text:
View large image
|2012 PGA Championship host the Ocean Course is just one of the great tracks awaiting you on Kiawah Island. (Courtesy Kiawah Island Golf Resort)
The Carolinas are full of places for a long-weekend golf trip: Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head, Pinehurst. But if you're looking to get away to a place where it's just you and your game, try the golf courses on Kiawah Island.
About a half-hour drive from beautiful Charleston, S.C., Kiawah Island is one of the least commercial high-end golf destinations in the country. With little else to do, it's easy to lose yourself on great tracks like the Ocean Course, scheduled host of the 2012 PGA Championship.
The place to stay is the Kiawah Island Golf Resort, which offers a range of lodging options, starting with The Sanctuary, a AAA Five Diamond hotel.
With its impressive building and wide-planked oak floors, The Sanctuary hearkens back "to a simpler time when they took time with their architecture," Tim McDonald observed in a feature story for TravelGolf.com Luxury Golfer.
If you're looking for something more private, the resort rents villas and luxury homes, ranging from about $1,000 to $13,000 a week, depending on the season.
Settled in? Good. Now head to the Ocean Course to start this trip off right.
This Pete Dye design is Kiawah Island golf's crown jewel. Measuring 7,296 yards with a 152 slope rating, the Ocean Course was named one of the country's top 10 public courses - and America's toughest resort track - by Golf Digest.
When you come off the course, dine at The Sanctuary's seafood-centric Ocean Room, a restaurant recently rated "Restaurant of the Year" by Charleston's The Post and Courier.
A little worn out after battling the Ocean Course? Take things down a notch today with a round at Osprey Point, a Tom Fazio design known for its playability.
The course features four natural lakes, fingers of saltwater marsh and forests filled with oaks, pines, palmettos and magnolias. Wide landing areas make Osprey Point accessible to a range of skills levels, but with a 137 slope rating it can still bite - especially if you don't watch out for the gators that like to sun themselves on its grass when it's warm.
Spread your wings Saturday night and head to Charleston for dinner at Mustard Seed, an eclectic, reasonably priced restaurant serving seafood, vegetarian and meat dishes in the heart of one of the south's most vibrant cities.
A good, challenging round can shove aside gloomy ruminations about your impending return to the routine. That's why we recommend you finish the trip at Kiawah Island Club's Cassique course.
Tom Watson no doubt had the links courses of Scotland in mind when he designed Cassique. The wind that rips through this nearly 7,000-yard track can frustrate even scratch golfers, but pay close attention the layout: Watson designed the course to be played differently depending on which way the gales are blowing.
March 21, 2007
You can ditch the Caribbean crowds at the exclusive Abaco Club, one of the top luxury golf getaways in the Bahamas.
... full article »


text:
Hinton, Southern Durham rally to beat Hillside in final minute
Posted August 28, 2014
Updated August 30, 2014
Durham, N.C. — Southern Durham rallied in the final minute Friday night to knock off rival Hillside for the first time in four years, winning 16-13. Football: Southern Durham vs. Hillside (Aug. 29, 2014)
Southern Durham broke through first late in the first quarter as quarterback Kendall Hinton scampered 19 yards for a touchdown, giving the Spartans a 7-0 lead.
After a safety put Southern Durham (2-0,0-0, Big Eight) up 9-0, Hillside (0-2,0-0,PAC 6) made their charge.
A 5-yard touchdown via the run brought things to 9-7. Then a deep ball from Nas Forte-Ferguson to Daeshawn Stephens set the Hornets up at the one where Forte-Ferguson finished the job and Hillside led 14-9.
But Southern Durham was not done. With 26 seconds left to play, Hinton connected with Jordon Brown who battled to get into the endzone, completing the Spartans comeback.
Southern Durham will play at Scotland County next week. Hillside will play at Gray Collegiate Academy Sept. 5.
Fialko: Orange vs. Northern Durham, Southern Durham vs. Hillside (Aug. 29, 2014)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Buy Instagram Followers
Instagram Super Saver Pack
Buy Active Instagram followers to provide effective and successful product branding
Nowadays, Instagram is widely used by businesses and if you are planning to use this platform for selling your products here are some tips.
Are you wondering how to sell products on Instagram? Are you looking for some useful tips for the same? The first and foremost thing you will have to remember here is that to make the most interactions with customers on this platform, your descriptions and images should be unique and also you should make sure that buying should be as easy as possible for your prospective customers. Here are some useful tips you can follow in this regard:
Buy Real Instagram followers Instantly:
When you start a fresh on Instagram or whether you have long been in this platform without any considerable amount of followers, the first and the best thing you can do is to buy real Instagram followers. When there are some 100s to 1000s of followers for your Instagram account, people will be automatically attracted to follow your business and they will also be interested in trying out your product. This is one of the easiest methods to sell products on Instagram.
Develop a signature look:
Prior to actually posting, you should contemplate about how you wish to locate your products on your Instagram page. Remember that the right product placement is the quintessential strategy towards attracting Instagram sales and engagement. The page should be appealing with images on the right place and you can use internal filters on Instagram for this purpose. There are different applications available to help you with the right product placement on Instagram. You can use layouts that will show up your products in different angles.
It is true that you buy real active Instagram followers and in addition to doing this, the right product placement, compelling product description, promoting product visibility with hashtags and making the purchase process easier will help.
Why Choose Instaskip to Buy Instagram Followers?
Well, they say keep hustling until you make it, how true is that! You could actually make other people believe that you have more value by showing a higher amount of followers. A structuring could cost a person a lot, but it has real added advantages to it.
Viewing the humongous amount of followers will help create an illusion of fame in the mind people and this notion increases the value in the social media platform. This will prove that one has something important to offer to the public. Hence, it will bolster the popularity of your business, as the more and more people follow in future. There are various reasons listed below to buy more followers on Instagram from Instaskip:
• It is the most efficient and simple way to get followers.
• This strategy brings not only popularity but more than just growing up your fan base.
• It helps in boosting the credibility in social media.
• This enhances to evolve your business faster.
• This platform supports in establishing trust among your followers.
However, there are many companies that provide results with cheap, as well as low quality and are not reliable. Instaskip provides Real high quality services at a low price. Our service is also safe to use on new as well as aged Instagram profiles.


text:
进入社团 >
Paragraph5: Scientists have known for some time that certain plants, called hyper accumulators, can concentrate minerals at levels a hundredfold or greater than normal. A survey of known hyper accumulators identified that 75 percent of them amassed nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc, manganese, lead, and cadmium are other minerals of choice. Hyper accumulators run the entire range of the plant world. They may be herbs, shrubs, or trees. Many members of the mustard family, spurge family, legume family, and grass family are top hyper accumulators. Many are found in tropical and subtropical areas of the world, where accumulation of high concentrations of metals may afford some protection against plant-eating insects and microbial pathogens.
Why does the author mention herbs, shrubs, and trees?
¡ To provide examples of plant types that cannot tolerate high levels of harmful minerals.
¡ To show why so many plants are hyper accumulators.
¡ To help explain why hyper accumulators can be found in so many different places.
¡ To emphasize that hyper accumulators occur in a wide range of plant types.
题中问为何提到这三种植物,正常的思维是作者为了说明前面的概述,因此往前看一句即可:Hyper accumulators run the entire range of the plant world。意思为富集植物广泛分布于整个植物界。不难得出答案为第四个. 这是修辞目的题最基本的解题方法,我们称之为"绕过例子看概述",如果还有更多托福考试的疑问都可以咨询Marina老师:985226218 最后武汉顶尖英语的Marina老师祝考鸭们考试顺利~


text:
CBS Sports: Texas shuts down Martinez, stuns No. 5 Nebraska
Garrett Gilbert ran for two touchdowns and Texas' defense shut down Taylor Martinez to lead the Longhorns to a 20-13 upset of No. 5 Nebraska on Saturday, a crushing first defeat for a Cornhusker team that was out to avenge last year's loss in the Big 12 championship game.


text:
At two o'clock on Thursday morning the frame barn of Aug. Oelrich, on the Tom Hughes's farm, three miles west of this city was destroyed by fire together with a team of horses, some hay and straw. How the fires originated is a mystery, but it is supposed that some tramp took refuge in the barn and during the night while enjoying a smoke set the building on fire. The neighbors all turned out to assist in extinguishing the fire, but it was under too great a headway before their arrival. The loss is about $500.00 and is partially insured.
Louis Ortlieb and family left for their future home in Green Bay this week. Mr. and Mrs. Ortlieb have many warm friends who, while deeply regretting their departure from this city, wish them success in their new home.
Miss Lousia Baier, teacher of the school in the Weeks' district, in Charlestown, was obliged to close her school owing to the prevalence of diphetheria in that neighborhood.
While playing at foot ball on the High School grounds, Monday morning last, Charley Schaefer fell in such a manner as to cause a partial dislocation of the left knee. He was taken to the Washington House, where he is boarding and Dr. Minahan was called and reduced the dislocation.
Mr. and Mrs. Louis R. Jouno and family departed this week for Ringgold, Texas, where they will make their future home. There departure from "Little Calumet" will be greatly regretted by all whom know them. They have resided here for a number of years and through their genial sociable ways and upright and honest dealings with everybody won the food will of all. May they prosper in their new home, is the wish of The Times.
Copyright 1997 - 2005 by Debie Blindauer
All Rights Reserved
Census Records | Vital Records | Family Trees & Communities | Immigration Records | Military Records Directories & Member Lists | Family & Local Histories | Newspapers & Periodicals | Court, Land & Probate | Finding Aids


text:
Monday, February 4, 2013
Baltimore company gives customers $600,000 in free furniture because of Jacoby Jones touchdown
The 108-yard touchdown scored by Ravens receiver Jacoby Jones during the Super Bowl was a sweet sight for many new Baltimore-area furniture owners. That's because some customers will now get their furniture for free because of a bizarre promotion by a local company.
Gardiners Furniture, a Baltimore company, ran a promotion stating that all furniture bought between Jan. 31 and 3 p.m. on game day would be free if the Ravens scored a kickoff return for touchdown at the start of either half. Well, it just so happens Jones made his way to the endzone on the opening kickoff after halftime, thus sealing the promotion's fate.
This is the third year the store has run such a promotion, and since the owners believed it had been nearly 50 years since such a kick return occurred, marketing manager Kasee Lehrl said the store owners felt pretty safe. But they took out an insurance policy — just in case.
Perhaps the store owners should do a little more research before pulling the trigger on their next marketing campaign. The last such kick return wasn't nearly 50 years ago, but rather just six. Chicago Bears speedster Devin Hester took the opening kickoff 92 yards for a score against the Indianapolis Colts in 2007.
All totaled, the store will be giving out about $600,000 in free furniture.
"It's great for the Ravens, great for our customers and great for Gardiners," Lehrl said.
And maybe great for brand awareness now, too?
Via Baltimore Sun
23 comments:
- AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 9:01 PM
who is dummer....Gardiners or the insurance company?ReplyDeleteReplies
- AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 9:48 PM
Neither. These types of promotions happen all the time and there is always an insurance company backing it. There's typically a low, but not 0, probability of a payout.Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 7:15 AM
DUMB assDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 9:24 AM
i guess you are for not even knowing how to spell dumberDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 12:03 PM
I guess you don't know how to use proper grammar and sentence construction.Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 6, 2013 at 1:44 PM
dummy a victim of Higher Edjukation.Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 27, 2013 at 8:16 AM
dummy a victim of Higher Edjukation.Delete
That is Hillarryus.....
- AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 10:04 PM
The person that spelled dummer instead of dumber.ReplyDeleteReplies
- AnonymousFebruary 4, 2013 at 10:40 PM
Good one!Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 9:13 AM
If you know anything about marketing then you pat Gardiners Furniture store on the back and say job well done. They bought an insurance policy similar to one you would purchase for a golf tournament that gives a car away for a hole in one. You pay a onetime premium and the insurance company pays for the merchandise. Look at all of the good PR Gardiners is getting.Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 2:25 PM
Is this a grammer or spelling page? sheesh Stay with the subject people..Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 3:17 PM
@ poster: - bah-hah!!Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 10:18 AM
Shit a store in albuquerque, nm has to pay out over a hundred grand for that run back. and over 15 thousand for Baltimore winning.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 2:53 PM
What is the big deal of paying out $115,000 compared to $600,000 the store in Baltimore had to pay, and the recognition to the store for doing it? The furniture store in Baltimore made out like a "FAT RAT";for it's publicity.Congrats to the Baltimore furniture store for doing it and I hope they continue doing it but that will depend on the Ravins! Is there an NFL team in NM.?ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 5, 2013 at 3:51 PM
That's a great promotion. The store was lucky that they ran back the kickoff. The store paid the premium, and got 1000 times more good than if they hadn't scored.ReplyDelete
I gave away a new car years back for a hole-in-one. The day a guy won the car got me many times more good will than all the years I paid the premium, but no one won.
Why does everybody bet against the ravens ? Hasn't the four consecutive weeks of listening to the Vegas experts taught you anything?ReplyDelete
Baltimore gets no respectReplies
- AnonymousFebruary 6, 2013 at 11:03 AM
One word. Murderer. That's why the Ravens get no respect. Not to mention Flacco is a fag. Good luck! This year it will be Green Bay/San Fran and Denver.Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 14, 2013 at 1:08 PM
Another uneducated rant from someone who also seems to be a homophobe. Such a hater - No respect for you.Delete
- AnonymousFebruary 6, 2013 at 7:40 AM
It was a $600,000 non holding call payoff....ref has a new dining room set :)ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 6, 2013 at 9:00 AM
Haha, Niners fans want a bailout from the refs. Looked like Crabtree was coached up to try and draw a flag on that last play, but when SF failed to pick up the blitz Kaepernick heaved a prayer that sailed out of bounds. Way to go Jim Harbaugh, cry like a baby and detract from your brother's big win. What a pathetic bunch of fans - Learn to lose with grace, 'cause you're gonna have a lot of chances to practice it in the future. If not for the lights out it would have been a blow out.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 6, 2013 at 3:47 PM
Look at all of the free publicity Gardiners Furniture is getting! And I'm sure they are getting even more in the Baltimore area.ReplyDelete
While I doubt they make up $600,000 in sales, they will almost certainly cover the cost of the insurance due to this extra publicity.
- AnonymousFebruary 10, 2013 at 8:45 AM
If you look close in the middle of the return you will see holding it was not called and I was so surprize it was not even talked about or showed on replayed on tv.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousFebruary 27, 2013 at 10:04 AM
Cant fix STUPIDReplyDelete


text:
Out on the glistening slopes a lone skier cuts a daring figure, slaloming downhill at high speed, locked in the classic pose that looks so easy to people who have never tried it. Grinning, he glides to a halt before a group of appreciative onlookers. Obviously, he has enjoyed his breathtaking run. Just as obviously, he enjoys being admired for his breathtaking skill.
The dashing downhill racer is Stein Eriksen, who helped establish the sport more than 30 years ago, blazing a trail for the Killys and Klammers to follow. Eriksen, a Norwegian, was a gold medal winner at the 1952 Olympics in Oslo and dominated the world championships in Sweden two years later. Today, at 60, skiing's first household name still finds his daily epiphany on the slopes, but he makes a living—a very good one—as host of the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Deer Valley, Utah.
The rich who choose to ski Deer Valley pay through their Nivea-covered noses for the privilege—but what privilege! Peak ski season rates, up to $1,440 a night, are the highest in North America, but they cover a vast array of sybaritic amenities. Guests are shielded from even a hint of the overcrowding and inconvenience of so many less expensive resorts. "It's not what you pay," declares Eriksen, "but what you get for what you pay that counts."
Undeniably, Eriksen's guests get a lot, disembarking discreetly underground, where a garage door marked "Velkommen" rises automatically at the approach of their cars. A waiting doorman stows their ski gear in heated lockers or steers new arrivals to a rental counter offering Eriksen's autographed brand of premium skis.
The 50 suites and 75 bedrooms are decorated with French country prints and equipped with full kitchens and massive stone fireplaces. (Fireplace tools hang from heavy brass hooks, but guests probably get little use out of them, since maid service includes removing ashes and laying new fires.) Bathrooms feature oversize whirlpool tubs, gold-plated fixtures and separate dressing areas.
Heated walkways link the lodge's three wings with the main building. Afternoon tea is served, to piano accompaniment, in the soaring three-story lobby. The food-and-beverage service at Deer Valley is run by James Nassikas, president of San Francisco's five-star Stanford Court Hotel. Says Bon Appetit magazine: "Deer Valley has the best cuisine at altitude anywhere in this country."
And oh, yes, one other thing. For the fanatic who actually wants to leave all this comfort and go outdoors, the Stein Eriksen Lodge does have skiing. The slopes, mostly intermediate, are spread out over three peaks, immaculately groomed and always uncrowded. It seems little wonder that so many celebs have made Deer Valley their midwinter mecca. Eriksen has played host to former President Gerald Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Jane Fonda and a brace of Bruces(Springsteen and Willis). This past New Year's Eve, John Travolta rented the hotel's conference center, then enlisted fellow guest Sidney Poitier to help set up an impromptu disco.
Deer Valley's success owes much to Eriksen's ingrained perfectionism. A case in the lobby holds 178 of his cups, medals and ribbons. But even now, three decades later, he is bothered by the times he finished second or third. "There is a lot of disappointment in some of those little trophies," he says. "If I hadn't done this or that, I would, of course, have won."
Eriksen has been on skis since he was 3, growing up in the hills outside Oslo. His father was an Olympic gymnast and a manufacturer of Alpine skis, while his mother was president of a national women's ski club. "The dream was always there to become an international, good skier," says Eriksen. He pursued his dream surreptitiously during the German occupation of his homeland, when the only approved ski meets involved competition against German soldiers. "We didn't want to do that," says Eriksen, "so we had some illegal races in those years."
After an undistinguished debut at the 1948 Olympics in St. Moritz, Eriksen went home and perfected his daring technique, skiing closer to the gates than anyone had before. By 1952 he was ready; he took the gold medal in the giant slalom and the silver in the slalom. Then, at the 1954 world championships, he took three golds, in the slalom, giant slalom and overall. Shortly after, at age 27, he decided to quit. "I had heard about athletes who had faded after their big victories and had not been happy with themselves or with life in general," he says. "So I stopped when I was on top. I have never regretted that."
Eriksen came to the U.S. in 1954. During the winters he taught skiing at Boyne Mountain, Mich. In the spring he became a traveling salesman, peddling ski clothes and his mother's hand-knit sweaters. By 1969 he had moved to Snowmass, Colo., where he opened two sports shops and began to invest in real estate. There he met developer Edgar Stern, who wooed him to Utah to run the Park City ski area. In 1975 Stern sold Park City to develop Deer Valley. Eriksen stuck with him, and Deer Valley opened in 1981, with Stern as owner and Eriksen as director of skiing.
Skiing has been good to Eriksen. He and his fourth wife, Françoise, live with their son, Bjorn (Stein has three children from previous marriages), in a spacious chalet in nearby Park City and own a well-appointed cabin in the Montana woods. But for Eriksen, the biggest joy is out there on the mountain, where his skills still dazzle other skiers. "When you know that people like to see you ski," he says, "it boosts your ego, and you feel what you're doing is worthwhile. One of the reasons why this is a terrific life for me is that I like to get up on that mountain. As long as I can get the inspiration I get every day by going out there, I don't see any reason for slowing down."
—By Michael Neill, with Jack Kelley in Deer Valley


text:
Avenged Sevenfold Shepherd of Fire Poster
Official Band Merch
(approx. $5.34 or €4.61)
- In Stock
- No Worries 14-Day Exchanges
- Official Merchandise
Fast Delivery by Royal Mail (3-5 Days)
Buy now for fast delivery
Product Info
From their album 'Hail to the King' this awesome poster from heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold is filled with horror and darkness. Resonating from hell this evil armored winged skeleton emerges from eternal darkness as blight yellow flames roar up behind him. The bands name is written across the top in burning letter and the the track 'Shepherd of fire' is printed at the bottom.
- Size: 61cm x 91.5cm
- Product Type: Poster
- Product Code: 73295


text:
|Start new thread in this topic | Flip this thread | Refresh the display
Would you send a child to a specialist music school?(62 Posts)
DC has asked to audition for the Purcell and I'm not sure what to do. I don't mind DC auditioning but if it is a YES, then I'm unsure what to do. The place would be for entry into Year 7.
Has anyone gone through such a school at a young age and was the academic education up to scratch? Where did the school fall short - was PE/Games adequate, were there opportunities to debate and take part in academic competitions such as the Olympiads?
If I had a child with that sort of musical ability, then yes, I definitely would, no question about it.
Some music schools don't have such a good reputation for maintaining academic excellence, but many do.
A good alternative for musically gifted youngsters is a school with a choir school attached. IMO these offer superb musical education for children, usually alongside academic rigour as well. It might be too late for your DC though, as many want children to start before yr7.
Friend of mine went there and got into Cambridge on academic merit. SIL at music college also knows people who went there and they seem as well-adjusted as anyone else.
Not sure. Eldest looked at this. As she was/ is a real academic high flier and didn't want to do music as an undergraduate degree we stuck with her current school. She didn't audition in the end as she could have been left with and impossible choice. Academic standards look good at specialist music schools but it isn't the main focus
I was at school with a boy who went to a very prestigious music school (not the one you are looking at). He did Years 7 and 8 at my school, then went away to the music school for Years 9-11. He came back to my school for Sixth Form.
In Year 7/8, he was captain of the football team, top of the year for maths/science, generally very bright, a very popular boy. He was also incredibly talented at the trumpet.
When he came back in Sixth Form, we were universally shocked. He had failed GCSE Maths and English, and had to resit them in lower sixth. He'd not done very well at all across the subjects, with the exception of music. He had also developed anorexia, and was very very withdrawn. I don't know what went on in his life in Years 9-11, but once he was back at my school he soon blossomed back into the boy we all remembered, and ended up with great A levels.
I'm sure ALL music schools aren't like this, and with the benefit of hindsight and an adult eye he was a sensitive boy, from a very high achieving family, with an incredibly
pushy dedicated mother. So the anorexia may have come on anyway. What I do know is, he should NOT have failed GCSEs in anything, and that must therefore be a failing of the school. I'd think very carefully.
Kids fail GCSEs because of emotional pressures all the time. You can't pass them if you are having a "breakdown" for example.
However Music schools on the whole are very good, if you are dedicated to music. So you need to look at the school and your son carefully. What does he want to do with his life? What is his back up plan? Does he know what the life of a professional musician is like? really?
My ILs considered it for my very talented DH, in the end he didn't go, which is probably just as well as although Music is still very important to him it is not his life. Lots of professional musicians do not go to Music school as well.
I wouldn't say music is his life but he is frustrated with the level of music he is getting and wants to be in an environment where music is the norm. To pursue music he has to give up other things and watch his class mates do them. He feels that at a music school everyone will practice and then everyone will go on a trip/do an activity. I don't know what he will do when he grows up but I know he loves performing and we would make sure he was enriched in the summer holidays for any lack of activities at school. The other upside is that the schools he currently goes to expect full participation in all sports and this is not good for a musician. After all, who wants to see a singer at a concert with a massive bruise on his head after a Rugby match or even worse - broken fingers! At least Purcell and Chets don't have Rugby!
You need to look at the academic results for the individual school - some will be very good academically, but that will just depend on the school. It is certainly a different experience spending all your time with people who are passionate about music, and makes it much easier to fit in your practice when everyone else is doing the same.
Also look at where the children go when they leave - how many of them go on to do other subjects at university?
DS was at music school as a chorister, and applied to stay on (didn't get in). But that school gets excellent academic results, and a proportion of the children each year go on to univeristy to do things other than music.
Obviously there has to be a compromise somewhere - the range of subjects to choose from was much smaller than in a normal school, largely because the school itself is small. Also they didn't have much chance for team sports, or any sports at a high level as they could not commit to practice for that as well as music. But the children were all committed and put the effort into music, academics, and a social life - they just had much less time for "hanging around" than the average teenager!
So the question is - will he get in to Chets or Purcell?
He has got grade 5 bassoon with distinction in June and he is tackling a few grade 7 pieces at the moment but I'll err on the side of caution that he is just grade 5 - I am convinced, with the right teaching he could be grade 7 in a years time at the end of Year 6. He has also been a chorister and has a lovely voice, but is this enough to audition on grade 5 pieces this coming term for a place in Y7 next year? He starts the RCM JD in September and of course we would wait to see how he got on there before accepting a specialist school place.
Have you spoken to his bassoon teacher about it? They can often give you an idea whether they think he is up to the expected kind of standard or not. Of course you can always apply even if the teacher doesn't think so - you wil get feedback which will give an idea if he is in with a chance or not, and roughly what they might expect to convince them.
So long as you have thought through the finances and other practicalities and would be able to accept a place if they offered of course.
I would think he'd be very likely to get in. Especially considering most bassoonists don't even start the instrument until about year 6, he is doing incredibly well. The only child I know that went to Purcell didn't like it and dropped out after 2 years, but you have to try it to know. It's a tricky choice though, so few musicians make it right to the top that you are right to be concerned to keep his academics going at least to the extent that other options are still open.
I have a friend with one child at Purcell and second child starting in sept. They are very happy with it. DD1 wants to be a scientist eventually (y7 in sept). Both were grade 4+ when they auditioned during y4.
The fees are calculated on income of family.
You can only go for it and try it. Good luck!
The only disadvantage of our local music school is the kids miss out on some of the other arty subjects to do more music, which can be a disadvantage if the child decides they want to do art not music.
I have a close relative who went to music school and is now working in an arty field and plays none of his instruments and wishes he had done more art at school.
It is excellent if your child is very musical though and willing to practice and you don't mind incessantly nagging them to practice.
Musicians are abysmally paid for the amount of talent and dedication needed though, so be sure you really want to push your child in that direction and not towards something better paid and more laid back.
I think if they aren't nagging you to get them into music school I wouldn't bother.
I am having the same debate....offer from a music/choir school with bursary for Y8 or try for scholarships elsewhere. Sometimes as experience has shown me it can be tough being at a very expensive school on a bursary...expectations etc whereas with music school you are with the same kind of parent sacrificing everything for child etc. Although this may produce a particular kind of pushy parent!
Oh dear dilemma!
I don't think I would send my child to the specialist music schools actually. I know quite a few people who went to various of them and weren't particularly happy.
The one I have heard the best reports of is Winchester.
A choir school is not a specialist music school and Winchester is certainly not a specialist music school but a top Public school. I wouldn't have any issue sending to the latter and DS is currently in the former but it still does not office him with enough opportunities.
Ah yes sorry - I meant Wells.
I have heard good things about Wells.The specialist muisic school is part of the main school?
Wells is poor academically and I've known a number of musicians who have discounted it because of this. On the face of it, having specialist music within a normal school seems like a great idea but I have had experience of such set ups and it is not for my son. There were many great activities/ opportunities that my son missed out on because music came first and this not only impacted his happiness but did not help him fully bond socially with his peer group. At least at Purcell, the opportunities are available to all and when a child is practicing , all children are practicing so no one is missing out on something.
I have met several people during my (music) studies and working life who went to Chets, Purcell and Wells. I have to say they were all just pretty "normal" people, with the obvious exception that they were all fantastic musicians. I think one often-overlooked factor is that these schools (maybe excepting the choir schools like Wells) are pretty small. That has certain disadvantages of subject choice, but it also brings with it some advantages in terms of pastoral care. The staff have the opportunity to really nurture each individual and the specialist expertise in what that requires for a budding musician. For a kid like your DC who wants to be doing music all the time and be around other people who are, that can probably be a much healthier environment than being in a normal school.
I can certainly relate to how your DC feels. I grew up in a very non-cultural area and was always "the wierd one" doing music. When I started playing in youth orchestras and later doing a music degree, I was acutely aware of the different assumptions and confidence of the kids who had grown up with it like a natural, assumed part of life. In a field as hard and competitive as music, I think that goes a long way.
As for what happens if he decides not to do music, my impression is that these schools get very good academic results, though not top of the league. Somewhere on the Purcell website is some information about previous A level results, which seem to contain a majority of As and Bs, and destinations of previous leavers which include non-music degrees in several different fields. I think the main problem is likely to be not standards as such, but subject choice. Might be an issue if he leans towards science for example.
On standard required, it's hard to say. They do give guidelines on the website, but these are not black and white and they have ways of looking for potential rather than absolute current ability. The bassoon is a rare and sought-after instrument so that would help. I think most of these places are pretty open about discussing such issues with you, and even letting him come in for an informal "pre-audition" if appropriate, since they understand the difficulties involved.
If he's fanatical about music and has a strong sense that that's what he'll do for a living, I'd say go for it. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages. If not, it's hard to say and would depend on all the circumstances. They accept kids in most year groups so you could always wait a year or two and see.
I went to Wells despite being practically tone deaf (20 years ago, obv) and found it more or less fine. It couldn't compare academically with the specialist academic schools, but I thought it struck a decent balance in serving the competing needs of the "pure" musicians, the (few) hardcore academics, the less-academic children of the local farmers who just wanted a solid private education and the many children who were somewhere inbetween.
I went to Chet's at the age of ten (I'm now 34).
I'm now a professional musician and I am in one of the London orchestras.
My parents aren't remotely musical and I think they were shocked that I got a place. In fact they didn't even know about specialist music schools until my teacher suggested it.
Many of my school friends went on to top universities to read non music subjects. I think the environment completely put them off,not that they were unhappy necessarily.
Many kids were unhappy but I think you could say that for a lot of schools. My parents would have removed me from the school had I hated it.
I was very lucky though as my instrumental teachers were great and very inspiring but there were some who weren't so great.
I come from the west country and it was too far to travel to one of the London college Saturday schools so music school definitely helped me to thrive.
It definitely depends on the child but for me Chet's was a good school and I did very much enjoy the social and musical environment. I am not very academic so opted to do minimal GCSE's and A levels although passed them quite well. The class sizes are small so that was something I wouldn't have got at my local comp.
The school has changed a lot since I was there but it was a bit lacking in the sport/PE side of things due to it being inner city. Obviously Purcell would have more space.
I forgot to ask,where do you live?
Would Saturday morning school at one of the music colleges be an option for your DS?
Mrs Hoolie, thanks for your post. I was wondering - I have heard that most join in the sixth form so how did it feel going through the whole school and being one of only a small few at 10?
If my DC wanted to go and it was possible (and I could cope ;) ) I would let them go. If its their passion I would encourage that side and not focus on working future, just yet IYSWIM
|Start new thread in this topic | Flip this thread | Refresh the display
Join the discussion
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join in the discussion, get discounts, win prizes and lots more.Register now
Already registered with Mumsnet? Log in to leave your comment or alternatively, sign in with Facebook or Google.
Please login first.


text:
Ron Rosenbaum: Why Hillary doesn't mention her work on Nixon's impeachmentRoundup: Media's Take
... I'd always thought that her work on the Impeachment Committee was an unambiguously shining moment of her career: Hillary I enters politics. Even if, as I believe, the committee failed to find out the full truth of Nixon's Watergate crimes, the Big Truth (I'll get to that), she was a junior staffer, and any such failings surely weren't her fault. And even if the committee failed to find Nixon guilty of the primal crime of Watergate, ordering the break-in, the committee demonstrated that America was a nation in which a reigning president had to submit to the rule of law, where the commander in chief could be challenged and forced to leave office by constitutional means, not coups.
I covered the impeachment hearings to the bitter end when Nixon resigned in August 1974. (I was in the East Room of the White House when he "teared up" making his farewell before coptering off to exile.) I have no memory of seeing young Hillary Rodham in the hearing room, but I remember thinking at the time of the Impeachment Committee staff as heroic seekers of truth.
But Hillary's boss on the staff, Jerome Zeifman, asserts now that one reason she's downplayed her Impeachment Committee service is that she has something to hide.
He accuses her of "unethical" conduct, says that "Hillary … lied to me" and that she was a pawn in a Kennedy-orchestrated conspiracy to manipulate the impeachment hearings. And he claims he has a witness to corroborate this characterization:
"After President Nixon's resignation," Zeifman writes, "a young lawyer, who shared an office with Hillary, confided in me that he was dismayed by her erroneous legal opinions and efforts to deny Nixon representation by counsel—as well as an unwillingness to investigate Nixon. In my diary of August 12, 1974 I noted the following:
'John Labovitz apologized to me for the fact that months ago he and Hillary had lied to me' [to conceal rules changes and dilatory tactics]. Labovitz said, "That came from Yale." I said, "You mean Burke Marshall [Sen. Ted Kennedy's chief political strategist, with whom Hillary regularly consulted in violation of House rules]. Labovitz said, "Yes." His apology was significant to me, not because it was a revelation but because of his contrition.' "
The "dilatory tactics" Zeifman alleges were part of what he portrays as a Kennedy clan strategy to stretch out the impeachment hearings (which ended in August '74, when the so-called "smoking gun" tape—which revealed Nixon attempting to use the CIA to cover up a White House connection to the break-in—caused Nixon to lose even hard-core GOP loyalist support and resign). Zeifman claims the Kennedy strategy was to keep Richard Nixon in office so a liberal (perhaps a Kennedy) could run in 1976 against a damaged president Nixon rather than the relatively unblemished GOP Vice President Gerald Ford.
Zeifman claims that to implement this strategy, Hillary attempted to revise the procedural rules for the Impeachment Committee, potentially opening up divisive delays. Zeifman also asserts that a "second objective of the strategy of delay was to avoid a Senate impeachment trial, in which as a defense Nixon might assert that Kennedy had authorized far worse abuses of power than Nixon's effort to 'cover up' the Watergate burglary (which Nixon had not authorized or known about in advance). In short, the crimes of Kennedy included the use of the Mafia to attempt to assassinate Castro, as well as the successful assassinations of Diem in Vietnam and Lumumba in the Congo."...
comments powered by Disqus
More Comments:
Per Fagereng - 2/18/2008
Ron Rosenbaum blames President Kennedy for the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. Not true. Lumumba was killed January 17, 1961. I don't believe that Kennedy was inaugurated until January 20. At any rate, all the machinations leading up to the killing of Lumumba happened during the Eisenhower administration. In fact Eisenhower is reported as having given a verbal order to remove Lumumba.
Vernon Clayson - 2/17/2008
Mr. Sage jumped on the "running against a damaged president" as being in error and it was if taken at face value. It would have made more sense to say "running against a damaged president's record", which is always a factor. The Democrats of today, 2008, are running against what they allege to be George Bush's damaged presidency; in 2000 the Republicans were running against what they considered a damaged presidency, Bill Clintons, and, boy, was it ever. Again, this year, 2008, the Republicans are running against the same damaged Clinton presidency in that his co-president, wife Hillary, is demanding a return to the office, and no thinking person should want the return of the scandals and abuses in that eventuality.
Steven F. Sage - 2/17/2008
Rosenbaum writes:
"Zeifman claims the Kennedy strategy was to keep Richard Nixon in office so a liberal (perhaps a Kennedy) could run in 1976 against a damaged president Nixon rather than the relatively unblemished GOP Vice President Gerald Ford."
This is bizarre. How could Zeifman (or the Kennedys) have been unaware of the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, setting a two-term limit on election to the Presidency. Nixon had already been elected twice, in 1968, and again in 1972.
Or is it Ron Rosenbaum who is somehow unaware of these basics?
R.R. Hamilton - 2/16/2008
Mr. Rosenbaum,
You say, "the committee failed to find out the full truth of Nixon's Watergate crimes, the Big Truth (I'll get to that)".
I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about, but if you are well-informed on the Watergate case, maybe you can answer this. I saw a special TV showing on A&E, I think (it could've been Bravo or History Network or some other channel), that said that the aim of the original Watergate burglary was NOT, as commonly suggested, to bug the office of DNC Chairman Larry O'Brian. Rather, according to this program, the aim was to break into the desk of O'Brian's secretary to steal "a little black book". The book supposedly was a link to a call-girl network which was used to entertain Democrat fatcats who came to town. Furthermore, the program said, John Dean's new wife, Maureen was linked to this call-girl ring by way of her roommate.
I found the program so interesting that I taped it (most of it), but I have not reviewed the tape since I made it more than a dozen years ago. Thanking you in advance, I'm just hoping your Watergate expertise can shed some light on whether this version of the aim of the burglary is true.
- 159 scholars at Harvard sign petition reprimanding the school for rejections of Chelsea Manning and Michelle Jones
- Fact Check: Steve Bannon's Bad History
- The Story Behind the Truman Quote in President Trump's U.N. Speech
- As Trump Declares Missing in Action Recognition Day, How Many Service Members Are Missing?
- The 'nation's report card' says it assesses critical thinking in history
- Eric Foner discusses the manipulation of history
- Male historian tapped to lead Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Kansas
- Decline in History Majors Continues, Departments Respond
- He's 75 now. When he started teaching at the University of New Orleans students walked out on his class.
- 'Fake news' from 1738 offers lessons for modern historians, says Missouri scholar


text:
A few months ago we did a response to BMW's first matte paint care video for their signature "Frozen" paint jobs. If you recall, we liked the video, but they did get a few things wrong regarding matte paint care. Most importantly they made matte paint seem tough to care for and extremely fragile, which, as we have expressed countless times, is not Read More
An Update On BMW Frozen Paint Care
on 07.10.12


text:
It only takes a minute to get started. Fill out our uncomplicated sign up form and login to the site.
This step is up to you but will dramatically enhance your chances of your profile getting read by other members. Write a little about yourself, your pasttimes and upload a nice photo of yourself.
Use our website's state-of-the-art search to uncover members who match your criteria. Or just scan through listings and uncover folks that attract you.
Found someone who ticks all the boxes? Send an email to them or just a wink and see what comes of it. With a little luck you'll be on your way to true love.
It'll only take 30 seconds


text:
Update: Inmate charged with battery to deputy
A man facing felony charges in connection with a scuffle with jail deputies last week made an appearance in St. Croix County Circuit Court Tuesday morning, Jan. 17.
Charges of battery to law officers, assault by a prisoner, resisting an officer, escape and bail jumping, were filed Jan. 10 against Shane Michael Kringen, 38, whose most recent address was listed as the Lino Lakes prison in Minnesota.
Sheriff John Shilts said Kringen forced his way out of a cell on Jan. 9, grabbed Sgt. Mark Thoms and had him down before other deputies were able to intervene and subdue the inmate.
The state called for a dismissal of the original charges and filled a new complaint Tuesday containing five similar felony counts in the incident and a preliminary hearing was set for 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Kringen was ordered to post $50,000 cash bail. He appeared in court in orange prison garb, shackled with three deputies surrounding him Tuesday.
Court records said he is scheduled for a three-day jury trial April 17 on a string of felony charges including a fourth OWI arrest within five years, reckless endangerment and fleeing an officer.
Those charges stemmed from an Aug. 3, 2010, high speed chase Kringen was involved in from Hammond into the town of Hudson. Deputies fired shots and Kringen allegedly rammed three county squad cars before he fled on foot and was apprehended by a sheriff's K-9 partner.
The record also revealed Kringen was convicted of felony battery to a law officer on May 23, 2001, in St. Croix County and ordered to serve five years in prison and three years extended supervision.


text:
Skip to Content
Home > Your Health > Classes and events > Event Search Results Detail
See event details for scheduling information.
Find help managing teen issues.
Registration is not required.
Does your child push your buttons?
Are you worried your adolescent is headed for trouble?
Find help managing your child's issues by:
Setting limits, setting house rules, following through
Learning ways to get the behavior you want
Stopping the circular arguments with your child
Getting more cooperation
Recognizing when your child is manipulating you
Regaining control in your home
Increasing your peace of mind
Working more easily in a "co-parent" situation
Understanding why your child fights with you, and how to stop it
Come share issues and solutions with other parents dealing with difficult child behavior. Get the support you need to bring about change in your family Get back the control to make your household a more peaceful place.
If you don't start the change, who will?
Tuesdays, 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
Led by Gregor Putzka, licensed marriage and family therapist
For registration or information, please call Gregor Putzka at 373-0924, ext. 3267.
Ongoing Event
At this location Hartnell Professional Center, Education room (2nd floor)
© 2017 Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Download Thrillophilia App
Book Tour and Activities on the Go!
About the Destination:
Located at a height of 10,000-12,000ft, Dayara Bugyal is included in the bracket of some of the most breathtaking places located in Uttaranchal. According to popular belief, and as the villagers insist, Bugyals are supposed to give shelter to fairies and angels and so as Dayara Bugyal.
Picturesque and vast, it is amongst the most popular and sought after trekking destinations in Uttarakhand. In order to witness and enjoy the mesmeric beauty of Dayara Bugyal, one has to take the Winter Kuari Pass trek. Winter is the most preferred time to take this trek as the entire region showcases a magical view and offers ample of opportunities to skiers.
About the Destination:
In the spellbinding region of Garhwal Himalayas, Bagini Glacier trekking makes you come face to face with untouched, raw natural beauty along with great doses of adventure. This trekking package in India takes you to Bagini Glacier that towers at 14816 feet from sea level and gives you the opportunity to feast your eyes on the mighty Dunagiri, Changa Banga and Kalanka peaks.
Your location will be the dreamy destination of Uttarakhand. Also known as 'Land of Gods' it appeals with a dramatic terrain of charming lakes, stunning rivers, mountains and rising Himalayan peaks.
Cossetted amongst stunning heights, a circular trek of around 43 kms to Bagini Glacier allures with places of worships, winsome grassy stretches streaked with vibrant flowers, crystal clear streams, sights of frosty summits, rocks and boulder ridden paths, quaint hamlets and more!
Temperature Range: April-June: 15 to 20 Degrees (Day) & 7 to -2 Degrees (Night),
September-OCtober: 10 to 15 Degrees (Day) & 5 to -5 (Night)
To book call 7014178934 !
About the Destination:
Trekking in India is incomplete without a trek to the Valley of Flowers. Indulge yourself in an experience of Valley of Flowers trekking and be amazed by the dewy land that welcomes you with diverse range of vibrant flowers. The landscape is dotted with a carpet of green and offers a distant view of snow-capped mountains. Tucked away in Uttarakhand, a divine region of West Himalayas, trekking to Valley of Flowers unfolds to you around 300 types of endemic alpine flowers and a rich range of flora.
The colourful place stretches over a good 87.5 square kilometres and was declared a national park in 1982. Also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the valley needs to be seen to be believed. Frozen during the colder month; the place come alive with a burst of life when the snow melts.
This National Park is also home to endangered species as such as Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and also the blue sheep. At 3600 meters above the sea level, the Valley of Flowers tour makes for an engaging trekking destination. Over the 6 days of the trek, you will be covering around 38km, the Valley of Flowers Uttaranchal - July, August 2015 Valley of flowers best time to visit is July to August.
About the Activity:
Pangarchulla Peak Climb, Joshimath is one riveting trek that has been known for enticing trekkers from all over the world. One of the most fascinating thing about this unique trek is its well-rounded trail that provides you with a fun-filled trekking experience. Delight in this easy trek that provides you with bounties of natural beauty accompanying you throughout your journey.
This stunning Pangarchulla Peak transforms from a lush green beauty in summers to a snow enveloped ground as soon as the winter approaches. An idyllic trek that assures you with a mesmerizing experience no matter which season you choose to travel – get ready for an exhilarating experience. Delight in the panoramic views of the surrounding Garhwal ranges while you make your way through rhododendron and Oak thickets.
Take a break from the cobwebs of routine life and enthral in this perfect thrilling escapade. Enjoy the vivid flowers that adorn Pangarchulla Peak throughout the spring season- rivet in the experience of walking through a colourful paradise. Witness wide diversity of flora – delight in the blushing beauty of rhododendron and gigantic Oak thickets embracing this stunning peak. Make some wonderful memories with rest of the group members while enthralling in this gorgeous trekking experience to Pangarchulla Peak.
Meal Types: Vegetarian (From Dinner on Day 01 to Dinner on Day 05)
Accommodation Types: Accommodation in Joshimath / Auli. Guest house / Camp. Tents on triple sharing bases with all meals
Transportation Types: Local Transport
Activities: Trek to Tali, Trek to Bhakarabudhha base of Pangarchulla Peak, Camping at the base, Climb Pangrchulla and back to Base Camp
Difficulty Level: Easy


text: Water Horses must back off Staff Nov. 28, 1994 From the print edition Print Share Subscribe Donate Now Horses can't poop in a source of drinking water for 25 homes in Lama, N.M. The Taos County court recently found Dr. John Wilson and his wife Barbara guilty of allowing their horses to pollute the El Rito de Lama Acequia, reports The Taos News. For more than 200 years, the acequias - irrigation ditches - of northern New Mexico have carried water from the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the dry lowlands. Because members of the association that manages the Lama acequia rely on the ditch for drinking water, the group sued the Wilsons last March. "There was an overwhelming amount of manure beside the ditch," says association member Bob Aldo. "I counted 75 piles along the banks and near Wilsons' hay barn." They are the largest landowners that use the ditch water, and the couple owns a majority of water shares. Nevertheless, the court ordered the Wilsons to move their fences and corrals at least 150 feet away from the ditch. The acequia association went to court after the Wilsons balked at similar recommendations by the New Mexico Department of the Environment. Lama, near Questa, is the only New Mexico town in which many residents have an official right to use water for domestic as well as agricultural purposes. The Wilsons are appealing the court decision. Republish Share Like Tweet +1 LinkedIn Email Water Pollution Comments


text:
The steering group, whose members include Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Visit London, is launching a press drive to highlight the damage that UK tourism and the City will suffer if plans for expansion at UK airports are scrapped.
The activity marks a departure from the consor-tium's original aim to 'communicate what the industry is doing' in the face of climate change. The body has already come under fire from industry experts and pressure groups, who have warned that its members may suffer serious damage if it does not produce measurable results.
The consortium has also sent a letter to several national newspapers stressing that 'good air links are a key factor in businesses' choice of location and are crucial to the UK's regional economies'.
Flying Matters was set up in May, following a call by Virgin chief Sir Richard Branson last September for the aviation industry to develop a shared solution to climate change. The group has hired digital agency Unite Form to develop its website, which is expected to go live at the end of next month.
Separately, the aviation industry has been criticised by MPs for failing to encourage carbon offsetting for flights. The Environmental Audit Committee singled out BA for its 'risible' offsetting methods. It has also recommended that the government make offsetting payments mandatory on all airline tickets sold in the UK.


text:
Thank you for downloading our Control Your Business white paper
Thank You!
Click here to download your copy of this insightful Forrester report.
Here are a few other resources you might be interested in
Over the past decade, the coming of age of the Internet, mobile and cloud technology has fundamentally changed the way many businesses operate. Explore some of the most popular trends in business computing help you understand how you can put cloud ERP to work in your business and capitalize on the following opportunities.
Over the last few years, "the cloud" has become a popular buzzword that many people use, but few truly understand. If it's time to invest in a new ERP/accounting solution and you're wondering if a cloud based solution is the way to go, this whitepaper can help.
Explore the Cloud ERP solutions we offer.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss your specific needs, please email us or call (336)315-3935. Our friendly experts are here to help.


text: PoliticsSouth Sudan party official challenges ban Ruling SPLM's Pagan Amum ordered not to leave the capital Juba or to speak to media amid shake-up. 08 Aug 2013 07:33 GMT | Politics, Business & Economy, Africa, Sudan Pagan Amum, the secretary general of South Sudan's ruling SPLM party, has petitioned the court to cancel the president's order that bars him from speaking with the media and leaving the country's capital Juba. Besides suspending Amum, President Salva Kiir also dismissed his entire cabinet last month. According to Amum's legal team, Kiir, who is also the chairman of SPLM, is not legally entitled to impose these restrictions. Al Jazeera's Anna Cavell reports from Juba.Source: Al Jazeera


text:
It can't be easy to sell stereos nowadays, with the iPhone and iPod having become a one-stop home audio system, but Onkyo knows that shoppers are looking for something compact, iPad-friendly, and affordable. In response, the company has created the CS-V645 DVD/CD mini system. It plays a wide range of audio and video formats, and has a port for iPhone/iPod connections. Videos are automatically upscaled for output to a high-def display over an HDMI connection. The dock is on top of the receiver, while the USB jack is on the front panel for easy access to flash drives or cable-connected systems. Look for it in early December for $399.
If that's too much, try the Onkyo CS-445 CD mini-system. It plays CD-R/RW discs, and includes an iPod/iPhone dock. It will be available in early November for $329.


text:
Bunny Charm
It looks like you have an ad blocker on. Please disable your ad blocker and refresh to fully enjoy our games.
Thank you.
Kill all enemies and capture the flags for upgrade points by standing at one until its bar is filled.
WASD = Move
Mouse = Aim & Shoot


text:
Romanian immigration
Most ethnic Romanians from the Ottoman, Austrian, and Russian Empires and the state of Romania came as laborers and peasants and sought work wherever they could find it in North America. In the United States, they were attracted mainly to the industrial cities of the North, most prominently Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; and Chicago, Illinois. In Canada, peasants found opportunities to homestead on the prairies of what are now Saskatchewan and Alberta. According to the U.S. census of 2000 and the Canadian census of 2001, 367,310 Americans and 131,830 Canadians claimed Romanian ancestry. By 2000, Romanians were widely spread throughout North America. In the 1990s, New York, Los Angeles, and Ontario were replacing the older areas as most favored areas of settlement.
Romania occupies 88,800 square miles in southeast Europe on the Black Sea. It is bordered on the north and east by Ukraine, on the east by Moldova, on the west by Hungary and Serbia and Montenegro, and on the south by Bulgaria. In 2002, the population was estimated at 22,364,022, with 89.1 percent of the population being Romanian, and 8.9 percent, Hungarian. More than two-thirds are adherents of the Romanian Orthodox Church; Roman Catholics and Protestants each make up about 6 percent of the population. Romanian tribes first created a Dacian kingdom that was occupied by the Roman Empire between 106 and 271. During that time, the people and their language were Romanized, setting them apart from the Slavs and Magyars who lived in surrounding areas. The foundation of the modern state structure was laid in the 13th century, particularly in the regions of Moldavia and Walachia, two principalities that were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire early in the 16th century. The western region of Transylvania, occupied by Romanians, Magyars, and Germans, formed a borderland between the lands of the Muslim Ottoman conquest and the Austrian and Hungarian lands of Christian Europe. Moldavia and Walachia were united to form Romania in 1863, and became fully independent in 1878. As an ally of Nazi Germany in World War II (1939–45), Romania lost considerable territory, including northern Bukovina, Bessarabia, and Trans-Dniestria. Falling under Soviet cold war domination, Romania's economy deteriorated until it became one of the poorest countries in Europe. The country of Moldova, independent since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, was essentially the old Romanian province of Bessarabia, and its people, mostly Romanians.
The first Romanians to immigrate to North America were Jews who came between 1870 and 1895 from Moldavia; Bessarabia, then under Russian control; or Bukovina, under Austrian control. Their numbers were small, but they did establish the basis for a permanent settlement in what would become Saskatchewan, in Canada. Between 1905 and 1908, they were joined by more than 200 additional homesteaders, brought to the area by Maurice, baron de Hirsch's Jewish Colonization Society. The first significant immigration in both the United States and Canada came between 1895 and 1920. During that period, it is estimated that more than 80,000 Romanians immigrated to the United States. Exact figures are difficult to determine, as most statistics were based on country of origin, which most often would have been Austria, Russia, or Hungary. Even after World War I (1914–18), with the creation of an expanded Romania, pre–World War I borders were frequently used to determine classification. Nevertheless, most Romanians came as single men intending to earn money and then return home, and the rate of return migration was high. Most were unskilled and found work in iron, steel, auto, and meatpacking industries of the U.S. North and Midwest. The Canadian experience in this period was very different, with most coming from peasant backgrounds in Transylvania and settling in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Exact numbers are difficult to determine, as the majority of Romanians actually emigrated from lands controlled by the Austro-Hungarian or Ottoman Empires. As settled farmers, Canadian Romanians tended to stay in North America. By 1921, there were about 30,000 Romanians in Canada.
In the aftermath of World War II (see World War II and immigration), thousands of "Forty-eighters" arrived as refugees. About 10,000 were admitted to the United States under provisions of the Displaced Persons Act (1948). Most were relatively well educated and staunchly anticommunist, with a large percentage of professionals among them. Most settled in the industrial heartland, especially in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and the mid-sized industrial towns of Ohio and western Pennsylvania. During the long years of communist rule, emigration was difficult, but with the fall of the communist regime in 1989, Romanians again began to immigrate to North America, mainly seeking economic opportunities. Between 1990 and 2002, average annual Romanian immigration to the United States was about 5,000. The movement was proportionately much greater to Canada. Of the 60,165 Romanian immigrants in Canada in 2001, more than 58 percent of them (35,170), came between 1991 and 2001. Many of them came from Yugoslavia's Vojvodina region, fleeing persecution and civil war.
See also Austro-Hungarian immigration; Russian immigration; Yugoslav immigration.


text:
Jonathan Yardley
A Novel
By Charles Frazier
Random House. 422 pp. $26.95
Charles Frazier is an intelligent, occasionally witty author who writes incredibly long-winded, sentimental, soporific novels. His first, Cold Mountain , published nine years ago, was the most unlikely bestseller since Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All (1989), by his fellow North Carolinian Allan Gurganus, and the most improbable National Book Award winner since John O'Hara's Ten North Frederick half a century ago. Now Frazier weighs in with Thirteen Moons , which manages to be even longer and even duller than Cold Mountain . No doubt it too will be a huge bestseller.
That Frazier's success parallels Gurganus's is purely coincidental, but it's just about impossible not to remark upon the oddness of the coincidence. As a rule, the American book-buying public has only a limited appetite for Southern-fried fiction, yet Frazier and Gurganus somehow have tapped into it. They deal (Frazier somewhat more skillfully than Gurganus) in what a North Carolina newspaper editor of my long-ago acquaintance used to call shucks-'n'-nubbins, which is loosely defined as tiny ears of corn. Frazier's corn is anything but tiny -- more than 400 pages of it in the case of Thirteen Moons -- but it's corn all the same.
Reading Frazier is like sitting by the cracker barrel for hour after hour and listening to an amiable but impossibly gassy guy who talks real slow, says "I reckon" a whole lot and never shuts up. His novels have little structure and not much in the way of plot; in Cold Mountain he gave us the wounded Confederate soldier, Inman, limping his way back to his gal, Ada, in the North Carolina mountains, and in Thirteen Moons it's the ancient Will Cooper reminiscing about his nine decades and his Cherokee buddies and the gal, Claire, whom he managed to love and lose. He is a far less interesting man than Frazier obviously believes him to be, which is a little surprising because he's based on a very interesting historical figure.
"Will Cooper is not William Holland Thomas," Frazier says in an author's note, and then coyly adds, "though they do share some DNA." Actually, they share a whole lot. William Holland Thomas was born in North Carolina in 1805, was almost immediately orphaned, worked as a boy in a general store in the mountains, taught himself the law, worked to secure the right of the Cherokees to remain in their territory as Andrew Jackson sought to drive all Indians westward, served in the state senate and organized a company of Cherokee soldiers on behalf of the Confederacy. All of which is exactly what Will Cooper does in Thirteen Moons ; where fact and fiction part is that Thomas married and had children while Cooper remains single, and Thomas's mental condition gradually deteriorated after the Civil War while Cooper remains alert, if rather tired, to the novel's end.
In other words, in Thirteen Moons Frazier essentially has fictionalized history. Nothing wrong with that: happens all the time. But the novel provides less imagination and invention than readers are likely to expect; it reads more like a dutifully researched (check out that author's note) graduate school paper than a work of fiction. It also is chock-a-block with homespun aphorisms that aren't exactly full of original wisdom: "One of the few welcome lessons age teaches is that only desire trumps time," and "Grief is a haunting," and "Writers can tell any lie that leaps into their heads," and "Our worst pain is confined within our own skin," and "We are not made strong enough to stand up against endless grief," and so forth. To be sure Frazier's folksy wisdom is a good deal easier to swallow than Gurganus's, but it's folksy all the same and not especially wise.
The novel is narrated in the first person. Early on, Will tells us that "I was always word-smitten" and that he kept journals for years, though the novel obviously is a reconstruction of the journals rather than the journals themselves. It begins with the "bound boy" that Will became at the age of 12, when his uncle and aunt sent him off to be "a shopkeep" for seven years, apprenticed to an elderly gentleman who owned "a trade post out at the edge of the [Cherokee] Nation." He makes his way through the mountain forests on his own, encountering adventures similar to those that beset Inman in Cold Mountain -- Frazier does like to send his men out on interminable treks that often seem to be headed nowhere -- until he finally arrives at the store, which "was hardly bigger than the parlor room of my aunt's house" and provided with "woefully little . . . stock from the outer world."
Will is a go-getter, though, and soon enough the store is busy, at least by mountain standards. Will runs it for four years, then is able to buy it after the owner's death. By this point, he has become something of a fixture in the Indian community, especially after he befriends an old Indian named Bear, "possessor of the deepest and sharpest mind to which I have ever been exposed." At once the reader is in the presence of the Noble Savage, though a bit later Frazier tries to wriggle out of that one:
"It is tempting to look back at Bear's people from the perspective of this modern world and see them as changeless and pure, authentic people in ways impossible for anybody to be anymore. We need Noble Savages for our own purposes. Our happy imaginings about them and the pure world they occupied do us good when incoherent change overwhelms us. But even in those early days when I was first getting to know Bear and his people, I could see that change and brutal loss had been all they had experienced for two centuries. . . . It was not any kind of original people left. No wild Indians at all, and little raw wilderness. They were damaged people, and they lived in a broken world like everybody else."
True enough, but it's also true that Frazier sentimentalizes the Cherokee even as he tries to keep his distance from the Noble Savage cliché. When Bear offers "to stand as your father" -- i.e., to step in for the father whom Will lost before he was born -- it's a true Noble Savage Moment: "If you were born or adopted into a clan, you were Cherokee. Everybody else was an outsider. So when Bear made his offer it was not only between him and me, it was also a deal with his whole people and thus a matter of identity. For them and for me and for him." Or, as Annie Oakley puts it in "Annie Get Your Gun," "I'm an Indian Too."
Corny? Absolutely. It had best be acknowledged, though, that Frazier's sentimental streak is almost certainly what has gotten him to where he is. It comes naturally to him, and readers seem to recognize this. However one may feel about the books that make their way to the upper reaches of the fiction bestseller lists, one thing is true of just about all of them: They are written with the utmost sincerity. Their authors mean what they write. They aren't trying to jerk readers around, and they aren't condescending to them. Readers can sense when they're being patronized, and they rarely fall for it. Whatever else there is to be said about Frazier's fiction -- and in my view there's not much -- its sincerity is unimpeachable.
Which makes it doubly odd that he tries to have it both ways. In Cold Mountain , after Inman and Ada have their ecstatic and endlessly delayed reunion, Frazier pulls up short by killing Inman off in the closing paragraphs. Something similar (though scarcely as violent) happens between Will and Claire toward the end of Thirteen Moons . Even as Frazier is tugging away at our heartstrings, he's trying to show how tough and realistic he can be, but it feels strained and unpersuasive; my own hunch is that he thinks literary respectability can be earned only if sentimentality is served up with a hard-hearted twist, but it's the sentimentality that's believable, not the twist.
Will readers flock to Thirteen Moons as they did to Cold Mountain ? Who knows? Frazier's new publisher has a ton of money invested in him and will be pulling out all the stops. One thing is certain: Thirteen Moons is going to be putting a whole bunch of people to sleep. ·
Jonathan Yardley's e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
user functions
Current Ithaca College community members may contribute stories and comments as well as view additional topics by logging in.
related links
The Out of Bounds Radio Show, hosted by Tish Pearlman, to Feature School of Music Conductor Jeffery Meyer
Contributed by Molly O'Shea Polk on 12/17/12
Born in Chicago, Jeffery Meyer began his musical studies as a pianist, and shortly thereafter continued on to study composition and conducting. Since 2002 he has been the Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in St. Petersburg, Russia one of St. Petersburg's most innovative and progressive ensembles and is the Director of Orchestras at Ithaca College School of Music.
He has appeared with orchestras in the United States and abroad, including ensembles such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonico "Haydn" di Bolzano e Trento. In recent concert seasons, he has been seen conducting, performing as piano soloist and chamber musician, as well as conducting from the keyboard in the United States, Canada, Russia, Italy, Spain, Germany and throughout Eastern and Southeastern Asia.
© Copyright Ithaca College. All rights reserved; unauthorized use prohibited. All material on this server is produced by our community but, except for designated pages, is neither approved nor verified by Ithaca College.


text:
Enrollment has been completed in a Phase 2 study of ladostigil for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and results expected in Q4 2012 Yaacov Michlin appointed Chairman of the Board and Dr. Yona Geffen appointed Chief Executive Officer YAVNE, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Avraham Pharmaceuticals Ltd. announced today the commencement of a Phase 2 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ladostigil in patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This 36-month, multi-centre, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial will include at least 200 patients in 16 centers in Europe and Israel. "I am delighted to lead Avraham in these exciting times for the company,…
Avraham Pharmaceuticals Announces Commencement of a Phase 2 Study of Ladostigil for the Treatment of MCI
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }
Previous post: Parrot Zik headphones release date and price announced
Next post: Very Sugary Diet Makes You Stupid


text:
I had CoolSculpting 4 weeks ago. I have a ridge across my upper abs about 3 inches long. It is a bump I can feel, but is not visible. What could it possibly be?
1 Month After CoolSculpting I can Feel a Ridge Across my Upper Abs, is this Normal?
Doctor Answers 3
Ridge after CoolSculpting
Learn more: http://www.shapiroplasticsurgery.com/surgical-procedures/coolsculpting.php
Palpable ridge after Coolsculpting.....
This is probably still due to swelling from the procedure. This procedure kills some of your fat cells. Your body's inflammatory process then removes them. I would recommend massage of this area as the process continues. By 3-4 months it will likely be gone. Discuss this with your treating physician.
CoolSculpting of the abdomen
A ridge you feel indicates there is a firmness that is not visible. This may be an inflammatory reaction to the dead fat cells. It may take time, many months, for this to go away. You should be seen by your physician for an examination and clarification / reassurance. Your physician may recommend some treatment to make the firmness feel softer, sooner.
Learn more: http://www.thenyac.com/zeltiq/index.html
You might also like...
These answers are for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for medical advice you may receive from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911. These answers do not constitute or initiate a patient/doctor relationship.


text:
Danny Strong to Write THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY Part 2
Lionsgate has given screenwriter Danny Strong the chance to tackle the script for the second part of The Hunger Games finale Mockingjay. He already wrote the script for the first part, and the studio liked it enough to exercise their option to write Part 2. Strong recently won a couple of Emmy's for his work on HBO's Game Change.
The first part of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay will be released on November 21th, 2014, and the second part will hit theaters on November 20th, 2015. It will be interesting to see how they stretch that last book out into two movies.
Hopefully they can turn this one book into two decent entertaining films.
Here's the description of the third book in the series:
Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12.


text:
'Higher risk' of disastrous floods
It is possible events such as the floods in Nelson and Golden Bay last December could become more common, says an expert.
New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute director David Frame, of Victoria University, is co-author of a report published in the latest edition of Nature Climate Change.
Along with Daithi Stone, from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, Prof Frame has compared predictions from the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment report in 1990 with actual data from the past 20 years. The comparison showed global climate change was happening as predicted in 1990.
"Things are changing pretty much the way we thought - surprisingly so," Prof Frame said.
Since 1990 the average global surface temperature has risen by between 0.35 degrees Celsius and 0.39C, in line with 1990 predictions. This was in spite of unforeseen climate-altering events, such as the eruption of Mt Pinatubo in 1991, the collapse of Soviet bloc industries in the 1990s, and the recent fossil fuel-intensive growth in economies such as Asia.
"What we've found is that these early predictions seem pretty good, and this is likely due to the climate responding to concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere at a rate broadly in line with what scientists in 1990 expected."
The predictions looked ahead as far as 2030, and forecast that average temperatures would continue to rise by about 0.2C a decade.
As temperatures rose, the air was able to hold more water, meaning that, when it rained, more water would come down.
The Manawatu floods of 2004, and last year's flooding in Nelson and Golden Bay, were "explosive summer events" are examples of what the future may hold.
However, further predictions for New Zealand were difficult to make, because global warming worked on a large scale. "We can be right about the globe, but wrong about Eketahuna," Prof Frame said.
But Bryan Leyland, from the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition, said science had shown global temperatures had not risen in 16 years and the world was likely to get cooler.
Sea levels will rise, though it is hard to say by how much.
Continents will have warmer winters.
Heatwaves will increase.
The warming will be greatest over land areas at the highest northern latitudes, and least over the Southern Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic.
Sea ice and snow cover will decrease in many places.
The Nelson Mail


text:
Is Congress about to let the Generalized System of Preferences program expire again? The program, under which the United States offers preferential market access to developing countries, is authorized only through the end of July. The program is not ideal—it excludes important products, such as footwear, clothing, and other labor-intensive goods where developing countries have a comparative advantage. But GSP still provides an important boost to countries that want to use trade as a development tool by encouraging investment and job creation in developing countries.
That has become even more difficult in recent years, however, because of the uncertainty surrounding the US GSP program. Since 2006, GSP has been authorized for only a year or two at a time and it lapsed for nearly a year in 2011. The chart below, from the Washington consulting group The Trade Partnership, illustrates starkly the impact of that uncertainty on investors and buyers and, therefore, on developing country exports under GSP. I realize that there is a lot on Congress's plate right now, but GSP is a noncontroversial program with broad support and it should not be a heavy lift to get this done before yet another lapse. The chart also shows clearly that extending it for more than a year or two would be a big help for developing countries.


text:
THURSDAY, Sept. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Sickle-cell anemia is more than 25 times more common in Kenyan children with bacterial infections, and immunization may prevent death since the bacterial species are the same as those in developed countries, according to a study published online Sept. 10 in The Lancet.
Thomas N. Williams, Ph.D., from the Centre for Geographic Medicine Research-Coast in Kilifi, Kenya, and colleagues retrospectively examined the prevalence of sickle-cell anemia in 1,749 Kenyan children hospitalized for bacteremia and in 13,492 Kenyan children from the general population.
The researchers found that 6 percent of children with bacteremia had sickle-cell anemia compared with only 1 percent of children from the general population. Children with bacteremia and sickle-cell anemia were most commonly infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae (41 percent), non-typhi Salmonella species (18 percent), and Haemophilus influenzae type b (12 percent). Children with bacteremia were much more likely to have sickle-cell anemia (age-adjusted odds ratio, 26.3), with the strongest associations for S. pneumoniae, non-typhi Salmonella species, and H. influenzae type b.
"The organisms causing bacteremia in African children with sickle-cell anemia are the same as those in developed countries," Williams and colleagues conclude. "Introduction of conjugate vaccines against S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae into the childhood immunization schedules of African countries could substantially affect survival of children with sickle-cell anemia."
Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)
Powered by
Join NursingCenter on Social Media to find out the latest news and special offers
Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ and YouTube
Copyright © 2017, Wolters Kluwer – Terms & Privacy – Disclaimer -- v6.8.1


text:
There are several versions of exactly what happened inside the Cricket on the Hill on Saturday, September 8, at 12:30 a.m., but the popular version goes like this: The guy from the Volts got on stage, threw beer bottles at people and then got beat up outside.
The Pin Downs, a local all-girl rock band, were playing a set when they called out to him -- the guy from the Volts, that is -- to join them on stage and sing "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by the Stooges. When the music started, he became so moved by the rock, as he is known to do, that he began jerking and vibrating across the stage. He kicked his feet out spasmodically in flares, waved his arms wildly at the crowd and flopped around on the floor like a fish in dirt.
Then he spotted a vacant cocktail table in front of the stage, topped with empty Budweiser bottles and glasses. He didn't like what he saw. Those glasses, he figured, had to go.
King Rat
Lion's Lair, 2022 East Colfax Avenue
With the Pin Downs and the Volts
9 p.m. Friday, September 29
So he kicked the table out from underneath, turning it over and sending bottles and glasses flying into the crowd. Glass crashed on the floor and jagged pieces hit people sitting at the remaining tables -- people who were becoming very upset with this guy from the Volts. One woman grabbed an ashtray and flung it straight into his face, like a Frisbee.
Another person who got pricked by glass was a large jocko wearing a tank top. Jocko didn't care much for his new injuries. And so Jocko, not one to take the act of aggression lightly, tackled his enemy on stage and threw him to the ground.
But the guy kept singing, like it didn't matter one bit. He kept clutching his microphone, screaming into it even though he was getting slapped to the ground.
When Jocko finally let up, the guy from the Volts plunged off the stage -- still singing -- and into the seating area, which was mostly empty now (the crowd got had gotten wise and backed up to the bar). Then he grabbed their abandoned drinks and started lobbing them at the crowd.
Jocko and his buddies didn't find the bottle-tossing amusing at all. They were getting ready to kick some ass, right there, on stage. They waited for him to finish the song, though.
And again, this is where people tell the story a little differently -- some say he was thrown out, some say he was chased out -- but everyone agrees that the guy from the Volts left the bar immediately after he was done singing his song. Jocko and his drunk friends followed him, working the bar into a frenzy as they knocked over chairs, bottles, people.
As it turned out, when Jocko caught up to him in the doorway outside Gabor's, the bar next door to the Cricket, Jocko was too drunk to punch, and his target was too quick to get hit.
Now, the bouncers and bartenders back inside the Cricket didn't want to go through this again. Last year a bar fight had broken out during a Denver Joe show and left a man stabbed, and bloodied, on the floor. So the bouncers and bartenders immediately turned off the Pin Downs' amps, cleared out the boozers and closed down the bar.
The people who were forced out of the Cricket hoped to flow right into Gabor's. But like the Cricket, Gabor's didn't want to serve a surly crowd. With all the people, tension and confusion crowding the thin sidewalk in front of the two bars on 13th Street, Gabor's decided to shut their doors, too. Then the cops showed up and told everyone to go home.
It wasn't quite 12:45 a.m. and two of Capitol Hill's most popular bars were closed.
All told, the guy from the Volts was on stage for three minutes. Maybe four.
Now, the guy from the Volts -- his real name is J.R. Spiegel -- is getting a reputation for starting shit when he gets that microphone in his hand. And his band, the Volts -- they're getting a reputation for starting shit when they put instruments in their hands. And all of this is for a good reason.
In 1996, a guy named Carlos Becerra moved from El Paso, Texas, to Fort Collins. He didn't have a good reason to move to Fort Collins, just did. Becerra was a punk and played his drums hard, but he was also a family man. He supported two kids and a wife, and worked in a cabinet shop as a machinist. At night, he played in cover bands that he didn't even like. He just enjoyed playing his drums.
Becerra had kept in touch with a high school friend named Cesar Gomez, a guitarist. Gomez had left El Paso around the same time as Becerra, but Gomez headed for Tucson, Arizona. Again, there was no good reason for Gomez to move to Tucson, but after all, like Becerra, he was coming from...El Paso.
Becerra urged Gomez to leave Tucson and come join him in Fort Collins, but not because he wanted to start another band; it was just for friendship's sake. When Gomez arrived, he moved in with Becerra's family and slept on the couch. While in Arizona, Gomez had tired of playing in the aimless bands, doing all the songwriting, jamming with uninspired drummers and dime-a-dozen bassists. Just like Becerra, Gomez was burned out on being in a band. He came to Colorado for a change of life.
So, naturally, the first thing the two did was start a band.
They had played together for so long, and with so many other replaceable parts, that they didn't need to talk about what they wanted to play -- they just played it. The sound that they craved to create, the one sound they wanted to express, simply needed to maintain an integrity unto itself. It had to be hard, but true. It had to have the foundation of rock and roll, the danger of punk and the veracity of country. Most of all, it had to be something they would want to listen to -- a quality that, they discovered when they turned on the radio, was harder to come by.
Becerra and Gomez drove down to Denver to see shows, but both preferred the small-town pace of Fort Collins by day. They weren't dialed into Denver's "scene," so they didn't have access to its musical hipsters. Then, in late 1998, Becerra attended an Agnostic Front show in Denver and ran into a guy who was looking to start a band.
That guy turned out to be Spiegel, and the talk turned out to be a good one. Spiegel had played oi bands, and he was searching to tap the same gritty vibe as Becerra and Gomez. Spiegel didn't play any instruments or come with any pre-packaged tunes, but by God, he grew up singing in a choir. And he had energy, excitability and enthusiasm. All of it by the pound.
Spiegel also knew where to farm for musicians. He bartended in Capitol Hill, and his happy-hour clientele consisted mostly of out-of-work musicians. The trio of Becerra, Gomez and Spiegel went through a few bassists and rhythm guitarists before they landed one that fit, a guy named Brandon Richier who had just left a punk outfit, the Stressed.
There was only one rule to being in this band: everyone writes. Gomez didn't want to do all the work just because he was the guitarist. Becerra didn't want to remain the silent drummer boy who simply laid down beats. Richier had stashed too many walking bass lines for them to just to go unaccompanied. And Spiegel just couldn't keep quiet long enough to not write music -- even if he had to hum the riffs he was suggesting.
After practicing for nine months, Spiegel booked the first show late last year. He went to a local copy shop to fire off the first round of fliers, a giddy moment in the birth of any band. Becerra, the band's elder, had come up with the name the Thundervolts, which all the members grudgingly accepted. Spiegel, now standing at the copy machine, thought it sounded too much like a WWF tag team.
So he blotted out the "thunder" and got the Volts rolling.
"Some bands just get real popular real fast," says Scott Campbell, booking manager at Denver's 15th Street Tavern. "You can tell because all the other bands want to play with them. And right now, all the other bands want to play with the Volts."
It only took until this summer for the Volts to strike. They began the year by toiling at house parties and small gatherings, but then Spiegel's connections started paying off, and then the band started taking off, and then pretty soon, the Volts got off.
In June, they recorded the single "Scandal" for Radio 1190's Local Shakedown, a high-energy money shot that has since found its way into the more-than-just-occasional rotation at the station. The song, written by Becerra during the Clinton impeachment proceedings, is a clear representation of the band: Gomez's opening slappy riff is an immediate directive, a call to action; Richier's bass line and Becerra's drum fills are a coalescence of country and punk, giving the tune a fast, woodsy backbone. Then come Spiegel's snotty vocals, UK-inspired.
Also in June, the band recorded eight new songs for its first CD release, Dig It, which will be released Halloween night at the 15th Street Tavern when the Volts open for L.A.'s the BellRays, a national act. Prior to that, the band will record five new songs for a split LP with Denver's Down-N-Outs.
Like the band's live material, the Volts' recorded output is seemingly fed by methamphetamines, yet trained enough not to entirely tweak out. Their songs are pushing, provocative, just shy of haywire. The result is something edgy yet familiar. It's said that in rock and roll there's a fine line between cliche and cutting edge, and the Volts are keeping it on the latter side right now. One misstep though, and it's a plunge for the worse, and the songs start sounding a little too familiar.
To keep their live shows from being confused with the customary, Spiegel's onstage "shenanigans," as Becerra calls them, have spawned a potent word-of-mouth buzz. People unfamiliar with the band's music have heard that what happens at a live Volts show is worth the price of admission alone. Or, as Gomez jokes, "Come see J.R. flop around like a damn foo'."
Spiegel's stunts are dynamic: During a show at the 15th Street Tavern last month, he suddenly dove into a standing crowd, knocking some of its members down, then berated them for looking at him as if they were watching television. In the same show, he murdered a window fan with his fists, threw it at the crowd, then got knocked over when they threw it back.
An enigmatic frontman is always good for reviews and press (even here, yes), but the physical theatrics force the other side of the question: Is it for real?
"I don't do what I do to be violent or harmful in any way," Spiegel says. "What's coming out on stage from the band should be an outward expression. I do what I do because I'm moved to action; the music moves me in that way. It's not a conscious act. I'm not there thinking, 'Now, I'm going to do this the second song, and then I'm going to do this the third song.' I'm trying to incite people to be motivated, to interact, to be creative. Whether they hate us or not, whether they love us or not. Whatever is going on, it's better than being passive."
Passivity is what Spiegel and his mates abhor, and so is the thought that his tactics are perceived as shticky or contrived. "I'm sure there are people who show up to see this guy go nuts," Richier says. "But I also think the majority come to see the music."
By the booking numbers, there's little to discount Richier's theory. In July this year, the Volts played five shows. Five isn't a big number to, say, Britney Spears, but it is to a working man like Becerra, who can only perform on the weekends (and who, even then, is giving up time with his children to be in Denver). The Volts' recent surge in popularity -- and the increased numbers at their live shows -- is convincing the band that Spiegel's glass-throwing, body-slamming "shenanigans" aren't the reason why the people want to see and hear them. The more they play, the more familiar faces they see, the more people they hear singing the words to their songs. That is the simple evidence.
"If it were just about stage presence," Spiegel says, "they wouldn't come back. They'd see us once, and that would be enough."
When no one is looking, the Volts practice in a small basement at the corner of Sixth and Corona every Sunday at 4 p.m. They'll play one set, record it, listen to it upstairs and then go back down for another thirty-minute session.
This process goes on three or four times, until precisely 7 p.m. when they all gather on the couch to watch The Simpsons. After that, Becerra and Gomez make the 45-minute drive back to Fort Collins, and Spiegel and Richier go their way.
Downstairs, the space they use to jam in is a laundry room the size of an office cubicle. The painted white brick walls and low ceiling are soundproofed with patches of aging carpet and foam padding. Exposed water pipes run just a few inches overhead. A bare, interrogation-style light bulb hangs in the center of the square.
The quarters are so small, all four bandmembers face one another in a tight circle, nearly touching each other. This underground box smells like sweat and Snuggles fabric softener.
When the Volts start playing, everything is loud except Spiegel. The head of his microphone is missing, and his PA is low and staticky. The instruments drown out his voice.
But he keeps singing, leaning into the microphone stand at just the right moments. When the second song comes, Spiegel is getting warmer, moving a little bit more, tapping his hands at his sides. By the third, he's stomped out the beat a few times but still hasn't gotten it on even though the band is tight.
If you like this story, consider signing up for our email newsletters.
You have successfully signed up for your selected newsletter(s) - please keep an eye on your mailbox, we're movin' in!
By the fourth song, Spiegel is ready. Gomez lights up the guitar intro, Becerra drum rolls into a comfortable spot and Richier b-lines his way in. They're waiting for one more part.
No one can hear him. No one can see him. He's looking at a brick wall with carpet over it. He closes his eyes, pulls the hair from the back of his own head with one hand, and puts the microphone beneath his mouth with the other.
Then the guy from the Volts starts to freak out.