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ladydarklord · 4 years ago

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The Mighty Boosh on the business of being silly

The Times, November 15 2008

What began as a cult cocktail of daft poems, surreal characters and fantastical storylines has turned into the comedy juggernaut that is the Mighty Boosh. Janice Turner hangs out with creators Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and the extended Boosh family to discuss the serious business of being silly

In the thin drizzle of a Monday night in Sheffield, a crowd of young women are waiting for the Mighty Boosh or, more precisely, one half of it. Big-boned Yorkshire lasses, jacketless and unshivering despite the autumn nip, they look ready to devour the object of their desire, the fey, androgynous Noel Fielding, if he puts a lamé boot outside the stage door. “Ooh, I do love a man in eyeliner,” sighs Natalie from Rotherham. She’ll be throwing sickies at work to see the Boosh show 13 times on their tour, plus attend the Boosh after-show parties and Boosh book signings. “My life is dead dull without them,” she says.

Nearby, mobiles primed, a pair of sixth-formers trade favourite Boosh lines. “What is your name?” asks Jessica. “I go by many names, sir,” Victoria replies portentously. A prison warden called Davena survives long days with high-security villains intoning, “It’s an outrage!” in the gravelly voice of Boosh character Tony Harrison, a being whose head is a testicle.

Apart from Fielding, what they all love most about the Boosh is that half their mates don’t get it. They see a bloke in a gorilla suit, a shaman called Naboo, silly rhymes about soup, stories involving shipwrecked men seducing coconuts “and they’re like, ‘This is bloody rubbish,’” says Jessica. “So you feel special because you do get it. You’re part of a club.”

Except the Mighty Boosh club is now more like a movement. What began as an Edinburgh fringe show starring Fielding and his partner Julian Barratt and later became an obscure BBC3 series has grown into a box-set flogging, mega-merchandising, 80-date touring Boosh inc. There was a Boosh festival last summer, now talk of a Boosh movie and Boosh in America. An impasse seems to have been reached: either the Boosh will expand globally or, like other mass comedy cults before it – Vic and Bob, Newman and Baddiel – slowly begin to deflate.

But for the moment, the fans still wait in the rain for heroes who’ve already left the building. I find the Boosh gang gathered in their hotel bar, high on post-gig adrenalin. Barratt, blokishly handsome with his ring-master moustache, if a tad paunchy these days, blends in with the crew. But Fielding is never truly “off”. All day he has been channelling A Clockwork Orange in thick black eyeliner (now smudged into panda rings) and a bowler hat, which he wears with polka-dot leggings, gold boots and a long, neon-green fur-collared PVC trenchcoat. He has, as those women outside put it, “something about him”: a carefully-wrought rock-god danger mixed with an amiable sweetness. Sexy yet approachable. Which is why, perched on a barstool, is a great slab of security called Danny.

“He stops people getting in our faces,” says Fielding. “He does massive stars like P. Diddy and Madonna and he says that considering how we’re viewed in the media as a cult phenomenon, we get much more attention in the street than, say, Girls Aloud. Danny says we’re on the same level as Russell Brand, who can’t walk from the door to the car without ten people speaking to him.”

This barometer of fame appears to fascinate and thrill Fielding. Although he complains he can’t eat dinner with his girlfriend (Dee Plume from the band Robots in Disguise) unmolested, he parties hard and publicly with paparazzi-magnets like Courtney Love and Amy Winehouse. He claims he’s tried wearing a baseball cap but fans still recognise him. Hearing this, Julian Barratt smiles wryly: “Noel is never going to dress down.”

It is clear on meeting them that their Boosh characters Vince Noir (Fielding), the narcissistic extrovert, and Howard Moon (Barratt), the serious, socially awkward jazz obsessive, are comic exaggerations of their own personalities. At the afternoon photo shoot, Fielding breaks free of the hair and make-up lady, sprays most of a can of Elnett on to his Bolan feather-cut and teases it to his satisfaction. Very Vince. “It is an art-life crossover,” says Barratt.

At 40, five years older than Fielding, Barratt exhibits the profound weariness of a man trying to balance a five-month national tour with new-fatherhood. After every Saturday night show he returns home to his 18-month-old twins, Arthur and Walter, and his partner Julia Davis (the creator-star of Nighty Night) and today he was up at 5am pushing a pram on Hampstead Heath before taking the train north to rejoin the Boosh. “I go back so the boys remember who I am. But it’s harder to leave them every time,” he says. “It is totally schizophrenic, totally opposite mental states: all this self-obsession and then them.”

About two nights a week on tour, Fielding doesn’t go to bed, parties through the night and performs the next evening having not slept at all. Barratt often retreats to his room to plough through box sets of The Wire. “It’s a bit gritty, but that is in itself an escape, because what we do is so fantastical.”

But mostly it is hard to resist the instant party provided by a large cast, crew and band. Indeed, drinking with them, it appears Fielding and Barratt are but the most famous members of a close collective of artists, musicians and old mates. Fielding’s brother Michael, who previously worked in a bowling alley, plays Naboo the shaman. “He is late every single day,” complains Noel. “He’s mad and useless, but I’m quite protective of him, quite parental.” Michael is always arguing with Bollo the gorilla, aka Fielding’s best mate, Dave Brown, a graphic artist relieved to remove his costume – “It’s so hot in there I fear I may never father children” – to design the Boosh book. One of the lighting crew worked as male nanny to Barratt’s twins and was in Michael’s class at school: “The first time I met you,” he says to Noel, “you gave me a dead arm.” “You were 9,” Fielding replies. “And you were messing with my stuff.”

This gang aren’t hangers-on but the wellspring of the Boosh’s originality and its strange, homespun, degree-show aesthetic: a character called Mr Susan is made out of chamois leathers, the Hitcher has a giant Polo Mint for an eye. When they need a tour poster they ignore the promoter’s suggestions and call in their old mate, Nige.

Fielding and Barratt met ten years ago at a comedy night in a North London pub. The former had just left Croydon Art College, the latter had dropped out of an American Studies degree at Reading to try stand-up, although he was so terrified at his first gig that he ran off stage and had to be dragged back by the compere.

While superficially different, their childhoods have a common theme: both had artistic, bohemian parents who exercised benign neglect. Fielding’s folks were only 17 when he was born: “They were just kids really. Hippies. Though more into Black Sabbath and Led Zep. There were lots of parties and crazy times. They loved dressing up. And there was a big gap between me and my brother – about nine years – so I was an only child for a long time, hanging out with them, lots of weird stuff going on.

“The great thing about my mum and dad is they let me do anything I wanted as a kid as long as I wasn’t misbehaving. I could eat and go to bed when I liked. I used to spend a lot of time drawing and painting and reading. In my own world, I guess.”

Growing up in Mitcham, South London, his father was a postmaster, while his mother now works for the Home Office. Work was merely the means to fund a good time. “When your dad is into David Bowie, how do you rebel against that? You can’t really. They come to all the gigs. They’ve been in America for the past three weeks. I’m ringing my mum really excited because we’re hanging out with Jim Sheridan, who directed In the Name of the Father, and the Edge from U2, and she said, ‘We’re hanging with Jack White,’ whom they met through a friend of mine. Trumped again!”

Barratt’s father was a Leeds art teacher, his mother an artist later turned businesswoman. “Dad was a bit more strict and academic. Mum would let me do anything I wanted, didn’t mind whether I went to school.” Through his father he became obsessed with Monty Python, went to jazz and Spike Milligan gigs, learnt about sex from his dad’s leatherbound volumes of Penthouse.

Barratt joined bands and assumed he would become a musician (he does all the Boosh’s musical arrangements); Fielding hoped to become an artist (he designed the Boosh book cover and throughout our interview sketches obsessively). Instead they threw their talents into comedy. Barratt: “It is a great means of getting your ideas over instantly.” Fielding: “Yes, it is quite punk in that way.”

Their 1998 Edinburgh Fringe show called The Mighty Boosh was named, obscurely, after a friend’s description of Michael Fielding’s huge childhood Afro: “A mighty bush.” While their double-act banter has an old-fashioned dynamic, redolent of Morecambe and Wise, the show threw in weird characters and a fantasy storyline in which they played a pair of zookeepers. They are very serious about their influences. “Magritte, Rousseau...” says Fielding. “I like Rousseau’s made-up worlds: his jungle has all the things you’d want in a jungle, even though he’d never been in one so it was an imaginary place.”

Eclectic, weird and, crucially, unprepared to compromise their aesthetic sensibilities, it was 2004 before, championed by Steve Coogan’s Baby Cow production company, their first series aired on BBC3. Through repeats and DVD sales the second series, in which the pair have left the zoo and are living above Naboo’s shop, found a bigger audience. Last year the first episode of series three had one million viewers. But perhaps the Boosh’s true breakthrough into mainstream came in June when George Bush visited Belfast and a child presented him with a plant labelled “The Mighty Bush”. Assuming it was a tribute to his greatness, the president proudly displayed it for the cameras, while the rest of Britain tittered.

A Boosh audience these days is quite a mix. In Sheffield the front row is rammed with teenage indie girls, heavy on the eyeliner, who fancy Fielding. But there are children, too: my own sons can recite whole “crimps” (the Boosh’s silly, very English version of rap) word for word. And there are older, respectable types who, when I interview them, all apologise for having such boring jobs. They’re accountants, IT workers, human resources officers and civil servants. But probe deeper and you find ten years ago they excelled at art A level or played in a band, and now puzzle how their lives turned out so square. For them, the Boosh embody their former dreams. And their DIY comedy, shambolic air, the slightly crap costumes, the melding of fantasy with the everyday, feels like something they could still knock up at home.

Indeed, many fans come to gigs in costume. At the Mighty Boosh Festival 15,000 people came dressed up to watch bands and absurdity in a Kent field. And in Sheffield I meet a father-and-son combo dressed as Howard Moon and Bob Fossil – general manager of the zoo – plus a gang of thirty-something parents elaborately attired as Crack Fox, Spirit of Jazz, a granny called Nanageddon, and Amy Housemouse. “I love the Boosh because it’s total escapism,” says Laura Hargreaves, an employment manager dressed as an Electro Fairy. “It’s not all perfect and people these days worry too much that things aren’t perfect. It’s just pure fun.”

But how to retain that appealingly amateur art-school quality now that the Boosh is a mega comedy brand? Noel Fielding is adamant that they haven’t grown cynical, that The Mighty Book of Boosh was a long-term project, not a money-spinner chucked out for Christmas: “There is a lot of heart in what we do,” he says. Barratt adds: “It’s been hard this year to do everything we’ve wanted, to a standard we’re proud of... Which is why we’re worn to shreds.”

Comedy is most powerful in intimate spaces, but the Boosh show, with its huge set, requires major venues. “We’ve lost money every day on the tour,” says Fielding. “The crew and the props and what it costs to take them on the road – it’s ridiculous. Small gigs would lose millions of pounds.”

The live show is a kind of Mighty Boosh panto, with old favourites – Bob Fossil, Bollo, Tony Harrison, etc – coming on to cheers of recognition. But it lacks the escapism to the perfectly conceived world of the TV show. They have told the BBC they don’t want a fourth series: they want a movie. They would also, as with Little Britain USA, like a crack at the States, where they run on BBC America. Clearly the Boosh needs to keep evolving or it will die.

Already other artists are telling Fielding and Barratt to make their money now: “They say this is our time, which is quite frightening.” I recall Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, who dominated the Nineties with Big Night Out and Shooting Stars. “Yes, they were massive,” says Fielding. “A number one record...” And now Reeves presents Brainiac. “If you have longer-term goals, it’s not scary,” says Barratt. “To me, I’m heading somewhere else – to direct, make films, write stuff – and at the moment it’s all gone mental. I’m sort of enjoying this as an outsider. It was Noel who had this desire to reach more people.”

Indeed, the old cliché that comedy is the new rock’n’roll is closest to being realised in Noel Fielding. Watching him perform the thrash metal numbers in the Boosh live show, he is half ironic comic performer, half frustrated rock god. His heroes weren’t comics but androgynous musicians: Jagger, Bowie, Syd Barrett. (Although he liked Peter Cook’s style and looks.)

“I like clothes and make-up, I like the transformation,” he says. Does it puzzle him that women find this so sexually attractive? “I was reading a book the other day about the New York Dolls and David Johansen was saying that none of them were gay or even bisexual, and that when they started dressing in stilettos and leather pants, women got it straight away with no explanation. But a lot of men had problems. It’s one of those strange things. A man will go, ‘You f***ing queer.’ And you just think, ‘Well, your girlfriend fancies me.’”

The Boosh stopped signing autographs outside stage doors when it started taking two hours a night. At recent book signings up to 1,500 people have shown up, some sleeping overnight in the queue. And on this tour, the Boosh took control of the after-show parties, once run as money-spinners by the promoters, and now show up in person to do DJ slots. I ask if they like to meet their fans, and they laugh nervously.

Fielding: “We have to be behind a fence.”

Barratt: “They try to rip your clothes off your body.”

Fielding: “The other day my girlfriend gave me this ring. And, doing the rock numbers at the end, I held out my hands and the crowd just ripped it off.”

Barratt: “I see it as a thing which is going to go away. A moment when people are really excited about you. And it can’t last.”

He recalls a man in York grabbing him for a photo, saying, “I’d love to be you, it must be so amazing.” And Barratt says he thought, “Yes, it is. But all the while I was trying to duck into this doorway to avoid the next person.” He’s trying to enjoy the Boosh’s moment, knows it will pass, but all the same?

In the hotel bar, a young woman fan has dodged past Danny and comes brazenly over to Fielding. Head cocked attentively like a glossy bird, he chats, signs various items, submits to photos, speaks to her mate on her phone. The rest of the Boosh crew eye her steelily. They know how it will end. “You have five minutes then you go,” hisses one. “I feel really stupid now,” says the girl. It is hard not to squirm at the awful obeisance of fandom. But still she milks the encounter, demands Fielding come outside to meet her friend. When he demurs she is outraged, and Danny intercedes. Fielding returns to his seat slightly unsettled. “What more does she want?” he mutters, reaching for his wine glass. “A skin sample?”

#I hadn't seen this one before so I thought I'd share #noel will never dress down #ah yes the patient boyfriend Julian Barratt

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voidingintotheshout · 4 years ago

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Black History Month Public Domain Reading List

I’d seen a list floating around the internet with links to pirated books by black writers of note for black history month. I felt that it was problematic to be sharing something that’s disenfranchising black writers when there are a lot of great books by black writers to read that are in the public domain and free to read. I compiled this list of books by various black writers of note with descriptions and links to a site to download them onto your devices. The site is Project Gutenberg, the original e-book site, releasing ebooks since, surprisingly, 1971.

Slave Narratives & Other Writings

Up from Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington (A Memoir). This is his personal experience of having to work to rise up from the position of a slave child during the Civil War, to the difficulties and obstacles he overcame to get an education at the new Hampton Institute, to his work establishing vocational schools—most notably the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama—to help black people and other disadvantaged minorities learn useful, marketable skills and work to pull themselves, as a race, up by the bootstraps. It’s worth knowing that Washington was a segregationist, and so some of his views may surprise modern readers. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2376

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (A Memoir). It is generally held to be the most famous of a number of narratives written by former slaves during the same period. In factual detail, the text describes the events of his life and is considered to be one of the most influential pieces of literature to fuel the abolitionist movement of the early 19th century in the United States. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23

Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave by William Wells Brown (A Memoir). A wonderfully gripping slave narrative that’s the length of a novella. The matter-of-fact, almost journalistic way in which the writer describes the horrors he saw and experienced really hits home. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15132

Clotelle; Or, The Colored Heroine, a tale of the Southern States; Or, The President’s Daughter by William Wells Brown (A Novel). This book tells a fictional story of what the life would be like for the mixed-race daughter of founding father and president Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/241

The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois (Essays). The book contains several essays on race, some of which the magazine Atlantic Monthly had previously published. To develop this work, Du Bois drew from his own experiences as an African American in American society. Outside of its notable relevance in African-American history, The Souls of Black Folk also holds an important place in social science as one of the early works in the field of sociology. In The Souls of Black Folk, Du Bois used the term "double consciousness", perhaps taken from Ralph Waldo Emerson ("The Transcendentalist" and "Fate"), applying it to the idea that black people must have two fields of vision at all times. They must be conscious of how they view themselves, as well as being conscious of how the world views them. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/408

Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral by Phillis Wheatley (Poetry). She was the first African-American author of a published book of poetry. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at the age of seven or eight and transported to North America. She was enslaved by the Wheatley family of Boston. After she learned to read and write, they encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. On a 1773 trip to London with her master's son, seeking publication of her work, Wheatley met prominent people who became patrons. The publication in London of her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral on September 1, 1773, brought her fame both in England and the American colonies. Figures such as George Washington praised her work. A few years later, African-American poet Jupiter Hammon praised her work in a poem of his own. Wheatley was emancipated by her masters shortly after the publication of her book. They soon died, and she married poor grocer John Peters, lost three children, and died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/409

Alexandre Dumas’ Writings

Many don’t know this, but he was the grandson of a French Nobleman and a Haitian slave woman. Writing in the 1800’s, his work is characterized as adventure novels and page-turners with beautiful descriptions that rarely steal the show from the plot.

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is a standalone book that sets up his D'Artagnan Romances (pronounced Dar-tan-yun, by the way). Romantic in the sense of vivid and sentimental in tone, the stories have captivated generations all over the world. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1257

The Count of Monte Cristo (Illustrated) by Alexandre Dumas is one of the best adventure tales of revenge that spans decades, as our hero unfolds a tale of revenge that includes prison breaks, fabulous wealth, hedonism, and much more. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1184

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas is one of his shorter novels that takes place amid murder and intrigue in a world where tulips were more valuable than gold. A good read, but not as gripping as the above two books, but great if you don’t want to be on the hook for a thousand pages of description and action. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/965

Zora Neale Hurston’s Writings

She was an American author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-1900s American South and published research on hoodoo. The most popular of her four novels is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. She also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays. Her writings are known for their noticeable focus on vernacular speech, where character spoke as they would during that place and time.

Three Plays by Zora Neale Hurston (Lawing & Jawing, Forty Yards, & Woofing). Lawing and Jawing is about a "regal" Judge who having a rough morning sends everybody to jail. He adjourns the court so he can "escort" a pretty girl home since he sent her innocent boyfriend to jail. Forty Yards is all about the teams cheering and singing. Every step is a song. The game is just an excuse to sing, even when the place catches fire they sing. Woofing is about a procrastinating man who doesn't finish anything and when a marching band goes past his porch, he and all his cronies drop everything to follow the band. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17187

The Mule-Bone: by Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. (Novella) The only collaboration between the two brightest lights of the Harlem Renaissance—Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. In this hilarious story, Jim and Dave are a struggling song-and-dance team, and when a woman comes between them, chaos ensues in their tiny Florida hometown.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19435

De Turkey and De Law by Zora Neale Hurston. The two friends from The Mule-Bone, Jim and Dave are back again and so is Daisy. These two friends become enemies because they both imagine that Daisy prefers himself over the other. They both go out to hunt a turkey to give Daisy. The two young men fight over the turkey and one gets hit with a mule bone from the same old mule from the other play.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22146

#zora neale hurston #alexandre dumas #booker t washington #frederick douglass #william wells brown #sally hemmings #thomas jefferson #w.e.b. du bois #Phillis Wheatley #black history month #black writers #project gutenberg

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natromanxoff · 5 years ago

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Queen live at Colston Hall in Bristol, UK - November 18, 1975

The photos could be from either night.

This article from the November 29 issue of Sounds chronicles the second night in Bristol.

Queen triumphant

QUEEN ARE the type of group that make a man want to abandon rock writing. They pose questions and never provide answers. They exist in their own space-time continuum, visible and audible but keeping their secrets to themselves.

On the surface they couldn't be a nicer bunch of people, but they carry English reticence to an epitome. It isn't, as Geoff Barton said two weeks ago, that they're boring, it's just that they're reserved. Or in writer parlance, they don't automatically provide colourful copy. All my instincts as a writer tell me that there is a great story in that band, but after two nights with them I'm hardly any the wiser.

Skin tight

That their insularity has a lot to do with them being one of the most amazing heavy-metal and/or rock bands in Britain - with all the signs that they'll end up monsters on the order of Zep - is fairly obvious, but just how much bearing it has on the matter is hard to say. The enigmas they might pose mightn't even have answers.

Is there any logical reason why they present an image and persona straight out of the Beatles school of interlocking chemistry?

John is reserved, almost nonchalant on stage, as if it's all in a small, personal joke. When asked how he saw himself within the framework of the band he replied, with a small smile, "I'm the bassist".

Roger is his opposite, the cheeky sidekick in a Clint Eastwood movie, and attracting a lot of cheesecake attention in America and Japan.

Freddie is an original - one of the most dynamic singers to tread the boards in quite a few years. His attraction is obvious.

Brian is perhaps the biggest enigma of all. What is this seemingly frail, gaunt astronomer doing on that stage, striding purposefully and blasting diamond-hard rock? They're all equally strong personalities - like the Beatles there's no one major focal point. Ask four fans who their dream Queen is and you'll get four different answers.

Only Queen are driven to better each previous album - which at this stage of the game is obviously producing some excellent results - and 'A Night At The Opera' turned into a saga - culminating in 36-hour mixing sessions in an effort to allow at least a few days for rehearsal. In the end they managed three and a half days at Elstree with four hours off to videotape the promotional film for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Their first few dates had not been without errors and the quartet were still not feeling totally comfortable their second night in Bristol, fourth night of the tour. You'd never know it, though.

Like all other aspects of the group, the stage is sophisticated. A black scrim provides a backdrop bounded by a proscenium of lights both front and rear. At each side the p.a. rises like a mutant marriage of Mammon and Robby the Robot. Amp power is readily evident but the most extraordinary is Brian May's subtle set up: nine Vox boxes stepping back in rows of three. The only packing crate visible is holding a tray of drinks, and you may rest assured that no roadie will rush, crawl or lurk across the stage while the show is in progress unless it's to rescue Freddie's mike from the clawing crowd.

As the auditorium darkens the sound of an orchestra tuning up is heard over the p.a. The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and a slightly effete voice welcomes the audience to A Night At The Opera. The Gilbert & Sullivan portion of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' follows, a brief glimpse of Freddie is allowed, and then in a blast of flares and white smoke the blitzkrieg begins.

Roger is barely visible behind his kit, just his eyes and tousled locks. John is wearing a white suit and playing the-man-who-must-stand-still-or-it-will-all-blow-away. Brian is slightly medieval in his green and white Zandra Rhodes top, while Freddie is...

There have been sex objects and sex bombs, superstar potency and the arrogant presentation of this all-important area, but never has a man's weaponry been so flagrantly showcased. Fred could jump up on the drum stand and shake his cute arse, leap about and perform all manner of amazing acrobatics, but there it was, this rope in repose, barely leashed tumescence, the Queen's sceptre. Oh to be that hot costume, writhing across the mighty Fred!

Phallic

Freddie is not pretty in the conventional sense of the word; like Mick Jagger of '64, he is his own convention. Also like the Jagger of the time, his stage persona and action is unlike anything else. Although it borrows - like most of the group's plagiarisms - slightly from Zeppelin, in tandem with Freddie's supreme assurance and belief in himself - he always refers to himself as a star - it explodes into something that is a constant delight to watch.

He reacts to his audience almost like an over-emotional actress - Gloria Swanson, say, or perhaps Holly Woodlawn playing Bette Davis. At the climax of the second night in Bristol he paused at the top of the drum stand, looked back over the crowd and with complete, heartfelt emotion placed his delicate fingers to lips and blew a kiss. Any person who can consume themselves so completely in such a clichéd showbiz contrivance deserves to be called a star.

Freddie's real talent, though, is with his mike stand. No Rod Stewart mike stand callisthenics here, just a shortee stick that doubles as a cock, machine gun, ambiguous phallic symbol, and for a fleeting moment an imaginary guitar. He has a neat trick of standing quite still in particularly frantic moments and holding the stand vertically from his crotch up, draw a fragile finger along its length, ever closer to the taunting eyes that survey his audience.

Their show contains lots of bombs and smoke, lots of lights, lots of noise. They fulfil the function of supremely good heavy metal - i.e. you don't get a second to think about what's going on. When they do let up for a few minutes, it's only so you can focus in on the bright blue electric charge crackling between your ears.

Bulldozer

Dominating the sound is Roger's drumming, a bulldozer echo that bounces like an elastic membrane, meshing with your solar plexus so that your body pulses in synch with the thunder. Tuned into that, everything else is just supremely nice icing.

For three days rehearsal, after eight months off the road Bristol was extremely impressive. In speculative mood I quizzed people on how long they thought it would take to headline Madison Square Garden. I was thought a radical at a year and a half. John Reid smilingly assured me it would take a year.

That Queen should end up with John Reid is an entirely logical proceeding. Everything about Queen demands that the world eventually kowtows at their feet in complete acquiescence - so big that bodyguards have to accompany them at every step. Well, no - they found that an annoyance in Japan, but, you know, huge.

Such status demands a Reid or a Peter Grant, and whatever the causes for their leaving Jack Nelson and Trident, an elegant group like Queen is going to look for a man with class. Reid found the idea of managing a group interesting, and having to deal with four strong personalities a challenge. He only concerns himself with their business and ensuring that the year ahead is mapped out. In January they begin a jaunt through the Orient, Australia and America, by which time it's March and they begin preparations for the next album.

Reid's prediction of a year was proven highly credible the next evening in Cardiff. The band had still not paused from the rush up to the tour and spent most of the day relaxing and sleeping - no doubt a factor in their near recumbent profile. Also, unlike most groups, they were keeping their dissatisfaction with the show to themselves.

They stopped off at Harlech TV on the way to see a cassette of the video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The general consensus was quite good for four hours, with much laughter during the operetta. Brian finds film of the group educational - the first time he saw himself was a Mike Mansfield opus for 'Keep Yourself Alive' - "It was 'All right fellows, give it everything you've got but don't move off that spot.' It was terrible." You don't like Mansfield, eh? "Oh, I hate him - we all do... I was horrified when I saw it - I couldn't believe we looked that bad. I looked very static - seeing myself has taught me a lot about stage movement. Some of the things I do are planned for effect, but it's mostly just feeling the audience and communicating that back to them."

Arriving at the motel - several miles out of town - Freddie immediately fell asleep, John held court of a sort, joined later by Brian, while Roger went jogging, a daily event when touring. Tuning in to rock via Bill Haley and Tommy Steele, he became a drummer because he was better at it than guitar. All through school he was in bands; he only went to dental school out of "middle class conditioning, and it was a good way to stay in London without having to work". His mother thought it a bit strange when he opted for a career as a rock star, but she doesn't worry too much now.

The concert starts in much the same manner as the previous night, but there are signs that tonight is work, with posing an afterthought. The endings to most of their songs are magnificent and majestic, especially 'Flick Of The Wrist' and the rapid harmonies of 'Bad Boy Leroy Brown'.

Maniacal

The audience, seeing their faces in town for the first time, are vociferous in their appreciation. Guys know all the words to every song, yelling enthusiastically at every effect and solo. The band picks up, Freddie receiving the crowd beneficently, telling them they’re beautiful.

As the show builds it is obvious that things are gelling more. The previous night Brian had seemed totally out of place, not moving too much, taking solos with the weirdest half blank half possessed stare, talking to himself; cocking ear towards guitar. He was the proverbial stranger in a strange land, one step removed from the plane inhabited by you and me.

Tonight he moves fluidly, the gonzo lead guitarist of a gonzo band. His expressions are just as maniacal, but it only makes him look more demonic. His solo in 'Brighton Rock', an exposition in riffing and echo, is a treat because of his physical response to both music and audience, complete with ham acting. Freddie gets into the same game on 'The Prophet's Song', where he conducts an acapella madrigal with himself. It's a pretty commanding moment.

It’s soon after this that Madison Square seems reasonable. About a minute into 'Stone Cold Crazy' it becomes very obvious that Queen have suddenly Plugged In. Found the metal music machine and Connected. Freddie's movements explode in perfect unison with the music, the lights and surroundings go crazy, and the audience goes berserk.

Freddie asks for requests and receives a roar out of which one can vaguely make 'Liar'. Fred walks along the stage, nodding, agreeing he will do this one and that one while the kids roar on. "I'll tell you what - we'll do them all!"

'Doing Alright' opens slow and portentously. Queen's variation of light and shade is one of the major factors in their popularity, but even so the quiet sections frequently find the audience's mind wandering. One kid starts getting a joint together, totally forgetting it when everything blasts off again; guys talk among themselves, only to instantly leap to their feet, fists flying to the beat.

'Doing Alright' changes into a cha-cha beat, Freddie snapping his fingers, the coolest hipster in town, and then instantly drops into faster-than-light drive - the whole row next to me leaps to their feet as a man, rocking back and forth as Brian roars into a blinding solo.

Two songs later, in 'Seven Seas of Rye', the kids break - very fast - and in five seconds half the audience is a seething mass in front of the stage, climbing on each other in pyramids, sudden openings appearing as a splintering seat sends a few bodies to the floor.

The rest of the show is equally intense, especially for a couple of minutes during 'Liar; where Fred and Brian merge into a tight little triangle with Roger while John stands in front of the bass drum, staring out with his small smile.

Freddie has treated his encores - 'Big Spender' and 'Jailhouse Rock' - differently on successive nights, once appearing in a kimono and in Bristol with rather rude tight white shorts, giving the song title new emphasis. In Cardiff, though, he doesn't bother to change at all. Later it transpired that Brian had twisted his ankle during 'Liar'. While he’s attended to, kids out front pick up chair slivers to keep as mementos.

On the bus back to the hotel Brian sits quietly at the back, chatting with two girls. John sits at the front, as always. Freddie stares out of the window, lost in his own world. Roger bounces around, starts a pillow fight with Brian - which stops as soon as Brian scores a direct hit to the face - then discovers an eight track of 'Sheer Heart Attack', punching it through the channels as he conducts the group. The two hours towards which they have channelled the day's energies are spent.

Ambition

That Queen have become a top attraction through a fair degree of plagiarism is amusing. Stealing is nothing new in rock (or any art for that matter) and mostly Queen use the borrowed material better than the originals. That they would be big I don't think anybody really doubted. All four have immense desire to be successful, and that kind of ambition will keep them slogging until they achieve it.

But there are popular heavy metal bands and there are popular h-m bands. From watching Queen's audience it is apparent that Queen speak for them in a way that bands such as the Who and the Stones and the Beatles spoke (and continue to speak) to their audience. Uriah Heep may be great at what they do, but five years after their demise who'll remember them? Creedence Clearwater Revival demonstrate the same thing - who remembers them? And yet five years ago they were the largest band in the world.

Queen will probably always be remembered, because as their tour is beginning to demonstrate, they have the ability to actualise and encompass the outer limits of their sense of self-importance. Queen and their music, presentation, production - everything about them says that they are more important than any other band you've every heard, and who has there been, so far, who has objected? Certainly not the 150,000 people (plus 20,000 a day) who bought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the first 20 days of its release. Certainly not me.

See you at Madison Square Garden.

[text © J. Ingham 2007; photos © Kate Simon]

~ You can see the photos which was mentioned on the article, from the link on the title. ~

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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ibelieveinharrystyles · 5 years ago

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Chapter Eight: A Whole New World

Forever? Masterlist

16th January 2017 “Harry what do I wear?” Ashley asked her best friend bluntly from the other end of the phone as she riffled through her chaotically messy wardrobe.

“You woke me up at five in the morning to ask me what you should wear? I thought something serious had happened.” Harry mumbled, his head resting comfortably on his pillow.

“Harry this is a very important day, I need to look the part.”

“Ash, you do know it’s radio, no one is going to see you.” Harry assured her, “But if you want my advice, wear the red roll neck jumper, with those ripped black jeans and Doc Martens.”

“I knew I could count on you Harry.” she sighed.

“I hope it goes well today love.”

“So do I,” she sighed, before proceeding to hang up the phone.

The tube was eerily quiet compared to Ashley’s usual journey to work, when she worked in the office her shift was 8 till 4, meaning hitting rush hour was inevitable, but getting to work for before 6AM meant an early tube, dropping Daisy off at the childminders on the way. Ashley was grateful that her journey was now somewhat more bearable, even despite the early wake up time, the only other commuters were those travelling in to the city for early starting jobs, and the people who had got drunk the night before and had spent the whole night asleep, travelling the whole length of the northern line. She hurried through the empty tube station, making sure not to be late. In an attempt to make a good impression on her fellow colleagues she stopped off at a nearby bakery that had just opened for the early morning rush, picking up a variation of croissants, pastries and donuts.

Ashley hadn’t felt intimidated by the Capital FM offices since the day she started the internship, she hurried through, most desks were empty as the majority of people didn’t start work until what was deemed a more ‘sociable’ hour of the day. “Morning Ash, how are you feeling?” Roman greeted her as she entered the office kitchen, placing the box of pastries on the side, and continuing to make herself a cup of tea.

“Nervous, but in a good way I guess,” Ashley told him, taking a bite on a pain au chocolat.

“You’re going to be great, I’ll make sure to ease you into it, I’ll introduce you and you can talk as and when you feel comfortable, there’s no pressure, I promise.” Roman assured her, picking a croissant from the box, “The big bosses have also said can we call you Ash when we are on air? Something about coming across as more relatable.”

“Sure, everyone I’m close to calls me that anyway, I mean you’ve called me that ever since I have worked here.”

“That’s great, you have about fifteen minutes to sort yourself out before we go live,” He explained.

“Alright Ro, cheers,”

“Good morning, you are listening to the Capital Breakfast show on a wonderful, yet slightly murky Monday morning, with me Roman Kemp, and for the first time, my new co-host Ash Hanson.” Roman chimed, resulting in cheers and woops from the producers and tech team who were present in the studio, “Ash, I’ll let you introduce yourself.”

“I’m Ash. I've worked at capital for about a year now. I'm originally from the North of England, and most people probably know me for being good friends with a curly haired member of a little British boy band, who you might have heard of.” Somehow talking about Harry and the band made her nerves disappear.

“So Ash, can I assume that with you being so close to the One Direction boys, you have a few stories that would make the lives of me and my fellow One Direction fans a lot better?” Roman asked her.

“I won’t lie I’ve seen a lot, particularly at the after parties, but they are all sound lads, there’s some stuff I probably can’t tell you on air, because frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of them is listening.” Ashley told him.

“And obviously we’ve heard a bit of solo stuff from Zayn, Louis and Niall, if you had to pick one of the boys based on their solo music who would you choose?” Roman asked.

“That is a tough one, I think based on what we’ve heard so far, I’d have to say Niall.”

“Well on that One Direction related note, here’s This Town, on Capital Breakfast.” Roman said, before flicking a switch that meant their voices were no longer heard on air.

“Was that alright?” Ashley asked, taking a quick swig of her water.

“You’re doing great, you’ve got the knack of it already.”

“Taxi for Miss Hanson.” Ashley looked up as she exited Capital, seeing an all too familiar Audi parked outside, Harry stood leant against it, wearing a black trench coat over a grey hoodie and black skinny jeans, with a pair of sunglasses on top of his head to push back his messy hair.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, approaching her best friend.

“Can’t I pick up my best friend after her first day of her new job?” He asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

“It’s lovely of you to come down here, I just wasn’t expecting it, that's all.”

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

“I mean I guess I wouldn’t say no.”

“Good, because you need to line your stomach.” Harry explained, as the pair of them climbed into his car.

“Why’s that?” she asked.

“We’re going out tonight.”

“There are two major factors that go against that Styles,” She told him, “Firstly I have a six month old daughter who is far too young to be left home alone, secondly I have work first thing in the morning.”

“Firstly, Daisy is going to have a sleepover at Auntie Gemma’s house, Secondly, you can stay in my spare bedroom, I’ll drive you to work in the morning.”

“What am I going to wear? I’ve spent the last year in tracksuit bottoms.”

“Well after our brunch, we’re going to Oxford Street to get you a new outfit.” Harry explained, parking up outside The Ivy.

“What’s all this in aid of?” Ashley asked, leaning her head back against the headrest.

“You Ashley Hanson, need to get laid.” Harry smirked.

“When did you reach that conclusion?”

“Well you aren’t coming to America for my birthday, so I thought we’d celebrate early, and I could wingman you.”

“Why don’t we try and get you laid instead?” Ashley insisted.

“Oh darling, I do not need any help in that department.”

“I’m so happy for you Harry, but frankly I’m not at a point in my life where getting laid is something I want to do, Daisy is my main priority.”

“Can we at least go out for my birthday tonight? Pretty please?” Harry asked, looking at her and fluttering his eyelashes.

“Alright! But I want to go to a nice bar, not some mad club.”

“It’s a deal.”

“Are you sure about this Harry?” Ashley asked, looking herself up and down in the full length mirror in Harry’s bathroom.

“We’re going to have a great time.” Harry assured her from his bedroom, next door to the bathroom.

““You really think this looks okay?” Ashley asked, entering Harry's bedroom, she had gone for a black glittery bodycon dress paired with red heels.

“You look beautiful,” Harry told her, taken aback by his best friend who stood before him.

“I’m not sure about this dress, I’ve still got mum tum from when I was pregnant, and my boobs haven’t been the same since I started breastfeeding.” Ashley sighed, shrugging off the fact that Harry calling her beautiful made her stomach flutter.

“Love you wouldn’t even know you had given birth six months ago, and there is nothing wrong with your boobs,” Harry assured her.

“Have you been looking at my boobs Styles?” Ashley questioned, turning to look at her friend.

“Taxi’s here.” Harry replied, making a quick exit downstairs.

As promised Harry took Ashley to a swanky North London bar, the sort that you could only get into if you were well known, and with Harry being Harry, that was easy. Ashley and Harry’s previous attempts at nights out hadn’t ever really ended well, there was the night out in LA when the paparazzi gave Ashley a hard time, and Harry had to effectively cover her, and there was Ashley’s 18th, which resulted in a fight between Ashley and a fan. “Why are we here Harry?” Ashley asked him, taking a sip of her pornstar martini.

“To celebrate my birthday obviously.” Harry replied.

“I mean you’re Harry Styles, you could take literally anyone for drinks, but you chose me, a single mum, who lives in a one bedroom flat in South London and most of the time has either baby sick or milk on my clothes.”

“I didn’t want to take literally anyone out, you’re my best friend, you always have been, you always will be, I find it hard to trust people Ash, I’ve been screwed over by so many people who want to be friends with Harry the celebrity, not Harry from Holmes Chapel who would rather spend the night in watching a cheesy romcom than go to some overly prestigious party, and I’ve never had to worry about that when it comes to you,” Harry explained.

It was almost midnight when they arrived back at Harry's, both of them feeling a little bit tipsy from the several cocktails they had consumed, “Ash, lets dance,” Harry took hold of his best friend’s hand, leading her into the kitchen.

“Harry, I have work in like six hours,” Ashley whined.

“Please, if it was my actual birthday we would be dancing together,” Harry begged, holding both of Ashley’s hands in his.

“Alright one song, then I’m going to bed.” Harry opened his phone shuffling his music, the first song that blared out of his surround sound was Still The One by Shania Twain, Harry took hold of Ashley, one hand on her waist whilst he used his free hand to hold her hand, the pair swayed along to the song, Ashley’s head resting against Harry’s chest, breathing in the smell of his aftershave mixed with the alcohol from the cocktails he had drunk. Ashley smiled up at her friend, his smile beamed back at her, edging his face closer to hers, their lips mere millimetres apart, she knew exactly what was about to happen, “No Harry, we don’t do that, you’re drunk.” She stepped back from his embrace.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine, I’ll see you in the morning,” she muttered before quickly exiting the kitchen.

“I meant it, I am sorry.”

“Good night Harry.”

#harry styles #one direction #harry styles imagines #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfiction #one direction memes #harry styles one shot #harry styles best friend fic #harry styles blurb

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radio-nano · 6 years ago

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A Riot At The Opera: Queen Triumphant by Jonh Ingham with my favorites parts in bold.

Skin tight

Is there any logical reason why they present an image and persona straight out of the Beatles school of interlocking chemistry?

Roger is his opposite, the cheeky sidekick in a Clint Eastwood movie, and attracting a lot of cheesecake attention in America and Japan.

Freddie is an original - one of the most dynamic singers to tread the boards in quite a few years. His attraction is obvious.

Queen have been busy lads these past few months. Having disassociated themselves from their former management and joined with John Reid, the fourth album was seen to. Reid decided that a tight schedule wouldn't cause them undue harm, and figured on two months to record before embarking on this current tour. Only Queen are driven to better each previous album - which at this stage of the game is obviously producing some excellent results - and A Night At The Opera turned into a saga - culminating in 36-hour mixing sessions in an effort to allow at least a few days for rehearsal. In the end they managed three and a half days at Elstree with four hours off to videotape the promotional film for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Their first few dates had not been without errors and the quartet were still not feeling totally comfortable their second night in Bristol, fourth night of the tour. You'd never know it, though.

As the auditorium darkens the sound of an orchestra tuning up is heard over the p.a. The conductor taps his baton on the music stand and a slightly effete voice welcomes the audience to "A Night At The Opera". The Gilbert & Sullivan portion of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' follows, a brief glimpse of Freddie is allowed, and then in a blast of flares and white smoke the blitzkrieg begins.

Around his ankles his satin white pants flare like wings - fleet footed Hermes. Everything north of the knee is skin tight - tighter than skin tight - with a zip-up front open to AA rating. But further south, definitely in X territory, lurks a bulge not unlike the Sunday Telegraph . There have been sex objects and sex bombs, superstar potency and the arrogant presentation of this all-important area, but never has a man's weaponry been so flagrantly showcased. Fred could jump up on the drum stand and SHAKE HIS CUTE ARSE, leap about and perform all manner of amazing acrobatics, but there it was, this rope in repose, barely leashed tumescence, the Queen's sceptre. Oh to be that hot costume, writhing across the mighty Fred!

Phallic

Freddie is not pretty in the conventional sense of the word; like Mick Jagger of '64, he is his own convention. Also like the Jagger of that time, his stage persona and action is unlike anything else. Although it borrows - like most of the group's plagiarisms - slightly from Zeppelin, in tandem with Freddie's supreme assurance and belief in himself - he always refers to himself as a star - it explodes into something that is a constant delight to watch.

Bulldozer

That Queen should end up with John Reid is an entirely logical proceeding. Everything about Queen demands that the world eventually kow-tows at their feet in complete acquiescence - so big that bodyguards have to accompany them at every step. Well, no - they found that an annoyance in Japan, but, you know, huge.

Maniacal

Tonight he moves fluidly, the gonzo lead guitarist of a gonzo band. His expressions are just as maniacal, but it only makes him look more demonic. His solo in 'Brighton Rock', an exposition in riffing and echo, is a treat because of his physical response to both music and audience, complete with ham acting. Freddie gets into the same game on 'The Prophet's Song', where he conducts an a capella madrigal with himself. It's a pretty commanding moment.

On the bus back to the hotel Brian sits quietly at the back, chatting with two girls. John sits at the front, as always. Freddie stares out of the window, lost in his own world. Roger bounces around, starts a pillow fight with Brian - which stops as soon as Brian scores a direct hit to the face - then discovers an eight track of Sheer Heart Attack, punching it through the channels as he conducts the group. The two hours towards which they have channelled the day's energies are spent.

Ambition

But there are popular heavy metal bands and there are popular HM bands. From watching Queen's audience it is apparent that Queen speak for them in a way that bands such as the Who and the Stones and the Beatles spoke (and continue to speak) to their audience. Uriah Heep may be great at what they do, but five years after their demise who'll remember them? Creedence Clearwater Revival demonstrate the same thing - who remembers them? And yet five years ago they were the largest band in the world.

Queen will probably always be remembered, because as their tour is beginning to demonstrate, they have the ability to actualise and encompass the outer limits of their sense of self-importance.

Queen and their music, presentation, production - everything about them says that they are more important than any other band you've every heard, and who has there been, so far, who has objected? Certainly not the 150,000 people (plus 20,000 a day) who bought 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the first 20 days of its release. Certainly not me.

See you at Madison Square Garden.

And Freddie in an interview a few later after this article:

He has been talking almost an hour and from the rapid increase in body twitches it's obvious he now wants to leave. He gets up to go but then thinks of something else.

A few weeks before I had written a story that adored in detail the tightness of Freddie's costume and the obvious bulge it contained. The Editor had not missed the opportunity to use an obvious headline.

"You know, your 'Cock Opera' piece has done me more harm than good. It was a wonderful piece, but My God, I've got to live up to it now. The insinuations of hosepipes and things, it's gotten really amazing. My God! A day hasn't passed when someone hasn't made a comment on it."

I was reminded of critic Lillian Roxon interviewing Tom Jones and wanting to poke her pencil there to see if it was all Tom. I guess only Fred's tailor knows for sure.

#queen #queen band #Freddie Mercury #roger taylor #brian may #john deacon #deaky #disco deaky #bohemian rhapsody

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texas-electricity-ratings · 4 years ago

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How Winter Freeze Shut Down ERCOT

Hard winter weather just doesn’t happen in Texas? Not anymore. Find out how a winter cold snap froze up ERCOT and shut it down cold.

How Did Cold Weather Freeze The Texas Grid?

With Arctic-like cold and wind chills likely sticking around Texas until the weekend, many electricity customers inn ERCOT are finding time to wonder what happened on Sunday, February 15. After all, the past week’s cold weather catastrophe seems more at home in the bleak whiteness of Jack London’s Yukon than sunny Sugar Land. To help sort it all out, we’ve been assembling the story as the facts emerge. And as with any raw crisis, we’ve discovered a whole lot of questions to answer. Just how did a winter cold snap freeze up the ERCOT grid anyway? How could it affect your electric bill? And — more importantly — could it happen again?

How the Arctic Vortex and Winter Storm Froze Texas

Each winter, cold air over the North Pole forms a vortex that spins cold air around the northern region. Last year, a normal low pressure kept the Arctic Vortex bound up nice and tight over the North Pole. But this winter, high pressure over the Pole sloshed the Arctic Vortex across the northern hemisphere. In early January, the Arctic vortex underwent a “Sudden Stratospheric Warming” event that broke up the vortex and sent smaller daughter vortices whirling across the northern hemisphere.

As Ground Hog day dawned, One of those vortices flowed into an atmospheric trough over the middle of the U.S. This trough led far south deep into the heart of Texas. Bitter cold temperatures flowed southward. On February 11, ERCOT warned to expect “record electric use as a result of the extreme cold temperatures that have already reached much of the ERCOT region”.

Within two days, a storm system developed in the Pacific northwest. Strengthening as it moved east, it veered to Texas, changing into snow and ice. For the first time on record, the National Weather Service issued Winter Storm Warnings for all 254 counties in the state. As a result, the Railroad Commission of Texas issued an emergency order to protect residential customers by prioritizing deliveries of gas to electric generation facilities.

Texas Generation Mix

According to ERCOT, its Texas generation supply is roughly 22% coal, 35% combined cycle natural gas, 12% nuclear plants, and 25% wind. ERCOT’s annual winter forecast planned for 67,200 MW of coal, natural gas, and nuclear, 24,962 MW of wind, and about 3,800 from solar.

But as Texas temperatures plummeted and customer demand for electricity to heat homes rose and rose. That afternoon, ERCOT formally requested the U.S. Department of Energy to authorize all its generating units to run full blast. The request named 99 coal, natural gas, and fuel oil burning plants. That means that the fuel mix the night of February 14 favored about 67,000 MW from “thermal generators”; natural gas, coal, nuclear, and oil.

Thermal generators use heat to make steam and spin up a turbine that generates electricity. So, it’s a little ironic that thermal plants are susceptible to freezing because many of these plants have exposed steam pipes and switching systems. They perform great under “normal” warm Texas conditions. But when temperatures get bitterly cold, pipes, valves, compressors, gauges, and switches can freeze up and cause shut downs.

Meanwhile, natural gas contains a built-in problem: water vapor. Natural gas, even consumer-grade “dry gas”, can freeze up in pipelines and compressor stations when pressure drops due to power loss or too much gas is taken out of the pipeline. That’s when ice forms in the pipeline and blocks the flow. For Texas natural gas fueled generating stations, these freeze offs shut them down hard.

Natural gas power plants deliver plenty cheap energy to Texas electricity users. But only when the gas actually gets to them.

What Started The Electric Outages?

During the night of Sunday, February 14, winter peak-demand in ERCOT hit a record of 69,150 MW. Beginning around 11 pm multiple generation stations rapidly tripped offline due to the effects of brutal cold weather. Outages from coal and natural gas plants were at least 10,000 MW over what ERCOT planned for it worst-case scenario.

Between 12:17 AM and 1:25 AM on Monday, February 16, the system began failing, dropping went from “conservation needed” to “rotating outages“. At that point ERCOT asked TDUs to shed 16,500 MW of load or about 2 million homes worth of electricity. By mid-morning, ERCOT had lost about 34,000 MW of capacity; roughly 40% of its operable capacity. Most of that loss came from thermal plants while less than 13% was lost due to wind turbine blades icing up.

Why Rolling Black Outs?

Part of ERCOT’s job is not only to match demand to generators’ supply but also to make sure the grid is safe. However, if demand exceeds supply, ERCOT has several tricks it can use. First it may lower the grid’s frequency from 60 Herz to 58 Herz. It might also lower the voltage slightly below 110 volts (causing brownouts). However, if supply falters further and frequency falls below 56 Herz or the voltage drops too much, then resonate frequencies or heat flux density problems in their cores can burn or melt generators. Even too much line noise will damage control and switching equipment needed to bring on additional generators. In short, too much load can burn out the whole grid.

The easiest way to keep the ERCOT grid stable is for the TDUs to reduce load. The fairest way to do it is through rolling blackouts. That way, everyone loses power but only for a little while. ERCOT’s Energy Emergency Rules specify that black outs are limited from 10 to 45 minutes and that TDUs (like CenterPoint and Oncor) are responsible for determining how they shed load in their service areas.

Or that’s at least what ERCOT intended when it ordered rolling black outs on February 15.

Why Did ERCOT Just Black Out?

On Monday, February 16, nighttime weather conditions deteriorated further. ERCOT scrambled to find working generators and balance their system. By 4 PM, ERCOT had managed to restore approximately 2,500 MW of load. But with temperatures falling into teens that night, ERCOT requested another 18,500 MW of load to be shed. By Tuesday, about 45,000 MW and over 180 generators had gone offline.

ERCOT and the TDUs scrambled for generation as it became available. But at the same time supply had to balance load to keep the grid stable. On Tuesday afternoon, CenterPoint warned Houston residentsto prepare for power outages as generators continued to struggle. Even the South Texas Nuclear Power Station shut down about 1450 MW when cold weather affected its feedwater system.

The Big Texas Freeze Problem Spreads North

Shortages from natural gas freeze offs didn’t end at the the “Welcome to Texas” sign. Texas is top producer of natural gas in the U.S. Its wells supply gas used for heating in northern states via major pipeline networks. Nearly half of the state’s natural gas production has screeched to a halt as wells in the Permian Basin, Eagle Ford, and other gas fields froze off.

Monday gas supplies to northern states faltered. Some 17 States, some seeing temperatures below -25°F and as far north as Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and the Dakotas were hit with energy shortages that included low natural gas supply for heating and rolling black outs. Consequently, this big Texas Freeze isn’t just a Texas problem. It’s a national one.

When Will My Lights Come On?

As of Friday, February 19, ERCOT had cancelled the emergency and is reporting “normal” conditions. Prices have slid to their normal levels. But even though Texas generators are supplying over 46,000 MW of demand, thousands of homes were still without power and millions of people are having problems with water services.

Texas TDU Outage Trackers

Outages as of Friday, February 19

CenterPoint reports 6,726 Customers without power.

Oncor reports 4,493 outages, 92,477 customers affected.

AEP Texas reports 15,900 Customers without power.

TNMP reports 10 customers without power.

Meanwhile, a warm up moving in on Saturday, February 20. The National Weather service is forecasting the good news that “near to above normal temperatures for southeast Texas through the end of February and into early March. ”

What Happens To My Retail Electricity Provider (REP)?

The huge problem facing Texas Retail Electricity Providers was that prices soared to the stratosphere on Monday, February 16, hitting the ERCOT market cap of $9,000 per MWh (that’s $9 per kWh). Much of that was due to the PUCT ordering ERCOT that energy prices should reflect scarcity of the supply. Companies offering customers wholesale rates, like Griddy, told customers that they should switch to another provideras soon as possible or face insanely high bills. Other providers offered customers $100 rebates and waived cancellation fees as incentives to switch to another provider.

The PUCT kept that rule in place until ERCOT finally cancelled the rolling black out emergency on Friday, February 19 at 9 AM. But during that time, ERCOT demanded that retailers needed to cough up cash for collateral for the Day Ahead Markets. Though big Texas energy companies like NRG and Vistra dig into their deep pockets to pay billions this week, small companies are scrambling to pay millions in collateral charges – in one case up to $6.5MM for less than 4,000 residential customers.

As a result, REPs could be bushwhacked by financial troubles as their bills come due. That means customers should keep a weather-eye peeled for some companies raising electricity rates or changing ownership. One retailer has already formally asked the PUCT to re-price rates during the emergency period to a cap of no more $1,500 per megawatt hour for energy. It is not know as of this writing how the PUCT will react.

Will This Happen Again?

Arctic vortex visits are not new to North America. Take for example the winter of 2013 to 2014 which brought record cold to normally sultry Georgia and Florida. To find the last time Texas hit this kind of record cold, you have to dig into the weather stats going back to the 1899. But history shows you don’t need record cold to bring the Texas grid to its knees. You just need poor preparation.

The 2011 Ground Hog Day Freeze-Off started with record cold temperatures and high winds shutting down 50 power plants. Seven of these were coal-fired plants (four were then brand new) that failed from winds and icing. A total of 8,000 MW shut down. Wind turbines, however, limped on and kept producing. In response, ERCOT instituted blackouts and the wholesale price of electric jumped from $70 per MW to $3,001 per MW. Fortunately for electricity customers in Houston, high rates were short lived.

As then ERCOT Chief Tripp Doggett explained to the Dallas News covering the event, “Things that you would expect to winterize prior to a cold period are the problems. In a lot of cases, I suspect, they were wrapped in insulation, and perhaps they underestimated the amount of insulation needed. Perhaps they didn’t recognize they needed a heat source near the insulation.”

The investigating taskforce later validated Daggett when they reported that there were no state or industry regulatory rules mandating power plant winterization. Unfortunately for Texas energy customers , that policy is ongoing. ERCOT does request power plants to perform checks and follow “best practices”. However, generator winterization mandates still do not exist in Texas law.

Governor Greg Abbott is now urging lawmakers to pass legislation requiring the energy grid is cold weather-ready.

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isarose2 · 4 years ago

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What was that? Part 2

Here is the next day of the chapter ‘What was that?’, in continuation of the story Lost & Found.

Thursday was when she met with her friends: "So how are you?" She asked politely. "Oh you know, lot of standing and sitting I suppose" Miya, her Italian friend complained. "Come on chicka I saw that shoot you were at with your boy-toy" Sandra, her other friend mention. Sandra said her parents were from South America but she was born on the west coast, so she defines herself as Latina. Miya rolled her eyes, "well of course you did, darling, that was the point, he wanted to irritate his parents by taking those risqué shots." Mary thought for a moment, she remembered a spread that Miya had done with this French-person. It wasn't that scantily, but then again she didn't look at the other pictures. And there were always, the proofs, pictures that are taken but not used for the project that they would use, the models always had the right's to that, if they asked. Maybe Sandra was referring to something that was published somewhere else. "Why did he want to do that?" Mary asked. "his parents think that he can't take care of himself, so while they were away he wanted to be a part of a shoot they had no control of. I was bored so I went along with the plan but we only made it look bad, we didn't do anything. The photographer was into it so he didn't mind giving us the proofs, to sell to some rag, as 'fake news'. My manager was furious but, hey it's not the worst thing I could do and really he was a popular model so I actually ended up getting more work out of it." Miya explained boredly. Sandra scoffed, "really, for sure, I thought you finally settled yourself a sugar daddy of a play thing" Miya rolled her eyes once more, "Pu-lease, I wouldn't know were to put a plaything, unlike you me and Mary here do a lot more traveling" she said all posh like. It was true, that was originally how Miya had met Mary, they got called for jobs overseas, and there weren't many travel teenage model's these days. Sandra sneered playfully, "well sucks to be you then cause Mary here has settled" she said pointed. "for now." Mary finished. Miya lifted an eyebrow, "Really, here in Gotham of all places" she scoffed, "Why?" Mary rolled her eyes at her friend, Miya was nice when she wanted to be, most of the time she didn't want to be though. "well it's a nice urban environment, that is growing and has good transportation, and possible opportunities" she said all lady-like. Sandra snorted in her drink, then started to crack up laughing, and Miya smiled humorously at that. "Alright, I want to go to Gotham U. for environmental studies and botany" she said. "that's more like our little book worm" Miya said. Sandra having calm herself down said, "oh yeah, I forgot you had more than one brain cell unlike the rest of us" "speak for yourself, I finished my technical school a year ago, what's left is practical work in the field" Miya said. She had gone to a euro-school, for high school which is like two years of class work and exams then a year of 'field' work. "so you’re a year behind then" Sandra asked cheekily. Miya frowned and throw a grape tomato at her. Sandra laughed and dodged. "well then if you don't have any love interests then what about you Mary" Sandra asked her. "no none that I know of" Mary said. "still running from an Ex-" Miya asked nonchalantly. "what?" they asked. "you know, your always going to different places after every shoot, once you went from Hong Kong to London to Japan, to Paris. Like you were running from something" "now that you mention it, I always did here that it was like you were on the run of something, but it didn't make any sense" Sandra said. Mary flinched, "it's just I would get jobs everywhere you know" "but what about that shoot where you were asked to stay a bit longer, you know work around that area" Miya asked. "I already had a commitment with another job, I couldn't back out then" Mary said quickly. "well whatever, if you weren't running then, then what maked you settle for Gotham U. there are more schools all around the work" Sandra asks. Mary rolls her eyes, "I told you I want to study environmental sciences, kind of hard online when you don't have access to labs for research. Plus I don't know, I feel safe like I belong here or something" Mary looked out at the street. Sandra and Miya looked at each-other and They both scoffed. "Gotham safe, really, mija" Sandra said with a chuckle. "Gotham is one of the most dangerous city's on the planet, what with the only 'viable' protection being a family of 'Bats'" Miya said, almost bringing her accent into the mix. Mary shrugged, "I don't know they say that about a lot of places but I feel fine here" "whatever you say" Sandra said shaking her head. "but seriously, no guy has tickled your fancy, you know 'intrigued' that brain of yours" Mary thought about that, "well not tickled my fancy, but one guy has been on my head lately, like an annoying nat" she said thoughtfully. "really, do tell, darling" Miya said with a playful smirk on her face. "ugh, it's kind of like my boss, or more like his son, he's an annoying prick he thinks himself above everyone and everything but I am trying to ignore his personality, and do the job right" "son of the boss is incharge?" Sandra asked. She had never done big projects so she didn't know as much of the industry as the other two. Mary rolled her eyes but decided to comply anyway, neither Miya or Sandra were in the project for WE so she didn't think too much about telling them. "Damian Wayne" she muttered. Miya's eyes widened for a moment and Sandra nearly choked on her drink. "Wayne, as probably richest kid in North America, the one that's not in any romantic relationship, and hot " Sandra managed to choke out. "excuse me" Mary asked. Miya rolled her eyes "Damian, most eligible bachelor and millionaire this side of the Atlantic" "Come on you can't have not heard about him" "uh, this side of the Atlantic, when was the last time I was here again?" Mary said. "right I forgot you traveled so much" Sandra said hitting her head. "plus if anything if it didn't have chlorophyll our little book worm would probably not be interested" Miya said. Mary nodded it was probably true. "still though, how could you not know who you were getting involved with when you interviewed? You are usually the best at this" Sandra stated. "I was trying to get myself motivated to choose this city not think practical, trust me it was the first and probably the last time I would do something like this" Mary said, she didn't think that by choosing Gotham her life would get anymore complicated. She just wanted to relax, settle a little before planning her future out, and what better place than the city that she would hopefully end up going to college in. "Well what happened between you too anyway?" Sandra asked curiously. "Nothing really, I just ran into him a couple times and may have insulted him a little, but I didn't know he was going to be my boss, or that it would be his father's name on my checks, you know" Mary said sheepishly. "You what, girly, that's not good, he could seriously mess with your career, and not just modeling, but your future may also be in jeopardy as well" Sandra said. "I know that now, but I couldn't help it, he was berating a poor dish boy for something that wasn't even his fault, I can't stand for that behavior" Miya and Sandra looked at her, they weren't too close but Mary had always been the type to help others, whether it was the over worked set hand, or the common street beggar she would give an apple to. It was in her nature to help and that's what she portrayed everyday of her life, even as a model. "well alright" Miya said resolutely, "you can't change what's happened but maybe you can change what's to happen" Mary tilted her head, "what do you mean?" "you can't change what he thinks of you before but what about now" Miya said again. "you mean like flip the scrip, change the perspective, so that what was perceived is not what is" Sandra said wisely. Mary and Miya looked at her oddly. "What, I can read fantasy novels as good as any sixth grader" she joked. They rolled their eyes, this girl and her television. Mary pondered this, "what so make him think differently about me, make him understand. He doesn't seem like the type to really appreciate what he thinks is wrong you know" "yes but you have a gift for making people see you differently" Miya said. "not that much, I just let them see what they want to see, which is pretty close to who I am so.." "then show him you" Miya said. Sandra looked at Mary then grinned mischievously to herself, "Yeah Mary show him what you hide behind those conservative blouses" Miya rolled her eyes, as Mary blushed slightly( Nudity never bothered her, but somehow the idea of being in front of someone that was her superior yet also kind of her peer with less than 'proper' attire kind of reddened her. "you, when will you get your head out of the gutter" Miya asked. "Hey it's the first time I see that Mary actually blushed at that prospect" Both Miya and Sandra looked at Mary who gulped, "Guys, he's like my boss and a total jerk, that alone feels weird" Miya took pity on the blushing girl, "well since you're so interested in talking about relationships today, why don't you talk about yours Sandra" Sandra blushed. They continued the rest of their meal, and finished then went to 'interact' with each other the rest of the day, they were more like work friends but they were close enough to be able to 'hang out' socially. Mary felt better, after talking about both her incidents fully with two other people she thought she had a better idea on how to proceed. They eventually departed and went their ways, with Mary going back to her place and feeding her new house guest once more before turning in early.

#batman #bat family #fanfic

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bigyack-com · 5 years ago

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MHG Signs Two Hotels in Doha, Qatar

Thailand’s Minor Hotels Group has signed a management agreement with a private developer for two new properties in Doha, Qatar. Currently in the pre-opening phase, The Vyra Suites NH Collection Doha is a 228-key serviced apartment property located in West Bay, Doha’s prominent business district hosting much of the city’s most modern infrastructure. Situated amongst a plethora of commercial skyscrapers, large scale mixed-use developments and government entities, the new-build 44-storey property is comprised of 72 one bedroom, 144 two-bedroom, and 12 three-bedroom apartments, as well as a restaurant, coffee shop, gym, indoor swimming pool, kids’ club, teens room, and a number of meeting rooms.

This will be the first NH Collection to launch in the Middle East and the first outside of the brand’s traditional areas of operation in Europe and South America. Additionally, The Plaza Doha Anantara Hotel & Suites (pictured) is under development in the Um Ghuwelina area of the city, approximately 15 minutes’ drive from Hamad International Airport. The 292-key property will feature 118 guest rooms and 174 apartment suites, a large F&B offering which includes multiple dining options and a fully air conditioned courtyard atrium which will be the centrepiece of the property. Other facilities will include a spa and wellness area, a roof top infinity swimming pool and an indoor pool, a kids’ club, gym and an 1,200 square metre ballroom along with six meeting rooms. “We are very excited to announce these two upcoming hotels and to grow and launch our brands in Doha,” said Dillip Rajakarier, CEO Minor Hotels. “The combination of both Anantara and NH Collection, combined with our existing portfolio, will attract a diverse range of travellers and meet the market’s increasing demand for short and long term accommodation.” MHG currently operates 17 properties in the Middle East, including Banana Island Resort Doha by Anantara, three Tivoli properties and one Oaks in Qatar. Globally, the company has a portfolio of 536 hotels and resorts in 55 countries. See latest Travel News, Interviews, Podcasts and other news regarding: MHG, Minor, Doha, Qatar, Anantara, NH. Headlines: Drew Crawley to Join American Express Global Business Travel as CCO Cape Town 7s 2019 to Take Place 13-15 December Congo Airways to Replace Dash 8-400s with Embraer E175 Aircraft Ascent Solutions Installs Two E-Gates at NAIA 2 Departures Michel Poussau Appointed GM of Rugby World Cup 2023 Wetherspoon to Invest £200 Million Developing New Pubs and Hotels IATA Asks EU to Support Sustainable Aviation Fuel Transition Boeing Delivers First Modified MV-22 Osprey to United States Marine Corps Marriott Signs Six Hotels in India Accor to Rebrand Hotel in Queensland, Australia MHG Signs Two Hotels in Doha, Qatar Vietjet Launches Flights to New Delhi from Hanoi and Saigon SKY Signs Purchase Agreement for 10 Airbus A321XLRs British Airways Trials 3D Printing SAS' First A350 to Enter Long-Haul Service on 28 January Air Italy and Oman Air Sign Codeshare Agreement ACH and Aston Martin to Unveil 'New Creation' in January Qantas Signs FFP Agreement with Air France - KLM Group Malaysia Airlines Launches Shuttle Fares on Flights Between KL and Singapore Accor to Open 125-Room Mercure Hotel in Canberra in January Openings Push Australia's Hotel Inventory to Over 300,000 Rooms Alban Dutemple Appointed Cluster GM of Two Hotels in Bahrain Air New Zealand Trials Edible Coffee Cups Manchester Airport Unveils Details of £1 Billion Transformation South Africa Beat New Zealand to Win Dubai Sevens Aviation: RPKs Up 3.4% in October 2019 China Airlines to Launch Flights Between Taipei and Cebu, Philippines Marriott Adds North Island Seychelles to Luxury Collection Trenchard Aviation Appoints Neil Watkins as Group DOSM J. Scott Kirby to Succeed Oscar Munoz as CEO of United Airlines Vietjet to Launch Hanoi - Bali Flights London Stansted to Host CAPA World Aviation Outlook Summit 2020 JW Marriott Hotel Bangkok Completes Renovation Air Freight: FTKs Down 3.5% in October; APAC Down 5.3% Carl Volschenk Joins Sheraton Grand Danang as GM American Airlines Adds Passport Chip Scanning to Mobile App TCEB Partners Thai Airways to Launch APAC MaxiMICE Campaign United Airlines Orders 50 Airbus A321XLR Aircraft Four Seasons Signs First Hotel in New Orleans Aman Venice Appoints Norbert Niederkofler as Consultant Chef Bombardier to Relocate Global Aircraft Production Airbus Appoints New Communications Leadership Team Malaysia and Turkish Airlines Sign Codeshare Agreement Marco Violano Joins Four Seasons Jakarta as Executive Chef World's First Zest OK Youth Hotel Opens in New Zealand Dubai Sevens Set to Kick Off 2020 Season Boeing to Give $48 Million to Over 400 Global Charitable Organizations Dusit Thani Hua Hin Completes First Phase of Renovation British & Irish Lions' Itinerary for 2021 Tour of South Africa Airbus Signs Global Support Contract for Tiger Helicopters Over 400 Now Connected to Travelport's Rich Content and Branding Qantas Opens First Class Lounge at Changi Airport in Singapore British Airways Empowers Airport Staff to Solve Issues on the Spot Next Story Group Launches New Hotel Brand Air New Zealand Launches Flights Between Christchurch and Singapore Vietjet to Launch Saigon - Pattaya Flights India and Colombia Certify Mi-171A2 from Russian Helicopters Qatar Airways Cargo Unveils Major South America Expansion CWT Meetings & Events Restructures Leadership Team Air France to Operate Flights from San Francisco Using SAF Four Seasons Seychelles Appoints Kevin Lopes as Exec. Pastry Chef Vietjet to Increase Flights Between Vietnam and South Korea Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor Opens Khmer Restaurant, 1932 Airbus Celebrates 100th A220 Aircraft Produced CINZ Appoints Lisa Hopkins as Chief Executive Amadeus to Upgrade Travel Experience at Perth Airport in Australia Travelport Makes First API-Connection Bookings for Qantas Using NDC Sustainable Success for Ocean Marina Pattaya Boat Show 2019 Air Corsica Takes Delivery of First Airbus A320neo Aircraft Bangkok Airways Partners Krungthep Limousine in Trat 431-Room Novotel Hotel in Perth to Soft Open on 19 December Malaysia Airlines Launches New In-Flight Services GICC Macau Appoints Joey Pather as Senior Vice President - MICE Renaissance Hotel Opens in Xiamen, China Finnair Partners Chef DeAille Tam for New Business Class Menu Simon Barnett Joins Four Seasons Singapore as Hotel Manager FCM Achieves TMC Elite Level Within SAP Concur Partner Program Club Med to Open Kota Kinabalu Resort in 2022 SAS Takes Delivery of First Airbus A350-900 Seaplanes in Thailand? Interview with Dennis Keller, CBO of Siam Seaplane Asia Pacific Airlines Carried 30.7m Int. Pax in October BA and Aston Martin Celebrate Concorde with Ten Very Special Cars Premier Inn to Eliminate Unnecessary Single-Use Plastics by 2025 Gold Coast Airport to Enhance Security with New CT Screening Systems China's Airlines and Airports Investing in Chatbots, Biometrics and Blockchain Marriott Bonvoy Partners Tennis Australia Executive Appointments at Four Seasons Hotel Toronto Korean Forest Service Takes Delivery of K7 S-64 Air Crane Helicopter First of 353 Airbus A321neos Enters Service with AirAsia Two Lagoon Sixty 7 Catamarans Sold to Customers in Far East Novotel Partners Calm to Enhance Sleep Experience for Guests SpiceJet Appoints APG as GSA in Belgium, Germany, Netherlands and Switzerland Slow Travel and Micro Escapes Becoming More Popular with Singaporeans Mandarin Oriental Signs Hotel & Residences in Tel Aviv, Israel Bombardier's Montreal Facilities Receives First Sustainable Aviation Fuel Executive Appointments at British & Irish Lions Jared Green Joins Six Senses Fiji as DOSM Seaplanes in Thailand? Interview with Dennis Keller, CBO of Siam Seaplane Accor Opens Novotel Christchurch Airport Hotel Air Astana to Launch Almaty - Paris Flights Subhas Menon to Become AAPA Director General in March Airlift Takes Delivery of First Airbus H145 Helicopter Inge Kotze Joins Singita as GM - Conservation Teleport Signs Interline Agreement with Lufthansa Cargo British Airways Opens Refurbished Airport Lounge in Geneva CAE to Deploy Bombardier Global 7500 FFS in Dubai Simpson Marine - Interview with Howard Prime, Country Manager Thailand Finnair to Cancel About 257 Flights on Monday Boeing Unveils First 737 MAX 10 Hyatt Signs Two Hotels in Saigon, Vietnam PHG Appoints Angeline Hon as Group Marketing and Communications Director Airbus Delivers First of Two H145M Helicopters to Luxembourg Ghana Signs MOU with Boeing for Three 787-9 Dreamliners IHG Opens Second voco Hotel in Oxford, England Air Senegal Signs MOU for Eight Airbus A220-300s Emirates Converts Boeing 777 Order for 30 787-9 Dreamliners Erik Lannge Appointed GM of Villa de Pranakorn in Bangkok Finnair's Sapporo Flights Become Year-Round Virgin Atlantic to Offer More Cargo Capacity to India, Africa and USA Gold Coast Airport Extends Partnership with SITA to 2024 WTTC Report Reveals Global Medical Tourism Growth of 358% SAS to Save Up To 51 Tons of Plastic Per Year with New Food Packaging Vietnam Airlines Enforcing Ban on Damaged or Recalled Lithium Batteries British & Irish Lions Renews Kit Deal with Canterbury Over 6,000 Expected to Visit Pattaya Boat Show 21-24 Nov; Free Entrance British Airways to Take Delivery of First Boeing 787-10 in January GECAS Orders 12 Airbus A330neos and 20 A321XLRs Air Astana Signs LOI for 30 Boeing 737 MAX 8 Aircraft flynas Orders 10 Airbus A321XLRs Emirates to Operate Historic National Day Flight - EK2019 Air France and KLM Launch Manila - Taipei - Paris Flights easyJet Exercises Purchase Rights for 12 More Airbus A320neos AirAsia.com Starts Selling Seats on Other Airlines Air Arabia Orders 73 A320neos, 27 A321neos and 20 A321XLRs Nick Bray Joins Travelport as CFO British Airways Using AI to Enhance Airside Operations at London Heathrow Garuda Indonesia Takes Delivery of First Airbus A330-900 Cathay Pacific Reports 7.1% Drop in Passenger Numbers in October Emirates Signs Purchase Agreement for 50 Airbus A350-900s EgyptAir to Lease Two More Boeing 787-9 Aircraft from AerCap Serge Cuypers Joins Anantara Siam Bangkok as Hotel Manager SunExpress to Exercise Options for 10 More Boeing 737 MAX 8s Marriott Signs Three Hotels, 1546 Rooms in Thailand Passenger Numbers at Hong Kong Int. Airport Down 13% in October Fiji Airways Takes Delivery of First Airbus A350 Biman Bangladesh Airlines Orders Two Boeing 787-9 Aircraft Ritz-Carlton Opens 100th Property as Brand Returns to Australia Daniel Simon Joins Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel as GM Air Peace Orders Three Additional Embraer E195-E2 Aircraft SAS to Launch Airbus A321LR Flights to Boston in September 2020 Vietnam Airlines to Launch Hanoi - Macau Flights Airbus Forecasts Middle East to Need Over 50,000 New Pilots Over Next 20 Years Seven HD Videos from IATA Airline Industry Retailing Symposium 2019 in Bangkok China Airlines Cargo Launches Taipei - Mumbai - Amsterdam Service Four Seasons Signs Second Resort on Baja Peninsula, Mexico Greg Ward Joins Aman as Head of Global Sales & Distribution Air Italy Appoints Roberto Spada as Chairman Gauderic Harang Appointed GM of Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort Heifer Cancels Race to Feed 2019 in Hong Kong Thai Airways Signs MOU with ICBC Russian Helicopters to Showcase Civilian Mi-38 at Dubai Airshow 2019 Captain Michael Ott Receives Bombardier Safety Standdown Award Discover Thainess at the Vince Hotel Bangkok Pratunam - Interview with GM AAPA Cancels 63rd Assembly of Presidents Scheduled to Take Place in Hong Kong Chengdu Shuangliu Int. Airport Trials Smart Security Checkpoint System Caravelle Hotel in Saigon Launches Refillable Glass Bottle Programme Siam Ocean to Install Latest HVAC Technology at Anantara Hotels Globally Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire Partners Highclere Castle BelugaXL Receives EASA Type Certification United Airlines Helps Passengers Battle Jet Lag with Timeshifter Aman to Open Luxurious Tented Camp in Utah, USA Lost Bags and Airline Baggage Tracking - Interview with Peter Drummond, SITA Conrad Chun Appointed VP of Communications for Boeing Commercial Airplanes Airbus VSR700 Prototype Performs Maiden Flight AirAsia Indonesia Appoints Veranita Yosephine Sinaga as CEO Emirates Opens Check-In Counters for Cruise Passengers at Port Rashid KLM Signs Firm Order for 21 Embraer E195-E2 Aircraft Airbus to Showcase Numerous Aircraft at Dubai Airshow 2019 Belfast to Host ExploreGB 2020 Travel Trade Show in May Awesome Trip - Interview with Mark Corbett, Chief Innovation Officer Vern Insurance Technologies - Interview with Marton Elodi at IATA AIRS 2019 Sabre Signs Multimillion-Dollar Agreement with Vietnam Airlines Airbus Paints Air Canada's First A220; Delivery Set for December Accor Expands Partnership with Alibaba Group American Airlines Aims to Resume Boeing 737 MAX Flights on 5 March Embraer Appoints Antonio Carlos Garcia as CFO Rugby Sevens: China Women Qualify for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Vietnam Airlines Signs EngineWise Service Agreement with Pratt & Whitney Future of Airline Distribution and NDC - Interview with Yanik Hoyles, IATA Accor to Open Dual-Branded Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 24 in Bangkok IATA Reports 3.8% Increase in RPKs in September; ASKs Up 3.3% Virgin Australia to Suspend Hong Kong Service; Launch Brisbane - Tokyo Qatar Airways Signs Codeshare Agreement with IndiGo Air Cargo: FTKs Down 4.5% in September 2019 Thai Airways Promotes CLMV Travel with One Pass, One Price Value Card Bangkok Airways and Emirates Add FFP Benefits to Codeshare Evolution of Airline Chatbots - Interview with Jonathan Newman, CCO of ( caravelo ( Airline Distribution - Interview with Sabre Travel Solutions ATPCO and Routehappy - Interview with Robert Albert at IATA AIR Symposium 2019 IATA Airline Industry Retailing Symposium 2019 - Interview with Stephan Copart Cambodia Travel Mart 2019 - Interview with Hosted Buyer, May Yap Air New Zealand to Launch Non-Stop Flights Between Auckland and New York Mandarin Oriental to Rebrand Famous Hotel in Switzerland Palace Gate Hotel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Interview with GM Lynnaya Urban River Resort in Siem Reap - Interview with GM Cambodia Airways Interview with Lucian Hsing, Commercial Director HD Videos and Interviews Podcasts from HD Video Interviews Travel Trade Shows in 2019, 2020 and 2021 High-Res Picture Galleries Travel News Asia - Latest Travel Industry News Read the full article

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yasbxxgie · 5 years ago

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The most astonishing thing about cement is how much air pollution it produces.

Manufacturing the stone-like building material is responsible for 7% of global carbon dioxide emissions, more than what comes from all the trucks in the world. And with that in mind, it's surprising that leading cement makers from LafargeHolcim Ltd. in Switzerland to Votorantim Cimentos SA in Brazil are finding customers slow to embrace a greener alternative.

Their story highlights the difficulties of taking greenhouse gases out of buildings, roads and bridges. After wresting deep cuts from the energy industry, policymakers looking to extend the fight against global warming are increasingly focusing on construction materials and practices as a place to make further reductions. The companies are working on solutions, but buyers are reluctant to pay more.

"There is so far too little demand for sustainable materials," said Jens Diebold, head of sustainability at LafargeHolcim. "I would love to see more demand from customers for it. There is limited sensitivity for carbon emissions in the construction of a building."

While architects and developers concentrate on the energy used by their buildings, it's actually the materials supporting the structure that embody the biggest share of its lifetime carbon footprint. Cement's contribution to emissions is especially immense because of the chemical process required to make it.

About two-thirds of the polluting gases that come from cement production stem from burning limestone. Kilns are heated to more than 1,400 degrees Celsius (2,600 Fahrenheit), about four times hotter than a home oven set to the self-clean cycle. Inside the kiln, carbon trapped in the limestone combines with oxygen and is released as CO2, the most abundant greenhouse gas.

A ton of cement yields at least half a ton of CO2, according to the European Cement Association. That's more than the average car would produce on a drive from New York to Miami. And a single mixer truck can carry about 13 tons. Hundreds or even thousands of tons go into ordinary office buildings.

The scale of the problem has drawn the attention of research groups like the IEA and Chatham House along with policymakers from the C40, which represents the world's largest cities. The IEA estimates cement production will rise 12% to 23% by 2050, though it could cut emissions with a series of actions. All the groups are looking for levers to prompt change.

"It's very difficult," Shirley Rodrigues, deputy mayor for London and a C40 board member, said in an interview. "What we can do is to start to send a signal. We've got a new requirement for developers that they must develop a circular economy statement to show how they will reduce, reuse and recycle materials."

Cement makers are responding but have found customers hesitant. LafargeHolcim, the second-largest maker by capacity, once launched a carbon-free product. It was more expensive and used a different production process. Customers were "very price sensitive" and didn't show interest, Diebold said. Buyers acknowledge that cost is crucial.

"There are cement products with lower environmental impact, but they usually cost more than the normal ones," said Lennart Henriz, chairman of the sub-commission on environment at the European Construction Industry Federation. "There are many types of strict targets on the European construction sector. But sometimes there is a lot of talking but low action."

Cost is a problem because greener forms of cement can cost triple what the traditional mix does. Researchers led by Brett Tempest at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte found a yard of geopolymer cement may reach $161, while the most commonly used Portland variety is $51, their 2015 paper in the PCI Journal published by the Precast Concrete Institute.

What comes out of the kiln is called clinker, the key raw ingredient of cement. It's the substance that, when mixed with gypsum and water, binds with gravel to harden and form concrete. Many companies are working to cut the amount of clinker in their cement, which requires new and sometimes untested recipes.

Others are looking at substitutes. Those include fly-ash, which comes from the chimneys of plants that burn coal, or slag from steel-making blast furnaces. They trigger a chemical reaction and form what's known as a geopolymer binder.

Geopolymer cement has performance advantages and a huge sustainability edge over traditional mixes, according to Cameron Coleman, chief executive officer of Wagners Holding Co., which is based in Toowoomba near Brisbane in Australia.

Wagners has poured its Earth Friendly Concrete for taxiways at the Brisbane West Wellcamp Airport as well as in foundations and wall panels for the terminal building. While it's gaining customers, Wagners still needs more regulators to sign off on using the material in more applications. The availability of slag and fly ash is also a challenge in some countries.

"This alternative eco-friendly binder technology reduces the carbon emissions associated with normal Portland cement by 80% to 90%, and also has a much lower embodied energy," Coleman said by email. "We have been working with leading companies in South East Asia, New Zealand, India, Europe and the Middle East who are extremely interested in adopting this technology."

Brazil is one place making rapid progress, partly because of the availability of raw materials such as pozzolan, a type of siliceous and aluminous material that results in a product with the same technical properties as the traditional cement.

The country has one of the lowest clinker contents in the world for its cement, below 70% in 2014. That compares with 75% in Europe. Brazil aims to reduce that ratio to about 50% by 2050, according to Alvaro Lorenz, global director of sustainability at Votorantim Cimentos, one of the largest cement producers in Latin America.

That strategy won't work for long in Europe and the U.S., where fly-ash is the main clinker substitute and coal plants are closing. There, the focus is on efficiency and using fossil-fuel alternatives for heat. The European Cement Association says its producers already get 44% of their energy from cleaner sources and wants to raise that proportion to 60% by 2050. Instead of using coal, it's creating heat with used tires, mineral oil and industrial waste.

The next frontier would be using carbon capture and storage devices to siphon off pollutants and trap them underground permanently. That technology isn't in widespread use and would be expensive - hundreds of millions of dollars for each factory - but it could reduce emissions 80% by the middle of the century.

Cement makers know they must act not only because pollution rules are tightening everywhere, but also because the cost to emit CO2 has pressured their revenues. Companies are paying more for carbon allowances, which has "a serious cost impact for the cement industry," said Koen Coppenholle, chief executive officer of the European Cement Association.

What's less certain is the desire of developers and construction companies to buy greener products. Without action from policymakers, green cement may remain a low priority for the builders, said Tiffany Vass, who assesses energy technology and policy on the IEA's industry team.

"I don't believe the pressing need for decarbonization has broadly reached the construction industry in many parts of the world," Vass said.

#center for environmental excellence #aashto #etap newsletter #cement #green cement #air emissions #air pollution #transportation #building industry #decarbonization #construction #cement industry #carbon allowances #geopolymer cement #slag #fly ash

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deniscollins · 5 years ago

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They Clean the Buildings Workers Are Fleeing. But Who’s Protecting Them?

Wells Fargo told its landlord that one of its employees was suspected of having the virus and told its employees to work from home the following day. The landlord notified Able Services, which provides janitorial services. If you were an Able Services executive, what would you do: (1) inform the two janitors working on the floor to not clean it, or (2) inform all building janitors about the coronavirus case? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

The rumor unsettled Deborah Santamaria.

A fellow janitor at 555 California Street, a 52-story office tower in San Francisco’s financial district, told her he heard that a floor of the building was being closed because a worker had contracted the novel coronavirus. At 63, Ms. Santamaria counted herself among those most vulnerable to a virus that had killed thousands worldwide and was rapidly spreading across the United States.

Her supervisor at Able Services, the contractor that employs her, reassured her that nothing was wrong, she said.

It was not until five days later that a news article appeared saying that Wells Fargo had temporarily evacuated its offices in the building after an employee had tested positive for the coronavirus.

The bank had notified building management, which alerted the cleaning contractor. But according to the employees and their union representatives, no one had told the janitors.

“I felt as if I didn’t matter,” said Ms. Santamaria, who earns $22 an hour.

While many Americans are fleeing their offices to avoid any contact with the coronavirus, low-wage janitors are sometimes being asked to do the opposite. Although millions of Californians have been ordered to shelter in place, janitors are still being asked to go into offices to battle the invisible germs that threaten public health, even as those germs, and the new, powerful cleaning solutions they are being asked to use, may endanger their own health.

They often operate without specialized protective gear. And the increasing demand for their services is adding new stress and risks.

Janitors cleaning the Amazon headquarters in Seattle complained that a new disinfectant they were asked to use made their eyes and skin burn. In San Francisco, janitors said they have been asked to clean offices without having been told that people who had or were exposed to the virus had worked there.

Janitors wonder why they are left in the dark when companies go to great lengths to ensure that the tech, finance and other workers occupying the buildings they clean are aware of the most remote possibility of coming into contact with the virus. It shows, they say, how disparities play out in a public health crisis — how their lives sometimes seem to be valued less than those of people with resources and power.

“None of our families should be treated as second-class citizens,” Olga Miranda, the president of the Service Employees International Union Local 87, told the janitors at 555 California last week. She had gathered the largely immigrant work force in a plaza in front of the building and told them to walk off the job to protest the cleaning company’s failure to notify them about the coronavirus case.

“How are we supposed to know that the companies respect us when they’re not even telling us what’s going on in the building,” she said.

Ms. Miranda on Tuesday asked her members to start staying home, even though office buildings remained open. She said the union was concerned about exposing workers to health and public safety risks, including encounters with law enforcement officers enforcing the shelter-in-place order.

Able Services executives did not respond to multiple telephone calls and text messages. On its website, the company said, “We advocate for our employees’ health and safety, through consistent training and education, meetings, communications and encouraging involvement in the development and implementation of our health and safety program.”

A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo said that on March 5, the company told the landlord at 555 California that one of its employees was suspected of having the virus. Wells Fargo brought in a specialized cleaning company that night to clean the floor it occupied, the 23rd, and told its employees to work from home the following day. The employee tested positive on March 7, and Wells Fargo also relayed that information to the landlord, Vornado Realty Trust.

A spokeswoman for Vornado said the company notified Able Services of the potential infection on March 5, the same day it found out from Wells Fargo. That day, Able Services told the two janitors who usually clean the 23rd floor not to work there but offered no explanation, the janitors said in interviews. Able did not say anything to the rest of its janitors, according to the union president.

Although she did not work on the 23rd floor, Ms. Santamaria said all the janitors deserved to know if there was a coronavirus case in the building so they could take extra precautions. The job is already one that takes a toll on their health. Ms. Santamaria has leg and knee problems. The pain is sometimes so bad at night that she cannot sleep. The only safety equipment she wears to clean are gloves, she said.

“That’s really irresponsible if they know that there’s a case,” said Ms. Santamaria, who has worked as a janitor in the United States since fleeing the civil war in her native Nicaragua more than three decades ago.

San Francisco officials issued an order this month requiring the enhanced cleaning of homeless shelters and single-room-occupancy buildings. But in calling for the increased cleaning, officials also set safety standards for the workers who will be doing the cleaning.

City officials recently met with leaders of the janitors’ union to review guidelines that the public health authorities developed for protecting cleaners, said Jeff Cretan, a spokesman for Mayor London Breed of San Francisco. The information was also provided to building representatives, he said, and city leaders were working with both sides to ensure that janitors were properly trained and kept safe.

Building owners and cleaning companies across the city need “to be 100 percent transparent with their employees” about the conditions they are encountering, said Aaron Peskin of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

“If they’re not, they’re going to be morally or legally liable,” he said.

Rocio Sáenz, the executive vice president of the S.E.I.U., the largest union of janitors in North America with more than 160,000 cleaners in over 30 cities, said the union was calling for increased training and the wider availability of proper safety gear for janitors.

On March 10, about 10 janitors who clean Amazon’s Seattle headquarters as contractors were exposed to an unfamiliar cleaning solution that sent some spilling into the street coughing, said one of the janitors.

A similar incident had happened about a week earlier.

Ismaham Ali, 29, a shop steward at Amazon who has been cleaning the company’s offices for the past four years, said her crew was given an unfamiliar, high-powered disinfectant to use.

Until then, she said, they had been using mostly gentle green cleaning products. But on that day earlier this month, Ms. Ali said, “They just said, ‘Hey guys, corona’s scary, use this.’”

Another janitor who leads chemical safety trainings for janitors who work at Amazon said the new disinfectant was Virex II 256.

“They didn’t say be careful or anything,” Ms. Ali said. “They didn’t mention anything.” Ms. Ali said that within an hour of using the new cleaning compound, her face became hot and her eyes red. Her eyes and skin began to burn, she said, and she developed a rash on her face. She said that there was a sheet with safety instructions but that she did not understand them all.

The next day, she said, the crew was given additional training, along with eye protection.

An Amazon spokesperson confirmed that several janitors had been sickened earlier this month, but said there had been no further complaints. The company said that Virex II 256 had been used for more than a year at its Seattle offices, and that it had confirmed with its cleaning contractors that janitors had been provided with health and safety trainings for the enhanced cleaning procedures required by the coronavirus outbreak. It said it also confirmed that the cleaning materials had been mixed in compliance with federal safety guidelines.

“Safety is a top priority for Amazon, both with our own employees and the employees of our service providers, such as janitorial staff,” the Amazon spokesperson said in a statement.

Sales of Virex II 256 have increased exponentially in the past few days, said Peter Teska, the infection prevention application expert for Diversey, the South Carolina-based company that makes the solution. But training has to keep pace with the demand, he said.

“You have to be more careful,” Mr. Teska said. “The workers are probably also spending a bigger portion of their day doing cleaning activities.”

Elizabeth Carrion said she found it strange when her supervisor asked her to use a disinfectant she had never used before to reclean the 23rd floor at an office building on Sansome Street in San Francisco on a recent afternoon.

Ms. Carrion, 48, who asked that her middle name and married name be used for this article, already had cleaned the floor once that day, she said. The only explanation she was given for the second cleaning was something vague about taking extra precautions because of the coronavirus.

As she cleaned, her supervisor called again, and this time his voice sounded more urgent: Leave the floor immediately, he said. He refused to say why, Ms. Carrion said, and told her to wait in the break room. Her heart sank as she pieced together the possibilities in her head. Was there someone on the 23rd floor with the coronavirus, she wondered. Was she now infected?

A different supervisor later met her and several other janitors in the break room and told them that employees of Citigroup on the 23rd floor might have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus.

“I felt like a bolt, like a shock,” she said. “What I was processing was I already had it just by having been on that floor.”

It had not occurred to her that her chances of contracting the virus were actually very slim. She thought about her husband, who needs a kidney transplant and gets regular dialysis. She was terrified that if she got the virus, she would pass it on to him and devastate his already fragile health.

A spokesman for Citigroup said it informed the building management company, Barker Pacific Group, as soon as it learned of the potential exposure. It was unclear whether Barker Pacific relayed that information to Metro Services Group, the cleaning contractor that employs Ms. Carrion. Neither Barker Pacific nor Metro responded to requests for comment.

Ms. Carrion, who earns $17 an hour, said she would not have gone to clean the 23rd floor had she known about the possible exposure, especially because her only protective equipment was a pair of gloves.

It turned out that the Citigroup employees had not been exposed after all, and that there had been no real danger. It was a relief, but the situation was no less disheartening for Ms. Carrion, who emigrated from El Salvador five years ago to escape an abusive relationship. She said she had also come to the United States because it was a place where she felt everyone would get a fair chance to prosper. Now she has been questioning that.

“We should all be valued the same,” she said. “So who guarantees my safety?”

#Coronavirus #Janitors

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biofunmy · 5 years ago

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A Jimi Hendrix Experience in London

As the story goes, one fateful night in the late 1960s, Jimi Hendrix, best known for changing the music world with his guitar playing, set free two ring-necked parakeets on Carnaby Street and that’s why thousands of the nonnative birds haunt London’s parks to this day.

“Absolute rubbish,” Christian Lloyd, a musicologist at Queens University, said in an interview. “It’s the kind of thing people want to be true, but it’s just not true.”

Mr. Lloyd would know. His research, along with relics that Hendrix fans would drool over, like his broken Fender Stratocaster from a 1969 Royal Albert Hall performance, is on display at Handel & Hendrix in London, a residence-turned-museum dedicated to the two musical giants who once lived there: Hendrix and the German composer George Frideric Handel.

Parakeets may not be part of Hendrix’s legacy in London, but he nevertheless left his mark. The several months he spent there, spread throughout the final five years of his life, were pivotal in his meteoric rise. It was also where the nomadic performer found the closest thing to “a real home,” as he put it, and where his life was tragically cut short at the age of 27.

Along with surviving landmarks from his time in the city, London also retains enough of what appealed to him personally to make for a proper Jimi Hendrix experience, 50 years since the musician last called it home.

The concept of home was a complicated one for Johnny Allen Hendrix, born in Seattle in 1942. He was sent to live with his grandmother in Canada when he was 6 and his parents divorced two years later. His mother died of alcohol-related injuries when he was 15. After a year in California with the United States Army at age 18, he found his true calling in 1962 as a touring musician.

By the time he ended up New York in September 1966, performing in small cafes under the name “Jimmy James,” he had developed a “fugitive kind of mentality,” according to Mr. Lloyd.

This is where Chas Chandler, who had recently quit the Animals and wanted to begin a new career as a manager, was blown away by what he saw and asked Hendrix if he’d come with him to London.

On his first night in London, he met Kathy Etchingham, a former D.J. and a familiar face around the city’s thriving rock scene, and thus began what would be the most significant romantic relationship of his life. They would eventually move into an apartment owned by Ringo Starr at 34 Montagu Square in December 1966.

“During our first weeks together we did a little shopping and sightseeing and I introduced him to friends. Because we didn’t have much money we went everywhere on the Underground,” Ms. Etchingham wrote in her book “Through Gypsy Eyes.” Hendrix had never been outside of North America before, and like any other first-time visitor to London, he was drawn to attractions like Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament.

“It’s a different kind of atmosphere here. People are more mild-mannered. I like all the little streets and the boutiques. It’s like a kind of fairyland,” Hendrix would later say of London.

His flamboyant style, from his fashion sense and his approach to rock and blues, was a perfect match for mid-1960s London, as “everyone is starting to experiment: in fashion, in art, in lifestyles,” Mr. Lloyd said.

He accentuated his look with accessories from Portobello Road, which today claims to be the world’s largest antique market.

“I arrived here with just the suit I stood up in. I’m going back with the best wardrobe of gear that Carnaby Street can offer,” Hendrix said before his first stint in London ended.

Hendrix, all over London

His scope of the city expanded dramatically after forming the Jimi Hendrix Experience in October 1966 — with the bassist Noel Redding and the drummer Mitch Mitchell — as relentless performing led to all corners of London.

“He played Chislehurst Caves, which is literally a cave. God knows what the sound was like in there,” Mr. Lloyd said. Other bands that performed here include the Rolling Stones, the Who and the Yardbirds.

The caves in Kent, in Greater London, date back to the 13th century and have been used for various purposes, including the cultivation of mushrooms, a bomb shelter during World War II, and, for some reason, a music venue during the 1950s and 1960s. Today, you can take a guided tour for £7, or about $9.

The venues would get bigger following the U.K. release of the band’s first album, “Are You Experienced?,” in May 1967. It spent 33 weeks on the charts, reaching No. 2.

The album’s U.S. cover, now a staple of psychedelic rock era art, included a fish-eyed lens photograph of the band, taken by Karl Ferris in Kew Gardens. The gardens, in southwest London, claim to have the largest botanical collections in the world, and were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.

From there, the Tap on The Line pub is a short walk away, near the Kew Gardens tube station.

“After the session, to celebrate, we walked across the road to an ancient Elizabethan pub and downed many ales and smoked joints in the garden. It was a good thing that we had a chauffeur to drive us back to London,” Mr. Ferris said of the pub, which then was known as the Flower and Firkin.

Another pub for Hendrix fans is The Ship on Wardour Street, close to where the Marquee Club once was. It remains a popular music-business hangout. “He would walk in there and recognize it instantly,” Mr. Lloyd said of Hendrix, had he showed up there today.

By the time Hendrix returned to London in July 1968, he was a major star. Ms. Etchingham chose a flat for the couple at 23 Brook Street in exclusive Mayfair, where Hendrix would live for small bits of 1968 (in between touring), but mainly during first three months 1969. The apartment was next door to where the composer Handel had resided well over 200 years prior, at 25 Brook Street.

An unlikely pairing of giants

Today, both homes of the famed musicians are on display at Handel & Hendrix in London. The Hendrix portion opened in February 2016, the centerpiece being a restored version of the couple’s “bedsit,” made to look as it did in 1969. While technically a bedroom, it was the apartment’s main gathering place, where the couple partied with friends and Hendrix jammed with fellow musicians. He also hosted members of the media there for interviews.

“He sat on the bed, holding forth and rolling joints,” Mr. Lloyd said. “What rock star’s bedroom would you get into these days? You wouldn’t even get near the house.”

At first glance, the turquoise velvet curtains (originally purchased from John Lewis on nearby Oxford Street), red Persian rugs, Bohemian knickknacks and piles of vintage vinyl appear to be the actual artifacts, but almost all of the items in the room are replicas. Hendrix requested that most of his possessions be destroyed after the couple had separated for good later in 1969.

Thanks to Ms. Etchingham’s involvement and enough old photos to go by, replacement items were acquired through memorabilia auctions while others, like the pink-and-orange striped bedspread, were remade to match the originals.

“She was able to recollect an incredible amount of colors and textures that the black and white photographs couldn’t give us; gradually the room was restored back to its former glory,” Claire Davies, the museum’s deputy director, said in an interview. “She also had so many stories about Jimi’s brief moment of domesticity with her in the flat that helped to shape our narrative.”

Elsewhere in the exhibit, visitors can sift through a re-creation of Hendrix’s record collection, mainly a mix of blues (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf) and rock (the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Cream).

He did much of his record shopping at One Stop Records, known for its selection of American imports, across the road from his flat on South Molton Street. It’s no longer there, but Mr. Lloyd recommended Sounds of the Universe in Soho for a record shop that would fit Hendrix’s tastes.

The rock scene in Mayfair

Upscale Mayfair may have seemed like an odd area for a counterculture rock star to live, but it drew many industry types, located close to several clubs and studios. Venues that still exist include The Court (formerly Bag O’Nails) and The Scotch of St. James on Mason’s Yard, where Hendrix and others of London’s rock elite performed and socialized, including members of the Beatles and the Who. While The Court is for members only, the blue plaque commemorating Hendrix’s first performance there outside the building can be viewed by anyone.

When it came to food, Mr. Love, a restaurant located on the ground floor of the apartment building, was the go-to, with steak and chips a recurring order. Hendrix was not particularly fond of traditional English food.

“See, English food, it’s difficult to explain. You get mashed potatoes with just about everything, and I ain’t gonna say anything good about that,” Hendrix told Melody Maker.

While Mr. Love is long gone, Hendrix also went for burgers at Wimpy Burger, a chain that originated in the U.S. in 1934 but became somewhat of an institution in the United Kingdom (depending on your tastes).

“It’s like an English person’s idea of what a burger is,” Mr. Lloyd said of Wimpy, which still has a few London locations. “If people really want to get a sense of what London was like then in terms of food, that is probably the best place to go.”

Ultimately, Hendrix’s time in Mayfair was short but significant.

“When you think of how short his adult life was, it’s actually a fairly significant chunk. It’s also the part where it all starts going wrong for him in some ways,” Mr. Lloyd said.

Hendrix’s career brought him back to the United States in March 1969. Ms. Etchingham joined him briefly, but Hendrix wouldn’t commit to moving back to London, so the couple split in April.

Shortly after, the Experience broke up as well, and while Hendrix continued performing, he never would put out another official studio album. His final major performance in England was in August 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival, and on Sept. 18 he was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in Room 507 of London’s Samarkand Hotel on Lansdowne Crescent.

While something may have kept bringing him back to London, there’s no telling if a roamer like Hendrix would have ever truly laid roots down, had he lived longer.

“I’m scared of vegetating.” Hendrix said. “I have to move on. I dig Britain, but I haven’t really got a home anywhere. The Earth’s my home.”

52 PLACES AND MUCH, MUCH MORE Discover more Travel coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our Travel Dispatch newsletter: Each week you’ll receive tips on traveling smarter, stories on hot destinations and access to photos from all over the world.

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avaliveradio · 6 years ago

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Rock Mania Rises Again Music Playlist

TODAY'S LIST OF ROCK AND METAL FRESH OUT OF THE STUDIO. EPISODE HOSTED BY JACQUELINE JAX.

Listen to the show : Starts Monday January 31 at 2 pm et on all broadcasting outlets including:

The Anchor Fm page: https://anchor.fm/ava-live-radio

iHeartRadio station page : https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-AVA-Live-Radio-Musi-29336730

The Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2toX0f3dPmI8gmUSOKZicx

Artist: Jac Dalton

New Release: I CAN ALMOST TASTE THE RAIN

Genre: ROCK (with Country colorings)

Located in: : Adelaide, South Australia

This song is... My roots and wings stem from a family dynamic best summed up this way: whenever we camped, none of us were allowed to pack the car to go home until our own campsite was spotless and those on either side. Music to me has never been about applause and recognition, but instead embracing the opportunity to leave audiences a little bit better for the time shared on both sides of the stage. Those same sentiments translate presently into a project not merely for stage, but in consideration of the needs of an entire Nation. My chosen home of Australia is presently in the throes of the worst drought in over a century, and while there are far worst things happening to good people across the globe, sometimes we must step up and do the right thing where we’re able for no other reason than because it needs to be done.

My Band and I have just launched a drought aid program called ‘SA-NDI’ (South Australian Nip-the-Drought Initiative) a collective initiative rallying around a country/rock anthem we’ve produced called ‘I Can Almost Taste The Rain’. With Australia’s populace of 25 million and the World’s population tipping 6 billion travellers – if enough of us were to download the song through its portal (www.sa-ndi.com.au) for even a $1 donation – the result would amount to a tremendous impact providing water, hay, fuel, food to families who in turn grow food for a significant segment of one Mother Earth. One hundred percent (100%) of donations go to righteous charitable organizations like Aussie Helpers, Buy-A-Bail, Drought Angels towards the worthwhile causes they oversee in devastated areas. But the SA-NDI mission doesn’t stop there. We are also determined to perform ‘I Can Almost Taste The Rain’ for a session of Parliament in the New Year as a heart-touching apolitical reminder that we are all one heart, one land – be it a challenged region, continent or planet. The support and visibility we can generate via the internet and social media adds weight with which to tip the scales. Change and progress can and do occur with the shared resolve of good people committed to make it happen. It just needs to be put out there far and wide for enough hearts to be touched.

Right now we are... Earlier this year we were the Cinderella act at the largest AOR Melodic Rock Festival in the UK (HRH – Hard Rock Hell). The success of that event and the respectable crowds we drew afterwards while playing at heritage concert venues pushed us across the threshold into the ‘A’ List of the EU market. Our return to Oz was supposed to be a quick turnaround for a series of North American festivals, however, as is the nature of ‘rock and roll’, life stepped-in the week we returned and pulled the band apart like Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man.

LINKS: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/album/i-can-almost-taste-the-rain-single/1431857831 Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/1JC6hEcEYhNd09zKDCgLhw Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/jacdalton/i-can-almost-taste-the-rain-2018 Twitter: www.twitter.com/jacdalton FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/JacDaltonBand Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jac.dalton

Artist: No Name Blues

New Release: Tick Tock

Genre: Rock, Blues, Hip Hop, Metal

Located in: : Nashville, TN

Our exodus from the cubicle dayjob lifestyle into the freedom of Rock n Roll. Trippy, dark, sexy, a little heavy with an assortment of flashy instrumental solos all around the band. Rock music made for the club.

The music we are creating is... This song represents the transition out of our ordinary people lives into our future career of rock musicians, right around the corner. This is our celebration.

Right now we are... Working on knocking out the other 3 episodes to move into the next production. We have 4 albums ready to produce and a ton of wonderful things happening on the side. Currently we are focused on exploding out of Nashville and into the rest of the globe!

LINKS: https://youtu.be/pfGJgtstHhE https://open.spotify.com/track/3m82AjcB02yiMa68xVGldx?si=1l1CG0JZ Twitter: @NoNameBluesTwit Facebook.com/NoNameBluesMusic Instagram: @NoNameBluesMusic

Band: John E Wilde - Guitars/Vocals Dan - Bass Andy K - Drums

Song name: ‘Rock and Roll Junkie’ Music Genre:: Rock

I live in... Tampa, FL

My music is... Our music is about life, fun and the continuous party that we forget life is. We all need to let loose!! Not being too serious or having any message. It is about being a Rebel doing your own thing and not having to stay in the majority. I think we are all a little off center. Get over yourself. With all we having going on we forget about US. Always move forward and improve and don't forget a beer or margarita is only inches away.

This song is about... Rock and Roll Junkie is about day dreaming and thinking about how BST got here. Being a kid and having a fantasy of playing in front of huge crowds. What it is like to be a rock star. BST's version of Johnny B Good, sort of.

Website & social media links: www.blindsidethunder.com www.facebook.com/BlindSideThunderOfficial twitter.com/@BlindsideT

Artist: Ivan Beecroft

New Release: INEQUALITY

Genre: Rock, 90's rock, retrorock

Located in: Melbourne, Australia

This song is about the ever widening gap between the haves and have nots that we are experiencing. It was inspired and written after volunteer work that I was doing serving food to the homeless in a soup kitchen in Croydon located in the south east of Melbourne.

Having suffered through a period of homelessness and watching a longtime friend recently go through a similar experience with homelessness and all the complications that come with it motivated me to express the feelings of mental anguish and helplessness associated with being homeless.

The music we are creating is... very much a reconnection to the reason why I was inspired to do it in the first place, it's really just a kind of let's get back to the basics mindset and write and play the sort of music that would shake the window panes off the local pub, it definitely does have a very primitive aspect to it all.

Right now we are... Still working on songs for my next album and have had to re-record most of the songs on an analogue desk to get the type of punchy guitar rock sound I was looking for, so hopefully that will be ready early to mid 2019

LINKS: https://m.facebook.com/Ivanbeecroftmusic https://twitter.com/beecroft_ivan https://instagram.com/_u/ivanbeecroft?r=sun1 @ivanbeecroft https://youtu.be/hoK4CX3k5Mo https://soundcloud.com/grapesofwrath-720450260/inequality

Artist: PUBLIKA New Release: Falling

Genre: pop-rock

Located in: : London, UK

This song is.. electro-pop song, the result of a new wave of 80's and expressed in the electro sound of the current influences. this song can take you to the state of spirit that was originally felt when it was composed.

The music we are creating is.. All my music background it's opened through this song

Right now we are.. Right now we have discovered new age, new sounds and we tried to stay original but new. We hope that next album, that will be released very soon, to be more fit to our inside feelings.

LINKS: https://youtu.be/GVREZWeTsks https://twitter.com/publika_music instagram.com/publikaband https://twitter.com/publika_music/status/1063854191188295680?s=21

Artist: Black Rose Reception New Release: House of the rising sun Genre: hard rock

Located in: Covington,IN. US

This song is... New breed of outlaw rock n roll.

The music we are creating is... We orchestrated this song with our own unique sound and style.

Right now we are...New tracks to be released in 2019.

LINKS: https://www.reverbnation.com/blackrosereception/song/29174528-house-of-the-rising-sun https://twitter.com/blackroserecept https://www.facebook.com/BlackRoseReceptionMusic https://www.instagram.com/blackrosereceptio http://store.cdbaby.com/cd/blackrosereception4 https://open.spotify.com/artist/58nTAqgZXO7kvkhJRGlGbH https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/1434351929

Artist: PyraKite

New Release: Patagonian Hills

Genre: Rock, singersongwriter, alternative rock

Located in: : Falun, Dalarna

This song is... the first one of the album 7 Steps. It’s about a journey I made through South America with a icluded trip to Antarctica and the Easter Islands. The feeling I wanted to catch was that of a photo collage, random pictures, feelings and thought passing by the observer. It’s a mellow, moody, mystical start off of the album I think.

The music we are creating is... This is the last single of the our journey and it connects back to the very start as it is the first song of the album.   PyraKite gives you a poetic and mystical journey through the classic rock and pop genre. Some may say PyraKite has a unique uplifting and fresh sound.   7 Steps is a concept album, which means that it's best experienced from start 'til end. The story of 7 steps (with it's 7 tracks) has got just as many layers to it as you wish. The journey starts in Antarctica and ends up in space. The music has a happy melodramatic vibe to it and has been compared to the sound of Pink Floyd, Prefab Sprout, The Beatles and Steely Dan mixed with a bit of grunge and poetic touch to it. You might also find a bit of Ben Folds Five, Paul Simon or Rival Sons in there.   Hopefully the journey will be both mine and yours

Right now we are... We’re about to sum up our year of 2018. A great first year and our debut 7 Steps. We’re looking out to see if we can reach our goal of 100 000 Spotify streams by the end of the year. Hopefully we’ll get there!

LINKS: https://open.spotify.com/track/6F4QH0fleckFCV1MWwGlqL?si=GQ2PHvBnRISBmnLiBBk2_A

Website & social media links: www.pyrakite.com www.facebook.com/pyrakite www.instagram.com/pyrakite www.twitter.com/pyrakite

Artist: A Day Amongst Martyrs

New Release: Shadows

Genre: Alternative rock

Located in: Suffolk county ny

This song is... Called Shadows its about looking deep within ones self and comming to terms with accepting failure and mistakes in life and turning them into something beautiful

The music we are creating is... Everyone is a martyr to their own convictions wether love money anger fear doubt these are all things that make us human and unique so this is why we tell these stories to engage the audience and let them know someone understands and is going thru the same thing

Right now we are... We are on the verge of a new album called Forever in Three Days

LINKS: Www.reverbnation.com/adayamongstmartyrs Www.instagram.com/adayamongstmartyrs Www.facebook.com/adayamongstmartyrs Www.twitter.com/adayamongstmartyrs

Artist: Atomic Kavemen New Release: Shining Genre: Metal

Located in: : SF Bay Area

This song is... It's like a brawl between Faith No More and Black Sabbath, with Danzig goading them on

The music we are creating is... This is both our first song, and it's present form, our newest. Its the kind of track that crosses over between hard rock and heavy metal.

Right now we are.. Rehearsing and writing new songs like crazy. We expect to start playing bay area venues in April.

LINKS: https://www.reverbnation.com/atomickavemen https://open.spotify.com/track/7qqW5BRdP5d4JZh6WC1r5i https://twitter.com/atomickavemen https://www.facebook.com/atomickavemen

Artist: VOVKULAKA

New Release: Darkness Calling

Genre: Metal

Located in: Odessa, Ukraine

This song is... A grinding dose of groove Metal with throbbing Dubstep passages.

The music we are creating is... Dark, Angry, Evil Metal...

Right now we are...Releasing new Singles, working on our CD, and plotting our Live Shows.

LINKS: Twitter.com/VovkulakaMusic YouTube.com/VovkulakMusic Facebook.com/VovkulakaFanPage

Artist: Thomas Thunder

New Release: The Bull

Genre: Progressive Rock

Located in: : Boston, Ma

The Bull is a Progressive Rock and Metal song that incorporates a variety of instrumentation. Guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, synth strings, brass and woodwinds. Combining traditional "rock" instruments with classical symphonic instruments is truly an auditory treat. This song is a continuation of my love for Progressive Rock. The driving beat reminds me of a bull running through a china shop. On a personal note, my family owns a French Bulldog, and she "bulldozes" into a room, jumping on furniture and knocking over pillows and everything else in her way. I was inspired to write this song because of her. This song is "Cupcake the French Bulldog's" anthem.

Right now we are... I'm happy about working on a live video of my song Night Terrors. I'm working on a Youtube channel to promote my songs and drumming videos, too. I'm also writing a few new songs.

LINKS: https://www.instagram.com/thomasthunder11 https://twitter.com/ThomasThunder10 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiKv0UfB9-Sh6rtaMKIGDRQ

Artist: Kid Norkjen

New Release: Red light Green light

Genre: singer-songwriter-rock

Located in: Trondheim, Norway

The new Kid Norkjen single is recorded in Nashville with great session players (The A team). Musically inspired by George Harrison and the Traveling Wilburys, the lyric ask the difficult question what is red light and what is green light in a a relation.

The music we are creating is... A new album is coming up in February 2019 and this is the single that hopefully will make some interest for the album.

Right now we are... The new album recorded in Nashville will be my best

LINKS: spotify:album:4pj9GoOquKpnkTvgUYS0Q2 https://www.facebook.com/kid.norkjen https://twitter.com/NorvaldKjenstad https://www.instagram.com/norkjen

Artist: 4-Fo-Rela New Release: Rela Demic Genre: Electronica, Rock

Located in: Wood River, Illinois

This song is... DJ Co1 recording producer & Disc Jockey for 4-Fo-Rela has released "RelaDemic".. "RelaDemic is a modern day electronic track from the heart of the Midwest. With hard drum n bass and amazing ambient sounds RelaDemic will satisfy any listeners need for new electronic sound. "RelaDemic" is a powerfull push back into the music scene for DJ Co1 and he plans to entertain the masses in 2019.

The music we are creating is... The Music created is cutting edge, new tech & just simply powerful.

Right now we are... Super excited our new Rela Radio Show on Monday Nights. Putting Independent music into listeners ears.

LINKS: https://www.reverbnation.com/4forelainc http://www.facebook.com/4forelainc http://www.4forela.com

#Jac Dalton #rock music #No Name Blues #hip hop #Ivan Beecroft #PUBLIKA #Black Rose Reception #PyraKite #A Day Amongst Martyrs #Atomic Kavemen #VOVKULAKA #Thomas Thunder #Kid Norkjen #4-Fo-Rela

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weekendwarriorblog · 6 years ago

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND October 26, 2018 - HUNTER KILLER, INDIVISIBLE, JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN

A very impressive October is going to fizzle out this weekend with three weaker offerings that will allow Universal’s Halloween to dominate the box office for a second weekend in a row, even though Halloween proper isn’t until next Wednesday. (Honestly, the release of the video game sequel Red Dead Redemption II Friday might keep many guys at home in front of their consoles this weekend.)

HUNTER KILLER (Summit/Lionsgate)

The widest and most prominent new movie of the weekend is a submarine action-thriller starring Gerard Butler and recent Oscar-winner Gary Oldman, being released into roughly 2,600 theaters by Lionsgate subdivision Summit Entertainment. It deals with a submarine captain who works with a Navy SEAL team to try to rescue the Russian President from a Russian general who has staged a coup.

Butler has been out and about doing promotion for this movie directed by Donovan Marsh (director of something called Spud), but he’s already had a good year, coming off the surprise crime-thriller hit Den of Thieves earlier this year, which grossed $45 million. Butler’s previous movie Geostorm was a catastrophic bomb, at least in North America where it grossed $33 million on a $120 million budget. (It did better overseas.) The previous year, Butler had a similar mix of hits (the sequel London Has Fallen) and over-priced CG bombs (Gods of Egypt), but he’s still maintaining some of the box office pull he first found with Zack Snyder’s action 300in 2007.

Butler does get a boost among older moviegoers with the presence of Gary Oldman, who finally won an Oscar playing Winston Churchill in last year’s Darkest Hour, which grossed $56 million. In 2017, Oldman benefitted from appearing in the Samuel Jackson-Ryan Reynolds action-comedy The Hitman’s Bodyguard, which grossed $75 million on the tail-end of summer. Even so, Oldman has had a spotty track record at the box office with hits like Dawn of the Planet of the Apesand Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight movies countered with bombs like Child 44 and Criminal. The movie also stars Billy Bob Thornton, Willem Dafoe, Linda Cardellini, as well as Common, who is making his fifth movie appearance in the last month!

Although there have been many submarine movies over the years including the Oscar-nominated German film Das Boot in the early ‘80s, the two biggest submarine films were the Jack Ryan film The Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, in 1990, and Denzel Washington’s Crimson Tide in 1995, the latter written by Quentin Tarantino. Those grossed $122 and $91.4 million respectively, and 2000’s U-571 also performed respectively with $77 million. Two years later, K-19: The Widowmaker with Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson ended up with about half that amount, and few submarine films have done well since with 2013’s Phantom and 2015’s Black Sea, each barely cracking a million.

One presumes that even with the success Butler has had with some of his recent ventures, particularly the “Fallen franchise” (or whatever you wanna call it), it might be harder to bring out all of his mostly male fans with a submarine movie. It just seems like this is coming out too soon after Halloween and other stronger releases that might keep this from making more than $10 million over the weekend.

INDIVISIBLE (Pure Flix)

The next widest release of the weekend is yet another faith-based film, the new one from David G. Evans, who previously directed The Grace Card, which made $2.4 million after being released into 352 theaters by Samuel L. Goldwyn in 2011.

This is a biopic about Army Chaplain Darren Turner, as played by Justin Bruening from Grey’s Anatomy, and his wife Heather (Sarah Drew), who try to save their marriage after he get back from war with PTSD. It seems like a fairly typical faith-based film, and it’s the fifth film from PureFlix this year, the previous four grossing between $4.7 and $6.2 million. That’s a far cry from the some of the bigger Christian hits like 2008’s Fireproof or 2011’s Courageous, both which grossed in the $33 to 34 million range. It’s also nowhere even close to the $83.5 million grossed by I Can Only Imagine, which is by far, the biggest Christian hit of the year.

The lack of success of many recent faith-based films, including Unbroken: Path to Redemption (that $6.2 million PureFlix release) and God Bless the Broken Road, which made half that amount, makes it seem like there just isn’t interest in a Christian movie not based on a well-known book or song.

Indivisible is being released into around 1,000 theaters, which means it probably will end up opening in the same $2 to 3 million range as some of the other releases mentioned, which might be a push to get it into the bottom of the top 10.

JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN (Focus Features)

A movie that normally would have gotten a straight-to-video release in the early ‘00s is just barely getting a theatrical release into 500 theaters, and that’s Rowan Atkinson’s third outing as the bumbling British spy Johnny English, who this time takes on the threat of a cyber-attack.

Atkinson created the character in 2003 for the movie Johnny English, which grossed $28 million domestic after a $9.1 million opening, but the movie grossed $132 million overseas including $31.1 million in the United Kingdom, where Atkinson is quite famous for his show Blackadder and comic character Mr. Bean.

The 2011 sequel Johnny English Reborn might have done better if it was released soon enough to capitalize on the success of the first movie, but in fact, it did even better overseas with $151 million ($33 million of that from the UK) compared to the mere $8.3 million in North America.

Obviously, Universal Pictures wasn’t going to spend a lot of money to promote a third movie in the States, considering how poorly the previous movie did. Instead, they dumped it to its little brother Focus Features, who are wisely only releasing it into 500 theaters this weekend with the smallest amount of promotion.

The movie also stars Olga Kuryenko, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon, Charles Dance and James Lacy, which is a decent enough cast to bring in some Anglophile parents with their kids, but it’s hard to imagine this can make more than $2 million, which will probably place it outside the Top 10.

With most of the returning movies remaining dominant, there aren’t many questions to ask: Whether Gerard Butler’s Hunter Killer does better than I projected, and whether Fox’s The Hate U Give will capitalize on the word-of-mouth from its impressive A+ CinemaScore to maybe overtake First Man or even Goosebumps in their respective third weekends. Regardless, this week’s Top 10 should look something like this…

1. Halloween (Universal) - $35 million -54% 2. A Star is Born (Warner Bros.) - $13.5 million -30% 3. Venom (Sony) - $9.1 million -50% 4. Hunter Killer (Lionsgate/Summit) - $8.4 million N/A 5. Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween (Sony) - $6.1 million -37% 6. First Man (Universal) – $5.1 million -40% 7. The Hate U Give (20thCentury Fox) - $5 million -35% 8. Smallfoot (Warner Bros.) - $4.2 million -35% 9.Night School (Universal) - $3 million - 10. Indivisible (Pure Flix) - $2.8 million -40% -- Johnny English Strikes Again(Focus Features) - $1.8 million N/A

LIMITED RELEASES

The big limited release this weekend is Luca Guadagnino’s long-awaited remake of Dario Argento’s SUSPIRIA (Amazon), which will open in New York and L.A. Friday. It stars Dakota Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) as Susie Bannion, a young woman from a Memonite background who comes to Berlin in 1977 to study at a prestigious dance school with the legendary Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), but she soon finds out that there’s more to the all-women school than she thinks – in fact, it’s a witch’s coven. At the same time, psychiatrist Dr. Josef Klemperer (also played by Swinton!!) is trying to learn the truth about the school after one of his patients – a dancer at the school -- vanishes. Featuring an all-female cast that includes Chloe Grace Moretz, Mia Goth and Sylvie Testud, this is an amazing film that’s mostly a tense drama for the first 45 minutes, but then quickly turns into a suitably gory thrill-ride that gets completely insane in the last act. At the same time, it’s an interesting look at a historical period of time that overlays with the story going on at the dance school.

Also quite good is BURNING (Well Go USA), South Korea’s Oscar entry and the new movie from Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine). It stars Ah-In Yoo as Jong-su Lee, an assuming young man who hooks up with a girl from his old village, but when she returns from a trip to Africa, she’s a dashing and rich man, played by Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead), who Jong-su immediately suspects of hiding something. You can read what I wrote about the movie in my New York Film Festival coveragea few weeks back.

Sweden’s Oscar entry is Ali Abbasi’s BORDER (Neon), a strange fairy tale romance about a Swedish border guard named Tina (Eva Melender), whose chromosome defect makes her look different from others. Even so, she has the ability to sniff out anyone trying to smuggle anything across the border, which proves useful for a job. When Tina meets a “man” a lot like her, the two fall into a romance, which distracts Tina from a job finding a pedophile ring. Adapted by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Let the Right One In) from his short story Gräns, it’s a truly original film at a time when we’re not getting very original movies, and it’s a strange concept that grows on you as it veers further into the fantasy realm. To say more about the Cannes award winner and some of its plot twists would be doing it a disservice, so just check out the trailer.

Stephen Dorff and Melissa George star in David Gleeson’s psychological thriller DON’T GO (IFC Films) as a couple dealing with their young daughter’s death by moving to a seaside village where their life is disrupted as the girl begins appearing to him in a dream.

Billy Bob Thornton stars in the long-delayed adaptation of Martin Amis’ 1989 noir novel LONDON FIELDS (GVN Releasing) directed by Matthew Cullen. Set in 1999, Thornton plays novelist Samson Young, whose life starts coming apart when he meets Amber Heard’s manipulative Nicola Six, who becomes Samson’s muse to break him out of writer’s block. Also starring Johnny Depp – in one of the most ridiculous performances of his career—Jim Sturgess, Cara Delevigne and Jamie Alexander, this movie was pulled from the Toronto Film Festival a few years back and has been entangled in legal battles. Having seen it, I can tell you that it’s a very, very bad movie.

Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon plays an ER nurse whose journalist son (Matt Bomer) has been kidnapped in Syria in Maryam Keshavarz’s VIPER CLUB (YouTube Originals/Roadside Attraction), which opens in New York and L.A. this weekend and then expands to more cities next week.

Latin-American filmmaker Lorena Villareal’s SILENCIO (Tulip Pictures) is a sci-fi drama starring John Noble, Rupert Graves and Melina Matthews, the latter playing Ana, who must find a stone discovered by her grandfather in the Zone of Silence, the Bermuda Triangle of Mexico, which has enough interest from others who want the stone’s power for themselves.

Now playing at the Film Forum is Life and Nothing More from Spanish filmmaker Antonio Mendez Esparza, starring Regina Williams as the mother of a 14-year-old son Andrew, whose life has been spiraling downwards and it gets worse when her son is confronted by a white couple. The film won the John Cassavetes Award for a film under $500,000 at the 2018 Film Independent Spirit Awards earlier this year.

Would you believe that I have yet to see a movie directed by Frederick Wiseman despite being a huge documentary fan? The master documentarian’s new movie Monrovia, Indiana (Zipporah Films) will open at the Film Forumon Friday, as well as in L.A. on Nov. 2 and other cities to follow. I haven’t seen it, but I assume it’s about a town in Indiana.

Sanjay Rawal’s doc 3100: Run and Become (Spartan), opening in New York Friday and in L.A. on Nov. 9, follows a Finnish paperboy and an Austrian cellist who attempt to complete the New York-based Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race over the course of 52 days .

STREAMING

Sandi Tan’s doc SHIRKERS (Netflix) is about how in 1992 she tried to make an independent serial killer film called “Shirkers” in Singapore until the footage was stolen, and it certainly looks intriguing. (It’s also getting a one-week release at Metrographif you want to see it on the big screen.) Also, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, based on the teenage witch featured in Archie Comics, will stream its first season starting Friday.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Just in time for Halloween, the theater will be one of a couple that will be showing a restoration of John Carpenter’s 1980 horror film The Fog, starring Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis. (I wonder what happened to her?) Thursday, the theater presents Paul Auster X2, showing two movies by author Paul Auster: Lulu on the Bridge (1998) and The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007), both on 35mm with Auster in attendance. This weekend’s Playtime: Family Matinee is one of my all-time favorites Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)—who knows? I might even go see it again.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

Starting Friday is a restoration of Luchino Visconti’s 1954 film Senso (Rialto Pictures) with new subtitles that incorporates dialogue by Tennessee Williams and Paul Bowles written for the English adaptation The Wanton Contessa. It’s set during the 1866 battle of Custoza between Austria and Italy, after which Contessa Alida Valli decides to betray her own country’s cause in favor of a relationship with an Austrian deserter.Probably not my kind of thing, but perfect for the Film Forum crowd.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Just in time for Halloween, the Egyptian will show the restoration of Bill Gunn’s Ganja and Hess (1973; Kino Lorber), starring Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead), which Spike Lee remade a few years back. A discussion will follow the screening on Monday night.

AERO (LA):

The theater’s Halloween horror series includes double features of The Abominable Dr. Phibes with The Devil’s Rain on Friday night, Frankenstein with Bride of Frankenstein on Sunday night, and an All-night Horrorthon on Saturday night, which includes such “classics” like Jason X,Maximum Overdrive, Zombie 3, a 25th anniversary screening of Body Melt and more.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

I missed last week’s horror series but this week is A Woman’s Bite: Sapphic Vampires, an amazing series of vampire lesbians including Tony Scott’s The Hunger (1983), Dracula’s Daughter (1936), the Spanish-German film Vampyros Lesbos (1971) and many other rare offerings.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

This week’s Weekend Classics: Coen Brothers offering is one of my favorites, 1990’s Miller’s Crossing, showing Friday though Sunday at 11AM. Also The Water Margin (1972) is shown as part of the Shaw Brothers Spectacularsseries. Maybe even more importantly, the theater will kick-off a week-long Directed by Orson Welles series that will lead directly into the release of the long-incomplete The Other Side of the Wind, which will show at the IFC Center along with Morgan Neville’s doc They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead. It will include 35mm prints of Chimes at Midnight, Mr. Arkadin and F for Fake.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This will also be showing the 4k restoration of John Carpenter’s The Fog.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: Vincent Pricecontinues with Roger Corman’s The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) on Thursday afternoon, Return of the Fly (1959) on Friday afternoon and House of Wax (1953) on Halloween afternoon. The Museum of Modern Art also kicks off a new series called Catalan Cinemas Radical Years: 1968 – 1978 for the more experimental as filmmakers used their craft to rebel against Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco’s last years in power.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

This weekend sees the self-explanatory series Beyond Halloween: Five Horror Films by John Carpenter, which will screen The Thing, Christine, Prince of Darkness, Body Bags and In the Mouth of Madness. Just in time for the movie’s 25thAnniversary, the theater’s Family Program will screen Hocus Pocus on Saturday afternoon.

That’s it for this week, but next week, the holiday movie season kicks off with Bohemian Rhapsody, Disney’s Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Tyler Perry’s Nobody’s Fool starring Tiffany Haddish.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend TheWEekendWarrior Movies HunterKiller Reviews BoxOffice JohnnyEnglish Burning Suspiria Burning

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fs0wa-blog · 6 years ago

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Major Project Proposal 2.0

IDEAS:What are the key areas of interest for your portfolio?

My key areas of interest are acoustic and linguistic preservation these are ideas which I aim to encompass within a number of individual projects which would form a coherently themed portfolio.

Some general sketches of ideas that I stem my thought process’ from include:

Sense of space

Postcolonialism

Sound culture, its celebration and preservation

Acoustic documenting/archaeology

Presence in displaced sound

Sonically I am intrigued by language and the specific acoustic soundscape that specific languages are integral to (this may include bird calls of a particular lebensraum, German term for the territory required for the natural development of a group/state/nation.)

OBJECTIVES:Why are you interested in these areas?

I am interested in language through the lens of colonialism/postcolonialism. The idea and relationship between the pre-colonial language and the environment are interesting ideas to me, how colonialism has shifted this relationship and the efforts which are undertaken to maintain these relationships are also interesting ideas.

APPROACH:How do you imagine you are going explore these ideas? Please list the types of practise-based research that you will be using.

I plan to explore these ideas though conducting a series of recordings in and around Chile, Bolivia & Peru. I will also try to engage with the Latin American diaspora based in South London and try to gain some insight into the relationship between the urban soundscape in comparison to the Central and South American soundscape. I will try to uncover the whether any intrinsic elements of language x has made the process of adaption simpler/more complicated.

TECHNIQUES:What techniques will suit your ideas best? Do you have the technical skills already? What skills will you need to learn?

I will have to utilize the appropriate techniques and perspectives needed to conduct phonographic/soundscape recordings. These include selecting when and where to record. How to record (mono/stereo). My relationship to the environment must be considered ie to what extent is my decision of recording in this exact location an example of playing the role of ‘editor’.

I already have the technical skills to conduct such recordings however I may, In the case of conducting interviews, I may need to revise these skills. If I am to use Spanish as a way to gather meaning from conducting interviews/recordings of Indigenous language speakers, than I must revise these skills.

RESEARCH:What research do you need to do in order to undertake and complete this project portfolio? Please identify and list 10 ‘sources’ that are likely to be useful to your research into the concepts and ideas behind the proposed work – including the key books/texts that will be central to your research. Add short explanations of how these different sources will inform your work:

· Gloria Bird, joy Harjo - Reinventing the Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North America

First hand literary works from a range of native American women about the nature of being native, in depth accounts of usage of/appropriating native language as means of combating European political/cultural hegemony in the western hemisphere.

· Ben Kelly – Los Bosquesinos

An inter-cultural collaboration with the indigenous Wampis community in Peru: exploring the evocative aural terrain of the rainforest and the traditional songs of the Wampis.

· John Wynne – Anspayaxw

A large-scale installation based on speakers of Gitxsanimaax, an endangered indigenous language in northern British Columbia, Canada

· Luis E. Carcamo-Huechante – Indigenous Interference Mapuche Use of Radio in Times of Acoustic Colonialism

Journal essay about the use of Radio as means of Mapuche cultural preservation.

· Bruce Chatwin – The Songlines

Travel writing focused on exploring Aboriginal Australians’ relationship to the physical/spiritual environment through ‘songlines’.

· W.D. Hudson – Mansiones Verdes

Fictional story focusing on the relationship between an Amerindian family and their landscape. Includes lengthily descriptions of the Amerindians relationship to the audible environment.

· Luis Sepulveda – Un Viejo que leía libros de amor

Writing about the relationship between loggers and the destruction of sacred lands. Form perspective of an assimilated tribesman of Hispanic origin.

· Brandon LaBelle – Sonic Agency

Theorises the ways in which sound can be used as agent for decentralization.

Anticipated outcomes - what will we hear/see/experience at the end?

For example ‘an interactive audio installation exploring ideas of voice and memory’. Please give as much detail as you can.

I expect to create an audio installation which may or may not include visual/video elements which will explore the idea of Indigenous Amerindian identity. I expect people will hear multi-channel playback of soundscape and excerpts of language native to the areas that I plan to record in. I would also like to create a dialogue with the Amerindian community in London and have an opportunity to expose my recordings to them. I would hope this would stir some sort of response which I could use further to deepen the ethic of the prosed work.

How do your proposed projects relate to and build on your previous work?

My previous work has concerned ideas surrounding the natural landscape of South America. One particular work in the form of data sonification of seismic activity. Past writings have focused on the relationship between European influence and dominance in post-colonial platforms.

How do your proposed projects relate to the work of other artists? Describe the relationships as you understand them.

My proposed work will draw from Ben Kelly’s Los Bosquesinosand John Wynne’s Anspayaxw.I hope to see my work being understandable from multiple domains. I hope for there to be an anthropological weight to the work so as to allow the to bework to stand up as a sound art work and a study into anthology and linguistics in their own rights.

Los bosquesinos relays the multiple sonic elements intrinsic to the Wampi territory: them being the natural soundscape, traditional musical instrumentation and the scared female songs of the Wampi community into an hour long imporivsed composition.

Anspayaxwsimilarly documents the relationship that native speakers of Gitxsanimaax have with the dying out language.In his work, Wynne also presents interviews and excerpts of songs both performed in both Gitxsanimaax and English over the interchanging soundscape of Kispiox, British Colombia, Canada.

I visualize my work to involve the 2 elements at play in both these examples: the native language and soundscape.

What College facilities do you require in order to undertake and complete this project?. I will eventually require the M109 Compositional Studio in order to experiment with multi-channel audio dispersion. But a large segment of this work I suppose will be doable in a home studio.

What other facilities do you require in order to undertake and complete this project? N/A

Collaborators and their roles. Are you planning to collaborate with anyone? What role will they play in you work? I hope to collaborate with Amerindian people during the ‘field study’ section which would take the form of interviews and discussions. I would work independently collecting recordings of soundscapes then to work independently in London to assort through the recorded material. And finally to collaborate with the Latin American community of London by creating a dialogue/platform within which to discuss the nature of the sound culture intrinsic to those recorded locations.

Project schedule (please add information/dates about key stages of the works):

OCTOBER

Research Phase: Familiarise myself with similar works/ case studies

NOVEMBER

Research Phase: Immerse myself and continue with reading/ research list.

DECEMBER

Field study period in South America. Conducting field recordings and disucssions.

JANUARY

Edit/Mix Phase: Consolidate work and prepare for tutor presentation

FEBRUARY

Mix/Master Phase Take work to Compositional Studio and mix in multi channel.

MARCH

Review/Rework Phase Tweak period meanwhile make contact with Lodon community

APRIL

SHOW

Plans to get work heard in public. List your ideas about getting your work to an audience:

In creating dialogue with Amerindian communities in London, seek out opportunities for work to be housed, installed in community place of these communities.

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beccaislearning · 6 years ago

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Oh, the honey coloured streets of Aix-en-Provence!

Today, my writing time has grown longer with the coming of a terrific thunderstorm to Antibes. In a very un-English manner, I’ve welcomed the rain as a cool opportunity to give me permission to get off the beach and out of the sun for a while. However, my Britishness returned resolutely as after both a trip to the Picasso Museum, and a coffee ‘Noisette’ in the covered Provençal Market in Antibes, it was STILL RAINING I took it upon myself to stomp back through the torrential rain and puddles like the hardy woman of the north that I now am*.

Anyway, the increase of precipitation follows an increase in spare time in the day. I mean spare time where I’m not busy lolling by the beach or afloat in the sea on my rubber ring. So I may now finally wax lyrical about the utterly divine city of Aix-en-Provence.

I arrived to Aix-en-Provence by TGV train on Sunday. The TGV train is the most hardcore train you can get in France. It goes super fast and is a double decker. It makes Thomas the Tank pee his pants. Anyway, it goes from Lyon to Aix in, like, 2.4 seconds.

Once I got to Aix I nobly wheeled my suitcase through the city because I am doing so well at being a hardy traveller, but also because the Uber fare made me wince when I looked it up. I got to my small but perfectly formed studio dying of sweat. A small panic and door malfunction meant that I almost didn’t get in and died on the doorstep, but at the last minute I got the knack of the lock, fell in through the triple door obstacle course and had a cold shower to rehydrate and reset myself.

After this turn around I returned to the streets of Aix-en-Provence and, who knew, the streets of Aix are even more beautiful when you’re not going uphill to an unknown destination with all your supplies for a month in desperate need of a wee, a drink, and a shower?!

That sleepy Sunday evening gave me a good chance to wander the honey coloured streets of Aix, pick up some supplies, snap some pictures of fountains for Instagram (obvs), and begin a new book** in a café. So I was led to believe that Aix might be a sleepy little city. However, my Monday cast Aix in an altogether different light. I woke up to a buzzy little centre with a well-stocked farmer’s market going on, and shops and cafés that had been closed on Sunday open and ready to welcome this tourist with open arms!

Before launching myself onto the farmer’s market I stopped for a coffee and a croissant because what the heck else are you going to do when you’ve got to your fourth petit-dejeuner and STILL haven’t had a croissant. I know, how embarrassing. As a homage to one of my favourite chains available in London, I went to an actual French branch of Le Pain Quotidien. Yes, a chain, but I was PAYING HOMAGE. So it was still classy. And I believe it may have even been owned by the original Mademoiselle Lapin Quotidien.

Then the farmer’s market. Ooh and aah. One of the main selling points of Aix-en-Provence. Read any guide to Aix and they’ll tell you about the thousand fountains and the markets of bountiful Provençal produce. The markets are the reason that I went for a studio to myself for Aix… I knew that I’d want to harvest them and cook myself beautiful feasts. Earlier this year my Pete (and my Grandma) bought me a book from Alnwick’s Barter Books, ‘A Pig in Provence’. My French plan was already embryonic at this stage, but as I read the story of a couple who moved from America to Provence to set up a goat farm and make and sell fresh goat’s cheese, I knew that I would have to make sure I feasted in the Provençal way. It is a book of mixed delights, I preferred the stories of recipes and truffle hunting to the stories of unsuccessful livestock births, but each to their own.

So without a great deal of a plan, but a great deal of an appetite, I made my way around the market and, with hindsight, bought according to novelty and excitement rather than a recipe or a plan, rendering each of the following three meals a bit of a Provençal version of Ready Steady Cook. I bought: baby aubergines, a hearty earthy lettuce, an absolute bouquet of parsley, du saucisson, fresh goats cheese (another homage), some eggs and a fig loaf. I’d like to think that I did them justice with my creations.

Other than the farmer’s market I walked miles and miles throughout the honey coloured streets, The museum I most fancied, the Granet Museum, was unfortunately closed on the Monday. If I had been bored of trawling the honey coloured streets with their beautiful and plentiful foundations, I may have done more ‘sights’- the Cezanne museum (not a gallery but a museum of his house and studio) or some of the other smaller museums. But if I’m honest, it was the streets I really fell in love with.

Aix-en-Provence is just so chic and romantic. It’s picturesque and pretty. The streets are a gorgeous honey colour, I think due to its local stone. So despite my earlier resolve to take it slow after Lyon, I couldn’t bear to stop wandering while I had my one full day there. The fountains are stunning, statuesque in the Place D’Alberatas, bulbous and moss coloured in the Cours Mirabeau, or humble and funny, like the dribbling warthog I ate my croissant next to in the Place Richelme, where the farmer’s market is held daily. Like Lyon, you need to look up as well as in front of you, because the walls are littered with small statues or painted in scenes covering up boarded up windows and doors.

My walking route was unplanned and inefficient- I kept rediscovering squares and places as I went around and around and up and down. Aix is having a bit of a facelift at the moment, so I was aware that some places that would normally be grand features of the city looked a bit more like a building site. That was ok. I understand that we all need a bit of TLC from time to time.

A particularly luxurious and wonderful aspect of walking around Aix is that every few streets or so, you get a sweet and full perfumy waft of lavender. Provençal lavender is famous- many tourists will take particular trips to the lavender farms of Provence to frolick in the fields and take stunning purple photographs. Aix generally is sweet smelling, a hit of ripe tomatoes and basil here, a nosefull of garlic and thyme there, a bakery full of buttery pastries, a perfume shop full of elegant women... but the lavender is something very special to Aix.

I took a bit more of a purposeful excursion north-west of the city to visit the Pavillon de Vendôme, a grand mansion complete with a rather impressive garden. On the way I tried to peer over the wall of the nearby Hôtel Aquabella, where the ancient Themes Sextius thermal waters have been updated into a very popular and expensive spa. I couldn’t see. And I also wandered off-piste south-west of the city to see the Bibliotèque Méjanes, which though closed, I was still able to enjoy the amazing giant books that guard the entrance. Just magical. Genius design. Made me want to read giant books.

Then Tuesday meant that it was time to move on. I had a leisurely slow morning, with time to stroll though the Tuesday market to the station for my train to Antibes. What I hadn’t expected was the absolute hoards of people in Aix on the Tuesday morning, transforming it to an altogether different city. Although I’m told that Aix in August is still comparatively very quiet compared to term time, when the many students come in and fill it to bursting. Of course, living in Durham, I can completely imagine that tidal population flux of a city. All was well until, with twenty minutes to go, I realised that my train wasn’t leaving from the city centre station that I had thought it was, but the Aix TGV station that is ten miles out of the city and takes an extra bus ride to get to… from a bus station that was probably a fifteen minute walk away at that point! So…! Would my Aix adventure inadvertently continue for longer than I could’ve hoped or imagined, or did I make my out-of-town train in time? Would Aix get even busier on the Wednesday? And is it actually possible to die of sweat?

Find out more in your next friendly instalment of ‘Becca showing off about her massive holiday’…

*Bahahahahaha.

** The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion- beautiful.

#aixenprovence #provence #france #travel #travelblog #lavender

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