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The Ozark Plantation
(and a Boy Named Josh)

Old Shep Hightower
(And a boy named Josh) #1

Shep Hightower came from New York State, in the Mid 1700s, they say around 1759 he appeared off a ship with some sailors, he was at that time, twenty-five years old, and made his way to what now is called Ozark, Alabama, in the dead of summer, perhaps around the year 1761, or so. Mrs. Hightower, back then, a Miss when she came up from New Orleans, some time thereafter, she was quite young, a few months past sixteen years old, she sat high-headed in a wagon, Shep remembered that, so he would tell in later years: they never even kissed until they got married, so he told everyone likewise, all the folks said in Ozark years later they just kissed where no one could see them.

John Abernathy, gave his brother, for his daughter $25,000-dollars to give to her upon her marriage day, this was in his will, and Jeff kept his word, a the wedding gift was all Shep needed to purchase what would turn out to be one of the riches plantations in and around the Ozark area, all 450-Acres of it.

It was the turn of the century when Charles T. Hightower was born (1800). This was also around the time the plantation was self supporting, and had a good cash flow, when he could afford, and purchased several Negros for his labor in the fields; in addition, it was also the time when Shep would take his trips to New Orleans, excursions he called them, and he never mentioned why to anyone, he just went, and met a Negress, a black woman he fancied, and paid her well for his pleasures, so he could keep it fancy free. Mrs. Judith Hightower, never could, if she wanted to, leave, where would she go? So she put up with, what she felt she had to put up with.

Somehow Shep dodged the war, and continued his affair with his—as he called her, ‘My New Orleans, Hussy,’ he didn’t think anyone knew of the affair, or what was going on, too close to the forest to see the trees, as they say, but Judith new it, and perhaps all of Ozark.

“You shut your mouth,” said Shep to his wife, “if you can give me a child, do it, or I’ll find a way in New Orleans…. (which he had anyway, already done)” And she simply would turn about and walk into the kitchen, sit down at the table, cutup tomatoes, or lattice, and talk to the old black cook, Mammy May, she called her. At night Mammy and Judith would sit by the heath and she’d rock in her chair, feeling the warm flames of the fire, and she’d talk about meeting Mr. Washington, and so forth and so on, and Judith loved those evening, Shep would be in New Orleans usually during those nights.

No one knew how Judith actually got herself engaged with Shep, he would never tell, it just happened one day, people said. Mrs. Hightower didn’t live a long life, although Shep did. Old Shep changed the birth certificate of Charles Hightower, his first son, and child, it was hard for Judith to live with knowing the truth of the matter, that his hussy gave birth to the white boy, and she raised him, “Well, that’s business,” Shep once told her, she was at his mercy but no gentleman would have believed that, had she screamed it to high heaven, after Charles was born. I mean, she lived well, and there was poverty all around her, who would want to believe it.

It was in the year, or thereabouts, 1807, when Hightower was in New Orleans, when he had met another black woman he took a liking to, she had a boy, and there was a deluge in the city, the Mississippi had flowed over its banks, as a wind and storm filled up the city likewise with its debris, and in the process of the flood, he took the boy, at her request, back with him to his plantation, his name was Josh.

3-3-2007

Notes: Grandpa Hightower [Shep Hightower] 1734-1829 Charles Terrance Hightower [1800-1880]: died of heart attack after years of dealing with his son’s death]

See Dennis’ web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com dennissiluk.tripod.com

Somewhere back in the early to mid Eighties, (no one exactly knows when) four dizzy school girls got together and decided to do something with their lives in Birmingham rather than be destined to grace the checkouts in their local Tesco’s. Sisters Jo and Maggie Dunne (four years older) were eagerly learning to play lead guitar and bass respectively whilst Vickie Perks only had eyes for being a front lady with microphone in hand and petite, blonde Tina O’Neill, already had drumsticks in her tiny grip ready for her first lesson. Not really coming up with any great ideas for a band name, one of them came up with the idea of playing around with one of the instruments they were now rehearsing with. A ‘Fuzzbox,’ to describe it in his entirety, is a guitar pedal used to create a distorted sound. It was first used by Jimi Hendrix and was an essential item to create a surround sound of blurred or ’fuzzy’ noises in rock music predominately. It also was and still is, a certain piece of equipment used by many punk groups around at the time to give the very essence to a punk rock sound. Thus ‘We’ve Got A Fuzzbox And We’re Gonna Use It’ was born…

Although with their brightly coloured rags and market off cuts image that was more Barbie than pure punk, they were appealing, but albeit out of date. Gracing the Indie charts was about as good as they could get in their early days. Too clean and well made up for anything along side The Slits, they took their place next to fellow extreme make up appliers, Strawberry Switchblade in the quest for pouts, powder, ribbons and vacant expressions. Now well equipped and fully all lessoned up on their respective instruments, they were ready to release their first single.

Signing up for Vindaloo records (they were the first and the only label around willing to take a chance on the colour blind quartet) they released the AA sided record ‘XX Sex/Rules And Regulations’ in April 1986. It was Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’ all over again. It was racy, ever so girlie and pumped up to the hilt with far too much bass, and certainly not enough glam to tame the record buying public. Their video promo was an embarrassing arrangement of flitty scenes of a derelict street and all the gravitating stunning shots of a kid brother on too much Tizer. The single itself, flopped at number 41 and failed to rise any higher, but it did take the number 1 spot in the Indie chart. With it’s squeaky chant ‘There must be more to life…’ it seemed that Fuzzbox were going to have to pull something better out of the hat if they really wanted to keep away from the food isles. It is however, one of those tracks that since their readily acquired fame a couple of years later, that we sit back now and analysis for any deeper hidden meanings. ‘XX Sex,’ will just go down as a crap song. Their over usage of hollering and whooping screams certainly weren’t going to put them down firmly in the punk hall of fame, but it seemed that for a brief moment, they managed to achieve something of a albeit, teddy boy retro feel with ‘Rockin’ With Rita.’ Teaming up with mediocre ‘where are they now,’ fellow nerds from the same label, it’s heavy Duane Eddy feel should certainly pull in the Seventies Teddy Boy ravers, even if they were all out of work Dads by now. Again, the timing was poor and yet again, it’s a track that we look back on fondly and remember the days of fancying the bloke working the Dodgems at Blackpool…

‘Love Is The Slug,’ was actually their second charting single and took all the chic out of girlies in white stilettos dancing around handbags reluctantly at some cheap disco on a Saturday night (probably in Kidderminster) It was pure Siouxie Sioux with its dull, draining vocals and lacked any real imagination. Yet it was typical of the time. It sounded dreary and almost to the point that the band were being held hostage whilst recording it. It wasn’t until the bubble gum ’What’s The Point,’ that we felt a definite change in the way their were reflecting the music scene around them. Released in February 1987, it was time that punk image of on the way out and they made a point of starting to dull down their look without it being too much of a shock to the last remaining punk buyers. Strangely but this time, they were creating an alternative to the ever popular ‘The Bangles‘, who were happily having a jolly good time in the middle of the road pop charts. Meanwhile, Fuzzbox were climbing the ranks through the Inidie scene. Not an accomplishment by any all female set up until now. Surprisingly, this up beat, rockabilly track failed to do anything higher than number 51. Although they were Indie Queens , it was actually the commercial pop charts they were after…

They knew by this time that it wasn’t just their alternative, working class, struggling lyrics that would have to change. They couldn’t sing about snogging at the disco, having a pint with the boys and doing the washing up anymore. The green netting had to go as well as the leggings and pink and blue hair.

After coming to blows with the Vindaloo label, they switched to the U.K section of WEA for their next single, and ’International Rescue’ was chart bound in February 1989 after a rather silent two year break.
It was yet more apparent in this track that Fuzzbox had a definite humorous side. We had all be aware of their antics as their video performances up until now had always been a touch risqué and tongue in cheek. With this particular track, we see two of them dressed up as Thunderbirds along with villain played by Adrian Edmundson. All an incredible piss take but we wonder which is more the stronger, the pee out of Thunderbirds or themselves. Either way, the trick had worked, they had reached number 11 and were now ell on their way to creating another angle to Eighties pop music. Already regulars on certain programmes such at The Tube on CH4 and (who could forget?) The Old Grey Whistle Test! They were certainly about to have their most explosive 15 minutes of fame.

Still just as noisy, yet now all wearing the same colour, they appeared to be tamed somewhat, and only admitting to writhing about on the floor during video sessions and gigs. They were now even bigger, more glamorous and profession, miles away from their amateurish, badly styled yet energetic theme. The music was more rock now than Indie. It had edge, sex on legs and was beautifully aggressive. The Spice Girls were a bunch of cabbage patch kids in still in baby grows compared to Fuzzbox. These girls were certainly all for girl power. Instead of a cosy night in and perhaps a snog goodnight; Fuzzbox would have worn you out then chucked you out after ordering you to serve them breakfast in bed.

‘Pink Sunshine,’ followed and sat rather ecstatically at number 14 in May 1989. One thing that could be said for this band who were songwriters, producers and masters at their own mixing, they knew exactly how to control their market. Not throwing too many singles in all at once in a desperate attempt to win the crowd over, they would instead, sit back and observe carefully, delegating as to what to release first. This particular track, ‘Pink Sunshine,’ was, by their own personal standards a track that should be released during the summer. A track full of jollity and a real summer theme of bright sunshine and fun, they felt that it would have been a better hit if it hade been released a month or two later. They were probably right, but we would never know.

Perhaps their biggest track was their last noted single release although a couple more did follow. A swift, and also unaccredited solo by the legendary Brian May from Queen, ‘Self,’ was definitely Fuzzbox going out just as the album from whence this track came suggests, with a, ‘Big Bang.’ Angrily hogging number 24 in August 1989 it was the summer when all girls learned how to sneer successfully. It was meaningful as well as mean. We hated everything that moved whilst listening to this track. Men cowered in fear at a thousand young teenagers growling with the strength of a hundred PMT’s. It was an awakening for both listeners and Fuzzbox themselves, but bitter resentments and disagreements between the label and the band members, meant that any further work was going to be limited.

Notably the most poignantly titled, ‘Walking On Thin Ice,‘ which was originally by Yoko Ono, was released somewhere around 1990 whilst the band went off on an epic tour of the far East. It was a desperate track not just in it’s theme but it flopped dramatically and the bitterness became too much. The band decided to cut their losses and continue with the tour, despite an awareness that Vickie was hankering after a break to peruse a solo career. Something, even today, she is still trying to find.

They returned home, recharged and fairly flat in their sense of the band’s now iffy direction. Work on a new album was meant to take place, but reconciliations between the band and the label proved to be not worth it. From the unfinished ’Out Of This World,’ album, a final single was released just at the point hat the band decided to split up. The significantly titled, ’Your Loss, My Gain,’ heralded the second line of ’..and you know things will never be the same again…’ seemed to be the band’s swansong. It was time to jack the whole thing in and follow more personal plans. The enigma of Fuzzbox had come to a sad ending and quite literally, all four went their separate ways. Tina is now an Art teacher whilst sisters Mags and Jo have gone on to write for other artists as well as DJ ing on the underground scene. (Must be ever so tight manoeuvring turntables around on those escalators…)

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Looking back on this band, we wonder if it could have been possible for this band to have kept going. Leaving the scene on such a creative high, it always seems such a shame that band’s depart company when to appears that they could have had so much more to say. We had watched Fuzzbox grow and we grew with them, from their messy, embarrassing and over coloured take on punk (almost an insult to true punk rockers) they were, only briefly mind, to punk what the Cheeky Girls were to pop music; petty much an insult, but they broke away, rather glamorously from all that and became the most sort after girly group in the late Eighties, if only for a couple of years - hence the idea that they had literally, 15 minutes of fame.

With no real tuneful notes in their heads, they certainly had learnt to play their instruments well considering they couldn’t play a note at first. They were so bad, it was genius. They looked awful, they couldn’t sing and their arrangements were about as professional as the Mini Pops yet they still stick in our heads and the world of Indie pop is a very dull and uninteresting place without them even today. It has been 16 years since they had us reaching for either the remote for the volume button to go up or reaching for the kettle in the kitchen. An attempt to make a come back did appear once somewhere in 1998, but quickly fizzled out the same year.

It was time to put the sequins and hairspray away and go back to listening to some dire ‘Best Of 2006,’ album instead. Somehow it doesn’t have the same feel….

Fuzzbox were and will always remain so as;

Vickie Perks - vocals
Tina O’Neill - drums
Jo Dunne - lead guitar
Maggie Dunne - bass guitar

Albums to run out and elbow old ladies for;

‘Big Bang,’ 1989

‘BBC Sessions,’ 2002

‘Look At The Hits On That!’ 2004

www.fuzzbox.tv.

Vindaloo/WEA record labels
©Michelle Duffy (sam1942 on ciao and dooyoo) 2006

Michelle is a freelance writer in the South of England and owner of the websites, generationsounds.co.uk generationsounds.co.uk, nevermindthebloggers.bravehost.com nevermindthebloggers.bravehost.com and their successful sister, ‘Never Mind The Bloggers’ at paperback-writer29.tripod.com paperback-writer29.tripod.com. She has been writing over the two years, for five major consumer websites across the world and is one of the only two music category advisors for one website in the U.K. Her websites promote young, amateur and professional bands/artists/musicians and their fan clubs whilst also reviewing them for local and world wide promotion. She has also launched the blogs; ‘The Ramblings Of An Old Rocker,’ ‘Bohemian Waffle,’ ‘The Rhythm Rock And Blues Machine,’ ‘The Moped’s Musings,‘ ’Generation Sound Suite’ and ’Rock Cocoon.’ She is currently working on two shops selling her music styled artwork on cafepress.com.

It was a bold experiment, for sure. At the end of LOST’s second season, the marketing department at ABC and a few of the writers launched an Alternate Reality Game based on a piece of the LOST universe: the Hanso foundation. The name of the game was the Lost Experience, and its purpose was to keep die-hard fans engaged in the LOST mythology as well as provide advertisers an extended slate to hock their warez.

Initially the response was overwhelming. LOST fans propelled into a world of evil corporations with secrets to hide, mysterious hackers desperate to reveal the truth, and allusions that season twos bastion of LOST mythology, the Dharma initiative, was about a little more than utopian idealism. New characters arose, insidious corporate shade Thomas Mittlewerl, defiant talk show host DJ Dan, the mysterious hacker Persephone, and later her alter ego Rachel Blake.

The promise, however, quickly faded. The funding for the game which would span websites, television commercials, voice mail systems, bill-boards, comic conventions, and more, came largely from the advertisers who sponsored the game. In turn, each was given the ability to create a piece of the game , which they could later skew for product placement. In some cases, such as Sprite, Verizon, and Jeep, the commercial aspect of their contribution was thinly veiled at best, and more candidly: obvious.

The result? A game which lasted far longer than it should and in the end was remembered more for its commercial interruptions than the substance of its plot. In the end, the game wound up revealing enough plot to fill a few scant paragraphs, as this article at buddytv shows.

In the end, jaded fans declared the game a grab for their advertising dollar. Moral to LOST producers: Don’t play games with your fans.

If you want to din out more info about buddytv.com/articles/dancing_with_the_stars/dancing_with_the_stars_season_7-2441.aspx Dancing with the Stars, Season 3: A Retrospective or buddytv.com/tvshow/Dancing_with_the_Stars.aspx Dancing with the Stars, please visit this link buddytv.com/ buddytv.com/

One of the less understood poker strategies is that of trapping. When playing poker, how many times have you been trapped by a more experienced or tricky player? We all fall into these traps from time to time… but why? How can we detect traps and avoid them? This article delves into poker strategy keys for setting traps, and detecting them.

First, what is a trap? A trap play is where an opponent with a strong hand represents weakness, luring their opponent into overplaying their hand. For example, I hit a nut flush (Ace-high flush) on the flop. I have the best hand at the table now, unless the board pairs (such that someone could pull a boat or four of a kind - not likely).

So, instead of betting it big, I might throw out a smaller bet or even check it (slowplay). Another player holding big slick (A-K) pairs up with an Ace on the flop, thinking he’s got the best hand so far. Another player has a small pair (e.g., 4’s) and picks up a set on the flop (assuming flop was something like 4-A-J).

Now, had I bet really big or raised back too early, the player holding the Ace would realize he’s trouble and the small pair would’ve likely folded pre-flop. Since I just checked it down, no reason to be afraid of me, since I’m obviously on some kind of a draw…

The person with the three of a kind (the 4’s) tosses out a bet of 4 times the blind. The guy with Aces calls it. After delaying slightly, I go ahead and also call it (why not, I’m getting decent enough pot odds).

So, I’m trapping them both at this point, letting them bet into me and just calling their bets. The same thing happens again on the turn, except the player with Aces drops out.

Now it’s just me and the set of 4’s. They bet big again, this time the size of the pot. Again, after a slight pause, I just call them “reluctantly”. Then comes the river, and they go all-in.

I immediately call them…oops! They’re sunk! What happened here?

These players never asked themselves two simple questions:

1) Why is he calling that raised pot (on the flop and turn)?

2) What hands might he be holding? What could he be
up to by calling my bets like that? Trapping? On a draw?

It’s crucially important to THINK before you ACT by understanding what the other players are actually doing. It’s also very important not to underestimate your competition, as there are some very wily players out there…

There’s a potential flush showing on this flop, and since I’m kind of “lurking” in this hand, it’s very suspicious behavior, and unlikely I’m on a draw calling those kind of big bets.

Unless you’re playing against a beginner or a drunk, there’s no reason to believe someone will likely call a raise that’s 4 times the big blind on a draw. That’s the first mistake - assuming another player has no hand and not realizing why they’re behaving as they are.

Second, the board is showing a possible flush - and both of these players aren’t holding it! Just because I didn’t bet on the flop does not mean I don’t have it!

Had either of these players slowed down and considered my betting (calling) behavior, and asked themselves these questions, they’d probably have realized what was going on. Whether the player with the set of 4’s could fold them is another story

Aside from a trap, what else could have kept me in this hand?

Traps aren’t easy to detect. When a good player calls a big bet, there’s a better than average chance they are trapping! You’ll also often see them delay for an unusually long time, as if they’re struggling to make a decision about calling your hand, then either call you, raise or go all-in. If this is indeed a good player, you now know almost for certain you’re being trapped (call) or warned (raise/all-in). If you don’t have the top hand at this point, you’re probably beaten.

This lengthy delay can be a great “tell” for traps and detecting strong hands, and is one you should learn to recognize. The delay is an attempt to make you believe they’re “struggling” to make their decision - do the opposite of what your opponents want you to do when there’s an obvious tell like this one.

Good players don’t usually call bets - they usually raise/re-raise with strength or fold. They don’t often waste their money on draws, so if they’re lurking in there with you, it almost certian it’s not out of curiosity…

If you aren’t spending twice as much time thinking about what your opponent’s hand might be, based upon their betting (calling) pattern and position and play history, you should be.

Your own hand strength is quickly and easily determined. Spend more time on your opponents, learning to read their normal betting patterns and skill level, then when they do something that doesn’t match their normal pattern, slow down and ask yourself why.

I hope this helps you become a better trapper (and avoid falling in yourself

Rick

Rick Braddy is an avid writer, Texas Holdem player and professional software developer and marketer for over 25 years. His websites and poker-sidekick.com?click=ezinearticles_traps poker tools specialize in helping people become better Texas Holdem poker players. If you’re a poker player, be sure to visit his PokerTester.com?click=ezinearticles_traps poker test website today and find out where your poker skills really stand, and where you need to focus to rapidly improve your game.

By far, the most important thing you can do to protect your
acoustic guitar is to control the humidity of its environment. Ask
any guitar repair person. They are the ones who see, time and time
again, the damage done to guitars and other fretted instruments by
humidity levels which are too low.

Most acoustic guitars are the happiest in a relative humidity (RH)
above 40%. In fact, most acoustic guitars are built in a relative
humidity range of 45%-50%. The greatest danger to your guitar
occurs during the fall, winter and early spring. In cold
temperatures you need to heat your home; and when you heat your
home, the air in your home becomes drier. It can often drop to less
than half of the RH of the factory in which your guitar was built!

When the RH of your (and your guitar’s) home descends to lower than
35%, all kinds of terrible things can happen. Cracks can occur in
the top, the bridge can lift from the top and the neck angle can
change. The warranties of most guitar manufacturers will exclude
guitars that have been stored in an inappropriate humidity. The
necessary repairs can be quite pricey.

The good news in all of this is that the solution is quite simple.
Store you guitar in a hardshell case and keep and maintain an
in-case humidifier. There are a number of different brands and
types of humidifiers on the market, in prices ranging from about
$12-$20. Check with your music dealer for the best one for you.
Don’t forget to check and add water as often as necessary. If you
really want to keep on top of things, purchase a hygrometer (a
humidity meter). These can cost anywhere from $50 to $150, but an
economy model will be accurate enough.

Another important factor in caring for your instrument is, don’t
use strings that are too heavy (thick). Most manufactures suggest
that you use light gauge strings, not mediums. Some players balk at
this, but the fact is, volume and tone are often more a matter of
playing technique than of string gauge. If you have a vintage
guitar, you might want to consider extra-lights. Another route you
can go (which I do with most of my vintage instruments), is to use
“silk and steel” strings. I think these are just wonderful, for a
number of reasons: but one is, they put much less stress on your
guitar. Read my article, “Acoustic Guitar Strings—The Merits of
Silk & Steel” at:

ezinearticles.com/?id=518535

One other important caution regarding the care of your guitar: If
you use a capo, do not leave the capo on the instrument when you’re
not playing it. The capo, when clamped on the neck, holds the
strings down on the fretboard and creates extra tension on the neck
and the top of the guitar. All acoustic guitars are destined, at
some point in time, to have problems due to the tension of the
strings. Why hasten the process by leaving a capo clamped on your
guitar?

Taking these steps to care for your acoustic guitar may seem a bit
burdensome, at first. But if you start applying these principles
now, your guitar will give you many years of playing pleasure.

Copyright © 2007 Lee Griffith. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lee Griffith is an avid acoustic guitar player and a vintage instrument enthusiast. He invites you to receive a FREE REPORT on a revolutionary acoustic guitar lesson kit, along with his weekly newsletter via email. just click on optin.flatpickpost.com optin.flatpickpost.com

Check out Lee’s blog, “The Flatpick Post” at flatpickpost.com flatpickpost.com

Desperate sports teams are easy to spot. And they often pay the price of desperation with a big loss, or several losses. They are easy to spot. You might say the Buffalo Bills were desperate (or delusional) a year ago when they anointed J.P. Losman as the starting quarterback after running veteran Drew Bledsoe out of town. Losman was completely untested as a pro quarterback when the Bills announced he was No. 1 and they had total confidence in him.

They were the only ones who had confidence, as Losman quickly lost his when Buffalo started 1-3 straight up and against the spread. The passing offense had 164, 100, 36 and 64 yards in those four games! Desperate organizations, coaches or managers make up reasons as to why they think what they’re doing is a good thing, even if it flies in the face of reason. It’s up to the sports handicapper to examine the reasons more so than listening to the explanations.

One act of desperation that jumped out at me this baseball season was when the Mets starting pitching got decimated with injuries in May. One guy they brought up to fill the bill was 33-year old Jose Lima, who had been an awful starter the previous four years. I wondered why on earth the Mets would even give him a shot? Lima was pounded in a 13-6 loss in his first start, giving up 4 runs in 4 2/3 innings. His next start: 5 runs allowed in 4 2/3 innings. This was followed by a start where he allowed 5 runs in 5 innings in a 13-3 loss to Atlanta. Three losses in three starts, allowing 9.3 runs in three games!

Because those positions, quarterback and starting pitcher, are so important, it’s very easy to identify desperation spots by teams. It’s less obvious, and less important, with other players on a team. One reason is that football teams generally have enough depth at wideout, offensive line, or even running back, is that a backup can come in and perform fairly well. Those players don’t touch the ball every play, either, like a quarterback.

In baseball, an outfielder who can hit may replace a star player, but he will only bat 4 times in a game and have a handful of defensive plays. A team can get by and not be at a huge disadvantage for a few games. A starting pitcher, however, touches the baseball every pitch. And when the talent drops from a quality starter to a Triple-A kid, or a has-been guy like Lima, the dropoff can be large and felt right away.

The Tigers lost starter Mike Maroth early this season and were forced to start Zack Miner. In his first start, he could only go 4 innings (a loss), and the Detroit bullpen was forced to use 5 relievers. It was Miner’s major league debut. You can see how a desperation start like that can not only hurt a team one game (a loss), but by taxing the bullpen it can hurt a team the next few games. That loss started a 3-game skid for the Tigers. Desperation and defeat often go hand and hand.

Bryan Leonard is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League.
Read all of his articles at procappers.com/Bryan_Leonard.htm procappers.com/Bryan_Leonard.htm

‘Blackjack’ is one of the oldest games played in United States of America. Generally it is believed that the game got its name from the manner in which it is played. When a player had a jack along with an ace of spade in the first hand, the player was paid extra money. So, in this game the black spades are as crucial as jacks. From this it was termed as ‘Blackjack’. The origination of the game can be traced back to world war I, when the game was quite popular among the troops since it had the benefit to be played at any time and anywhere. Now the game has entered all the casinos and has a huge fan following. Blackjack beat Faro is largely adored and played in the casinos of Las Vegas and Reno.

The Game-

This game is played by more than a few players on a horseshoe kind of table. The base player is the one who is at the end to the dealer’s right. The initial step will be the shuffling of the cards by the dealer. Later you are supposed to cut the cards with a card sized piece of plastic by sliding it between the deck of cards. The dealer will lift the cards above the plastic along with the plastic to place them below the deck. A cautious eye at the placement activity of dealer will be helpful in the game. Next, the top card is set aside by the dealer in order to avoid any kind of cheating in the game. This is known as the burning of the card. This is followed by the dealer’s putting a colored card at about the third way from the bottom of the deck and placement of another card at the last place i.e. at the bottom of the deck.

If the table is full, it signifies an already commenced game. You ask for the chips to play the game and make a bet, which should match at least the minimum bet for the game. Its at the player’s discretion to decide if he wants to with big or small bets and the table accordingly. The dealer deals each player a card face up. The final card that the dealer receives is face down and is known as the ‘hole card’. Then each player is given a face up card as his second card. The value of this second card is the measure to decide whether to take further cards or not. After all players complete their hands ultimately the dealer selects the dealer card for completing the dealer’s hand.

The winner-

The person who is crowned as the winner is the one who has a higher total than the dealer without braking 21. In other words, he comes closest to 21 without exceeding or lagging behind too much. The stand off situation is that when the player and the dealer have the same total and so there is no winner and so no loser.

When you bet, keep this strategy in mind that you have to get 21 on your first two cards. There are various pay off ratios like 2:3 etc. at different casinos. Similarly there are other features attached to the betting process like ‘insurance’ etc. It is advisable to have a prior knowledge of the rules of the game and its betting strategies.

Move into and explore the world of Blackjack…only as game for fun and not as an addiction.

Suresh Gupta writes about how2winatblackjack.com blackjack topics.

Viola Jokes don’t discourage us from filling in the harmonies and living a quiet life in the orchestra pit

“Why is a viola better than a violin?”

“The viola burns longer.”

Ba-Du-Bum!

As a viola player myself I’ve heard hundreds of viola jokes and have earned the right to retell them ad nauseum. This violist ain’t touchy about viola jokes and I’ll even squirt milk out my nose when told a particularly nasty one I haven’t heard yet.

What I find more frustrating than viola jokes is how many people don’t even know what the viola is! It’s bad enough to be ridiculed, but far worse when no one knows you exist! When prodded with the violin vs. violin joke opener, my inner music geek is compelled to ramble the viola gospel. “The Viola is the ‘Alto’ voice of the violin family, hence is tuned a perfect fifth below violin.”

Blank stares await the real punch line. I need to get out more.

In truth the viola is much like a violin, so much so that many symphony goers simply think they’re just more violins. Visually the technique is identical to violin playing: held at the left shoulder and bowed up and down, but with more broad movements as the viola is slightly larger than a violin. A larger instrument allows for a longer string length and increased body /sound chamber to allow the low notes to reverberate properly.

Simply put, the viola is like a slightly larger violin who’s high E-string was replaced by a low C-string on the low end. This is pretty much all that separates violin from the viola. For violists size really does matter.

So what, it’s a bigger, lower pitched fiddle? Why the ridicule?

“Why are viola jokes so short?”

“So Violinists can remember them.”

The viola is like the quiet middle child: ignored by its parents and overshadowed by its other, more active and successful siblings. A fate worse than “playing second fiddle,” viola’s role in a symphony or string quartet is to provide middle harmonies (aka, the leftover scraps of chords no one else wants to play) and rarely plays the melody, or tune.

“How do you get a violin to sound like a viola?”

“Sit in the back and don’t play.”

Even visually the viola is neglected. We can hardly see them on stage tucked between second violins and cellos and facing their instruments away from the audience. They get less air-time than first violins and cellos and spend the most time taking breaks from play than any other section of the strings.

This leads to the solo issue. There is not much solo repertoire written for viola, which has long been viewed as the “strong, silent type.” The lack of repertoire is most likely due to its mellow, deep tone, which, being less bright and projecting less than the violin, was believed by composers of the day to be less suited to virtuoso display. Hence the viola is rarely showcased and has to resort largely to adaptations of violin and cello repertoire to get any attention.

“How do you get a violin to sound like a viola?”

“Play in the low register with a lot of wrong notes.”

A gap between viola and popular acceptance among musicians is the alto clef. Viola is pretty much the only instrument to use the alto clef and only violists can read the darn thing, so it keeps many musicians from picking one up and learning to play.

It’s like the notes are written in a code no one else wants to learn to decipher. More tragically (and poetically), violists are like a dying out race whose language is dying with them.

[Cue melancholy violin solo rewritten for viola]

“What is the difference between a violist and a savings bond?”

“Eventually the bond will mature and earn money.”

No matter how bleak the plight of the violist may be, the viola is still an absolute necessity in orchestral and string ensemble playing. You can’t play a symphony without the viola section. Oh sure, you can draft some third violinists to play the part, but they can’t play the low notes and get that throaty viola tone. This is where opportunity knocks and gives the meek violist an amazing advantage over violinists.

“What do you call a Viola player with half a brain?”

“Gifted.”

Simply put, it’s a matter of supply and demand. There are gobs of violin players in the world and a startling shortage of violists. For example, in ten years of teaching over a hundred violin students I’ve only worked with three viola students. You don’t have to be a PhD to figure out the best way to get accepted into a music school or conservatory is to know how to play viola and read the alto clef.

“What’s another name for viola auditions?”

“Scratch lottery.”

Picture this: There are 25 violin spaces and 5 viola spaces available in a first year music program. 300 violinists and 2 violists have applied. Do the math and you can pretty much guarantee those 2 violists will make it in without much fuss from admissions staff.

“Violinists are a dime a dozen” turns into, “Invite two more viola playing friends and save up to 50% off your tuition! Call now!” The same speaks for scholarships available to violists only. They’re rare, but they do exist.

“Classified Ads: Established string quartet seeking two violinists and a cellist.”

Carry this concept forward to getting a position in a group. I had the privilege of playing at the BC Provincial music festival because a string quartet was short a viola player. I’m sure I never would have made it into the group as a violinist as the players were beyond my level, but I was the only gal around who could read that pesky alto clef!

Symphony auditions don’t even seem as rigid for violists. “You play viola? You can sit here,” was pretty much the response I received when inquiring with the Kamloops Symphony. I joined the immense viola section of two other violists for one concert and managed my way into the first violin section where I stayed content for the rest of the season.

It is very apparent that there is far less competition involved and violists do have an edge.

“Did you hear about the violist who played in tune?”

“Neither did I.”

I don’t intend to imply that as a violist you can get away with being a mediocre player. Far from it; you must have a command of the instrument which is both strong and sensitive at the same time. You must also have a feel for the instrument, which as legendary violist and conductor of Canada’s National Arts Council Orchestra, Pinchas Zukerman, explained to me in an interview.

“The bow application is different on the viola,” he said. “A slightly slower bow application is used on the viola because it’s heavier and easier to control.”

Zukerman also said, “Hearing the sonority of the instrument made me want to play the viola.” And this is where many players are attracted to the viola. That wonderful, low C-string that reverberates in your bones.

“Why do Violinists switch to Viola?”

“So they can park in handicapped spaces.”

I loved the viola before I even knew what it was. It was in my second year of violin when I bought the score to my favourite piece of music, Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 by J. S. Bach. Imagine my disappointment when I saw the solo parts written in a strange, alien clef. My school orchestra director kindly loaned me a viola and I learned the clef over the weekend so I could scratch out even the slightest bit of the music. I was hooked on viola from then on.

I’ve since worked to convince many of my violin students to switch to viola, citing the many wonderful opportunities mentioned above. It’s got to be done! Viola players are just hard to come by otherwise. In my years teaching only one viola student learned viola before violin, the rest were violin transplants. This unforeseen anomaly is perhaps the only case of a violist who took up violin later.

“What do you call someone who hangs around musicians a lot?”

“A Viola player.”

Who knows their reasons behind playing viola, but many amazing and well-respected musicians have played the viola over the centuries including J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schubert and violin virtuoso Paganini. Czech composer Dvorák considered becoming a professional violist but instead pursued composition where he wrote pieces which gave the viola a far more active role.

Some composers even preferred viola over violin, such as Mozart who was said to have performed the Principal Viola solo at the premiere of his then ground-breaking “Sinfonia Concertante.” And some greats had their musical start on the viola. Jimi Hendrix, perhaps the 20th century’s finest and most innovative rock- started his musical career at an early age on the viola!

“Why did the violist marry the guitarist?”

“Upward mobility.”

Okay, so smashing a flaming Fender is way cooler than playing the viola. Heck, you may loose a teeny bit of sex appeal and overall charisma when you take up viola.

“Why is the violin smaller than the viola?”

“It’s an optical illusion. They’re actually the same size and appear smaller because the violinist’s heads are so much larger.”

In the end, it’s not really the life of glamour and fame enjoyed by violinists. As the showy violinists clambour for a chance in the limelight, the humbled violists abandon any delusions of glory and accepts their fate with a healthy mix of zen detachment and humiliation.

Ahh, but inside every viola player is a daring rebel. An individual who has broken away from the establishment. You see them slogging away in the bowels of the orchestra, playing their unique middle harmonies with knowing grins on their smug faces. “We’re absolutely essential and we know it.”

Let the violists have the last laugh.

**Rhiannon Schmitt (nee Nachbaur) is an award-winning classical violinist/fiddler and music teacher who has enjoyed creative writing for years.

Her business, Fiddleheads Violin School & Shop, has won several distinguished business awards and offers beginner to professional level instruments, accessories and supplies with exceptional personal service. She has in stock a rare and stunning 15.5″ viola by 2-time Gold Medal VSA maker Ming Jiang Zhu. fiddleheads.ca fiddleheads.ca

Malaquias Montoya’ paintings displayed at the Nelson Gallery, UC Davis, 2006 served as a visceral and angry denouncement of the futility and cruelty of a society bent on the use of capital punishment as a form of so-called justice.

The viewer is immediately impacted by the strong reoccurring theme of predominantly male portraits often silhouetted or profiled and either in the writhing throws of execution or in contemplation of their own impending doom.

Like the brightly colored hard edged street protest poster of the 60’s, Montoya uses primary colors to stencil in words of protest on strong horizontal and vertical banners of color, his subject is usually centered in profile or looking straight at the viewer and rendered in blacks and grey tones, harshly drawn, sketched, in the frantic hurry that feels like the nervous desperation of the last days of these men’s lives. Their lives are torn…their sketches are ripped and glued back on the canvas.

His subjects: The rope around a mans neck just as it is tightened with foam spewing out of his mouth, or the spasm and contortion of a full masked hooded figure in the electric chair, the deformed face of the recently executed, or a strong balanced symmetrical figure of a man with arms out-stretched forming a Christ like figure, pedestaled on deep primal blue footing in which injection needles are imprinted in a nice neat row. Montoya wants us to be spectators, or more properly, “to bare witness” at America’s inhumane executions. I have the eerie feeling that by standing in front of his painting I am here to watch the execution, sharing it with just as a few friends, guards, family members and fellow exhibit pilgrims as they might be there beside me, in the gas chambers, the electric chair, the hanging, the injection. That last breath, that hideous contortion. To feel Montoya’s rage at the injustice of capital punishment just look to the structure and movement of the lines in his drawings. Thick dark black, red, fast drawn, angular, heavy-handed frenetic movement.

One of the largest paintings called ” The Killing of the Innocent” is an approximately 4 by 4 foot full body sketch of a large man sitting head downcast gloomily. He is rendered in grey-tones, charcoals, acrylics, and pastels. He wears an expression of utter hopelessness, surrounded by the flattened colors of the unfocused vertical grey bars, the yellow brown muted tones of the dreariness of the dulled prison confines. The eye wonders around the painting. There are secondary forms… scraps of newspaper headlines glued on, the flashes of thrown splattered off white paint, torn paper a scrap of the last notes to loved one in poorly written pencil notes, a small portion of a calendar with a date circled in red…the effect is the dirt and grime of the hood…the streets, and the summation of a death row existence and the totality of a mans last days of despair. Through the tinted washed out colors and fragments of notations, and the utterly crumpled figure, Montoya creates a great sadness and melancholy in our minds.

Move from that to a smaller painting, a skeleton dashed off in hard scribbled jagged edges of black and red, the only white in the painting the hi-lights of the teeth to exaggerate the ghoulishness…as Montoya says “a society fed daily on acts of violence, bent on legalizing killing to satisfy our own violent impulses. This also is our America.”

After this show, it is nice to be able to walk out of the building… free… in sunlight, out of the confines of a gallery that just a few minutes prior…brought us into the dark reality of what goes on in another more sequestered haunted edge of our culture. Those images however linger far longer than is comfortable.

Phil Gross
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