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hazel-of-sodor · 1 year

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A Screech in the Night

Ch.8 Shatter

Warning:This Chapter contains an Eldritch Horrror doing Eldritch Horror Things. The Events are not cruicial to latter chapters, so you can skip it if need be.

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The following days saw Screech settle into a routine. Early in the morning, Geyn would steam her, Freda joining him shortly thereafter. Her dawns were spent racing along with the Morning Pike. After the morning run, she brought the previous day's fish vans back to Uman. Then she would make the quarry pickups along the line. After Gwyn and Freda ate lunch, her days varied based on what was needed that particular day.

Nearly a week after her arrival, she was sent up a branchline near Coedwig to collect a mixed goods for the harbour. The Branchline was named the Blaidd line after the engine that ran it. A small 2-4-0 metro tank of Cambrian design, she was nearly as old as the railway itself.

When Screech arrived, Blaidd was attaching the last vans to the train. The little engine ran back alongside the eldritch giant.

"Mind yourself with this lot lass. They're proper devils today," the tank engine spat. The trucks and vans giggled.

"It can't be as bad as October," Gywn called as he walked to the switch to let Screech through.

"Worse," the 2-4-0 groused, "they've heard of the big lass from the other yards, and are determined to show her up." She glanced up. "They'll fight you all the way to Dyfnder if you let them. You need to put them in place now or there will be uffern to pay on the hills.

Before Screech could respond, an empty truck from the sidings called out. "Oi boys, look what crawled out of the scrap heap!" The trucks and vans in her train cackled.

"Show him his place," hissed the whisper.

"Oh look, a talking matchbox." Screech drawled, "did they run out of toothpicks when building you? Or did they know you weren't worth the wood?"

Her train roared with laughter.

The truck seethed, "A sight better than you monster. Not even fit for scrap metal." He smirked, "unlike your sisters. I heard they made soup cans out of them."

Screech went very still. All sound seemed to vanish, the wagons in her train daring not to breathe. Even the whisper fell silent within her mind.

"Blaidd?" Screech asked quietly, the sound echoing back in the silence from a thousand angles. "Are you in any way attached to this beast?"

Blaidd shook her head nervously.

"Good."

The sky darkened as Screech stretched her tendrils towards the truck. The temperature dropped drastically, the water dripping from the shed roof freezing in place mid-air.

Despite the unnatural silence, a ringing seemed to fill everyone's ears. In the dark, Screech's eyes glowed, and the trucks looked away as quickly as they could, instinctively knowing that to look within them would shred their minds like paper in a gale. The air around Screech distorted and refracted her image, but the lone truck somehow knew the terrible glimpses he saw through the shards were closer to the true Eldritch form of the 47xx.

Even before the tendrils touched him, the truck rose into the air, vibrating from some unseen energy. He cried out as the sound of splintering wood and straining metal was heard. Everyone in the yard shied back as the shriek of metal overwhelmed his cries. The tendrils surrounded the truck like serpents made of shadow. It had only been seconds, but it had felt like hours when his eyes finally met Screech's.

As he felt his mind tear from the strain of glimpsing her true self, a tendril finally, almost tenderly poked a corner of his chassis.

The silence was ended by the shattering of wood and metal into thousands of infinitesimal pieces. One second the truck was there, the next, nearly imperceptible pieces of metal and wood rained down on the forest and yard.

Screech closed her eyes and took a deep steadying breath. When they opened again, they were a burning ice blue.

"I expect," she said shortly, "that we will have no problems on our journey?"

Everyone in the yard, freight car and human, nodded frantically.

"Wonderful." Her tone remained clipped, hinting at her still simmering anger.

"Uh… Screech..."

The ice blue eyes swung to Blaidd, only to find the small tank engine off the rails. The track next to Screech had warped from mere proximity to her rage. Blaidd had been left tilting on the edge of the ballast.

"Apologies"

Screech slapped the rails with a tendril, and the rails snapped back into place. She then reached out with several tendrils and gripped the tank engine's frames, lifting gently.

She brought Blaidd in front of her to inspect her for damage, and finding none, gently set her back on her own rails.

"Thank you." Blaidd watched the tendrils curiously as they retracted.

"Normally anything they touch turns to rust, how do you control that?"

"Who says I do?"

"The fact you picked me up without turning me to scrap."

Screech barked a dry, but genuine laugh. "Through pain. I'm not meant to be in this world, so it damages anything that touches me. If I desire, I can protect the object..."

"By taking the damage yourself."

"Indeed."

Blaidd was quiet for a long moment, "You didn't have to help you know. We have a breakdown train that could have picked me up."

Screech flicked a tendril carelessly as if shrugging. "It was my fury that put you there when you had done nothing deserving my rage. Putting you back was only correct."

Blaise frowned, "but it hurt you."

Screech snorted dryly, "hardly any more than existing."

Blaise looked at her sharply, "You're in pain just from being here?"

"Such is the price of my existence."

Blaidd looked searching then sighed, "there's nothing we can do to help, is there?"

"Unless you can reverse death? No. I would not ask even if you were capable of such a feat. This is what I am now. To change that would change me."

The tank engine nodded slowly, "I think I understand. I wouldn't ask to become a diesel even if it kept me up to date."

"Exactly."

The Tank engine glanced over at the trembling trucks in Screech's train and smirked, "Any chance I can convince you to come down every once and awhile to keep this lot in line?"

"It would be my pleasure." 4702 purred while the whisper cackled.

The trucks gulped audibly.

#U&D #U&DR #Uman and Din #Uman and Din Railway #ttte fanfic #rws fanfic #eldritch train #eldritch engine #engines that go bump in the night #Hazel is evil #Hazel murders rolling stock

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2020cookie · 11 months

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iraempirecom · 11 months

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Jordan Peterson Court Order

Renowned psychologist and author, Jordan Peterson recently faced a court ruling in Ontario. Dr. Jordan Peterson had sought the intervention of the Ontario Divisional Court to overturn an order from his professional regulatory college. The College of Psychologists of Ontario had ordered JBP to complete a social-media coaching program after they had received multiple complaints regarding his online posts. Justice Paul Schabas wrote that the professional regulatory body had "adequately" considered Dr. Peterson's online statements. Furthermore, he wrote that they had given them proper consideration when giving him the order to attend Social Media Sensitivity Training. The SCERP training is quite controversial and Jordan Peterson expressed his concerns that it might affect his right to free expression. However, the Ontario court said that the remedial program would have a "minimal impact" on his right to freedom of expression. In fact, the court said that it strikes the right balance between upholding the professional standards of the regulatory authority as well as his own rights. In November 2022, Dr. Jordan Peterson had asked the court to review his college's decision. The college requires him to complete the sensitivity training and JBP claimed that his online comments, due to which he received this order, are not connected to his profession. It's worth noting that if he fails to complete the program, the conflict might go to the college's disciplinary committee and Dr. Jordan Peterson might even lose his license.

How It All Started? The Story Behind the Jordan Peterson Court Case:

Apparently, the college had received multiple complaints against Dr. Peterson in the last few years. These complaints made various allegations against the "12 Rules for Life" author saying that he made transphobic an racist comments. Furthermore, some complaints alleged that his offensive comments were not meeting his professional standards. The first investigation into Jordan Peterson's statements took place in 2020.

(Source) Then, the college had told Dr. Peterson that his online statements might reflect poorly on the profession. Moreover, they said that his statements might even harm others and asked him to be more respectful. However, the college began a new investigation in 2022 when they received more complaints against his online statements. It's worth noting that that the Ontario court verdict has attracted a lot of backlash. Dr. Peterson said on X that it infringes on his freedom of speech and called it a persecution. Also, the Canadian Constitution Foundation expressed disappointment on this decision. Professionals should not have to soft pedal their speech for fear that activists will weaponize regulatory bodies so that unpopular speech is penalized, even when there is no connection between that speech and the profession. Christine Van Geyn, Litigation Director of the CCF Jordan Peterson is a prominent figure in conservative circles. He is author of best-selling book "12 Rules for Life" and has a large social media following. Recently, he focuses on the upliftment of young men through his content while also calling out the hypocrisy of politicians. Also, he is a brand ambassador of Birch Gold Group, a precious metals dealer. What are your thoughts on the Jordan Person Ontario Court case? Share your thoughts in the comments. Read the full article

#BirchGoldGroup

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allmusic · 2 years

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AllMusic Staff Pick: Chet Baker Chet Baker in Tokyo

This compilation documents a concert that took place shortly before the trumpeter’s tragic death but in complete control of his musical faculties, playing with energy and speed amid deteriorating health. His singing, too, sounds uncannily like better than it had since the 1950s. Accompanied by pianist Harold Danko, bassist Hein Van Der Geyn and drummer John Engels, Baker plays a surprisingly varied set, from Jimmy Heath's hard bop standard "For Minors Only" to "Four" by Miles Davis and the delicately anguished "Almost Blue.”

- Rick Anderson

#allmusic staff picks #chet baker

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green-algae · 5 years

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A clear jelly fungus [Tremella sp], with the shape and texture of melting ice. Image taken in Queensland by John van de Geyn.

#jelly fungus #fungus #nature #mushroom

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humongousfanhologram · 6 years

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You Happened My Way ♫ Dee Dee Bridgewater

From the album " Love And Peace - A Tribute To Horace Silver" 2003 Composed By: Horace Silver Arranged By: Hein Van De Geyn Credits Bass – Hein Van De Geyn Drums – André "Dédé" Ceccarelli* Piano – Thierry Eliez Tenor Saxophone – Lionel Belmondo Trumpet – Stéphane Belmondo Vocals – Dee Dee Bridgewater Born Denise Eileen Garrett May 27, 1950 in Memphis (Tennessee), Dee Dee Bridgewater is is an American jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter. Dee Dee was raised Catholic in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, she was exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a rock and rhythm'n'blues trio, singing in clubs in Michigan. At 18, she studied at the Michigan State University before she went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As one of the best jazz singers of her generation, Dee Dee Bridgewater had to move to France to find herself. She performed in Michigan during the '60s and toured the Soviet Union in 1969 with the University of Illinois Big Band. She sang with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra (1972-1974) and appeared in the Broadway musical The Wiz (1974-1976). Due to erratic records and a lack of direction, Bridgewater was largely overlooked in the jazz world by the time she moved to France in the '80s. She appeared in the show Lady Day and at European jazz festivals, and eventually formed her own backup group. By the late '80s, Bridgewater's Verve recordings started to alert American listeners to her singing talents. Her 1995 Horace Silver tribute disc (Love and Peace) was a gem, and resulted in the singer extensively touring the U.S, reintroducing herself to American audiences. She found even more success with another tribute album, Dear Ella, which won a Grammy in 1997. This Is New, released in 2002, featured Bridgewater singing Kurt Weill songs, while 2005's J'ai Deux Amours found her tackling French classics. For 2010's Eleanora Fagan (1917-1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee, Bridgewatermoved from Verve to Decca/Emarcy, and offered her versions of several songs associated with Billie Holiday. She followed this in August 2011 with her sophomore effort for the label: a compilation collection of jazz standards entitled Midnight Sun, with tunes from previous albums ranging from "Angel Eyes" to Horace Silver's "Lonely Woman." In 2014, she produced and appeared on trumpeter Theo Croker's album, Afro Physicist. Bridgewater's 2015 effort, Dee Dee's Feathers, found her paying homage to the history of New Orleans, as well as marking the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. A collaboration between Bridgewater, New Orleans trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, the album also featured appearances from such New Orleans luminaries as keyboardist Dr. John and percussionist Bill Summers.

#you happened my way #dee dee bridgewater #jazz

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mozgoderina · 7 years

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Chet Baker Biography (Alchetron)

Chesney Henry “Chet” Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, and vocalist.

Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals (Chet Baker Sings, It Could Happen to You). Jazz historian Dave Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one." His well-publicized drug habit also drove his notoriety and fame; Baker was in and out of jail frequently before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s.

Early days

Baker was born and raised in a musical household in Yale, Oklahoma; his father, Chesney Baker, Sr., was a professional guitar player, and his mother, Vera (née Moser), was a talented pianist who worked in a perfume factory. His maternal grandmother, Randi Moser, was Norwegian. Baker notes that due to the Great Depression, his father, though talented, had to quit as a musician and take a regular job. Baker began his musical career singing in a church choir. His father introduced him to brass instruments with a trombone, which was replaced with a trumpet when the trombone proved too large. His mother notes that Chet had begun to memorize tunes on the radio before he was even given an instrument and that after "falling in love" with the trumpet, he already developed noticeably within the first two weeks. Peers later described Baker as a "natural" musician, and that playing came effortlessly to him.

Baker received some musical education at Glendale Junior High School, but left school at the age of 16 in 1946 to join the United States Army. He was posted to Berlin, where he joined the 298th Army band. After leaving the army in 1948, he studied theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. He dropped out in his second year, however, re-enlisting in the army in 1950. Baker became a member of the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco, and was soon spending time in San Francisco jazz clubs such as Bop City and the Black Hawk. In 1951, Baker once again obtained a discharge from the army to pursue a career as a professional musician.

Career breakthrough

Amongst Baker's earliest notable professional gigs were engagements with saxophonist Vido Musso's band, and also with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, though he earned much more renown in 1952 when he was chosen by Charlie Parker to play with him for a series of West Coast engagements.

In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Several things made the Mulligan/Baker group special, the most prominent being the interplay between Mulligan's baritone sax and Baker's trumpet. Rather than playing identical melody lines in unison like bebop giants Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie did, the two would complement each other's playing with contrapuntal touches, and it often seemed as if they had telepathy in anticipating what the other was going to play next. The Quartet's version of "My Funny Valentine", featuring a Baker solo, was a hit, and became a tune with which Baker was intimately associated. With the Quartet, Baker was a regular performer at Los Angeles jazz clubs such as The Haig and the Tiffany Club.

The Quartet found success quickly, but lasted less than a year because of Mulligan's arrest and imprisonment on drug charges. Baker formed his own quartet with pianist and composer Russ Freeman in 1953, along with bassists Bob Whitlock, Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, and Jimmy Bond and drummers Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, and Bob Neel. The Chet Baker Quartet found success with their live sets, and they released a number of popular albums between 1953 and 1956. In 1953 and 1954, Baker won the Down Beat and Metronome magazines' Readers Jazz Polls, beating the era's two top trumpeters, Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. Down Beat readers also voted Baker as the top jazz vocalist in 1954. In 1956, Pacific Jazz released Chet Baker Sings, a record that increased his profile but alienated some traditional jazz critics; he would continue to sing throughout his career.

Baker's chiseled features led to an approach by Hollywood studios, and he made his acting debut in the film Hell's Horizon, released in the fall of 1955. He declined an offer of a studio contract, preferring life on the road as a musician. Over the next few years, Baker fronted his own combos, including a 1955 quintet featuring Francy Boland, where Baker combined playing trumpet and singing. In 1956 Chet Baker completed an eight-month tour of Europe, where he recorded Chet Baker In Europe.

He became an icon of the West Coast "cool school" of jazz, helped by his good looks and singing talent. One of Baker's 1956 recordings, released for the first time in its entirety in 1989 as The Route, with Art Pepper, helped further the West Coast jazz sound and became a staple of cool jazz.

Drug addiction and decline

Baker often said he began using heroin in 1957, resulting in an addiction that lasted the remainder of his life. But in Chet Baker, his life and music by author Jeroen de Valk, Russ Freeman and others state that he was on drugs from the early '50s on. Freeman was Baker's pianist and musical director for a few years after Baker had left Mulligan's quartet. At times, Baker pawned his instruments for money to maintain his drug habit. In the early 1960s, he served more than a year in prison in Italy on drug charges; he was later expelled from both West Germany and the United Kingdom for drug-related offenses. Baker was eventually deported from West Germany to the United States after running afoul of the law there a second time. He settled in Milpitas in northern California, where he played in San Jose and San Francisco between short jail terms served for prescription fraud.

In 1966, Baker was savagely beaten (allegedly while attempting to buy drugs) after a gig in The Trident restaurant in Sausalito, California, sustaining severe cuts on the lips and supposedly broken front teeth, which ruined his embouchure. He stated in the film Let's Get Lost that an acquaintance attempted to rob him one night but backed off, only to return the next night with a group of several men who chased him. He entered a car and became surrounded. Instead of rescuing him, the people inside the car pushed him back out onto the street, where the chase by his attackers continued, and subsequently he was beaten to the point that his teeth, never in good condition to begin with, were knocked out, leaving him without the ability to play his trumpet. He took odd jobs, among them pumping gas. In a 1980 interview he stated that he worked for a long time at a gas station, working 7 am to 11 pm until he came to the conclusion that he needed to find a way to return to his music. Meanwhile, he was fitted for dentures and worked on his embouchure. Three months later he got a gig in New York City. In Chet Baker, his life and music, biographer Jeroen de Valk writes that Baker only lost one part of one tooth at the aforement mentioned fight, kept on performing for a while - 'and initially not badly at all', until he was fitted with dentures a few years later.

During most of the '60s, Baker played flugelhorn and recorded music that could mostly be classified as West Coast jazz.

Comeback and later career

After developing a new embouchure resulting from dentures, Baker returned to the straight-ahead jazz that began his career. He relocated to New York City and began performing and recording again, including with guitarist Jim Hall. Later in the 1970s, Baker returned to Europe, where he was assisted by his friend Diane Vavra, who took care of his personal needs and otherwise helped him during his recording and performance dates.

From 1978 until his death in 1988, Baker resided and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the U.S. roughly once a year for a few performances. This was Baker's most prolific era as a recording artist. However, as his extensive output is strewn across numerous, mostly small European labels, none of these recordings ever reached a wider audience, even though many of them were well received by critics, who maintain that the period was one of Baker's most mature and rewarding. Of particular importance are Baker's quartet featuring the pianist Phil Markowitz (1978–80) and his trio with guitarist Philip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (1983–85). He also toured with saxophonist Stan Getz during this period.

In 1983, British singer Elvis Costello, a longtime fan of Baker, hired the trumpeter to play a solo on his song "Shipbuilding" for the album Punch the Clock. The song exposed Baker's music to a new audience. Later, Baker often featured Costello's song "Almost Blue" (inspired by Baker's version of "The Thrill Is Gone") in his concert sets, and recorded the song for Let's Get Lost, a documentary film about his life.

In 1986, Chet Baker: Live at Ronnie Scott's London presents Baker in an intimate stage performance filmed with Elvis Costello and Van Morrison as he performs a set of standards and classics, including "Just Friends", "My Ideal", and "Shifting Down". Augmenting the music, Baker speaks one-on-one with friend and colleague Costello about his childhood, career, and struggle with drugs. Although Baker was not in great shape during the concert, the interview is highly informative.

The video material recorded by Japanese television during Baker's 1987 tour in Japan showed a man whose face looked much older than he was, but his trumpet playing was alert, lively and inspired. Baker recorded the live album Chet Baker in Tokyo with his quartet featuring pianist Harold Danko, bassist Hein Van de Geyn and drummer John Engels less than a year before his death, and it was released posthumously. Silent Nights, a recording of Christmas music, was recorded with Christopher Mason in New Orleans in 1986 and released in 1987.

Compositions

Baker's compositions included "Chetty's Lullaby", "Freeway", "Early Morning Mood", "Two a Day", "So Che Ti Perderò" ("I Know I Will Lose You"), "Il Mio Domani" ("My Tomorrow"), "Motivo Su Raggio Di Luna" ("Tune on a Moon Beam"), "The Route", "Skidadidlin'", "New Morning Blues", "Blue Gilles", "Dessert", and "Anticipated Blues".

Death

Early on May 13, 1988, Baker was found dead on the street below his hotel room in Amsterdam, with serious wounds to his head, apparently having fallen from the second floor window. Heroin and cocaine were found in his room and in his body. There was no evidence of a struggle, and the death was ruled an accident. A plaque outside the hotel memorializes him.

Baker is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Legacy

Baker was photographed by William Claxton for his book Young Chet: The Young Chet Baker. An Academy Award-nominated 1988 documentary about Baker, Let's Get Lost, portrays him as a cultural icon of the 1950s, but juxtaposes this with his later image as a drug addict. The film, directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, was shot in black-and-white and includes a series of interviews with friends, family (including his three children by third wife Carol Baker), associates and women friends, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life, and with interviews with Baker from his last years. In Chet Baker, his life and music, author De Valk and others critize the film for presenting Baker as a washed-up musician in his later years. The film was shot during a few weeks in the first half of 1987 and ignores later highlights such as the aforement Japanese concert.

The documentary Chet Baker, the last days (1989) by Dutch director Willem Ouwerkerk concentrates on his career as a musician.

Early 2018, the film My Foolish Heart by the production firm Pupkin Film (direction: Rolf van Eijk) will be shown in cinemas, featuring a.o. the Irish actor and musician Steve Wall.

Time after Time: The Chet Baker Project, written by playwright James O'Reilly, toured Canada in 2001 to much acclaim. The musical play Chet Baker – Speedball explores aspects of his life and music, and was premiered in London at the Oval House Theatre in February 2007, with further development of the script and performances leading to its revival at the 606 Club in the London Jazz Festival of November 2007.

Baker was reportedly the inspiration for the character Chad Bixby, played by Robert Wagner in the 1960 film All the Fine Young Cannibals. Another film, to be titled Prince of Cool, about Baker's life, was cancelled as of January 2008.

In 1991, singer-songwriter David Wilcox recorded the song "Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song" on his album Home Again, speculating on what might have been Baker's last thoughts before falling to his death. The song was later covered by k.d. lang as "My Old Addiction" on her 1997 album Drag. The song "Chet Baker", which appears on the 2007 CD Wally Page and Johnny Mulhern: Live at the Annesley House, by Irish folk singer-songwriter Wally Page, describes the end of Baker's life in Amsterdam.

Early 2016, trumpeter Edu Ninck Blok issued the CD Traces of Chesney / A tribute to Chet Baker (Silence! Records). Ninck Blok worked with Baker both on stage and in the recording studio, most notably when Baker guested with Ninck Blok’s Amstel Octet (The Amstel Octet & Chet Baker, Challenge Records). Both albums feature drummer and Baker veteran John Engels as well.

Jeroen de Valk has written a biography of Baker which is available in several languages: Chet Baker: His Life and Music is the English translation. Other biographies include James Gavin's Deep In A Dream—The Long Night of Chet Baker, and Matthew Ruddick's Funny Valentine. Baker's "lost memoirs" are available in the book As Though I Had Wings, which includes an introduction by Carol Baker.

He is portrayed by Ethan Hawke in the 2015 film Born to Be Blue. It is a reimagining of Baker's career in the late 1960s, when he is famous for both his music and his addiction, and he takes part in a movie about his life to boost his career.

The Australian electronica musician Nicholas James Murphy chose Chet Faker as his stage name, in order to pay homage to Chet Baker, who was a big influence for him.

João Gilberto, the Brazilian singer-songwriter who invented bossa nova reveals in Ruy Castro's book "Bossa Nova" that the inspiration for bossa's soft, whispery vocals came from Chet Baker's vocals.

Brazilian jazz pianist Eliane Elias dedicated her 2013 album I Thought About You to Chet Baker.

"My Little World", a song by the indie-pop band The Silly Pillows, references Chet Baker in its lyrics and concludes with a jazz-style reprise of the first verse in which the singer imitates Baker.

Honors

In 1987 Chet Baker was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 1989 he was elected to Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame by that magazine's Critics Poll.

In 1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 2005 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and the Oklahoma House of Representatives proclaimed July 2 as "Chet Baker Day".

In 2007 Mayor of the City of Tulsa, Kathy Taylor, proclaimed December 23 as "Chet Baker Day".

On October 10, 2015, the inaugural Chet Baker Jazz Festival was held in Yale, Oklahoma, in his honor.

Filmography

(1955) Hell's Horizon, by Tom Gries: actor

(1959) Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti, by Nanni Loy: music

(1960) Howlers in the Dock, by Lucio Fulci: actor

(1963) Ore rubate ["stolen hours"], by Daniel Petrie: music

(1963) Tromba Fredda, by Enzo Nasso: actor and music

(1963) Le concerto de la peur, by José Bénazéraf: music

(1964) L'enfer dans la peau, by José Bénazéraf: music

(1964) Nudi per vivere, by Elio Petri, Giuliano Montaldo and Giulio Questi: music

(1988) Let's Get Lost, by Bruce Weber: music

Source: Alchetron. Link: Chet Baker Biography Illustration: 'Chet Baker in 1983'. Moderator: ART HuNTER. ✓ FAcEBook pAGE → ✓ piNTEREsT BoARD →

#jazz #brainslide bedrock great art talk #article #chet baker #alchetron

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2020cookie · 1 year

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omgmicheal01me · 5 years

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They're Ontario's top-billing doctors, but for years their identities have been kept secret. Until now

Hes Ontarios highest billing doctor: Narendra Armogan, an eye specialist with a bustling Mississauga practice, has charged the Ontario Health Insurance Plan an average of about $6 million a year, the Toronto Star can finally reveal. Armogan billed OHIP more than $42 million since 2011 for providing services and treatment to his patients, according to Ministry of Health data. His name and those of other high-billing doctors can now be shared publicly for the first time following the Stars successful five-year quest to pull back the veil of secrecy on physicians who receive the most from the public purse. Seven years of ministry data obtained by the Star identifies 194 doctors out of the 31,500 across the province whose annual billings from a high of around $6.9 million to a low of $1.4 million placed them in the Top 100 at least once between 2011 and 2018. Nearly half are ophthalmologists or radiologists. By comparison, the average ophthalmologist gets about $724,000 and the average family doctor, about $307,000, according to the most recent figures from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, an independent research organization. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Mobile users click here to view the locations of Ontarios top-billing graphic The billings are not the doctors take-home pay and do not take into account the often hefty overhead costs physicians pay for expenses like equipment, staff salaries and rent. These costs come out of their billings. In this story, the first of a series examining the data, the Star is seeking greater transparency on how health-care dollars are spent in the province. Armogan, who was the top-billing doctor every year except in the 2016-17 fiscal year when he ranked third, did not agree to an interview. In one of a series of emails to the Star, the ophthalmologist said he does not concern himself with the ranking of physician incomes. What matters to me is the care I give to my patients, wrote Armogan, who operates out of OCC Eyecare, with its main clinic located in an industrial area near Pearson Airport. I save sight. Armogan said in his email his overhead expenses include at least 50,000-plus square feet, over 70 staff and probably more equipment than any other practice in Canada. He added his patients approval ratings consistently exceed 95 per cent. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW With an aging population and ever-increasing demand for health care, all physicians need to not only work harder, but smarter and this is what we do, he wrote.

I put in long hours, am passionate about my work and constantly striving to improve. In collaboration with outstanding colleagues and caring support staff, we have built an eye-care practice that we believe provides top-quality, patient-centred care and does so in a way that allows us to reduce wait times. Of the 194 top-billing doctors in the ministry data, Armogan is one of about 180 currently licensed to practise. Two doctors have died since appearing in the top ranking and 11 have either resigned or had their licence revoked. The name of one doctor, who is independently fighting to stay anonymous, remains secret. Most of the top billers, including Armogan, have no record of cautions or discipline with the College of Physicians and Surgeons the regulatory body for Ontario doctors. There are some with histories of overbilling or professional misconduct. In 2017, the college ruled that Kitchener anesthesiologist Kulbir Billing could practise chronic pain management only under supervision for a year, disciplining him for professional misconduct related to improper record keeping, sterilization and overbilling of a pain treatment called nerve blocks. That same year he billed OHIP almost $3.5 million, making him the eighth highest biller. In late May, while still being investigated by the CPSO, Billing resigned, agreeing to never again practise in Ontario. Stefan Konasiewicz, a neurosurgeon working at five private pain clinics in Greater Toronto and Hamilton, ranked second in 2017-18 with a total of about $4.6 million in billings to OHIP. Last year, he was featured in the Stars Medical Disorder investigation, which revealed how doctors criss-crossed the U.S.-Canada border while keeping their medical histories secret. It found Konasiewicz had been sued for malpractice in the U.S. at least 12 times following surgical mishaps that left patients severely injured or dead. Patients in at least three of the lawsuits received settlements totalling $1.3 million (U.S.). Konasiewicz also faced disciplinary sanctions in three states, before returning to Canada to practise. Those disciplinary sanctions in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Texas were all imposed in response to a 2010 Minnesota medical board decision on what it concluded was the unprofessional and unethical treatment of four patients. Chatham ophthalmologist Christopher Anjema, who billed about $4.1 million to OHIP in 2017-18, has been a top biller every year in the data provided by the ministry, ranking as low as sixth and as high as second. He is also the subject of a current investigation by the CPSO, which is examining his standard of practice. In the meantime, hes agreed that when he performs cosmetic blepharoplasty (surgery sometimes referred to as eye lift or eyelid tuck), he will only do it under the guidance of a clinical supervisor acceptable to the college. Konasiewicz, Billing and Anjema did not respond to repeated requests for comment through letters and phone calls from the Star. In publishing data about these doctors, the Star is revealing how tax dollars are spent and pressing for greater accountability in a cash-strapped health system. Physician compensation costs Ontario about $12 billion annually, and amounts to about 8 per cent of the entire provincial budget. You want to make sure that people who contract with the government are behaving in a way thats ethical, that theyre not double billing, theyre not doing unnecessary work, said Christine Van Geyn, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The majority of them in every field are behaving ethically. But of course you want to catch the people who arent. Ontarios Sunshine List makes public the names and salaries of public employees earning $100,000 a year or more. It includes some doctors, such as those who work in community health centres and for boards of health. But the majority of physicians are not on the list. Michael Decter, who served as deputy minister of health during Bob Raes NDP government in the early 1990s and has advised various governments on health care over three decades, doesnt see why something similar shouldnt exist for physician billings above a certain threshold. There is no reason that the public shouldnt know where their tax dollars are going, he says. We publish tens of thousands of names of people who get paid by government. Doctors get paid overwhelmingly by government. I dont know why theyd be exempt. In April, the Ministry of Health said it was starting discussions with the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), which represents the political and economic interests of the provinces doctors, about making all physician billings publicly available. This has required a legislative act in other provinces, but ministry spokesperson Mark Nesbitt said it does not require one in Ontario. Brian Golden, the Sandra Rotman Chair in Health Sector Strategy at the University of Toronto and the University Health Network, said releasing a Sunshine List for doctors would be more about public intrigue than public interest. He also thinks it could cause in-demand doctors in smaller communities to cut back on hours if we get to the point where we start to embarrass physicians with posted billings. There are physicians who work extreme hours because they are the only provider in their community, Golden says. I dont think we want them to cut their provision of health care because of this. Dr. Sohail Gandhi, who recently became president of the OMA, did not agree to an interview with the Star. He said in an email that physicians are not government employees but independent contractors with small businesses. Most doctors in the province including all those in the ministrys Top 100 get at least some of their compensation under a fee-for-service model, one of three ways they can be paid from OHIP. (They can also earn additional money both privately and publicly.) Billing under the fee-for-service model is more common with specialists and less so with family doctors, and made up more than half $6.7 billion of all physician billings in 2017-18. Under this model, doctors bill OHIP for each service they provide using a unique fee code. This is done on the honour system. Mobile users click here to view how doctors get paid in Ontario There are more than 8,000 fee codes for every procedure, test and consultation a physician can perform contained in a public document called the OHIP Schedule of Benefits and Fees. Each fee code has its own unique number, price and description. They range from fee #E126, laser surgery for premature babies with an eye disease called Retinopathy of Prematurity ($1,245 for both eyes), on the high end, to fee #G005, a pregnancy test ($3.88), on the low end. Fee codes are set through negotiations between the Ministry of Health and the OMA, and are supposed to take into account how difficult a procedure is and how long it takes to perform. The billings submitted by physicians to OHIP arent salaries, Gandhi wrote in his email, rather they are gross billings out of which each physician must pay all the overhead costs necessary to run their practice and provide patients with the care they need. Overhead costs can include everything from salaries of professional and administrative staff, to office space and supplies, medical equipment and ongoing training. In a 2018 decision to release the OHIP billings to the Star (and later appealed to the Supreme Court), the Ontario Court of Appeal noted that billings are business information, not personal data, and not a reliable indicator of the individuals actual personal finances or income. For example, Dr. Ron Linden, CEO and medical director of the Judy Dan Research and Treatment Centre in North York, and among the top 100 billers since 2011, estimates his overhead expenses amount to more than $1 million a year, almost half of his 2017-18 billings.

His clinic uses hyperbaric chambers to treat wounds. The treatment, which can help save limbs, requires the use of expensive equipment, as well as several staff, said Linden in an interview. Linden, who has a spotless record with the CPSO, said he doesnt think physicians billings should be made public. The problem is that the public will misunderstand it or misread it, he said, adding he thinks physicians could also be targeted by local criminals. According to a 2012 article in Healthcare Policy, a Canadian peer-reviewed journal, doctors self-reported average overhead ranging from 12.5 per cent in emergency medicine to 42.5 per cent in ophthalmology. But, according to Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario executive director Marcia Kim, overhead costs can be as much as 50 per cent for ophthalmologists, who specialize in diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders, as their equipment needs to be replaced as often as every five years. Its hard to tell exactly how much physicians are spending on overhead. The ministry doesnt track these costs, spokesperson David Jensen said, as physicians are independent contractors. Thats not the only place where oversight is lacking.

A 2016 report by Ontarios Auditor General called oversight of the physician billing system weak, and found serious issues, including that the ministry doesnt even bother to go after a lot of doctors with questionable billings because its too resource-intensive. An internal Ministry of Health audit dug into questionable billings of the 12 top billing doctors that same year. The audit flagged concerns involving seven doctors over upcoding, charging OHIP using fee codes for more expensive procedures, or charging for services that werent provided. But little has been done to improve the situation since a followup report came out in December 2018. Gandhi said the OMA sees the current system as structurally appropriate, but agrees that the audit system could be improved through proper resource allocation, bilateral work between the Ministry and the OMA, and a comprehensive implementation of recommendations from a 2005 report by Justice Peter Cory on Ontarios medical audit system. It suggested, among other things, that a new and independent board be responsible for audits, and the Schedule of Benefits be revised and interpreted flexibly. Gandhi declined to comment on individual billings. But he said physician billings reflect the needs of the growing and aging population. As the demand for health-care services continues to increase, Ontarios doctors are responding and delivering the care Ontarians need. Their priority is to respond to the needs of patients, meaning treating and caring for more patients, not less. These growing demands put pressure on negotiations between the province and the OMA for a new contract. After a four-year battle that went to binding arbitration, doctors finally got a new fee agreement in February, effective to March 2021. A three-member board of arbitration rejected the provinces request for a hard cap to be placed on the total amount physicians can bill the province annually, and eliminated unilateral fee cuts for all doctors. But it did call for a working group to eliminate $460-million worth of inappropriate medical services. That group is currently finalizing its work, according to the OMA. Another hot-button issue during negotiations was the big pay gaps in medicine. A September 2018 report from the OMA acknowledges income relativity disparities between specialists such as radiologists, ophthalmologists, cardiologists known as the Big Three and others such as infectious disease specialists, neurosurgeons and geriatric physicians. Two months later, specialists from eight highly paid disciplines, including the Big Three, voted to break away from the OMA, unhappy with the way the organization had been representing them in contract deliberations with the province. The Big Three also made up a large part of two smaller groups of doctors who, along with the OMA, tried to block the Stars legal bid to get details of the top billers. The next phase of arbitration, which the OMA is currently in the midst of, will look into how the pool of money for doctors is divided, and the gaps between different specialties. This controversial process is known as achieving relativity. The list of the Top 15 billing doctors from 2011 to 2018 includes six ophthalmologists, two radiologists and three cardiologists. Two OB-GYNs, one anesthesiologist, who was working in a private pain clinic, and one internal medicine specialist make up the rest of the group. Mobile users click here to view the most common specialities of the 194 top billers since 2011 The Big Three specialties have historically been highly paid because ophthalmology and cardiology involve a high volume of services, and big ticket items like complicated eye surgeries. Radiology procedures have a lower average fee code price, but a very high volume of services, according to the 2016 Auditor General Report. Radiologists doctors who specialize in diagnosing and treating patients using medical imaging such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs have overheads of 70 per cent or higher, according to a written statement from the Ontario Association of Radiologists, in response to questions from the Star. Almost 50 per cent of our services are delivered after hours on a 24/7/365 basis, the association wrote, adding compensation reflects additional training, which takes a minimum of 10 years after undergrad. Overhead costs for cardiologists, who diagnose and treat diseases and conditions of the cardiovascular system, are also significant, added Tim Holman, executive director of the Ontario Association of Cardiologists, in an email. This imbalance between specialties plays a part in a serious gender pay gap in the field, says Ivy Bourgeault, professor in the Telfer School of Management and the Institute of Population Health at the University of Ottawa. Thirty-nine per cent of physicians in Ontario are women, according to the most recent figures from CIHI. But only nine of the 194 overall top billers are women less than 5 per cent. The fee codes for procedures are the same regardless of the gender of the person billing, Bourgeault notes. But procedural, task-based specialties like ophthalmology and cardiology are in general better paid than more cognitive specialties such as pediatrics or geriatrics. Women as residents are channelled into the more cognitive, lower-paid areas either implicitly or explicitly, she said, calling for a review of the fee codes from a pay-equity perspective. The more highly remunerative specialties have fewer women in them and in the more poorly remunerated specialties you have more women. Gandhi responded that pay equity is an important issue. The reasons for this are not completely clear and investigation into causes is the first step in addressing it, he added. These kinds of discussions about health care spending have traditionally been behind closed doors. But Kathleen Finlay, CEO and founder of the Toronto-based patient advocacy group, the Center for Patient Protection, believes more transparency in billings would contribute to public debate about where health-care dollars are going. Transparency helps to build the trust the system must have if its going to meet the needs of patients and families, she wrote in an email. And, to be honest, if we dont get a better handle on where all our health-care dollars go and everyone is able to measure that return the system at some point will become unsustainable. First of a continuing series. Mobile users click here to read how the Star battled to get the names of the highest billing doctors With files from Jesse McLean, Jacques Gallant, Toronto Star Library, Star staff May Warren is a breaking news reporter based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @maywarren11 Theresa Boyle is a Toronto-based reporter covering health. Follow her on Twitter: @theresaboyle

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