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dustedmagazine · 4 years

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Derek Taylor 2020: We’re Still Here

That’s about the best that can be said for a year that pulled out nearly every stop in a surging sea change to calamity, adversity and tragedy. The number of people lost to a pandemic that now stands steadfast as a monument to the true meaning of American Exceptionalism as the epitome of empathy-eradicating self-interest is enough to negate even the noblest efforts at laughing to keep from crying. Musicians and music persisted though, even in a severely altered performance landscape of shuttered venues and virtual concerts. And recorded offerings new and archival remained plentiful.

When so much about the present feels like a sprint backwards, societally, environmentally and across multiple other measures, music reliably endures as a means for finding both meaning and footing in the world. What follows are 20 capsule vignettes describing selections from the sea of albums circulated this year that kept me afloat, followed by 25 more in list form that did the same. Thank you for reading and thanks for sticking with us.

Paul Desmond — The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic)

Given the magnitude of hardship this year’s wrought on living musicians, it may appear a bit perverse to lead this list with a dead one. Even so, this immersive set’s become an old reliable when it comes to achieving aurally-sourced solace. Desmond, the arch and affluent altoist, leaning into a Canadian club residency with ace sidemen while making good on his gentleman’s agreement with absent Dave Brubeck to abstain from piano accompaniment. The leader’s lady-killer instincts are assiduously evident in the amorously-oriented song choices as his dulcet, tranquilizing tone seduces and delights, night after night.

Chris Dingman — Peace (Inner Arts)

An intensely personal project where abundancy of content arose not out of ambition but rather necessity and is made all the more affecting for it. Dingman designed and played the nearly six hours of solo vibraphone music on this set for his hospice-sequestered father with sole purpose of providing comfort and calm. Reflection after his parent’s passing moved him to release it into the world with the hope that it could do the same for others. Intention accomplished.

Joe McPhee — Black Is the Color (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

It’s been a distressing year for nearly everyone, but particularly for McPhee, who lost his brother Charlie to illness. Even amidst ongoing emotional tumult, his fecundity felt undiminished. AC/DC on the British OtoROKU label offers another entry with the English organ trio Decoy. Of Things Beyond Thule, Vol. 2 is a smashing CD sequel to its vinyl predecessor with Dave Rempis, Tomeka Reid, Brandon Lopez and Paal Nilssen-Love comprising the super group. A reissue of the seminal She Knows… with Scandinavian power trio The Thing on the Ezz-thetics label and Black is the Color compiling early concert material in surprisingly sharp fidelity from the Corbett vs. Dempsey imprint cover the archival end of things.

Sonny Rollins — Rollins in Holland (Resonance)

The Saxophone Colossus holding court with Dutch compatriots in 1967. Most conspicuous is daredevil drummer Han Bennink, who even at this early stage straddles swing to European Free Jazz from behind his kit. Rollins shifts between comparatively pithy studio salvos and effusive concert excursions that once again cement his supremacy in the strenuous realm of long form improvisation. Seven decades as a musician makes for a bank vault-sized cache of bootlegs, but this one, refurbished and authorized remains something special.

Stephen Riley — Friday the 13th (Steeplechase)

Like McPhee, Riley’s a perennial resident of my pantheon. This date realized a long-standing wish to hear him in the company of cornetist Kirk Knuffke backed by the freeing simplicity of bass and drums. Both men have aerated, instantly recognizable tones and pliancy in phrasing that provides practically endless possibilities in tandem. Riley’s also instrumental as featured guest on Pierre Dørge’s Bluu Afroo, a slightly preemptive Ruby Anniversary celebration of guitarist’s multinational New Jungle Orchestra.

Sam Rivers — Ricochet & Braids (No Business)

The auspicious launch of a Sam Rivers archival series last year was among the Lithuanian No Business label’s greatest achievements. Two more seminal entries came down the pike in 2020: Ricochet featuring Dave Holland and Barry Altschul of particularly fine vintage, and Braids spotlighting another pivotal Rivers ensemble in Hamburg with low brass wizard Joe Daley. There are four more to go, which should target the end of 2022 for the series’ completion.

James Brandon Lewis — Live at Willisau & Molecular (Intakt)

Lewis is the type of compelling artist tapped for accolades like Down Beat’s Rising Star award, despite having been active as an accomplished improviser for over a decade. Delayed exposure is common collateral to a career path in improvised music though, and the saxophonist hasn’t let slow-to-cotton critics slow him down a bit. A deal inked with the Swiss Intakt imprint has so far yielded Live at Willsau, which finds him in fiery duo with Chad Taylor, and Molecular, a studio venture with an all-star quartet that will hopefully become a working band again in 2021.

Susan Alcorn — Pedernal (Relative Pitch)

Pedal steel may feel like a nascent voice in improvised music, but in actuality Susan Alcorn and her peers have been plying it as a viable vehicle for some time. While Pedernal is somewhat perplexingly her first album as clear-cut leader, impediments to an earlier debut seem inconsequential given the ample amount of thought and design evident in the end product. Strings wielded by Michael Formanek, Mary Halvorson and Mark Feldman weave with the wide gamut of Alcorn’s aqueous sonorities across intricate pieces further stamped by Ryan Sawyer’s peripatetic drums. The results are at once daring and distinguished.

John Scofield — Swallow Tales (ECM)

ECM has an enviably accomplished record when it comes to matching the austerity and formality of its sound design to artists’ objectives. Case in point this stark, but not standoffish trio set that’s as much (electric) bassist Steve Swallow’s offspring as it is Scofield’s. Drummer Stewart is the third point in the triangle, but he sagely defers to his elders, leaving them to a dance of differently gauged strings that expertly balances motion and space.

Corbett vs. Dempsey

John Corbett is emblematic of that rare breed of music monomaniac who balances obsessiveness with altruistic generosity. He’s personally responsible for bringing dozens of rare and classic recordings back into circulation, first through the fondly remembered Unheard Music Series and more recently via the CvD concern. This year, another stack was added to that sum with Milford Graves & Don Pullen’s The Complete Yale Concert 1966 (including the rarified Nommo), Alexander von Schlippenbach’s Three Nails Left, Tetterettet by the ICP Tentet, Peter Kowald’s self-titled FMP debut as a leader and the madcap New Acoustic Swing Duo from Willem Breuker and Han Bennink as standouts.

Whit Boyd Combo — Party Girls & Dracula (the Dirty Old Man) (Modern Harmonic)

Vintage skin flick soundtracks have rarely if ever received an even-handed shake in terms of relative artistic merits. Tarred with the same smut brush as the visuals they were constructed to accompany, they’re routinely viewed as just as disposable. The Whit Boyd Combo doesn’t exactly dispel this dictum, but it does lay down some funky and at times refreshingly fractious freewheeling horns over organ, bass, and drums driven beats on this late-60s session tape excavated by the folks at Modern Harmonic. The companion Dracula (the Dirty Old Man) isn’t quite on par, but it’s still a solid vessel for competently crafted fossilized grooves.

Robbie Basho — Songs of the Avatars (Tompkins Square)

Real Gone Music whet the appetite earlier this year with the release of Songs of the Great Mystery, a “lost session” from Basho’s tenure at the Vanguard label. Songs of the Avatars ups the ante substantially by granting outsider access to a six-hour survey of the dearly departed fingerstyle guitarist’s personal tape trove. The aural riches are ample and include Basho exploring familiar proclivities (Indian, Native American and Japanese interpolations) alongside unexpected new ones (ballet and cantata) with passion and conviction to burn along the way.

Jimi Hendrix — Live in Maui (Experience Hendrix)

Posthumous Hendrix is a seemingly inexhaustible resource as each year repackaged and repurposed treasures are released into the marketplace. Fortunately, familial heirs are the ones doing the sowing and this lavish set documenting musical and extra-musical particulars of the icon’s reluctant conscription into cosmic hippie scam does right by him. Given the windswept conditions near the Haleakala Crater it’s a minor miracle that he, Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell mesh as well as they do, and while the footage included can be frustrating in its fragmentary presentation, it’s still a thrill to see and hear them jamming in amiable and ebullient form.

Joe Maneri, Udi Hrant & Friends — The Cleopatra Record (Canary)

Details on this one could easily serve as grist for a credible short film screenplay with perhaps Jim Jarmusch directing. Brooklyn, 1963: A group of marginalized ethnic musicians relegated to playing wedding gigs gets conscripted for an afternoon recording session. The cheaply packaged and provincially distributed results are destined for the anonymity of dime store cut out bins. Except that the band includes two geniuses: Joe Maneri, who would go on to become a master microtonal improviser/composer and Udi Hrant Kenkulian, one of most revered modern doyens of the Turkish oud. Available over at Bandcamp for a pittance.

Ayalew Mesfin — Good Aderegechegn, Che Belew and Tewedije Limut (Now Again)

Adding up Buda Musique’s 30-volume Ethiopiques series and a host of other more modest enterprises, it’s obvious that there’s never been more access to vintage Ethiopian music than now. This trilogy of discs from the Now Again label covering vocalist/keyboardist/bandleader Ayalew Mesfin’s catalog restores one of the last untapped reservoirs to circulation. Tight horns, choppy, fuzz and wah-wah drenched guitars and chugging bass fuel dance floor burners while Mesfin’s pipes work memorable magic on a string of melancholic, melismatic ballads.

Kent & Modern Records Blues into the 60s, Vol. 1 & 2 (Ace)

Ace’s appellation as a music label of enviable reach and import has never been an erroneous assignation. This pair of compilations investigates the urban, but far from urbane, blues scene surrounding Los Angeles as documented by the Kent label in the 1960s. Comparatively longer-in-tooth legends like T-Bone Walker and Big Jay McNeely jockey with younger, fame hungry artists like Larry Davis and Little Joe Blue in negotiating a West Coast argot that’s heavy on electricity channeled through guitars and organs. McNeely’s ripping “Blues in G Minor” is one of several snarling sonic wolves in non-descript sheep’s titling.

V/A — A Stranger I May Be: Savoy Gospel 1954-1986 (Honest Jons)

This astutely-sequenced set stands out in the particularly plentiful playing field of this year’s gospel reissues. The mighty Savoy label started out as a jazz venture before branching out into other African American musical idioms. The compilers at Honest Jons parse the program chronologically across three-discs and leave the heavy-lifting of context and artists biography to a lengthy essay. Choirs, ensembles, bands, and moonlighting R&B singers all make appearances directing their talents to devotional and invocational celebrations of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Sun Ra

One of the highlight roundtables at Dusted this year was a Listening Post ruminating on the Sun Ra Arkesta with and sans Ra on the occasion of the band’s new release Swirling. I got to play the (hopefully uncharacteristic) part of curmudgeon in those exchanges principally because while I respect the ensemble’s longevity absent their lodestar leader, there’s still an explicit void extant that tends to eclipse my actual interest. The Ra reissue docket for 2020, which included excellent editions of Celestial Love and A Fireside Chat with Lucifer from Modern Harmonic, When Angels Speak of Love on Cosmic Myth, Heliocentric Worlds, Vols. 1 and 2 from Ezz-thetics, and Strut’s Egypt 1971, which collects Dark Myth Equation Visitation, Nidhamu and Horizon alongside a bevy of contemporaneous unreleased recordings, only bolstered the bias.

Fresh Sound Records

Still the standard for thoughtfully and lavishly curated jazz reissues, Barcelona-based Fresh Sound kept commensurately prolific pace throughout the year. Gary Peacock - The Beginnings surveys the recently deceased bassist’s early work as a versatile California-stationed sideman. Remembering does similar service to rare concert recordings by Belgian guitarist Rene Thomas while The Complete 1961 Milano Sessions offers truth in advertising by compiling woodwind savant Buddy Collette’s sojourn on Italian shores with (mostly) indigenous sidemen.

V/A — Sumer is Icumenin (Grapefruit)

An overdue sequel to Dust on the Nettles (2015), which apparently commands on princely sums on Discogs these days, this set encompasses 4+ hours of cherry-picked vintage British freak folk. Second helpings from stalwarts of the style such as Comus, Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention join Albion offerings from obscurants like Vulcan’s Hammer, Mr. Fox and Oberon in celebrating the weird crossroads of ancient Britannic and 1960s counterculture influences. The cant is more to The Wicker Man side of the spectrum with Magnet’s bucolic canticle “Corn Rigs” the ringer in that regard.

Twenty-five more in mostly stochastic order:

Aruán Ortiz - Inside Rhythmic Falls (Intakt)

Brandon Seabrook/Cooper-Moore/Gerald Cleaver — Exultations (Astral Spirits)

Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley — Birdland, Neuberg 2011 (Fundacja Sluchaj)

Horace Tapscott w/ the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra — Ancestral Echoes: The Covina Sessions, 1976 (Dark Tree)

Damon Smith — Whatever is Not Stone is Light (Balance Point Acoustics)

Frank Lowe & Rashied Ali — Duo Exchange: Complete Sessions (Survival)

Dudu Pukwana — and the “Spears” (Matsuli Music)

Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl — Artlessly Falling (Firehouse 12)

Burton Greene — Peace Beyond Conflict (Birdwatcher)

Albert Ayler — Trio 1964: Prophecy Revisited (Ezz-thetics)

JD Allen — Toys/Die Dreaming (Savant)

Charles Mingus — At Bremen 1964 and 1975 (Sunnyside)

The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound — Soundpath (Clean Feed)

Kidd Jordan/Joel Futterman/Alvin Fielder — Spirits (Silkheart)

Roland Haynes — 2nd Wave (Black Jazz)

Quin Kirchner — The Shadows and the Light (Astral Spirits)

Thelonious Monk — Palo Alto (Universal/Impulse)

Black Unity Trio — Al-Fatihah (Salaam Records/Gotta Groove)

Gary Smulyan — Our Contrafacts (Steeplechase)

Joni Mitchell — Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967 (Rhino)

Elder Charles Beck — Your Man of Faith (Gospel Friend)

Sarhabil Ahmed — King of Sudanese Jazz (Habibi Funk)

V/A – The Right to Rock: The Mexicano and Chicano Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebellion 1955-1963, Episodio Uno (Bear Family)

V/A – Hillbillies in Hell: Country Music’s Tormented Testament (1952-1974) ~ Revelations (The Omni Recording Corporation)

V/A — The Harry Smith B-Sides (Dust to Digital)

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aleesblog · 7 years

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Remembrance hump of Garrincha published in The Blizzard

Bird of Passage

A personal quest into the life-story of Garrincha, Brazil’s unrefined legend

By Andrew Lees

1st June 2017

Money talks but it don't sing and dance, and it don't walk

Neil Diamond

Under an unremarkable sky there were four of us out on the backstreet making our rings fly. I thrust my ring away then pulled it in, creating ellipses in the summer air. If it dared to slip I coaxed it back up, bending my knees and bracing my shoulders as I tried to circle the sun. Jill Clapham and Karen Pullen were streets ahead, looping their hoops in a swaying 2/4 rhythm and creating double flirts with their ductile hips. That morning as the larks rose into the sky above Little Switzerland I twirled my first ton.

At two o’clock we all ran in to watch Sweden play Brazil. My father was already crouched in front of our Bush console. I sat beside him on the hearthrug and my mother brought in a jug of Kia-Ora orange squash. On the other side of the bulbous screen a thickset man in a raincoat was triumphantly brandishing a large Swedish flag. The magic mirror then moved its focus to show the opposing teams jogging up and down uncomfortably in the silent rain. At last the referee blew his whistle and the final was afoot. A quarter of an hour into the game the commentator informed us that the effervescent Brazilian fans were singing, “Samba, Samba” even though they were losing 1-0. Garrincha, their right-winger attacked from the fringes. Twice in succession in the first half, he beat three players and his inch-perfect goalmouth crosses resulted in Vavá goals. As the game went on my eyes were drawn more and more to this hunched man who never passed the ball. On 29 June 1958 I was transported to a field of dreams somewhere on another planet.

That winter I gave up hula-hooping and started to kick a rubber ball against our coal house door. I learned to keep the pill on the ground, tame its wicked bounce and make it run. I gained a rhythm that allowed me to twist and dart past imaginary opponents. I found that with the slightest of taps from my left foot I was able to alter the ball’s speed and trajectory. I kept my feet apart, flexed my body and imagined I was Garrincha. My ball slept with me under the sheets as I listened to Bobby Vee on my portable radio.

I set unregistered record after record with that small rubber ball and became a star of the school playground. It was also the last time the skylarks darted out of the turf and diminished to dark specks in the porcelain sky, the last time they would sing their hearts out, momentarily disembodied as they summoned the sun.

It was now 1959 and I had started to go to football matches with my father. I loved the communal walk to the ground, the baying wit of the tribe and the surging swell of bodies tumbling down the terraces. But what I watched on the pitch was a war in which tough men battled it out for a paltry win bonus. The game was prosaic, forbidding and merciless and bore no resemblance to the fluidity of the Brazilian champions.

In the summer of 1966 I got to watch Brazil play for a second time. Garrincha emerged from the Goodison Park tunnel wearing the number 16 shirt. His unstoppable swerving banana kick that had hit the top right hand corner of the Park End net three days earlier had led me to anticipate a repeat performance of the mesmeric sequence of steps I had watched as an 11 year old with my father. After the band had played the national anthems Brazil’s bandy-legged outside-right ambled over to position himself next to two policemen patrolling the far touchline.

Under the floodlights and with the Liverpool crowd’s chants of “Hungary, Hungary” and “ee ay adio ” echoing in their ears Flórián Albert and Ferenc Bene set about putting the ageing world champions to the sword with fast incisive counter-attacks. Just before half-time Kenneth Wolstenholme, the BBC sportscaster, lamented, “Ah, Garrincha seems to have gone now. He has lost all the feistiness and fire and that devastating burst of speed.”

In the second half I noticed that Garrincha sometimes came inside looking for help and on the rare occasions when he tried to get round the outside of the Hungarian defence he was easily cut off and forced to pass. At the final whistle a delirium of appreciation burst forth, as toilet rolls rained onto the pitch. A stray balloon blew up from the Gwladys Street terrace, drifting forlornly in the direction of Stanley Park.

It is 2006 and I am sitting in the Bar Vesuvio in the old cocoa port of Ilhéus watching Botafogo play Vasco da Gama. The ball rarely leaves the ground and always seems to be angled perfectly through the narrowest of channels. Periodically it shoots out to the flanks and is then rifled back across the box. In this game corners and throw-ins are irrelevant. The ball dips and bends as it fires towards goal. Then out of the blue a Botafogo player goes round his opponent on the outside and I blurt out the words, “Alma de Garrincha.” An old man sitting beside me smiled kindly and said, “Garrincha jogou futebol do mesmo modo que viveu sua vida, divertindo-se e irresponsalvelmente!” [Garrincha played football the same way he lived his life, pleasing himself and running wild!]

Back in England football was now an acceptable topic of conversation in the hospital canteen. In fact there were many similarities between the modus operandi of university teaching hospitals and Premier League football clubs. One Tuesday lunchtime after rounds I explained that ‘Garrincha’ was a drab little Brazilian bird with a buzzing flight and a bubbly song that could not survive in a cage. Nobody had heard of Garrincha.

I then got out my laptop and showed them extracts from the 1963 Cinema Novo film Alegria do Povo [The Happiness of the People]. The film begins with black and white photographs of Garrincha to a soundtrack of samba. I fast-forwarded so they could see the Lone Star of Botafogo mesmerising his opponents in the Maracanã stadium.

One of the house officers, a Manchester United supporter reflected, “He plays a bit like George Best.” I replied caustically that Garrincha was Best, Stanley Matthews and John Barnes and a snake charmer rolled into one. “What’s more you don’t need slow motion/3D/surround sound from 23 angles to prove he has more tricks than Messi and more grace than Ronaldo.” I knew that my fuzzy evidence had not convinced them. They smiled benignly but knew their chief was basking in the emotional overglow of an unhealthy reminiscence bump.

Undeterred I continued to watch web compilations of the Little Bird’s sillage, much of which had been posthumously embellished by music. To Moacyr Franco’s song Balada no.7 (Mané Garrincha) I watch him double back before arrowing away to the right. A magnet seemed to be always attracting him to the margin of the pitch. His style was casual, irreverent and highly improbable but never disrespectful. He tormented and teased but never mocked. He was wordless and indefinable. For Garrincha, football was no more than a series of duels against instantly forgettable defenders and foreplay was far more enjoyable than scoring. The more joyous he made the crowd, the sterner became his facial expression. He was football’s Buster Keaton cracking jokes with his bandy legs and dancing to the gaps in the music. In one game playing for Botafogo he was even admonished by the official for flirtatious play. He was a one-man carnival who could turn life upside down with his antics. ‘Seu Mané’ expunged the prison of cause and effect from the game of football.

By the second half of the 19th century Lancashire cotton goods had become almost worthless in Brazil. Even the turbines coming in on the Liverpool boats from Manchester were in far less demand. As a consequence the 1000 or so English expatriates began to invest more in local textile production. John Sherrington, a man who had strong commercial links with Manchester, purchased a stretch of verdant land that nestled below the forested Serra dos Órgãos in the centre of the sate of Rio de Janeiro. Here in 1878 in the grounds of the old fazenda he and his two Brazilian partners constructed a textile mill. The project got off to an ill-omened start when the ancient tree said to have been more than 50m tall and with a trunk circumference greater than 30 human arm spans came down during the construction of a road, but within a few years the factory was functional, converting natural fibres into yarn and then fabric.

The municipality of Pau Grande in the district of Vila Inhomirim 50km outside Rio de Janeiro already had a small railway line. It had been constructed by the English engineer William Bragge in 1853 and connected Raiz da Serra and the Imperial City of Petrópolis with the wharf in the small port of Mauá at the mouth of the Rio Inhomirim. This railway provided a reliable form of transport from the mill to the coast.

The Francisco dos Santos family were descendants of the Fulni-ô Indians, who after being ousted from their coastal homeland by the Portuguese had settled in Águas Belas, a municipality close to the Rio Ipanema. Although they had finally been hounded down near Quebrangulo and forced to take the surname of their oppressor these ‘people of the river and stones’ refused to bow to outside discipline. As their traditional lifestyle was eroded some of their number assimilated with renegade black slaves in the quilombo hideouts of the Brazilian outback.

Manuel Francisco dos Santos was the first to travel the 2000km from the tribal homelands to the boomtown dominated by the mill owned by the América Fabril company. Although the landscape bore similarities with the countryside on the borders of the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco from where he had travelled, Pau Grande itself more closely resembled Delph or Saddleworth on the Pennine ridge.

The several hundred labourers had come from all over Brazil but the mill managers were exclusively English. In return for the privileges of secure employment and accommodation the predominantly illiterate mill workers were obliged to comply with the strict discipline and moral code of the British Empire. Mr Hall, the manager, would sometimes deal with misdemeanours that had occurred outside the factory by administering a caning to the miscreant. Mr Smith, the director, emphasised the virtues of hard work and self discipline and encouraged football on the premise of ‘healthy body, healthy mind’.

On 28 October 1933 Manuel’s brother Amaro dos Santos, who worked at América Fabril as a security guard, became a father for the fifth time. The midwife was the first to notice that the baby boy’s left leg bent out and the right turned in. Manuel Francisco dos Santos had to grow up fast and his love of trapping and caging birds led his older sister Rosa to nickname him Garrincha. In his school reports he was described as quiet but mischievous and impulsive and his teachers considered him uneducable. For the young Mané by far the best thing about Pau Grande was a secluded potholed stretch of grass 60m by 40m high on a bluff that overlooked the factory. There were days when he would return two or three times for peladas [kickabouts]. Barefooted and dressed only in shorts Garrincha and a couple of mates would regularly thrash older opponents. His hunting spear was the ball and his prey lay nestled in the back of the net guarded by a goalkeeper. When he was not running with the ball he would be fishing or hunting with his friends Pincel and Swing, two brothers from the neighbouring Raiz de Serra.

His first job, at 14, was in the cotton room of the mill with its blistering heat, lung-damaging dust and deafening machines. The air had to be kept hot and humid in this the most unpleasant working environment of the factory to prevent the thread from breaking. He was always going absent, often to drink cachaça in a local bar or have sex with the mill girls at the back of the small football stadium belonging to SC Pau Grande, which had been founded in 1908 by workers from the factory. His employers soon gave up any hope of getting a decent day’s work out of him and it was only his footballing deftness that saved him from the sack. With Garrincha in SC Pau Grande’s side the factory team went two years without a defeat.

The coach likened Garrincha to Saci, the pipe-smoking mulatto imp whose spellbinding one-legged footwork created whirlwinds of chaos wherever he went. It was impossible to outrun Saci, who could make himself disappear at will. Sometimes he would transform into Matita Pereira, an elusive bird whose melancholic song seemed to come from nowhere. The only way to placate this legendary trickster was to leave him a bottle of cachaça.

Eventually Garrincha’s dazzling dribbles came to the attention of scouts from Rio de Janeiro and he was offered trials for the big clubs. He arrived at Vasco da Gama’s São Januário ground without boots, turned up late for a trial with São Cristóvão and when asked to stay overnight by Fluminense feared for his job and returned on the last train home. His insouciance counted heavily against him. Eventually a supporter and scout from Botafogo, a modest football and regatta club, but one that had a strong journalistic and intellectual following, dragged SC Pau Grande’s number 7 back to the capital.

On clapping eyes on Garrincha, the Botafogo coach Gentil Cardoso is said to have muttered, “Now they’re bringing cripples to me.” He then asked the young bumpkin, “How do you play, son?” to which Garrincha replied, “With boots!” After watching him kick a ball around Cardoso had seen enough to throw Garrincha into the first-team squad’s practice match. After the game the Brazil left-back Nílton Santos, who had been nutmegged for the first time in his career by the upstart, is said to have told Cardoso that the boy was a monster and should be signed on the spot if only to prevent him being snapped up by one of their rivals. The Rio press enthusiastically heralded Garrincha’s signing as a professional footballer in 1953. Their only criticism was “the boy dribbles too much.”

In Sweden in 1958, Garrincha was the best in the world in his position. Four years later in Chile he was the finest player in the world. After he had been officially announced as the player of the tournament, the poet Vinicius de Moraes composed the sonnet 'O Anjo das Pernas Tortas' [The Angel with Twisted Legs]:

'Didi passes and Garrincha advances

Observing intently the leather glued to his foot

He dribbles once, then again, then rests

Measuring the moment to attack

Then by second nature he launches forward

Faster than the speed of thought.'

In his June 1962 article “O Escrete de Loucos” [The Squad of Madmen] published in Fatos & Fotos, Nelson Rodrigues, the great Brazilian cronista reported that the European squads had been working on strategies to stop Garrincha but had not taken into account that the Brazilian team was a phenomenon made up of pranksters who played the game from the soul. In the last minutes of the final against Czechoslovakia, Garrincha had turned the opposition to stone. One defender even put his hands on his hips in total capitulation. Regarding the earlier 3-1 victory against England in the quarter-final, Rodrigues wrote, “The Englishman plays football whereas the Brazilian lives and suffers every move.”

Garrincha fathered fourteen children by five different women. One of them, Ulf, was born after the 1958 World Cup final and grew up in Sweden1. Garrincha had a lengthy and tempestuous relationship with the samba diva Elza Soares. He drank heavily and was responsible for the death of his mother-in-law in a car accident where he was drunk behind the wheel. When he finally hung up his boots, after a brief comeback with the small Rio club Olaria in 1972, he faded into oblivion. One of his last public appearances was at the carnival in Rio de Janeiro. The shots of his hunched bloated figure sitting alone on the front of the Mangueira samba school float saddened the nation.

Following Garrincha’s death from the complications of alcoholism on 20 January 1983, Hamilton Pereira da Silva, a poet and a politician from Tocantins, composed Requiem for an Angel:

They stood in the cortege

And offered him wings

Multicoloured wings

Vermilion, white

Chocolate

Grey

Hang gliding on the wing

For you who lived as an angel for so many years

These wings would have been meaningless

Before the eyes of the people

In the magical glow

Of those Sunday afternoons…

Two days after the announcement of Garrincha’s death, the poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade published an article entitled “Mané and the Dream” in the Jornal do Brasil in which he declared that football had become a panacea for Brazil’s sickness. Garrincha had been a reluctant hero who had temporarily banished the nation’s inferiority complex and inspired the have-nots to greater things, He pleaded for another Garrincha to rekindle the nation’s dreams: “The god that rules football is sardonic and insincere. Garrincha was one of his envoys, delegated to make a mockery of everything and everyone in his stadiums. The god of football is also cruel because he concealed from Garrincha the faculty to realise his mission as a divine agent.”

In his imagined chronicle Diario do Tarde Paulo Mendes Campos wrote that the rules of Association Football did not apply when Garrincha was on the pitch. The pushes, trips and shoves against him went unpunished and it was only when the embarrassed defender fearful of ridicule by the crowd pulled at his shirt that the complicit referee would be reluctantly forced to award a foul.

Despite these chansons de geste by Brazil’s greatest living writers and poets, the truth of the matter was that Seu Mané’s trickery defied literary description. Football was not an art. Garrincha had held a mirror up to the nation.

His body was taken from the clinic in Botafogo to the Maracanã stadium. Nílton Santos insisted that his teammate be buried in Pau Grande and not in the new mausoleum for professional footballers in the Jardim da Saudade. Traffic came to a halt on the Avenida Brasil as the cortège passed by with mourners crowding the sides of the road and others throwing flowers from the overhead bridges. “Garrincha you made the world smile and now you make it cry” had been daubed on a tree. As the mayhem of cars finally approached Pau Grande the bottleneck became so great that people were forced to abandon their vehicles and walk to the little church.

Seu Mané had played the game for its own sake. His fancy footwork, element of surprise and capacity for improvisation had nourished the nation’s soul. A memorial stone was placed in the cemetery. Its inscription read, “He was a sweet child. He spoke with the birds.” Tostão, his teammate, would write on the 20th anniversary of Mané’s death, “Garrincha was much more than a dribbler, a ballet dancer and a showman, he was a star.”

My sentimental quest begins at the Botafogo Sports and Regatta Club on Avenida Venceslau Brás. It’s now used mainly by the young socios (members) to play volleyball and basketball. A picture of Nílton Santos in the entrance reminds the club of its glory years. His black and white striped shirt with its lone star hangs in a display case next to the trophy cabinet.

When Garrincha played for Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas it was a deeply superstitious club. The day before the game a mass communion with eggnog, milk and biscuits would took place and on match day the club’s silk curtains were tied up to symbolise the ensnarement of the opponents’ legs. An hour before the game each player was compelled to take a mud bath and eat three apples. An ex-Fluminense player had to be included in every team. Before each game a stray mongrel called Biriba would piss on the leg of a player. When things were going badly for the team the Botafogo president would release the little dog from the stand to run onto the pitch and distract the opposition. Biriba became so important at the club that he was included in one of Botafogo’s championship winning team photographs.

I set off past the Aterro do Flamengo with its fenced playgrounds full of youths playing football, I look over at the Marina da Glória with the mist-topped Sugar Loaf in the background, heading for Praça Quinze where the boats come in from Niterói. Out in the bay the Ilha das Cobras is surrounded by frigates. I drive fast on the Linha Vermelha heading north in the direction of Galeão. To my left is the vast sprawl of the Complexo do Alemão favela, the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz and the toy-town church of Nossa Senhora da Penha perched on its sacred mount. I reach the artificial brine lake designed to deter the favelados from hanging around the beaches of the Zona Sur and then drive north towards the Federal University Hospital block where I had lectured the day before. A nauseating smell of sewage fills the air. I head north-east through the teeming run-down districts of Baixada Fluminense, which are full of old trucks, new schools and stray dogs.

In Casa-Grande & Senzala [The Master and the Slaves], Gilberto Freyre uses the term bagaceira – the shed where the dry pulpy residue left after the extraction of sugar is stored – as a metonym for the exploitative plantation culture. Freyre wrote that “Brazil is sugar and sugar is the Black” and both were linked in the collective unconscious with sensuality and sexuality. Bagaceira was later used to refer generically to marginalised riff-raff. Football had provided Garrincha with an escape route from enslavement but when all the fibre had been squeezed out of him cachaça left him as bagaceira.

The municipality of Magé with its farming communities guarded by the Dedo de Deus mountain marks the official leaving of Rio de Janeiro. We turn right along a bumpy narrow road filled with buses and motorcyclists, cross the single lane railway track, go past a man on a horse and open roadside kiosks selling tyres. The people seem gentler and more approachable than in Grande Rio. At a birosca that sells buns and cachaça I stop to ask the way to Pau Grande. Chortling, the bar owner points to his groin and says, “Aqui está.” “Pau grande”, I later learned, was slang in Brazilian Portuguese for “big cock”.

After another 15 minutes drive the Estadio Mané Garrincha, the home of SC Pau Grande, comes into view, its rustic white walls and small arched entrance resemble an Andalusian village bullring. The grass is lush and samba drifts from the television in the clubhouse. The president, plump, with a Zapata moustache and dressed only in fading khaki shorts, greets me effusively. In one corner of the clubhouse are three cases of memorabilia, one filled with small trophies, the other two with crumpled newspaper cuttings and posters defining the ascent of the Little Bird. One of the pictures shows an 11-year-old Garrincha sticking out in a team of men and another his father Amaro, looking down affectionately on his young son from a small wooden veranda. In some of the group photographs there are boys who resembled my own teammates from school, pale solemn faces, straight brown hair and small chins.

The president tells me that Garrincha used to love to return to Pau Grande for a pelada with his old friends after playing at the Maracanã. Over a glass of cachaça he tells me the club are hoping to raise money to create a small museum. He also reminds me that the black and white striped SC Pau Grande strip is identical to that of Botafogo except for the star. I offer him money to buy a ball, but he refuses and we settle for just another photograph. I then walk down the cobbled road to the centre of the village where a small bust of Garrincha greets the few visitors. To its right are a series of murals illustrating how Pau Grande used to look in its prime.

América Fabril closed in 1971 and its buildings now operate as a distribution centre for mineral water but the Neo-Gothic grey and white Capela de Sant’Ana that had been overwhelmed by Botafogo supporters at Garrincha’s funeral is unchanged. A car blasting out propaganda for Sandra Garrincha, a candidate in the Magé prefectural elections, drives by, followed by a group of young girls waving flags in support of her campaign.

I ask one of the security guards at the gate of the old factory if I can have a look around. The factory looks much the same as it did in the days when it produced cloth. The chimneystack is still standing but there are now vast empty spaces giving parts of it the appearance of a vacant exhibition space. In some of the rooms machines rumble away bottling water from the mountain springs. I thank my guide and walk back into the village in the direction of the lemon bungalow which the Brazilian football federation had bought Garrincha for his part in the World Cup victory in Chile in 1962. Two of Garrincha’s friendly grandnieces are standing on the veranda talking to a young man astride his bicycle. Grilles guard the windows of the house even though I am told there is still next to no crime in Pau Grande. There is a mural of Garrincha’s head in his playing days at the front door and on the wall of the house looking onto the street is written the legendary number 7 he carried on his back and the words “jogando certo com as pernas tortas” [playing straight with twisted legs]. One of the girls invites me to enter a small shrine at the side of the house. Among the photographs and medallions is a framed tribute fastened on one of the walls:

'Garrinchando

'Garrincha pretends that he despises the ball, but she knew he would always come back to pick her up.

The dribble was his courtship.

Garrincha, you passed through life, overcoming all obstacles that were put before you. But in the end that relentless adversary Death defeated your dribble.

From that moment on the ball and the football universe became orphans of the most blessed contorted legs football has ever known.'

Pau Grande is still full of gente boa. Doors do not need to be locked at night. Round the corner from Garrincha’s old house an elderly man tells me that the former mill town is still full of Garrincha’s ancestors. He then leads me up a path behind the houses that reminds me of the Brackenwood edgeland of my childhood, full of weeds, plastic bottles and butterflies. After a short walk up a steep incline we reach an empty white outhouse with two palomino horses tied up outside. 20 metres below the high bank is a clearing strewn with twigs and leaves. At either end are goal posts without nets. I climb down and start to run close to the right edge where patches of grass grow sheltered by overhanging trees. I pause. I then sidestep to the right and accelerate. I twist round with my back to the goal, shimmy and shoot. I feel free. When I can fly no more I sit on a bench behind the far goalposts. Once I have gained my breath I rise and walk to the edge of the ridge and look down on the mill, the little chapel and the orderly rows of houses.

An hour later I drive on up to the cemetery at Raiz da Serra. As I am parking the car, a skeletal drunk in shorts, sandals and a fading orange shirt staggers out of the Encontro dos Amigos bar offering to guide me to Garrincha’s grave. He tells me that the previous Friday three Vasco da Gama players had made the pilgrimage from Rio to pray for inspiration before their game against Flamengo. Tucked away in the middle of a row of closely packed tombstones I am shown a faded inscription, which says “Here lies the man who was the happiness of the people Mané Garrincha.” On the worn headstone his date of death is recorded incorrectly as 20 January 1985. There are no flowers or graffiti. A singer and friend Agnaldo Timóteo had paid for the funeral, the tombstone had been paid for by his captain Nílton Santos and a local family called Rogonisky had allowed Garrincha’s remains to be buried in the same grave as their 10-year-old son who had been killed in a road traffic accident.

I then climb up to look at the newer but equally stark and neglected obelisk. Written on a memorial tablet are the words:

'Garrincha

The Happiness of Pau Grande

The Happiness of Magé

The Happiness of Brazil

The Happiness of the World.'

As I sit in silence in this deserted cemetery I think that it could only have been my great-grandfathers’ deep loyalty to street, neighbourhood and even mill that prevented them packing their bags during the slump. It was in towns like Oldham that association football first changed from a game played by gentlemen into a profitable attractive Saturday afternoon spectator sport. As I sit by Garrincha’s grave I see their familiar faces under their flat caps, their trunks bent over by the damp and onerous labour, hurrying past the smokestacks and rows of terraced houses to Boundary Park. The Latics were yet another stabilising devotion that stopped them sailing down to Rio on a Lamport and Holt steamer.

Football has been hijacked by television money and sponsorship deals. It was now much more of a spectacle but had fewer magic moments. Running fast with the ball glued to your toes was high risk and was decried by millionaire coaches. Wingers like Garrincha (outside rights and lefts) had been replaced by a new breed of wing-backs that could attack and defend. Power and victory were what counted these days.

A small brown wren-like bird with a large cocked-up tail, sharp beak and shiny black cap flits under a neighbouring headstone and interrupts my litany of regrets. Dusk is falling and with a heavy heart I leave through the dark forests on the steep ascent to Petrópolis. I am now certain that when I have started to dribble my lines, when I can no longer remember my date of birth or the names of my children the alchemist will still be around beckoning me to come and join him for a pedala in the clearing above the cotton mill.

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creative-salem · 8 years

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Link Share - Highlights from around the North Shore

Every week (when we can swing it because Salem keeps us SOOO busy) we compile a link share of stories about creativity, local blogs, and great press about local happenings, artists, and businesses AND links to local calls for art. If you ever see something awesome online that gets those creative juices flowing send us a link!

Dining With Kids at Adea’s Mediterranean Kitchen in Salem

I dine out for work quite a bit. subscribe now Rarely do I bring my spawn with me, though-save the time I dragged Peter to a few tiki bars before he started day care. Andy is now too picky, and Peter’s most adventurous cuisine is sweet potato puree.

6 Best Food Tours Where You’d Least Expect Them

Foodie cities like New York and Philadelphia offer a cornucopia of Culinary Walking Tours, but the following six – Frederick MD, Salem MA, Richmond VA, Pittsburgh PA, Providence RI, and Boston MA – would not be the first places you’d think of for first-class epicurean adventures.

Kokeshi Bursts Onto the North Shore With Fried Chicken Ramen and Octopus Hot Dogs

Almost two years after opening Bambolina, an acclaimed “neo-Neopolitan” pizza-focused restaurant in Salem, owners Tim Haigh and Larry Leibowitz have introduced a new project to the neighborhood: Kokeshi. Now open at 41 Lafayette St., a very short walk from Bambolina, Kokeshi features Haigh’s and Leibowitz’s take on Asian street food, from ramen to banh mi and beyond.

Off Season of the Witch: Reasons to Visit Salem in Late Winter

Autumn gets all the attention, but late winter is also the season of the witch in Salem, Massachusetts. More than 300 years after the witch trials and executions that occurred between 1692-1693, Salem is known for its place during a dark mark on our nation’s history (the events of which remain a cautionary tale about isolationism, and pursuing an “other” as a threat).

Woodturning the Salem Film Festival 2017 Best Storyteller Award

Woodturning the Salem Film Festival 2017 Best Storyteller Award. Maple vase 12Tx6w with two carved spirals and mother of pearl pinstripes represents a film reel unraveling.

Salem Creative Agency Has Success With Local Job Board

SALEM, MA – Creative agency Sir Isaac moved from Jamaica Plain in Boston to Salem around 2011. The company has about a dozen employees – many of whom live on the North Shore – and found that the energy of Salem worked well for them.

Stuff You Missed in History Class: History Meets Fiction at House of the Seven Gables

Tracy and Holly talk to lead interpreter and researcher David Moffat about the evolution of the historic Turner-Ingersoll mansion into the fiction-inspired House of the Seven Gables.

Salem Chop Suey Sandwiches, A Sign of Summer – New England Historical Society

Chop suey sandwiches have marked the beginning of summer for generations of people who grew up on the North Shore of Massachusetts. The beloved cheap treat was once sold throughout New England and as far south as Coney Island in New York. They’ve been sold at the Salem Willows seaside park since at least 1905.

Salem cookie startup Goodnight Fatty’s goes from half-baked to full-blown – Boston Business Journal

When Erik Sayce and fiancée Jennifer Pullen first opened their pop-up cookie shop last fall, they didn’t tell anyone what they were doing for two weeks. Not family, not friends. They had put down $1,200 for a small electric oven and other supplies, and made a deal with a local cafe called Derby Joe ‘s to sell cookies on weekend evenings.

Hotel Happening

And now for some good (re-)development news: the conversion of the 1895 Newmark’s Building on Essex Street into the new Hotel Salem, a 44-room boutique hotel complete with rooftop bar, ground-floor restaurant, and shuffleboard in the basement. The Hotel Salem will join The Merchant as the second Salem hostelry to be operated by Lark Hotels,…

Gunning for glory

SALEM – Revolutionary War Capt. Levi Preston of Danvers is a die-hard New England Patriots fan, firing his musket at every home game – despite the fact that he died in 1850, 110 years before the Patriots would play their first game at Boston University’s Nickerson Field.

Completely Random Subjective Food/Drink Poll Because Polls Are Cool

SalemRecycles Annual Book Swap

Presented by SalemRecycles, the community comes out in droves and...

PEM PM ARTOPIA 2017

The Write Space: January Gill O'Neil

ST PADDYS POLL - GREY VS RED CORNED BEEF

A battle for the ages and apparently a geographically influenced...

Annual National Guard Muster Schedule and Information - APRIL 1, 2017

First Muster â Salem, Mass Saturday, April 1, 2017 The...

Life After Midnight: Strange History, Salem Style Episode 2

"Life After Midnight: Strange History, Salem Style" is a podcast...

Witch Hunt Podcast Episode 10

Witch Hunt Podcast Episode 10: It's Still Happening - Show...

FYI Salem #22 - Matt Smith, Salem's Director of Traffic & Parking

Tune in for the twice-monthly podcast version of FYI Salem!...

Feminists of Salem Podcast -Episode 1

Our first episode (ever!) of our new podcast series. Currently...

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Link Share – Highlights from around the North Shore was originally published on Creative Salem

#Link share #Salem News #Salem Patch #Streets of Salem #Salem MA #Creative Salem #Salem Events

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morganbelarus · 7 years

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The airports of the future are here, but the United States is behind

They'll be a lot better than this.

Image: Shutterstock / i viewfinder

No matter how well-regarded a particular airport happens to be, the slog from curb to cabin is pretty much the same wherever you go. A decades-old paradigm of queues, security screens, snack vendors, and gate-waiting prevailsthe only difference is the level of stress. Transiting a modern hub such as Munich or Seoul is more easily endured than threading your way through the perpetual construction zones that pass for airports around New York.

The sky portal of the 2040s, however, is likely to be free of such delights. Many of us will be driven to the terminal by autonomous cars; our eyes, faces, and fingers will be scanned; and our bags will have a permanent ID that allows them to be whisked from our homes before we even set out. Some of these airports will no longer be relegated to the outskirts of townthey will merge with city centers, becoming new destination cities within a city for people without travel plans. Shall we get dinner, watch a movie, see a concert, shop? People will choose to go to the airport. Your employer may even relocate there.

These are the types of infrastructure investments and technologies that will, in theory, allow airports to largely eradicate the dreaded waiting. Travelers will migrate around the terminal faster and see fewer walls and physical barriers thanks to the abundance of sophisticated sensors, predicts Dallas-based architecture and design firm Corgan. The company recently assembled its concepts of how airports will evolve, based on extensive research of passenger experiences at various airports and the greater role technology may play.

SEE ALSO: Americans are quickly losing street cred abroad

One day, the airport will know everything about everyone moving in the airport, said Seth Young, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at Ohio State University. The goal will be to deploy a security infrastructure thats constantly screening people from the door to the gate, and not having this toll-booth mentality, he said. We know that 99.9 percent of the passengers are clean, so why are we wasting time screening all of those?

Its not a space to be in, its a space for you to move through.

Much of this technology is likely to be seen outside the U.S. first, given the advanced age of most American airports and the more robust infrastructure funding available in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. In the 2017 Skytrax awards, only 14 airports in the U.S. even made the top 100.

One can look to Singapore for a glimpse of how airports will change over the next 20 years. Changi Airport, a pioneer of the industry, recently opened a living lab to pursue further innovation. In March, it was named the worlds best airport for the fifth consecutive year by Skytrax.

One reason airports tend to look and function remarkably alike is that theyre designed to accommodate air travel infrastructuresecurity, passenger ticketing, baggage, ground transportwith the primary concerns being safety and minimal overhead for their tenant airlines.

SEE ALSO: Perks for American CEOs aren't what they used to be

Today its what you call a transient spaceits not a space to be in, its a space for you to move through, said Jonathan Massey, the aviation leader for Corgan, which has overseen the design of major terminals worldwide, including Atlanta, Dallas, Shanghai, Dalian, China, and Los Angeles. We need to evolve the terminals into being little cities.

As part of the research, Corgan designers measured anxiety levels for different passenger types. The greatest offender among all groups was the security checkpoint, that confined space of shoe-doffing, laptop-extraction, and frisky government agents barking orders. A lot of the stress in an airport is perceived, its spatial, said Samantha Flores, a Corgan associate. But when it comes to the biggest infrastructure burden, one aspect of todays airports stands out.

The big, big issue, said Dwight Pullen, is luggage. Pullen, national director of aviation at Skanska USA, a construction firm with numerous airport projects, including the renovation of New Yorks infamous LaGuardia, said: Think about how much infrastructure and technology and time is spent on bags. Its a huge issue. Its not one that has been figured out.

Changi Airports new Terminal 4, which will open later this year, will feature an array of fast and seamless travel (FAST) technologies to speed people-processing without the need for human supervision, from face-recognition software to automated bag-tagging and checking.

SEE ALSO: This sculptor wants to turn your house into a clock

Two U.S. carriers, Delta Air Lines Inc. and JetBlue Airways Corp., recently began trials of biometrics data as a way to speed your way. JetBlue is testing facial recognition equipment in Boston to match travelers with their passports and visa photos, while Delta just began trials of a similar system for bag drops at its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub. Delta is also trying out fingerprints as a potential future replacement for boarding passes and ID and, via its mobile app, now offers customers real-time maps showing their checked bags location.

Were rapidly moving toward a day when your fingerprint, iris, or face will become the only ID youll need for any number of transactions throughout a given day, said Gil West, Deltas chief operating officer.

Its like having a Super Bowl worth of people every single day.

Amid all this increased efficiency, airports are also keen to have people linger so they'll buy more stuffand that means a continuous focus on more upscale retail options. The number of passengers that flow through airports really rivals any other mechanism out there that can congregate that many customers in one place, says Ken Buchanan, executive vice president of revenue management for Dallas-Fort Worth International, the fourth-largest U.S. airport by passenger numbers. Its like having a Super Bowl worth of people every single day.

But while technology helps make the airport experience more pleasant, the size of that captive audience may begin shrinking due to, well, technology.

One thing that may thin out the terminal crowds is cars. Ohio States Young and others see a day when autonomous vehiclesand air taxis of the sort Uber envisionswill siphon off a chunk of shorter flights that are 500 miles or less. For U.S. airports, the ascension of self-driving cars will create a costly conundrum: how to replace parking revenue, which typically represents a quarter of annual airport budgets.

SEE ALSO: Air France plans lower cost airline to attract millennials

To find new revenue, airport executives will need to attract dollars in other ways, via dining, shopping, and entertainment. Since that may not be enough, new business models will be needed for ground transportation and commercial office space; perhaps new revenue may accrue from baggage delivery service.

Amenities in an airportmovies, bowling, butterfly gardens, and virtual reality golfare becoming de rigueur for many Asian and Middle Eastern hubs. Singapores Jewel Changi extension at Terminal 1, set to open in early 2019, will offer a five-story garden with thousands of trees and plants, along with a 40-meter (131-foot) Rain Vortex lighted water display. Similar themes are apparent in the designs for Helsinki Airports Terminal 2 expansion, set for 2021, which includes an indoor forest.

At Changi, concession revenues rose 5 percent last year to a record S$2.16 billion ($1.6 billion), while the worlds busiest airport, Atlantas Hartsfield-Jackson International, topped $1 billion in concession sales in 2016, also a record.

Our efforts to grow Changis commercial business and provide an enjoyable shopping and dining experience is part and parcel of enhancing the overall airport experience for our passengers, and will continue in the years to come, the airport said in an emailed statement.

No matter what, Young said, airports want to make it efficient. That means getting through quicklybe it arriving, departing, or transferring. But they love it when people are at the airport, he added, because of the opportunities to spend money.

This article originally published at Bloomberg here

More From this publisher : HERE

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The airports of the future are here, but the United States is behind was originally posted by 16 MP Just news

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samjpullen · 4 years

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Fancy the MX Master 3? It's Currently $999 and £99 on Amazon Below :) USA 🇺🇸 = https://amzn.to/32XkEaK UK 🇬🇧 = https://amzn.to/32PPHoO Want me to review your product ? - contact @ samjpullen.com Timestamps ⬇️ Introduction - 00:00 Unboxing - 2:03 Compare to MX Master 2s - 3:07 Conclusion? - 8:03 MASTERED FOR MAC: MX Master 3 wireless mouse fits seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem. Get more out of your Mac and iPad with advanced functionality. The Space Gray design blends form with function ULTRAFAST SCROLLING: The electromagnetic MagSpeed scroll wheel uses controlled electromagnetic pulses for easy shifts between modes. Swiss-designed technology ensures precision, speed and silence INTUITIVE CONTROLS: Ergonomically sculpted to suit the shape of your palm, the MX Master 3 for Mac features ideally positioned thumb controls. Create, work, and play more intuitively MULTIPLE COMPUTER FUNCTION: Effortlessly transition between your computer, iPad and laptop. Control multiple Mac computers at once using Flow, for a more seamless workflow from mouse to keyboard EASY GESTURE CONTROLS: Move the mouse to switch easily between desktops, display Launchpad and open Mission Control – all with a touch of the gesture-buttons APP-SPECIFIC CUSTOMISATIONS: MX Master 3 comes with macOS and app-specific profiles, including programmable settings for all your favourite gaming, creativity, and office PC apps on Mac My equipment https://ift.tt/2FiuM5t Check out my channel http://www.youtube.com/samjpullen Don't forget to subscribe! - http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=samjpullen My Website - https://ift.tt/13TnT0o Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/samjpullen Facebook - https://ift.tt/13TnU4l G+ - https://ift.tt/2xJOKhE My 2nd Channel - http://www.youtube.com/sjpvlogs #MXMaster3Mac #MXMaster3 #LogitechMXMaster Sam Pullen is a Youtube creator that reviews, demo's and talks about Technology, Just an average guy doing something he loves talking about tech from companies such as Samsung, HTC, Nokia, LG, Huawei Apple and many more. by Sam Pullen

#YouTube #samjpullen

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charlesccastill · 5 years

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Doble Engineering Leases 79,128 SF for its New Headquarters in Marlborough

Boston— Newmark Knight Frank announced that it has recently completed a 79,129-square-foot lease to Doble Engineering Company at 123 Felton Street in Marlborough, MA.

NKF represented both the property owner, 123 Felton Street LLC, and the tenant in the transaction.

Doble Engineering Company (Doble) signed the lease following NKF’s strategic analysis of suitable, local options for the company’s new headquarters. The firm needed a new space after the 2018 sale of its prior headquarters location at 85 Walnut Street in Watertown, Massachusetts, which NKF’s Capital Markets team arranged.

123 Felton Street is a single-story, 72,129-squre-foot office building located directly off of Route 20 in Marlborough. A converted warehouse facility, the building provides an incredibly unique combination of first-class office space, superior window line, and the flexibility for lab, R&D or other uses that require higher ceiling heights.

Additionally, 123 Felton’s Route 20 location provides swift access to Route 495 and the Mass Pike as well as the major retail project just completed at Apex Center in Marlborough. NKF closely advised ownership in developing a leasing strategy to capitalize on all of the building’s superior attributes in order to ensure the optimal result for the property.

Founded in 1920, Doble Engineering Company is a leader in power grid diagnostic solutions. Doble serves customers around the globe and its companies and product lines include Manta Test Systems, Morgan Schaffer, Vanguard Instruments, and Xtensible Solutions. Doble is part of the Utility Solutions Group of ESCO Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ESE).

After conducting a thorough market search, Doble ultimately selected 123 Felton Street due to its single-story nature and ability to accommodate Doble’s need for first-class space with the flexibility for multiple R&D uses under one roof. NKF Executive Managing Directors J.R. McDonald and Matt Pullen, along with Senior Managing Director Dan Krysiak, represented Doble in the transaction, while NKF Senior Managing Director Tyler McGrail represented ownership. Additionally, Doble and ownership will be expanding the building by approximately 7,000 square feet, bringing the total transaction to 79,129 square feet. Doble has engaged Visnick and Caulfield to provide architectural services and J. Calnan & Associates as their general contractor for the work to be completed at the facility.

“After a thorough search in the marketplace, it was clear that 123 Felton Street is well-served to accommodate Doble’s unique space needs,” said McDonald. “This was a significant transaction in the 495 West marketplace, as Doble is moving west to capitalized on the growing amenity base, easy highway access and centralized location.”

“It was a pleasure to work with ownership to develop a successful leasing strategy for 123 Felton Street and to secure a long-term tenancy for the building,” added Mcgrail. “It was clear how unique the building was in the marketplace and I give immense credit to Bill Kouchalakos and Paul Grant for being patient and executing on their vision for this first-class asset.

Doble plans to take occupancy of its new space in Q4 2019, once the build-out/expansion is complete.

from boston condos ford realtor https://bostonrealestatetimes.com/doble-engineering-leases-79128-sf-for-its-new-headquarters-in-marlborough/

#boston #condos #boston condos #boston luxury condo #boston condominium #boston rentals #boston condo

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nancypullen · 3 years

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Splendiferous

It’s been a wonderful week here on the Pullen spread. I played in the dirt and I’m dreaming of summer gardens, I did some crafting, I had dinner with my tribe, and the mister and I just celebrated the 39th anniversary of our first date. Thirty-nine years. That’s a long time to date someone. Still crazy about him too. I gave him a homemade card and he brought me flowers and breakfast. He wins.

Aren’t they gorgeous? All because a handsome young trooper courted a silly eighteen year old girl. He was twenty-six when we met, and in his defense I don’t think he knew how young I was. I guess thirty-nine years and two kids later it doesn’t really matter. Never question your happily ever after. Did I mention that I’ve been puttering in the gardens? Mostly getting the raised beds cleaned up and ready. This was the view from where I was kneeling while tidying up around the lavender. The fragrance was heavenly and the sky was achingly blue.

The bees will be all over that lavender as soon as it starts blooming. Phoebe came outside to keep me company while I worked. She has been strictly an indoor kitty, mostly for her safety but also because she can’t be trusted not to get herself into some sort of pickle. It was just too pretty outside to deny her a trial run. She was delighted. Rolling around in the sun, watching my every move from the deck...and then she saw her first butterfly. A big yellow butterfly fluttered and flitted all around her and then danced away. To say that she was shocked is putting it mildly.

She kept that expression on her face long enough for me to grab my phone and snap pictures. It appears to have been a life altering moment for her. That is one kooky cat. Anywho, the beds are finished. I have two San Marzano tomato plants, a healthy little basil, and a couple of sweet bell pepper plants in -just in time for a cold snap next week. I’ll be the lady outside in her pajamas on Tuesday night putting pillow cases over little plants. It wouldn’t be spring without at least one frost panic, right? I’m going to toss some dill seed into a pot on the deck, maybe I can control it there. It always goes nuts in the garden. I’ll throw some zinnia seeds around too, just because they’re so pretty and easy. Everything is looking pretty again,isn’t it? I ran up to Providence to send (yet another) box to the world’s cutest grandgirl and everything was blooming.

After what felt like an exceptionally long, gray, damp winter I just want to do a happy dance when I see all of this color. And that’s not even the prettiest spot, just outside the door of the UPS store. Yep, my heart is light and I’m embracing the season and brighter days. That’s it. That’s the whole post. Nothing interesting or profound, just a gardening granny who is finding a whole lot of joy in the little things these days. Those little things add up and make for a lovely life. You won’t hear any complaints from me. I don’t have to win lotto to know that I’m a lucky duck. Amazing what a little sunshine does for the soul, isn’t it? Signing off before I get too mushy about sunshine and dirt. It’s early spring yet, I need to pace myself. There’s still a lot of planting and blooming ahead. Brace yourselves. Sending out loads of love. Stay safe, stay well, and soak up some sun. XOXO, Nancy

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josephstevensca · 7 years

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Ashley_Pullen Ashley Pullen https://t.co/6ta1rC4QRz

— Mvng Cmpny Studio CA (@mvgstudiocityca) March 11, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js from Twitter https://twitter.com/mvgstudiocityca

from Moving Companies Studio City California http://ift.tt/2HqVULz

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delicatelyoriginalcheesecak-blog · 7 years

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How TextBetter Text Service For Organisation Text Enables Your Landline

Organisations and federal government firms will now have the ability to send text messages utilizing their landline or toll-free telephone number thanks to AT&T's brand-new Landline Texting service. We get it. From information democratisation to mobile technique and advanced analytics tasks, our digital analytics experts understand the complete scope of your challenges. Overall, 72% of all teens, not just those with a cell phone, say they make voice get in touch with a cellphone and 38% did so on a daily basis. AT&T Internet customers can use this app to customize their Home Wi-Fi network. You will then get to use the landline to its complete potential by enabling text messaging. Many teenagers in the focus groups spoke of texting one parent while calling another. SMS text message marketing blends effortlessly with your e-mail marketing and marketing techniques, and enables you to reach the consumers that are most likely to buy. You might likewise go through other restrictions and exemptions of liability, and responsibilities, as set out in any Bell regards to service that use to you Contact us today to have your existing landline SMS-enabled. In many cases, the teenagers preferred using their mobile phone over the computer for accessing social media sites, shown by the following remark from a young boy in middle school: I normally utilize Facebook and twitter a lot on my phone. After the trial, the service is available for simply $19.95 per month. OpenMarket is delighted to offer this new and innovative mobile messaging capability to our enterprise consumers," said Jay Emmet, general supervisor for OpenMarket. Public-Facing Information - publicly available social networks profiles, content from external task bulletin boards. Girls talk more often with friends on their mobile phone than boys. In all the nations, a minimum of half of mobile phone owners say they send out text messages with their gadgets. The phone has to be able to obtain the text and transform it to a voice message or reveal it on the screen. We suggest that you use Google Chrome for accessing our (or any) site. The app features a full-fledged chat service, voice call service, and video calls. Among a legion of business phone number apps that service both iOS and Android users alike, eVoice differentiates itself through a logically set out UI, a host of easy but powerful menu alternatives, and affordable monthly rates that vary in scope for sole owners to small companies. AT THE start of this year, 2 straws in the wind caught the attention of those who follow the advancement of expert system (AI) globally. IPhone X offer: Credits end at end of term, early payoff or upgrade, whichever occurs initially.landline phone with texting capabilities ,texting from a landline,texting landline phones,texting to landline"/> If part of your interaction with your customer is to take a charge card number or other Individual Recognizable Info, PII, then you should think about getting that details in a various technique, such as through a protected online web type. Phone Deal: Moto e4 $6.05 Lease: Mo. quantity excl. . Was sluggish, with customers in 1995 sending out on average just 0.4 message per GSM customer per month. You can access Google Voice either from a web internet browser by means of browser extensions, third-party apps or among Google's Mobile Apps available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Tap one of our marketing specialists free with our Enterprise Plan. Give us a Glassdoor evaluation!" Thomas Pullen, an employer for an industrial-chemical company, said that his business's ratings were abysmal till he released an internal e-mail project: I told everyone, 'Hey, go to Glassdoor! Keep your service communications different from your personal texts. This implies that most of those whose mobile phone do support email, use it at least occasionally. The totally free account only lets you call toll-free numbers and other Line2 clients, however, it's a nice method to try the service out without opening your wallet. The individual sending out the messages is sending them to everyone on that contact list. To help you to manage your International Calling add-on usage, we will send you text message warnings (complimentary of charge) informing you that you are approaching the voice usage levels set out above. Hispanic and african-american teenagers are most likely to use their phones frequently for school work than white teens, who still utilize it for this purpose, however less often. And numerous users can be alerted simultaneously of new texts received. Move the SMS portion of landline and toll complimentary numbers to Heymarket. Vonage Mobile App features put flexible, free calling at your fingertips. TextBetter is a patent pending text service which text enables your landline number (likewise referred to as landline texting) and permits a user to send and get text messages from their email. One app to show up on the scene recently and gain a fair bit of traction is called Line2 It's pretty simple: you sign up for an account and pick a contact number, which you get to choose from a number of options based upon the location code you desire. Boy 1: My parents just cancelled it a few months back. If they wish to use their own API, prices passes volume," Glubochansky stated.

Quickly retrieve and handle staff member and consumer text communications with the XMS reporting engine. By asking about communication that took place yesterday", we wanted to balance out information from topics who had low or particularly high levels of usage the previous day. . If you survive on the East Coast, your best option is to look up at 6:45 a.m. local time and expect the Earth's shadow to creep throughout the face of the moon at 6:48 a.m. EST The program by provider Guarantee Wireless, an arm of telephone giant Sprint, is particularly important to homeless individuals since they can now use mobile phones to stay connected with welfare, task and shelter officials so they won't miss appointments, and they can communicate with household.

Furthermore, each Text to Landline message provided will be billed $0.25 as a premium service individually from any other text messages. The procedure will be as smooth as if they were texting your smart phone. Mobile marketers might participate in SMS promotions using their own telephone number rather than rely on complicated short codes. This remains in sharp contrast with the price of limitless data strategies offered by the same carriers, which allow the transmission of hundreds of megabytes of information for month-to-month costs of about $15 to $45 in addition to a voice strategy. We also have apps for Android and Apple smartphones and tablets that can access your TextBox on the go. Snapchat is well known for its texting and photo sending capabilities, but you can likewise make free audio and video calls with your Snapchat contacts.

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flauntpage · 7 years

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Your Monday Morning Roundup

The miracle at the Linc.

It hasn’t been a full 24 hours since the end of yesterday’s game and I’m still digesting what happened.

Tyler took over the Live Thread while I was at the game. Definitely worth the really long day (coming from Syracuse).

Jake Elliott became the hero on his record-setting game-winning kick. But there were plenty of other things that happened during the game, and we’ll have plenty of content on it later today. A neat stat I found from Reuben Frank: teams that score 24 points in the fourth quarter are now 90-9-1. The Giants are one of the nine.

Meanwhile, relive Elliott’s kick with Merrill’s call, Joel Embiid’s reaction, and from other fans inside the Linc. And a bonus, Ricky Ricardo’s call in Spanish. Sí señor. Speaking of the spanish play-by-play crew, they had to move to a different booth.

Let’s go!

But first, a word from our sponsors:

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The Roundup:

More on the kick from Sheil Kapadia from the players themselves:

Kamu Grugier-Hill: “He hit that a couple times in practice so we have confidence in him for sure. Honestly, from my angle, it looked wide right, so I was like, ‘Ahhh!’ And then I saw it go through the thing, and I just lost it.”

Jalen Mills: “You see him banging long field goals at practice all the time. So for sure, we already knew that he had a strong leg. That’s why Coach Doug [Pederson] didn’t think twice about putting the field-goal unit out there. So as soon as he kicked it, you saw him get full extension, and he made it.”

There was probably a reason why the Bengals kept Elliot on their practice squad.

Trading Allen Barbre may have made things worse at left guard.

Some injury news: Darren Sproles is reportedly out indefinitely with a broken arm. But he could return in a couple weeks:

With the report from Ian Rapoport of a broken arm, coupled with video, it is likely an isolated ulna fracture. I doubt the accompanying radius bone is broken, so there is some inherent stability. The forearm did not need support as he walked off the field.

Commonly called a “nightstick” fracture, an isolated ulna fracture clearly shows up on X-rays. So the scheduled MRI is likely just precautionary. Do not be surprised if surgery is announced Monday.

It is conceivable that Sproles could be back before mid-October.

—

Breaking Sixers news as owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer are creating a new company for their sports and entertainment business. Scott O’Neil will be the CEO. Check out the logo here.

The Sixers made some rumbles on Friday, officially signing former Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen and are reportedly close to a deal with Kris Humphries.

Will we ever escape the continuous Sixers pattern of Embiid’s health and Jahlil Okafor being in the best shape of his life?

—

The Phillies lost two of three to the Atlanta Braves in their final road series of the season. They fell 7-2 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday, before shutting out Atlanta 2-0 yesterday.

Rhys Hoskins has been quiet in the home run department. It’s because teams are starting to adjust to him:

“They’re staying outside,” Hoskins said. “Whatever the scouting reports say, that’s where the hole is now. The game is about making the adjustments I need to make, then they’ll try to find the next hole.

“That’s what’s beautiful about the game.”

Of the 13 pitches Hoskins saw Sunday, just two were on the inner half of the plate. He took both for balls. Hoskins was 0 for 3 with a walk. He is 5 for 33 (.152) with 12 strikeouts and six walks since his last homer, Sept. 14.

The team’s final homestand begins tonight against the Washington Nationals at 7:05. Aaron Nola takes to the mound against A.J. Cole.

—

The Flyers have reduced their training camp roster to 29 players with just over a week left until the start of the regular season.

They take on the New York Rangers tonight at MSG, where you’ll see Claude Giroux at left wing:

In each of the last two days at practice, the Flyers have once again featured team captain Claude Giroux at left wing on a line with Sean Couturier in the middle and Jakub Voracek on right wing. Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol indicated that, for the first time, the Flyers would have Giroux on left wing in a game situation for Monday’s game in New York.

“It’ll be fun, but I don’t know what to expect,” Giroux said. “Obviously, that’s something we’re looking at [trying] a little bit this year. The game is pretty much the same wherever you are. Offensively, you are kind of all over the place. But it’s just practice right now. After we do it in a game, I’ll be better able to answer those question [about comfort level on the wing].”

—

In other sports news, many teams took part in protesting the National Anthem yesterday by kneeling or staying in their locker room. Others, such as the Eagles, locked arms with teammates, coaches, front office personnel, and members of the military and the Philadelphia Police Department.

Dolphins safety Michael Thomas had some strong comments:

Dolphins safety Michael Thomas started breaking up when talking about Trump calling him "a son of a b!tch." http://pic.twitter.com/Z4wroPcvzW

— Omar Kelly (@OmarKelly) September 24, 2017

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had some thoughts as well:

Brady on @realDonaldTrump comments – "I believe that love is the greatest thing we have, it overcomes a lot of things." http://pic.twitter.com/eZOvwN7kiE

— Chad Amaral (@chad_amaral) September 24, 2017

On the other end of the spectrum, NASCAR owners won’t tolerate anthem protests and had strong feelings if that happened to their drivers.

“Anybody that don’t stand up for the anthem oughta be out of the country. Period. What got ’em where they’re at? The United States,” Petty said in comments reported by the AP.

Richard Childress, a former driver who owns Richard Childress Racing, said any protests from his team members would “get you a ride on a Greyhound bus.”

“Anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in. So many people gave their lives for it. This is America,” Childress reportedly said.

Washington upset the Raiders last night. Dan Snyder and his armpits were happy:

Dan Snyder feeling himself, pit stains and all. #SundayNightFootball http://pic.twitter.com/ARsOki9TSW

— Peep (@PeepsBurgh) September 25, 2017

The Lions fell to the Falcons at home after Golden Tate’s touchdown was called down at the one. They also lost some food:

To make matters worse for the #lions. The food is on fire at Ford Field by the locker room. http://pic.twitter.com/aLFNDj4kc3

— Evan Jankens (@KINGoftheKC) September 24, 2017

I don’t think we’ll see Tony Romo leave the broadcast booth anytime soon.

In basketball news, Dwyane Wade and the Chicago Bulls have agreed on a contract buyout.

In addition to the Cavs, the San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are contenders for Wade once his buyout becomes official, sources said. Wade also has a close relationship with Carmelo Anthony, who will officially become a member of the Thunder on Monday.

Wade, speaking to the AP on Sunday night, indicated that he might decide his next move quickly.

“I’m going to take tonight and some of tomorrow and speak to the teams or players that are on my list and go from there,” Wade said. “My decision is a pure basketball decision, and I’ll make the one that fits me best at this point in my career and with what I feel I have to offer a team that needs what I have to offer.”

—

In the news, a small plane crashed into a home in Whitpain Township.

Neighbors in Kensington called police to inform them a man may have been making Molotov cocktails.

A dam in Puerto Rico is falling apart thanks to Hurricane Maria.

Your Monday Morning Roundup published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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jazzworldquest-blog · 7 years

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USA/CANADA: 2 New Ropeadope CDs Due Oct 6 from Pianist/Composer Richard X Bennett

Pianist/Composer Richard X Bennett

Connects Mumbai & New York City

With 2 New Ropeadope Releases,

His First Recordings on an American Label,

Due October 6

Trio Date "What Is Now" &

Indo-Jazz Quintet Album "Experiments With Truth"

Both Feature Rhythm Section of

Bassist Adam Armstrong & Drummer Alex Wyatt

Baritone Saxophonist Lisa Parrott &

Matt Parker on Tenor/Soprano

Are Added on "Experiments ... "

CD Release Show Set for October 11,

Rockwood Music Hall, NYC

August 25, 2017

Since moving to New York from his native Toronto in the 1990s, pianist and composer Richard X Bennett has thrived as a performer in a broad variety of stylistic contexts. Splitting his time between New York and Mumbai, he released a series of acclaimed albums on several Indian imprints, with his last two on Times Music, India's largest label.

Until now, however, Bennett had yet to put an album out on an American label. On October 6, a dual release by Ropeadope Records will mark the pianist's first American recordings -- the trio date What Is Now and the Indo-jazz quintet session Experiments With Truth. Bennett displays his loose, percussive, and conversational instrumental style on the trio album. The raga-infused music on the quintet album is something else again, as stylistically remote from his trio opus as the Big Apple is from Bollywood.

Bennett is joined on both CDs by bassist Adam Armstrong and drummer Alex Wyatt, with baritone saxophonist Lisa Parrott and tenor and soprano saxophonist Matt Parker augmenting the trio on the quintet album. What Is Now presents Bennett as a bold instrumentalist and as a composer of themes that beg for lyrics. The album's mood, energy, and tone range from the tender opener "Vital Grace" to the playful "Go Against the Tide," from the sanctified sway of "Sefrou Soul" to the cinematic scope of "Bittersweet Success." One also gets a taste of Bennett's sense of humor on a distinctly original doo-wop arrangement of "Over the Rainbow."

Bennett describes the quintet's sound on Experiments With Truth as "Mingus meets raga in the 21st Century." Music he originally conceived and performed with North Indian classical musicians is arranged and performed in a jazz context. "As far as I can tell it's the first time it's been done," Bennett says. "I don't claim to be a raga musician, because first off, the piano isn't a raga instrument. I'd say it's raga-based. I like the analogy they use on cooking shows, 'This is my take on a dosa.' As a jazz musician, this is my take on raga," the vast vocabulary of melodic structures, or modes, upon which classical Indian music is based.

"I was always somewhat of a minimalistic player," Bennett adds. "The blues is also like a specific raga, and if you play it academically it won't sound right. You can't just run the scales. With Indian music, everybody else was doing fusions based on complicated rhythmic figures. I'm much more interested in the melodies."

Experiments With Truth opens with "The Fabulist," a long, persuasively surging piece based on a particularly ancient raga (raga malkauns). "Portrait in Sepia" feels like an Ellingtonian tone poem by way of Calcutta, opening with an ominously swaying cadence designed for Parrott's brawny horn. The album's centerpiece is the two-movement "Durga Suite," which evokes dual but very diverse aspects of the warrior goddess Durga (also known as Devi and Shakti). The title track, which borrows its name from Gandhi's autobiography The Story of My Experiments With Truth, is a stimulating and increasingly wild piece inspired by the early morning raga ramkali.

While growing up in Toronto, Richard X Bennett honed his own approach to the piano. His highly personal sound flowed from limited contact with bebop and early exposure to traditional New Orleans jazz and avant-garde combos like the Art Ensemble of Chicago and World Saxophone Quartet. The first jazz he ever saw live was South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim "and I walked out of the concert being able to play five of his songs," Bennett recalls. "I've always loved that inside/out approach, Jaki Byard and Don Pullen. I don't play bop but I do just about every other jazz style."

He introduced his Indo-jazz concept on the 2009 solo album Ragas on Piano (Dreams Entertainment), and expanded the instrumentation with the late bassist Gaku Takanashi and tabla master Naren Budhkar on 2011's Raga and Blues (Mystica Music). Picked up by Times Music, India's biggest label, he released 2013's critically hailed New York City Swara, with Takanashi, Budhkar, Carnatic violinist Arun Ramamurthy, and drummer Michael Wimberly, followed by the 2015 duo album Mumbai Masala with Hindustani vocalist Dhanashree Pandit Rai. Today Bennett also works with Honk & Tonk, a "N.O.L.A. meets noir" duo with saxophonist Michael Blake, and composes for modern dance, most recently a piece for the Alvin Ailey Company performed at the Essence Festival in New Orleans.

Bennett will celebrate the release of What Is Now and Experiments With Truth in the company of his trio and quintet, at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City on Wednesday, October 11.

Mini-videos from "What Is Now"

Mini-videos from "Experiments With Truth"

Photography: Sean Yoo

Web Site: richardxbennett.com Follow:

Media Contact:

Terri Hinte 510-234-8781 [email protected] terrihinte.com

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2eRNIYe

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touristguidebuzz · 7 years

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The Airports of the Future Are Taking Shape

A new development at Singapore Changi Airport will feature something called a rain vortex. Airports — mainly outside of the United States — are investing heavily in passenger-friendly amenities. Jewel Changi Airport

Skift Take: U.S. airports have a lot of infrastructure problems, and many need be renovated. But we're not sure American airports need indoor rainforests or virtual reality golf. That stuff is cute, but we think what travelers really want is on-time, reliable flights from clean, comfortable airports.

— Brian Sumers

No matter how well-regarded a particular airport happens to be, the slog from curb to cabin is pretty much the same wherever you go. A decades-old paradigm of queues, security screens, snack vendors, and gate-waiting prevails—the only difference is the level of stress. Transiting a modern hub such as Munich or Seoul is more easily endured than threading your way through the perpetual construction zones that pass for airports around New York.

The sky portal of the 2040s, however, is likely to be free of such delights. Many of us will be driven to the terminal by autonomous cars; our eyes, faces, and fingers will be scanned; and our bags will have a permanent ID that allows them to be whisked from our homes before we even set out. Some of these airports will no longer be relegated to the outskirts of town—they will merge with city centers, becoming new destination “cities” within a city for people without travel plans. Shall we get dinner, watch a movie, see a concert, shop? People will choose to go to the airport. Your employer may even relocate there.

One day, the airport will know “everything about everyone moving in the airport,” said Seth Young, director of the Center for Aviation Studies at Ohio State University. The goal will be to deploy “a security infrastructure that’s constantly screening people from the door to the gate, and not having this toll-booth mentality,” he said. “We know that 99.9 percent of the passengers are clean, so why are we wasting time screening all of those?”

One can look to Singapore for a glimpse of how airports will change over the next 20 years. Changi Airport, a pioneer of the industry, recently opened a “living lab” to pursue further innovation. In March, it was named the world’s best airport for the fifth consecutive year by Skytrax.

“It’s not a space to be in, it’s a space for you to move through”

One reason airports tend to look and function remarkably alike is that they’re designed to accommodate air travel infrastructure—security, passenger ticketing, baggage, ground transport—with the primary concerns being safety and minimal overhead for their tenant airlines.

“Today it’s what you call a transient space—it’s not a space to be in, it’s a space for you to move through,” said Jonathan Massey, the aviation leader for Corgan, which has overseen the design of major terminals worldwide, including Atlanta, Dallas, Shanghai, Dalian, China, and Los Angeles. “We need to evolve the terminals into being little cities.”

As part of the research, Corgan designers measured anxiety levels for different passenger types. The greatest offender among all groups was the security checkpoint, that confined space of shoe-doffing, laptop-extraction, and frisky government agents barking orders. “A lot of the stress in an airport is perceived, it’s spatial,” said Samantha Flores, a Corgan associate. But when it comes to the biggest infrastructure burden, one aspect of today’s airports stands out.

“The big, big issue,” said Dwight Pullen, is luggage. Pullen, national director of aviation at Skanska USA, a construction firm with numerous airport projects, including the renovation of New York’s infamous LaGuardia, said: “Think about how much infrastructure and technology and time is spent on bags. It’s a huge issue. It’s not one that has been figured out.”

Changi Airport’s new Terminal 4, which will open later this year, will feature an array of “fast and seamless travel” (FAST) technologies to speed people-processing without the need for human supervision, from face-recognition software to automated bag-tagging and checking.

“We’re rapidly moving toward a day when your fingerprint, iris, or face will become the only ID you’ll need for any number of transactions throughout a given day,” said Gil West, Delta’s chief operating officer.

“It’s like having a Super Bowl worth of people every single day”

Amid all this increased efficiency, airports are also keen to have people linger so they’ll buy more stuff—and that means a continuous focus on more upscale retail options. “The number of passengers that flow through airports really rivals any other mechanism out there that can congregate that many customers in one place,” says Ken Buchanan, executive vice president of revenue management for Dallas-Fort Worth International, the fourth-largest U.S. airport by passenger numbers. “It’s like having a Super Bowl worth of people every single day.”

But while technology helps make the airport experience more pleasant, the size of that captive audience may begin shrinking due to, well, technology.

One thing that may thin out the terminal crowds is cars. Ohio State’s Young and others see a day when autonomous vehicles—and air taxis of the sort Uber envisions—will siphon off a chunk of shorter flights that are 500 miles or less. For U.S. airports, the ascension of self-driving cars will create a costly conundrum: how to replace parking revenue, which typically represents a quarter of annual airport budgets.

Amenities in an airport—movies, bowling, butterfly gardens, and virtual reality golf—are becoming de rigueur for many Asian and Middle Eastern hubs. Singapore’s Jewel Changi extension at Terminal 1, set to open in early 2019, will offer a five-story garden with thousands of trees and plants, along with a 40-meter (131-foot) “Rain Vortex” lighted water display. Similar themes are apparent in the designs for Helsinki Airport’s Terminal 2 expansion, set for 2021, which includes an indoor forest.

At Changi, concession revenues rose 5 percent last year to a record S$2.16 billion ($1.6 billion), while the world’s busiest airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, topped $1 billion in concession sales in 2016, also a record.

“Our efforts to grow Changi’s commercial business and provide an enjoyable shopping and dining experience is part and parcel of enhancing the overall airport experience for our passengers, and will continue in the years to come,” the airport said in an emailed statement.

“No matter what,” Young said, “airports want to make it efficient.” That means getting through quickly—be it arriving, departing, or transferring. “But they love it when people are at the airport,” he added, “because of the opportunities to spend money.”

This article was written by Justin Bachman from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

0 notes

rollinbrigittenv8 · 7 years

Text

The Airports of the Future Are Taking Shape

— Brian Sumers

No matter how well-regarded a particular airport happens to be, the slog from curb to cabin is pretty much the same wherever you go. A decades-old paradigm of queues, security screens, snack vendors, and gate-waiting prevails—the only difference is the level of stress. Transiting a modern hub such as Munich or Seoul is more easily endured than threading your way through the perpetual construction zones that pass for airports around New York.

The sky portal of the 2040s, however, is likely to be free of such delights. Many of us will be driven to the terminal by autonomous cars; our eyes, faces, and fingers will be scanned; and our bags will have a permanent ID that allows them to be whisked from our homes before we even set out. Some of these airports will no longer be relegated to the outskirts of town—they will merge with city centers, becoming new destination “cities” within a city for people without travel plans. Shall we get dinner, watch a movie, see a concert, shop? People will choose to go to the airport. Your employer may even relocate there.

“It’s not a space to be in, it’s a space for you to move through”

As part of the research, Corgan designers measured anxiety levels for different passenger types. The greatest offender among all groups was the security checkpoint, that confined space of shoe-doffing, laptop-extraction, and frisky government agents barking orders. “A lot of the stress in an airport is perceived, it’s spatial,” said Samantha Flores, a Corgan associate. But when it comes to the biggest infrastructure burden, one aspect of today’s airports stands out.

“It’s like having a Super Bowl worth of people every single day”

But while technology helps make the airport experience more pleasant, the size of that captive audience may begin shrinking due to, well, technology.

This article was written by Justin Bachman from Bloomberg and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

0 notes

seosence · 7 years

Text

HOW APPLE COULD BRING AUGMENTED REALITY TO THE MASSES WITH ARKIT AND IOS 11

Some of the biggest tech companies — Apple, Google, and Microsoft to name a few – seem sure that augmented reality (AR) is going to take smartphones to the next level. So far, it’s all been talk, but that could change before the end of this year. Apple is preparing to unleash ARKit, a brand-new framework for creating this kind of content. AR has been a priority for Apple for some time. The company has spent a great deal of time and effort hiring staff and acquiring startups to ensure that it has all the talent it needs once the technology is mature enough for the masses. Now, we’re on the verge of Apple’s AR coming-out party: the release of iOS 11. To understand the implications of ARKit, we spoke to a developer who’s worked on augmented reality tech for the better part of a decade, and has already spent some time putting Apples developer kit through its paces.

The ground floor of AR

Jan-Hein Pullens and his team produce AR content for clients in the home furnishing and real estate industries – and demand for their work may skyrocket as Apple attempts to bring the technology to the masses.

Today, there’s sufficient hardware and infrastructure to allow users to run high-quality AR content.

However, when Pullens and Pieter Aarts founded RoOomy back in 2009, the technological landscape was very different. It would still be three years before the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign even brought virtual reality into the public consciousness. Google Glass, one of the first high-profile AR projects to get underway, wouldn’t be successfully prototyped until mid-2011. Pullens and Aarts were initially excited by the prospect of giving people a way to see how large pieces of furniture might look in their own home using AR. However, the hardware to run that kind of software simply wasn’t available to the public. “Eight years ago, for example, there wasn’t an iPad,” said Pullens when he spoke to Digital Trends on the phone last month. “People had desktops, and phones.” Desktop PCs aren’t ideal for AR content because you can’t move them around to see different angles. And back then, smartphones weren’t much better off. They simply didn’t have the horsepower (or the sensors) needed to present AR software.

Whether you’re trying to sell someone a luxury sofa, or a luxury apartment, it’s crucial that your virtual visualization plays to the strengths of the product. “It needs to be very realistic, otherwise it looks gimmicky and like a game,” he explained. Today, there’s sufficient hardware and infrastructure for some phone owners to run high-quality AR content. Google Tango is the most well-established platform on the scene right now. Unfortunately, it’s only compatible with two smartphones – the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro and the Asus Zenfone AR. Do you know anyone who owns those phones? Neither do we. But with the iPhone entering the fray, suddenly a huge chunk of smartphone users will be AR capable.

Apple opens the gates

ARKit will be supported by iOS devices that use the Apple A9 or A10 processors – the 2017 iPad, the iPhone 6S, and onward. Admittedly, that does leave the millions of users with older hardware unable to access AR content built using the platform, but it absolutely dwarfs the userbase for Google Tango, Microsoft HoloLens, and every other AR platform.

Sophisticated AR functionality requires specialized sensors, like a depth-sensing camera.

There is another complication. Some of the most sophisticated AR functionality requires specialized sensors, like a depth-sensing camera. It’s true that the iPhone 7 Plus has some depth-sensing capabilities, utilizing two lenses working in sync to measure relative distance. However, in the grander scheme of AR tech, it’s a relatively primitive solution. In February 2017, there were rumblings that the next iPhone would implement an infrared sensor similar to the one used in Microsoft’s Kinect accessory for the Xbox 360, as reported by The Verge. This kind of sensor would provide much more detailed information on an object’s relative position to the device than the current dual-lens set-up. It’s also rumored that Apple will introduce some kind of component that serves this purpose as part of its 2017 iPhone refresh (read the latest iPhone 8 rumors), but there’s nothing official yet. These new devices will be considered the baseline for AR developers moving forward, particularly because of the advantages associated with depth-sensing cameras. However, the combination of ARKit and current hardware is already bearing fruit. Pullens and his team spent some time with an early version of the development kit, and they like what they’ve seen. “The first findings that we have with Apple ARKit are promising, they’re actually very promising,” said Pullens. He praised the way the platform copes with occlusion, and its capacity to prevent virtual objects from interfering with one another.

For Pullens, the most impressive aspect of ARKit is its stability. Virtual objects can often ‘drift’ when they’re not properly aligned with their real-world surroundings, which can be a big problem for the type of visualizations that he and his team at RoOomy produce. “What I mean by drifting, is for example, a chair in an AR view,” he said. “You would like to see that chair be very stable – you wouldn’t want it to drift or tremble. So, the first findings that we have with Apple are very promising, because it’s quite stable.” A virtual leather chair isn’t much help if it insists on floating towards the ceiling, or wobbles like there’s a cat under the cushion. While Pullen had plenty of praise, he also raised some areas where Apple might make improvements. He noted the way ARKit renders light and shadow maps is alright, but added that he expects it to be even better once the platform is ready for release. He also suggested he can see its surface detection capabilities being refined significantly with an improved depth-sensing camera – so, it’d be ideal if the rumors of an infrared camera on the iPhone 8 prove true.

ARKit makes everything easier

AR developers are excited about ARKit because it should open the technology to a much wider audience. Apple seems heavily invested in AR, so we can expect this kind of content to be a priority for the iPhone and iPad. This is an appealing proposition for the people creating AR experiences.

We can expect this kind of content to be a priority for the iPhone and iPad.

Yet a bigger audience isn’t the only benefit of Apple’s development kit. ARKit also aims to remove a lot of the busywork from creating software, allowing developers to focus on how they can use the functionality to provide new and engaging experiences. “It helps developers like us to provide new features and make good use of AR technology,” said Pullens. “Otherwise, one has to build everything themselves.” For example, every AR apps needs surface detection that allows a virtual object to sit on a table or the floor. Previously, developers might’ve spent months creating their own surface detection algorithms, or make do with so-so middleware provided by another company. With ARKit, they have access to a highly sophisticated solution that’s already tailored to iOS. “You get a lot of features already for free in this kit,” added Pullens, referring to functionality like occlusion and light and shadow maps. “This will give a big push to the development community, for new AR solutions to be out there.”

Early ARKit creations are already impressive

Developers who are interested in a sneak preview of ARKit can get it by downloading the beta version of Xcode 9, which includes the iOS 11 SDK. It is already leading to new ideas. AR and VR feed MixedRealityDesign has set up a website dubbed Made with ARKit, which curates a selection of the very best projects around. The slightly creepy ‘A robot dancing in my living room’ demonstrates the superior stability that Pullens spoke about. An android performs some fluid dance moves in front of a sofa, and despite the camera moving around, the scene looks incredibly natural. The shadow that the robot casts on the floor is particularly impressive. ‘Inter-dimensional Portal’ places a window to another world in the middle of a city street. The graphics used to render this virtual space aren’t very refined, but the overall effect is arresting, particularly once the user walks through the portal. It’s easy to see how this kind of idea might be used in a location-based game along the lines of Pokemon Go. While these two examples are fun, ‘ARKit will change how we order food’ is much more practical. Rather than looking at flat images on a paper menu, an app produces 3D visualizations of HOW APPLE COULD BRING AUGMENTED REALITY TO THE MASSES WITH ARKIT AND IOS 11

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