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Get an overview of this hotelHistoric, modernized high rise in downtown Houston
Popular property highlights
Downtown convenience
Housed in a 1926 building, this renovated high-rise hotel is in the downtown historic district of Houston, within 8 blocks of theaters, sports arenas, and the George R. Brown Convention Center. The Galleria Mall, the Minute Maid Park or the Toyota Center are nearby.
Complimentary area shuttle
Served in the mezzanine-level Magnolia Club, complimentary cookies and milk buffet. A seasonal outdoor pool and a complimentary area shuttle are available.
Deep soaking tubs
Guestrooms have high ceilings, stocked minibars, beds with down duvets, and marble-and-granite bathrooms with deep soaking tubs and robes. High-speed Internet is complimentary.Information missing or incorrect? Tell us!Opens in a new window
Magnolia Hotel Houston, A Tribute Portfolio Hotel
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
In the downtown historic district, this Houston high rise is four blocks from theaters and within eight blocks of sports venues and the George R. Brown Convention Center. The hotel provides complimentary Suburban-vehicle transportation within three miles, 7 AM–11 PM (subject to availability).
The Magnolia Club, the hotel's "great room" on the mezzanine level, features a 24-hour business center, library, plasma-screen TV, restaurant, and lounge. The club is the setting for a complimentary cookies and milk buffet. Wireless Internet access is also complimentary in the lounge and lobby.
A 24-hour fitness center has an array of equipment, and a rooftop lap pool is surrounded by a sunny terrace with a 360-degree city view.
- 24-hour front desk
- ATM/banking
- Number of floors - 23
- Bar/lounge
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Concierge services
- Conference space
- Free newspapers in lobby
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Elevator/lift
- Express check-out
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Computer station
- Rooftop terrace
- Luggage storage
- Laundry facilities
- Meeting rooms 8
- Multilingual staff
- Total number of rooms - 314
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Porter/bellhop
- Restaurant
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Conference center
- Conference space size (meters) - 929
- Smoke-free property
- Outdoor pool
- Outdoor seasonal pool
- Wedding services
- Coffee shop or café
- Fireplace in lobby
- Billiards or pool table
- Free WiFi
- Library
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Year Built 1926
- Free area shuttle
- 24-hour business center
- Conference space size (feet) - 10000
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Premium TV channels
- Air conditioning
- Phone
- Bathrobes
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Coffee/tea maker
- Free toiletries
- Cribs/infant beds available
- Desk
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Iron/ironing board
- Minibar
- Pay movies
- Premium bedding
- Refrigerator (on request)
- Shower/tub combination
- Private bathroom
- In-room massage available
- Room service (limited hours)
- Pillowtop mattress
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Satellite TV service
- Free WiFi
- Free wired Internet
Where to Eat
Complimentary cookie-and-milk buffet, with a variety of freshly baked cookies, is served every night from 8-10 PM.
The Lounge - American fare. Cocktail bar. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bar open until late evening.
Club Bar - serves lunch, dinner, and drinks.
Nearby Things to Do
A sunny terrace with a spectacular 360-degree city view and teakwood chairs surrounds the rooftop lap pool and tiled spa tub. Open 24 hours, the fitness center includes cardio equipment and free weights; the cushioned flooring makes for a comfortable and quiet workout.
Memorial Park, 4.5 miles from the hotel, offers myriad recreational opportunities including an exercise trail, bird watching, sand volleyball courts, a tennis center, playing fields, and picnic facilities. Within the park are a public golf course with a lighted driving range, putting greens, and a clubhouse.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- In-room accessibility
- Roll-in shower
Hotel Policies
Check-in time ends at midnight
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are not available.
- Cribs (infant beds) are available.
- Pets stay free
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
- The name on the credit card used at check-in to pay for incidentals must be the primary name on the guestroom reservation.
- Deposit: USD 100.00
Optional extras
- Valet parking fee: USD 33 per night (in/out privileges)
- Refrigerator fee: USD 25 per stay
Hotel Name
- Houston Magnolia Hotel
- Magnolia Hotel
- Magnolia Houston Tribute Portfolio
- Magnolia Houston
- Magnolia Hotel Houston a Tribute Portfolio Hotel
- Magnolia Hotel Houston Tribute Portfolio Hotel
We should mention
This property's policy is to refuse certain bookings for the purpose of group events or parties, including pre-wedding stag/bachelor and hen/bachelorette parties. Children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


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Saturday, 27 March 2010
Cask Ale? There's an App for that.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Cask ale and lager: friends or foes?
It's Cask Ale Week next week – and Roger Protz and I will be celebrating by singing the praises of lager.
No, it's not a premature April Fool.
I wrote in January that drinking unfiltered, unpasteurized Budvar straight from the conditioning tanks in Ceske Budejovice was one of the most amazing taste experiences of my beery life so far. It was exquisite, a completely different drink, and it underlined to everyone present that great lager is every bit as superb as great ale.
Well, next week I get to drink it again, without having to go to the Czech Republic – and you can try it too.
On Tuesday night, 30th March, The White Horse at Parson's Green will be cracking open some of the unpasteurized, unfiltered nectar flown straight in from the brewery, and Protzy and I will be singing its praises and talking more generally about the difference – and similarity – between ale and lager.
I'll be focusing on what I learned at the fascinating Guild of Beer Writers lager seminar at Thornbridge about 18 months ago, questioning our conventional understanding of how you define lager, discussing examples of beers on the borderline.
Then, the Protzatolah will share some of his research on the history of lager brewing, challenging conventional wisdom that lager is inherently somehow inferior in quality to ale, and showing that lager brewing actually goes back much further than most of us think.
Admission is free but places are limited, so if you're keen, it's best to book a place with the White Horse now.
Things kick off at 7.30ish. See you there!
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Thunderbird Zero - you're fired.
Just realised I can't bring myself to use this picture any more after today.
Cask ale week - and beer versus wine again
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Hair of the Dog
Friday, 19 March 2010
Defeating the human survival gene
Yes, it looks like cat sick dressed with red onions. It's the most revolting-looking food I've seen since the Heinz sandwich paste my dad used to give me to take to school. There is no reason whatsoever why anyone should feel moved to put this in their mouths. And yet for some reason, Germans do, and the first time I went to the Bavarian Beer House, I did too.
Why Beer Matters - Third place runner up
by John Bidwell
First off, let us state the obvious - beer is just a beverage made of barley, hops, yeast and water.
To some it's a thirst quencher; to others it's a way to unwind after a long day at work. Sure, each of these uses holds a shred of importance to the individual, but why does beer matter? What has made it so ubiquitous worldwide? Why has beer become celebrated in cultures around the world? Perhaps it's because beer acts as a window into a community. It allows a town, city, or region to tell a story about who they are in liquid form. This isn't the case with all beers, but the most unique and imaginative beers begin to reveal their heritage after the first sip.
By the turn of the 21st century, the craft brewing scene had exploded; long gone were the days of mass commoditization and conglomeration. Craft beer was now commonplace, but in Santa Cruz, California, Alec Stefanski was doing something most uncommon. "It's a brown ale brewed with pork!" Alec exclaimed emphatically. He is the founder of Uncommon Brewers, a new brewery that prides itself on doing things a little differently, and he had just gotten his first shipment of pork belly to brew his new bacon nut-brown ale. Santa Cruz is a city known for its independent spirit, alternative living, and its reputation as an international nexus of organic farming. Uncommon's beers reflect Santa Cruz - they are unique, broad-minded beers flavored with an arsenal of bizarre ingredients including kaffir lime, poppies, anise, and candy cap mushrooms. The brewery is run by an offbeat staff that incorporates these ingredients into their 100% organic beers. Like so many other food and drink based businesses in Santa Cruz, Uncommon Brewers is grounded in the principles of the Slow Food movement, sourcing their ingredients from the farms in the surrounding region. To taste Uncommon is to taste the community of Santa Cruz, and if the essence of the city could be captured, it would be in one of Uncommon's signature tall boy cans. But Santa Cruz is just one of the cities that can tell a story through its beer.
Garrett Marrerro was young and powerful; he was a recent college graduate making big money as an investment consultant. Like so many others, it seemed like Garrett was destined to spend his life working 9-5 for his paycheck. Unlike many others, Garrett took a bold step: he quit his job, moved to Maui, and opened a brewery. Many others have dreamed of leaving their unfulfilling jobs and moving to paradise. With sandy beaches, a tropical climate, and palm trees, Maui is, in effect, heaven on earth to the working stiff. It's a laid back community that doesn't take anything too seriously, and Maui Brewing Co. embodies that lifestyle and the Aloha spirit. This isn't your typical Hawaiian beer that you drink at a 'luau' in line for the pineapple-glazed ham behind other tourists while a fire dancer bounces around on stage. Instead, Maui Brewing Co. produces truly local Hawaiian beer by sourcing many ingredients from the islands - CoConut Porter, anyone? Also, it is made by Hawaiians - Garrett prefers to train the local workforce as opposed to bringing in experienced mainland employees. Garrett explains: "It keeps more money on the island instead of sending ninety cents of every dollar to the mainland." This is what Garrett refers to as 'Brewing with Aloha' – buying local first and supporting the community. His philosophy has led to Maui Brewing becoming the best selling locally produced beer on the islands. Garrett, like Alec and so many others, has created a product that goes beyond barley, hops, yeast, and water. He has helped mold a community identity, and has once again shown why beer matters.
Beer is a reflection of our communities; it has the capacity to convey societal values and ideas in an accessible and unpretentious manner. Think drinking a beer isn't like tasting a community? Try one of Alec's brews, and when you taste the organic ingredients of the Santa Cruz Valley, you'll quickly reconsider. Open a can of Garrett's CoCoNut Porter and try not to envision relaxing on Wailea Beach.
Beer showcases our community bonds; it promotes our societies' collective creativity and displays our penchant for and acceptance of new ideas. The art that is created at breweries across the world is every bit as important to their communities' identities as Mozart was to Salzburg's or Van Gogh to Amsterdam's. Yet the art of beer is down-to-earth and genial. A simple trip to the pub can take the consumer from the beaches of Maui to the beer halls of Munich and any number of places in between.
Beer matters because it acts as a cultural medium between communities, a common language in which to communicate the following:
'We crafted this beer for your enjoyment, but also to let you know who we are. We crafted this beer, and it reflects the values, beliefs, and attitudes of our community. We crafted this beer from our land's ingredients and through our people's labor - both are contained within every bottle. We crafted this beer for you to know us, so drink up and enjoy.
Thursday, 18 March 2010
The Day after Paddy's Day
Liz is unusually quiet and reflective on the way to the airport, in that we're almost twenty seconds into the journey before she tells the cab driver that we've been here because I'm writing a book about beer. She gets a lot more than she bargained for in response.
The driver turns around fully in his seat, away from the busy junction we're rolling towards, to tell us that we are very, very welcome here. "That's great. That's really great. I've an idea for a book. Would you like to hear it?"
Of course, we nod and say we would love to.
He then spends the entire journey telling us how his sister had a relationship with a man from Eastern Europe who turned out to be a murderous thug. They went to live in Sweden, where the thug worked for a man who imported gold bullion. The thug's job was to follow the people who bought the bullion back to their houses, kill them and take the gold back. Eventually, criminal mastermind and hired muscle had a falling out over the absurdly high bodycount their business was creating. Hired gun murdered mastermind, along with all his family, just to be on the safe side – except one son got away. This man then turned up at a wedding and massacred the hired gun and all his family, all except our cabbie's sister, who was somehow spared. She took the hint and fled to South Africa, where she remains, too terrified to come back to Europe. But she took something valuable with her: the location of the spot where all the dodgy gold bullion had been buried, in a cemetery on the outskirts of Stockholm. She kept quiet about it for years, but when her brother, our cabbie, lost the multi-million pound fortune he had built up from property and ended up having to drive cabs, she told him the full story. He is now splitting his time between driving cabs in Dublin, and visiting Stockholm cemeteries to look for buried gold bullion and krugerrands. He has a man there doing research for him, and all our cab fares are going to pay for this man's services. However, the trail seems to have gone suspiciously cold, so perhaps this contact is trying to claim the loot for himself. Our cabbie may have to go over to Stockholm again and, er, take care of him.
He turns around to face us again, leaning over into the back of the car, his face close to ours, while doing seventy on the motorway. "D'ye think that might make a good book now?"
I tell him that it would make a fantastic book and he must write it. I give him plenty of advice on how to get an agent and a publisher. Because the alternative is to tell him that he is mad, and I don't want to do that, especially while he's driving. I'd like to ask him, if he's close to finding these missing millions, why he would want to blow it by writing the book and revealing the secret. He obviously believes his own story. The distressing thing is, it has so much detail and so many quirks of individuality I feel pretty sure there are shreds of truth in it somewhere. As I'm thinking this, he forgets about controlling the car altogether, reaches under his seat and brings out a 700-page pictorial guide to graveyards around Stockholm, starts showing us various pictures, asking us if we can read Swedish because he needs help with some of the passages.
I want to scream so badly. I don't recognise the road we're on – I'm positive we're not heading back to the airport the way I came in. We're on a new motorway that's still being built, and for the first time in my life, I visualise my own death. I know I'm going to be hacked up with a spade and buried in bin bags under a flyover.
Then we're at the airport. We leap out and get our bags. With my mouth I beg the driver to buy the Writer's Handbook. With my eyes, I beg him not to kill us. We sprint through passport control, only relaxing when the plane finally pulls away from the gate and he isn't on it.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Happy St Paddy's Day!
Beer Nut – I'm not necessarily calling you a miserable indie kid but I know how you feel on this particular issue. It might be best if you just look away now.
I like Guinness. Sorry, but I do.
I like it as a brand – it's stuck to its guns with mould-breaking, innovative creative advertising for eighty years now – and I occasionally like it as a beer.
If there was a better porter or stout on the bar, of course I would choose to drink that instead.
But the point is, in 99 out of 100 pubs, there isn't a better porter or stout on the bar. There's no porter or stout at all. Apart from Guinness.
In fact when you think about it, the fact that Guinness – a dark, bitter stout – is as ubiquitous as it is in a world dominated by pale, tasteless imitation pilsners, it is a remarkable achievement.
You might be about to comment that Guinness has been dumbed down and isn't a patch on what it used to be. I'm not in a position to disagree with you.
You might also be about to comment that Guinness isn't a 'real' stout, that it's way too bland or even that it actually tastes of nothing at all. There, I would have to disagree.
Guinness is a big brand, one of the few beers that can truly claim to have a global presence. And the main reason it's not even bigger? Survey after survey shows that the vast majority of beer drinkers find it too bitter, too challenging, too full-bodied. If Guinness were to reformulate to something as robust as the craft-brewed porters we all know and love, it would kill the brand stone dead. It might not be challenging to you, but it is to 99% of drinkers who ever come across it.
And still it survives. The success of Guinness should actually give us hop that there are enough people who like challenging beer to make brewing something a bit more challenging worthwhile.
If Guinness hadn't kept the dark flame alive when porter and stout were otherwise extinct globally, would those styles have made the triumphant comeback that's happened over the last ten years?
And there's one other thing. It's St Patrick's Day. If you really, truly believe that Guinness is shit, then go to a pub in Galway tonight and tell the people drinking there that they have crap taste in beer and don't know anything about drinking.
Good luck with that.
I'll be in the Auld Shillelagh in Stokie tonight, having a few pints, otherwise I'd come with you and help try to find your teeth on the floor of the pub.
Guinness probably holds the world record (ironic that!) for number of books written about a single beer brand. Today there's a new one out - Guinness ®: An Official Celebration of 250 Remarkable Year, from Octopus publishing. I don't know if it's any good or not, but it does have some recipes in it, and the publishers asked me if I'd put one up ande give the book a plug, so I am, because it's Paddy's day and I. Like. Guinness.
So here's one for Iced Chocolate, Guinness and orange cake.
This sumptuous cake is perfect for a special occasion. The recipe may seem a little involved, but it's easy to accomplish if tackled stage by stage.
Preparation time 45 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour
Serves 8
2 large oranges
250 g (8 oz) caster sugar
175 g (6 oz) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
150 g (5 oz) self-raising flour
25 g (1 oz) cocoa powder2 teaspoons baking powder
3 free-range eggs, beaten
25 g (1 oz) ground almonds
5 tablespoons draught Guinness
150 ml (¼ pint) double cream Icing
20 g (¾ oz) unsalted butter
50 g (2 oz) caster sugar
3 tablespoons draught Guinness
100 g (3½ oz) plain dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), finely chopped
step 1 Peel one orange. Finely grate the zest of the other orange and set aside. Using a sharp knife, pare away the pith from both oranges. Cut the oranges into 5 mm (¼ inch) slices. Put them in a small saucepan and just cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 50 g (2 oz) of the sugar and continue to simmer until all the liquid has boiled away, watching carefully to ensure that the oranges don't burn. Leave to cool.
step 2 Beat together the butter and the remaining sugar for the cake in a large bowl until very pale and fluffy. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking powder, then beat into the butter mixture alternately with the eggs. Add the ground almonds, reserved grated orange zest and Guinness and beat for 3–4 minutes until you have a soft dropping consistency.
step 3 Grease and line the base and sides of 2 x 20 cm (8 inch) round cake tins, then divide the cake mixture equally between the tins, smoothing the surface. Bake the cakes in a preheated oven, 190°C (375°F), Gas Mark 5, for 25 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before carefully turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
step 4 Whip the cream in a bowl until soft peaks form, then spread over one of the cakes. Arrange the cooled orange pieces over the cream and carefully place the other cake on top.
step 5 To make the icing, put the butter, sugar and Guinness in a small saucepan. Stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Leave to soften, then beat gently with a wooden spoon. Leave to cool and thicken. While still warm but not too runny, pour the icing over the cake and use the back of a spoon or a palette knife to spread it evenly.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
EXCLUSIVE: Marston's redefines Cask Ale
Marston's are today announcing the launch of a new initiative called Fast Cask, which the brewer believes will revolutionise the availability and quality of cask ale.
Without going into too much technical detail, Fast Cask is still cask ale because it has live yeast working in the barrel, conditioning the beer. But that yeast has been put through an innovative process that makes it form beads which do not dissolve into the beer. These beads act like sponges, drawing beer through them to create the secondary fermentation.
What this means is that Fast Cask ale casks can stand a lot rougher treatment than a standard ale cask. They don't need time to settle, which means they can be delivered to festivals and events that don't normally have cellaring facilities. If a tapped cask is knocked, moved or even upended, the beer inside will still be clear. When not in use, a cask can be stored on its end, making it much more practical in small, cramped cellars.
The process means the beer no longer requires finings, so cask ale becomes acceptable to vegans.
Casks must still be tapped and vented to allow them to breathe.
Doubtless some ale aficionados will reject this as somehow being not 'real' ale because it's not 'traditional'.
The conversation I had with Marston's was about taking a longer term historical view of the development of real ale. People who say traditional cask conditioned real ale as we know it today is 'beer as it's always been brewed' are wrong. Traditional 'running ales' have only been around since the late nineteenth century, and were themselves one result of the scientific analysis of the behaviour and properties of yeast – an analysis which was decried by many at the time because it wasn't 'traditional'. If that process bore fruit a hundred years ago, it's difficult to argue why we somehow should stop researching yeast now.
If people would simply rather have traditional cask ale that's fine – Marston's have no plans to phase it out, and will be offering Fast Cask alongside traditional cask.
We often talk about how cask ale is a living, breathing thing. Well living, breathing things evolve and grow and develop. Fast Cask is simply the next stage in cask ale's evolution.
Hopefully it will be accepted as such rather than decried in a rerun of the whole cask breathers debate. Because like cask breathers, it makes no difference whatsoever to the quality or character of the beer. It's still living, breathing real ale.
And it's a move that helps spread the appreciation of that ale to people and places it can't currently reach. Anyone who thinks that's a bad thing really needs to have a word with themselves.
If you want to try it out, look out for Pedigree and Hobgoblin during Cask Ale Week (29th March to 5th April).
So what do you think? Is this good? Bad? Significant or not? Do you want to taste the beer first and then decide, or have you already made up your mind?
The Beatles and the Stones
I'm not going to describe brewing as the new rock and roll because that would be unforgivable, but the excitement of discovering a new beer, the sense of an underground, an alternative to the mainstream, the hype and buzz that occasionally surround an 'important' new release… they're very similar. If you took away the music analogy and my other favourite – seeing the brewing industry in terms of Monty Python films – I'd struggle to describe how I feel about beer and brewing.
With that in mind, I was struck recently by the strongest parallel to date. And it's this: Thornbridge and Brew Dog are the Beatles and the Stones.
In the early sixties, the Beatles and the Stones tore up the blueprint of popular music and redefined it forever. They took established forms – rock and roll, rhythm and blues – and while they showed immense respect for these traditions, they twisted them into brand new shapes.The influence of both is inarguable and still felt today.
But the two bands were quite different in the way they came across, and people talked about which they preferred.
You could obviously appreciate both, but you probably had a definite preference for one over the other.
Thornbridge and Brew Dog are symbiotically linked in my mind because when I first met Thornbridge, Martin Dickie was joint brewer there with Stefano Cossi. Since they went their separate ways they've remained on good terms (when I brewed at Thornbridge, the screensaver on the brewery laptop was a big photo of Martin). They've developed very similar beers – Martin first explored the wood aging that would lead him to Paradox and beyond with Thornbridge's wonderful St Petersburg. And Jaipur and Punk IPA are clearly related.
A couple of weeks ago, each brewery sent me some beer to try. Brew Dog sent a bottle of Sink the Bismarck! And Thornbridge delivered a few bottles of Jaipur that's been centrifuged rather than pasteurized and/or cold filtered. This weekend, I tried them both.
Both IPAs, both from new wave rock and roll brewers. Jaipur the latest Beatles remix, Sink! the challenging new release from Their Satantic Majesties.
I'm actually going to have to discuss the beers in a separate blog post now because there is so much to say about Sink! in particular, so I'll let this observation – originally intended as an intro to a blog about beer tastings – stand on its own.
Please let's not get into which one of the Bakewell lot is Ringo, and whether James Watt is more Mick Jagger or Andrew Loog Oldham – I don't want to get down to the personal level (though I'll give you Martin Dickie as Keith Richards – there's even a passing physical resemblance to the young Keef).
But if the analogy is true, can we extend it? Who is the brewing world's Simply Red, its Joy Division or Black Lace?
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Why Beer Matters - The Results!
Hold the front page - Daily Mail twists truth to scare people over drink
It's like shooting fish in a barrel these days I know, but after being alerted to this by a fellow blogger, I couldn't let it pass without comment.
- Wetherspoons will NOT be serving alcohol when they open at 7am - they won't be serving alcohol till 9am - meaning the headline is factually inaccurate:
- Wetherspoons ALREADY serve alcohol from 9am - so this is not news - in terms of pursuing its anti-drink agenda, there is actually no story here. Wetherspoons is NOT extending the hours during which it serves alcohol, even though the story is desperately trying to make you think they are.
What's that you say? Under-age drinking is rising? Oh hang on, no, that's not what you said is it? Because under age drinking is not rising, and you know it's not rising. In fact every single survey conducted since the new licensing laws were introduced, such as those surveys discussed here and here, shows that underage drinking is FALLING.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Government report says Mandatory Code on pubs not needed - govt introduces it anyway
A question that looms in responses across strands and across audiences is whether the regulation
of the on-trade needs as much tightening as the Consultation Document suggests. It is stressed
that most premises are not hubs of crime and disorder. Where problems may arise, many feel that
the enforcement of existing legislation as well as voluntary local partnerships can go a long way in
addressing them. Many measures are already considered good practice and it is questioned
whether further legislation is therefore needed.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
At conference
Writing this on my way home from the SIBA annual conference, on a cold, draughty train with no tables, no refreshment trolley, no power sockets. Wedged sideways on a hard, narrow seat, developing pins and needles in my left leg which is curled up to provide a surface for the laptop, the cold grey light, bare branches and churned, muddy fields gliding past the window, everything conspiring to accentuate what was a surprisingly mild hangover, draw out the nuances of it, develop the waves of pain and nausea like a symphony orchestra playing variations on a theme, and turn it into something that forces me to seriously contemplate tearing my eyeballs from their sockets.
But it was worth every groan, whimper and noxious whiff.
I first went to SIBA two years ago, to present a summary of the first Cask Report. They treated me well, looked after me, and I said yes like a shot when they asked me back to present on the second cask report a year later. But three years running felt like overkill, so this year I wasn't invited to speak. It got to Monday and I thought, sod it, there's no actual reason for me to go this year, but it's such a good crack I'll go anyway. Not for the speeches and presentations – even though some of them were quite good, they weren't really aimed at me – but for the chance to be in a room full of brewers sharing their beers.
Every year a local MP or mayor will open the conference and inevitably talk about how real ale is not a binge drink, and everyone will nod furiously, and throughout the day the theme will be referred back to in presentation after presentation – real ale drinkers are moderate drinkers, responsible drinkers, you can't really binge drink real ale, and we all nod every time it comes up, and then at 5pm the speeches finish and we charge the bar and get riotously, deliciously hoonered on real ale. SIBA conference drinking is drinking with gusto, with relish. It's hearty drinking, lustful for life drinking, and more importantly, it's only £1.50 a pint.
The conference (or just 'conference' without the definite article according to the people running the thing – it makes it sound more important) also sees the announcement of the winners of the SIBA National Brewing Competition, which is becoming a serious contender to CAMRA's Champion Beer of Britain.
The overall winner was Triple Chocoholic from the Saltaire Brewery in Bradford, also winner of the speciality beer category. Brewed with chocolate malt, actual chocolate and chocolate syrup towards the end, it's a very easy beer to write tasting notes for; a very difficult beer to write good tasting notes for. It's very, very chocolatey and very, very gorgeous. Sorry, that's the best I can do.
Saltaire also won their category for their Cascade Pale Ale. People have been murmuring about Saltaire for a while now, they've won a bagful of awards already, but this felt like a coming out party for them. Definitely a brewery to watch, and after chatting to the brewer after dinner I'm looking forward to arranging a visit as soon as I can.
Thornbridge Lord Marples, Bank Top's Dark Mild, Salopian Darwin's Origin, Green Mill Big Chief Bitter, Dorothy Goodbody's Country Ale, Blue Monkey Guerilla and St Austell Proper Job were the other category winners.
And Christ, I've laughed a lot in the last two days. Sometimes I laughed at someone's expense (I'm sorry, but even if the bloke selling stillaging units has never seen Swiss Toni on The Fast Show, he still can't be forgiven for that haircut, moustache and grey suit combination) but mostly I laughed because the people I was in conversation with were extremely funny.
The theme of the conference was people – working with people, valuing people you work with, getting the best out of them. It brought home just what a people business the beer business is. That's a rubbish thing to say, because every single business on the planet is a people business, but what we mean is that it's a sociable business.
Someone on my table at dinner last night told a story about when he was at another conference in a hotel, and in the bar afterwards he was sitting enjoying a few beers with some of the other delegates. There was another conference in the same hotel – packaging or IT systems or insurance or something – and the guy in charge of that conference decided to – ahem – 'work the room'. He came over to our brewer's table and said, "Hi, what do you guys do?"
"We're brewers," replied the brewer.
"Right! Cool. Which brewery?"
"Well… we all work for different breweries."
The guy was incredulous. "I'd get fired if I did something like that! There's no way we could simply sit round a table having a laugh with our competitors. It just wouldn't happen."
This is one of the things I love most about beer. You doubtless have a pile of stories yourself that illustrate the same point. And it's why I get so bleeding angry when the infighting starts. We're better than that. We have something no one else has.
SIBA has its critics, as do small brewers generally (I was in a room recently where one big brewer turned a small brewer he'd only just met and said "You lot are all parasites.") And SIBA itself has its own share of infighting and politicking. There are always issues and genuine areas of disagreement, competing priorities and conflicts. And I'm lucky that I can stay half in, half out of such conflicts, not being a brewer or pub owner myself. But the sociability and the common cause are much greater, much more important.
Which is why I'll be at 'conference' again this time next year.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
The Special Relationship
Wikio Rankings for February
Ranking by Wikio
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Exclusive - more details about the future of Tetley's
In 2008 Carlsberg UK announced that the brewery in Leeds would be closing. Today they've announced that from 2011, Marstons will brew Tetley's Cask in Wolverhampton, while Smoothflow will be brewed by Molson Coors in Tadcaster. Carlsberg say they are delighted that most of the volume brewed will be remaing in Yorkshire, and that with cask, they looked into every option for keeping it in Yorkshire but this proved not to be possible.
I've just had a chat with Darran Britton, Carlsberg UK's marketing director, and got a bit more background. I'll scribble down what he said first, and reserve some personal reflections till the end of this post.
The most contentious part of the whole deal is the move of cask out of Yorkshire. Was there really 'no other option?'
"It may not be as fashionable as it once was, but Tetley's is a still a very sizeable cask ale," replied Britton, "it needed somewhere with enough excess capacity. But it also needed someone who is experienced in brewing other people's beers, someone who is technically excellent."
Lots of names have been speculated - Black Sheep, Timothy Taylor's, Heineken (as in John Smith's in Tadcaster) but if you agree with those criteria - and it's hard not to - then it's difficult to disagree with the conclusion, however unpalatable it may be.
So why Marston's?
"They have a great reputation for their ales, and they're an experienced contract brewer. In Wolverhampton they have traditional square fermenters, which Tetley's has always been brewed in. We'll work with them to keep the same recipe, the same ingredients, and we'll continue using Tetley's unique two-strain yeast."
And what about Leeds? What are the plans for the brewery site?
"Production in Leeds will end mid-2011. We'll be transferring the brewing earlier in the year. We're in talks with Leeds council about their plans for the city, but there are no plans for the site yet."
Tetley's - like its counterparts Worthington's, John Smiths and Boddington's - has been in a phase of managed decline for several years now, ceding the cask ale market to regionals and local brewers. Now that cask ale is back in growth - tiny, tiny growth, but growth nonetheless - will this move coincide with renewed support behind the brand? To be clear, Carlsberg is retaining ownership of Tetley's for the foreseeable future, with Molson Coors and Marston's brewing on a contract basis. Despite this, I'm reminded of when Courage brands moved from S&N, who clearly didn't want them, to Well's & Young's, who did. In that case there was a change of ownership, but it saw the beers being revitalised to a dramatic extent. As I said, this move for Tetley's is different, but after reports of new investment and the return of the huntsman to the brand's identity, I wondered if this was a cue for somer kind of relaunch.
Britton refused to be drawn, saying more that this was "business as usual". Rather than there being any renewed energy behind the brand, he insisted that there wouldn't be any less support behind it, that investment will continue, and that there'll be a new sampling campaign later this year.
So there we go.
In my job, I get to see both sides of stories like this. Sometimes I'm with the marketers when difficult decisions have to be made, when the harsh realities of modern business and the demands of shareholders make unpalatable choices inevitable. Other times I get to be a beer fan, and to be able to say "Fuck the shareholders, this is beer we're talking about! A short term view not only betrays the core drinkers of the brand, it actually doesn't make sound business sense in the long view."
In this case, I'm torn. I am grief-stricken at what has happened to Tetley's, appalled that the link between the brand and the city of Leeds will be broken. ("Tetley's will always have a relationship with Leeds", insists Britton, but that relationship will only exist in an abstract, emotional sense). I'm frustrated that for one of the biggest beer brands in the country, Carlsberg seems unable to make the huge power of provenance and place of origin make commercial sense for them. Lots of people will say that Tetley's can never taste the same if it's brewed in Wolverhampton but I'm not one of them - it'll taste exactly the same. But it's not about that - it's about the story, the soul of the beer.
On the other hand, I feel we have to accept the commercial reality that it no longer makes business sense for big breweries to sit on lots of expensive land in city centres. We don't have to like it. We can rage against it. But that doesn't stop it from being true. It's difficult enough to make money in brewing.
I think that to fairly criticise Carlsberg for what they've announced today, you have to be able to suggest something they could have done instead.
Keeping the Leeds brewery open was not an option. Moving cask to another brewery in Yorkshire was - if we take Britton at his word - not an option.
The one thing I think may have been an option, and which I'm disappointed by, is not keeping a small part of the space in Leeds and continuing to brew cask there. Most of the land is a massive distribution centre, which would be way better somewhere else. It doesn't make much difference at all where Smoothflow is brewed and I'm not sure any0ne cares. But if you sold off all that lot, and kept hold of the old brewery bit or redeveloped a new purpose-built cask ale brewery for a few million quid, this could only have enhanced whatever plans Leeds will eventually have for the space (I'm guessing "luxury apartments" with the odd Starbucks and panini shop.) It would add heritage, character and romance, something uniquely Leeds, to what is sure to be a development that will look identical to any city in the UK. This would have sent the right signals to the ale community, given the city a stake, mollified hardcore Tetley's fans. Maybe they looked at this option and found reasons why it wasn't viable. Maybe not. But the fact that it is not happening is a crying shame.
I have no problem whatsoever with Marston's - they certainly know how to brew beer.
I think Britton is right - it will be business as usual. Nothing will change in the beer itself. And it has always been a decent cask pint, brewed with love and care, no matter what anyone thinks.
But I had hoped that this would be more than business as usual. It's emotional and sentimental because that's what beer is, but when Tetley's cask is no longer brewed in Leeds, I for one will have one less reason to drink the beer. I'd rather been hoping for new reasons to drink it instead. Sadly, I've heard nothing to suggest that there will be.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Get an overview of this hotelContemporary hotel overlooking Biscayne Bay
Popular property highlights
On Brickell Avenue
Located in the heart of downtown Miami's financial district, Conrad Miami is located on Brickell Avenue and is 2.5 miles from the Port of Miami, 5 miles from South Beach, and 8 miles from Miami International Airport. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is 26 miles away.
Rooftop pool
Conrad Miami features a 24th-floor spa that offers over 60 treatment options, a 3-lane outdoor lap pool, 2 tennis courts, and a restaurant on the 25th floor with sweeping views of Biscayne Bay.
Bathrobes, slippers
Stylish accommodations at Conrad Miami feature beds with 500-thread-count linens, pillow menus, and views of the city or Biscayne Bay. Marble bathrooms have designer bath products, bathrobes, slippers, and hair dryers. All guestrooms include an Illy Expresso Machines.
Guest Highlights
- Good location
- Pool
- Helpful staff
- Clean guestrooms
Conrad Miami
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
Conrad Miami is located in Miami's financial district, five miles from South Beach. The 25th-floor Sky Lobby features panoramic views of Miami and Key Biscayne. Atrio Restaurant & Wine Room features globally inspired cuisine along with sunset views. Guests can also enjoy a cocktail at The Bar at LvL 25.
Amenities at Conrad Miami include a sauna, an outdoor lap pool with private cabanas, pool sun loungers, a spa tub, and rooftop two tennis courts. Poolside service from Soleil includes beverages, burgers, and grilled skewers.
The Spa at Conrad, on the 24th floor, contains 10 treatment rooms and offers more than 60 health and skin treatments. Personal training and nutrition consultations are available in the 24-hour fitness center, which also provides strength-training equipment.
The hotel provides over 20,000-square-feet of meeting space, including the 3,869-square-foot Conrad Ballroom, as well as a business center. Concierge services are available. Complimentary wireless Internet access and a computer station are available on site. Wired Internet is available for a fee.
- Outdoor pool
- Full-service spa
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Sauna
- Spa tub
- Free newspapers in lobby
- Babysitting or childcare (surcharge)
- Restaurant
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- Business center
- Porter/bellhop
- Express check-out
- 24-hour front desk
- Multilingual staff
- Express check-in
- Total number of rooms - 319
- Number of floors - 36
- ATM/banking
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Elevator/lift
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Tennis on site
- Bar/lounge
- Wedding services
- Coffee shop or café
- Concierge services
- 24-hour fitness facilities
- Designated smoking areas (fines apply)
- Free WiFi
- Computer station
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Designated smoking areas
- Luggage storage
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Shopping on site
- Laundry facilities
- Wired Internet access - surcharge
- Limo or Town Car service available
- Meeting rooms 12
- Rooftop terrace
- Poolside bar
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Outdoor tennis courts - 2
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Year Built 2004
- Free pool cabanas
- Pool sun loungers
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Spa services on site
- Television in common areas
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi , Free wired Internet
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi , Wired high-speed internet ( USD 14.95 per day )
Self parking (surcharge), Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Premium TV channels
- Pay movies
- Premium bedding
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Air conditioning
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Phone
- Free bottled water
- Turndown service
- Private bathroom
- Designer toiletries
- Bathrobes
- Free toiletries
- Hair dryer
- In-room massage available
- Slippers
- Separate bathtub and shower
- Deep soaking bathtub
- In-room childcare (surcharge)
- DVD player
- In-room safe (laptop compatible)
- Iron/ironing board
- Desk
- Daily housekeeping
- Digital TV service
- Free WiFi
- Free wired Internet
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- iPod docking station
- Free newspaper
- Room service (limited hours)
- Down comforter
- Egyptian-cotton sheets
- First-run movies
- Pillowtop mattress
- Pillow menu
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Espresso maker
Where to Eat
Level 25 - Restaurant and lounge located on the 25th floor.
Atrio Restaurant & Wine Room - Views of the city from a glittering 36-story glass tower and a unique wine attic with over 200 vintages. Innovative menu combining globally-influenced cuisine and an eclectic mix of appetizers, entrées, and desserts that feature the best of Florida's locally caught fish, prime meats, and produce.
The Wine Attic - Offers wine.
The Bar - Features specialty cocktails.
A daily breakfast buffet (surcharge) is served from 7 AM to 10:30 AM in the hotel restaurant.
Nearby Things to Do
The Rooftop is located poolside and includes private cabanas, a spa tub, tennis courts, and views of the city and Biscayne Bay.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Golfing nearby
- Snorkeling nearby
- Surfing/boogie boarding nearby
- Kayaking nearby
- Sailing nearby
- Water skiing nearby
- Windsurfing nearby
- Scooter/moped rentals nearby
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Parasailing nearby
- Skydiving nearby
- Golf lessons available nearby
- Segway rental/tour nearby
- Mountain biking on site
- Pilates classes on site
- Tennis lessons on site
- Yoga classes/instruction on site
- Boat tours nearby
Spa Services
The Spa at Conrad features 10 treatment rooms and offers a variety of personalized skin and body therapies. A 24-hour fitness center is adjacent to the spa.
- Number of treatment rooms 10
- Outdoor treatment areas
- Couples treatment rooms
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body wraps
- Body scrubs
- Aromatherapy treatments
- Hydrotherapy treatments
- Sauna in spa
- Spa tub in spa
- Massages
- Minimum age to access spa is 12
- Body treatments
- Facial treatments
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Minimum check-in age is 18
Check-in time ends at midnight
Check-in time starts at 3 PM
Check-out time is noon
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD $40 per night.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets not allowed
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
Optional extras
- Fee for buffet breakfast: USD $27+ TAX for adults and USD 14+tax for children (approximately)
- Fee for wired Internet in public areas: USD 14.95 per day (rates may vary)
- Self parking fee: USD 28 per day
- Valet parking fee: USD 38 per day (in/out privileges)
- Early check-in fee: USD 150.00
- Late check-out fee: USD 150.00
- Rollaway bed fee: USD $40 per night
Hotel Name
- Conrad Hotel Miami
- Conrad Miami
- Miami Conrad
- Conrad Miami Hotel Miami
- Conrad Miami Hotel
We should mention
Reservations are required for massage services and spa treatments. Reservations can be made by contacting the hotel prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation.


text:
So I just got back from our fancy graduation party downtown at this rooftop club. Since for the first time ever at GSAPP I have nothing to do tomorrow, I decided to post some stuff thats long due. During my winter break I worked for Mark Rakatansky, my summer teacher on a project he is developing for Queens College. It is a media center which is part of a bunch of on going projects at QC that he calls "recombinant campus". Its sort of a collection of DNA that he mutates according to the particularities of each specific site within the college / programmatic requirements / neighboring structure's tectonics etc etc. So in this case he his main concern was a spatial / volumetric negociation between an existing old-skool building, a horrible half-moon pavillion and and open theater he designed previously. On that open theater he had developed a tectonic shceme which consisted of small bundles of metal tubes which would create a responsive system that could congeal when punctual strenght was needed, and then break apart and weave, intertwine or spread when contigent conditions were encountered.
Unfortunately, I dont have the final renders we submitted to the client cause they where made extra-hot by the great Bill Arbizu and so, I dont have them here in my laptop, but I guess these working renders suffice. (BTW, I only helped on the development of the tectonic scheme, Mark had already come up with the volume)
Conceptual tectonic scheme // a bunch of tiny's reconfigure themselves into a bulky column, window mullions or trusses according to programmatic / spatial needs...
Trussing mullion/column bundles
Mutated tiny's reconfiguring as demanded
Staircase volume developing a "lip-tumor" in response to the preassure of the existing open theater (the volume aknowledging its surroundings)
More examples of tectonic/volumetric response in regards to site / program conditions
This is Mark's website in case anyone wants to get a hold of all the theoretical stuff that motivates all these things... http://www.mr-studio.com/ The site is pretty weak now, I dont even know if it will be running cause I heard they were revamping it but I think there are some essays there....
Aside from that I think I will be TAing for him on the new batch of AAD's these summer at GSAPP and working parallely on a house he is building now in Seoul for some top exec. So if i dont get shut down by the administration, I will be posting a lot of these "real" Columbia projects plus stolen images from the work of the summer AAD's from Mark's studio these coming summer....
(we are graduating on wednesday...I used to look 18, now I look 45)
Hope you had fun in Graduation day, I loved having my family over from Barcelona as it was pretty special for us because it was also the first time that my wife's family and mines met for the first time. (In case you didn't know Zoe and I met while in first year at the GSAP (circa 2002)...and now were married and studio partners!)
Congratulations and I don't think we would pull your plug so keep the entries coming in!
this is a legit question:
how do you explain your (in this case you and mark) intention to the client? i don't know if the client buy the 'Conceptual tectonic scheme // a bunch of tiny's reconfigure themselves into a bulky column, window mullions or trusses according to programmatic / spatial needs...Staircase volume developing a "lip-tumor" in response to the preassure of the existing open theater (the volume aknowledging its surroundings)
' .
or do you prepare a separate explanation for the non architecture public (like the client) and the architecture public + academia (or should i say the 'intellectual' architects) ?? anyone care to answer?
Are you sure you want to block this user and hide all related comments throughout the site?
After 6 years working at a commercial firm in London and setting up my own practice with collegues from the AA to deliver a comission for a tower we won in India, I am embarking on a new adventure as studio leader for a local firm in China, trying to reconnect with the experimental mind set I used to have during my days at GSAPP


text:
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text:
Garlic chicken. Potato salad. Macaroni salad. That first meal after 36 years behind bars was as good as a gold album for Rick Stevens.
"Real food," he said. "In the pen, we call it fuel. That's all it was. Fuel, not food."
Today is the six-month anniversary of Stevens' freedom, his parole signed off by Gov. Jerry Brown after seemingly endless rejections by the state parole board.
It was half his life ago that the former lead vocalist for Tower of Power was convicted of one count of manslaughter and two counts of murder after a drug deal went horribly bad.
Only the Supreme Court's decision eliminating the death sentence in California saved Stevens, his punishment commuted to seven years to life.
On the inside, it was his status as singer for the Oakland funk group that kept him alive, said Stevens, the smooth voice behind "You're Still a Young Man."
Because of the case's publicity -- the Seattle Times called it one of history's Top 11 Most Notorious Rock 'n' Roll Crimes -- "everyone knew I was coming" said Stevens when he arrived in prison.
"Music served me well," Stevens said. "It was a blessing. I could walk among the Crips, the Bloods, the Nortenos, the Skinheads, bikers."
Not that Stevens was impervious to those who may not have been one of his devoted fans.
"I've had my back up against the wall," said Stevens. "In prison, you might find yourself in a cell with a guy who is a complete a-hole. You don't sleep until you ask the guards if it's cool. Sometimes you have to ask for a cell swap. A lot of times, that happened."
Stevens said he not only deserved the conviction, but the original death sentence.
"Absolutely, he said. "It was fair. The jury found me guilty. I was ready for the gas chamber. I said to them, 'I know this was not an easy decision for a lot of you who felt I deserved it. I have no ill will toward you. God bless you all. Thank you.' "
Stevens talked by phone earlier this week, continuing his transition to freedom in Antioch, where he lives with his oldest son. Stevens makes his first publicized appearance Thursday in San Francisco, delivering his trademark song on behalf of autism awareness and The Voices of Latin Rock concert at Bimbo's.
The event, coordinated by Vallejoans Jeff Trager and Ron Sansoe, should show that Stevens still has the pipes, Trager said.
"Rick did his time," Trager said. "And now he's back singing one of the most requested Tower of Power songs in the group's 40 years."
Emilio Castillo, co-founder and leader of TOP, said in 2002 that Stevens "was one of the greatest singers that ever lived. If it hadn't been for the drugs, he'd have been a star."
Though Stevens was a few years removed from departing Tower when the murders occurred, his former colleagues were still stunned when the shootings went down, Castillo said this week from his Arizona home.
"We were all in total shock," Castillo said. "All of us were hanging out with some pretty heavy hitters in the drug scene, so stuff like that could happen at any time. But his crime and conviction was very sad."
Stevens served time in San Quentin, Vacaville, Folsom and the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo. He did his last 21 years at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione.
Stevens read to pass the time. The Bible. The Torah. The Koran. Daily newspapers. And watched PBS.
"It was an education," he said. "Some people study at Penn State. I studied at the state pen."
As the warden's assistant at Folsom and "quasi counselor" for other inmates, Stevens had a leash few prisoners had, much like Tim Robbins' character in "The Shawshank Redemption," which the inmates had access to via videos.
"I saw it with a bunch of guys in the penitentiary," said Stevens, incarcerated only a short time when he saw the film. "It was an eye-opening experience. You make the wrong move or say the wrong thing and you can get your head taken off."
The film, Stevens said, "was on the money. There is just as much stupid stuff going on in prison as here (in freedom)."
Castillo and other Tower players reunited with Stevens at a Berkeley recording studio a few month's after the singer's release.
"Really emotional," Castillo said. "So many years had passed and he looked so great. He was very apologetic and I just told him that I was glad he was OK."
Castillo, a born-again Christian, said he was "personally overwhelmed by the power of God."
Castillo last spoke with Stevens in 2008 in prison.
"I was trying to get him a special leave to come and participate in our 40th anniversary DVD, but the prison wouldn't allow it," Castillo said.
Stevens said his 10 children from four marriages were never angry or bitter with their father.
"Unconditional love," Stevens said. "They saw the news and read the papers. I was always vocal about what happened."
Stevens laughed.
"We're probably as dysfunctional as the Jacksons, but nonetheless we're all together," he said.
Perhaps the toughest part of incarceration was quitting drugs cold turkey when Stevens first arrived. After three weeks, he was able to eat a candy bar and keep water down. He started working out. Push-ups. Basketball. He entered prison life at 150 pounds on his 5-foot-9 frame and emerged 36 years later a solid 170.
Still, "You always had to be aware," Stevens said. "Always look behind you."
A movie about his life story is in the works by a Hollywood producer, with Terrence Howard possibly in the lead role, he said.
For now, he's looking to start a new band, new recording career and a new life.
"I'd like another shot at the golden ring," he said. "One more gold record, one more platinum."
"Rick is a really talented singer with a great presence and he has an extremely unique story, so I think the sky's the limit," Castillo said. "I think the most important thing is for him to grow in his walk with the Lord, doing God's will and helping others to avoid making the mistakes that he made. If he does that, there's no limit to what he can do."
No matter how big a movie about his life could be or how well his music career recovers, Stevens said he'll never erase what he did or its memory.
"I'm sorry for what I did," he said. "I'll always remember it and it will always be with me."
One can't change history, Stevens said.
"It's all brought me back to this day," he said, laughing, "I'm still a young man."


text:
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Recently Played (out of ten):
Mario Kart 8 (Wii U)- 9.5
Wolfenstein: The New Order (PS4)- 8
Shovel Knight (Wii U)- 9
The Last Of Us: Remastered (PS4)- 10
Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)- 8.5
"I'm so damn good when I'm finished there won't be a dry eye - or dry seat - sorry ladies - in the entire arena." #HEEL
"Batista just got knocked, sshhlapped the hell out!!!!"
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text:
Boat Tests
- Salish Sea
- Salish Sea 48
- 2013
- Cruiser
- 60 gal.
- 27.1 knots
- 33.4 knots
- 1/13-kW Mastervolt
- 48'0"
- 15'10"
- 4'0"
- 44,005 lb.
- 2/700-mhp Volvo Penta IPS900 diesels
- 600 gal.
- 130 gal.
Layout Diagram
CONDITIONS DURING BOAT TESTAir temperature: 64°F; humidity: 78%; seas: smooth; wind: variable, light
LOAD DURING BOAT TEST240 gal. fuel, 80 gal. water, 3 persons, 200 lb. gear.
2/600-mhp Volvo Penta IPS800 diesels
IPS2B w/1.59:1 ratio
Volvo Penta P3 propset
The Numbers
|Salish Sea 48 - Final Boat Test Numbers:
|Speeds are two-way averages measured with Furuno GPS. GPH taken from Volvo Penta display. Range based on 90% of advertised fuel capacity. Sound levels measured at the lower helm. 65 dB(A) is the level of normal conversation.
Positive Attitude
Yeah, she's got some traditional New England flair, but the fine-running Salish Sea 48 is also a modern, smartly crafted West Coast cruiser.
We were coming back into Port Townsend, Washington, from our sea trial. I was operating the Salish Sea 48 from the upper station (my favorite spot to run a boat) and the prospect ahead looked workable—not much wind in Point Hudson Marina, a steady outgoing tide, and just enough berthing space to squeeze in nicely. But I could tell the guy seated on the comfy lounge nearby, Salish Sea's marketing rep/management consultant Stuart Archer, was growing restive. Earlier, when I'd asked whether I might dock the 48 at trial's end, he'd been so inspired by the top-dog performance data we were recording that he'd euphorically agreed.
But now, second thoughts seemed to be percolating, some likely focused on our 48's rather substantial $2,232,820 price tag, and some on a question that was almost surely bugging him by now, given that the two of us had only just met—yeah, a guy from Power & Motoryacht oughta know something about boats, but could he handle one dockside without scraping off a streak of Awlgrip?
I shifted our 600-horsepower Volvo Penta IPS800s into idle, energized the joystick, and let the 48 ghost abeam of her slip. In the meantime, our third crewmember, Power & Motoryacht's publisher Arnie Hammerman, casually descended to the huge teak-planked cockpit to deploy fenders and make ready for a portside tie, a necessary scenario (related to shorepower hookup) that meant I'd need to rotate the boat through 180 degrees and then walk her straight into a parking spot between a motorcruiser and a ketch.
"Um," said Archer, "maybe I'll stay up here in case you need help."
"No problem, Stuart," I replied, just as I began twisting the top of the joystick ever so slightly to port, an action that began nicely rotating the 48 in the same direction. Archer looked on with hawk-like attention. Then, about halfway through the rotation, shortly after I'd tossed some rather adroit (if I do say so myself) sideways action into the mix to compensate for a rousingly stiff current, he slapped me on the back. "Heck Bill, you got it," he said, then headed merrily below to help Hammerman.
And I did indubitably have it. While not all vessels equipped with pod drives evince equal levels of maneuvering delicacy, the 48 was so supremely able I guess she made me look pretty darn able as well. Indeed, in addition to the superb balance she'd exhibited during her earlier open-water showing (due in large part to the placement of her mains atop her
longitudinal center of gravity or LCG), the superb array of sightlines she offered while I stood at the helm, and the inboard location of her joystick control (which made the thing eminently easy to use, whether I was standing or sitting, facing forward or aft), she had something extra—that rare, ineffable quality that not only inspires and enlivens an operator but sends pulses of pure, boat-handling delight up his weathered old spine.
Of course, the fun I was having had actually commenced with the 48's performance out on Admiralty Inlet where we'd done the sea trial. Quite frankly, it'd been years since I'd seen such a wholly perfect set of running attitudes, a prime indicator of the superb balance I just mentioned. Most experts say the optimum angle of attack for a planing boat is somewhere between 2 and 4 degrees and, without the use of our Humphree Interceptor tabs, the 48 remained within that range throughout the whole rpm register, even while coming out of the hole.
Additionally, the 3.2:1 length-to-beam ratio of the 48's underbody (the area "entrained by the chines," according to her naval architect Doug Zurn) made her relatively long, narrow, modified-V running surface both fast and fuel efficient, notwithstanding construction methods that feature beefy scantlings and a moderate heft, in spite of some resin-infused weight savings. Certainly, burning approximately 59 gallons per hour for a top speed of 33.4 knots seemed pretty sweet while I zoomed along, but throttling back to a cruise speed of 27.1 knots cut the burn to 39 gallons per hour, for an operating efficiency of .69 nautical miles per gallon, which seemed way sweeter.
"Take a look at the interior," Archer suggested as he lowered the 48's unusual cockpit tailgate (with removable carbon-fiber arms for dinghy carriage and deployment) so Hammerman could more easily deal with the shore-power cord. "You'll like it."
While the positive experiences onboard that morning had already been numerous, I was fixin' to have a repetition, as we say down south of the Mason-Dixon. Upon entering the saloon, my first reaction was silent transfixion. The gleaming maple floor (with narrow, interstitial teak strips); the honey-hued joinery (Douglas fir principally, trimmed with stone-hard Pacific yew); the contrasting green upholstery fabrics (with smooth, slippery, UltraLeather borders to facilitate taking a seat); and the matching mottled-green South American marble countertops—the eye-popping
mélange produced one of the prettiest, brightest boat saloons I'd seen in a while.
"Watch this," enthused Archer as he zooped down the saloon's side windows to catch the breeze and then the galley window at the rear so that, with the transom tailgate still down, I could see the tidal current whipping by, right out the stern of the boat. "The gate not only facilitates swimming, diving, and working the dinghy," he said, "it sorta maximizes your connection to the environment."
The accommodations spaces on the lower deck were equally glamorous and surprisingly ample, with three truly livable staterooms—an en suite master up forward, a VIP with adjoining dayhead aft and to port, and a guest aft and to starboard. What I especially liked here was the Alaskan yellow-cedar ceiling planking along the hullsides—it perfectly complemented all the other lovely Pacific Northwestern woods onboard.
The last thing I looked at was the engine room, which I accessed from the saloon via a hatch backed with 5 inches of Soundown noise-blocking foam encased in a carefully crafted, white-enameled, perforated-aluminum protective cover. Stoop headroom (approximately 53 inches) was the order of the day here, along with belt-and-suspenders engineering.
Groco seacocks for the genset and other through-hulls, for example, were massive, with giant levers—no cheater pipes necessary here. The seawater and freshwater pumps, from Baldor and Stingray respectively, were also robust and outfitted with big, clear-bowl-type filters, the better to see water-supply issues before they turn problematic. Hose clamps were doubled, both below and above the waterline. And many of the ancillaries (like the Reverso oil-change unit and the duplex Racors on the forward firewall) were mounted on crisply routed StarBoard landing pads that were, in turn, bolted to underlying bulkheads or shelves. Again, belt and suspenders.
"Solid equipment solidly installed," I
synopsized, climbing out.
"We're a new company—it's our first boat," Archer replied, slapping me on the back for the second time that day, "We just wanna make sure nothin' goes wrong."
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This article originally appeared in the April 2013 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.


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Alumni Success Story
Professional Masters Program Alumni Discuss Their Success
Recent graduates from the Stategic Communication Professional Masters Program are excelling in their fields, and have high praise for the classes they took at AU, which they say helped prepare them for their jobs.
The Professional Masters Program in Strategic Communication, which was recently named one of the top five public relations graduate programs in the nation by PRWeek, is designed for the working professional who wants to take their career to the next level. The program prepares graduates for leadership roles in strategic communication for public and private sector organizations. Graduates become stronger advocates for their organization's strategic goals and objectives. They learn ways to effectively target audiences, ways to create compelling messages and best communication practices in a changing world of new media and evolving technology.
Ayofemi Kirby is the Communications Director for the United States Congress. She says that knowing her audience is a skill she developed while at SOC. "Knowing the audiences requires a different approach to engagement which includes research, empathy and the willingness to be wrong and make adjustments," said Kirby. "This is an important lesson I learned at AU that think about and do my best to apply every day." Read full Q@A
Corinne Hoare is the Strategic Outreach Director for Public Notice and a professor in American University's Public Communication department. She said the reason she enjoyed the program was because of its diversity. "We were comprised of people from different countries, backgrounds, ages, and political affiliations," said Hoare. "Some had a lot of work experience and some only had a few years. Every one of us took away something different out of the program. It is not an easy program, but if you're willing to challenge yourself and to improve your public communication skills in a supportive and dynamic environment, this program is for you." Read full Q&A
Stephany Greene is President of Stephany & Company, LLC., and author of Stephany's Style Secrets: 7 Steps to Live and Dress Your Best. Greene said she learned how to develop a public communication plan from a strategic point of view while in the program. "Anyone can draft a press release, or Google how to do it, but SOC taught me how to strategize public communications from the stage of initial conceptual planning, to the behavior and/or market changes I want to achieve," said Greene. "Now I can forecast how my public communications and marketing campaigns will evolve over time, and I can come close to predicting the long term outcome as well." Read full Q&A


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JP Morgan Chase has just purchased Bear Stearns at $2 a share, an investment bank which was valued at $150 a year last year. Equity and capital markets are poised for a volatile week. The US Fed is set to make another rate cut, a desperation move, on Tuesday. This is likely to push the […]Read More...
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Bug on the PlateMystery teasers are little stories where you need to figure out what happened based on the given clues.
A man was eating at a restaurant. When his food came, his waitress told him that they had run out of their usual fancy dinner plates and had to serve him their only plain dish. The man did not object, but there was a bug on his food. His waitress took it away and said she would bring him a new plate with new food. When she came back the man knew she had only tossed off the bug. How?
HintRead again...slower
AnswerHis waitress had told him she served him their only plain dish. When she brought his "new food", it was on the same dish.
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LONG waiting times, abusive patients and staff stretched to breaking point – everyone has heard the horror stories about late-night A&E trips.
So I went and spent an evening observing staff and patients to see if things really are as bad as they say.
With capacity for 15 beds in the major injuries unit, about five in the resuscitation room and four in the examination room for minor injuries and illnesses, Southend A&E treats an average of 250 patients a day.
Staff are dedicated to meeting their four-hour waiting time target to treat patients, from their entry to A&E, while still providing the best care possible.
From arriving at 7pm to leaving at 1.30am, the flowof patients bucked the usual Friday night trend and steadily eased.
Ambulances were queued up outside A&E when I arrived, but the loading bay was completely empty when I left.
The hospital has come in for criticism in recent weeks over ambulances having to wait longer than 15 minutes to transfer a patient and leave. However, it is easy to see how this could happen.
With only a limited number of beds available, it is sometimes inevitable patients will have to wait to be seen.
Dr Caroline Howard, clinical lead for A&E, said: "We will always see the people in most need first. Sometimes patients cannot wait to be treated so others have to – it's not first come, first served."
One of the friendly faces that patients see in A&E is receptionist Kim Allain, who has been at the hospital for 18 years.
She's the one in the firing line if patients are not happy with their wait, or the care they receive.
She said: "We have the public shouting at us and we do get a lot of abuse.
"We have to explain to patients that we are sorry they have not been seen yet, but I do not have anything to do with the nursing staff.
"Some people get frustrated and find it hard to understand that it is not when you come in, but the priority of their illness or injury."
Abusive patients are sadly a reality for staff in A&E and Dr Howard uses a card system to deal with problem patients.
A yellow card indicates a patient is on a warning and, should they continue to be abusive, they get upgraded to red.
A red card means a patient is banned from Southend A&E should they not require urgent care, in which case staff are ethically bound to treat them.
Dr Howard said: "When I come in on a Monday morning after a weekend, there will almost always be a red card.
Unfortunately it is a lot more common now."
The nerve centre of the A&E is undoubtedly the patient boards in both the minor and major injury units. These boards are constantly watched over by a camera, beaming pictures back to a control room.
In charge of the boards are nurses, logging each patient in and out, noting what tests they have had, when they next need checking, what medication they are on – the list goes on.
Bec Boyes is a senior sister and has been at Southend A&E for 14 years. She thinks the number of patients visiting A&E would reduce if theywere more aware of the alternatives.
She said: "We screen people when they come in and filter the people that could just be seen by an out-of-hours GP.
"People don't know there is also a walk-in centre at St Luke's Health Centre, in Pantile Avenue, which is open 8am to 8pm."
Luckily, Kevin Thompson, 54, from Leigh, found A&E quiet when he came in with a wrist injury.
He said: "I was waiting for all the Friday night drinkers, but they're not here. Other than a bit of a wait, the care has been very good."
Crystal White, 21, from Southend, added: "I was resisting coming because I thought it would be rammed, but I didn't have much choice. I've come a few times and never waited longer than an hour."