Home » The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon
The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon
by Adam Langer May 18, 2000 August 19, 2021
The Man Who Fell In Love With The Moon, Running With Scissors, at the Griffin Theatre Company. This sprawling adaptation of Tom Spanbauer's novel deconstructing the old west is remarkably audacious. Rarely is a company's debut performance so ambitious and so self-assured. Every element of this moody, at times chilling three-act excursion into the prejudice, religious hypocrisy, and barbarism of 19th-century frontier life has been lovingly and astutely realized, from Stephanie Nelson's stunning set design to director Ann Boyd's deftly choreographed staging and expertly cast 16-member ensemble. Dale Rivera is sexually gifted half Native American Shed; the wonderfully understated James Leaming is Dellwood Barker, Shed's sometime lover and perhaps his father; and Wesley Walker offers a frighteningly brutal take on the rapist Billy Blizzard.
Timothy Hendrickson's adaptation, which echoes other late-20th-century inversions of frontier myths like Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man, takes its time in following Shed's picaresque adventures, from his stint as a gigolo of sorts to his relationship with Barker to his flight from racist marauders. Clocking in at about three hours and 15 minutes, this is an eloquently written drama that alternates between creating a hypnotic sense of dread and becoming the wearying theatrical equivalent of a filibuster. The scope of Spanbauer's novel and the gravity of the issues that he and Hendrickson address justify this epic treatment, but ultimately there's more here to be admired than enjoyed.
–Adam Langer
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Sun Pharma posts Q3FY18 results
By Sanjiv Das	 On Feb 14, 2018
Q3 adjusted net profit was at Rs 878 crores
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries has posted third quarter and nine month financial results ending December 31, 2017.
The consolidated financials in Q3FY18 are: Sales/ income from operations was at Rs 6,598 crores, a de-growth of 14 per cent over same quarter last year. The decline is primarily driven by the US business. All other businesses have grown for the quarter. India sales was at Rs 2,085 crores, growth of 6 per cent over Q3 last year. The US finished dosage sales was at $328 million down by 35 per cent over Q3 last year.
The reduction was partly driven by the YoY decline in sales of generic Imatinib and Olmesartan authorised generics. Emerging markets sales was at $189 million up by 10 per cent over Q3 last year. The rest of world sales was at $120 million, growth of 6 per cent over Q3 last year. R&D investments was at Rs 473 crores (7.2 per cent of sales) compared to Rs 613 crores (8 per cent of sales) for Q3FY17. EBITDA was at Rs 1,398 crores, resulting EBITDA margin of 21.2 per cent. Adjusted net profit for the quarter was at Rs 878 crores while reported net profit was at Rs. 365 crore. Reported net profit was adversely impacted by one-time deferred tax adjustment of Rs. 513 crores related to changes in US tax rates.
In nine-months FY18, sales/ income from operations was at Rs 19,355 crores, de-growth of 17 per cent over same period last year. India sales was at Rs 6,067 crores, up by 4 per cent over nine-onth period last year. The US finished dosage sales was at $988 million down 41 per cent over nine months last year. The US sales for nine-month period last year included benefits of the 180-day exclusivity for generic Imatinib and Olmesartan authorised generics. Emerging markets sales was at $552 million up by 12 per cent over nine-month last year. The rest of world sales at $346 million, growth of 25 per cent over nine-month last year. EBITDA was at Rs 3,767 crores, resulting EBITDA margin of 19.5 per cent.
Net profit was at Rs 853 crores, was adversely impacted by a one-time deferred tax adjustment of Rs 513 crores related to changes in the US tax rates and settlements with certain plaintiffs related to the Modafinil antitrust litigation in the US, with the settlement amounting to Rs 951 crores reported in Q1FY18. Excluding both these one-time impact, the adjusted net profit for 9m FY18 was at Rs. 2,316 crores.
Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharma said, "Our Q3 performance reflects a gradual improvement in profitability over the first half of this year, despite a challenging US generic pricing environment. During the quarter, we took another step forward in enhancing our speciality business by reporting acceptance of NDA filing for OTX-101 by the US FDA. We will continue to evaluate opportunities in the speciality segment to further enhance this business."
Sanjiv Das
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The power of 'Masaot' and Olga Neuwirth, the musical voice of the outsider
Illustration of Olga Neuwirth for "How to Listen" series by Mark Swed. Credit: Micah Fluellen/Los Angeles Times
( Micah Fluellen/Los Angeles Times)
By Mark SwedClassical Music Critic
Oct. 14, 2020 6 AM PT
"I'm standing up here as an artist representing the younger generation, and one who has been doubly affronted," Olga Neuwirth announced in a speech at a mass demonstration in Vienna 20 years ago. She had one thing to say to a new far-right government that expressed support for neither a ministry of women nor one of arts: "I will not be yodeled out of existence."
She hasn't been. Neuwirth, who was born in Graz, Austria, in 1968, has become one of Europe's most established, but not establishment, composers. Her affront to the Austrian obsession with homeland, "Masaot/Clocks Without Hands," was written for the storied, old-world Vienna Philharmonic. Last December the premiere of her outrage to operatic tradition, "Orlando," became the first opera by a woman in the fabled 150-year history of the Vienna State Opera, receiving mainstream international press attention. Her New York Philharmonic commission that John Adams was to have conducted in May got postponed because of the pandemic. She was to have been featured by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Ojai Music Festival in June.
Yodelers, though, still yodel, and Neuwirth's affronts multiply — musical, racial, sexual, gender or any other form of intolerance — along with her continued stand against Austrian patriarchy. She does so as an Americophile who, like a latter-day Whitman, is a large composer and contains multitudes. She counts as her inspirations Miles Davis (as a teenager she had wanted to be a jazz trumpeter until she broke her jaw and couldn't play anymore), blaxploitation films, Adams (with whom she studied), the anti-Adams Pierre Boulez (who was one of her early champions and whom she called a mensch) and the Austrian novelist, playwright and Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek.
Most of all, Neuwirth's is the raised voice of the outsider. A Jew, a woman, a radical and a polymath from a place where all raise suspicions, she is a seeker of identity in all its mysterious, often conflicting cultural aspects. And it is the seeking, not the knowing, that makes her work especially important. Identity politics motivates protest and discord. As always, all sides, we fight for the right to be what we are.
But unraveling our essence, knowing in the deepest and most mysterious crevices of our being, who we are and how we came to be that way, is what the yodelers most easily drown out in false certainty. For all her potent, overt advocacy, Neuwirth to a unique degree probes into those uncomfortable places of the unknown. In Neuwirth's operas, which have gained the most attention, identity is neither easily understood nor automatically conferred. It must be earned.
Her striking adaptation of David Lynch's film "Lost Highway" adds yet another surreal dimension of uncertainty about our perceptions of who's who. Neuwirth brings the shock of the now to the potently feminist "American Lulu," her rewrite of Alban Berg's opera, the protagonist now Black, the setting New Orleans, the lesbian theme amplified.
"Orlando," an updating of Virginia Woolf's novel, is a phantasmagoria of European cultural history on a vast and magnificently over-the-top grand opera scale that progresses, over three hours, from the 16th century to modern times. The startling scenes on the Vienna State Opera stage include 1960s advocacy of civil rights and sexual freedom, a transgender present and a post-Trump sci-fi future that evolves toward spirituality rather than dystopia.
The opera world has reacted with predictable horror and told this woman who has gone too far to cut, cut, cut. Timorous, irrelevant American opera companies won't touch the stuff. But that could change. Neuwirth and Yuval Sharon, who directed "Lost Highway" in Frankfurt and who has been trying to bring it to Los Angeles, are cooking up a new project together for Europe. (He also has just been named artistic director of Michigan Opera Theatre.)
Indispensable classical music for newbies and aficionados alike
Coronavirus may have silenced our symphony halls, taking away the essential communal experience of the concert as we know it, but The Times invites you to join us on a different kind of shared journey: a new series on listening.
In the meantime, "Masaot: Clocks Without Hands" has begun to make the rounds in the U.S. The Vienna Philharmonic brought it to Carnegie Hall. The Cleveland Orchestra has performed it, and Daniel Harding was to have given the West Coast premiere two years ago with the L.A. Phil, although an injury caused him to cancel and the program was changed. A subtle, searing search for patrimony, and possibly the finest European orchestral work of the last decade, Neuwirth wrote it in 2013, shortly before embarking on "Orlando."
The invitation came from the Vienna Philharmonic as part of its commemoration of the centennial of Mahler's death in 2011. The composition was delayed, but Neuwirth couldn't escape the ghost of Mahler, who became intertwined with the ghost of a grandfather she never knew. He was a man of many homelands, a wandering Eastern European Jew among the intersecting nationalities and cultures along the Danube. To know herself, she sought to find the unfindable in him, and she stumbled into the elusiveness of memory (the source for confusion in "Lost Highway") and the elusiveness of time (the source for confusion in "Orlando").
One way to hear "Masaot" is as a postmodern tone poem in which stories aren't stories but hints. Narrative remains just around the corner. Time, as we're supposed to know but never acknowledge outside of theoretical physics, is at best relative and probably doesn't even exist. Yet we can't get along without it.
The 20-minute score begins with four violins playing the pitch D (standing for the Danube) so quietly and at such a high range you sense it in your nervous system before you actually hear it. For the susceptible, this is a moment of instant hypnosis, although even that is a deception. The orchestra joins in for a crescendo that crashing into a deafening chord. The alarm has sounded.
The orchestra becomes a river of sound, lapping waves of kaleidoscopic instrumental colors. In the seemingly far distance come snatches of Klezmer melodies. Then clocks tick. Three metronomes set at different times rhythmically collide, and in a marvelous stroke the orchestra tick-tocks in its own Einsteinian universe, relativity unwinding. Clocks, Klezmer and the river of time flow on and on, changing, evolving, but going nowhere.
Grandfather's travails — masa'ot means travel in Hebrew — bring sobering thoughts of a Jew in what would become Hitler's Austria. Neuwirth researched his life and those like him in archives. Studied his pictures. His lack of belonging to place resonates with her own complicated feelings about belonging. But he remains out of reach. Even belonging is relative.
The orchestral writing in "Masaot" takes advantage of the sheer beauty of the Vienna Philharmonic. But for Neuwirth, beauty can be yet another weapon of subversion. Those elusive Klezmer tunes entice just out of reach, reminding us of Mahler, who had to convert to Catholicism to become music director of the Vienna Philharmonic. They're a long-hidden part of the history of an orchestra that didn't accept its first female musician until 1997 and that didn't acknowledge its complicity with Nazi Germany until 2013.
In Neuwirth's nuanced "Masaot," identity then becomes understood as a quest, which means every orchestra and every conductor brings something radically different to the table. It was the British Harding who gave the premiere with the Vienna Philharmonic. Could it be that Neuwirth touched an identity nerve? An avid pilot, Harding has embraced his inner "masaot," his compulsion for travel, announcing that he will take time off from conducting to fly for Air France (clocks without hands presumably assuring on-time arrival).
The delicious irony is that Neuwirth, herself, doesn't fly. But in "Masaot," we all fly with Olga. No yodeling, please.
Daniel Harding has recorded "Masaot/Clocks Without Hands" with the Vienna Philharmonic, part of an essential CDof Neuwith orchestral pieces that includes her viola concerto, "Remnants of Songs ... An Amphigory," which was dedicated to the L.A. philanthropist Betty Freeman and is conducted by Susanna Mälkki.
An edgy live performance of "Masaot" from Berlin can be found on YouTube.
Neuwirth's most provocative stage works are thus far little recorded, although there is a powerful performance of "Lost Highway" on disc.
There's a fascinating video of an excitable Leonard Bernstein rehearsing the Mahler that was an inspiration for Neuwirth. Bernstein, conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the 1970s, tries to get a little ethnic flavor out of the orchestra.
Entertainment & ArtsMusicClassical MusicArts
Mark Swed
Mark Swed has been the classical music critic of the Los Angeles Times since 1996.
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Registration Fees Waived for Greyhound Owners
Steph Cooke with Greyhound officials before social distancing practices in place
Greyhound owners across the state will have their registration fees waived for another 12 months, following a decision by the NSW Government.
Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke MP said the fee waivers will help Greyhound owners who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Due to necessary measures in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19, racing has been a spectator-less sport, meaning revenue for the industry has been significantly reduced," Ms Cooke said.
"This has had knock-on effects to prizemoney for Greyhound owners, whose outgoings have remained the same."
The measures will deliver close to $340,000 worth of fee waivers for greyhound owners in NSW.
Ms Cooke went on to say that the measures will help greyhound owners in the Cootamundra Electorate during one of the hardest economic challenges of our lifetime.
"Every dollar counts in these difficult times and this measure will be a big relief for every Greyhound owner across the State."
The fee waivers will apply for 12 month registrations falling due on 1 July 2020.
The Government has announced a series of fee waivers during the COVID-19 pandemic, including $19.5 million in state-based fee relief for industries and licence fee waivers for trades and construction workers.
To date, the NSW Government has provided more than $8 billion in response to COVID-19 to support our communities, health care system and to keep people in jobs. For more information visit www.nsw.gov.au.


Tulisa Contostavlos: The highs and the lows
The former X Factor star has been charged with drink driving and dangerous driving
Alana AndersonDeputy News Editor
TULISA Contostavlos has been charged with drink driving and dangerous driving after her £200,000 Ferrari collided with a Saab last September.
The former X Factor judge spent nearly 22 hours in custody after the incident now faces a prison sentence of up to 2 years and a driving ban.
Tulisa has been charged with drink driving and dangerous driving
Tulisa, now 27, has spent the past few years living her life in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Here's a look at her rise to fame and the catastrophic fall from grace that followed….
Na na nai-ing the Noughties
N Dubz arrive for the Brit Awards 2010 nominations launch
Tulisa joined forces with her cousin Dappy and pal Fazer in 2000 when she was just 12 years old to form North London band, N-Dubz.
In 2006, the hard-working trio burst into the charts with their first hit single, You Better Not Waste My Time, and were soon known as the hottest RnB band in the UK.
Tulisa and the boys na-na-nai-ed their way through the Noughties and in 2010 toured their album, Against All Odds.
Book deals, documentaries and more albums followed before the trio went separate ways in 2011.
Tulisa was an X Factor judge in 2011
Following huge success with the band, Tulisa was confirmed as a replacement for judge Cheryl Cole in 2011 for the 8th series of the X Factor.
Her act, Little Mix, won the series that year. She returned the following year and mentored girls Jade Ellise, Lucy Spraggan and Ella Henderson.
In 2012, Tulisa announced she was releasing new music and her first single, Young, came out later that year.
Her album, The Female Boss, charted at number 35 but received mostly negative reviews.
The sex tape
Around the same time, a 6-minute sex tape of Tulisa and her ex, Justin Edwards (also known as MC Ultra) was leaked online.
The Camden-born singer recorded a YouTube apology and said she was totally heartbroken by the intrusion of privacy.
She was granted an injunction that prevented anyone using or publishing the footage in a court ruling that year.
Drugs sting
Tulisa arrives for day three of her drugs trial in London
Fast forward 6 months and Tulisa found herself hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons again.
On June 4th 2013 she was arrested on suspicion of supplying class A drugs and found herself at the centre of a national drugs scandal.
On 9th December that year she was formally charged and appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 19 December where she denied the charge of being involved in selling 13.9 grams of cocaine.
Her trial date was set for July 2014 and Tulisa was granted unconditional bail.
However the trial collapsed when it was revealed the singer had been set up in a drugs sting by undercover reporter the "fake sheikh" who was pretending to be a Hollywood movie mogul.
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said she'd been "cruelly deceived in a shabby sting operation."
The Vas assault
Tulisa arrives at Magistrates' court for V Festival incident
Weeks after her drugs trial collapsed, Tulisa found herself back in court when she was fined for assaulting celebrity blogger and TOWIE star Vas Morgan at V Festival.
She lost an appeal to have the conviction overturned.
18 months on, Tulisa has been charged with drink driving and dangerous driving after her £200,000 Ferrari collided with an elderly couple's Saab last September.
A Met Police spokesman told the Mirror: "Tulisa Contostavlos, 27, was charged on Monday, 7 March with drink driving and dangerous driving.
"She was bailed to appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Monday, 4 April."
News of Tulisa's charges comes after Tulisa flew out to Dubai for business meetings with music executives ahead of her comeback to the industry.
As well as her return to the music world, Tulisa has also signed to a Hollywood agent and is ready to try and break into the film industry.
A source revealed to the Mirror she has signed to LA firm Luber Roklin, who boasts clients such as Joan Collins and Hayden Christensen.
The source said: "Tulisa has shunned all reality TV offers as she wants her career to take a serious direction. She has always acted and has dreamed of being in films. This is set to be her big break.
"She has been low-key lately as she wants to rebrand herself."
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Indonesia is a diverse densely-populated tropical country with an emerging economy. Some people are vulnerable to malnutrition in areas of economic deprivation. GNE sees an opportunity to help.
The West Nusa Tenggara district ranks 30th out of 34 provinces on a 2016 government report on the Human Development Index. For example, studies have shown a 43-86% incidence of stunted growth and 80% incidence of vitamin A deficiency. The island of Lombok is one of these less-developed locations.
GNE has a connection through OSU with a philanthropic organization, the Jage Kastare Foundation (JKF), in the village of Ungga on Lombok. JKF consists of volunteers from the nearby Mataram University including a graduate from OSU in Community Development. They have started an after-school program for 250 students in local culture, arts and English language instruction. They are also working with parents on community health and economic development.
One of GNE's board members has been working with and supporting JKF and GNE can make a difference One way is to provide nutrition education to students and family members. Another would be to help them in securing healthy and sustainable water and food.
Last year members of GNE went to Ungga to meet with JKF to discuss our programs and assess their interest. A proposal has been made to move forward with developing our General Nutrition app for the Lombok audience. GNE also helped them start a flock of ducks as a local food source.
The village of Ungga is a good example of a vulnerable population at risk for malnutrition where GNE can partner with local community activists to empower them to succeed in improving health through nutrition.
Return to Global Projects


Megasales Before Death … Mega-Megasales Now
By Friday morning, 40 Jackson tracks were in the top 100 at iTunes, five in the top 10, and he had the top seven downloaded albums.
Phil Gallo | June 25, 2009 @ 5:43 PM	Last Updated: June 28, 2009 @ 6:56 AM
Just four hours after the announcement of his death, Jackson had the number-one slot on the album download chart at Apple's iTunes store, "The Essential Michael Jackson."
By Friday morning, 40 Jackson tracks were in the top 100, five of which were in the top 10, with "Man in the Mirror" and "Thriller" leading the way. The top seven downloaded albums were from Jackson, led by Sony Music's "The Essential Michael Jackson" at number one and "Thriller" at number two.
Eight of the top 10 videos were by Jackson with the video for "We Are the World," which Jackson co-wrote and performed on, taking up another slot.
Solo albums by Jackson and the Jackson 5 occupied the top 15 slots on Amazon's sales chart. "Thriller" was tops, followed by "Bad," "Off the Wall" and two hits collections. Neither Apple nor Amazon give out specific sales figures.
An executive with a former major chain store who requested that he not be identified said his company's stores saw a rush on Janis Joplin records when she died in 1970, and after that, the stores were prepared to display records whenever a performer passed away. Elvis Presley's sales far outdistanced those of other performers, with John Lennon estimated to be the second biggest seller post-death.
It's likely Jackson's death will eclipse them all. Terry Currier, owner of Music Millennium in Portland, Oregon, said he received a phone call Thursday afternoon from a local TV station to comment on Jackson's death and that the station was interested in filming at his store."I hung up the phone and immediately called (a wholesaler)," Currier said. "We had about 30 or 40 pieces in stock and I knew that if I didn't order them right then I'd have nothing through the weekend."
Indeed, despite his troubles and tabloid appearances, Jackson has continued to mine gold.
When tickets went on sale for the 50 shows in London, the response was an astounding 16,000 web hits per second. If everyone who logged on had been able to purchase the tickets, the approximately 1 million tickets available would have sold out within 70 seconds.
The instant sell-outs reinforced the intensity of Jackson's celebrity, especially internationally, and the faith his fans have in his ability to deliver a show like no other. Jackson's concerts during the peak of his fame in the late 1980s were astoundingly elaborate affairs that were so expensive to mount that, in the long run, they were almost guaranteed to lose money.
Live performance was the final avenue for Jackson, whose named had been bandied about for an extensive residency in Las Vegas after he landed in financial hot water after prolonged legal battles. Jackson, winner of 13 Grammys and one of the few people to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist and a member of a group, had to refinance his music-publishing deal with Sony/ATV to retain control of the Beatles catalog and other valuable copyrights; he had to walk away from his Neverland Ranch.
The copyrights were Jackson's primary assets over the last decade as his albums had largely stopped selling. The income they provided him throughout the 1980s and '90s was staggering. But just as much as Jackson sold well, so, too, did he spend in his later years with his label, Epic.
"Invincible," Jackson's last record for the label, was released in 2001 almost two years after it was expected. It exceeded retailer's expectations upon release, moving 366,000 copies in its first week and opening at number one. It had no break-out hit.
Released in November, most retailers predicted it would not be a strong seller through the holidays and it struggled to get to 2 million sold. Insiders at the time suggested the album would have needed to sell three or four times as many as that to break even.
There's no denying, however, that Jackson travelled in his own universe as star attraction globally. The widely used estimate is that Jackson's albums have sold 750 million copies and that "Thriller" made up about 100 million in that total.
"Thriller" was not only the best-seller in the States in 1982, the year it was released, it was the best-seller of 1983 as well. It spent 37 weeks at No. 1 and more than 16 months in the top 200. The RIAA reports that it has shipped 28 million copies, making it No. 2 to the "Eagles Greatest Hits."
It was the first album to yield seven top 10 singles. And because of some prescient negotiating by his team before its release, Jackson made an astronomical mechanical royalty rate of $2 per album in addition to the money he received as a songwriter.
His debut solo album, "Off the Wall," moved 7 million copies and the followup, "Bad," sold 8 million in the U.S. and produced five top 10 singles. (It has reportedly sold 30 million worldwide). The Bad World Tour, which started Sept. 12, 1987 and ended Jan. 14, 1989, had 123 concerts, was seen by 4.4 million people and grossed $125 million. The audience size and grosses were records for any performer at the time.
His last tour, a 13-month trek that began in September 1996, promoted his compilation album "HIStory," was seen by 4.5 million people.
In 1991, Sony Music gave Jackson a $65 million deal to stay with the distributor's Epic label. His first release under the new pact was "Dangerous," which moved 8 million copies in the U.S., more than 30 million worldwide.
But it was shortly thereafter that Jackson's life became tabloid fodder, from the purchase of the Elephant Man's bones to molestation accusations and trails, a public spat with then-head of Sony Music Tommy Mottola and odd television interviews.
Through it all, though, his reputation as a performer remained untarnished and he was welcome in many countries around the world and praised when he visited exotic outposts.
It's no surprise that as rush hour traffic was building through Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, the sounds of Jackson's career came blaring from one car window after another. A dance remix of "Thriller," the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back" on an oldies station, "Billie Jean" — they all demonstrated the power of his music and how long an industry banked on his stardom.


Law/BCRA
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Presidential Campaign Finance Reports for August 2012
Obama's Long-Term Small-Donor Strategy Begins to Show Dividends against Romney in August
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President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign began in August to show some of the benefits that come from his long-term strategy of cultivating and mobilizing a massive base of small donors. According to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on September 20, the Obama campaign received more from unitemized donors who gave $200 or less during the month of August ($33.8 million -- $25.1 million to the campaign and another $8.7 million to the joint fundraising committee) than former Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign raised directly from all donors ($26.9 million.) The rest of the Romney campaign's receipts in August came in $39.2 million transferred from his joint fundraising committee and a $20 million loan.)
During June and July, the Romney campaign boasted that its side had raised more money than his opponent's -- combining all of the money that came into the campaign committee, national political party committee and joint party-candidate fundraising committee. This boost for the Romney campaign came in the months after he had secured his party's presidential nomination, when Republican donors had their first chance to get beyond the competition among potential GOP nominees.
In August, however, the Democratic side reclaimed a slight lead in combined receipts for the month ($114.9 million versus $111.6 million), using the same measuring stick as the Romney campaign had used in June and July (see Table 1.)
But the bigger story comes not from these slight differences. It comes rather from the sources and timing of the candidates' funds (see Table 2). Through August, the Obama campaign had raised $147 million from donors who had given him a cumulative total of $200 or less. This was 34% of his total receipts from individuals over the course of the campaign. The numbers far exceed Romney's $39.5 million from small donors (18% of his total.) They also beat the $121.2 million (30%) that the Obama campaign had raised from small donors at the same time four years ago. (For 2008 candidates, see Table 5.) One beauty of small donors is that they have not reached their legal contribution limits, so the campaigns can go back to them again.
This is not to suggest that the President's reelection campaign is slacking with large donors. The Obama campaign had 13,239 donors who have given $5,000 (the maximum amount under federal law). This represents about $66.2 million (after anticipated adjustments for excess contributions) or about 21% of the campaign's total receipts. The Romney campaign had 12,190 donors who gave $5,000, representing about $61 million (after adjustments) or 39% of the campaign's receipts.
The bottom line is that Romney and Obama were doing equally well among the large donors who give limited, federal campaign dollars, but that Obama was doing much better among the small donors.
As noted, the Romney campaign received only $26.9 million during the month of August in the form of direct contributions to the campaign. This compares to $70.7 million received by the Obama campaign during the same month – more than two-and-a-half times as much. Romney was able to show an equivalency in campaign receipts by transferring $39.2 million from his joint victory fund. $21.1 million of the transfers came during the week of the Republican National Convention, when Romney's nomination made it possible for the campaign to release funds given by donors who had already given the maximum amount for the primaries. The Obama joint victory fund transferred $13.5 million to his campaign during August.
The Republican campaign continued to outperform the Democratic campaign in three other respects, however.
First, the Romney joint victory fund raised $67.4 million in August compared to $39.5 million for the Obama Victory Fund (see Table 1.)
The Republican National Committee raised $17. 3 million compared to the Democratic National Committee's $4.7 million.
The Romney campaign, joint victory fund and RNC together had $168.5 million in combined cash on hand (minus debts owed) compared to $122 million for the equivalent Democratic committees.
Further removed from the candidates' direct control:
Priorities USA Action, the "Super PAC" supporting the Obama campaign, raised $10.1 million in August, compared to $7.0 million for Restore Our Future, the Super PAC supporting the Romney campaign.
Restore Our Future had $6.2 million cash on hand at the end of August. Priorities USA Action had $4.8 million cash on hand.
Table 1. Presidential, National Party, and Joint Committee Fundraising August 2012 and Cumulatively
Table 2. Receipts, Debts and Cash for August 2012 and cumulatively
Table 3. Individual Contributions Aggregated per Donor, through June 2012
Table 4. Itemized Donors Grouped by Their Total Contributions Per Candidate
Table 5. Sources of Funds 2008 Presidential Candidates, Primary and General Election
The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit research institute. Statements of the Campaign Finance Institute and its Task Forces do not necessarily reflect the views of CFI's Trustees or financial supporters.
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2012 Presidential Small Donors
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Home Universal Studios Hollywood First Look: The Highly Anticipated and Innovative New Epic Adventure, "Jurassic World—The...
First Look: The Highly Anticipated and Innovative New Epic Adventure, "Jurassic World—The Ride,"
Robbie Bulus
Universal Studios Hollywood unveils the first look of its eagerly awaited mega-attraction, "Jurassic World—The Ride," as anticipation grows for its grand opening this summer.
Leaping from the silver screen to the theme park, "Jurassic World—The Ride" will immerse guests into newly themed environments and breathe new life into dimensional animatronic dinosaurs, including some all-new fan favorites featured in the Jurassic World films from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.
This ambitious ride is being reimagined under the direction of the award-winning and inspired minds at Universal Creative, the Academy Award®-winning special-effects visionaries at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a division of Lucasfilm, Ltd., the brand stewards at Universal Pictures and acclaimed filmmakers Steven Spielberg, Colin Trevorrow and Frank Marshall.
The state-of-the-art attraction will debut an original storyline that takes place within the theme park as depicted in Jurassic World. It will feature additional new dinosaurs from the film, lush scenic design, and ground-breaking technology that has yet to be experienced within a theme park.
The aesthetics of "Jurassic World—The Ride" will be dramatically enhanced, welcoming guests to a reimagined space reflective of the Jurassic World films. A fresh, new entry statement, stonework landscaping and a contemporary redesign of the iconic pillars illuminated with billowing flames will support a prominent "Jurassic World" marquee logo.
Engaging queue-line videos featuring facts and information about the dinosaurs within the ride set the tone for the adventure ahead, as guests learn more about these imposing prehistoric inhabitants that first roamed the earth more than 65 million years ago.
And the daring expedition begins.
Once aboard specially designed rafts, guests will navigate the lush environs of dense vegetation, traversing new areas besieged with towering dinosaurs meandering just an arm's length away from visitors. Encounters with such docile creatures as the Stegosaurus and Parasaurolophus will quickly turn awry as predatory Velociraptors and Dilophosaurus begin to wreak havoc, turning guests from spectators to prey. When the Tyrannosaurus rex begins to battle one of the attraction's new behemoth dinosaurs, the rafts will spill down a treacherous 84-foot waterfall as the sole means of escape.
Located adjacent to the ride will be a new elaborately themed "Raptor Encounter" where Blue, the most beloved and deadly Velociraptor from the Jurassic World franchise, and her beta Raptors will engage guests in daring face-to-face encounters.
In addition, a new interactive "Dino Play" area will incorporate educational components within an inspired space where children of all ages can partake in excavations and investigate giant dinosaur fossils.
With so much to see and do at Universal Studios Hollywood, the all-new 2019 Season Pass invites guests to experience the fun throughout the year for $149 when purchased online. Blackout dates and restrictions apply. Visit www.UniversalStudiosHollywood.com for more details.
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https://socalthrills.com/
Robbie is the Owner and Editor-in-Chief at Socalthrills.com, Entertainment Website. He's been involved with Journalism and Blogging for the past 14 years. Robbie is also an Independent Travel Agent at Travel Planners International and a certified Disney Destinations agent. If you're looking to book your next Disney Adventure or a fun family vacation, send an e-mail to: [email protected]


A. J. Dillon's Net Worth (2022), Wiki And More Facts
Find out how much money A. J. Dillon makes and how much money he has!
A. J. Dillon's net worth:
Earnings: How does A. J. Dillon make his money and how much he makes?
The current team he plays for is Green Bay Packers (february 2022).
A. J. Dillon's net worth is currently estimated at $5 million.
What would you like to know about A. J. Dillon?
You can find much more stuff about A. J. Dillon on this page!
A. J. Dillon's net worth over the years
Age: How old is A. J. Dillon? Where was he born?
A. J. Dillon's height and weight
Is A. J. Dillon married? Does he have a girlfriend?
Family: Does A. J. Dillon have any brothers, sisters or kids?
Education: Did A. J. Dillon go to college?
Hometown: The famous NFL player was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 02, 1998.
Age: A. J. Dillon is 23 years old now. Nationality: American Sign of the Zodiac: Taurus
Let's find out how tall A. J. Dillon is and how much he weighs.
A. J. Dillon's real/full name is Algiers Jameal William Dillon Jr..
Is A. J. Dillon married? Does he have a girlfriend or wife?
A. J. Dillon is married to Gabrielle (gtoonen_).
A. J. Dillon's father is Jameal Dillon.
A. J. Dillon's mother is Jessyca Campbell.
Find out who are A. J. Dillon's friends and associates:
Tyler Vrabel (tylervrabel_2)
John Phillips (jphillips_70)
Jahmin Muse (jahmuse_)
(tylerdays_1k)
Tanner Karafa (tannerkarafa)
A. J. Dillon has tattoos on his left arm.
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Luister en win.
Best Kept Secret 19
Tag: commercial sound
"You can't start a fire without a spark": Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen)
[singlepic id=2 w=320 h=240 float=left]
Genre: Heartland Rock
Preceded by: Nebraska (1982)
Followed by: Tunnel of Love (1987)
Related to: not available yet
Real album lovers as we are all over the world, we don't buy ourselves any 'greatest hits' discs. Real album lover as I am, I won't discuss any of such discs over here. A studio album that sounds like a greatest hits disc is no problem. Certainly when it actually delivered seven hit singles.
That's exactly why Born in the USA, Bruce Springsteen's seventh studio album, has that misleading commercial sound which makes it a very accessible rock album. This sound was in great contrast with Springsteen's preceding album Nebraska, containing dark, pessimistic and acoustic songs. But Born in the USA does in fact not differ that much from this introspective album. As a matter of fact, most of the album was already recorded before the release of Nebraska. That's why it has at least as much heart and soul in it.
Springsteen just decided not to include songs like 'Born in the USA' and many others as they did not coincide with the rest of the album. Springsteen wanted to bundle these songs on another album, which had to express a more optimistic and positive sound. So out of a large collection recorded songs he chose the ones that sounded best, introduced some synthesized arrangements and conquered all radio stations.
The first monster hit of the album was 'Dancing in the Dark', a song about getting frustrated because you can't write a hit single. Yeah, irony. Other personal favorites are hit singles 'I'm on Fire' and 'Glory Days', and 'Bobby Jean', an ode to E-Street Band member Steven Van Zandt. Just put on the record and sing along for 47 minutes.
Top Tracks:
1. I'm on Fire
2. Bobby Jean
3. Dancing In The Dark
ALBUM 50 (9.0) – 5-1
ALBUM 50 (9.0) – Keuze van de collega's (10-1)
ALBUM 50 (9.0) – 10-6
ALBUM 50 (9.0) – Keuze van de collega's (15-11)
ALBUM 50 (9.0) – 15-11
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Walla Walla Wine Tours
Winemaker Interviews
Walla Walla Wine Limo
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INTERVIEW WITH NORM McKIBBEN, OWNER OF PEPPER BRIGE WINERY
Norm McKibben, owner of Pepper Bridge Winery, is one of the founding fathers of Walla Walla Wine. He was instrumental in the expansion of the Walla Walla AVA and as owner or partner in Pepper Bridge Vineyard, Seven Hills Vineyards and Les Collines Vineyard, has been planting wine grapes since 1991, when there were only 40 acres of vineyards in the Valley. Having previously been a partner in Canoe Ridge Winery and Hogue Cellars, he started the Pepper Bridge Winery in 1998. McKibben, now 80 and still the managing partner at Pepper Bridge, was gracious enough to sit down with us for a fascinating interview in June 2017.
WALLA WALLA WINE LIMO: Let's talk about your background a little. I understand that you were an engineer first and that wine is your second career.
NORM McKIBBEN: I am an engineer, but I was really a construction manager.
WWWL: So was wine a passion for you before you got into the industry?
NM: I'd like to say yes, but to be honest, no. What happened is at the construction job I was covering the whole country and I was on the road five days a week. We'd have a board meeting every Saturday too, so my wife was raising the family. I just decided that I didn't need the money anymore, they'd paid me very well. This was 1983, so I gave them two years notice and I left in '85. It was my wife's idea to move back to Walla Walla – I had first met her here. So we moved back to Walla Walla – and there were three wineries here at the time – Leonetti, Woodward Canyon and L'Ecole 41. Over the next five years, the number of wineries doubled – all the way up to six – and we thought we were going great guns (laughs).
WWWL: And then Reininger was the seventh, right?
NM: That would be right and Canoe Ridge was the eighth
WWWL: So how did you get interested in wine?
NM: We'd always drank wine, but not as connoisseurs at all. My wife has a palate, I don't. That's why Jean Francois (Pellet) is the head winemaker (laughs). I'd been here about a year and I was with Terry Tucker, a close friend of mine who's involved in Reininger. I was over at Terry's house one night and his oldest son was working for Mike Hogue. Mike came by and he said "Norm, while you were gone I started a winery and it's out of hand, we're making 30,000 cases of wine a year. I need your help." So I joined Mike as a partner at Hogue Cellars.
WWWL: 30,000 cases! That's a lot of wine for that time.
NM: It was. But we took it up to half a million cases, it was the second largest winery in the State. And we sold it [to Vincor or Toronto, Canada] a week before 9/11. We'd grown so big that the financing on all that inventory was so large that I'd have had to go back to work if it collapsed.
Getting in as a partner [at Hogue Cellars] led to me thinking about vineyards. One of the first things I did when I got back to Walla Walla was I bought a wheat ranch out in Waitsburg, figuring I'd put a vineyard on it. It was great and it was terrible all at the same time. I learned a lot because I made every mistake you could make. I brought every expert I could find out there to tell me the grapes would grow well at that location. Friends kept telling me "Give it up, you're not in the right place" and I finally listened to them. My wife said it was my quarter million dollar introduction to grape growing (laughs). I don't think she knew what the actual amount of money involved was (laughs).
At the time I gave up on that project, myself and two partners here started planting apples – you pass them coming in the driveway to Pepper Bridge Winery. Eventually, I was able to twist a few arms and get my partners to agree to plan ten acres of vineyards. This was 1991 and there was a total of just 40 acres of vineyards planted in the entire Walla Walla Valley at the time. When that ten acres became ripe, I needed somebody to sell it to, so we split it into four equal parts, to Leonetti, Woodward Canyon, L'Ecole 41 and Andrew Will. When the bottles started coming out that said Pepper Bridge Vineyard on them, everybody started calling me asking "Can we get grapes? We didn't plan it like that, it just happened.
About that same time, Mike Hogue was chairing the Washington Wine Commission and he wanted to step off from it and asked if I would take over and I chaired it for four years. I did such a good job that they voted to never let anybody chair for more than one year ever again (laughs)! It really was serendipity the way everything started falling into place.
Myself and five friends owned a corporate ranch along the Columbia River. It was an irrigated ranch and there was a ridge on it where we couldn't put an irrigation circle, so we decided to plant a vineyard. The Chalone Wine Group came up from California and wanted to buy it --- that was the first time in our knowledge that a California company had come up here and expressed an interest in the wine up here.
WWWL: Because at that time, almost everyone in California believed that there wasn't any good wine up here.
NM: Exactly.
WWWL: Just like the French thought there wasn't any good wine in California in the 70s…
NM: We told them we weren't interested in selling, so they said "let's be partners" and we agreed to that, as there were benefits to partnering with a California winery.
WWWL: And a lot to learn from them.
NM: We did. So the folks at Chalone wanted to start a winery with us, which turned out to be Canoe Ridge. It was winery number eight in the Valley. We had no idea at the time how big it was going to get. It was a very good venture, but after they [Chalone] got bought out by the French, the relationship wasn't as good, partly because of the distance and partly because I think the French looked down on our wine at the time.
NM: So by that fall I decided I wanted to open my own small winery. Other wineries had been buying my grapes and making very good wine and it seemed like the right time to get into it. I talked to Tom Eddy, who was the last winemaker at Christian Brothers (now the Culinary Institute of Greystone in St. Helena), who I'd known for a long time and asked for his help. For the better part of a year we would get together regularly to check out wineries he thought I should see, the good and the bad. So in '98 I talked to Tom about making my wine and he said he'd do the first year for me. About the middle of that year I realized that flying him up from Napa every weekend was getting expensive, so we started to think about hiring the next winemaker.
Norm McKibben with Jean Francois Pellet, head winemaker for Pepper Bridge Winery and Amavi Cellars
Tom said he had a man in mind, but wouldn't tell me his name. He had me fly down to the Silverado Country Club to talk to this winemaker over a glass of wine, which of course turned into a bottle of wine. It turned out to be Jean Francois (Pellet) and he was making wine for Heitz Cellars [in Napa]. Jean Francois still says I'm the best salesman in the country because I talked him into leaving Heitz Cellars to come to a town he'd never heard of!
WWWL: What was your pitch to him?
NM: I flew him up here. Now, the Swiss have a habit of moving around for years after they get out of college and he [Jean Francois] had seven years of college, enology and viticulture and he'd grown up in a winery. He told me later that he intended to come up for just a couple of years to see what the area was like. So I flew him up and the first thing he wanted to know was what my grapes were like. So I took him to Leonetti, L'Ecole and Woodward Canyon and drew barrel samples, straight Pepper Bridge. So he was interested. The next thing I did was fly his family here, and as it turned out they were Adventist and College Place is an Adventist community. Their boy was just two months old at the time and now he's 19 and taking up winemaking at the community college!
WWWL: Already in the family business…
NM: Jean Francois' last question to me and I didn't necessarily realize the importance of it at the time, was, "What kind of wine do you want me to make?" And I told him that he'd be the winemaker and that I'd work with him on it. After I tasted his wine for the first time, I made him a partner. That was the second smartest move I've ever made. My wife is still the first.
WWWL: Nice. My next question was going to be why you think he's stayed here all these years after thinking this would be a two-year gig. Obviously making him a partner was a big factor. But there's so much turnover in the wine industry, even with the winemakers, that it's amazing he's been here for nearly two decades.
NM: (laughs). Yes, making him a partner was a factor. But we're also good friends, which really helps. He's a natural salesperson, he's an extrovert. And that French accent doesn't hurt a bit when you're selling wine.
WWWL: What kind of advice do you give to friends and acquaintances that tell you they want to open their own winery?
NM: I've had a lot of people come to me over the years and say that they're thinking about starting a winery and want to know my thoughts. They always ask "Are we too late?" and I used to say, "No way, you're going to be a pioneer." But that's not really the case anymore. My advice is usually, "Don't buy a vineyard. Don't build bricks and mortar. Buy your grapes, hire a winemaker (if you're not one yourself) to oversee it and have the wine made for the first two years at a custom crush facility. When it's time to sell the wine and the rubber hits the road, you'll find out pretty quickly if you want to be in the wine business. You don't want to be the guy sitting there with a vineyard saying 'I don't want to do this anymore.'" (laughs).
With 100+ wineries open and I don't know how many more wineries waiting to open, if you go to a bank and tell them you've never run a winery but you want a loan to build one, they're gonna laugh at ya. But if you go to a bank and say that you're already selling wine, but need to have a building, they'll talk with you.
WWWL: One thing that has attracted myself and many others to Walla Walla is the community between the wineries and the winemakers here. I think its unique and not something that's common in other wine regions.
NM: Back when we were first starting there was some jealousy across the state that I wasn't crazy about. At the time I used to go to Napa quite a lot and I'd meet winery owners who would say things like "Don't go over there, the wine's not any good" [about their neighboring winery]. Way back when, myself, Rick Small, Gary Figgins and Marty Clubb, we all bought into the idea that If you don't care for someone's winery and someone asks you for a recommendation, you just don't mention that one. We did have one person for a while, he's no longer in the business by choice, who would talk down about other wineries and he was killing himself by doing that.
WWWL: Not a good idea in a town as small as Walla Walla.
NM: That's right. We still have writers from out of town come through here and say what a fascinating community we have where the wineries all work together to support each other. I've trained my people here [at Pepper Bridge] that when someone asks where else they should go, to give them a list with suggestions on where to go because after they've tasted here we should have a good idea what kind of wine they like.
WWWL: I'd like to get your opinion on something that I find troubling that's going on in other wine regions on the West Coast. If you go to Napa these days (or even Santa Barbara or Oregon), most of the wineries will not refund the tasting fee when you purchase their wine – even if you're buying $200 of their wine. I don't understand that.
NM: I don't either. It's a lot different than when I first went to Napa in the early 60's when I was a very young engineer working on the construction of the Transbay Tube. There were seven wineries back then and none of them were charging tasting fees yet.
WWWL: To me, it takes away from the experience that your guests are having at the winery and for some of those wineries doing that [not refunding tasting fees with wine purchase] it begs the question of whether they're in the business of collecting tasting fees or in the business of selling wine. Obviously tasting fees are necessary because otherwise you're going to get people coming to drink your wine for free who have no intention of buying wine.
NM: We were actually the first winery in Walla Walla to charge for tasting for exactly that reason; we were just getting swamped with people coming to drink for free. We actually pour about the same dollar amount of wine [equivalent to the tasting fee] in our tasting room.
WWWL: That's interesting -- I don't think most wineries are doing that.
NM: About every four years or so I make a trip down the coast and visit the different regions to see what's going on. There's some very good wines in California, but the one place we beat them on is Merlot. They tried to kill it with the Sideways movie.
WWWL: I've been told that some wineries that made wine they could have called a Merlot [because it had at least 75% Merlot in it] instead labeled it as a red blend because of the backlash against Merlot.
NM: One thing people don't realize about that movie is the irony of the very last scene. They were drinking a '61 Cheval Blanc, which is actually a Merlot! It's supposed to be an inside joke, but very few people caught it.
WWWL: I'm sure you've been asked this before, but I'm interested in your reasoning. Two distinct, completely different wineries in Pepper Bridge and Amavi. Why two wineries instead of just one?
NM: I had promised Jean Francois when he came up from Napa that he could always make Bordeaux wines and we were doing that at Pepper Bridge. But then I planted the Les Collines Vineyard and that vineyard produces great Syrah grapes. I debated back and forth with myself – and I'm not sure yet if I made the right business move – but I already owned that piece of property [where Amavi Cellars ended up being built]. I almost put a house on it! But it had such a beautiful view, we wanted to make Syrah and I also wanted to be able to make wines that were at a bit lower price level, to make it easier for people to discover the wines.
WWWL: Tourism in Walla Walla just keeps growing year after year. Your thoughts on that?
NM: The town has changed so much since I was first here in the 60's. When I came through the first time it was all farm equipment and hardware. We had two restaurants, a Chinese restaurant and a homestead. Now we've got Seattle-quality restaurants – and prices.
WWWL: It's great that those restaurants are managing to make it even though there's so much downtime in the winter.
NM: That's just it, they have to make it in a shorter season here. It's the same with the hotels. Seattle's hotel rooms are about 90% occupied year-round. I recently met a Filipino couple who are putting in an eight-room high-end bed and breakfast in Lowden. That's the kind of thing we need. And out on the old Bergevin homestead some Chinese investors are putting in a very large restaurant and hotel and Va Piano is involved in that.
WWWL: What Walla Walla really needs is a restaurant or two on the South side.
NM: I tried to put one in a few years back. Tom Drumheller, who owns a string of restaurants, was going in with me to put a restaurant in the field below Pepper Bridge, but the County blocked us. They said we couldn't put it on agricultural ground. I don't like to fight with the County, I lean on them when needed, but at that time there weren't as many wineries over here, so they probably figured there wasn't a need for it.
WWWL: What's your thoughts on the future of wine in Walla Walla and Washington State? How much more can it grow?
NM: While the growth can seem a bit scary, right now Washington State sells about 6% of the wine sold in the United States – and the United States is still a small percentage of the wine sold throughout the world. I think the wine industry and the town will just keep growing and we'll have to have more restaurants and hotels come in to keep up with us. Because you don't drive over here from Seattle and go back the same day – you've got to stay overnight.
As I'm sure you well know, when you go into the wine business you've got two choices – keep your winery small, selling high-end wines over the counter or you have to go out and distribute your wines. The distribution part has gotten more difficult as the giant distributors keep gobbling up the smaller distributors. Those large distributors aren't interested in a winery the size of Pepper Bridge no matter what our reputation is because they want to make deals with large grocery chains to get the price way down and they want to talk pallets instead of bottles.
WWWL: What do you think it will take for the real estate prices to increase significantly in Walla Walla? With the growth in the wine industry and all the nice restaurants here you'd think prices would go up a lot. But the prices are still somewhat depressed; it seems that the prices can't go up much until the people that live here full-time figure out how to get higher paying jobs.
NM: I think it's a product of the average age of the residents in town. When I first came to Walla Walla there were mostly wheat ranches. The oldest son would inherit the wheat ranch when the parents got to an age where they decided they should quit working. The oldest son would then take over the ranch and support the parents the rest of their lives. The younger boys would either work under him or leave the area -- and most of them left the area. And the girls would either marry a rancher or leave the area. Because of that, the average age was way up when I first got to town. But it's way down now, as business attracts people looking for work. We have no trouble finding people to work the counter, but it can be difficult to find competent people with experience who know the wine business.
WWWL: Tell me a bit about your family. I believe you have five children and two of them are working in the wine industry.
NM: That's right. My oldest son Shane manages our largest vineyard and my son Eric manages Amavi. I have three daughters, all of whom are professionals working in the Seattle area. Two daughters have PHD's, one is an attorney and one did brain cell research for several years. Now she's on Vashon, designing clothes and selling them on the internet. I make frequent efforts to get them to move back to Walla Walla!
WWWL: What do you like to drink when you're at home on a typical night?
NM: I used to drink a lot more Bordeaux than I do now. My wife actually prefers the fresh fruit instead of the older wines. If we ever come close to having fisticuffs it would be over the fact that I brought her a 20-year old bottle of Bordeaux and she'd say she'd rather have a good wine (laughs) like the ones we have here in Walla Walla. I've shifted a bit over the years. I grew up liking a lot of wine from Burgundy, but my palate doesn't pick up all the little nuances that I used to get. I can tell you this – your palate doesn't improve with age.
WWWL: I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Hypothetically, the world's going to end in 24 hours. What bottle in your cellar do you have to open?
NM: I'm biased here of course, but it's a 1999 Pepper Bridge Cabernet. I turned 80 last September and I opened up a Magnum each of our 1998 Cab and our 1999 Cab and they're both drinking beautifully. I don't know how much longer they'll last – I tell people that I no longer think in terms of 20 years into the future when talking about a bottle of wine (laughs). I've got some very nice old wines that I like to taste and show. I think a 15-year-old wine that still has some fruit in it is preferable to the real old ones. I've got some of the first Woodward Canyon vintages, but I don't have any of the '78 Leonetti. In fact, Gary (Figgins) and I drank the last one together. I bought Randy Dunn's wines [Dunn Vineyards in Napa] for a long time because they were supposed to last forever. They didn't. I bought some for the grandkids for when they turn 21, but the wines have gone over the hill.
WWWL: Thank you so much for your time. This was fascinating.
Jon Wells
Owner of Walla Walla Wine Limo
WE WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU VISIT SOON!
Walla Walla Wine Limo is legally licensed and insured. WA State UBI #603600954
info@wallawallawinelimo.com
Cities we serve: Walla Walla, Milton Freewater (OR), Lowden, Touchet, Waitsburg, Wallula, Dayton, College Place, Pendleton (OR), Pasco, Kennewick, Richland, Burbank, Dixie, Prescott


Chattahoochee Tech shows off new carpentry lab
Dan Pool / Photo
Carpentry instructor Bill Mullis shows off new equipment at the Chattahoochee Tech campus to state rep. Rick Jasperse and school president Ron Newcomb during an open house last week.
It may seem like a simple assignment, students begin their career track in the new Chattahoochee Tech carpentry lab building sawhorses – the catch is they need to have edges straight and joints tight.
As carpentry instructor Bill Mullis, with his 25 years of construction experience, explained holding up a basic tape measure, "this is the most important tool."
The lab in its own building on the east side of the Jasper campus features an array of saws, nail guns and other tools found in the construction trades which were on display April 23 at an open house hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.
Chattahoochee Tech President Dr. Ron Newcomb said in brief remarks that he wanted to thank state rep. Rick Jasperse (in attendance) and the rest of the legislature for the funding "which we are putting to good use."
Newcomb said they have heard the message loud and clear - people want the technical college reinvigorated to serve the needs of the community.
Carpentry is among the new or expanded offerings that the campus features, along with welding, automotive tech, and nursing. These are areas identified by different groups as being needed in north Georgia to support the local economy.
Newcomb said they are working to build enrollment, particularly among non-traditional (adult) students. Chattahoochee Tech has partnered with local schools so that programs begun in high school can flow directly into the dual-enrollment classes at the tech school. Next, Newcomb said they want to see their program "dovetail into expanded offering and hours for classes" to serve adults seeking to go back to school.
Mullis said the school's carpentry classes, with a lot of hands-on lessons, prepares students to step into a construction crew. He said the students need to develop experience, but with the classes they learn the basics that will make them sought-after employees for framing or finishing crews.
For a lot of the younger students this is the first time they have handled power-tools so Mullis keeps a pretty close eye on them.
At the open house, there were crates/boxes under construction and the students will work up to chairs and tables as practice runs before they start with house-building.


Tag: Art Rupe
Episode 122: "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke
Episode 122: "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke
Download file | Play in new window | Recorded on May 18, 2021
Episode 122 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs is a double-length (over an hour) look at "A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke, at Cooke's political and artistic growth, and at the circumstances around his death. This one has a long list of content warnings at the beginning of the episode, for good reason…
Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "My Guy" by Mary Wells.
Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. For this episode, he also did the re-edit of the closing theme. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/
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Episode 60: "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke
Episode 60: "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke
Episode sixty of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Little Darlin'" by The Gladiolas.
Also, an announcement — the book version of the first fifty episodes is now available for purchase. See the show notes, or the previous mini-episode announcing this, for details.
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Episode 54: "Keep A Knockin'" by Little Richard
Episode 54: "Keep A Knockin'" by Little Richard
Episode fifty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Keep A Knockin'" by Little Richard, the long history of the song, and the tension between its performer's faith and sexuality. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors.
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Episode 52: "Twenty Flight Rock", by Eddie Cochran
Episode 52: "Twenty Flight Rock", by Eddie Cochran
Episode fifty-two of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Twenty Flight Rock" by Eddie Cochran, and at the first great rock and roll film Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Teen-Age Crush" by Tommy Sands.
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Episode 34: "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard
Episode 34: "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard
Episode thirty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard, and at the rather more family-unfriendly subject the song was originally about. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
Also, a reminder for those who didn't see the previous post — my patreon backers are now getting ten-minute mini-episodes every week, and the first one is up, and I guested on Jaffa Cake Jukebox this week, talking about the UK top twenty for January 18 1957.
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Episode 12: "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price
Episode 12: "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price
Welcome to episode twelve of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. Today we're looking at "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" by Lloyd Price. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.
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Paul Dacre's attack on me was myopic, insular, incoherently angry and a bit Steve Bannon
The former Mail editor was a big beast of a Fleet Street that no longer exists. The very thought must make him very unhappy.
By Alan Rusbridger
Once upon a time, Paul Dacre and I would meet for an annual lunch. These were pleasant enough occasions, usually in a discreet restaurant of his choosing. The conversation would generally fall into two parts: a) a shaking-of-the-head mystification at the way the world had gone downhill since, oh, about 1956; and b) an analysis of the failings of most of the other Fleet Street newspapers.
I did not personally mind the Pop Larkin nostalgia bit; and his dissection of his fellow editors' weaknesses was invariably acute. Whatever you thought of his politics, Dacre knew what made a newspaper tick and it was always instructive to listen to his often scathing analysis of our peers.
The lunches dried up after the Leveson inquiry. Dacre was torn over the Murdoch phone-hacking revelations that led up to the hearings – at first sceptical; then briefly admiring; then furious. He was incandescent with the judge; raged at the Guardian for causing it all; and was contemptuous of our formidable reporter, Nick Davies. Davies was denounced over 3,000 words as "the man who did for the British press". Not the man who saved Fleet Street from a moral catastrophe by holding power to account – you know, the way reporters should. No, the man who destroyed the press.
By then I'd already begun to wonder whether Dacre's sense of reality was quite as grounded as it once had been. In mid-November 2012 the Mail had published the single most unhinged edition of a newspaper I could remember: a 12-page attack – count them! – on a man called David Bell, who was one of Leveson's lay assessors. Bell is a former managing editor of the FT who, in retirement, sits on assorted charities, schools and trusts. He is, in the best sense of the word, a do-gooder. But his crime, in Dacre's eyes, was to be involved with a body called the Media Standards Trust.
As chair of the Press Complaints Commission Code Committee, Dacre might have been expected to be sympathetic to such an organisation. In fact he was enraged by what he saw as a quasi-Masonic liberal elite nexus of "people who know best" – people who might conspire to inhibit the fire-and-brimstone tabloid journalism at which he excelled. This was war. If that meant deluging bewildered Mail readers with a 6,000-word tirade against someone they'd never heard of, so be it.
At least, this is my supposition of what was going on in Dacre's head, for by now the lunches had stopped. All Dacre-watchers had to go on were the increasingly regular and virulent attacks on liberals in general, Ralph Miliband, the BBC, universities, the Guardian, human rights, the FT editor Lionel Barber, the late cabinet secretary Jeremy Heywood, immigrants, Stephen Fry, bishops, luvvies, judges, Europeans, Gary Lineker… and anyone else who had triggered some form of editorial red mist.
By now Dacre had been editing for more than 20 years and was, in the words of an anonymous executive quoted in Adrian Addison's 2017 book, Mail Men, "the Absolute Ruler". This executive described Dacre's morning editorial meeting thus: "I'd watch him sitting behind this huge desk in conference, harrumphing at the news list, with all these weird courtiers trying to win points… Screeching away about 'Alan Rubbisher' and anything mildly liberal. Year after year, on and fucking on it went. They were utterly obsessed with the bloody Guardian, it defines exactly what they do not want their Daily Mail to be. Dacre would grumble away himself under his breath about 'Polly fucking Toynbee' as he marched to the lift."
Lacking the Absolute Ruler gene, I disappeared back into civilian life more than three years ago now, and recently wrote a book about journalism, Breaking News. It contains two mentions of Dacre, and two footnotes. Yet something in it detonated another volcanic eruption. Given a platform on 4 November to reflect on his decades at the top and on where journalism is going, Dacre spent much of his Society of Editors speech laying into the liberal media in general, and my book in particular. Some of it felt a bit Steve Bannon. Most of it seemed terribly myopic and insular and – for a man with such success, riches, power and acclamation behind him – incoherently angry.
As for the paper of which he was Absolute Ruler for 26 years, it has undergone a marked change since Geordie Greig took over a couple of months ago: more reasonable, less fulminating; not so obsessive and more inclusive. It has stopped behaving like a punch-drunk old bruiser lurching around in search of a brawl. Instead, it feels like it might be ready to be part of a broader, calmer conversation about the future.
Not so long ago, an archbishop advocating that the rich should pay more tax in order to help the poor would have triggered a middling earthquake in Dacreland. The combined furies of Glover, Letts, Vine and Littlejohn would have been mobilised to pulverise the hapless prelate into tiny archiepiscopal shreds. Under Greig, the proposal provoked a civilised discussion. You can't help thinking that, if this trend continues, Britain will feel a more congenial and open place.
If Greig can detoxify the Mail brand and prove that a tabloid can be ethical, successful and reasonably nice, what would that say about the "nasty" Dacre model? The very thought must make him very unhappy. Dacre was a big beast of a Fleet Street that no longer exists. That must also make him unhappy. Whatever his Pop Larkin nostalgia for newspapers, digital has already begun to eclipse print. He would be the first to admit he is utterly at sea in understanding the ethos or popularity of social media.
He owns 17,000 acres in the Scottish Highlands. There's a very nice life after editing if he could only allow himself to imagine it. We might even have lunch.
› The "blue wave" has left Congress and US politics more diverse than it has ever been
This article appears in the 09 November 2018 issue of the New Statesman, Revenge of the nation state


If you've never seen it and are looking for a great nostalgic ride back through the late eighties, there's a great documentary on Stock, Aitken and Waterman on youtube.
I guess if you grew up in the UK, Australia [or even some parts of Europe] you're more likely to feel the connection to the bubble gum/hi NRG music that those guys came up with while creating their empire.
For a few years they were everywhere - and their distinct sound proved to be huge, almost guaranteeing hits for their artists: among them Bananarama, Mel & Kim and... Jason Donovan.
A lot of their stuff was repetitive, similar and so sugary that it should've come with a warning. But they also came up with some of the period's most defining pop songs. They had a knack for making stars out of unknowns [though at one point even Donna Summer came their way]. Of course, their golden geese were Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue.
Pretty much everyone - bar Kylie - that was involved with SAW is now a distant memory [or on the nostalgic 80s tours that are snaking their way around the world] although Rick Astley has recently had a comeback.
People magazine recently profiled Rick Astley who had a comeback album earlier this year. Checking out the statistics on youtube, Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up has racked up almost 250 million views since being the target of the Rickroll. That's about $2m of revenue if you believe the estimates based on what PSY's video publicly made even if Astley, who sang and didn't write the song allegedly has seen a lot less than that.


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Poll Shows Giuliani over Clinton in 2008 Presidential Match-Up
17-Nov-2005 1:40 PM EST
President Bush, poll, Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, 2008 Presidential Race, Presidential Poll, Polling, Public Opinion
Newswise — If the 2008 presidential election were held today, Republican Rudy Giuliani would beat Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton according to a nationwide poll conducted by Canisius College. Of the 455 respondents who volunteered an answer regarding the 2008 match-up, Giuliani received 54 percent of the vote to Clinton's 38 percent.
Michael V. Haselswerdt, PhD, professor of political science at Canisius and co-director of the poll, notes "Clinton loses among voters in the red states, which is no surprise, but Giuliani breaks even in the blue states."
The Canisius poll also shows that only 27 percent of Americans think the nation is going in the right direction, only 42 percent view President Bush favorably, and the Bush administration is having trouble getting a "gentleman's C" on its performance.
While 27 percent think the nation is going in the right direction, 63 percent say it is on the wrong track, including six out of 10 of those who live in red states and four out of 10 Republicans. President Bush's 42 percent favorability rating is countered by the 55 percent who view him unfavorably.
But despite this dissatisfaction, if a presidential recall election were possible, only 42 percent would vote to fire President Bush, while 53 percent would vote to have him remain in office.
"It is a good thing for President Bush that his support has always been personal rather than performance based," says Haselswerdt. "In addition, among the people who are critical toward President Bush and his administration are some who do not think that a recall election is an appropriate mechanism."
The Bush administration gets its best grade, a grade of C, for its performance on the war on terror. It gets grades of C- for its performance on the economy, the war in Iraq and energy policy, and it receives a D+ for its performance on improving health care. While the war in Iraq does not get the lowest overall grade, it gets the highest percentage of failing grades, with 36 percent of the public giving the Bush administration an F. Other highlights from the Canisius College Poll include:
*Fifty-one percent (51 %) of the public believe that the U.S. should announce a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops, while 41 percent agree with President Bush that the United States should stay in Iraq "as long as it takes."
*Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay is seen as favorable by 18 percent and unfavorable by 40 percent, while 43 percent do not know his name. Neither are other congressional leaders household names, with majorities polled not recognizing names including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (52 percent), Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (58 percent) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (51 percent). Evaluations of these congressional leaders were split.
*Recent legal and ethical issues in Washington, DC, are seen as "business-as-usual" by 51 percent, including a strong majority of Republicans (67 percent), and a smaller majority of Independents (59 percent). These issues are seen as "more of a problem now than before" by 43 percent of the public, including 59 percent of Democrats.
*Almost two-thirds (65 percent) of the public and 58 percent of Republicans prefer the governmental system to be divided between Republicans and Democrats, while only two in 10 Americans favor one-party control.
*Sixty-two percent (62 %) would oppose amending the Constitution to allow foreign-born citizens such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or Madeline Albright to run for president, and 53 percent would oppose an amendment to provide for recall elections for the president and members of Congress.
The poll has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of +/-4.4 percent. Five hundred one (501) American citizens over the age of 18 from the continental U.S. were contacted between November 13-15, 2005. The poll was co-directed by Haselswerdt and Kevin R. Hardwick, PhD, associate professor of political science and utilized Canisius College students as interviewers.
In addition to providing excellent educational experiences for students, recent Canisius College polls have proved to be extremely accurate. The college's survey of New York Democrats conducted on February 17-20, 2004 showed John Kerry leading John Edwards 57 percent " 16 percent in the state's Democratic primary with a +/- 4.8 percent margin of error. Kerry eventually beat Edwards 61 percent " 20 percent two weeks later in the March 2 contest. A general election poll of Pennsylvania voters on October 17-18, 2004, also with a +/- 4.8 percent margin of error, gave Kerry a 53 percent " 45 percent lead. On November 2, Kerry did indeed win Pennsylvania with 50 percent of the vote to George Bush's 48 percent.
To view complete results of the Canisius College poll, go to http://www.canisius.edu/poll.
Canisius College is one of 28 Jesuit colleges in the nation and the premier private college in Western New York. Canisius prepares leaders " intelligent, caring, faithful individuals " able to pursue and promote excellence in their professions, their communities and their service to humanity.


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The Legend of Vox Machina looks F**KIN Awesome !!!
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The Wound of the World – One of the most important books of this decade!
In my title I make a bold claim about how important this book is, but bare with me and all will make sense soon enough. I am guessing there are a lot of you out there who are unfamiliar with the works of Edward W Robertson, unlike some authors he has not made award winning films or TV shows and he does not make huge social media splashes, not that I am complaining about those that do. I watch Game of Thrones and follow Victoria Aveyard (The Red Queen) online, it's nice just to see someone like Robertson quietly work away churning out these amazing stories. The stories that have drawn me in most are those of The Cycle of Arawn and its follow up series The Cycle of Galand. Though fantasy novels these 6 books touch on many topics that are either timeless or very true to the world we live in today, combining it with a unique world, witty dialogue and some of the most deep yet fun characters I have ever had the joy of following.
The series follows Dante Galand a teenager in the first novel and follows his progress through a holy order dedicated to a God who is banned in his homeland. Saying much more than that would only lead to a lot of spoilers. Along the way he gains a life long friend in the form of Blay's Buckler, his cheeky swashbuckling partner in crime. Their friendship is one of the major driving forces in the books, which is nice because for the most part the book deals with platonic relationships but the major theme of these books, at least in my eyes is faith and how dangerous it can be. Our heroes eventually come to the city of Narashtovik, the Dead city, one that gained its name by being constantly attacked and pillaged for its beliefs and values, beliefs that are not that different from its neighbours. Dante himself becomes a leader within his religion but constantly questions it and never blindly follows it, even when he finds answers to hard questions he ponders on how best to reveal it to his followers, stating that they wouldn't be ready. Our antagonists are always filled with doubt but the faith in what they believe always spurns them on to commit these heinous acts. Even some of Dante's allies commit terrible acts because of faith, to me the books show us a simple truth, faith is important, so important we as people need to listen to our brains and sometimes take a step back and watch what we are doing. It's easy to do the wrong and stupid thing especially if we have started out with good intentions, very much a blink and you would miss it scenario.
As for the other reason why this book is so damn important, well that comes in the final third of the book. This is information and how an over saturation of truths can hide what is real from even the most sensible person. To set up the context here our heroes come to a nation that actively encourages its people to argue, coming from the viewpoint that constant arguing will eventually bring out the truth. This allows its government to enforce brutal laws and taxes upon its citizens, because if everyone is busy arguing then no one is able to do anything about it. 2017 has become picked up the torch of previous years and politics are becoming more tribal than ever before, we may not have double speak just yet but we now live in a world of Alternative facts where politicians can say and do as they please with little to no consequences, because we the people are too busy arguing over pointless tribes, tribes that don't even care about us, all the while a few us scramble to reach the top, those that do are often kicked backed down while the few that reach the heights of glory and held up as proof that we too could achieve greatness.
An excellent series whose depth continues to blow me away, I cannot praise these books nearly enough.
Categories: Audiobooks, Books, Reviews
Tagged as: audio books, blays buckler, Books, dante galand, edward w robertson, Fantasy, fiction, The Cycle of Arawn, the cycle of galand, the sycle
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