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Lodi acoustics entice British singer

2011-10-18T03:04:00.001-07:00

Lodi is a long way from Cambridge, England. In many more ways than one.

For Brooks Williams, though, there are two major distinctions: the ambience and acoustics at St. John's Episcopal Church.

"It's a massive, like, modern church," Williams said Wednesday from his home in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. "The weird thing is the sound of the building when you sing and play. It's a stunning room to listen to music. Especially acoustic music."

This is where the Stockton Chorale performs, with a 400-person capacity venue.

Williams, 52, recalled accompanying folksinger Debra Cowan, from Shrewsbury, Mass., as part of the annual Arts at St. John's program on Feb. 27, 2010. It was one of his infrequent trips to the West Coast.

This time, he's traveling all the way from England and back to the East Coast just to be re-stunned by the musical atmosphere at the nine-year-old Lodi church - performing his blues-tinged folk music Saturday night. It's the final Arts at St. John's concert of 2011.

"Well, I love any opportunity to come to California," said Williams, a singer-songwriter and acoustic/slide guitar player who's well regarded on the East Coast club and college scene and in the United Kingdom. "I've not worked on the West Coast as much. I haven't made a real deep sort of connection with audiences, which I really like. Oh, well, this is really nice."

Williams has developed what might be termed a "really nice" career. He's a craftsman, not a pop star. In 23 under-the-radar years, he's released 17 albums - mixing original songs with traditional blues-folk tunes - on five labels. Crucially, his last five recordings have been issued on his own Red Guitar Blue Music.

His earliest recordings were do-it-yourselfers on that label, too - "just on the cusp" of CDs replacing vinyl albums. Like so many other troubadouring types, he never seemed to quite fit.

"No one knew my music better than me," said Williams, who once recorded for Green Linnet Records, has worked with guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke and has completed a new recording with Cambridge-based singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine. "So, why don't I orchestrate it? At the same time actually selling CDs did seem less important for record labels.

"It's definitely a steep learning curve, but it's good. It puts you in touch with all aspects of the process. It keeps me from getting my head in the wrong place. I'm a bit more knowledgeable and tolerant. You keep on plugging."

Though he was born in Statesboro, Ga. - Georgian Blind Willie McTell wrote the classic "Statesboro Blues" - Williams didn't discover the blues until he studied English literature at Salem (Mass.) State University. Blind Boy Fuller and Mississippi John Hurt became his stylistic role models.

"It was in the air," Williams said of Statesboro. "Though, funnily enough, nobody really talked about the old masters."

His mom, Peggy, sang classical music and his father, Isaac, an attorney, "sang a little."

A friend, responding to Williams' persistent "begging," scribbled out the chords to the Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" for him. He started practicing on a "horrible plank of wood. Just something I could get cheap."

Mom wasn't thrilled by the musical choices, but was glad to see how much passion he displayed: "I knew quite young I wanted to be a professional guitarist. I just didn't know how."

He had time to learn, moving with the family to Savannah and Augusta, Ga.; Mobile, Ala.; and Jackson, Miss.: "I had copious amounts of time to play guitar because I was a really shy kid as well. I knew, though, that part of playing music is having to get up in front of people."

He conquered that fear during open-mic nights at Salem State's campus cafe, with a couple of informal bands and, finally, by himself on the fertile Boston-area club scene.

A traffic jam caused that. One night, his bandmates were gridlocked and couldn't get to the show on time. So, the club owner suggested Williams placate the audience with a few tunes.

"They asked me if I'd like to come back alone," he said. "That accident forced me to step up."

Based in Boston, but popular in England, too, for most of his career, he was introduced by Jo Hurwitz during England's 2006 Ealing Summer Festival. Two years ago, they were married and settled in the original Cambridge.

It was love at first sight for him. At St. John's Episcopal Church, it was love at first sound.

"It's really resonant," said Keith Knutsen, 53, the church's music director who also sings in the Stockton Chorale. "It allows sounds to really blend together well. You can really hear what you're doing yourself. He was really impressed."

Pete Krengel, who's leaving after directing the series for 12 years, heard the possibilities when Williams accompanied Cowan.

"A dozen people immediately came up to me and were amazed by his style, appearance and the way he carries himself," said Krengel, 54, who's directed the program for 12 years. " 'Oh, my gosh, we want him back'."

"I just loved it," Williams said. "It was just fabulous. I did a couple songs and Pete said, 'The next time we book a series let's book you in.' So, I figured, 'Let's have a quick jaunt to the West Coast.' It's great. It's one of those out-of-the-way series."

It's not too far out for Williams, though.

Source http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111014/A_LIFE/110140303/-1/a_life

NASA to Unveil Full-Frame Image of Vesta at News Conference

2011-07-28T23:03:00.001-07:00

NASA will host a news conference on Monday, Aug. 1, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss the Dawn spacecraft's successful orbit insertion around Vesta on July 15 and unveil the first full-frame images from Dawn's framing camera. The news conference will be held in the Von Karman auditorium at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, Calif. Journalists also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or join by phone. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must contact JPL's Media Relations Office at 818-354-5011 by 9 a.m. PDT on Aug. 1.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO )

NASA Television and the agency's website will broadcast the event. It also will be carried live on Ustream, with a live chat box available, at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

The news conference panelists are:

-- Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- Charles Elachi, director, JPL

-- Marc Rayman, chief engineer and mission manager, JPL

-- Christopher Russell, Dawn principal investigator, University of California, Los Angeles

-- Holger Sierks, framing camera team member, Max Planck Society, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

-- Enrico Flamini, chief scientist, Italian Space Agency (ASI), Rome, Italy

Although Dawn is collecting some science data now, the mission's intensive collection of information will begin in early August. Observations of the giant asteroid Vesta will provide unprecedented data to help scientists understand the earliest chapter of our solar system. Dawn is the first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After spending one year orbiting Vesta, Dawn will travel to a second destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, and arrive there in February 2015.

For more information about Dawn, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/dawn

For NASA TV streaming video, downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

SOURCE NASA

Human Planet

2011-04-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Human Planet, a loose sequel to previous Discovery and BBC co-productions Planet Earth and Life that moves the series from zoology and botany into anthropology, crosses the crucial bar for any sort of cable TV documentary series early and often. This is to say that the miniseries is positively stuffed with “holy shit” moments, wherein the people on screen are doing things most of us, ensconced in comfortable easy chairs, watching this stuff on HDTV, could never possibly dream of doing. There are at least four or five per hour in tonight’s two-hour debut (featuring people who live in mountainous habitats and around rivers and oceans, respectively), and the moments of astonishment keep coming in next week’s hour on those who live in the Arctic. It’s a great series to pop on and goggle at.

Is it the equal of its previous counterparts? For the most part, yes. The main problem with the series is that the approach that worked so well with Planet Earth and Life for animals and plants feels a little scattershot when applied to actual human beings. This is to say that each hour offers a wide survey of the globe (or, more accurately, the parts of the globe where people still live in a state of mostly pre-modern ritual, though the three episodes screened also make visits to the Swiss Alps, the coast of Spain, and Manitoba), but where that wide survey worked for animals, allowing the production to get in and get out after relaying the necessary facts and showing off the necessary stunning footage, it often feels a little lacking when people are at the center of the story. We just start to get to know someone—say, a heroic boy chasing vicious monkeys from his tribe’s crops or a man paid to trigger avalanches to keep his village safe or a young man who’s headed out on his first whaling expedition—and then we’re cutting away to something else entirely.

Insofar as this approach keeps those “holy shit” moments coming, it’s effective. But the Discovery Channel airings (which have been cut, somewhat, from the original BBC airings) have cut everything so much to the bone that there is a sense of always wanting more. Or, put another way, at the end of “Rivers and Oceans,” the series takes over 10 minutes (the most time it’s spent on anyone) to tell the story of a Tibetan father and his two children, walking a treacherous frozen river so the kids can get to school, a journey of 50 miles that will take six days if the trio is lucky. Given time to spread out and actually tell its story, it automatically becomes the most arresting segment of the two-hour premiere, blending “can’t believe someone has to put up with THIS!” moments like said father nearly falling through the ice and recovering with a laugh with nicely universal moments like a mother waiting for her kids to be gone to wipe away her tears. Given the extra time, it becomes a nicely moving and, yes, human portrayal of that first day of school everyone’s familiar with.

This is not to say that the shorter segments are without worth. There’s certainly something to be said for wanting to know more, and there are more than enough that are over just as soon as they should be. But when the narrator (a generic Mr. Voice on screeners sent to critics; Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs for everybody else here in the States, about which more later) intones that a certain event took weeks upon weeks or even months to happen, there’s always a sense that the story might have been better suited by giving a sense of just how much time has passed, instead of just having the narrator’s words be enough. As an example, that story about the young whaler (which is impressive solely because his method of killing a giant sperm whale—the largest toothed whale in the ocean—is to jump out of a tiny boat with a pointy stick, which is something I’m pretty sure I never want to do) glosses over a lengthy battle with the whale that took EIGHT HOURS. Now, granted, the audience for graphic whale fights is probably small, but the miniseries’ method of showing just the start and very end leaves something to be desired. A similar problem arrives in a segment about a funeral held by Buddhists high above the zone where there would be enough plant life to perform a cremation (since Buddhists do not bury their dead). The funeral—and the method for removal of the body—are both intriguing enough to need a little more room to breathe, room the miniseries is loathe to give them.

But this is the best kind of problem for a series to have: If the audience wants more, that means that’s what’s there is pretty uniformly good. And Human Planet, at least in the version I screened, is frequently stunning, easily the equal, if not the better, of its predecessors. The miniseries is especially good at finding the many different ways that people LIVE while simultaneously finding the tiny, universal moments that still link us together, like a father grinning as his children gobble up the fish he risked his life to catch or that mother wiping her tears out of her eyes. This focus on raw humanity also makes the “behind the lens” segments, where the series pauses to brag about how awesome it was to capture all of this footage, much more palatable. Tonight’s “Mountains” hour concludes with footage of how the cameramen captured an eagle’s point of view for a segment on hunters who use eagles to capture foxes and rabbits. Seeing the cameramen strap a camera on a young eagle is one thing; seeing what seems like the whole village turn out to see what it looks like for their eagles to hunt from the eagle’s point of view (for the first time ever) proves weirdly poignant.

I’ve glossed over the narration—often the biggest problem of the Americanization of these series—simply because Discovery is, for some reason, not making the Mike Rowe versions of the episodes available. (It’s entirely possible this is just because the network didn’t have time, since he was just added to the series this past week.) Rowe’s good enough at narration on his own series that if he just reads the script as written, the series likely won’t be hurt by his presence. If there’s an attempt to turn Human Planet into the ultimate Dirty Jobs episode, however, then this could get very torturous indeed. So take all of the above with a grain of salt.

But even if Rowe’s narration is torturous, the series would still be plenty impressive on mute. As always, the cinematography is gorgeous, and there are lots of great visual touches around the edges. The subtitles float in and out as people speak, like added flourishes around the edges of the frame. The camera captures these people from interesting and new vantage points. The colors of a crystal blue lagoon or a white mountainside are heightened and as pure as they can be. And the best thing about this are all of the many people, living in fascinating and intriguing ways or in ways that seem unfathomable to those of us surrounded by creature comforts. Human Planet, even with its faults, is a wonderful reminder of the fact that we live in a big, beautiful world, spilling over with almost endless variety.

Source http://www.avclub.com/articles/human-planet,54352/

No need to twist their arms

2011-03-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's odd that high school kids would be willing, much less enthusiastic, about getting Tasered or having their arms twisted by police, but that's the case with 20 students enrolled in the Abbotsford Police Department Junior Police Academy.

The APD, in cooperation with Kiwanis International, Abbotsford Fish and Game Club and School District 34, runs the five-day academy during spring break in order to offer students interested in policing a realistic and intensive insight into a career in law enforcement.

To get into the academy students went through fairly rigorous entry requirements that included criminal and driving record checks, good academic records, references, an interview and questionnaire, and a fitness test.

MEI student Kaitlyn Neudorf said the effort was well worth the reward.

"I love it. It's really good and there's a lot of diversity in what we're doing," said the 17-year-old.

Neudorf was such a keener she volunteered to take a jolt from a Taser during a non-lethal weapons workshop on Tuesday.

"It was a really interesting experience, like a muscle spasm you get holding onto an electric fence. It didn't hurt; you have to experience it to understand it," she said, adding her parents knew what she was up to.

"I volunteered because if I had to use a Taser, I would want to know what [the suspect] was experiencing . . . what they are going through."

The Grade 11 student said she's really enjoyed the range of activities the recruits have been offered, which include ride-alongs with officers, use of force and weapons training, legal studies, and talks from officers of various departments.

"I was shocked to learn all the stuff [about the drug squad]. The undercover person looks kinda like a hobo . . . it's really cool to learn about that stuff."

Abbotsford Collegiate student Gavi Mattu agreed.

The 17-year-old enjoyed hearing from different officers and members of the community such as Abbotsford Heat coach Jim Playfair.

"It's great they took time off their jobs to come talk to us about life and our careers," said Mattu.

"But other than that, I think the firearms training was probably the funnest. We got to use the shooting range; it was a great experience."

The Grade 12 student is unequivocal about wanting a career as a police officer after participating in the junior academy even though he's learned the job is more difficult than it looks.

"There's a lot of paperwork and it involves a lot of determination. It's a lot of hard work and it's not what the public thinks," he said.

"This [academy] made me more sure than ever I want to join [the APD]. It's neat how they work to make a difference in the community.

"There's a great camaraderie and they're a great team, and one day I'd like to be part of that team."

Source http://www.abbotsfordtimes.com/need+twist+their+arms/4502184/story.html

Friend panicked after seeing house on TV linked to crime

2011-03-17T00:48:00.000-07:00

Peter Hughes said he freaked out when he saw his friends' Jason and Tosha Hubler's rented Bridgeland house on the television news in connection with a homicide.

"I started having a panic attack, because I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know what to do, so I phoned my boss," Hughes testified on Tuesday, when asked about that day, Feb. 5, 2009. "I needed something to calm me down. He said to call the police."

Hughes said he received a phone call from Tosha Hubler right after he spoke to his boss, and she told him they had been arrested at gunpoint near Banff.

He called the police right after that.

Jason Hubler, 36, and his wife Tosha Hubler, 31, are on trial for first-degree murder in connection with the death of Rino (Ray) Johnson, 77, on Jan. 30, 2009.

The Hublers are also accused of interfering with a human body, which was found stuffed into a wooden trunk in a southeast industrial area the following day.

Court heard previously that Johnson was a regular vendor at Hillhurst Sunnyside flea market, where he had sold tools and other household goods for 15 years. He went to the Hublers that day in answer to an online ad.

Hughes told Crown prosecutor Frances Turner he had seen the trunk, both at homes in Bridlewood and on 7th Street in Bridgeland, where the Hublers had lived. He said he saw it in Jason's bedroom in the Bridgeland home.

The witness said in the early afternoon of Jan. 30, the Hublers arrived at his home with a new GMC Sierra truck, which he later identified from pictures as the same one owned by Johnson.

Hughes said Jason was very proud of the vehicle and showed him some of the features, including satellite radio and an On-Star system.

He said he had been told several times over the previous month or so by Jason that he would be purchasing a truck from a friend Al, and said that was where he finally got the vehicle.

Hughes said a few days later that Jason Hubler told him he might have hit somebody with his Cavalier car near the Shamrock Hotel, not far from where Johnson's body was discovered by a homeless man.

The next day, he said, Tosha told him much the same story: that they thought they hit somebody and it felt like a speed bump.

The witness also said he purchased a Taser gun from Jason Hubler that week and paid him $100.

"I thought it would be cool at the time," he said.

When asked by police about the Taser, he lied twice to them about any knowledge of the illegal weapon. That night, he said, he put the weapon in a bag and smashed it, then scattered the pieces while walking over a 10-to-20 block area.

When asked under cross-examination by Tosha Hubler's lawyer Allan Fay, Hughes said he could not recall being phoned and told by Jason Hubler that the Taser had been used in the death of a person.

"I don't recall that," he answered.

Mike Mooney, Johnson's close friend who regularly attended garage and estate sales with Johnson for several years, said they had coffee after attending a sale in the northwest community of Valley Ridge and parted ways about noon.

He said Johnson was then heading to a sale in Bridgeland, one which he had given him the ad, and never saw him again.

It was at that home rented by the Hublers that Johnson died, the accused have admitted in police statements, Turner told court earlier. His blood was also found in the home.

The Hublers were arrested on Feb. 5, 2009, driving the victim's truck between Canmore and Banff. Many of their belongings were found in the stolen vehicle.

Hughes said Jason had left his home that day and was going to Three Hills, where he had been hired for a job.

Several minor alterations made to the truck after it was stolen from Johnson, including a number of a decals on the sides and back of the truck and a different licence plate.

Police also discovered that in the days after Johnson's death that the suspects had used Johnson's credit cards, Turner previously told court.

The scheduled three-week jury trial before Court of Queen's Bench Justice Colleen Kenny continues.

Source http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Friend+Hublers+panicked+after+seeing+their+house/4443626/story.html

Wednesday on TV: "Survivor" returns — with a new twist

2011-02-16T23:37:00.001-08:00

It's something old and something new on the 22^nd season of one of TV's best reality/competition shows - Survivor (7 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2). The old is a couple of returning contestants. Fan favorite Rob Mariano is back for the fourth time; Russell Hantz - the guy you love to hate - is back for the third time.

And the new is a twist where contestants who are voted out have a chance to return to the game. Which is why this season is titled "Survivor: Redemption Island."

Elsewhere on TV ...

The Middle (7 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4): Frankie tries to find Brick a friend.

NBA (7 p.m., FSN): Golden State Warriors at Utah Jazz

Nova scienceNOW (7 p.m., PBS/Ch. 7): The origins of life on Earth.

College basketball (7 p.m., CBS C): Wyoming at Utah

American Idol (7 p.m., Fox/Ch. 13): The Hollywood round of the auditions continues.

Better With You (7:30 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4): Casey brings bad luck to a job interview.

Criminal Minds (8 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2): The BAU is called to upstate New York to investigate mysterious disappearances.

Modern Family (8 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4): Shelley Long returns as Phil's ex-wife, who is also Claire and Mitchell's mother. And she brings Claire's ex-boyfriend (Matt Dillon) as a date to Lily's birthday party.

Nova (8 p.m., PBS/Ch. 7): A look into the deadly 2009 crash of Air France flight 447.

Mr. Sunshine (8:30 p.m,. ABC/Ch. 4): Crystal chooses an employee of the year, then holds a contest to choose employee of the year; Ben has to cater to the whims of Nick Jonas.

Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (9 p.m., CBS/Ch. 2): Forest Whitaker, Janeane Garofalo head the cast of this spinoff, which follows a different FBI team than the one on "Criminal Minds." The premiere deals with child abductions, and it's creepy and weird. Like the original series.

Off the Map (9 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4): All of the clinic's medicine is stolen.

Law & Order: SVU (9 p.m., NBC/Ch. 5): Debra Messing ("Will & Grace") guest stars as a woman who's receiving threats.

Justified (11 p.m., FX): A pregnant fugitive has been kidnapped by human traffickers.

Hot In Cleveland (11 p.m., TV Land): The women return to Los Angeles so Melanie can sell her house and Victoria can appear on "All My Children" - opposite her nemesis, Susan Lucci.

Source http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogstv/51257333-63/abc-cbs-criminal-minds.html.csp

Justice Dept., Sheriff Settle Taser Lawsuit

2011-02-09T23:00:00.001-08:00

The U.S. Department of Justice announced it settled a lawsuit on Friday with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office over the alleged excessive use of Tasers on jail inmates.

The DOJ and the Ohio Legal Rights Service claimed that deputies were using stun guns inappropriately on inmates, including some who were handicapped or did not speak English.

The lawsuit cited the case of Robert Reed, who was shocked by deputies after they said he refused to comply with orders. Reed suffered a seizure on Jan. 28, 2009, the day before the jail incident and the lawsuit claimed that by using a Taser on Reed it violated his constitutional right against excessive force.

The lawsuit also claimed that officers had no right to use a Taser on Robert Shreve, who is deaf and cannot speak English.

Shreve was arrested on July 19, 2009 and faced a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence. Deputies said that while trying to remove his clothes he attempted to bite them. According to the lawsuit, Shreve was unjustifiably Tasered, under the department's policy.

An internal review by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office found no wrongdoing by the guards, 10TV News reported.

As part of the settlement the sheriff's office agreed to revise its policy on the appropriate use of stun guns; provide additional training for officers; and improve its process of reviewing the use of Tasers on inmates.

Sheriff Jim Karnes released a statement that said his office "steadfastly denies any and all allegations of any excessive, gratuitous or tortuous use of the Taser within the correctional facilities; and there has been no determination made that any use of a Taser has been inappropriate or unconstitutional."

Karnes said the settlement clarified current policies and provides for additional training and review.

Source http://www.10tv.com/live/content/local/stories/2011/02/04/story-columbus-sheriff-taser-lawsuit.html?sid=102

New American Idol Season Premieres This Wednesday

2011-01-20T01:16:00.001-08:00

They're back! America's best- and sometimes worst- singers set their sights on American Idol.

Beginning their search to find the next singing sensation, Idol season 10 begins its nation wide search, but before that, Randy, Steven and Jennifer must weed through the often entertaining and misunderstood talent.

"American Idol - gotta live it up right so I brought my manager with me," says one hopeful.
"Yes, I'm ready to go to Hollywood, ready!" says another contestant who is covered in a silver costume and paint.

For the judges, and especially freshmen rocker Steven Tyler, seeing the wild, weird and often confused, may garner some frank responses.

"Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child or get dropped on your head?" Tyler asks one Idol wanna-be.

Fear not America, there is talent in Season 10 and a whole lot of very eager, positive and talented singers ready to be the next Idol champ.

"I am already really, really famous on Facebook. I get Farmville requests all the time," says one.

Being with the show since its premiere, Randy Jackson is serious when he says; "I know we say it every year, dude, I'm telling you, I know, but this is the best talent I think we've ever had."

Source http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=388157