tour is with the brunettes and always has been announced as such. we don't have any third bands on this tour at all, for many reasons. one being that the stages aren't that big and there's alot of equipment. another being that with two bands playing before us it's very hard to get the sound good - it makes a soundcheck almost irrelevant. and another being that it allows us to keep our ticket prices low and makes it easier on the venue. nothing to do w/ supporting local bands, it's just the only way to make this tour work.
that being said, if you're angry at someone be angry at the venue, we had nothing to do with this nor do we know anything about it.
also, alot of hard work goes into being in a band, and making a band work. i'd like to think it's that hard work, good musicianship, and songwriting that makes clap your hands successful, not just a pitchfork review. I hope someday you'll try it yourself to know how hard it really is before telling me and the band who our success is owed to.
i hope you enjoyed the show. sorry about your friends band, but you're angry at the wrong people.
manager - cyhsy
It seems that while I was judging the Band Scramble last night, one of the best bands in the area might have been getting screwed. The following is an excerpt from an email I received from frequent Pitch contributor and Lawrence dweller April Fleming. The author would like you to remember that this was written late in the evening, spontaneously, angrily and not a little inebriatedly.
What happened to Ad Astra tonight?
oh, the commotion brewed among us... I spoke briefly with a lady I do owe much respect for bringing to us some excellent shows in lawrence and kansas city, Jackie Becker, and she pointed me to a hurried girl, Julie, who kinda gave me an answer... sorta. I saw Robert Moore leave the show early... what does that mean? I also spoke with Kurt and Julie from Ad Astra, who graciously didn't place blame but were bummed not to have played the show tonight. I guess no blame was deserved but something in me doesn't sit right. Who cancels a local band the caliber of Ad Astra? To be fair, this isn't unheard of, but it seemed a bit post-haste. Huh?
I sent what I hope wasn't a terribly rushed email to the Clap Your Hands site. God, I do this. What's my problem? Who reads this now? Does the hype robot work nights to keep me in check?
Here's what I sent:
"hello sirs,
confused... thank you for playing at one of our local venues in lawrence, kansas... it was fun, but, i can't help but be confused... what happened between you and our local act, ad astra per aspera?
the word was (and i understand, word be what it is) that your agent told you and the sheisty venue (bottleneck) to cancel the ad astra because you were unaware you were playing with a local band. is that what happened? Is this normal? that seems odd, considering you owe your entire success to Pitchforkmedia.com and the internet community as a whole -- which is the same community (at least here) that supports local music.
this may be one of many stops along the way, but it left tens of us wondering if your management (who you chose to represent you) isn't interested in indie bands that like you, started from a humble place...
please help me understand. lawrence and kansas city, like many other towns and (sometimes) like new york city, is a town that absolutley thrives on local music and the creativity which flows through the people living among us. we love touring acts, but 30K in national album sales doesn't necessarily warrant that kind of attitude, especially in that dirty, cramped green room.
i do appreciate your music and your coming here but i can't help but be turned off by what truly seems like an unfortunate, coincidental slight. please prove me wrong. i truly want to think more of you as a live act. Too many excellent bands are destroyed by one hell of a hype machine. i want to think you're not one of them.
april fleming"
This reeks of something I'll totally regret having sent by tomorrow, but it bothers me... I adore Ad Astra and wanted to see them play along with a great national act (who, all issues aside, was enjoyable, but not what I was hoping for, their show standing alone). What happened?
Alas, April, I wish I knew.
Today, I'm handing the wheel over to co-worker Nadia Pflaum, who, this morning, produced a report on a pretty amazing hip-hop event last night in Lawrence. What follows may be one of the best essays on the current state of the art form you've ever read. Seriously. So twirl your thumb counterclockwise around the clickwheel of your iPod and listen up.
When I heard that classic MC KRS-One was coming to the Granada and our own Joe Good was opening, I knew I'd go for sure. I've seen KRS in about a thousand hip-hop documentaries; to me he was always the guy who sort of looked like a hippo, talking about the Bronx scene in movies like Wild Style and The Freshest Kids. I hadn't heard anything about this new thing of his, the Temple of Hip-Hop and its Declaration of Peace. But when I heard he was speaking for an hour before the show, I went to the free talk as well.
At 7:00 the Granada was populated by a handful of mangy college kids and some of the bigger names in the Lawrence and KC hip-hop scenes. The stage was set to the side of the Granada's main stage, ringed with plastic chairs. A skinny white guy in a hat who said he was named Zin Aroo (yeah, that's a phonetic spelling) came out onstage first. I thought he was just there to announce KRS, but he started talking about the Temple of Hip-Hop. It's a hip-hop preservation foundation, he said, constructed to keep the original scene alive. They've written the hip-hop Declaration of Peace, and printed it up poster-sized, where it lists the Principles of Hip-Hop (example: May 3 is National Rap Day) framed by sepia-colored portraits of people like Slick Rick, Tupac, Kool Herc and, of course, KRS. Zin Aroo told us that now was the best time to join the Temple of Hip-Hop, because it's all just beginning -- the ground floor, if you will -- and it only costs $12 for full membership.
"Sounds like a pyramid scheme," a guy next to me muttered. Another college kid whispered to me, "I love KRS and everything, I really do. But the Temple of Hip-Hop sounds like a retirement community to me."
Things started sounding real creepy, perhaps because of the breathless, idolizing way that Zin Aroo spoke of his Teacher, KRS. Zin said that it was the Temple's responsibility to manage the way the media tells its stories. "We believe that we were divinely chosen to carry this message," Zin said.
"What message?" someone in the crowd wondered.
Zin answered, "...We teach that hip-hop is the promise that Martin Luther King dreamed of when he said that one day little white children and little black children..."
At that point, I started tuning out. Since when did KRS-One become a cult leader? Zin Aroo said that the Temple has an Oracle -- does it also have a secret decoder ring?
But mercifully, Zin finally stepped aside after introducing the Teacher, KRS, who walked through the crowd with an entourage like a boxer headed for the ring. He was all smiles.
"How can I raise my quality of life through hip-hop?" KRS said we must be wondering. "That's what I want to address in part today. That question is not for everyone. That question is only for people who find themselves asking these questions. Here are some stark-raving answers." He started talking about stuff like urban inspirational metaphysics. He spoke in that pedantic lecture style, full of pregnant pauses that make ordinary sentences sound fraught with meaning. My mind started drifting.
Since when did hip-hop require so much managing? Since people started realizing its power as a movement, and not just as a style of music. But once hip-hop becomes a movement, does it have to start being lame? Do we have to endure all this talk about hip-hop, all this metaphysical moping around, or can we just, like, be into the music? Classic guys like KRS start seeing young guys with bling, who consider Biggie and Dr. Dre to be "old school" even though they rose a full decade after Kool Herc and Afrikaa Bambaata, and start worrying about their legacy. They get on the lecture circuit. They start preservation societies.
"Twenty minutes, Teacher."
KRS spoke about how his albums had gone from selling two or three million, to one million, to a few hundred thousand. He did a soft drink commercial and got roasted for "selling out," even though such endorsements are par for the course today. He moved on to the university lecture scene, becoming sort of a hip-hop pundit. Which explains where all the speeches, like this one, were coming from.
And he started talking about some useful things, too. About how he was proud of the local scene for starting to sound like itself, for no longer emulating the East Coast and West Coast sound (an idea that was echoed when Joe Good performed his song with lyrics like, "KC, get that down-South dick out 'cha mouf!"). About how hip-hoppers have to find a way to get on the radio, to snatch down some economic power for themselves and to link up with each other in the local scene to make things happen without waiting around for a record deal. And that making money is not synonymous with selling out.
"I've seen growth here in self esteem," KRS said. "I'm glad to see the more you sound like the 'hood where you're from. Now, somebody from this town has to make an album that blows this particular town up. To grow that scene."
When the Q&A began, Necia Gamby, Joe Good's mom and the creator of the Hiphopkc.com Web site, had some knowledge to drop on KRS himself. "I've been to the Temple!" she said. "And I've seen your message boards and your forum, and what I want to see is direction, and a clear agenda that speaks to the rest of the world. Here we are, we're the Temple of Hip-hop. We're all here. Now, what do we DO?"
It was a good question. I never quite heard the answer.
Later in the evening, Joe Good rocked his show. He was furious and on fire, and someone, finally, was filming him (he's never had a film of himself performing live). The b-boys and b-girls from Kansas City and Lawrence crowded the foot of the stage, jumping up and down to the beat, hands in the air, and created a pocket of unrivaled hometown hype-ness.
And when KRS took the stage with his entourage (which included a rugged-looking Busy Bee, who you might remember as the skinny kid with glasses in the last scene of Wild Style), he dropped the hip-hop pundit thing and became what everyone loves him for — creator of some of the most classic hip-hop songs to date. He didn't look old. He didn't look like he was going through the motions of songs he's performed thousands of times. He looked like he was having a ball, like he'd discovered some fountain of youth through microphones and blown amps (they blew 2!). He encouraged pictures, and the crowd became a sea of flashes and LCD screens. He took some lucky audience member's cell phone and rapped into it, recording a video of himself and turning the lens around on the crowd. He called the b-boys and b-girls on stage and rapped as they each took solo turns center stage. He called up all the MCs in the crowd and gave them each 8 bars on the mic.
"You guys do not look tired," he said somewhere around 1:30am. "That's fine. I have TWENTY YEARS of joints. We can go ALL NIGHT LONG."
Suddenly, I realized I'd dropped all my skepticism I was holding from the creepy talk earlier in the day. This dude might have some lectures to give, but he's also preserving hip-hop in the best -- maybe the only -- possible way: by putting on live shows that please old-school heads and virginal college kids alike. It was undoubtedly one of the best hip-hop shows I've ever seen. It made the Ghostface show I saw on the same stage a week ago seem like a distant and boring memory. (Sorry, but it did.) And, um, the man is not aging. Maybe there is something to this Temple of Hip-hop. I'm totally sending in my $12, Teacher!
Here's a roundup of some of the noteworthy shows that didn't make it into the preview coverage in this week's Pitch music section.
Band Scramble III at the Brick. A few weeks ago, local musicians dropped their names into a hat and were randomly assigned to different bands, with which they've been writing songs and rehearsing ever since. Tonight, they show their cards. Following past Scrambles, some of the bands have stayed together and gone on to make records and gig around; others, however, collapsed in humiliation and sucktitude. Survival of the fittest, bitch.
The Pornhuskers at the Record Bar. If you can't get in to the sold-out Clap Your Hands Say Yeah show, this is the next-best thing. In fact, it's way better: drunk veteran rock dudes cavorting with mostly naked chicks in a celebration of drugs, porn and punk. I'm gonna get fired for looking at their Web site right now.
Hayseed Dixie at Davey's Uptown Ramblers Club. These guys have some original songs (my favorite: "I'm Keeping Your Poop"), but they specialize in "rockgrass" covers of classic rock songs and released an album of all AC/DC covers. Take your artist friend.
Booganmod and Last of the V8s play, of all things, a fashion show this Friday for at Cadillac Catering (20th and McGee). Booganmod provides runway jams at the 9 and 11 p.m. fashion shows with the V8s closing "with a lion's roar" around midnight. It's about time KC's fashionistas and dirty rockers got together.
Donkey Show XI at the Record Bar. In addition to sketch comedy and a paper, rock, scissors tournamanet, this eleventh installment of the popular local variety show brings to the stage It's Over, a hard-kicking, big-smiling folk-pop band new to the scene and gaining momentum.
Dave Brubeck at the Gem Theater. Homeboy's old, but he's still at it, this time with a new composition called The Gates of Justice, a piece of music meant to speak to the divide between Jews and African-Americans since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Pretty heavy stuff for a pianist once known for jazzing up the lighter side of the American songbook and takin' five.
The Drift at the Record Bar. Get your experimental, instrumental (but not temperamental) music fix on tonight with this four-piece from San Francisco. Unlike Black Dice and other avant noise acts, the Drift likes to ride a groove. Want some cheese with your Morricone?
I didn't know much about Nikki Sudden, the consummate rocker who passed through town a couple weeks ago and passed away yesterday at the age of 49. But Nikki had some friends in town who are gonna miss him. Here's a spontaneous, e-mailed eulogy courtesy of one of our own rock-and-roll torchers.
Joey Skidmore wrote:
I just received some really sad news: Nikki Sudden just died after playing a show at New York City's Knitting Factory. We just played the Outland and Mike's Tavern with him, and were finishing up some tracks together at Lou Whitney's Studio in Springfield, and John River's Woodbine Street Recording Studio in England.
Billboard online had a blurb about it, but didn't list a cause of death.
Nikki was really charming: a gentleman and a scholar. His last album "Treasure Island" featured Mick Taylor from the Stones, and Ian McLagan from the Faces. I think it was his best to date. He also played me a cassette of his forthcoming album, which was more stripped down, but really excellent material.
I'm proud that he was my friend, and I'm privileged to have had the opportunity to have worked with him.
Check Joey out at www.myspace.com/joeyskidmoreband. And if you (like I) need to play catch-up with Sudden, there are quite a few free, Nikki-approved samples and downloads here. Looks like the guy was quite generous with sharing his music, which is no doubt serving his memory well.
It's also interesting to note that he was just about the only genuine, old-school rocker on prestigious indie label Secretly Canadian, which is home to coolkids I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness and Antony and the Johnsons.
Evidently, Sudden's impact on music was a lot stronger than we bumpkins in Kansas City realize. So let's get hip to Nikki, then let's get a little sad. It's the right thing to do.
Something's fishy when it comes to Timothy Finn, pop music critic at The Kansas City Star, and Alacartoona, and I don't just mean their names (get it? "fin," "tuna,"!?!?LOL!!!). Seriously, though, I have to wonder what's going on. Finn wrote one big arse-licker of a feature in the Thursday Preview section on this band in March of last year, and just this past week, he wrote another Preview feature on the plight of Alacartoona frontwoman Erin McGrane as an understudy for a musical at the KC Rep. It was an odd little story, a portrait of a darling nobody. McGrane never gets tapped to be in the show, so the article's all about her standing on the sidelines. There's even a picture of her singing into a microphone on the set of the play, evoking the pathetic cliche of the would-be starlet stealing a few moments on the stage while the real actors are away. I can't figure out why, with all the genuinely interesting stuff going on in local music, Finn would want to feature a performer who is so explicitly not stealing the show.
Well, maybe it's because he's got a huge freakin' boner for McGrane and/or Alacartoona. Take that story from a year ago. Here is an excerpt of one of the many laudatory passages. After establishing how drop-dead sexy McGrane (aka Ruby Falls) is, Finn writes:
And like the classic film "Cabaret," Alacartoona mixes music with satire, drama, farce and social commentary during a period of unease and dissent. At uncertain moments like these, any bartender has what can help you forget, but Alacartoona has what it takes to escape.
Theirs is "modern" cabaret because Alacartoona takes some of those traditional elements and applies them to other, contemporary ideas. So an Alacartoona show is a little "Rocky Horror Picture Show," a little David Bowie as Lady Stardust, even a little Queen -- any concept that uses music and theater to mess with sex and gender roles and the ambiguities that can arise between them.
But mostly, Alacartoona is about love and escape, about living at the edge and submitting to your temptations and entertaining your impulses because, as Ruby Falls will warn you: "Who knows about tomorrow?"
Alacartoona showed its gratitude for the story on its Web site (Keep in mind, by the way, that whoever writes PR for Alacartoona -- McGrane, presumably -- refers to the band collectively as if it were an individual female. This facilitates the cloying, purple prose she/it produces for the site and in emailed press releases):
tim finn hasn't just fallen in love. he's proposing marriage. silly boy...alacartoona has much too much love for one man. however, he can be assured that the next time she sees him, any doubts of her appreciation will be ridden from his mind.
if you're curious about the proper way to write about a musical experience, let this be your guide. click the logo to the left to read the article. the kansas city star archives its old stories in a pay-per-download database, so alacartoona won't bother linking to the piece. however, if you would like to express your own bit of gratitude to the paper or mr. finn, click here.
Way to go, Timmay! From the way that sounds, you got some kind of reciprocation for performing journalistic cunnilingus on Alacartoona.
I remember when that story came out. That very night, I went to Molloy Bros. (now the Record Bar) to see the Scottish band Aberfeldy, a show that had gotten some day-of buzz thanks to the promotional efforts of Sonic Spectrum host Robert Moore. Guess who was there? Members of Alacartoona. Guess which one was carrying that day's issue of Preview, showing it to her friends? Ruby "Shameless Self-Promoter" Falls.
By an odd coincidence, Aberfeldy returned to Kansas City a year later and played Molloy's/Record Bar on the same day Finn's second ode to McGrane came out in Preview. Guess who was there this time? Members of Alacartoona and Tim Finn himself. On a side note, it was a disappointing show. I love Aberfeldy's music, and they played well, but singer Riley Briggs was pissed off about having to play a 7 p.m. show because other bands had been booked that night, so he withheld all his charming showmanship and let loose with sarcastic comments about the situation between songs. He also thanked Alacartoona for no visible reason, because that band wasn't even playing. However, I noticed later that night, when my friends and I were at Jilly's and Aberfeldy came streaming in, led by Erin McGrane herself, that Aberfeldy and Alacartoona have some sort of relationship, one which I hope does not exact some sort of parasitic toll on the former.
Speaking of parasitic relationships, at the Pitch, our legs are completely Alacartonna-leech-free (if you hadn't guessed already). In fact, the band's web site seems to make a couple of veiled jabs at us. On the press page, directly above the de-capitialized text of a Pitch Best Of award — text that I wrote, I'm ashamed to admit — Alacartoona says, "even the pitch can't ignore ruby's obvious charms." Even the Pitch? What is this passive-aggressive bullshit? It gets even murkier. Scroll down to the last item on the page, where there's a link to a blurb that Pitch staffer Annie Fischer did on Alacartoona for which she interviewed McGrane. The accompanying text: "annie fischer wasn't actually listening to ruby during this interview. but really, despite ruby's adept conversation skills, don't we all find it a bit difficult to listen to her when we're looking at her?" McGrane never indicated to us that she was misrepresented in the piece, and if you read it, you'll see it's quite good press for the band. But what do we care? We do what we can for bands, sometimes more than we should, and if they don't like it, it's their problem.
Anyway, the trouble with all this press from the Star is not so much that Tim Finn may be friends with someone he finds excuses to write big stories about once in a while. The trouble is that though Erin McGrane is spectacularly good looking and has a good voice, her band is wholly mediocre. I've seen them maybe four times and only the first time was in any way compelling. Without the musical chops to back it up, Alacartoona's shtick wears thin fast. For all the over-the-top antics of Ruby Falls and her male counterpart Providence Forge (who powders his face white, puts on lipstick, wears a wifebeater over his jiggly gut and contorts his face into maniacal expressions that could traumatize small children), the band's original material is weak. With minimal percussion, an accordion (the only good part of the musical performance), occasional acoustic guitar from Ruby Falls and electric bass guitar from Providence Forge, the musical portion of Alacartoona is little more than that of a vaguely European jugband. The more they pour into playing dress-up, the more half-assed they come across (especially when Ruby wears the same costume and Providence the same non-costume every show).
Get a stand-up bass -- hell, get a real backing band — and play some real songs. Do Kurt Weill tunes and quit pouring all your creative energy into masquerading as the sexiest beings on earth. Maybe you can fool a writer at the daily paper and a handful of people who think interactive dinner theaters are the shit, but the rest of us are ready for either the music to start living up to the hype or for Alacartoona to shut her fatuous mouth once and for all.
Quite a town it is where you can go out to a dive bar on a Monday night and discover something you hadn't known about before — some small token of goodness hidden among the ankle-shredding brambles of Western Civilization.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the beerback.
On a recent Monday, after a heavy meal at Rudy's and a nap during which the fajitas I devoured sludged through my system like a sack of bean-flavored gravel, I decided to rejuvenate myself with a walk to my favorite dive in the universe, Dave's Stagecoach Inn.
There's always something going on at Dave's, some familiar face or a friendly conversation to be had with one of the bartenders. Sometimes, you might even get to help one of the staff eject a drunk or drugged, off-the-street intruder from the premises (I did this once; it involved me pretending to call "security" on my cell phone). Even on a Monday night, the place is an excellent retreat. In fact, it's sometimes better to hit Dave's early in the week because the local musicians who have gigs on the weekend often cool their heels there on nights off. Also, with the hands-down-best jukebox in town, Dave's is a great place to go have a few cheap drinks and soak in some recorded sounds.
When I walked in, I looked toward the back and spotted Dan Weber, bassist for Buffalo Saints, The String and Return, the Occupation, and, most recently, the Belles. He was shooting pool with some friends, and at his place at the bar stood two glasses, one, a Bushmills on the rocks, the other, a small highball-like glass of beer. I'd seen such small beers before but thought they were too European to inquire about. But knowing Dan wouldn't chuckle like Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Talented Mr. Ripley and saunter away, I asked him what was up. And that's when I met my newest friend, the Talented Mr. Beerback.
Until recently, Dave's gave these free mini-beer chasers to regulars who ordered whiskeys. Now the bar charges one dollar for the privilege of lookin' sophisticated with two glasses in front of you at the bar. I immediately forked over a George Washington for a sampling of the experience (choices: Bud or Bud Light), coupling my ice-cold, diminutive draft with a J&B on the rocks.
I knew better than to challenge Dan in pool, however. Several months ago, on a night when some Westport wacko shot out a few streetlights on W. 40th behind Sun Fresh and the police (according to rumor) took down the trigger-happy miscreant with rubber bullets, a friend and I laid down the gauntlet on Dan's pool table. Shortly after, my friend and I drunkenly and courageously laid down some money, and after a few masterful shots by Dan and his partner, my party's funds were shamefully no more.
But I did talk to Dan about his band the Occupation (March 10 at the Brick). The band has no Myspace page or Web site where you can download mp3s, and you should feel lucky for that, because if they did — and assuming they're proficient recorders of their own sound — the music exploding through your headphones in the insulation of your home would lacerate your ears close to your skull and fling the severed lobes into the ceiling fan. This is a band that needs to be buffered by several stiff drinks and a surrounding crowd in a bar.
Heavy and aggressive, the Occupation (named after the ongoing outrage in Iraq) is a departure for Dan and most of his bandmates. The singer, Bill Cave, is an artist without much musical background; but on stage, his red hair, contorted, scarecrow-like stance and barking vocals make him the perfect frontman for the band's stylings: short blasts of intricate, mathematically precise, incindiary hardcore rock.
Back at Dave's, someone had lined up a shit ton of Beatles songs on the jukebox, and Dan and I talked about how the whole whose-side-are-you-on-Beatles-versus-Stones-fans conflict was bullshit. Come on people — it's OK to like them both. Several beerbacks later, plus a gin and tonic for my wife, who arrived from a late play rehearsal, and it was time to head out. It was, after all, a work night.
KCUR's Cyprus Avenue deejay Bill Shapiro's top 5 reactions to hearing Pay the Devil, the new Van Morrison country album:
5. Clears his throat so forcefully that a fist-sized lump of phlegm rockets out of his mouth and knocks over a lamp.
4. Dresses a supermarket turkey in a bra and wig, cuddles with it for three hours (until it begins to turn), calling it his "brown-eyed girl."
3. Begins thinking of all the ways he can use the word "legendary" in describing Van on his next episode of Cyprus Avenue. (Decides not to mention the singer's legendary, pendulous breasts, even though, in 1976, Shapiro built shrine to them out of his own earwax.)
2. Having spent all day with the album, in the middle of the night, Shapiro launches into a Van-esque extended, repeating vocal riff in his sleep. Unfortunately, he'd also listened to "Let it Bleed" by the Rolling Stones earlier that day, so he begins singing, You can cum all over me, and continues to the break of dawn. The nieghbors dial 911, a fireman arrives and mercifully hoses Shapiro in the face with a fire extinguisher.
1. After listening to the album on repeat for a week, Shapiro decides he doesn't like it that much after all. Begins to feel a deep-seated rage toward Van Morrison. Calls the station manager and demands his show be retitled Tupelo Honey Tastes Like Ass.
Tune in to Cyprus Avenue on FM 89.3 KCUR, Saturdays from 12 to 2 p.m. Hear Bill talk about all things "seminal" and cite Rolling Stone extensively.
I went to G's Jamaican Cuisine on a recent Tuesday night because the hip-hop scene is divided in half. No, I didn't think an order of oxtails or jerk chicken would solve the problem or seal the division. (Though it would make an interesting movie to adhere two rappers together using a powerful glue made from goat curry, conjoined-twin style -- one a hip-hop kid, the other a gangsta rapper -- and make them run from the sheriff, becoming best friends in the process.) Rather, I went because I'd heard that G's, a storefront joint on Troost near 79th Street, hosted an open-mic night that had begun doing for the hard rap scene what Hip-Hop and Hotwings at the Peanut Downtown has been doing for the conscious hip-hop scene.
So, I went all Jen Chen and gathered a research assistant in Nadia Pflaum, a colleague of mine and a hip-hop aficionado. Also, there's no better protection for a white-as-hell music editor than an attractive female companion.
Walking into G's around 10:30, however, was like walking into some kind of trap. The problem was maybe six people total were there, and one of them was doing stand-up comedy. After paying the fucking outrageous $5 cover (no wonder no one was there -- geez, G's!), not only were we immediately identified as Pitch staffers because I'd called there earlier in the day to see if the open mic was on (fuck you, caller ID!), the guy on the mic immediately started talking to us.
He asked if we were a couple. I said no, we weren't. "Oh, y'all are just sleeping together, then?" I spread my hands and shrugged and said, "No, it's totally platonic." The host replied that he thought that only happened on TV. For a moment, the spotlight shifted off us, but, oh, it would return.
The place had a vaguely tropical bar along one wall, a Rastafarian-looking door man, and a big dining area with cheap tables, fluorescent lighting, and, in back, a carpeted stage flanked by huge PA speakers. Nothing fancy, but it wasn't a total dive, either.
Next, the host, whose name was Daz (NOTE: I'm guessing at the spelling of all the names in this entry) and who had confessed to having smoked a good deal of weed before the evening had begun, instructed us to take a seat at one of the tables near the stage. An older black couple — a full 40% of the audience — appeared to take us under their wing by inviting us to sit at their table. Their names were Forrest and Jaquita. At that point, I was still pretty eager to see what the night would offer.
Daz asked me and Nadia why we'd come to G's. I said it was to see some hip-hop. "Oh, you want some hip-hop," was the gist of his reply. After getting the audience to clap together on a beat, Daz launched into an "Acapulco" rap (his word for "acapella") that had some lyrics about being a gangsta and driving around with a gun and having a hard life or something. The lyrics were a little too serious for me at that point, but Daz's Acapulco style was pretty cool, and at least I got the chance to show that I can keep a beat. The rest of the night, Daz was actually pretty damn funny. I wasn't sure about the tattoo on his forearm, however: Mickey Mouse with horns and giant erection under the words "horny little devil."
Daz later would say that this night's been going for years without a single incident of violence. I'd heard a similar claim from a promoter and artist named F.L.O. (not to be confused with the popular Midtown dragqueen), who has put on 25 or so G-rap shows at various places including El Torreon and G's without a fight or shooting. Also, I should mention that Joe Good was my tipster on the night at G's because he's performed there before. I asked him to come out with me and Nadia, but he was recording. By his, Daz's and F.L.O.'s accounts, sometimes the mic night at G's actually draws a crowd.
A rapper named Precision came up next. He was rail thin with the typical big T-shirt, baggy shorts and sneakers. He set a precedent that would be followed by most of the other performers that night — I swear, they just started coming out of the woodworks — and that was rapping over already-recorded vocals. He was rapping over himself, basically, along with doubled or tripled backing vocal tracks. It sounded like there were four Precisions up there, three on tape and one in the flesh. Nadia pointed this out as being not quite up to professional standards.
Our tablemate, Forrest, was then invited to take the mic, which surprised me because the dude seemed pretty mellow. About 40 years old, wearing sweats and a ball cap, he looked like a Chiefs superfan on a day off. When he got going on the mic, though, things started getting really interesting.
He stood in front of the stage, about seven feet from me, and his comedy routine consisted of making fun of everyone in the room — mostly me. He asked me if I'd ever smoked a blunt. I said no. "You haven't?" came Nadia's voice over my shoulder in a sort of "you're still a virgin?" note of surprise.
"No, I just smoke joints," said I. "But I smoke a LOT of them," I lied.
"We call those white boys," said Forrest.
I think he then made a few half-joking comments about white-vs.-black pot consumption. I remember saying, "Yeah, that's what we do — get high and listen to Pink Floyd."
It was then that he pointed out that my ears had turned a bright shade of red. Shit. He had me, and I played even deeper into his hands by saying, "Come on! It's not fair! You people don't have to worry about that."
"Us people!?" shouted Forrest. "What do you mean, 'US PEOPLE'!?"
"You know, blunt smokers," I said tentatively, not sure whether I had really said something offensive, and probably only making it worse by inadvertently implying that all black people smoke blunts.
"Go on, say it," Forrest bellowed. "Niggers. Say it! Niggers. Say it..." he was moving closer to me, and before I new it, the mic was to my mouth.
"I love you," I said, weakly.
Forrest laughed. "He said, 'I love you.'" I don't know if anyone else laughed, but, however lamely, I had saved my own skin. At the end of his routine, Forrest credited Nadia and I with being black under our white trappings, adding that my head was too big for a white guy, anyway.
When Forrest returned to our table he became serious and silent, a complete 180, because evidently Jaquita had not enjoyed his routine. Perhaps he shouldn't have done that bit about what a drag it is being married (I forgot to mention that). A white guy making a comment about racial differences in a black club may be close to social suicide, but hell hath no fury like a woman pissed at a dopey husband. I know this from personal experience, too, and Forrest, all I can say, man, is I hope you're right with Jesus.
There was some more karaoke-style rap and at least one R&B number. The best act of the night consisted of two women half-singing-half-rapping and all-booty-shakin' without benefit of a backing vocal track. But honestly, there was nothing to justify either the $5 cover OR the $5 well rum and coke that came in an airline-sized cup.
That doesn't mean I won't go back, though. I'd take a roasting from a guy like Forrest any day of the week. It's always good to be reminded that having a master's degree in English just ain't 'hood.
I was considering writing a review of the P.O.S./Mac Lethal show last night at the Record Bar, but two things stood in my way: (1) I missed Mac Lethal because I forgot about the damn thing and didn't get there until midnight, and (2) I just found a very good review of the engagement at What the F#@% is This?, a brand-new blog and print 'zine launched anonymously that covers all things pertaining to local hip-hop. Some really great turns of phrase in that review. Damn. I may be out of a job soon. The writer's take on Mac was affectionate and almost poignant — it was good to see that piece come out at a time when Mac could either become taken for granted or baselessly resented by locals for starting to become successful. That said, I wish Rhymesayers would fucking hurry up and release his album. That guy's working his ass off on tour, has worked his ass off on the album, and deserves to start getting real paid.
So, because the review side's covered, I can focus on another matter that many of you may be aware of but some may not. KRBZ 96.5 the Buzz has a fairly new Sunday night hip-hop show called the Jump-Off, hosted by Mac himself and Slimfast, who is best known as the victim of his boss Lazlo's caprices during the very popular and very commercials-and-bad-music-choked "Church of Lazlo" afternoon show. I ran into Slimfast at the RB last night, and he said he had beef with me for not mentioning the Jump-Off in a recent story I did in which I talked about how the commercial hip-hop stations (Power 103 and 95.7 the Vibe) don't play local artists. Well, the Jump-Off does, according to Slimfast, but it seems to me like their focus is mostly on introducing locals to national, non-mainstream rap, such as that produced by Rhymesayers artists, and also a lot of East and West Coast conscious rap. As one writer of mine, Andy Vihstadt, would say, they deliver the angsta, not the gangsta. They don't, however, deliver shovelfuls of spins of local records, or they would have had a few local shows on that 3/12 playlist, don'tcha think? However, until I'm sure they don't do all-local shows once a month or so, I will refrain from reaming Mac and Slimfast (actually, it would be boss Lazlo's decision -- according to Slimfast he's been a hard sell on hip-hop, period).
There is a show that does quite a bit of local spins, and that's the "Show-Me Mix" on KKFI 90.1 on Saturday nights hosted by DeShai "Mz. Shai" Hampton. Go to www.myspace.com/urbanmotion for info and to listen to her own specially recorded theme song. Though I haven't listened to it once yet, the Show-Me show, however unhiply named, seems a lot more street and definitely a lot more locally focused than its Buzz counterpart.
One thing that drives me nuts already about Mz. Shai, however, is her overuse of exclamation points and capital letters in emails. Local rapper Reach does it, too. I'll get an email with a subject line like "THIS FRIDAY AT THE JACKPOT!!!!!!!!!" and the message, too, will contain similarly grating visual noise. WANT TO GET YOUR MUSIC HEARD??? COMPETE ON THE AIR ON THE SHOW-ME MIX SHOW!!! Shit like that. To someone who spends pretty much his entire waking life dealing with written words, caps lock and exclamation point abuse is like SCREAMING!!!
Think about it, and calm the fuck down. Let the music do the screaming.
I don't see this as good news. I will continue to support locally owned record…
Slow news day.
Air guitar is all about self expression, confidence, and all-around badassery. It takes giant stones…
Air guitar was funny and entertaining for about 10 min in the mid 1990s. Just…
Where will you be this Saturday morning.. ...?


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Phnom Penh Full-Day Small-Group City Tour
- Small-group city sightseeing tour of Phnom Penh
- Travel by cyclo and coach for a unique tour of the city
- Enjoy a delicious lunch at an NGO (included)
- Experience Cambodia's tragic past and get a glimpse of what the future holds
- Visit various temples and the French Quarter
Recent Photos of This Tour
What You Can Expect
Customer Reviews
April 2015
A great tour, directed by a fantastic tour guide who really knew his stuff. Highly recommended.
March 2015
Great tour and guide. You get to understand and experience Cambodia's past and present. Loved the island trip. Nice to see the capital by car, boat, and Tuk-Tuk. Wonderful day.

subset: commoncrawl


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Here's a list of Top 10 actresses who are all set for their second innings at the box-office
The times are changing and Bollywood is also in a state of flux. Earlier, the shelf-life of an actress was limited where an actress was as good as her last box-office release. Those who got an extension were relegated to the background and had to play the role of a mother or sister to the co-star she had romanced few years ago. Not anymore as this year marks the return of the 90s heart throbs who are looking better and fitter than ever. Here's our list :
Sridevi: With occasional ramp walks and a few outings at social dos, the actress has been a photographer's delight with her super toned figure, all thanks to power yoga and umpteenth cups of green tea. Sri is all set to make a comeback in a film titled 'English Vinglish' which is being directed by Gauri Shinde, wife of R. Balki of 'Cheeni Kum' and 'Paa'
Madhuri Dixit: After ruling the roost for a decade, Madhuri bid adieu to films and happily settled in US, post-marriage. But her comeback film 'Aaja Nachle' was a dud and she went back to the US to nurse her wounds. However, now, she is back with a vengeance and if rumours are to be believed, she is busy reading the script of 'Dedh Ishqiya'. In the meanwhile, she has signed up as a judge for the reality show 'Jhalak Dikhla Ja'.
Karishma Kapoor: She has taken over the 'size-zero' mantle from her sister and is looking gorgeous than ever. The mother of two is busy working out and eating right big-time. Contrary to popular belief, 'Dangerous Ishq' wasn't supposed to be Karishma's comeback film as the script was written way in advance.However, things fell into her flap and worked out well for her. in the film, Karisma plays a super model who gives up her career to marry the man she loves. And if you can't wait to find out what 'Dangerous Ishq' is about, here's Vikram Bhatt's tweet: "her fiancé is kidnapped by an enemy who has been chasing her through many lifetimes…to find out who she must find out about her lives (sic)."Raveena Tandon: After playing the considerate judge in a reality show and a cameo in Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Buddha Hoga Tera Baap', the actress is all set for her real comeback in 'Gin Liya Aasman'. The film is directed by Rishi Deshpande and produced by Mudassar Aziz, Anil Bohra and Vishwajit Gaikwad. Raveena plays the mother of a six-year-old boy whose father, a naval officer has been missing since a plane crash.


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Adds quotes from city of Santa Clarita With the 113th Congress failing to stop a large-scale mine moving to the Santa Clarita Valley, Cemex appears ready to start moving forward on their mining contracts. Don't miss a thing. Get breaking Santa Clarita news alerts delivered right to your inbox. The Senate closed up shop for the holidays Tuesday night, after a flurry of last-minute ...Read More »
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Gravel Mine
Santa Clarita Mayor To Testify On Cemex Bill By Boxer
Santa Clarita Mayor Bob Kellar will be in Washington on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural ResourcesRead More »


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Wanna buy "beard ball trophies" made out of the Red Sox' beard hair?
Nov 21, 2013, 1:00 PM EDT
Of course you do!
You'll recall earlier this month that several members of the Boston Red Sox shaved their beards at the Gillette's "World Shaving Headquarters." Well, they saved all of those beautiful scraggly and curly hairs and made stuff out of it. And now you can buy stuff made out of those scraggly and curly beard hairs. If that's your thing:
After saying goodbye to their beards at Gillette World Shaving Headquarters on Monday, November 4, you may have thought the famed facial hair was gone forever. Were they washed down the drains of Gillette's World Shave Headquarters? Flushed into the Atlantic? No. In fact, every strand of the biggest beards of baseball was saved.
The shavings and the actual Gillette Fusion ProGlide razors that were used to shave each champion beard have been assembled as unique pieces of memorabilia in sports history – beard ball trophies – and today, they are up for auction on eBay with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Movember . . .
Interested bidders can place their bids for Victorino's beard ball trophy here http://tinyurl.com/l8cawvz and Ortiz's beard ball trophy here http://tinyurl.com/phxe7hk. Bidding on Ortiz's is up to $177 as I type this. Victorino's is up to $107.50.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find assemble my own discarded body hair into some sort of salable good. Or barf. Not sure which.
- Tim's Neighbor - Nov 21, 2013 at 1:12 PM
- scoutsaysweitersisabust - Nov 21, 2013 at 1:22 PM
I know people will buy anything, but this is just disgusting.
- raysfan1 - Nov 21, 2013 at 1:22 PM
For some reason I am immediately reminded of both PT Barnum and HL Mencken.
- historiophiliac - Nov 21, 2013 at 2:12 PM
- cur68 - Nov 21, 2013 at 9:16 PM
Or Howard Hughes. He aslo preserved his "stuff".
No matter how you slice it, this here be gross.
- gloccamorra - Nov 21, 2013 at 1:39 PM
The first thing I thought of was, hey! You can test people for drugs analyzing strands of hair! Plus, you can isolate DNA, and check for diet and possibly medical conditions. Did the players realize what they gave up? Did they realize their lives and bodies are now an open book? Will Craig Calcaterra advise them of the dangers in a future article? Stay tuned.
- NatsLady - Nov 21, 2013 at 1:57 PM
I am NOT bidding on your barf. No matter how you package it.
- indaburg - Nov 21, 2013 at 6:02 PM
I'm a nurse. I've seen the most disgusting, vile things without flinching or gagging. THIS makes me nauseous. Thanks for ruining dinner, Craig.
- sawxalicious - Nov 22, 2013 at 4:02 AM
Just no.
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Home > Archives
Sunday August 30, 2009
By CHIN MUI YOON
If there is one world champion who is admired by every Malaysian, it has to be Nicol David.
SPORTS can reveal much about one's character. The way a person deals with triumph and failure and how she strategises or plays the game reflects her approach to life.
Datuk Nicol Ann David is the undisputed world champion of squash. But what endears her to Malaysians at home and abroad are her humility, sportsmanship and conduct.
"Just Nicol, please," she told newsmen after receiving the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri from her home state of Penang in July 2008. She was the youngest person ever to be conferred a Datukship in Malaysia.
While the whole country gets swept up in a wave of euphoria every time she adds another title to her long list, this 26-year-old is always focused on one objective – to play her next game well.
"My dad told me to give every game my best, and I really can't do better than my best," Nicol says in an e-mail interview from her training base in Amsterdam.
With every new title she adds to her bag, comes the pressure to do even better. How does she handle that?
"In the beginning, the attention was very new to me because I never imagined being a world champion. There was pressure everywhere.
"But it was up to me to take it or not. My focus is to perform well and the results will show. I can't expect anything else from myself. There are people who are very appreciative of my achievements and I'm grateful that I have Malaysia supporting me."
Asked what being a Malaysian means to her, she says: "Malaysia is truly my home and I take it wherever I go. It's a part of me that will always stay strong and true because I had the best upbringing, surrounded by different races, beautiful nature, friendly people and the most amazing food. Growing up in a country like Malaysia is a luxury and I appreciate every bit of it."
Nicol, born to engineer Desmond David and retired schoolteacher Ann Marie on Aug 26, 1983, had an ordinary childhood. "My parents always had to keep me occupied because I was hyperactive! That's why I picked up squash," she recalls.
Her parents are a major influence in her life. "They allowed my two older sisters and me to take up squash and other sports while we were in school to get a feel of what suited us better.
"I always wanted to be as good as my sisters in whatever they picked up and that is probably how I got my determination to always do better in anything I do."
When a family friend built Penang's first public squash centre, the Bukit Dumbar Squash Centre (now called the Penang International Squash Centre), Liane and Cheryl David went there to play. Little Nicol tagged along, swinging discarded, battered racquets to release the energy that would later become her strength as a professional player.
She practised steadily until she got chosen to represent her state in the 1994 Sukma Games.
In a 2006 interview with The Star, squash official Ee Phoeh Hoon recalled that initially, she thought that gangly Nicol, clad in an oversized tracksuit, was another official's daughter.
"In the team final, we were tied 1-1 against Perak," said Ee, who has been credited with spotting the-then 11-year-old's raw talent.
"Liane had lost the first match, but Cheryl won the second. In the third singles, Nicol was up against a stronger 18-year-old Perak girl. She won the first game but lost the second. Before the conclusive third game, she ran to the toilet.
"I went after her. Nicol was vomiting and said she hadn't felt well all day. But she didn't want her sisters to worry. She told me, 'Don't worry Miss Ee, I can do it.'"
She did – and the Penang team clinched the Sukma gold medal.
"Nicol is hugely talented," Ee said. "Even at that tender age, her forte was her mental strength and ability to focus on the task at hand. When we do court runs, girls usually do 19 or 20 laps, and exceptionally strong boys can do 24. Nicol was the only girl who could manage 25."
She was fondly called the energiser bunny (after a battery advertisement) for her extraordinary speed and agility, which became the bane of fellow competitors.
How does this single-minded player prepare herself, mentally and physically, before stepping into the courts?
"There must be a set game plan to begin with, while warming up before a match," Nicol says. "If I know I have done all the right preparations and training leading up to the tournament, I can only trust that I will give it my best."
Her years of hard work are reaping results but, true to her humble nature, she credits others for her achievements.
"My family should be the first to be recognised for my success. My parents have given me their complete love and support and have never asked for anything more than to see me happy in whatever I do. My sisters have been great throughout my years of growing up – they look out for me.
"I also have a lot of good people and close friends who play a huge part in my success and keep me where I am."
One of these is surely Liz Irving, her coach since 2002.
At 16, when most of her peers were immersed in either their studies or social activities, Nicol won the 1999 British Junior Open, where she was champion for both the Under-17 and Under-19 categories, the SEA Games (senior and team categories champion), and the German Junior Open (Under-19 champion).
Her greatest feat that year was becoming the youngest winner of the Women's World Junior Championships in Antwerp, where she beat compatriot Leong Siu Lynn in just 30 minutes.
Nicol entered the professional circuit in 2000 by joining the Women's International Squash Players Association (Wispa). She then won her first pro title at the Savcor Finnish Open.
But at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, she failed to retain the gold medal she'd won four years earlier. Some people wondered if she could really dominate the sport, or was merely a flash in the pan.
"It was the lowest point of my life," she says. "I took some time off to evaluate what I needed to do next, and decided to move to Amsterdam to train under Liz Irving.
"Liz was a former world No. 2, so she knows exactly what it's like to be at the top of the rankings."
Moving to Amsterdam was the "turning point" in Nicol's life. It signalled the start of a routine that involves two to four hours of training twice daily, six days a week. During those sessions, she works on her fitness, speed and strength, and her game.
When Nicol returned to the circuit in 2003, she was ranked 53rd. Within a year, she was among the world's top 10.
In 2005, she hogged the headlines with a string of historic wins. She became the first Malaysian to win the British Open and the first Asian to wear the women's crown when she beat long-time rival Australian Natalie Grinham.
That same year, she was the first local player to win the women's CIMB Malaysian Open in the event's 31-year history. And in December 2005, she became the youngest world champion when she won the Hong Kong World Open.
The wins placed her at No. 1 in the world ranking.
Nicol recalls that the happiest point of her life was "'when I won my first World Open in Hong Kong because my dream of being a champion had turned into reality."
But, as every champ knows, climbing to the top entails lots of sacrifice. For her, being based in Amsterdam means long stretches of time away from home and those she loves.
"It's difficult being away from my family and friends for a long time, but they understand exactly what I have to do and their support is what keeps me going."
On the plus side, squash has taken her around the globe and enabled her to meet countless people, from fellow players to royalty, sports personalities, sponsors and fans.
"I love this game. I have been able to travel and make new friends since competing at a young age. When I made the decision to immerse fully in the sport and be a really good player, I knew I had to venture outside my comfort zone and learn new things."
Does she get to visit places of interest when on the road?
"Most tournaments nowadays are held in cities which I've been to – I've seen the sights already. When I play in a new city, I try to stay an extra day, if possible, to check out a few places."
Which country does she feel most comfortable playing in?
"The Cayman Islands, because it feels like you're at a holiday resort and the crowds watching the game are so vibrant."
She is too modest to add that winning the inaugural Cayman Islands Open in May this year was doubly exciting because her opponent was Natalie Grainger of the United States, whom she had lost to in the final of the Kuala Lumpur Open in March.
That loss spelt the end of Nicol's 56-match unbeaten run.
Following her May win, she has added the Texas Open, Seoul Open, World Games, Malaysian Open and CIMB Singapore Masters trophies to her collection.
What's next for Nicol, who began her fourth year as world No. 1 this month?
"My immediate goal is to do well in next year's Commonwealth Games. On the whole, I would like to improve my squash and be a complete player."
Is there one thing she would really love to do that she hasn't done yet?
"Too many things ... I have a list. At the top are sky diving and bungee jumping," says Nicol, who unwinds by chilling out at home in front of the TV, or listening to music. (The most significant thing she's spent her prize monies on is an iMac!)
"Sometimes I wander around the parks in Amsterdam, or go window shopping."
Looking at shops and window displays probably feeds the creative side of Malaysia's goodwill ambassador for the United Development Programme, who lists design as another passion.
After she retires from squash, she would like to set up an academy as well as her own product design company.
The squash academy will be in line with her belief that to elevate the quality of sports in the country, "we have to continue to encourage more involvement in schools and make sports vital to education. This way we can find and develop good athletes from the grassroots and nurture them to reach their full potential with the facilities we have."
When she was younger, Nicol, a top scorer in school, had wanted to be an engineer. She still loves to draw and can sometimes be seen sketching while waiting around the courts.
Does she have a hand in designing her squash outfits?
"For now, I just choose what I like to wear on court. This will give me a chance someday to design my own line of clothing."
That will be awhile yet because she plans to play for "another eight years. Hopefully, my body can hold up."
Finally, the inevitable question that every young woman gets asked: Does she have a boyfriend?
"Well, I have been on the go, travelling and training, so that gives me less time to settle down. If I do meet someone, he would have to appreciate sport, I presume," Nicol says.
Datuk Nicol David comes under the spotlight again in 'Malaysian Sporting Heroes: The Story So Far', which will be aired on Astro SuperSport (channel 811) tomorrow, 6.30pm.
Neighbours heard cries of children being beaten
RM1mil reward offer for information on Dr M's alleged misdeeds
Body of child found buried in kitchen
'Wild' party ends for 51 at popular mall
Money down the drain
Man killed after car smashes into toll booth barrier
Copyright © 1995-2015 Star Media Group Berhad (ROC 10894D)(Formerly known as Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad)


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How To: Give A Plain Cooler A Hip & Cool Update
I about dropped dead when I happened upon this amazingly updated cooler. It's just too cool. (Bad joke intended.)
I about dropped dead when I happened upon this amazingly updated cooler. It's just too cool. (Bad joke intended.)
How the owner of this home was able to envision what this tiny kitchen could be, is beyond me. But it is a must see. After opening up a wall, knocking down another, adding new cabinets and countertops, etc, this newly transformed kitchen belongs in the pages of a magazine. Continue Reading
Oooo! Mandi from A Beautiful Mess just posted a tutorial showing us how to make this fabulous MCM side table. She considers this build only 'moderately difficult,' but with her instructions, I'm sure we'd have no problemContinue Reading
This year, I feel like I've been collecting plants, succulents, and cacti like nobody's business. Far more plants than I care to mention, however, are still in the plastic containers that I bought them in though. Whoops. Are you in the same boat as me? If so, I have you covered with this DIY planter roundup, that includes everything from dip dyed planters to clever recycled containers and more. Continue Reading
If you're one of many with an outdated kitchen, you'll want to add this stunning ranch house kitchen makeover to your inspiration folder! Continue Reading
If you're looking for some backyard patio inspiration before the Fourth of July weekend hits, this makeover is one you'll definitely want to check out. Of course, the space looked good before, but the after is even better. I promise. Continue Reading
Does your nightstand look anything like this one, almost completely bare except for a few remotes and a weird light? Guilty as charged, over here. Until, that is, I took the time to actually style it. Now it looks like a grown up's nightstand, as opposed to a college kid's. See how I styled this mid-century nightstand, along with 8 tips for styling a nightstand perfectly.
My girl Shelly never ceases to amaze me. Usually my amazement stems from her fabulous upholstery projects, but, in this case, it comes from inflatable balls and string. This particular project started with DIY salvageContinue Reading
On this edition of Blogs to Follow, I'm sharing five of my favorite blogs for room makeover inspiration. Before and afters are pretty popular here on Curbly and these five blogs are definitely amongst the best that I know of for inspiration in that department. Ready to see what five blogs made the cut? Continue Reading
I've been searching for the right plant stand. Everything is either too pricey or too not-my-style. Why!? WHY?!? I stumbled upon a simple tutorial to make a midcentury style stand that is just right. A perfect weekend project for you and me!
June and July are pretty popular months for taking the party outdoors and enjoying the weather with a barbecue. Unfortunately, many backyards are in need of a little TLC before you start inviting friends over though. So, if your backyard is in need of a rescue before July 4th comes around, I have a roundup of backyard eye candy that will be the perfect inspiration for your outdoor oasis. Here are 15 amazing backyards to check out before you tackle this summer's outdoor rehab. Continue Reading
When Father's Day rolls around, Dads can be hard to buy for, and even more difficult to create a DIY gift for. This year, I have you covered though, with a list of 22 DIY gift ideas for dear old Dad. Whether your father is interested in golf, technology, music, the outdoors, or even beer, there is something on this DIY gift list for pretty much every Dad in the book. Continue Reading
It's about that time again, for the next installment of Best of Curbly. May's most popular posts included more than one impressive bathroom overhaul, how to create a raised-bed garden, and more . If you haven't had time to catch up on Curbly lately, be sure to check out this list featuring the most read posts from the last month. Ready to jump in? Let's do this. Continue Reading
Make your own floor to ceiling built-ins, complete with plenty of shelves and storage, with this tutorial from Smitten Studio. Continue Reading
Sheds and garages aren't just for storing lawn mowers anymore. People are converting them to offices and workspaces more than ever before. And I don't know about you, but I'm drooling over them. Check out ten of my favorites after the jump.


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News and notes on the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team.
Magnus Hellberg cleared to play
Goalie Magnus Hellberg posted on Twitter this afternoon that he is "finally healthy and cleared to play games again. Can't wait to get back."
He hasn't played for Milwaukee since Jan. 16 at San Antonio and has just one win in his last five decisions. Overall, Hellberg is 5-13-1.
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Wednesday, June 3, 2015
One of the few Greek filmmakers to work substantially in international productions, Nico Mastorakis has primarily been responsible for undistinguished genre efforts like Blood Tide, Grandma's House, and this thriller. Meg Foster stars as Sian, an American mystery writer who comes to an imposing villa in a small Greek town to work on her new book. The villa's proprietor (Robert Morley) warns her of the killer winds that sweep up at night, but the real killer Sian should be concerned about the handyman, played by Wings Hauser of Vice Squad. Hauser murders Elias and stalks Foster through the dark, windswept villa for the rest of the film, until he is dispatched with suitably histrionic aplomb. David McCallum and Steve Railsback show up as well. ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi


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September 20, 2007 4:00 AM PDT
Leaked e-mails reveal MediaDefender's antipiracy woes
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(continued from previous page)
MediaDefender's e-mails show that the company's efforts against most BitTorrent "clients," or the programs that let people download BitTorrent files, were ineffective. The one BitTorrent client that MediaDefender's defenses seemed to work on was uTorrent. In one e-mail exchange, MediaDefender executives were gleeful when they learned that Paramount Pictures was planning to test the company's effectiveness by tracking its abilities on uTorrent.
"Please add all of their titles (there are only 4 of them, I think) to interdiction," writes one MediaDefender manager. "If we perform solidly on BitTorrent, they will probably give us more business :)."
In another exchange from July, MediaDefender managers are upset that the company is asked to prove the effectiveness of its technology on a client other than uTorrent. BayTSP was the company hired by a MediaDefender client to track the company's effectiveness.
"Bay did very little testing using uTorrent," a MediaDefender executive wrote. "I thought the tester was down with uTorrent. Can you gently push him? Top priority. Thanks."
Another problem that seemed to plague the company was a lack of resources. E-mail exchanges between NBC Universal and MediaDefender from last May show that problems arose when the Hollywood studio asked the antipiracy company to protect some new content. MediaDefender executives realized their resources were maxed out and couldn't service any more content. They looked for ways to make room. One idea executives considered was to cut back on protecting content belonging to another client: Universal Music Group.
"The only UMG projects active now are the ones already on Billboard," said an e-mail from a MediaDefender employee. "We've tried to reduce it as much as possible. We'll probably have to bite the bullet on a few projects and pick a couple projects to not protect at all."
It's not clear whether MediaDefender went through with the plan. MediaDefender and Universal Music Group did not respond to interview requests. But Universal's contract with MediaDefender can be found among the e-mails pilfered from the company. It calls for the music company to pay $4,000 for one month of protection for an album and $2,000 for a month's worth of protection for a single song.
Sounds like a lot of money, but it's difficult to know whether the protection actually worked or will in the future. As file-sharing protocols continue to improve, circumstances are bound to get even more difficult for companies like MediaDefender, said Chris Castle, a longtime music industry attorney and executive.
"I think that one of the problems in general is that you can't put a $100 piece of security on something that sells for 99 cents," Castle said. "There is only so much money you're going to spend to protect a piece of content and that means there's only so much that antipiracy companies can afford to do."
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13 commentsJoin the conversation! Add your comment
- The Industry is to Blame
- Why is piracy so big on the internet? Maybe consumers are sick to death of being ripped off. People are growing tired of $20 CDs with one or two good songs. $50 for the DVD of Psych containing only 15 episodes??? ***? Better shows like Lost and Stargate SG-1 have far more episodes and cheaper / more realistic price. HBO shows are insane, $89 for Carnivale? As much as I loved that show, I don't love it to spend almost $200 for 2 freaking seasons of a show they canceled.
Their greed and unwilling to evolve with technology and the times has put them in this place.
I love how coming into 2000, the RIAA blamed Napster for the slowing record sales... yet the fact that most of the music in the late 90's sucked ass, the fact that we were just hit by the tech bubble bursting, the recession and so on... none of that had anything to do with it, no! It was those gosh darn internet pirates.
I swear who ever runs these studios and labels are mildly retarded.
- Like Reply Link Flag
- It has nothing to do with...
- Intelligence. They want to keep their broken system and will do whatever to whoever to do it. If that means blaming these companies or getting our lame duck government to pass more laws that do nothing but turn off the consumers so be it.
The only thing corporate America cares about is money. It all comes down to greed. When that is the soul source of all reasoning and decisions this is what you get.
- Like Link Flag
- Yes and No.
- [i]"Why is piracy so big on the internet?"[/i]
For lots of reasons:
* it's cheaper.
* in earlier days, few in the software biz cared if their apps were copied, and many considered it a form of marketing (see also Windows 3.1).
* Greed. You were dead-on ab't this w/ regards to entertainment media.
Then again, when it comes to entertainment media, the porn industry almost doesn't seem to care about their products being p2p'd, and yet they still make money hand-over-fist.
As a not-so-lewd parallel, the anime film and show makers have their stuff p2p'd all the time, but with a twist or two: most p2p anime are "fansubs", where fans provide the translated subtitles. Also, once an anime series is available in the US, the p2p versions pretty much dry up online. The anime crowd has a code of honor - in that if you can buy it locally, they'd prefer that you do. Me, I remember discovering Cowboy Bebop that way, years and years ago... where each episode was at 320xsomething resolution and took forever to download. When I saw that it became available for purchase in the US (via the web), I happily shelled out ~$180 for the DVD set (27 episodes + soundtrack CD).
Getting back to the RI/MPAA, they're kind of screwed. Napster was a turning point, and they're beginning to realize that they simply cannot 'monetize the eschaton', for lack of a better phrase. They're either going to have to change their business model, or simply die.
As for MediaDefender? It's a mixture of wonder, admiration, and derisive laughter. I wonder at what it takes for someone to basically **** off the world. I admire their skill in BS'ing the AA's (really - you simply cannot even hope to slow the tide, let alone turn it back. You may as well start bailing out the ocean one bucket at a time for all the good it will do). I laugh derisively at their bluster, bluff, and outright amateurish reactions to all of this (a real pro would've had a hell of a lot more control and composure over the situations at hand, ne?)
- Like Link Flag
- I agree with you.
- Also I am sick not being able to buy any movie I want without it NOT being in stock or "Sorry we don't carry that anymore." or the all too familiar GO buy it from the web! or:
Salesman says, "Sorry that title is not being sold in stores or online anymore. It has been discontinued."
Hollywood has killed off its entire line of 1970's sci-fi movies?
I just want to buy the movie "THE KEEP" part 1 and part 2 !!!
So what if it got lousy reviews... i'm trying to build a nice library of videos in my living room.
- Like Link Flag
- The Problem with Piracy
- Thanks to the Internet and software the act of piracy, which was enjoyed by geeks, nerds and hackers, is now performed by pretty much anyone. What used to cost he industry a million or two a year has ballooned into a billion dollar problem.
- Like Reply Link Flag
- Yes and No
- For it to be a billion dollar problem you actually have to have lost a billion dollars. The industry hasn't lost a billion. They have not earned as much as they think they should have.
The Industry should perhaps take advantage of one thing. Pirated materials are disposable. Someone with a hard drive of songs has no vested interested in any of it. They can get it again, but with a lot of work. That's the key.
The industry has a chance to actually add some value to electronic formatted music. If they do they may do well.
- Like Link Flag
- Anit Piracy Resolved
- My system GURFRIP SystemZ or Global Utility Restructure for Relative Intelligent Process, based upon my GURFRIP PATENT wholly resolves the issue of electronic media piracy.
As I am the LEGITIMATE inventor of You Tube and am involved in a substancial criminal investigation of Google, I will be happy to discuss the merits of the new system with legitimate ethical potential partners.
I've learned my lesson about online piracy by corporate giant GOOGLE quite well.
I fixed it.
James Reginald Harris, Jr.
- Like Reply Link Flag
- HAHA ! Down with Media Defender!
- Too funny and I just chuckle even more when Media Defender sends out their team of "lawyers" pissing threats to the email hosting sites.
- Like Reply Link Flag
- The media companies should be asking themselves...
- The media companies should be asking themselves,"Why do people pirate our stuff?"
I think that pirates fall into two overlapping groups.
The collectors just want to get the biggest load of illegal stuff they can. They never watch 90% of what they download, it is all about ego. These people may **** off the RIAA/MPAA, however, they do little real damage.
The second group are the people who just don't have any money. They may be disabled and unemployed, They may be 12 years old. They may work for minimum wage and not get as many hours as they want. If they did not pirate, they would purchase very little, If you don't have money, you don't buy $500 a month in DVD's.
Both groups are breaking the law, however, the movie and music industries should ask themselves, "Is the money we spend going after this problem getting us any return, or is it only pissing off our customers?"
If you spend $100 dollars to stop someone from downloading $10 worth of stuff, causing your paying customers to not buy $500 of your product, just because you made them mad, you have something of a net loss. (Sorry for the run on sentence. I have never been good at turning math into words.)
- Like Reply Link Flag
- It is of most importance with all businesses protect the security of data, employee, customer information. This stands well to prove that any business can come under attack of a network security breach. Protection against these security infraction must always be the very first line of defence. www.centerpoint7.com/businesstechnology.htm http://www.centerpoint7.com
- Like Reply Link Flag


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by Ari Phillips Posted on May 4, 2015
There are now some 500,000 rail-car loads of flammable material traveling through North America. It just takes one incident to incite a disaster.
by Ari Phillips Posted on January 14, 2015
The Regulatory Accountability Act is a stealth attack on measures put in place by previous Congresses to protect public health and environmental quality.
by Jeff Spross Posted on December 11, 2014
Forty-six percent of those surveyed agreed "much" more that "scientists at the EPA should set pollution standards" over Congress, and another 22 percent agreed with it "somewhat."
by Jeff Spross Posted on November 20, 2014
A new report by top environmental groups lays out how the federal government could cut methane emissions 42 to 48 percent with three regulatory reforms.
by Jeff Spross Posted on October 31, 2014
A Senate majority would give the GOP lots of small avenues to undercut climate policy, and one big potential lever of President Obama's veto pen.
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Texas' chief toxicologist is arguing that we don't need tougher ground-level ozone restrictions because we spend so much time indoors.
by Jeff Spross Posted on September 19, 2014
The new GOP report doesn't mention EPA's carbon rule for power plants, but it clearly assumes the regulation will drive up energy costs. Here's why that assumption is wrong.
by Alan Pyke Posted on September 10, 2014
After a drowsy trucker rear-ended comedian Tracy Morgan in June, killing his friend, a normally quiet debate over highway safety rules and truck driver pay is getting unusual attention.
by Jeff Spross Posted on September 10, 2014
On Tuesday, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) suggested new federal rules to cut down on explosions and derailments of oil-carrying trains are "a facade" to cut down Americans' fossil fuel use.
by Alan Pyke Posted on September 8, 2014
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has deemed a scrap metal company to be a "severe violator" of safety rules after years of neglect.


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Pasadena Muscle CompanyRead MoreIn 1999, Matthew Castaneda began developing exercise programs for his friends and family. As his reputation grew, so did his clientele base, which quickly expanded to include business professionals, athletes, and stay-at-home moms. More than a decade later, and with countless hours spent perfecting his craft, Matthew opened the doors to Pasadena Muscle Company in his hometown. There, he does what he's always done: engineer customized workout programs for people interested in building mass, losing weight, or gaining strength. In addition to one-on-one training, Matthew also offers boot-camp-style workouts conducted in small groups.2451 Mission StreetSan Marino, CA US
San Marino Athletic ClubRead MoreTrainers Brandon Williams and Robert De Leon get clients in shape with personalized, one-of-a-kind fitness and nutrition plans. They lead both semi-private sessions with two to three trainees and private sessions where there's only one trainee and pep talks are whispered in code. The duo also offers sports-specific training. Brandon says he "has been personally training athletes and their parents" for nearly a decade; when he's not at San Marino Athletic Club, he's serving as a strength and conditioning coach for the San Marino High School basketball team.2327 Huntington DrSan Marino, CA US


text: CC Insurance? [Archive] - Glock Talk Glock Talk > Practical Tactics > Carry Issues > CC Insurance? PDA View Full Version : CC Insurance? geoemery01-24-2012, 18:13I saw a ad for CC insurance. I was wondering if you have CC insurance and do you really need it. What companies provide this type of insurance? Noles2601-24-2012, 19:15I use Texas Law Shield quichedem01-24-2012, 19:22Now, I've heard it all... ATW52501-24-2012, 19:24It's not insurance, but I recently joined the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. Bigpoppie5001-24-2012, 20:58It's not insurance, but I recently joined the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. Same Here HarleyGuy01-24-2012, 23:12When I first started carrying (before we had a Castle Doctrine law) I had my insurance for a few years with the a company assoctated with the NRA. At that time, they also offered insurance for instructors as well, which I wouldn't be without if I was an instructor. ATW52501-25-2012, 07:58I've seen the NRA affiliated insurance and I considered it before joining the ACLDN. Ultimately i chose the ACLDN, and here's why: From what i could tell from reading the insurance information, in a criminal trial you are expected to pay out of pocket and then the insurance will reimburse you up to a certain amount if you are acquitted. On the other hand, the ACLDN will pay a fee deposit ($5k or $10k) to your attorney to get the ball rolling, pay in full for one of their self defense experts to review the case if you're being unmeritoriously prosecuted, have use of force experts that will advise your attorney free of charge, and the possibility of receiving additional financial grants to help cover the cost of defense. For me, I don't have deep pockets and the promise of reimbursement after the trial (if I'm acquitted) just doesn't cut it. If, god forbid, I end up facing unmeritorious prosecution, then I need help now. Once the attorney has his deposit and has taken the case, I'd feel in a much better position to work out how to pay for additional costs. Now, this isn't to say that you can't have both insurance and join the ACLDN. I did consider that, but I found the actual coverage provided didn't seem worth it to me in my current financial situation. Your situation may be different. sourdough4401-25-2012, 14:23I'll just try to avoid being carried by 6 & pass on the insurance. Gunnut 45/45401-25-2012, 23:54My insurance is my CCW. I don't worry about the laws, courts etc.:upeyes: vBulletin® v3.8.7, Copyright ©2000-2015, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.