A week or so back, I was waiting in a damp and squalid queue of equally degenerate long-haired ‘student-types’ grumpily trudging at a snailspace towards the Southampton Guildhall main doors. We were there to witness fantasy speed-metal act Dragonforce. When the combined mood of this motley queue of unwashed chancers was at its lowest ebb and at the peek of intolerance a young man was spied stalking down the disgruntled line telling the irritable dragonforcers that he would be “playing with his band” later that evening in some uninspiring hole not a stones-throw from the Guildhall and that the ‘Dragonforce’ ticket stub would guarantee us all our free entry. Not wishing to miss an opportunity to see free music I asked what type of music his band played. He replied, “Our type of music”. I said, “Yes, wow, yes...but what genre, like?” He
replied, “We just sound like ourselves actually, no specific genre”. Upon hearing this reply several of the waiting Dragonforce fans told him to go and  f**k himself (in no uncertain words) and this attitude soon led queue-members into a loud and free flowing discussion about the merits of pigeonholing bands into different musical genres.  I came away from the experience thinking that almost every band- even the biggest ones like the Stones and the Zeppelin- can be simply slung into an easy category for efficiency purposes. I began to change my mind last night.

Last night I went to see legendary Moody Blues, now celebrating almost 50 years on the road, at the Brighton centre, Sussex. This was the fourth time I had seen rock and roll’s very own version of the ‘Golden Girls’ in concert but I am no moodies expert or lifelong fan. I just happen to like good music well played. During their excellent and polished show the same question that I had encountered in the Dragonforce queue kept nagging at me like an Essex girlfriend who hadn’t been to Lakeside in a week.

In what hole would you place this bunch of saintly septuagenarians -other than the obvious six foot deep one? For a start, yes, yes, yes they are a moody bunch of Brummie blighters but why does their name imply that they are a blues act? Do they play blues? Nope. Well back then, in the sixties, they did. Back in the days of Michael Pinder and Denny Laine, they played their own style of rhythm and blues around the pubs and clubs of Birmingham but if you asked the average Joe in Staines High Street what he knew about the Moody Blues, he would say ( and I am confident about this) “Nights in White Satin”. And that is that. So are the Moodies a blues band? Er, no.

In fact,in the Denny Laine/ Pinder/Thomas days the Moody Blues were listed as a psychedelic rock band. But what the hell is ‘psychedelic rock’ and where did it go? Well, back in 1965, inspired by strong toxic mixes of supposedly ‘mind expanding’ deliriants people like Pinder and Thomas were experimenting with hallucinogenic psychedelia. This was riding on the wave of Lennon and Harrison’s commercial successes in Rubber Soul and The Doors acid rock 7-minute mini-epics. Even the Beach Boys were at it, as they left their safe clean-cut surfer-dude lives behind them and splashed ever deeper into a drug addled maelstrom of hellish proportions, releasing some quality material along the way like Good Vibrations. The effects of acid were not just ‘mind altering’ but also ‘life altering’ and, ultimately, life threatening.

Last night Moodies drummer Graeme Edge payed a moving tribute to those psychedelic days of yore by informing the crowd that ‘back in the Sixties we used to come down to Brighton for the red ones, the blue ones and the black ones...wow, those black ones were the strongest man!’.  ‘Now we just come down to Brighton for the fish n’ chips’.

Timothy Leary famously preached the message “Turn on, tune in, drop out” and the kids did just that. Justin reminded us, last night, that the Moody Blues ‘lost’ several years of their life by getting involved in ‘Love Ins’ in the sixties. Leary earnestly believed in the healthy benefits of a high dosage diet of LSD but was described as “the most dangerous man in America” by President Nixon and was, at one point, incarcerated alongside Charles Manson. Leary’s message started out as hopeful and encouraging. In the end it was seen to be a one-way road. A cul-de-sac to depression and oblivion.

A favourite of the fans at any Moodies concert is Ray Thomas’s rendition of ‘Legend of a Mind’ (from the 1968 album ‘In Search of the Lost Chord’) starting with the words “Timothy Leary’s Dead”. This affectionate song predicts the demise not only of Leary but also of the whole of the acid scene. The six-plus minute epic also features the enduring lyric, ‘He flies so high, He swoops so low. He knows exactly which way he’s gonna go.’ And so do we. And so did the Moodies. It was time to get out of psychedelia. (Note: this song is no longer played at Moody Blues concerts since Thomas retired from the band in 2002.)

So after the acid-years, the Moodies started to embark upon their art rock years as the progenitors (with Floyd) of English prog-rock. This was probably the sound that all those crustys had gathered in masses to hear at Brighton last night (and around the world) over the past 30 years. The sound was arty, the sound was farty, and the sound was blissfully unaware of it’s own sense of piss and self-importance. It sounded like nothing before it. The band needed the full backing of something like the London Festival Orchestra just to top-off some of the pompous and over-inflated ideas and make them work in a live show. How arrogant is that?  They also wrote overblown neo-classical pieces that included Edge’s poems spoken (not sung) with full orchestral backdrops. This undignified ostentation paid off and the Moody Blues started to reap the rewards with big sales and international accolades (On the Threshold of a Dream was a UK No 1; To Our Children’s Children’s Children on the Moodies own Threshold label was a UK No 2; both A Question of Balance and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour were UK No 1’s and Seventh Sojourn was a US No 1.)

But this hot-air balloon started to deflate quickly by the late Seventies- the sales of Octave were down and the young record buyers were turning up their collective noses at anything tinged by the hated words ‘prog-rock’ in favour of the New Wave.
Pinder moved to California quickly followed by the entire posse and then he suddenly left the band due to family commitments.

The band recruited 'Yes' man Patrick Moraz to replace Pinder (they presumably didn’t hire Rick Wakeman, who was also available at the time, because there was not enough room in the band for two tall blonde-haired ego-maniacs.) They set out on a long tour of the United States and they left behind their progressive pretensions and their mellotrons. This was hard work. But it was real work and it was honest work. And by 1981 they even managed to pull off a good new album ‘Long Distance Voyager’ that reached No 1 in the US. They had turned a corner and had transformed themselves into a working-class American band. I saw them back then in Nevada, after their huge successes at Red Rock, and the band, by then, were a formidably packaged business enterprise. They were slick, sensible and ‘in it for the money’. Good luck to ‘em. They went to the bank on the dividends of those years of graft.

In 1978 Jeff Wayne completed the massive concept studio album The War of The Worlds and Justin Hayward sang a simple song for it called ‘Forever Autumn’. This little song got huge international airplay and kick-started the Blue Jays (a kind of separate collaboration between Hayward/Lodge.) This song always used to be played in Moody Blues concerts and, although it is not strictly a Moodies piece, it is now considered part of their lexicon. (Note: they didn’t play it last night at Brighton.) But this song illustrates that the 'man’ that the people come to see and the ‘man’ that sells the Moodies as a commodity is, undoubtedly, the man Justin Hayward.  Mark my words. He is the man.

The crowd gave two standing ovations to Justin and his twangly guitar last night. There were three encores. They were all for him. Justin Hayward still has those adorable Viking good-looks (the grannies were flinging their girdles at him last night) and he still makes those amazing yodel-like sounds at the end of each high-note. He can still play the gee-tarr like Duane Eddy. He is the real-deal and the real McCoy. So what happened to the other Moodies?

Well, to be honest, Novello award-winning bassist John Lodge is a talented musician in his own right and wrote some classics ( Isn’t Life Strange and I’m Just a Singer) but he has never been a favourite with the fans. I heard someone behind me at Brighton mutter to a neighbour that she only just about endures the (crappy) songs sung by Lodge. That is a general view but maybe a little unfair. However, there was a very real sense that the audience couldn’t wait for Lodge to shut up so they could all collectively 'get back' to Hayward. Even Lodge’s a-a-a-ahs in his (undeniably superb) composition ‘Isn’t Life Strange’ are knocked back into second place by Justin when he starts his verse.

Mike Pinder whose song ‘Go Now’ was also sadly missing from last nights set, and who introduced the mellotron to The Beatles, now keeps himself to himself in California. Graeme Edge, the elderly drummer (I will stand corrected but I think he is the ‘elder statesman’ of the Moodies) has to be helped with his sticks and has almost completely retired to his home in Florida. (Although he did surprise the audience by doing a little jig last night!) Patrick Moraz and Denny Laine are now part of the history and tradition of the Moody Blues but not mentioned ‘by the family’. Ray Thomas retired and original bass player Clint Warwick in the ‘Go Now’ days sadly died in 2004.

Due to the retirement of Thomas we missed out on the superb folk songs ‘For My Lady’ and ‘Lazy Day’ and this is a great shame. But Graeme Edge did some poetry for ‘Late Lament’ prior to Nights in White Satin and this gained an ovation. In place of Thomas we now have two girls. Norda Mullen plays the flute. Julie Ragins plays additional keyboard. The keyboardist is now Paul Bliss. The second drummer (the Moody Blues have toured with twin drums for years now) is Gordon Marshall.

So what category would you put The Moody Blues into?  Blues- not any more. Psychedelic rock? No, gone the way of Leary. Progressive rock? No, pomposity is out. Folk rock, not any more since Thomas. Rock and roll band?  Hardly!

I give up...the Moody Blues just sound like 'themselves' actually.

© Neil_Mach
Oct 2008

staines
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http://le13avecdelanoe.wordpress.com/?p=85 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:24:45 +0000 le13avecdelanoe http://le13avecdelanoe.ca.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/ils-portent-le-message-de-bertrand-delanoe-la-provence/ Le 3 octobre dernier, à l'invitation de la section Aix-Ouest du Parti Socialiste, Daniel Vaillant et Alain Bergounioux ont été accueillis dans les Bouches-du-Rhône.

Aux côtés de Marie-Arlette Carlotti, Michel Pezet, Jean-Louis Joseph, de nombreux élus et militants, ils se sont retrouvés pour présenter la démarche engagée autour de la motion "clarté courage créativité : une gauche conquérante pour redonner un espoir à la France" portée par Bertrand Delanoë.

Cliquez sur "Read the rest of this entry" pour lire l'article paru dans La Provence...

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http://swedentourism.wordpress.com/?p=377 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:52:36 +0000 swedentourism http://swedentourism.ca.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/export-coaching-programme-tourism/ CBI, Centre for the promotion of imports from developing countries, launches its second export coaching programmme for tourism businesses that wants to expand to Sweden and Europe. Their first programme was a success that resulted in 45 companies closing business deals worth € 8 Million (~US$11,7 Million).

If you are running an incoming tourism business or a community-based tourism project in any of the 40 selected countries you are eligible to apply.

When your company participates in an ECP, you and CBI will have a common goal: to make your company do (more) business in Europe.

CBI will:
• Help you get technically ready for the European market;
• Provide you with skills and knowledge on the European market and its major players;
• Provide you with opportunities to enter the market, for example by arranging participations in trade fairs, individual presentations to buyers and road shows.

The CBI is a development organisation operating in a non-commercial market and does not require participants in its programmes to cover all costs.  The programme is open for application now.

More information: cbi-export-coaching-programme 

/ Curt Landin

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http://newsaigon.wordpress.com/?p=150 Sat, 04 Oct 2008 10:02:17 +0000 GMR http://newsaigon.ca.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/saigon-exhibition-centre/

Click picture for a larger image.

The latest photos of the Saigon exhibition centre under construction in Phu my hung, District 7, Ho Chi Minh city.

]]> http://jamesjardine.wordpress.com/?p=330 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 21:19:17 +0000 jamesjardine http://jamesjardine.ca.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/obama-tees-the-new-black/ I was really excited when Philip informed me that we were getting these really radical Obama 08 Tees. Not that there is anything wrong with the standard "HOPE" or "PROGRESS" Obama 08 Tees, these Tees are just better.

They will be available hopefully by the middle or end of next week. For more info go to Centre

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Prochains événements :

ð 8 Novembre Forum Groupe de Maison de 9h30 à 12h00

ð Le 16 Novembre Pasteurs Ken et Tonja Taylor de Québec seront avec nous

ð Le 24 Décembre Messe de Minuit à 23h00

In the soap opera of Kenya’s leadership, legislators eagerly passed the Political Parties Act in expectation of massive state funding for their parties. To their utter surprise, the Act came with tough new measures designed to instill democratic discipline in an ethnically-charged and violent political environment.

The Act, which came into force on July 1st, makes it illegal to form parties on ethnic, regional, gender or religious lines. Under the new Act, a political party that engages in violence and other electoral offences will be deregistered.

The Political Parties Act states that a member of parliament (MP) who changes allegiance to another party other than that which got him/her elected to parliament is deemed to have resigned. The seat will be declared vacant and fresh elections held with or without a resignation letter from such person.

According to African Press, major political parties are plotting an overthrow of the Political Parties Act which they fear will spell their doom. In a rare show of unity, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Party of National Unity (PNU) and ODM-K have enlisted the support of 78 political parties to subvert implementation of the Act.

The parties are to team up with the Centre for Multi-Party Democracy-Kenya (CMD) to move to court and file a constitutional reference with the aim of declaring the new law unconstitutional.

The requirement that parties be national has been interpreted to mean that the Act is limiting freedom of association by denying those who want to come together as a region to do so.

Medical Services assistant minister Danson Mungatana, who is also the Garsen MP and Narc Kenya organising secretary, took issue with a clause on gender representation in political parties. "We cannot predict and decide for the voters ... achieving the quota would amount to influencing elections."

The Act directs that a party whose officials do not include one-third of either gender, be barred from accessing funds from the exchequer.

With all political parties expected to comply by January 2009, implementing the Act is proving impossible for majority of Kenya’s politicians. Most parties are mere election tools which attract very little loyalty from MPs.

In the last parliament, virtually all MPs elected on NARC, KANU, FORD-People, FORD-Kenya and others began campaigning for alternative parties soon after the 2002 polls. By 2007, President Mwai Kibaki was campaigning for NARC-Kenya even though he did not publicly announce his defection. Prime Minister Raila Odinga, elected through NARC in 2002 had by early 2007 stated his presidential ambitions on an ODM ticket.

None of these people lost their seats even though the laws at the time clearly demanded for fresh elections whenever a legislator changed political parties midway through his/her term. Eventually, Kibaki's allies formed  the PNU party that he used to vie for the 2007 elections.

At the moment, realignments for the 2012 General Elections are underway. Informal coalitions such as the Grand Opposition, incorporate MPs from PNU, ODM, ODM-Kenya and fringe parties. Martha Karua, elected on the PNU party, has declared her presidential ambitions through NARC-Kenya.

Laikipia East legislator Mwangi Kiunjuri has formed the Grand National Union (GNU) party. MPs from the Meru tribe have expressed the intention to form a political party to represent their ethnic group.

In last week’s by-elections in Sotik and Bomet, ODM’s Isaac Ruto openly campaigned for UDM and KANU candidates. Despite the law, its highly unlikely that anybody will be asking for Ruto’s resignation. If anything, any such punitive step will be labeled as ‘interference’ with Ruto’s ‘democratic rights.’

According to the Act, money allocated to a registered political party from the government shall not be used for paying remuneration, fees, rewards, or any other benefit to a member or supporter of the political party.

Not more than 25% of the money will be used for administrative purposes. Instead, the money will go towards election expenses, civic awareness and in enabling the party shape public opinion.

The Registrar of Political Parties can cancel the registration of a political party found to have engaged in ethnic incitement and acts of violence. Misuse of public funds is another valid ground for deregistration.

Section 34 of the new law states that accounts of every political party shall be audited by the Auditor-General annually and shall be forwarded to Parliament and the Registrar. The reports must be made public at the political parties’ offices.

Each political party must keep a register of its members and a copy of the register be made available to the public at the party’s legally registered offices.

Clearly, the politicians have a lot to fear from a law of their own making.

*******************************************
With reports from Property Kenya
*******************************************

These actions will embody:

· SCREENINGS of Selected Greek Animated Films, from the whole Greek production apparition

· ANIMATED GREECE: WATCH NOW! The Exhibition includes backgrounds, characters, storyboards, objects etc. that present the starting phase of animated films and artworks that attempt to approach the meaning of animation, as well as developing the possibilities of the digital media, the artworks that remain loyal to the formed dialogue of the contemporary Fine Arts, giving us the possibility to be informed on what is going on in the field, and should also be mentioned to reconsider our links to it, and our work.

· GRAFFITI JAM SESSION Artistic interventions that diverge from the limits of framing, filming or screening and are expanded on public walls. Greek and Serbian artists will attempt –as a team- to leave their “signature” within the city of Belgrade.

· ANIMATION WORKSHOPS Animation workshops will take place by Greek and Serbian Artists, in schools, orphanages and other youth institutions. Through simple and understandable procedures of animation, the artists, together with children, are going to create short animation movies.

· CONFERENCES/LECTURES The Greek team will participate in discussions concerning education, and professional practice within the field of audiovisual creation on the two countries.

· MASTER CLASS Vakalis Nassos, animator, that works in Dreamworks studios in California, will present the structure of production and the studio’s processes and will reveal some secrets of his art.

· HONOR The Hellenic Audiovisual Institute and the European Animation Center, are inaugurating a new award from this year on, an Honor for the best New Artist, coming from the countries of the Balkan region. The winner will be invited as quest in ANIMART, a seminar on animation that takes place every summer in Greece.

Greek Animators / Greek Artists

01. Vakalis Nassos

02. Venetopoulos Babis

03. Vogiatzidis Theodoros

04. Diktaki Pinelopi

05. Kontogiorgou Maria

06. Kolaiti Hara

07. Konstantinidi Elene

08. Mitropoulos Andreas

09. Ksenakis Panagiotis

10. Rentzis Thanasis

11. Rappas Panagiotis

12. Salamaliki Angeliki

13. Sifianos Giorgos

14. Spiliopoulos Marios

15. Spiropoulos Giorgos

16. Trimintzios Dimitris

The items included items of ID with Steve Fossett’s name on it, cash and a jumper. The ID included a pilot’s license and a Federal Aviation Administration Identity Card.

The items found on Tuesday the 30^th September 2008 have been handed over to police.

A command centre was soon set up at Mammoth Lakes Airport and aerial searches of the area where the items were found carried out. Aircraft wreckage has been found in the area and the wreckage is now being investigated.

Fossett’s plane took off from a private airfield south of Reno in Nevada on the 3^rd September 2007 and he has not been heard off since. Fossett has been declared dead by authorities.

BELOW: Footage covering the story

BELOW: Footage covering the original story of Fossett’s disappearance

The items included items of ID with Steve Fossett’s name on it, cash and a jumper. The ID included a pilot’s license and a Federal Aviation Administration Identity Card.

The items found on Tuesday the 30^th September 2008 have been handed over to police.

A command centre was soon set up at Mammoth Lakes Airport and aerial searches of the area where the items were found carried out. Aircraft wreckage has been found in the area and the wreckage is now being investigated.

Fossett’s plane took off from a private airfield south of Reno in Nevada on the 3^rd September 2007 and he has not been heard off since. Fossett has been declared dead by authorities.

BELOW: Footage covering the story

BELOW: Footage covering the original story of Fossett’s disappearance

KIEN GIANG — Construction on a bear rescue centre has begun in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, the provincial Union of Friendship Organisations has said.

The centre, located in Hon Dat Town, will be built on 20ha on Hon Me Island in Tho Son Commune.

It will be able to accommodate 100 bears, the head of the union’s administrative office, Dang Hoang Vien, said.

The construction of the centre, the first of its kind in central and southern Viet Nam, will be funded by the Wildlife At Risk (WAR) and the Free The Bears (FTB) Fund.

Vien said WAR and FTB would provide funding of US$500,000 during the first stage of the project, from March 2008 to March 2010, and another $500,000 for the second stage, from March 2010 to 2012.

Funding for the third stage of the project will depend on the development of the centre.

The centre will begin taking care of the first 10 bears in early 2009, when the centre is expected to open.

Rescued bears are typically found in illegal bear breeding farms in the Central Highlands and southern provinces. Others have been hunted by poachers.

When the bears’ health is restored, they will be released to virgin forests.

Kien Giang provincial authorities hope that the centre will provide an example of one way of combating illegal trade in bears and bear products.

The bear centre project began in February 2008 when an agreement was signed between the FTB, WAR, and the Kien Giang Forestry Protection Department.

WAR currently houses four confiscated bears at its rescue centre in HCM City’s Cu Chi District and the animals will be the first residents of the Hon Me Bear Rescue Centre.

"There are several thousand bears awaiting rescue. Ongoing support from our members and donors will enable the Free the Bears to provide as many of these animals as possible with the life that they deserve," said Kelly Hobbs, FTB country representative in Viet Nam —